interrupted plainly. “With the landing field and storage field coming back clean, we really don’t have a choice. The council wants answers, even if it is one that is an admittance of failure.”
“Not yet,” he argued, trying to think of where else the females could possibly be hidden. “There’s still the marketplace,” he brainstormed out loud, knowing the suggestion was far reaching. He still didn’t believe she could have been in the market this whole time without him knowing, but he wasn’t about to admit that. The instincts he’d spent so long questioning were telling him in no uncertain terms that the female he’d seen was close. There was no doubt in his mind.
The paired fighters shook their head at him in unison.
“You may have seen her there before we arrived, but chances are she’s been moved off-planet since then. Especially if her masters knew she’d been seen,” Rowe pointed out while Paine nodded in agreement beside him.
Axis shook his head, not wanting to hear the arguments the other two were giving him. He knew they were simply pointing out what was logical, but it was something he refused to accept. He couldn’t accept that he’d failed this mission.
“If they didn’t know before today, they definitely know now.” Paine nodded at the group of guards eyeballing them from the entryway of the last house they’d searched. “Word has spread that we are searching for someone, and after what happened with the Djaromir and Traccorians, it will be easy for them to guess it’s a human.”
“I hate saying it, but if we didn’t find her here, I don’t think we will find her at all.” Rowe rubbed his mouth, the action unable to hide his somber expression. “I’m sorry, Axis.”
Paine didn’t say anything, but judging by the look on his face, he echoed the sentiment. They were ready to mark the mission as a failed one.
He didn’t blame the pair. They’d done their best to find the female that Axis had let slip through his fingers, but they were ready to go home. Paine and Rowe had a new wife who needed their attention on Phaeton One, and he knew they wanted to get back to her before she relapsed from their absence. It had only been recently that she’d been successfully treated for PTSD by the doctors on the ship, which meant they shouldn’t have been taken away from her in the first place.
“I understand your need to get back to Indigo,” he finally said after a moment. When both men began to shake their heads, Axis held up his hands. Backing away, he started down the path towards the landing field. “There is no need to argue or defend. You’ve done nothing but focus on this search with me, regardless of the fact you have a new wife waiting for you on One—”
“Indigo wants to find these women just as much as you do, Axis.”
“I would say even more, considering she was in the same position not all that long ago,” Rowe added as they dodged a large pile of excrement left behind in the middle of the littered cobblestone path.
Axis tried not to inhale through his nose, trying to ignore the stench lingering in the area. When they’d first entered the district, he’d been so focused on their mission that he hadn’t noticed the refuse all around them. Now, though, he was unable to ignore it. Every step he took was one that crunched broken glass and discarded food bones beneath his boots. It was disgusting to say the least.
He couldn’t understand the appeal of such a place. He understood the need for release. He had taken advantage of the services offered in the past, but the longer he stayed in the area, the clearer the picture around him became. Lined with ramshackle houses that were pieced together with whatever building materials that could be found, the brothels resembled mazes. They’d been added onto so many times over the years, they’d grown into unchecked, unstable monstrosities that looked as though they’d topple over at any moment—death traps, from what he’d seen today with his own eyes.
The unregistered houses were worse than the others, but in general, the entire area was dark, dreary, and smelled just as dismal as it appeared.
“Do you really think they’re alive?” Paine questioned as the crowd parted to let them pass through the gates that had just opened.
“Yes,” he answered, his attention on a group of guards standing to the side of the path