As much as she wanted to, Lina resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder to see if the Trivator was following her. She could sense that his body was shutting down. As much as she would love to feel sympathetic toward him, such a feeling now wouldn’t do anything but get them captured or killed.

Too many times in the past, she had noticed the same situation among those fighting back home. Hell, she’d even felt it herself on more than one occasion. Sometimes there had been an overwhelming urge to just give up and let whatever was going to happen occur.

Lina shook her head at Andy when her friend turned to look back at her with a worried expression. If there was one thing she had learned when fighting these bastards back on Earth, it was that they didn’t give up—ever. Her hope was that somewhere deep inside the man behind her, there was a steel spine and a cast iron will to survive.

Andy slowed as she reached the low wall running around the roof of the building. The buildings on this section of the Spaceport butted up against the floor of the section above it. Stacked like the game with the wooden blocks, all it would take was to move the wrong one to make it collapse and bring the entire Spaceport crashing down.

Lina paused when she heard the echo of shouts from below. Glancing over the side, she saw several men running down the alley toward the entrance to the building, frantically issuing orders for the guards to spread out. Their attention was momentarily captured by the Waxian angrily striding down the alley five stories below. Fortunately, neither the Waxian nor his guards had looked up yet.

“Life is about to get very exciting,” she said, nodding to Andy.

Andy grimaced and looked over the ledge. “Tell me about it,” she said, turning to look back at the open door. “We need to bar the door. You get our ticket out of here across to the other building, I’ll try to delay them as best I can.”

Lina started to shake her head, but realized Andy was right. The Trivator seemed to have bonded with her and was more likely to follow her lead than Andy’s. Turning, she faced the warrior whose eyes were glued on her.

“Follow me,” she instructed as she shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants and reached out her hands.

She breathed a sigh of relief when he automatically gripped her hands. Pulling him forward, she stepped up onto the planks they had laid across the yawning gap between the buildings.

Lina slowly walked backwards. “Focus on my face,” she ordered.

Behind him, she could see Andy disappear through the doorway again. Her gaze moved back to the Trivator holding her hands in a surprisingly gentle grip. He stepped up onto the plank.

Her stomach twisted when she felt the uncontrollable trembling in his hands. Sweat glistened on his brow, and his face was very pale under his naturally dark complexion. She could see the wild expression in his eyes and knew he was fighting to maintain the fragile hold he had on his control.

“How long have they been drugging you?” she asked, moving backwards, taking one step at a time.

“I don’t… remember. It… it feels like forever,” he admitted.

Lina squeezed his hands when she saw him start to look down. “Focus on my face,” she sharply ordered before softening her tone. “How long have you been here?”

A shudder ran through him. “Too long…. I… Everything is a blur. My head…. It feels like…,” he started to say before his voice faded.

He shook his head. Lina could immediately tell that was a huge mistake when he groaned and started to sway. Fear swept through her. If he fell, he’d take them both down.

“Close your eyes,” she ordered.

He started to shake his head again, but stopped. “I can’t…,” he started to say.

Lina stopped and pulled him closer to her. She tightly squeezed his hands. Her gaze remained locked on him.

“What’s your name?” she asked in a soft voice.

He blinked. “Edge. I am called Edge,” he replied.

“Edge, I need you to trust me. Please, we are almost there. Close your eyes,” Lina insisted.

She watched indecision and confusion flash through his dazed eyes. Behind them, she saw Andy thrust a metal bar in the door panel before running across the roof. Andy paused, her concerned gaze locking on Edge. Lina jerked her head for Andy to come forward.

“We’ve got to move, Lina. What I did won’t hold them for long, and they are bound to work their way up here,” Andy warned, coming up behind Edge.

Lina felt Edge stiffen and start to turn. She gripped his hands and pulled him closer to her again. He was very close to losing it.

“Edge, honey, I need you to close your eyes and trust Andy and me. We’ve got this. We won’t let anything happen to you. I promise,” Lina said.

“You should leave me, little goddess,” he murmured, closing his eyes.

Lina saw Andy’s eyes widen and her mouth silently repeat the words ‘little goddess’ with a raised eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, Lina shook her head at her friend. They were in a critical situation. Now was not the time to go into the political correctness of words.

“Andy is going to hold you steady while I guide you across,” Lina continued.

Andy made a face at her and quickly shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants. Lina nodded grimly, and they began working their way across the plank to the other roof. It seemed to take forever before Lina felt the drop off to the roof.

Stepping down, she quietly instructed Edge to step down after her. Once they were all down, Andy took his one side and she took the other. Edge was done.

“The planks…,” Andy said, looking over her shoulder.

Lina shook her head, grunting under Edge’s weight. “Doesn’t matter now. We won’t be coming back here. Get him to the chute. He needs medical attention,” she huffed.

Andy nodded, looking at Edge’s pale features. “Do you think Bailey will be able to help him?” she asked, staggering under Edge’s collapsing weight.

“I sure as hell hope so or we are going to be living in the sewers for a very long time,” Lina replied.

Lina slid around behind Edge and supported his upper body, while Andy grabbed his legs and lifted them onto the lip of the chute. Slowly crab-walking forward, Lina pushed Edge’s now unconscious body as far as she could into the chute without losing her grip on him. She would have to slide down with him. There was no way she was going to risk him breaking his neck now that they had made it this far.

“Follow me as fast as you can. It won’t take them long to figure out what we did once they reach the roof,” Lina ordered, climbing into the chute and wrapping her arms around Edge.

“See you at the bottom, Lina,” Andy said, pushing on Lina’s back to give her momentum.

Lina locked her hands together around Edge’s broad chest. She could feel the bones of his ribs through the leather vest. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she used their weight and her legs to help guide them down the chute and as a way to slow them down when they reached the bottom. Less than a minute later, Mirela and Bailey were helping her lay him down and cover him up in the cart. Andy handed her a cloak. All hell was about to break loose and they were all anxious to get out of there before it did.