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Nova didn’t know if Mak was bluffing, but she saw Altair’s reaction and so did Mak. Altair looked at her with fear. He didn’t want her to get hurt.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” one of Mak’s friends said.
“Leave now,” Mak said, addressing Altair. “Or we blow the place up. And Meghan blows up with us.”
“Leave,” Altair said to her.
Nova hesitated, but she was no help where she was.
She backed up slowly, keeping her gun pointed at Mak.
“Well, she abandoned you fast,” she heard Mak say.
As soon as she reached a perpendicular corridor she ran down at top speed. She’d been down in this prison long enough to notice a pattern to the way the cells were positioned. They were arranged into blocks, and each block could be accessed from two sides. She continued running until she found another perpendicular corridor and turned into it.
She’d made a full circle and arrived back in the corridor where she’d started but at the opposite end.
“Two minutes.” The voice was coming from in front of her.
The three men had their backs to her as they faced Altair on the other side. She saw the slight twitch of his jaw that let her know he’d seen her.
She aimed her laser at the closest guy and shot. She heard a second laser fire and two screams.
Mak stood alone in the center of the room.
“Put down your weapons or I blow the place up,” he said, holding his lamp up to the fuse hanging over his head.
“Put down the lamp or I’ll shoot,” Altair retorted back.
Nova smelled something burning. She looked up. The fuse above her head was lit. Either the man on the floor had managed to light it before she’d shot or her laser fire had lit it.
“Altair,” she yelled, pointing at the ceiling. “The fuse is lit. Run!”
She backed away the way she’d come. She expected Altair to do the same, but he came rushing toward her instead, running past Mak who was staring up at the ceiling. Altair grabbed her around the waist and pushed her into a run.
The world exploded behind them.
Chapter Fourteen
Nova lay on the ground, her ears ringing. Something heavy lay on top of her. She wiggled to free herself, then felt a hand grabbing her arm. She turned and saw that Altair was the weight on top of her.
He pushed off of her and she was able to get her legs under her to stand up.
They were in the dark once again.
Altair lay on the ground, having turned onto his back, and moaned.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, but his face showed he was in pain.
She bent down to help him sit up. It felt a bit like pulling on a boulder.
Altair got to his feet with a lot of groaning.
“What happened?” he asked.
Nova looked back toward the hallway where Mak had stood. A solid wall of fallen rock blocked the way.
