and he threw her up and over his shoulder. She lost her breath at the sudden impact of his broad shoulder into her stomach, but as soon as she had regained it, she started to pummel his back and scratch at his neck. He ignored her attack and kept moving.
Desperate for help, she looked toward the roof. Her heart raced at the sight of Terror fighting off three men. He had lost his jacket already, and a blossoming blood stain spread along the side of his shirt. Oh, no. No. No. No.
Her kidnapper entered the building with the hidden ship. His long strides ate up the floor, and she began to feel queasy from being thrown over his shoulder. Falling out of a second story window hadn’t helped matters any. Determined not to disgrace herself by puking, she closed her eyes and waited for him to drop her somewhere.
When he did, it was rough and hard. She felt like a sack of potatoes thrown into a root cellar. Her bottom ached from the impact with the dirty, rocky floor, and she felt a searing zing of nerve pain race up her spine from the metal bar that was smashed between her back and the concrete. Shaking off the discomfort, she rolled to her knees to try to stand—and gasped at the horror presented to her.
Bloated and covered in flies, Kris stared back at her with filmy white eyes. The smell of his tortured corpse hit her in the face, and she scrambled backward like a crab to escape the stench. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the horrific damage done to his body. She wanted to scream at the inhumanity of it. Kris who had never been anything but kind to her didn’t deserve this.
Movement from the edge of her vision interrupted her pained thoughts. She turned and saw another body, this one dangling from its ankles. The body twisted slowly, and she covered her mouth in shock. It was Devious—and he was still alive!
Blood flowed freely from cuts on his back. His chest heaved with labored breaths. He moved his bound hands toward her, his broken fingers making futile attempts at signing. Only one of his eyes was open enough to see out of, and it was bloodshot. Still, she could tell he was begging her to run.
She tried. She got to her feet, but her kidnapper pushed her hard, causing her to fall back on her ass. A jolt of recognition cleared her head as she took in the silver-haired giant standing in front of her now. It was the man from the photo Keen had shown her back on the Valiant. The man who had grabbed her out of the courtyard and tossed her down in this dank, filthy space was her grandfather.
Flint gestured to his mouth. “Pay attention because I’m only going to say this one fucking time. Did you make copies of that chip?”
Gritting her teeth, she stared defiantly back at him and raised her right hand. She gestured toward him with her middle finger. “Fuck you.”
His nostrils flared. “I should have known you would be as aggravating as your mother.”
Not wanting to waste her energy trying to communicate with him, she gave him the finger again. She decided that it didn’t matter what he asked. She only had one answer. “Fuck you.”
“You think you’re cute with that bullshit?” he sneered. “You think dying here today is going to make any difference? Huh?”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck me?” he snarled. “I thought that one-eyed asshole up on the roof was smart, but he’s just pussy whipped as every other man who has a chance to poke a virgin gash. He let you drag him into this fight when he could have just as easily destroyed the chip and fled to an independent territory. I would have let him—and you—live out your lives, but no. You two had to be heroes.”
His upper lip curled with disgust. “What a waste of a good man! Terror is one of the greatest soldiers we’ve ever created, and he betrayed everything we stand for because of you. And for what?” he demanded angrily. “You’re too late. You think exposing us is going to stop us?” He laughed harshly. “We are the Alliance. We’re embedded at every level of government. We’re on every ship, every base, every planet. By tonight, we’ll have won this war and wiped out the weakest among us.”
Even though he wouldn’t be able to understand a word she said,