Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,67

was still fighting. She was still screaming his name as Pogue sprinted down the hill, the other soldiers following close behind, Caine’s unmoving body all too soon disappearing from sight.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The low rumble of the shuttle’s motors shifted to a frantic whir.

“Shit! They’re falling.” Pogue jerked to a stop in the clearing, his voice tight with disbelief. All around her, the other soldiers had stumbled to a halt, too.

“Because their equipment is being jammed. Just like ours.” She was too horrified to feel righteous rage. Good people, who’d come to save them, were about to die. “Let me go.” She pushed against Pogue’s back. Almost in a daze, he set her on her feet, his gaze locked on the dropping ship.

She shifted in place, torn between trying to make it back to Caine and doing what she could to help those who’d come to save her.

A series of shrill shrieks echoed across the cliffs raising goose bumps.

Of course. 225 and his pack were coming for their prize. Just as they’d done last time.

“We’ve got to hide.” Pogue’s face had lost all color, his gaze scanning left and right as he gripped his gun tight.

“And leave any crash survivors to those monsters?” She had to scream now to be heard over the roar of the plummeting shuttle. “The people on that shuttle were coming to save you. You can’t just desert them.”

He shook her off, turning toward his men. “Let’s go.”

To their credit, the other six soldiers stayed put. Their gazes flickering to the listing, spinning shuttle, its Council Search and Rescue stamp easy to see in the shuttle flood lights as it roared closer and closer to the ground.

“Sir?” Ransom questioned Pogue, “maybe she’s right.”

“Do you know what those animals will do to us if they find us?” snarled Pogue. “I’m not going out like that.”

Her potential ally folded in on himself, Ransom’s pupils widening as fear won.

The pounding of footsteps from the way they’d come sent the soldiers whipping around, their guns clenched tight.

Winthrop appeared from behind a rocky ledge, his pace slow, his face flushed. “Shit. Bella was right. The shuttle’s going to crash.” He bent over as if the run had given him a stitch in his side. “I’m sorry,” he wheezed. “We should have believed you.”

She wasn’t in a forgiving mood. She swiped at the blood dripping into her eye. “You should have believed Caine.”

Guilt flared in Winthrop’s gaze. “You’re right.”

Pogue grabbed Winthrop’s arm. “Save the sucking up for later. We’re out of here.”

Another set of shrieks sounded, closer than before.

“No.” Winthrop shook Pogue off. “Listening to you was wrong. You’re not in charge. I am.”

Somehow, faced with the consequences of his cowardice, Winthrop had found his backbone. Only it was too late.

The shuttle was coming in fast now, only a few hundred yards up and off to the left, its nose pointed downward, close enough to the ground to see the underside of the shuttle even as it spun, its engines sputtering and sparking as whatever was jamming it kept everything from working properly. So close, the roar of its descent was as loud as a scream of agony in her ear.

It was horrific to realize she knew exactly what those poor people inside the shuttle were feeling. How terror was gripping their chests as all the regrets, all the people they loved, all the things they’d never get to do played through their minds. She swayed on her feet, memories of her own crash blurring with her guilt and pain over what she was seeing now.

Then, suddenly, she blinked, her eyes disbelieving.

It…it almost seemed as if the engines were streaming to life. As if the sparking embers had become one long continual flame.

“He did it.” Winthrop’s voice was heavy with awe. Beside him, Pogue had gone still.

In shock, her stare returned to the shuttle. It was still coming in far too fast, but it had stabilized somewhat, its nose no longer pointed downward.

Caine had done it.

“How?” she whispered.

“I heard what you had to say.” Winthrop grabbed her hand. “I doubled back to release him. Not because I’m Council and my order should be followed, but because it was the right thing to do. I wanted him to come with me, but he insisted on trying to get the equipment to work.”

“Is he okay?” Her throat was so tight it was hard to get the words out.

“He’s fine. A real hero.”

“Tell that to the Council,” she said. “Please.”

“I will.”

They instinctively ducked as the shuttle, struggling