Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) (34 page)

Making it to the elevator proved to
be easy. People ran in the corridors now, as if panicked. And thank goodness,
the elevator door opened.

Inside the elevator their lone
companion, a woman, stared at them in suspicion. “Hey. Aren’t you…”

Elise shot blue fire into her
spine. The woman crumpled.

“
Yeah,
sis.” David shot a
look of respect at Elise.

Slowly, the elevator slid up.

With a sideways glance at Anya,
Elise said, “Did Joshua actually kiss you?”

Anya drew a quick breath of
surprise. Her sister had seen. The change in her relationship with Joshua must
have come as a shock to Elise. Quietly, she admitted, “Yes.”

No surprise registered on her
sister’s face; just a calm, steady knowing. “You’ll go back for him.”

“Yes.”

Marli squeezed her hand. Approval
gleamed in her eyes, and David smiled.

Anya smiled back, feeling relieved
that her family, at least, supported her heart’s choice.

The elevator slid up two floors,
and then one more. She sent up another silent prayer of thanks. Things were
going so well. Much better than she had anticipated.

With a soft ding, the doors slid
open. A tiny gasp escaped Anya’s lips.

A solid, impenetrable wall of
uniforms blocked their path. Five men trained lasers upon them.

“On the
floor,
” shouted the
largest one. “Now!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

As soon
as the diamonite slab slid back
into place overhead, Joshua forced one swollen eye open. His hands curled
around the lasers Anya had left in his lap. Slowly, painfully, he pushed
himself into a sitting position. Every muscle in his body ached. Images blurred
in his left eye, his head pounded, and he felt nauseous.

Making one determined effort, he
rolled to his feet.

“Sorry for tricking you, Anya,” he
muttered, taking stock of his balance and mental acuity. “But I’ve got one last
mission to finish.”

Fingers clumsy, he pulled knives
and key cards from the guards’ belts, and pocketed one of their phones. When he
straightened, dizziness and nausea again overwhelmed him. He gritted his teeth
and remained stationary until the pounding in his head became tolerable, and
then moved forward.

Joshua swiped the key card in the
slot, and checked to make sure the lasers were set to kill. Gathering his
mental focus, and tensing his body for combat, he jerked open the door.

*  *  *  *  *

“On the floor!” shouted the
red-uniformed man again. “
Now.
”

Richert’s men.
Tarim soldiers had already
infiltrated Gorno. Relief hit Anya, followed swiftly by caution. Just because
they were her uncle’s men did not mean she could trust them. Richert probably
played a game of his own right now. She didn’t know what his ultimate goal was,
or what he had ordered his men to do to achieve it.

Anya touched Elise’s arm, and the
two went down flat on the floor, hands on their heads. Marli and David quickly
followed their lead.

Hard hands ripped weapons from her
belt, and her phone, too.

“I’m Anya Dubrovnyk,” she said. “These
are the hostages.”

“Yeah? We’ll see about that.” When
the man seemed satisfied that she’d hidden no more weapons on her body, he
said, “Sit up. Slowly. Hands over your head.”

Anya and her siblings obeyed.
Sitting on their knees, they looked up at their captors.

The apparent leader, a burly man
with a blond buzz cut, stared back, his thick lips set in a straight line. “So.
You
are
Dubrovnyk. On your feet. Slowly.”

“We have to get to the roof,” she
told him. “And I need to go back for Joshua. He’s still a prisoner.”

“Van Heisman’s a prisoner.”

Surely he knew that from the Alpha
feeds. “I need to go back for him,” she repeated. “As soon as my family is
safe.”

The man eyed her, as if reluctant
to agree to her demands. Anya wondered what training Richert had drilled into
his soldiers, should any of them have the fortune to run across her, or any of
their other top enemies. Kill her on sight? Certainly, he wouldn’t allow her to
slip through his fingers.

“Exactly where is Van Heisman?”

Anya didn’t know if she could
trust him. But she did need help. Maybe Michael could help her, if he came
quickly. On the other hand, these men were here now…

“He’s on the sixth floor,” she
compromised. “I’ll take you to him.” And, if necessary, she’d lose them along
the way.

“Ty.” He nodded to one of his men;
a tall, thin young man with a pockmarked face. “Take the kids to the roof. Dubrovnyk
stays with me.”

Elise’s eyes widened. “No!”

Thinking fast, Anya said, “I need
to make a call.”

“Why?”

“To schedule transport for my
family.”

The burly man scowled. Clearly, he
wanted to deny her request. Something held him back. She wondered what it was.
Abruptly, he nodded, and relinquished her phone. “Hurry up.” Perhaps he viewed
Anya as the main prize. Her powerless family might be expendable.

While lifting the phone to her
ear, Anya covertly hit the transponder button on her collar, so Michael could
get a fix on her general location. Unfortunately, in order to call Michael, she
had to transmit on Donetsk’s secure housekeeping network. Alpha was out of the
question. Hopefully, the blond giant wouldn’t rip the phone from her hand
before she could log off.

“Michael. It’s Anya. My family’s
heading to the roof. I’m going back for Joshua. Take them home. Please. Out.”

“Give that to me.” Richert’s man
extended a meaty hand.

Anya swiftly disconnected from all
broadcast channels. “No.”

“No?” Thick blond brows slammed
together.

When his considerable muscles
bunched, she said, “I need it to find Joshua. And I need my weapons back, too,
in case we run across Onred’s men.”

“We’ll protect you.”

“Will you?” Her level gaze met
his. “What orders did Richert give you?”

