I groaned and slipped down the other side.
I found myself in a parking lot rammed with black and white vehicles with lights on their roofs.
“Now which way?” I said.
“We’ve arrived. We’re in the police station’s parking lot. You can find the back entrance over there. According to my reports, many of the cells and interrogation rooms are located at the back of the station. You will most likely find Emma there.”
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
The noises were little more than pops from this distance.
“What’s that?” I said.
“It’s the recoil from a Glock pistol.”
“A Glock?”
“Glock” was the name of fruit back home.
My all-time favorite fruit.
“What’s dessert got to do with anything?” I said.
“Glock is the brand of a popular pistol here on Earth.”
“Oh.”
I approached the door and pulled on it but the lock was engaged.
I peered through the window.
Black lines crisscrossed the glass and through the latticework I made out a long hallway packed with uniformed earthlings clutching these “Glocks.”
Their attention was focused on the opposite end of the hallway.
They aimed and opened fire.
Strangely named though they might be, these Glocks were powerful little weapons.
“Can you get this door open?” I said. “I don’t think me smashing it open right now is a good idea. They’ll think I’m part of the attack.”
“Give me a moment.”
After what felt like an eternity, there was an audible “click” as the lock slipped aside.
I shoved the door open and pressed my back to the wall.
I peered at strange white boxes arranged around the inner corners of the room.
They had glass fronts and followed me wherever I moved.
Odd.
I peered around the corner at the uniformed figures holding position and still firing at the blind corner at the opposite end of the hallway.
They had blown so many holes in it that it would give away any moment.
Not that destroying a wall or putting those bullets of theirs into Iav was going to help them.
The Shadow a.k.a. the Aror’m were as hard to kill as we M’rora.
The best method was to escape them.
Often, that was the only real method you had of survival.
Run and hide.
The thought churned me up inside to admit that but I didn’t want to take the risk of losing Emma to this monster.
I peered down the hall at the officers firing at the far end.
My Shadow still wasn’t in sight.
That was a good thing.
It meant I had a little time.
My Shadow might have reached the police station first but he hadn’t entered through the best entrance.
I said in a hushed voice:
“Computer, locate the—”
I paused when I noticed the signs over the three doors closest to me.
INTERROGATION ROOM ONE
INTERROGATION ROOM TWO
INTERROGATION ROOM THREE
“Never mind,” I said.
I glanced at the uniformed figures down the hallway again.
Their attention was taken up with the demon elsewhere in the station.
It meant I had some time.
Not a lot, perhaps. But some.
I took a deep breath and stepped out.
I edged down the corridor.
I heard heavy footsteps approach from behind and hastily ducked into the first interrogation room.
It was empty and there was no sign of Emma anywhere.
I didn’t shut the door behind me but kept it open an inch.
I waited for the marching boots to pass.
Another contingent of officers.
Good luck, I thought. You’re never going to stop him with those peashooters.
But they could slow him down.
I edged along the hall and resumed moving down it.
I peered through the next tiny window in the door and found interrogation room two empty too.
She had to be in the last room.
Of course she was.
I peered through the final window and found this room empty too.
I glanced back down the corridor.
Now the officers openly screamed and bellowed at the blind corner.
My Shadow was coming.
I didn’t have time to waste.
“Computer?” I said. “Locate Emma.”
“You lost her again? Are you sure you want to be with her? A fated mate is meant to be something sacred, not something you lose more often than you find.”
“Can you just locate her, please?” I said, growing tired of Computer’s uppishness.
“According to reports, she is being held in Interrogation Room Three.”
“That’s where I am now! She’s not here. Find her!”
“I have checked every camera in the station. She was escorted into the room forty-eight minutes ago. They show no sign of her leaving. If she is not still in that room, she is nowhere.”
With no other option, I shoved the door open and stepped inside.
“Hello?” I said. “Is anyone there? Emma? Are you—?”
Smack!
Something thick and heavy snapped across the back of my head.
I stumbled forward and fell to my knees.
A figure dumped the chair leg she’d swung at me and bolted for the open doorway.
I flung out an arm and caught hold of her ankle.
I tightened my grip and pulled her toward me.
Emma yelped as she fell face forward to the floor.
I grabbed her other leg with my free hand and yanked her back inside the room.
“Stop struggling,” I said.
Emma punched me in the face and brought her knee up, catching me between the legs.
It made me feel as sick as a dog.
I wrapped my arms around her and pinned her arms to her sides.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “Help! Somebody! I’ve been kidnapped—!”
I wrapped a hand over her mouth.
“Will you be quiet?” I said. “If my Shadow knows I found you, he’s going to tear us both to pieces!”
Emma froze and stared at me, her big eyes peering at me over my hand clasped to her mouth.
“I’m going to take my hand off and I don’t want you to scream, okay?” I said. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
She didn’t say a word and stopped struggling.
I eased my hand off her mouth, ready to press it back over her if necessary.
She stared at me as I did, her breaths rasping in her nostrils.
I swear, if she made one more noise, I would hogtie her and carry her over my shoulder.
But she didn’t make a noise.
Yet.
I eased back and released her limbs.
I got to my feet and moved slowly, my knees still buckling slightly
