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Lucia glanced up as Snyder turned off the flitter's transponder. At first, she wasn't sure she'd seen it correctly. After all, the locator helped with emergency services and rescue efforts. Hell, without it Ren might never have found her. He wouldn't have had the first clue where to look.
That opened another hole in her chest, first from the empty space where she'd felt Inari previously, and then more heavily, her disappointment that Ren had turned her away. Snyder banked the flitter and brought it in closer to the ground. She checked her omni to confirm that only five hours had passed since they'd left. At least in a few more hours they'd reach the refugee encampment, and she could busy herself with having a purpose again. With enough time, enough people helped, she might even be able to forget the too-brief time she and Ren had together. Absently, she reached out and flipped the locator back on.
Next to her, Snyder let out a sigh. "I'd hoped you hadn't noticed that." He turned the locator back off and brought the flitter down to land.
"What are you doing? We've got hours of travel yet." She fumbled with her safety harness, panic scrabbling up her spine until she got it opened and was able to launch herself out of the chair. Pain twinged in her ankle, and she leaned against the wall as she backed out of the cockpit.
"Unfortunately, this is the end of the road. The insurgents—"
"Refugees," she said reflexively.
"Set up a jamming device that scrambled navigation,” he continued. “We ended up off course and flew directly into an ambush. I was wounded but fought bravely. You, on the other hand, were killed. Don't worry though, now that I know where their camp is, we'll avenge you. In a way, your death will bring an end to the whole conflict."
She limped to the back of the flitter and shoved open the safety door in the side of the plane. It opened a set of short steps that she took to the ground just as a pair of mercenaries walked out of the nearby cover. One dragged a pallet that held bodies. Even from here, she couldn't miss the blue and white vests that had become the de facto uniform of the resistance. Part of her wondered if they were actual resistance fighters, or merely random corpses that Snyder and his men had managed to dress in their clothes.
"Oh good, you're here." Snyder appeared in the door behind her. "I think we should set them up so it looks like they charged the flitter. A heroic last stand as I held them off long enough to get back aboard."
The two men nodded and got to work pulling the bodies into position, and she heard the click and hum of a plasmacaster's safety being turned off. She put her hands on top of her head and laced her fingers before speaking. "So, have you figured out where I'll be too?"
"Of course," he replied. "You convinced me to open the door, then jumped down to negotiate with the rebels. Unfortunately, they murdered you right there before I could stop them." He gestured past her shoulder with one hand.
She wouldn’t get a better opening. Adrenaline surged in Lucia’s blood, dulling the pain in her ankle as she planted her feet, grabbed his arm, and pulled. With Snyder still on the stairs she had the leverage she needed to throw him off balance and into the dirt at her feet. Before he could recover, she took off for the edge of the clearing in a ragged limp, hoping someone would be able to hear her screams.
A plasma bolt slammed into one of the trees in front of her, spraying Lucia with superheated splinters of bark and wood. She screamed and dove to the ground on reflex then scrambled toward the promise of cover while staying as low as possible. Behind her, she could hear Snyder shouting for the mercenaries to go after her, that their plans were ruined if she escaped.
As though she had anywhere to go. She had no food, no weapons, and an injured ankle. The only reason she'd survived the first attempt had been because Ren had found her.
A sense of righteous anger infused her, shoving away her fear and self-pity. She could damn well take these assholes down with her, though, and if she was going to go out, it would sure as hell be with guns blazing. Even if she didn't have guns.
She crouched behind a tree and risked a peek out to see what was happening, and another bolt cracked against the bark near her head. Her eyes watered, blurring the landscape between her and the advancing troops.
No. She recognized that blur.
One of the two men shouted as Inari leapt from the long grass to slam into him. She carried enough mass and speed that he went to the ground before he could open fire. Two other wolves—Djehuti, maybe, and some other wolf she didn't know—hit the second man, one locking down on his forearm as the other cut his legs out from under him. Movement to the right made her start, and she spotted a ranger, stocky and broad-shouldered, who used her hand and made a shh motion to indicate that Lucia should stay silent.
