“Status?” Mak led the way out of the generator room, touching base with his team on the comm set as he walked.

“The pod's about to land. Do we wait for you to bring the doc?” Erenn asked.

Mak stopped, turned to Nyha. “The ship the cordon team have sent to fetch the girls has arrived. Do I ask them to wait for you?”

She shook her head vehemently. “No. Get them off as soon as possible. I can stick with you, right?”

He gave a nod. “You can stick with me.”

As long as she wanted.

“Erenn, no waiting. The doc's with me. Get the girls to safety.”

“Will do. Fren is going with them. When should we expect you?”

“If we get a clear run, in ten minutes. If not, I'll let you know. What about the other hostages?”

“The last group of them is headed to the cordon battleship for a handover right now. Why?”

“Because,” Mak looked back at Nyha, “with me looking out for the doc, and the girls safe, Sinjin could take that pick-up without worrying about casualties.”

“What if they catch you? Take the doc back?” Vasouvy broke in on the conversation.

“If they get her back, they'll still have just one hostage. They can't kill her until they're done, and they aren’t anywhere near done.” He watched Nyha's face in the light of his clip-torch as he spoke, saw her nod thoughtfully.

He really liked this woman.

“Erenn, contact Sinjin, tell her to grab those hostages right now, before Veld realizes the full implications of losing the girls and Dr. Bartali. I'm not sure his team has told him they're in the wind yet, but the minute they do, he'll turn that pick-up around so he can keep the last load of hostages as his back-up plan.”

“Sinjin's going to love that. She sounds like she'd like to rip Veld's head off with her bare hands,” Erenn said. “I'll contact her now.”

“Vasouvy and Yari, where are you?”

“Both still in the building,” Yari said. “Vasouvy and I just met up on the observation deck.”

“Meet us down in the atrium. We're heading there now.” He'd feel better with some backup, some more cover for the doc. “Can you make it in five?”

“In five.” Vasouvy clicked off.

Nyha had stood watching him quietly throughout his conversation, but as he looked over at her, she grinned. “Better keep me close, partner, I'm going to be in big demand soon by the sounds of it.”

“Veld will need you, all right.” And he would be damned if the hostage-taker would use her again.

He turned and jogged forward until he reached the exit point.

“I'm going to switch to reflective mode and I'll go up first, just in case there's someone up there.” He lifted the light as he spoke, to catch her nod of agreement. Then he touched the keypad on his sleeve, felt the tiny shiver run through his suit as reflective mode kicked in.

He crouched down to turn the disk.

The feeling of being whisked up to the room above was something he'd have to think about. He'd have to try and put it into words for his report, because he knew his superiors and the military scientists would want to know about it in minute detail.

He stepped aside to make room for Nyha and as she blinked into existence beside him, Veld stepped through the open door.

“So, there you are.” The leader of the gang sounded unworried, talking to Nyha as if he'd been looking for her at a party and had finally tracked her down. “You've thrown my team into a spin, though.” He clicked his tongue in admonishment. “How did you know about the access point?” His eyes were on the hole, his tone was still pleasant, but all of that was belied by the laz in his hand, pointed at Nyha's chest.

Two minutes, Mak remembered. The hole would stay open for two minutes. He started to move, edging around to where Veld stood.

“Garett told me where it was and how to get in,” Nyha said with a shrug. “I thought it would be a good place to hide, but when I got down there, I realized it was a dead end and I'd be trapped.”

That's right, keep him talking. Mak was impressed at how calm she was, how her gaze on Veld never wavered, as if they were the only two in the room.

Mak rounded behind Veld, aware there was only half a minute left at most.

Veld did him a favor and stepped forward. “Why would Garett tell you anything? Why would he give himself away?”

“Didn't you know?” Nyha lifted a shoulder. “Garett and I are together.” She made the word together sound so lascivious, even though Mak knew she was lying he felt a twinge of jealousy.

“What?” The exclamation burst from Veld's mouth just as Mak shoved him down the hole.

He shouted as he fell, and it closed almost instantly over his head.

“Where are you?” Nyha reached out both hands.

“Here.” He was already at her side. “Good distracting, but let's run, he'll be turning that disk to come back up any second.”

She stumbled a little as he pulled her along, and he shortened his steps.

Up ahead he could hear Garde shouting instructions in the central atrium.

“Just find them. Split up and find them now.”

He smiled. They were beginning to realize they'd lost all their bargaining chips. Beginning to panic.

He liked it.

* * *

Nyha heard the angry tap of Garde's boots as she stalked toward the circular room, passing the tiny chamber Mak had pulled Nyha into. Nyha held her breath so nothing could give them away.

They waited until Garde was far enough past them, and then Mak grabbed her hand and ran.

