I felt a prickle of dread run up my spine.
Grannt interjected, “There was some speculation that the incident at the landing pad might be connected to some of the prisoners. We’re here to provide extra security.”
“I see,” said the man. His rat-like stare shifted to Kira. glancing down at her name tag. “What about you, Lieutenant Rucker? Do you believe that there is an imminent threat to this detention block?”
“It’s possible. That’s what we’re here to find out.”
“That makes sense, Lieutenant Rucker. I have one more question for you. Why is it that your name tag says Sergeant Zeivel?”
Time stood still for a moment, as we realized that our ruse had been exposed.
Then Grannt exploded into action, slamming the man against the wall with enough force so that his head bounced once and then whipped back and bounced again. Grannt caught the man on the second bounce and dragged him through the doorway.
The rest of us bunched up in back of Grannt, shielding him and his victim from view, as we all pushed through the door.
“Did you waste him?” TenSix asked. “I hope you did.”
“Quiet!” I checked the room, hand on my blaster. We stood in a small, spartan office. Possibly belonging to the man who lay crumpled at Grannt’s feet.
“Shut the door,” Grannt said.
“I’m sorry I let him trip me up like that,” Kira said. “That was stupid.”
“No,” I said. “What was stupid was that guy calling us out on it instead of summoning reinforcements. What did he think we’d do?”
Grannt shook his head. “The Mayir are wired differently than us. They are indoctrinated from the time they are born to respect order and authority. A real Mayir sergeant would have been frozen with shame.”
“Yeah, well, thankfully you didn’t freeze,” Kira said. “And we should keep moving.”
After he took the man’s key stick, Grannt lifted the man and dragged him to the desk chair as if he was moving a half-filled sack of garbage. Which probably wasn’t far off the mark.
Kira cracked the door and checked the hallway. Then she motioned us all to follow.
At the end of the corridor, we made one more turn and then found ourselves at the entrance of detention block 7812. Our key stick worked just fine to allow us to pass through the reinforced security cage that led to the interior of the block.
“I think you should stay here,” I said to Kira.
“What? Why?”
“Your parents will recognize you, and they might say something. Me and Grannt will go.”
“No—”
“He’s right,” Grannt said. “If the other prisoners know your parents have been freed, they could tell the Mayir.”
“Well, they sure as hell will recognize you as well,” Kira said to me.
“You both stay,” Grannt said. “Cover this hallway. I’ll get them.”
Kira didn’t like it, but she admitted that we were right. “Just hurry. Every second we stay in this place makes it more likely that we’ll never get out alive.”
After the big man left, I tried to reassure Kira. “You know, we’ve been pretty lucky so far. I have a feeling that our luck will hold.”
“I don’t believe in luck.”
“Okay… Dynark, then.”
“I don’t believe in Dynark, either.”
“Well, yeah, no one actually believes in Dynark. Except maybe the Order of the Gargoyle. But it’s comforting to think that there might be someone, some entity looking out for you. Don’t you think?”
“We’ve been over this before, Jannigan. I believe we make our own luck.”
“What you call ‘luck’ is simply probability taken personally,” TenSix said.
Kira rolled her eyes. “Let’s stop with the chitchat and keep our eyes on the hallway.”
We waited in silence for what seemed like ten minutes or even fifteen. And then Grannt rounded the corner—with Biella and Thastus Lark.
“Jannigan Beck!” Thastus exclaimed, clapping me on the shoulder. “I should have known you had a hand in this. You’re just like your father: a man of adventure.”
Kira embraced Biella stiffly. “I’m glad you are okay, Mother.”
“Who said I’m okay?”
“The family reunion can wait,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”
“Lead on, Beck!” Thastus said.
“First, we need you to put these on.” Grannt held up a pair of stun cuffs.
“Is that absolutely necessary?” Biella asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said, unclipping the cuffs from my belt. “This place is crawling with guards. This has to look real.”
“He’s right, Mother,” Kira said.
The Larks continued to grumble, but they put on the cuffs.
“I hope you have the key,” Thastus said. “Although I probably should have asked you before I put these dastardly things around my wrists.”
“We’ll free you the second we’re clear,” I said.
We moved through the security cage and retraced our steps back through the cell block, passing through the sally port into the long hallway where we had encountered the man in the suit.
I was pretty nervous myself, but the Larks were ten times as nervous. Thastus looked so pale and sweaty I was worried that he was close to having a heart attack.
“How much further?” Biella asked under her breath.
“Not much,” Kira said. “To the tunnel.”
“We’re tunneling out of here?”
“No, Mother. I can’t explain right now. Just, please keep up.”
We rounded the corner and nearly smacked into a pair of troopers.
“Hold up,” one of them said. “What’s going on?”
“Prisoner transfer,” Grannt said quickly. I guess he didn’t trust me to lead this conversation.
“Where are you taking them at this hour?” the trooper asked.
“Next cell block,” Grannt said.
The two troopers looked at each other. “With the Shima? That doesn’t sound right. Let’s see the transit orders.”
Grannt played it cool. “Sure.”
He extended one of the key-sticks towards the trooper’s Aura until the data transfer chime sounded.
“I thought it was weird too,” I said. “But orders are orders.”
“Uh huh.” The lead trooper had his head down, hunched over his Aura, flipping through the transmitted orders.
Grannt subtly motioned to Kira, but the intent was clear. She ushered her parents several steps away.
“This is all wrong,” the trooper said. “These orders are for a transfer in
