Page 22 of Capture of Capricorn

“Move out of the way, you morons,” he barked. At the sight of him raising his gun to take aim, the whitecoats scattered.

Hopefully, Capricorn could break the chain because, by her count, he had to be close to or out of bullets. Luckily, he had one left.

The padlock shattered at the impact, releasing the chain, which he yanked from the handle before shoving the door open. Smoke billowed through the opening, and Zora darted into that billowing cloud, followed by Capricorn.

Zora took a moment to breathe, heaving in the fresher outside air, but didn’t enjoy it for long, as a doctor shoved past her, almost sending her to the ground.

Rude.

The next whitecoat fell face-first onto the ground. Blame the foot she stuck out to trip him. She didn’t feel bad about it one bit since he’d been the one to poke her with needles and ignored her every attempt to talk.

Capricorn grabbed her by the hand. “We need to move before they realize we’re outside.” A reminder the smoke and fire screen wouldn’t hold the guards for long.

“Where to?” she asked.

“Apparently, not home,” he grumbled. “These fucking bracelets need to come off.”

“Good luck with that. I searched for a seam but couldn’t find one. It’s like they welded them on.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Adam was more prepared than expected.”

“If we can make it to a town, or even someone’s house, we should be able to find a tool to remove them.”

“Meaning we need to find a ride out of here.” He grabbed her by the hand, and she let him lead.

As they moved away from the smoking building, her head swiveled sideways to see a crowd of people pressing againstthe front of the main building. Dressed in black combat gear, wearing head coverings and balaclavas to conceal their features, several carried placards that she had to squint to read.

No more secrets.

Release the aliens.

The truth is in Area 51.

She almost laughed to realize their distraction came from activists. How fortuitous.

To her surprise, Capricorn dragged Zora at a fast run in their direction, leading her to huff, “Why. Are. We. Going. That. Way?”

“Because they obviously came here by car or bus, or something that we can most likely steal.”

Good thinking, because she’d been dreading the thought of trekking through the arid desert. When he’d told her where they’d been taken prisoner—Area fucking 51—she’d wondered how far she’d get on foot if she ever managed to escape. Probably not far, since she tended to wilt in extreme heat.

Rather than merge with those rushing the installation, and trying to push against the tide, they kept to the outskirts of those yelling. Her heart pounded and her lungs screamed with each ragged breath. She didn’t protest when Capricorn, in a move she didn’t think possible outside a movie, smoothly scooped and tossed her over a shoulder.

Bouncing on his brawny shoulder might not be the most comfortable thing, but he made much better time without her lagging steps, and the view of his ass was nice.

She didn’t know they’d reached vehicles until he slowed and let her slide down, his arm around her keeping her snug to his frame. A very solid frame, and as she stood pressed against him, she noticed his height. She was a good five foot nine, but he had several inches on her.

“Any preferences?” he murmured as he stared down at her.

Was he asking her favorite sexual position? Hardly the place, but tell that to her suddenly sizzling blood. “Uh…” She, the person who always had a come-back, faltered.

“Guess rather than go with a particular style we should see which one has keys.”

Wait, he was talking about a car? Damn.

He stuck his head in a battered Volkswagen. “Nothing in the ignition.” He moved to a Honda Civic next and crowed. “Fuck yeah, we have keys. Get in, Beauty. We are getting out of here.”

Some might have been appalled at how easily she agreed to abet his grand theft auto. They could stuff it. Given what she’d been through, there was nothing too extreme when it came to escape.

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