Chapter 18
“Damn it!” Corey yelled. A few of the Drastan warriors had been rushing the building when one of them stepped on a hidden explosive, making it go off. These bastards had set traps for them.
Liam yelled at his warriors. “Pull back now!”
Sr. Commander Bond acted. “We need to scan for more mines and traps. Get the sensors and spread out. Do not move without the command.”
“Yes sir!” one of the warriors answered before running off.
Corey paced back and forth in frustration. Thanks to that warrior’s mistake, their presence was now known, losing them whatever element of surprise they might have had. Would the leader retaliate and kill Nix?
“We’ll get her out of there,” Liam told him, coming up and putting a calming hand on his shoulder.
Corey shook it off. He didn’t want to be calm, he wanted to get his woman back. Okay, that was totally caveman thinking, but he couldn’t help it, he loved her. He didn’t know what the future held for either of them, but he wanted the opportunity to find out. He was desperate to do something.
One of the warriors with the sensors came up to them. “We’ve detected about fifteen hidden explosives.”
“How did fifteen explosive devices go missing and no one know about it?” Sr. Commander Bond asked incredulously. No one responded to that question, but the tension was thick in the air. Corey would hate to be in the room when Sr. Commander Bond asked that of Commander Estro.
“Can we deactivate them?” Liam asked the warrior with the sensor.
“It would take a lot of time to do that and we would need more warriors to assist.”
“We don’t have the time for that. We need to breach the building ASAP. What about the other side of the building? Are there any other entrances?” Corey asked.
“We haven’t found one.”
“What about belowground? Wasn’t a digger one of the pieces of equipment missing? They could be building their own tunnels to move around.” Corey asked.
“Our handheld sensors won’t be able to pick up any of that. Those types of tunnels would be deeper underground than our sensor can detect. We would have to request assistance from the command ship,” Liam told him.
“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s get this—” Corey was interrupted by another explosion, except this one came from inside the building. He stared in shock with the others as half the building came down. “Nix!” Please God, let her be okay.
*****
Nix covered her head with her arms. She had finally gotten a closer look at the trapdoor in the floor when the other male was taking her to Frazier’s room. She had pulled free of his hold and turned to punch him hard. Once, twice, and then the third hit had the male going down for the count. She yanked the rope off over her head and threw it to the floor.
Not wasting any time, she pulled the detonator she had stolen out of her pocket and tossed it into the armory. Then she dashed back to the trapdoor and opened it up. She dropped down into the hole and closed the trapdoor behind her just as the first set of explosives went off.
She wasn’t sure what was in the tunnel she’d dropped into, or where it led, but she followed it further down, trying to get as far away from the explosions as she could. She found a flashlight on a small alcove. Turning it on, she shone it around the area. It looked like they were creating their own underground tunnel network. The tunnel she was in split into two directions. One looked like it was headed back toward the subway tunnel. The other probably led to one of the domes.
The tunnel shook as more of the explosives went off. The building above was probably caving in, which meant that she was going to be buried alive if she hadn’t gotten far enough away. She took some comfort in the thought that at least if she did die, she had hopefully put an end to the resistance. Without Frazier, the humans would be less inclined to rise up against her people. Those she loved would be safe.
She sat down on the floor of the tunnel with the flashlight, listening to the explosions. She bet it was a spectacular sight. When she had been left alone in the armory, she had set timers on all the the detonators she could find, keyed to activate in waves after the detonator she had tossed in there. No way could anyone survive that amount of firepower. The flames would burn for hours, even if water was brought to knock it out. Not that Earth had that much water to waste aboveground anyway. She doubted the domes would allow their water supply to be used to put out the fire. The flames would most likely be allowed to die out eventually on their own. There was nothing else of value they could damage aboveground.
“I’m holding on to hope,” she whispered out loud. Hope was all she had. Then part of the tunnel roof fell on top of her.
*****
Corey felt like someone had squeezed his heart until he couldn’t feel it beating anymore. Nix had been in that building when it exploded. And it wasn’t just one explosion, but one after another, multiple explosions that kept them from reaching the building. Even after the last of the explosives went off, the flames had continued to rage. They had spotted a few bodies but hadn’t been able to recover them yet for identification.
“What caused the explosions?” Sr. Commander Bond asked.
“I think Nix must have done it,” Liam answered.
Unable to speak, Corey just nodded in agreement. Nix had a hand in this, he just knew it. Maybe she had been trying to escape and a fight broke out that led to the explosions. Or maybe she had set it off on purpose if she didn’t see any other choice. He looked up as a warrior rushed over to them holding a sensor.
“Sir, with the command ship’s assistance, we were able to detect a tunnel under the building.”
Hope sprung up inside him. “We need diggers.”
“I’ll get my warriors up here with diggers immediately,” Warrior Davens said. Corey had forgotten the man was still there.
“Thank you,” Corey told him fervently. He turned to Liam. “Do you think she’s alive?”
Liam gave him a small smile. “If there’s a way to survive, Nix will find it. She’s been taking care of herself for a long time. Even as a child, she was scrappy, fighting with boys bigger than her to prove she could. Nix is very smart and wants to live, so she will fight to survive.”
“I hope you’re right,” Corey said, staring into the flames.
“Me too.”