Page 26 of Rogue: Planet Athion
I sat up as the full impact of what Marick had said hit. We were all headed out of here, and if we pulled it off, then none of us were coming back.
10
“We stick together,” Xavier said. “We stay in sight of each other.”
I was seated on the workbench this time, and even though he was crouched beside it, his head reached my shoulder. His silver hair was tucked behind his ears as he leaned in to speak quick and urgent as the others gathered around. The air was ripe with expectation and fizzing with nerves.
“I’ll find a spot to activate my comm,” Xavier said. “I’ll get word to the others, and once they have a lock on me, all you need to do is be touching me, and they’ll beam us out.”
It sounded so simple, so why was my stomach quivering?
“If anything goes wrong, then we may not get another shot at this,” Marlon pointed out.
Xavier’s mouth was a determined line. “Nothing will go wrong.” His attention was on me. “We’re getting out of here today, and we’re never coming back.”
Don’t get excited, don’t pin all the hopes on this. Wait until it’s a reality, and then,
then you can weep with joy.
I drew a shuddering breath. “We need to act natural, but not too laid-back because hey, being allowed out of the cell block is a new thing, and so we’re allowed to be a little expectant.”
“Marick said Sector Four,” Vex pointed out. “Let’s just hope that’s close enough to the surface for you to get a signal to your team.”
Xavier nodded, his expression reflective. “I hope so, because if I don’t get in touch soon, protocol dictates they head back to base and file a report.”
“They’d leave you here?” Marlon asked.
Xavier nodded. “We’re trained to wait seventy-two hours in the absence of contact, and then we have to assume the operative has been compromised. Sticking around could put them at risk. For all they know, the Trads that run this place have figured out who I am and are torturing me for information about my mission. For all they know, their cloaked ship could be discovered at any moment.”
“Seventy-two hours?” Killion was doing the calculations. “That’s—”
“Tonight, yes.” Xavier’s smile was wry. “I’m sorry, I should have told you that yesterday, but we needed the hope without the ticking clock hanging over it, and it worked out, we have our shot. We have to take it.”
“We should act natural and work out as usual now,” Killion added. “Just in case they’re watching.”
Vex snorted. “They don’t watch. There are no cameras here. Just the intercom for them to speak to us.”
“And possibly listen in?” Killion added.
Vex snorted again. “Marick is an exception to the rule. Trust me, what happens in cell block, usually stays in cell block. They don’t want to know about the shit that goes on. They just want us to fight and entertain them.” He smirked. “They won’t see this coming.”
There was real confidence in his tone, and then his gaze grew hooded. “And neither will your comrades. There are three Trads here, and Trads and Athions don’t have the best of history.”
Xavier nodded slowly. “True. Which is why I won’t tell them who they’re transporting. They’ll be locking on to me and whatever organic matter I happen to be in contact with. I can explain the rest to them when we get on the ship.”
Vex nodded curtly. “If you’d said anything else, I would have known you were lying.”
How long did we have left? A half hour? Less? “We should maybe—”
The buzzer ripped through the air, and I jumped, hand on heart. Shit. Vex pressed a hand to my shoulder, and I reached up to cover it with my own and caught Marlon’s eye. He raised a pointed brow.
Crap, what was I doing? How could it feel so natural for Vex to touch me when a few short days ago, the thought of him had frozen my brain with fear? It was something I could ponder when we were free. Right now, it was time to jet.
I dropped my hand and stood. “And so it begins.”
* * *
The guards herded us down the corridor and up the metal steps to the upper level. The rumble of the machines that drilled and dug into the asteroid’s core was louder here, and the vibrations traveled through the soles of my feet and up my legs.
