Mindee Arnett - Avalon

“We’ll need to do it quiet like,” Dax said, and he withdrew a Luke 357 from his shoulder holster. It was outfitted with a silencer.

Jeth swallowed. He didn’t like the idea of killing, ITA soldiers or not.

“No killing,” Sierra said, her voice firm. “Enough people have died because of Renford.”

Dax rolled his eyes. “They don’t make silencers for stunners, sweetheart.”

“I don’t care,” Sierra said.

“Oh, this is just great,” said Shady. “You spent all that time planning how to get us in here and nobody bothered to think about how we’re gonna take out the bad guys?”

A flush blossomed in Sierra’s cheeks.

“Normally,” said Dax, his nostrils flaring, “it doesn’t require any planning. You just take them out the old-fashioned way.”

“I said no.” Sierra’s face was completely red now, but Jeth could tell she wasn’t going to back down.

“I’m with her,” Jeth said. “We shouldn’t kill unless we have to.”

“Okay, Captain,” Dax said, his tone dry. “Then how do you suggest we get in to rescue your sister?”

Jeth looked around, searching for an answer. He spotted a row of safety suits hanging on the far wall behind Dax. They were the kind that a maintenance worker might put on when cleaning up something nasty or dangerous. An idea unfurled in his mind. Sierra wasn’t going to like it, but he was pretty sure it would work.

“Let me see the schematics,” Jeth said, holding out his hand to Sierra. She gave him the tablet. He studied it for a couple of moments, then handed it back. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”

Five minutes later, Jeth and Sierra stepped out of the room into the corridor beyond, both of them wearing safety suits. When Jeth saw the corridor was empty, he waved at Dax and Shady to come out. They emerged, both in suits too, but with guns drawn.

Sierra fingered the collar of her suit. “Are you sure this will work?”

Jeth smacked his lips. “Yep, we need them to think we belong on this ship just long enough to get the drop on them.”

She frowned, still unconvinced.

Jeth smirked, the expression at odds with the nervous energy pulsing through him. “Celeste and I pull this con all the time. Trust me. It’ll work.”

He didn’t wait for a response but headed left down the corridor toward an adjacent hallway. He stopped just before the turn into the brig corridor. He sensed Sierra standing behind him. If she was unhappy about the next part of the plan, she hadn’t complained about it so far, which he was grateful for. Truth be told, he wasn’t thrilled with what was coming next either, but it was the only way to take down the guards without killing them.

Dax and Shady got in position, one on each side of the corridor and as close to the edge as possible without being seen.

Jeth looked at Sierra. “Are you ready?”

She nodded, blinking nervously.

He squelched his own nervousness. “Make it look good.”

“You too.”

Jeth grinned with more bravado than he truly felt. “Always do.”

He stepped toward her, cupping her face with both hands as he leaned down to kiss her. At the same time, he pushed her back into the other corridor, assuming the aggressive role that Celeste normally took. To his surprise, kissing her wasn’t difficult. He hadn’t forgotten the last time they’d done this. It had been pretty wonderful up until she’d shot him.

Sierra resisted him a moment, her body as rigid as metal and her mouth like velvet-covered stone. Jeth’s heartbeat doubled in alarm. This isn’t going to work .

But a second later, she began to kiss him back. Her lips slid open against his, and he breathed her in, savoring the sweet scent and taste of her. Her body softened as she wrapped her arms around his waist. A sudden swell of desire, stronger than any he remembered, rose up in Jeth, muddling his thoughts. He dropped his hands from Sierra’s face and gripped her hips, pulling her even closer. She leaned into him in response, head tilting farther back.

“What are you doing down there?” a voice shouted at them.

Jeth ignored it, unable to open his eyes, even to survey how many of them there were. For the moment, he didn’t care. It was as if his body had risen up in mutiny against his brain.

Sierra whispered against his lips, “Two. Coming this way.”

He recaptured her mouth in answer. He didn’t have to worry about the ITA soldiers. They were someone else’s concern. The soldiers were shouting at them, but Jeth couldn’t make out what they were saying.

And it didn’t matter. The moment the two soldiers reached them, Dax and Shady stepped around the corner and bashed them in the head with the butts of their guns.

Sierra pulled away from Jeth, and he almost forgot to let go. The moment there was distance between them, he came back to his senses.

“Go get us through the door,” he said, risking a look at Sierra. Her face was flushed and her lips swollen. He looked away.

Sierra trotted past him down the short corridor to the security station in front of a sealed door. Jeth helped the other two drag the soldiers toward it, while Sierra worked on overriding the locks.

Pulling off the safety suit, Jeth stepped behind the security station and examined the control panel. Several monitors showed a live feed of the inside of the brig. All the cells were empty except for L-11. He saw Lizzie, sitting on the bench in the back, her knees drawn up to her chest. He couldn’t see her face, which was buried in her arms, but he thought her body was shaking from sobs.

A fierce, protective anger surged through Jeth. If they’ve hurt her . . .

With an effort, he looked away from Lizzie’s feed to the only other screen with activity.

“There’s just the one guard,” Jeth said, seeing the man in the top right monitor. He clearly had no idea what was going on outside the door he was guarding. Jeth guessed he should’ve been watching the monitor beside him instead of playing a video game on a handheld. If he had been, he would’ve noticed the absence of the other guards.

“I saw,” Sierra said. “We take him out the same way.” She yanked the decryption card out of the door’s access panel as it clicked open.

Dax charged through the door first, dispensing the guard on the other side in moments. He grabbed the man by the arms and dragged him into the nearest cell. Jeth and Shady pulled the other two soldiers through the door and into the cell as well.

“Somebody needs to stay out here, to let us out again,” Sierra said. “The door might set off an alarm if it’s open too long.”

“Right,” said Dax. “I’ll stay here. You three go get Lizzie.” Dax stepped back into the outer corridor without waiting for a reply and then shut the door behind him.

Sierra was already charging down the corridor toward L-11. Jeth turned and followed after her.

“Stay there, Shady, and back up Dax,” Jeth called over his shoulder.

“Okay, but hurry up. I don’t like just hanging around. Feel like a big fat target.”

Jeth ignored him and hurried to catch up with Sierra. The corridor was narrow and brightly lit, like a hospital. None of the cells had windows or bars but were solid, barren little rooms, the kind of place that would drive a person mad if they were locked in it too long, Jeth thought.

Sierra halted outside L-11 and jammed the decryption card into the access panel. Jeth counted off the seconds, hoping it would work again. A click sounded a moment later, and the door slid open. Sierra stepped into the cell.

Lucky again, Jeth thought as he came in after her. He supposed Lizzie had either been wrong about decryption cards or the one Sierra was using was a top-of-the-line model worth as much as a starship.