Page 34 of Warrior's Captive
Vivian stared at her. “Are you all monitoring me that closely?”
The guard’s gaze slid away from Vivian. “Not quite—” she stiffened, gaze going flat.
Vivian dropped the tea cup and used the chair arms to push to her feet. “What’s wrong?”
“Comm line is down. There’s a store room in the cafe. Opposite the restroom. Head there now, lock yourself in. Don’t run, but move quickly.”
12
She didn’t haveto be told twice, responding to the quiet authority in Banujani’s curt instructions. Vivian moved as fast as she was able, fear and urgency a bitter venom in her throat. Suddenly she was glad, very very glad, of Banujani’s presence. But if the comm line was dead, what had happened to the rest of the team?
The guard was a weight at her back as they moved towards shelter. It occurred to Vivian that that weight, that shield, meant Banujani might be harmed on Vivian’s behalf.
Horror slithered through her, enough that she almost tripped on her own feet, as if her body was following two sets of instructions. One to flee, and the other to halt.
A laser stream burned a hole into the whitewashed stone wall as she approached the door.
“Duck under a table!” Banujani rasped.
Vivian heard the whine of a laser weapon and dropped with cumbersome slowness to her knees, wincing as she jarred her uterus, and crawled under a table as nearby patrons began to realize something was wrong.
Stone shattered, startled yells and then screaming. Vivian crouched under the closest table, then shouldered the pedestal base to tip it over for cover. She’d seen that in a vid somewhere.
Despite knowing it was stupid, she lifted her head just enough to peek over the rim of the metal table and glanced around frantically. She saw none of the enemy, which only meant they were cloaked, or hiding in buildings. People ran, half crouching as they ducked. Oblong light shimmered in front of Banujani, taking the brunt of the multiple streams of enemy fire.
She was magnificent.
The guard handled her first weapon with the ease of experience, and innate skill. She withdrew a second weapon, firing so quickly Vivian perceived her hands to be moving almost in a blur. Five streams of fire decreased to three. All around them flower pots, trees, outdoor furniture and walls blew apart, smoking.
Several people screamed, high-pitched moans of pain, falling to the ground.
“Can’t shoot worth crap,” Banujani ground out. “They’re hitting civilians.”
Vivian realized the guard wasn’t talking to her. She must have a device streaming the incident. Which meant even if the team was down, backup would arrive soon.
A voice projected through the air.“We will continue to fire on civilians until the human woman comes to us.”
Vivian froze, jaw loosening in shock. As she inhaled, for one mad moment she considered it. People were hurt, dying . . . but she had a baby curled inside her.
“Don’t even think about it,” Banujani warned.
The guard’s shield flickered. She began to back up slowly, then reached down and grabbed Vivian’s arm. The shield just barely covered them both.
“Your body shield is at thirty percent integrity. Release the human, and we will allow you to walk away with your life.”
Banujani snorted. “Why do they all watch the same bad vids?” She raised her voice. “We all know how this goes. You want the human, come get the human.” She kicked open the cafe door with her heel and backed them both inside.
“Is . . . that the most effective taunt?”
The guard laughed softly, but Vivian heard the grim edge. “Comm is down, I don’t know if my distress signal got through, they’ve got a dampener. Temporary if we’re lucky. Long term would attract too much attention. Shield is holding, but it wasn’t designed to take sustained fire from multiple weapons for a long period of time.” She began grabbing tables and chairs, pulling them in front of the entrance.
“Then what was it made for?”
Banujani glanced at her, expression quizzical. “Short bursts, protracted fight. Or short bursts, short fight. We aren’t supposed to be in pitched battles or sieges. We’re not cavalry. We’re spies and assassins.”
“They must have spent a lot of money capturing me.” She wrapped her arms around herself. Well, rested them on the shelf of her uterus. “Why are they attacking in public like this?”
“Terror tactics. They’ll count on the media reporting on it. If theBdakhunlooks bad, like she’s in a petty private war that harms civilians for a pet cause, it feeds into their agenda to quash her funding. Get to the storeroom.” Banujani crouched, staying out of sight as she approached the large front windows and yanked on a cord. “Manual blinds. Shit. This district is too prissy for security shields on the windows.” She sneered. “Okay, so I’m going to lure them away from here. We’ve planned for this. You’ve got your comm, it’ll work short range despite the dampener. You stay in that storeroom until you get the all clear. I mean it. Barricade and stay put.”
