Where the hell was Ana-Zhi? It was bad that we were separated. Especially now with the Mayir on to us. I tried to locate her on my Aura, but then I remembered that we had decided to go in dark: no beacons that the enemy could track. It looked like we were both on our own for a while.
I made slow progress winding my way through the maze, but had to backtrack several times when I found myself at a dead end.
Finally I glimpsed the faint glow of daylight up ahead that probably meant an exterior window.
Yeah.
I ran over and cautiously stuck my head out of the window, trying to orient myself. Outside a storm had rolled into the city and the wind was picking up, blowing the crude banners and tents in the empty street below.
I tilted my visor up for a better view and immediately smelled the strong tang of oily smoke mixed with rain. My eyes roved up and down the street, searching for Ana-Zhi.
Nothing.
The conflict must have scattered the Obaswoon villagers. There was no sign of anyone for as far as I could see.
Low thunder rumbled in the distance. I took a deep breath and tried to force myself to think straight.
I couldn’t hunt around the entire city for Ana-Zhi. Especially with the Mayir commandos searching for us—not to mention the hostile locals.
No, standard battle team protocol was crystal clear about this particular situation. Without a way to track each other, I needed to return to our last staging point—which was the ledge inside the Well of Forever. I’d wait there as long as was reasonable and then, if she didn’t return, I’d make my way back to the ship. Yes, I was well-trained to deal with this eventuality, but that didn’t make me feel any better about leaving Ana-Zhi.
But I had to keep moving. I checked my AuraView for the location of the Well. It wasn’t far: less than one klick to the south. Maybe I’d rendezvous with Ana-Zhi on my way back to the Well.
There were more ornamental ledges and overhangs on this exterior wall, so it wasn’t too tough for me to climb down to the street below. I had just reached the ground when I heard the metallic whir of something coming at me fast.
I rolled away just as a jiren drone dove down from the sky and blasted a volley of shock bolts where I’d been a second before.
Cursing, I drew my RB and tried to steady myself enough to get a reasonable shot off. But I was way off and the jiren was already in evasive/defense mode.
I had no other choice but to run.
The drone would follow, of course, but as long as I shot at it the jiren would jump back into ev/def. I sprinted down a side alley that was cluttered with abandoned stalls, dodging as I ran.
There was some commotion behind me, but I didn’t turn. I just kept running, turning another corner—
Straight into a Mayir patrol.
This time there was no evading them. Three riflemen, a shredder gunner, and one man holding an RB on a prisoner.
Shit.
The prisoner was Ana-Zhi. They had stripped off her armor and had her hands bound with stun-cuffs.
“Freeze!” the man with the RB yelled at me. “Drop your weapon. Now, asshole!” This guy was obviously the patrol leader. “You make me tell you again, and your fat friend here gets some instant stomach surgery.” He poked Ana-Zhi with his blaster.
“Fuck you, bro,” she said.
Without even looking at her, the commando whipped his blaster around and smashed it into Ana-Zhi’s head. She cried out and staggered back, blood blooming from her forehead.
Rage flashed through me, but I forced myself to breathe steadily and dropped my own blaster to the ground. Then I raised my hands.
This was the end. We had lost. And it made me sick.
“On your knees!”
I complied, secretly keying the distress signal to Chiraine. I hoped to Dynark that she hadn’t disabled all comm systems yet.
A boot connected with my back and I flew face forward into the dirt. As I choked on dust, rough hands yanked my arms back and I felt a pair of stun-cuffs encircle my wrists.
Yeah, we were fucked.
The man who had pistol-whipped Ana-Zhi hauled her to her feet and pushed her in the direction of one of the riflemen. Then he strode over to inspect me.
“Who are you and where’s Agon Qualt?” he demanded.
“Don’t tell them anything!” Ana-Zhi shouted.
The leader motioned to the rifleman guarding Ana-Zhi. Then the rifleman reversed his weapon and stabbed the rifle’s stock down at her face. She just barely managed to twist away and the rifle delivered a vicious blow to her shoulder instead. Ana-Zhi gasped in pain and crumpled to her knees.
“I asked you a question, asshole!” The leader’s face was right up beside my own and his hot fetid breath turned my stomach.
“Qualt is dead,” I spat. “I killed him myself.” One of basic things you learned in deception training was to lie without hesitation. It projected confidence.
“You sure about that?” He took off his helmet to reveal a lean, pasty pink face and two beady eyes which he squinted at me, trying to look intimidating.
“Look me in the eye and tell me again what happened to Agon Qualt.”
“Judder knife between the shoulder blades,” I said. “He didn’t suffer. Much.”
Pasty-face looked away for a moment, as if trying to digest this information. Then he asked, “Where’s his ship?”
“Nine klicks east of here.”
“You’re lying. We didn’t see anything on our scan.”
I shrugged. “It’s under ten meters of mud. You want me to take you there?”
Without warning he backhanded me in the mouth. My head jerked back and blackness crowded my vision. But I willed myself not to pass out.
“Smart-ass,” Pasty-face muttered. “I’m not going to waste my time with your lies. We’re going to do this the quick way.” He strode over to Ana-Zhi and snapped his blaster up so it was kissing her temple.
“One more
