Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson

78

Kai

Once Mercy,Rhise, and Alex enter the building, we no longer have a visual on them. But Damon boots up the tracking system and one red dot pops on the screen.

“There’s Alex.”

He’s the only one we risked tagging before entry, just in case they scanned them. They’d leave the Trad guardian alone. So, until the other trackers are triggered, we’re blind.

“I hate this plan,” Damon says. We’re in the hovership, circling the building, cloaked in stealth mode.

“She’ll be okay,” I say, as much to assure myself as anyone else. “Is everyone in location?”

We’ve got dozens of soldiers outside the brothel. They’re dressed in local fashion, going about their day. Once we’re given the signal, we’re to storm inside. We have to wait until the auction begins to make sure all the women are visible and in one place. Otherwise, Mercy fears we won’t be able to save them all.

There’s a second signal too, this one from Alex. We wait in tense silence as the minutes pass by. Just when I think the plan is shot to hell, Alex’s tracker pulses three times.

Kane. He’s there.

Dimka exhales from his seat on the bridge. This whole mission hinges on catching Kane and freeing these women. If we fail at either…

Two more lights blink on. Green and yellow. Mercy and Rhise. They’re in. They’re okay.

I take the seat next to Dimka and rub my hands together.

“Prepare to land,” I tell him. “If our scouts are right, the auction starts in thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes,” Damon repeats, jaw clenched tight.

Thirty minutes until this mission comes to a head. Thirty minutes of Mercy being in harm's way.

Dimka shifts the ship in gear and begins our descent. We’re all ready to stop this bastard.