“There’s still security tape up,” Axton said.
She nodded, eying the black and red electro-tape cordoning off the warehouse doors. “When the Rahl realized they were losing, some barricaded themselves in here and managed to set explosives. After they were captured and the explosives squad cleared the building, we secured it. The squad said the high-tech explosives the Rahl were using don’t always show up on scans. They were concerned there could be more hidden in there. No one’s been in since.”
They exited the car and made their way up to the entrance.
“Prime Saros, you need to listen to me while we’re in there. There’s a possibility the Rahl might have left other surprises. My primary objective is the Codex, but my secondary objective is ensuring your safety.”
“Call me Axton and I’ll listen.”
Oh, no. “It isn’t appropriate.”
“Axton.”
Xenia huffed out a breath. The man knew just how to get under her skin. “Axton.”
He smiled, his teeth white against his bronze skin. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Just stay behind me.” She pressed her palm to the Centax Security lock on the door. It read her bio-ID and opened a second later.
Inside was dark and musty, with a sharp, wild scent underlying it. Xenia pulled an ion light out of her pocket and handed it to Axton.
“Thanks. What about you?”
She tapped the implant above her eye. “I have exceptional night vision, thermal imaging, and magnification.”
The warehouse was just one big space. The Rahl had made living quarters off to one side. Beds lined the wall, and couches and tables were grouped haphazardly in the center of the space.
On the other side of the warehouse were shiny steel cages.
Xenia’s stomach clenched. Her fellow CenSecs had told her about the Centaxian women they’d freed from here. Women destined to be sent off-planet as payment for the Rahl’s services.
She turned toward the living area. “Keep a look out for any computer consoles, communicators, or anything else you think might give us a clue to the Codex’s location.”
Axton raised a dark brow. “Yes, boss.”
She ignored him. Her night vision showed the dark space in shades of green. There were food scraps, clothing and trash littered around. The Rahl were not the cleanliest of species. She pulled up her retinal display that overlaid information over her vision. She ran a systematic search, sectioning the warehouseinto a grid. Axton wasn’t so orderly. He stopped at anything that took his interest.
That just highlighted the differences between them. He was enhanced, for sure, but not as much as she was. He was the handsome, charming face of their planet, while she was a trained killer.
She needed to find the Codex and get far away from Axton Saros. Before he realized what he did to her.
She focused on the storage boxes in front of her, opening them one by one.
“Hey, I might have something.”
She looked over. He was holding something up. “What is it?”
He flipped through what looked like a large wad of…paper?
“Looks like a sketchbook. Anactualpaper sketchbook.” He turned a few pages. “Whoever the artist was, they weren’t bad.”
Xenia walked over to look. They were simple sketches done in black ink. One was a beautiful rendering of the Haxx skyline. Another showed a huge Rahl—striped pattern on his skin, his claws raised, and his mouth open in a roar that bared huge fangs.
Axton turned the page and they both gasped.
The sketch showed a sheaf of old papers lying on the very table beside them. The image on the uppermost page was of a humanoid man, arms and legs outstretched within a square and circle—Da Vinci’sVitruvian Man.
“The Codex was definitely here,” Axton murmured.
