Page 3 of His Fierce Fugitive
I put Iris down for a moment. “Don’t move, or they’ll see us,” I whisper.
She swallows, eyes wide, and nods.
I punch in the code my team provided and as the door slides open I pull Iris along with me through it before it closes again.
The warehouse is massive and I quickly scan the space. “Help me find anything we can use—food, weapons…you know?”
“Like I have any idea what those things might look like,” she says, as we both start rummaging through the piles of goods, trinkets, and devices. Some unfamiliar even to me.
“Use your best judgement,” I say, grabbing a few protein cubes, hydration packs, mouth beads, and a small tool kit, the contents of which I hope we won't need.
I want to find more suitable clothing for Iris, but I’m not seeing anything appropriate.
“How about this?” Iris lifts a huge serrated knife in the air from a nearby pile.
Weapons like this are usually kept in a separate room, but they must’ve not seen this one. “Quorr, you sure are a lucky charm,” I reply with a smile, and to my surprise, her cheeks go a little pink.
Hmm, I like that.
She hands the knife to me, and the touch of her fingers sends heat all over my body. I clear my throat as I sheath the knife in my belt. There’s no time to dwell on those types of feelings now.
“To the ships,” I say, my voice lower than I expect.
She follows me as my gaze travels over the line of various spacecraft, some in better condition than others.
I’m looking for something specific—the crest on the alien’s tunic who lost his hand because he spoke to me. I do feel kind of bad that I had to provoke him to talk, but it was all part of my escape plan.
“What are we looking for?” Iris asks, next to me, when I spot the gold and green crest on the hull of the ship in front of us.
“That,” I say, pointing to the small, agile vessel, its sleek lines promising speed and maneuverability.
“Why this one?” she asks, as we rush towards the ship.
I stop in front of the hatch, and unzip the pouch attached to my belt. Then I pull out the severed hand from the alien in the cell.
She stumbles back, her mouth agape.
“Because it would be a shame if this guy lost his hand for nothing,” I say, placing it on the craft’s exterior panel.
It chimes and the hatch door opens, the rest of the vessel’s locks disengaging with a satisfying hiss, granting us access.
She’s still not moving, as I put the hand back in the pouch and toss it aside.
“Come on, Iris. We have to keep going,” I say, helping her to board and guiding her to the co-pilot seat, as I activate the cockpit controls, the ship’s console coming to life with a soft hum.
Her eyes are wide as she takes in the ship around us. It’s not terribly new. We have more advanced ships on Ydris. But it’ll do for our purposes.
The engines ignite with a surge of energy.
“Secure yourself in,” I say, demonstrating how to engage the seat harness. She does so and I smile at her. “Prepare for take-off.” I almost add ‘mate’, but hold off…for now.
The ship roars to life, responding to my touch, as if it somehow understands the urgency of our escape. I bring up the screens and input the coordinates to Ydris, then add the code to open the prison warehouse panels.
They begin to part and I push the craft to full speed.
“Oh my god!” Iris yells, then laughs, as we soar through the stars.
I chuckle at her reaction along with her…until the screen next to me shows multiple ships in pursuit.