Chapter 2
(Derrial)
“They’ll never find out,” I growled, sick of this shit and tired of looking at the Councilman’s slackened body. Gritting my teeth, I ripped my gaze away. “Just shove him inside already and be done.”
Thane’s lips twisted into a frown, but he knew I was right. He knew there was no other way. This Councilman, Chloped, ordered the blood tests on Ella and tricked us into surrendering our hold of her once she signed to enter the trials. Now, she was in a lab being experimented on.
My blood boiled at the thought.
I looked down at his security pass in my hand. This was our key to saving Ella. Torturing him to get information had been easy, he broke instantly. And once we learned the names of the scientists involved, we’d hunt them down to make them pay for their deceit. The Council was on that list too… they wanted us removed from power for gaining too much attention, too much popularity. My arms tightened at my side at the betrayal.
Not wasting a moment, Thane scooped his arms under the Councilman’s armpits and dragged him into the space cruiser before dropping him. He landed on his back, his head hitting the floor with a thump, and laid there unconscious.
“Corran, everything’s ready to go?” I looked over to him as he jabbed his finger onto the control monitor in his hand. Shadows crowded under his eyes, his posture curled forward, his black cork-screw horns now a deep gray… he always responded this way when he was angry. We all were angry; we weren’t playing games anymore. We had Ella to rescue and nothing would stand in our way.
Corran nodded. “He won’t wake up for the next month. His nutrients patches are inserted. All comms and navigation systems will disable by the time he wakes up. By then, he’ll be on the outer edges of our galaxy, right into Nebian territory. Then he’ll be their problem.”
Thane dusted his hands and climbed out of the ship. “Those bastards will imprison anyone who steps foot in their territory.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.”
He deserved so much worse but getting him off the planet didn’t make him or his disappearance our problem. I gave Corran a nod and the door to the cruiser slid shut as he returned to his monitor to get the cruiser into space.
Thane and I marched across the hanger, my thoughts darkening each time I remembered the Councilman’s words. The human is currently being escorted to a secure lab where we will begin the procedures.
With the information I’d dragged out of him, we’d found the location where they held Ella.
“Our ship’s ready,” Thane stated. “We won’t be detectable on entry, but once we land, we’ll have about ten minutes to get in and out of the place with Ella before they sense the vessel.”
“That’s tight, but we’ll make it work.” I shoved open the door to my small hideout I had built long ago once I realized that the Council pried into everyone’s business. I had never truly trusted their agenda. Of course, my instinct had been right, and this place had come in handy. It wouldn’t be safe for long though… not after we got Ella.
“We pack with no plans of returning,” I ordered.
“Corran and I already have the coordinates set for our escape with Ella.” Thane’s words were clipped and short, all business. It was how he dealt with the fear that we’d somehow be too late, somehow find her gone or worse… dead.
My gut knotted; I couldn’t think like that. “Perfect.” I turned away and prepared to leave.
I was going to spill blood and break spines.