Page 35 of Darken
“But he knows about Gina. I told him when I called for transport for the victims and the prisoners.”
“I didn’t think about what I wanted to do next until I signed off. I wanted to go with Gina to the ship, but Kydel said I could do nothing for her. She is in stasis while the nanites repair the damage.”
“You would go mad just watching her laying in that tank.”
“Kydel set up a direct feed so I can look in on her any time. He warned me it could be a month or more for her to recover…. If she recovers…. But I can’t even think of that.”
“No doubt, brother.”
“I will send my drones on recon and send you the info, and we can decide from there. Darken out.”
“Blaze out.”
Commander Dark sent three transport vehicles-- two for the abductees and one for the prisoners and bodies of their accomplices, all driven by cyborgs. Before they loaded anyone, the cyborgs mingled with the abductees to learn where they lived and check for genetic mates.
One cyborg found his, a young woman from Joaquin Morenza’s Ranch community. Darken congratulated him and let him know there would be openings for protectors in his territory.
Darken said and did all the right things, but his affect was flat. He had reined in his emotions and functioned logically. If he let himself think of what happened, reliving the moment he saw Gina shot down, his feelings would paralyze him.
Instead, he held on to the fact that she was still alive, and Kydel Matix, the best medic he knew, would use every resource available to heal her. She was breathing; he could sense it through the nanites. It was unlike telepathy. He couldn’t read her thoughts. It was just a knowing that Gina’s essence still resided in her body. As long as he could sense that, he wouldn’t let himself consider any outcome except recovery.
When Darken had gotten the abductees on their way home and the prisoners on their way to New Chicago, he recalled his spy cams and loaded them into a drone to transport them to Devlin White’s compound. It would take too long for the robot-robin to transport them. The drone would get them within ten miles by morning.
Darken was finally able to get back to Queen. The she-wolf was stable but not well enough to move independently. Darken carried her to the building and laid her on the bottom bunk in the bunkroom. Her mate stayed on the floor beside her. It was nearly sunset by the time everything was finished.
Instead of going home, he took the bunk opposite the wolves and lay down. He told himself it was to watch over Queen, mainly because he couldn’t face going home without Gina. Clasping his hands behind his head, he closed his eyes and tapped into the feed to Gina’s healing tank.
She was only at four percent recovered. Progress was slow but continuing. Darken let out a resigned sigh. It might be weeks before he could hold her again.
This never should have happened. Darken’s mistake was giving in to Gina and letting her back him up on this mission. He should have made sure the other man from the crashed flyer was secured. But why the hell did he shoot Gina? What had they done to that rifle that it penetrated her armor?
He sat up on the bunk, deciding he wanted to find out.
It was still lying in the dirt by the downed flyer. Darken went back up the hill and picked it up, scanning it. The gun had a two-stage function that sent a beam to disrupt the ionic bonds between the molecules of the armor. A high-energy projectile made the hole bigger and exploded inside the body.
While the blast radius was just a couple inches, the damage was devastating. Darken had never seen another rifle like it. A weapon like this would be classified. None of these thugs should have access to it.
Since he was already on the hill, Darken walked down the other side to get his hovercycle, moving it to park at the back door of the Quonset.
He didn’t care to go home without Gina, so he stayed with the wolves, watching over Queen until morning when she was fully recovered. The shot only damaged muscles in her shoulder, causing a much less serious wound than Gina’s.
Darken received comfort and affection from the wolves as they had witnessed the shootings. They seemed to understand he felt broken by the damage to his beloved Gina. Despite logic telling him the nanites horde were repairing her damage, his human emotions feared some unforeseen problem would halt their progress, and she would die.
On that thought, he threw back his head and howled his despair and the wolves joined him in mourning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Darken went home the next day after making sure Queen was recovered. He was grateful for her attempt to save Gina from injury even though she failed.
Darken tapped into the feed to Gina’s rejuvenation tank every free moment. He saw very little change except that the readouts recovery rate increased ten percentage points. It was frustratingly slow progress, and he would have gone out of his mind had he stayed with her watching and waiting.
But he missed her so damn much that it was a constant ache inside him. Meanwhile, he had a job to do. It could be hours or days before he had useful information from his spy cams. The feed would be stored on his home AI to access it at any time.
Meanwhile, he commed Joaquin Morenza to set up a meeting later. Darken felt it would be best to give him the news in person. Isobel came out to greet him when he set his hovercycle down in front of their house. Her smile faded when she saw he was alone, then she frowned at the grim look on his face.
“What’s wrong? Where is Gina?”
“She’s been hurt, and she is in space getting treatment on our ship.”
