Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2)(23)

She looks up at Scarlett, lips sliding back over her fangs.

“You,” Skeff Tannigut growls.

“Oh shit,” Scarlett breathes.





6

FINIAN

I make my way out the side door, aching like I’ve been stomped by an ultrasaur. My suit is close to completely crapping out, but we’re so close to pulling this off—the last thing I want is anyone’s attention. The doors hum closed behind me with a self-satisfied swish, and I turn right, toward the four-way intersection outside the Dominion Repository. By now, Scar and Kal should be parading their edible selves out the front door, where we’ll meet up with the others.

Finally, finally, something’s going our way. Kal had a box under his arm when they left the vault, so I know we have a next move. I’m feeling a little self-satisfied myself as I try for a saunter around the corner, just in time to see Scarlett come face to face—or waist to face—with a pissed-off-looking gremp.

I literally have time to think, Wow, imagine if that was the same one who— before suddenly the sidewalk’s bristling with weaponry, and everybody’s having a very tense day.

I freeze in place. Scar’s already talking at top speed, hands lifted in placation, on the pointy end of a dozen disruptor pistols. Behind her, Dominion security guards have responded by pulling out their ordnance, which is all on the wrong side of heavy. This means that, on the upside, Skeff Tannigut can’t just drag Scarlett and Kal away to chop them into little pieces. On the downside, my squadmates are now threatened on all sides.

“These two are wanted fugitives!” the gremp spits, black-rimmed eyes narrowing. “They assaulted me and my broodkin, almost killed my littermate!”

“Nonsense, darling,” Scarlett says. “I’ve never met you before in my life.”

“I knew your kind could not be trusted,” Tannigut growls.

“My kind?” Scarlett musters some convincing outrage. “I suppose we humans all look alike to you, eh?”

The Dominion guards, more than a few of whom are Terran, look less than impressed at the gangster’s accusations. I limp away from the Repository, trying to stay out of sight. I have no idea where Zila is, but just beyond the rising argument, Tyler and Auri are backing up into the crowded intersection, trying to follow my example and make sure nobody notices them.

“Finian?” Ty mutters into his uni. “Can you muster us a distraction?”

I’m typing on my uni as I reply. “Already on it, Goldenboy. I’ll have a diversion up in thirty seconds. Let’s all make sure we run away in the same direction, yes?”

Tyler takes another slow step back, glancing up and down the bustling thoroughfare. “Turn hubward, and we’ll—”

A scream cuts across comms, coupled with a vicious sizzling sound. I look up from my uni and see Aurora lying on the ground like a puppet with her strings cut. She’s wrapped up in bands of what looks like crackling red energy, steam rising off her skin, mouth open in a silent scream. And that’s about when everything goes to pieces. Kal leaps in her direction with a cry of perfect rage, completely forgetting Scarlett’s still got his freaking leash wrapped around her wrist.

I mean, a leash, really?

Anyway, Scarlett’s pulled after him like she’s weightless, crashing straight into Skeff Tannigut and going down in a tangle of flailing limbs and corsetry. Everybody starts shooting. The gremps let loose with their disruptors as their leader falls; the Dominion guards open up in response. A couple of bodies fall on either side, and blasts crackle through the air, gremps and goons ducking for cover or collapsing with yelps of pain.

A stray shot hits a passing skiff, which skids sideways and slams into another parked vehicle, flipping end over end and crashing into a storefront. The crowd around the intersection screams and scatters. Another shot whizzes past my head and I hunker down behind a parked hoverskiff, my exosuit whining, a stabbing pain lancing up through both my knees.

I squint through the firefight and smoke, see Ty and Scar have taken cover behind another hovertruck. Kal has dragged Auri behind a row of auto-peddlers. Our stowaway is still wrapped in that crackling red energy, convulsing where she lies. Kal is crouched over her body with his teeth bared, staring over my shoulder. I realize some of the shots in this firefight are coming from behind me.

With a horrible feeling of foreboding—and I’ve really had a chance to fine-tune this sensation lately, so I feel like I nail it—I turn.

Maker’s bits.

The Unbroken are stalking down the street toward us. Kal’s sister is carrying a weapon that looks like a love affair between a disruptor rifle and an old Terran crossbow—I realize this is the gun that took out Auri. Her goons are spread out behind her, black armor daubed with white glyfs, lips pulled back into snarls. None of them are as terrifying as Saedii, her canines filed to those perfect points, the black stripe of paint across her eyes bringing out the violet and making them gleam. The Syldrathi are firing at the Dominion security goons, disruptor blasts BAMF!ing through the air. They take up cover along the thoroughfare as another skiff crashes to the road in a burst of sparks and twisting metal.

I hunker down lower, doing the math. Nobody’s spotted me yet, at least, but my squad is now pinned down in a three-way firefight.

The ground traffic has slowed to a halt; the air traffic is in chaos. A brief lull falls over the scene as everyone takes a moment to reload. Civilians are fleeing in a panic, alarms are ringing, and there’s already a SecDrone hovering above our heads. I can see Scarlett crouched by Kal’s side, whispering in his ear, while Ty looks up and down the street, searching for an escape route. The head of the Dominion Repository guards, a tall Rikerite with two curling horns sweeping back from his forehead, raises his voice.