Chapter 17
Frazier was seriously crazy, Nix had decided. They had been walking aboveground for almost an hour. Frazier and his men didn’t seem to be worried about the exposure to radiation at all. Where were they going? The nearest dome that she knew of was in the opposite direction, as was the closest subway station entrance.
“How long are we going to be walking up here?”
“We’re almost home, pet.”
“Home? What home are you talking about?” She froze in mid-stride, only to be jerked back into motion. The building they had been approaching had initially appeared to be like the rest of the city, with partially destroyed walls, bricks and stones falling down everywhere. It looked like the usual ruins left over from the nuclear disaster. But then something shiny on the other side of the half-collapsed walls caught her eyes as they got closer. “What in the hell…”
“Do you like it, pet? My people have been working hard to build it. We’re missing a few more elements...but we’ll have those soon enough. We’re almost moved in already.”
She got closer and saw more of it. The shiny thing that had caught her eye was actually the metallic side of another building. It had no windows, just a door with secure locks and security cameras mounted above it. There weren’t any people standing guard on the outside, but the way the males walked in a strategic path to the door made her think the ground there was probably seeded with traps.
By the stars! The resistance rebels were building their own base aboveground. Did Commander Estro know about anything about this? All she and Corey were told about the mission was there had been issues at the construction sites. It was true that Corey had found out from the people in the tribes that some supplies and equipment were missing, but to build something like this… it would have to be a lot of supplies and equipment taken, not to mention the need for workers to build all of it. With the radiation storms, it would be hard to locate the base from the command ship. This was not good.
They waited until the secure lock was deactivated by someone inside the building. The door opened to reveal a thin older man with a gun in his hand. He looked at Frazier, then at Nix. Surprise shown in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything, just moved to the side to let them in. Entering the building, she noticed that it had twelve-foot ceilings. The hallway opened up immediately into a large room with a table and chairs. There were cots to one side of the room, while the other side had a kitchenette. She also counted five closed doors, though she had no idea where they led. This place was definitely bigger on the inside than it’s disguised appearance outside indicated.
The man who opened the door finally spoke. “We’ve made progress with the lower level, but the digging machine broke.”
“Send men to get another one.”
Crap! They were digging their own tunnels. That would make it even more difficult to track them. She looked for signs of where they were digging. There was a place on the opposite side of the room where it looked like a handle was set into the floor. She couldn’t see it clearly, though; she needed to get closer.
“Yes sir.” The man looked at Nix with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and anger. “What is she doing here?”
“I’ve decided to keep her.”
“Keep her? Like a pet?”
“Yes, she’s my pet. Mine. Tell the others that no one else is to touch her but me. If they do, I’ll rip their hands off and stuff their mouths with the appendages.”
“She’s a distraction, Frazier.”
Frazier, clearly enraged at being spoken to this way, stepped up into the other male’s space. “I’m the leader here. If you don’t like how I run things, we can find you somewhere else to go.”
Nix felt shivers go down her spine at Frazier’s casual menace. He would send the male somewhere else, sure, but it wouldn’t be any place on Earth. She could see that the males surrounding her were tired, desperate, and dangerous. But Frazier was worse than all of them combined, because he was clever and ambitious. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill one of his own if they defied him in any way. She had to continue to play the helpless female a little longer, until she could find a way to escape without having to take on so many men.
Frazier took the rope and pulled her along showing her the building. “This is the kitchenette; I’ll have one of the men fix you something to eat as long as you behave. We have two bathrooms with shower stalls but we haven’t got the water set up yet. It’s still pretty new. That’s our bedroom over there, so we’ll have lots of privacy.”
Our bedroom? She clenched her fists. Privacy was the last thing she wanted right now, at least with him. Instead of arguing that she wouldn’t be staying, she asked, “What are those rooms for?” She pointed to the two doors to the left of his indicated bedroom.
He strode with cocky pride to one door and opened it negligently. “This is where we store food and clothing, boring stuff, really.” He then walked to the next door and opened it with far more enthusiasm. “This is where the fun is.”
