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His first three bolts skimmed the air above my head, making it crackle with energy.
They slammed into the tarpaulin and the hard rock on the other side.
I kept my eyes on the beast and lowered to my knee as I fired one bolt after another.
It took two shots to his broad chest before he met the same fate as his buddy.
He might not have as many brains as his fallen comrade but he realized he was dead a whole lot faster.
He slumped forward, his hand to his chest, a shocked expression on his face.
No doubt he thought he would be getting his turn at Layla once his boss was done with her — not a hole in the chest!
I had been trained well enough to know never to stay ina single position too long, and although I didn’t know how the creature on top of Layla was going to react, Ididknow it was going to come out of nowhere.
I rolled to one side, coming up beside the small Chi, still huddled and clutching the Blue Orb.
I figured these creatures had gone to so much trouble to get it that they wouldn’t risk blowing holes in it.
But who knew what crazy risks desperate creatures might take in such circumstances?
I came up onto my feet and aimed at the floor where Layla had been but a moment earlier.
Now, she was gone.
Along with the scumbag who’d taken her.
I swept the rest of the room but there was no sign of him.
The room was too small to have any other hiding places.
And he couldn’t have rushed through the metal door he must have taken to get here in the first place as it was on the other side of the broken table in the middle of the room.
I kept my eyes on the hole I had cut into the tarpaulin.
I couldn’t lose focus, not even for an instant.
He could be there, on the other side, waiting for me.
In fact, I would havebeton it.
That’s whatIwould have done.
“Asha’gar,”I said, voice activating my wrist communicator.
Instantly, my coordinates were sent to the other members of my squad.
They would be racing toward this location now.
All I had to do was pin the scumbag down and we would have him and, more importantly, have Layla.
“Give me the Orb and I’ll let the girl go!” the criminal said, his voice deadened by the heavy tarpaulin.
I could tell he was some distance away — hiding behind one of the large skeletons, perhaps?
“Get up,” I snapped at the small Chi.
His body was shaking so hard I was surprised he hadn’t wet himself.