“Give me the phone.” Menace
registered in the low voice.

Anya gave it to him. But she didn’t
trust him now. She would lose him and his henchmen at the first opportunity.

“Ty, take the kids to the roof.”

Ty swallowed. “Release them, Major
Barnes?”

“Yes.”

Ty directed her family down the
hall. They cast terrified looks back at Anya, and she struggled to dispel the
notion that they were prisoners being herded away to death camps.

Get a grip, Anya. He ordered them to
be released, didn’t he?
More importantly, she trusted that Michael would soon arrive on the
roof. She had full confidence that he’d protect her family with the same
ferocity that his brother possessed.

Joshua. She had to focus upon him.
He was the one in danger.

Anya pushed the elevator button. “Let’s
go.”

“We’ll take the stairs.” Barnes’
hard fingers gripped her arm. “You’ll stay with me.”

*  *  *  *  *

Two men looked up from a computer
monitor when Joshua barreled through the holding cell door. Joshua shot one,
and the other got a piece of his jacket before Joshua neutralized him, too.
Good thing the men hadn’t hit the bombs still strapped to his body.

The room swiveled, and Joshua
grabbed the closest object to steady his balance. It was the computer console.
When his equilibrium returned, he blinked to focus on the screen. This computer
would help him find his prey. He shuffled closer to the keyboard, shoving aside
a man on the floor with his foot.

However, his swift keystrokes net
nothing but the same blue input screen. The computer appeared to be frozen. Was
this why both men had been staring at the screen when he had run in? The
computer glitch may well have saved his life.

Joshua rebooted the computer. The
screen turned black, and then wavy blue lines bisected it. “Error,” murmured
the computer. “System is offline. Corrupt files. Fatal error.”

Joshua tried to wrap his head
around this new development. Gorno’s computers were down?

And then he smiled. Pain pulled at
his split lip. Anya had done it. Gorno’s systems were imploding, just like Astana’s
had. He chuckled and softly said, “Good girl.”

No need for the bombs now. Joshua
stripped them from his body, and then pulled out the phone he’d swiped from the
guard. Even if Gorno’s main computer was down, the phone’s memory still held
the messages and video transmitted on Alpha. Maybe those would give a clue to
Onred’s location.

He played the last feed, showing
the guard with the knife to Marli’s neck. Onred’s voiceover, however, was far
more interesting. “Surrender now, Anya Dubrovnyk. In the shuttle bay. One
minute. Or your sister dies.”

Joshua played the previous
message, and another painful smile cracked his lips. Anya had captured Emelie,
and had threatened to kill Onred’s daughter. The woman he loved was brilliant,
and remarkably resourceful, too.

Both messages indicated that Onred
would be somewhere near the shuttle bay right now. The shuttle bay was located
on the third floor.

Joshua cracked open the door and
checked the dimly lit passage. People hurried by. A few ran. Although Onred had
confiscated his stolen shirt, Joshua’s snow wear was black. It would blend in
well enough in the dim hallways, and the thin fabric would allow greater ease
of movement than a uniform. He felt the visceral need to plant bare knuckles
into Onred’s face. That enticing thought cleared more of the fog from his head.

Joshua slipped into the hall and
headed for the stairs, forcibly shutting out the stabbing pain each movement
brought. He strode with calm, deliberate purpose, and no one paid him any
attention.

After gaining the stairwell, he
joined others trotting downstairs and flipped open the guard’s phone. Swiftly,
he scrolled through the phone’s call list. Sure enough. Onred. Time to trap a
serpent.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

On the
sixth floor,
Major Barnes demanded, “Which way?”

He still hadn’t released his tight
grip on Anya’s arm, and she was beginning to wonder how she would escape him.
On the other hand, maybe a posse of armed men converging upon the well-guarded
holding cell would be best.

“Left.”

Barnes’ men led the way,
pitilessly shooting every Gorno citizen in their path. Women screamed.
Footsteps pounded down the corridor. More of Barnes’ men brought up the rear.

“Here’s Command Central, Major.”

“How much further?” Barnes
demanded of Anya.

“Twenty meters.”

“Four men come with me. The rest
of you, take Command Central.”

Booted men eagerly darted down the
hall toward Gorno’s central command.

Anya wasn’t sure exactly which
door led to the holding cell, since she had accessed it through the ductwork. “May
I see my phone, please?” Tersely, she explained her previous method of access.

With ill grace, Barnes shoved it
into her hand. She drew up the schematics while the major looked over her
shoulder.

She pointed. “It’s up…
There!
”
An Altai man barreled out of the door in question.

Barnes swiftly shot, and Anya just
as rapidly shoved the phone into her pocket. When she made an attempt to dart
through the doorway, Barnes elbowed her aside. He and his men stormed in first,
lasers at the ready. Sizzles spit.

“All clear.”

Anya dashed for the cell’s open
door, and gasped. The gray, dismal room was empty. “He’s gone!”

*  *  *  *  *

“What?” Onred snarled into the
phone.

Gruffly, Joshua said, “Captured
Dubrovnyk. On way to shuttle bay.”

“Meet me in conference room nine.
Out.”

With a grim smile, Joshua pocketed
the phone. Onred was about to answer for his hellish deeds.

He exited on the third floor into
a crush of humanity. The river of people streamed right, toward the shuttle bay
doors. Panic charged the air. Women called for their children, and babies
wailed.

Wall markers indicated that the
conference rooms were to the left. Joshua shouldered across the torrent of
people, heading for the far wall, and then battled east. Twenty yards later, he
cut right, down a deserted corridor.