She walked inside and took a slow turn, taking in the room with horror at what she was seeing. There were wall-to-wall shelves filled with human guns, explosives, ammunition, as well as Drastan blasters and timers for explosives. The resistance had an armory and was building their own underground network. This was bad. A motion at the door had her backing up against one of the shelves.
“What the hell are you doing showing her our weapons?” the thin man yelled. He pointed a gun at her.
Frazier turned his back on her, dropping his hold on the rope. “What did I tell you about questioning my authority?”
The man realized his mistake, immediately trying to backtrack. “But she...she’s the enemy. We can’t just let her walk in and see all our secrets!”
Frazier lashed out, hitting the man in the chin and knocking him out of the armory. Frazier followed after him, not yet finished. The thin man tried to strike back. The two of them clutched at each other, twisting and trying to tip the other over. They both went down, falling into the central area of the main room. The other men circled around, watching and getting ready to help their leader, but from where she was standing, able to see over the shoulders of the other men, he didn’t need any help.
Taking advantage of their distraction, she worked the bindings off her wrists and glanced around the armory, taking swift stock of what she had to work with. She wanted to escape while they were still distracted, but she also couldn’t allow them to keep all these weapons. Drastans could die, and humans definitely would die, if they attacked her people, and then tensions between the humans and Drastans would spiral out of control and force Commander Estro to do something more drastic. She could see it now. She had no choice; she had to take out the armory before she could leave. Her eyes lit on something that could be quite useful.
A plan bloomed in her mind, and she acted on it immediately. She knew she wouldn’t have much more time alone. She could already hear the fight breaking up. She knew Frazier better now and was certain that even if the guy challenging him didn’t end up dead as a result of the fight, his life was definitely forfeit. It was the risk a person took when they decide to follow a madman like Frazier, especially if they then dared to question his authority. Lights flashed and a beeping sounded from one of the speakers above her head. Her time alone was up. Frazier came in and grabbed a weapon, then caught up the end of the rope, pulling her behind him.
“Everyone grab a weapon!” Frazier yelled.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Your buddies have found us out.”
She couldn’t help but feel thrilled that Corey was there. She sincerely hoped he hadn’t come alone, though. No, she reassured herself, he wouldn’t do that, she trained him better than that.
Frazier pulled her to the last closed door in the room. It opened into a room filled with with monitors, so this it must be their security area. There were apparently cameras positioned outside in many locations around the building, not just over the front door. She watched the monitors along with Frazier and his men.
“There! I see movement over at the third building to the right,” the man sitting at the console said.
“How did they find us? We covered our tracks and made decoys to throw them off.” Frazier glared at his men, then at her. She met his eyes defiantly. “What did you do?”
She shrugged. “Hey, I’ve been tied up the whole time.”
He grabbed her hands and found the cuts on most of her digits. “You left a blood trail and now your Drastan hound dogs have tracked us down!”
“Told you she was trouble,” the thin man groaned from the doorway. He was clutching at his ribs, which were probably broken.
The building suddenly shook as a blaster was fired at the door. “How are the locks holding up?”
“Good so far.”
Frazier pointed at one of his men. “Take her to my bedroom and lock her in.”
The injured man tried to block the doorway. “We should give her to them. It would be distraction enough to allow us long enough to escape.”
“We’re not running, we’re holding our ground. It will be the first test of how well we can hold up against the enemy.”
“This is suicide! Kill the bitch and leave her here for the Drastan assholes so we can get away!”
Frazier calmly raised his gun and shot the thin man in the middle of his forehead. Everyone in the room stared in shock as the thin man fell to the ground.
“Take her to my room!” Frazier ordered, already turning away, completely unconcerned.
Nix was jerked into motion by the rope around her neck and she grimaced as she stumbled over the dead body on the floor. An explosion from outside the building had her jumping. “What was that?”
“We planted mines around the building. We must have gotten one of those bastards!”
Fear filled her at the thought Corey might have been blown up. She had to make her move and escape. She just had to wait for the right moment.