Page 20 of Deadly Alliances

“Good to know.” I pursed my lips, making a mental note to look for that name in the mess hall.

She perched on the side of a bed that was to the left of mine, and sure enough her jacket was laying on the pillow. What were the chances that I’d have been assigned the bed next to her? So much for our names meaning nothing here.

I came to sit across from her on my bed. “So, when do we leave?”

She braced her hands on either side of her and leaned forward as she crossed her ankles above the floor. “We’re heading out tomorrow night. We’ll fly under the cover of night and, as long as we don’t have any stragglers, we should arrive at first light.”

I nodded, relieved to hear that the pace was finally picking up. Arya wasn’t going to be trapped much longer.

“You really do care about this girl, don’t you?” she asked.

“More than I ever thought possible,” I confessed.

She sighed, that same sadness touching her brown eyes. Then she reached beneath her mattress and tossed me the item she retrieved. I caught it, looking curiously down at the metal flask in my hands. I looked back up at her, an eyebrow raised in question.

“From the look on your tortured face, you need it more than I do,” she teased. “It’ll be our little secret.” She winked.

I chuckled. Char really hadn’t changed much, after all. I unscrewed the lid and swigged back a mouthful, wincing at the burn as I swallowed and handed it back to her.

“What the hell is that? Lighter fluid?” I hissed, unable to shake the acrid taste.

“We don’t have access to real liquor, so Peters distills this moonshine from select leftovers in the kitchen,” she said beforetaking her own swig—and grimacing as well.

“Wait, you trust drinking something by the very guy you told me to watch out for?” I asked, the taste lingering on my own tongue no longer the only thing fueling my disgust.

She shrugged as she twisted the lid closed. “Desperate times.” She rose and patted my shoulder. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team. They should be at dinner.”

As I got to my feet to follow her, the pressure in my head intensified as a buzz pulsed through my veins. Damn, that shit was strong. I couldn’t afford to have any more. I would need every single one of my wits about me for the mission to come. Failure was not an option. I was going to get Arya out of there or die trying.

Chapter 9

Ashlyn

A pair of guards stood just inside the library, stationed on either side of the door. Since when did a room full of books need such heavy security? Oh well. They wouldn’t be able to see or hear us in our secret spot. I was just eager to meet Niko, if only for just a few short minutes while he was on break from general babysitting duty.

I made to pass between them, but the pimply one on the right stepped in front of me, holding up a hand. “Do you have a library pass?”

“What?” I balked, confused by the question.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, looking just about as thrilled to be harassing me as I was to be harassed. “Do you have a pass for library time?”

I wrinkled my nose, both at the absurd insinuation he was making and at the overwhelming smell of his cologne, which did little to mask his pungent B.O.

“I need a pass to do research for my history essay?” I tried to say that without an attitude, but it was honestly impossible; I had a hair trigger these days, and this guy had already expended the last of my patience.

“General Dracul’s orders,” the skunked up guard said. “Only five students allowed in the library per hour, and all students must procure a pass for entrance.”

I looked past him to the empty tables and aisles. “There’s no one in there. And I wasn’t told about any ‘pass’. Can’t you just let mein for a few minutes to at least find the book I need?”

“Not without the proper permission,” he insisted.

I glanced back and forth between the two guards, growing more frustrated by the second, but neither of them showed any signs of relenting. I hadn’t had a single moment with Niko in days, and our secret spot in the library was the only place we could go with any measure of privacy. There was no way I was leaving this goddamn room without seeing my boyfriend, and if I had to burn a couple of assholes to do it, so be it.

I opened my mouth to give what I thought was a very witty retort, but Niko appeared, putting a hand on the pizza-faced guard’s shoulder.

“She’s Lieutenant Summers’ daughter, and she has been given express permission to use the library whenever she needs,” he informed them with authority. “I would advise you to show a little more respect. You wouldn’t want to be reprimanded for your ignorance.”

The guard stiffened, and for the first time, I was grateful for Niko’s military ranking. Apparently being the general’s glorified bitch carried a lot of weight.

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