Chapter 12
Corey shoved past the warriors in front of him at the entrance to the building where the healers were supposedly located. He noticed that a man was lying on the ground with several other men kneeling next to him with medical equipment. Looking around the room, he didn’t see Nix, and that bothered him greatly.
“What happened?” he demanded.
The Drastans looked at him in surprise. They weren’t used to a human speaking so forcefully with them. Fortunately, the warrior that had brought him, Warrior Davens, backed his authority up immediately. “This is Warrior Nash. He’s been training on the command ship and is here on Commander Estro’s orders.”
Corey repeated his earlier question. “What happened here?”
The healer on the floor mumbled as he was pulled to a sitting position. He looked up at Corey in confusion. “Are you working with Lieutenant Saber?”
“Yes, I am. Where the hell is she?”
“I was getting ready to take her to see the patient that came in yesterday who had been sedated and needed monitoring for another night. When I stepped out of my office, the lights went out and I was hit in the back of the head. I didn’t see who hit me, but I could hear scuffling going on behind me. I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop them from taking her.”
Fuck! Corey ran a hand through his hair. His stomach was rolling with anxiety. Someone had taken Nix. He needed to keep his emotions under control, think clearly. Flipping out won’t help the situation, it wouldn’t save Nix.
“Did anyone see a woman being dragged away?” Corey looked at the men surrounding him.
One of the warriors stepped forward. “The lights in this area went down for about ten minutes. By the time we were able to repair the lights and get the power back on, she was gone and there was no trace of who took her. I will send warriors out to question the humans but...most likely, they won’t speak up out of fear.”
Corey agreed that the people in the tribe might not speak up, but there was always a chance someone would be brave. There had to be some other way to find out what happened. If the resistance was just going to kill her outright, the Drastans would have found her body already. God, the thought of her lying somewhere hurt or possibly dead caused a sharp pain in his chest.
“What about cameras? Do you have a security feed that might show us something?”
Warrior Davens pulled out his handheld computer immediately. “Yes. I’ll see if it caught anything.”
“Great, but we need to send out a team of warriors to search for her. If the resistance has her, there’s no telling what they might do to her,” Corey told them. By the looks on their faces, they agreed with his assessment. When the warriors just stood there staring at each other, Corey went into action.
“Look, I’m searching for her no matter what, with or without your help.” He stepped past the warriors next to the entrance to the building.
“Warrior Nash!” the warrior who had spoken earlier objected. “You need to follow my orders, I’m in charge of security in this section.”
“My orders come straight from Commander Estro and supercede yours. We don’t have the time to waste, we need to find her now!” Corey held the other man’s eyes until he nodded, accepting Corey’s authority.
“Come with me to review the feeds. The rest of you separate into three teams of two and start searching while you question the tribe,” Warrior Davens ordered. The men finally began to move into action.
Corey began to follow Warrior Davens but paused to turn back to the healer who was being helped to his feet. “Is that patient still here?”
“I’m not sure. According to our digital records, he hasn’t been released by the healers yet.”
“Show me where he’s supposed to be,” Corey ordered. If the injured man was still there, he might be able to give them information on where Nix had been taken.
There were two large open areas with beds lining the walls, five beds against each wall. Corey spotted a man laying down on his side with his back to them. As they got closer to the bed, he couldn’t tell if the man was sleeping or not. Corey kept his hand close to his blaster just in case.
One of the healers walked closer, then stopped short. “He’s not hooked up to his monitor.” The healer leaned over him then glanced up with shock on his face. “He’s dead.”
What the fuck? Corey moved around the bed to get a look at the man. “He has the same build of guy we’re looking for, and he has the same injuries as one of the three men that attacked us. We need to get that search party going right now. If the resistance has no problems killing one of their own, they won’t hesitate to make an example out of Nix.”
“Come with me,” Warrior Davens said, moving quickly back down the hallway.
Corey followed Warrior Davens into the healer’s office. Davens looked over at Corey as he took a seat. “Do you have a computer?”
“No, we came down with limited equipment, and when we were attacked up top, our communicators got messed up and we lost our computer.”
“You were attacked aboveground?”
“Yes. Nix wanted to proceed with our mission by trying to locate the men who attacked us first. Then we would examine the progress and issues in rebuilding the tunnels. She had planned to notify Commander Estro after we had more information for him.”
Davens handed Corey an extra computer. “I will contact the commander to let him know what has happened.”
“Wait on that until we find out where Nix is.”
“I must report any altercations with the resistance. It’s protocol.”
“Damn the protocols! We don’t have evidence yet that the people that attacked us were with the resistance. They could be just a couple of humans who decided to rob us and got overzealous.”
“I don’t like this,” Warrior Davens said as he pulled up the feeds. “There’s quite a bit to go through. I’m sending some to your computer. With both of us watching, we should be able to get through more faster, hopefully catch something that will help.”
Watching the feeds from the surveillance cameras felt like it took hours, though the clock confirmed it had only been minutes. Corey wanted to throw the computer down and storm out to search for Nix himself. So far, the tribespeople weren’t stepping forward with any information. They were definitely scared of the resistance. He couldn’t blame them. Though the Drastans have done a lot to help improve and save their lives, they would eventually leave Earth, and the humans remaining would have to learn to deal with one another. It was a difficult position for all of them.
Why had he allowed Nix to go off on her own? Granted she was the lead on the mission and more than competent, but it was still too dangerous for her to move around in the tunnels without help or support from a human. That was the whole purpose of him being there on the mission with her. He was supposed to be her human guide. He had failed her. The thought of what might be happening to her ate at him as he sat here, unable to do anything.
Corey watched the feed, rewinding at any point where he thought he saw something. He paused when Warrior Davens leaned across the desk. “Where does this lead?”
Corey leaned forward to look at the other man’s screen. The video feed was frozen on an image of a man in a hoodie opening a door with no handle. The door wasn’t marked.
“I think it leads to a maintenance corridor. With the new Drastan power technology, the old wiring areas are no longer needed and were supposed to be blocked. This door must have been overlooked because it blended into the tunnel wall. Did you see Nix being taken through there?”
“No, but if you rewind, there is a short period of time that there was a flash and the lights went out around the camera. When the lights came back on, it caused the images to blur temporarily. This image was caught a little before the lights flashed.”
“What area is this door in?” Corey asked.
“I’m not sure. There are several locations this could be. It’s one of our older cameras that we had not set up a designation for.”
Corey stood up. “We need to get as many warriors as possible to spread out and look for that door. Let me speak with the tribe leader to get a few trustworthy humans who might know this area better. I don’t want this to spread and cause more panic among the humans in fear of retaliation.”
“Agreed, I’ll organize the warriors while you contact Commander Estro and the tribe leader. The commander needs to be aware of the situation and possibly use his contacts to get assistance from the dome leaders.”
He had to admit that Warrior Davens was right. Commander Estro needed to be made aware of the situation. The resistance had struck a healer facility, which was supposed to be neutral territory. The Drastans wouldn’t take that well, certainly not along with one of their warriors being kidnapped. The shit was going to hit the fan.
“Fine, get me someone to take me around this area so that I can help look for her when I’m done.”
The warrior handed Corey a communicator as he stood to leave the room. “I’ll take you myself. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
Every minute counted. Corey just hoped that they weren’t too late. He activated the communicator. “This is Corey Nash. I need to speak with Commander Estro.”