Page 83 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

The corridor beyond remained silent. Not even the faint shuffle of bodies being dragged or voices calling for reinforcements.

She hated that kind of hush. It felt like a coffin's lid had just slammed shut.

Her head lolled to the side involuntarily as a wave of lightheadedness caught her. The dryness in her throat became unbearable, and she coughed, tasting blood. She must've bitten her lip earlier.

The man's voice echoed in her thoughts, smooth, confident, with a touch of humor in it despite the tense situation. It stirred up fragments of a murky past. She must have spent some time in America to speak English as well as she did. Perhaps that voice reminded her of someone she used to know there.

The memory teased at her like a half-forgotten melody, bringing a pang of longing so sharp it almost drew tears.

The overhead lamp flickered out, momentarily plunging the room into near darkness. In that brief instant, she heard a faint scratching, like something scraping the door. Her heart leaped. She tried to listen more carefully, but the lamp buzzed back to life, and everything fell silent once more.

Did I imagine it?

She stared at the metal door, half expecting it to open. But it didn't. No shadows moved under the narrow space at the bottom. Just an impenetrable barrier. If the fight had concluded, whoever won apparently had no interest in the prisoners and had left.

Exhaustion battered her, or maybe it was the crushing sense of disappointment that was making her breathing grow ragged. Tremors wracked her arms, either from muscle fatigue or the last vestiges of adrenaline. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She had always prided herself on being strong—a survivor. But there was no surviving this.

She was caged, drugged, and powerless, and no one was coming for her.

54

MAX

Max inhaled slowly, steadying his breathing in the aftermath of the battle. His pulse was still pounding from the intensity of the fight, and he was nauseous from the disgusting taste of the Doomer's blood in his mouth.

"Dima, Mehira, Rutza." Jade motioned for them to come forward. "Make sure that no one else is hiding on this floor." She turned to the other two. "Drag all these bodies to a pile somewhere out of the way. There is no need for the freed prisoners to see the carnage."

She looked at the doctor's nearly lifeless body. "What should I do with him?"

"Put him next to the wall over there." Yamanu pointed. "He's not going anywhere." He turned to Max. "Let's check all the cells. Kyra should be in one of them."

With Yamanu, Jasmine and, of course, Ell-rom in tow, they headed toward the row of cells.

"We are all clear here," Jade said in his comm. "The floor is secure and ready for the prisoners to be brought out. My teamand I are back to looking acceptable, except for the blood on our uniforms."

Yamanu grinned. "Don't worry about it. I will shroud everyone to look human and hide the bodies, including the blood and gore. There is no reason to distress the prisoners further, or to make them worry about someone getting caught again and having their memories scanned for information on who freed them."

Observing the keypads and scanners at the cells' doors, Max turned around and found what he was looking for in the doctor's pocket.

He returned to his waiting party. "All right, let's get Kyra."

"What do you want to do with the rest of the prisoners?" Jasmine asked anxiously. "Shouldn't we take them as well?"

"We will set them free," Max said. "We are only taking Kyra, but we are leaving no one behind."

Max placed the keycard against the reader, and the locking mechanism opened smoothly. An older man in a rumpled suit stood in the far corner of the cell, trying to melt into the wall. His eyes darted frantically from Max to Yamanu.

"Azadi…?" the man whispered in Farsi, voice cracking.

Max recognized the word for freedom. "You're safe," he said gently, stepping forward with his hands raised to show no threat. "The soldiers are gone." He reached into the man's mind and planted a visual of the rebels coming to free him.

The man's eyes unfocused briefly, and a ripple of calm spread across his features as Max impressed in his mind the notion of safety and freedom.

The man sagged in relief. "Thank you."

Ell-rom came closer, steadying the man's elbow to prevent him from collapsing.

With a nod from Yamanu, he led the guy out of the corridor and away from the gore, then transferred him into Jade's team's care.

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