She could barely keep up, but they needed as much speed as they could get.

Garde would be running straight back toward them with a spitting mad Veld any moment.

They burst into the empty atrium and Mak pulled her straight toward the passage the girls had escaped from.

“I thought we were meeting some of your team?” She found speaking and breathing difficult as she ran faster than she’d ever run in her life.

“They're here.”

Right, because they were all freaking invisible. She was the only one Veld's team would be able see.

“Activity from behind.” The deep voice came from somewhere behind her, and when Nyha glanced back, she saw a glittering burst of laz fire that seemed to shoot from out of nowhere.

Mak didn't slow, but although she couldn't see him she sensed him turn and then in a single move he scooped her up into his arms, spun back and kept going.

“What?” It came out as a squeak.

“Body armor,” he said. “You don't have any, I do.”

She'd seen the pack he had on his back, and it looked like it might weigh more than she did. Now he was carrying her as well and he didn't even sound winded.

And they were going faster than they had before.

Which was embarrassing. She was fit, damn it.

They burst out into the open space between the ruins and the curved walls, and Nyha sensed Mak hunching over her, as if to protect her more.

“Heads up. Incoming vessel.” A woman--Vasouvy, Nyha assumed--sounded as if she was right behind them. “Is that a cordon ship?” Vasouvy sounded disbelieving.

Nyha glanced up and her mouth dropped open.

The ship sliding over the horizon was smaller than a Verdant String battleship, but it was still massive. It was a matte black, all strange angles and sleek lines, only visible at all because the swirling white and blue of Kalastoni was directly behind it.

“You responsible for this, Sinjin?” Mak never broke stride. He waited a beat for the answer. “If it's not ours, whose is it?”

“I thought it wasn't Kalastonian. I've never seen anything like it.” Yari's deep voice sounded from Mak's other side.

“Where is Sinjin's ship?” Vasouvy asked.

“Coming in at zero degrees,” Mak called out.

Nyha twisted in his arms to look left, saw the bigger, bulkier battleship coming in, and then she heard the strangest hum.

“What is that noise?” She looked around, trying to work out where it was coming from.

“They're going to fire!” Mak had never slowed his pace, and they were already breaking clear of the walls that surrounded the ruins.

There was an earsplitting crack, and a hot white light zigzagged down from the black ship and hit the ruins.

The ground buckled under them, and then heaved upward.

Mak stumbled and went down on one knee, holding her closer and tighter.

For a moment there seemed to be no air, and then it came rushing back, blowing her hair around her, sculpting it against Mak's invisible chest and shoulder.

She curled herself tighter, pressing her cheek against the rough fabric of his jacket.

He set her down on the ground. “You all right?” His hands were gentle as they held her face for a moment. “Hang on, I'm getting something from my pack.”

She looked back at the ruins and saw the central building had half-collapsed.

Then the terrible humming sound came back.

She put her hands over her ears and turned away with her eyes closed as another crack split the sky.

The world seemed to go silent for a long, drawn-out beat, and then came roaring back.

Something settled around her shoulders, and she opened her eyes to see Mak had draped a large blanket of some kind over her, the fabric thin and nubbly.

“It has some armor protection. Better than nothing,” he shouted over the sound of the ruins coming down behind them.

He lifted her up and started to run again, and the pounding boots on either side of them told her Yari and Vasouvy had waited for them, and were flanking them.

“What's Sinjin waiting for? She should blow it out of the sky,” Vasouvy muttered, and as she spoke the cordon battleship did just that, shooting a sizzling arc of white at the black ship.

The light danced over its helm, and then it simply reversed away, disappearing in an instant.

“Fast,” Yari said. “Never seen anything that fast.”

The ruins had fallen in a rumble of sound, but now everything was silent.

Mak slowed, breathing a little harder. He turned to look back.

“They're completely gone,” Nyha whispered. And then out of the black rubble, a stream of blue light speared upward.

“What's that?” Vasouvy asked.

“It looks like . . .” Nyha frowned.

“The generator.” Mak turned away again. “Run. Erenn, Goojie, get ready for a hard exit.”

Hard exit?

Nyha clung to him, looking over an invisible shoulder as the single stream of blue turned into eight or more. The air around her seemed to thin out, and dust whipped up into a storm, stinging her face, forcing her to close her eyes.

“We're losing grav and atmosphere.” Mak spoke calmly, and she guessed he was talking to someone on his comm set. “Send hard extraction units. The doc's going to have to share my air, so be quick.” He gave a string of coordinates, and then started running even faster through the howling gale that had whipped up an impenetrable sand storm.

She had no choice but to shut her eyes as a massive explosion of bright blue light flashed over them. She pressed her face against Mak's shoulder and held on as Cepi turned into a living hell.