Mindee Arnett - Avalon

Sierra climbed off the ladder into another maintenance room, this one larger than the first. She raced to the single computer station near the door and sat down.

“What’re you doing?” Jeth said, stepping up behind her.

“I’m bringing the surveillance system back online. I took it down as soon as I knew Vince and the others were approaching so they could move about the ship undetected, but now I need it to find them. We also need to see what we’re facing with Cora. Renford is bound to have increased the guard on her.”

“Okay,” Jeth said. “But how were you communicating with the others before?”

“Short range comms, but the ITA started jamming everything as soon as they moved in for the attack. Damn.” She slapped the top of the desk.

“What’s wrong?” said Lizzie.

“It’s not working.”

“Let me.” Lizzie pushed Sierra out of the chair and plopped down behind the computer. Then she started to work her magic. As always, Jeth found himself momentarily mesmerized by her abilities. Soon Lizzie had accessed the surveillance system and given them a look at how many men were guarding Cora. There were at least a dozen, all of them Renford’s. Jeth wondered if there had been Brethren there too, before Dax had taken over. The truth of this still hadn’t sunk in, that Hammer was gone from his life forever. Now, if we can just get off this ship alive . . .

“What is that place?” Jeth said, looking at the odd structures in the room where the soldiers stood.

“It’s the kid center,” said Sierra. “Where parents on a cruise send their kids when they want some free time. The area wasn’t being used until now, so Renford never had a reason to take out the playground stuff. He’s got Cora living in the caretaker suite attached to the place.”

Before Jeth could ask anything more, Lizzie said, “Found them.” She tapped a few buttons and the image flashed on the screen, showing Shady, Flynn, and Vince moving along cautiously.

“That’s the old servants’ corridor,” Sierra said. “One deck below us, starboard.”

“Let’s go,” said Lizzie, leading the way over to the maintenance ladder. They headed down.

Moments later, they emerged into an empty corridor.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” said Lizzie.

A loud commotion rose up from somewhere ahead of them. It was Shady, screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs in between bursts of gunfire.

“What’s he doing?” Sierra said as they ducked into the nearest room, taking cover.

“Just being himself,” said Lizzie. She giggled nervously. “Shady gets a little carried away sometimes.”

Sierra scowled. “No kidding. But he’s gonna get us killed.”

“What do you mean, ‘get us’?” said Jeth. “He’ll be the one doing the killing.” He poked his head around the corner and shouted as loud as he could. “Shady! Will you stop it already?”

“Is that you, Boss?” Shady hollered back.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m coming out now. So don’t shoot me.”

“Whatever you say, Boss.”

Braced for disaster, Jeth stepped out. If Shady started shooting again, he would dive for cover. Shady appeared around the corner, a massive grin on his face. Fortunately, he’d sheathed one of his guns and had the other propped against his shoulder, barrel pointed to the ceiling. Flynn and Vince followed behind him.

Jeth waved at Lizzie and Sierra, and they emerged. A brief, giddy reunion followed. Vince hugged Sierra hard enough to lift her off her feet. He kissed the top of her head as he set her down again. Shady did the same to Lizzie, only instead of kissing her head, he rubbed his knuckles in her hair.

“Ouch.” Lizzie punched him in the belly.

“That’s my girl,” said Shady, grinning.

Lizzie ignored him and faced Jeth. “Let’s go get our girl. {g> Our little sis.” 0

“Right.” Jeth looked at Sierra. “You know the way.”

She took off down the corridor, holding her gun in front of her, ready to fire. As the group moved along, Jeth described the situation waiting for them when they reached Cora.

“So how do we get past them?” Lizzie asked.

“We take ’em out,” said Shady. He glanced at Sierra, who’d looked over her shoulder at his words. “And no arguments about it this time, neither.”

“He’s right,” said Vince. “It’s the only way.”

“But they outnumber us,” said Lizzie. “And I know Jeth and Shady are pretty good shots, but will that be enough?”

As they slowed down to navigate another turn, Shady pulled a grenade off the clip at his belt. “We’ll use this.”

Lizzie eyed the black, cylindrical thing. “You can’t bomb them. You might hurt Cora.”

“It’s not that kind of bomb,” said Vince.

Shady spat in agreement. “That’s right. It’s a stun grenade. Should distract them long enough for us to take most of them down.”

“All right,” Sierra said, then she checked the corridor. A moment later, they were on the move again.

When they finally reached K Deck, after a climb down another maintenance ladder, the place was eerily still and silent. Even the missiles still hitting the ship seemed distant. Sierra led them out of the maintenance room into a corridor that dead-ended at the kid center. She motioned to Shady.

He stepped forward, gripping the stun grenade tight in his hand. “On the count of three.”

Jeth exhaled, focusing. Aim and fire. Don’t think. Aim and fire, don’t think .

Shady reached three, opened the door, and flung the grenade through it. The noise as it exploded made Jeth’s eardrums quiver despite the distance and walls separating him.

Shady charged through the door a moment later and started firing. Vince came next, then Jeth. He stared around at the large playground full of jungle gym equipment, a rock-climbing wall, and a merry-go-round. There were so many places to hide in here.

The next few seconds passed in a storm of chaos as screams intermixed with the explosion of gunfire. All the worry and fear disappeared from Jeth’s mind as his body went into autopilot mode. Nothing else existed but the fight. The kickback of each bullet rocked his arm as he fired. A ceaseless ringing filled his ears, but it was far away, as if the sound belonged to someone else.

Jeth shot at anything that moved, diving for cover as Renford’s soldiers returned fire. In moments the two groups had taken up position across from each other, Jeth and the others behind the jungle gym and what remained of their opposition behind the rock wall.

“We need to get Cora before we run out of ammo,” Vince shouted.

“I’ll get her,” Sierra said. “Just give me some cover.”

Vince nodded. “Be careful.”

“I’m going with you,” Jeth said, following behind her.

Sierra looked like she might argue, but then she hurried on, racing from cover to cover. More than once, Jeth felt a bullet soar past him, but the closer they came to the door leading into the suite, the less danger the soldiers posed. They couldn’t get a good angle on them over here, not without exposing themselves to gunfire.

Sierra reached the door and forced it open. Then she charged in, checking the corners as she entered with her gun poised in front of her. Doing the same, Jeth followed behind her.

“Be careful,” Sierra said over her shoulder. “We don’t want to startle her. There’s no telling what kind of state she’s in with all the fighting going on out—”

They both froze at the sound of heavy footsteps. Renford was running down the hallway toward them, carrying Cora. She appeared to be asleep or knocked out, her head lolling against his shoulder. Renford slid to a stop, shifting Cora to one side as he pulled his gun from his holster.