Three other rangers crept from the woods into the tall grass, which barely rippled at their presence. For a brief moment, she actually felt sorry for Snyder. There was no way his training had prepared him for the difference in magnitude between basic ground troops and TJF elites. Apparently, he'd come to the same conclusion, as he ran back up the stairs and pulled the flitter door shut behind him. A heartbeat later, the engines began to power up.
The ranger next to her stood and braced herself as she shouldered an enormous barrel. Despite its size, the weapon made little more noise than a loud cough as it fired. The oversized projectile opened halfway across the clearing, spreading into a fine wire net that adhered itself to the back half of Snyder's flitter. The woman lowered her weapon and pushed a button at her waist. A soft whump was followed by silence, the flitter's electrical systems knocked dead.
"Bird is grounded, May. Repeat, the bird is down.” The ranger turned and smiled at Lucia. “S'not as good as blowing things up, but the LC says we can't kill the guy. Waste of an opportunity if you ask me. Still, that'll knock out the electronics, so he's trapped in there. If he shoots himself, s'as good as a win in my book."
She recognized Grenville as he stood up, and another ranger wearing corporal’s pips came out of the grass midway between the flitter and where Lucia was hiding. "Chen! Circle round, give me a perimeter, and make sure there weren't any other idiots who are working on getting out of here." The ranger next to Lucia nodded and disappeared into the woods as though she'd never existed.
The corporal smiled and fixed their eyes on Lucia. "Mx. Sarmiento? If you're okay, I've got a couple individuals who would be very glad to see you."
As soon as Lucia stood back up, a wash of happiness rolled through her like a wave and pushed down the pain in her ankle. Three heartbeats later, Inari was at her feet and leaning against her leg as though she couldn't get close enough. Lucia lowered herself to the ground to keep the weight off her foot and let her fingers comb through the wolf's odd, lensing fur, more content than she'd felt in the last twenty-four hours. At least until a shadow fell across both her and the wolf, and she looked up to meet Ren's stern face.
Lucia swallowed and fought the urge to stand and hug him. Her throat was thick. "You came to find me."
His hand was warm as he supported her weight, helping her to stand. His concern echoed through her connection to Inari, like a shadow of thought. He inspected her quickly, before wiping some of the grime from her cheek with one calloused thumb. "You're not hurt?"
She shook her head. "No, I broke away before he could...before..."
"Atta girl." His smile was genuine, and the concern turned to relief with a hint of pride. He glanced back toward the flitter. "May and Grenville will wait until Chen and her wolf have secured the area. Then May will have Chen cut a way into the plane. Snyder's not going to hurt you, or anyone else."
Lucia doubted Snyder acted alone. It wasn't the sort of conspiracy that could exist on its own within the local forces. There had to be others, well placed, who could enable Snyder's actions. They wouldn't get named, and indeed, they'd likely let him take the fall as an independent madman, or however the tribunal ended up spinning the story. Just because the tribunal didn’t look any further wouldn’t mean those others weren’t there.
But she could worry about that later. She threaded her fingers into his, relieved when he allowed the contact. "How did you know?"
"Inari figured it out. Realized that he'd been at the crash site but hadn't called in anyone to rescue you. He'd known and said nothing. At best that made him complicit, but I suspected far worse."
"But how did you know I'd gone?" It was still the wrong question. She needed to know why he'd come for her at all but couldn't bring herself to ask.
"I—" He stopped as quickly as he started. "I didn't tell you the truth when we were in the cave. Wolves do sometimes bond across two people. It's not very common. Hell, I only know of a few stories. And they all end with marriage. The stronger the bond becomes the more all three of them tend to know each other's feelings. It can be uncomfortably intimate. And if the relationship fails...it's bad for everyone involved, but the wolf takes it the worst." He took another deep breath. "I didn’t want you to think I was using Inari to leverage you into a relationship. And frankly, I'm not good boyfriend material."
She rolled her eyes, unable to suppress a chuckle. "Yes, because who would want to date a hunky special forces guy and his invisible, telepathic wolf?" She squeezed his hands. "But you’re right. So, maybe we don't jump to the endgame yet. Maybe we take some time and really get to know each other first."
"You're not horrified that I'll have an idea of what you're feeling? Or you me?"
"Honestly, I think it's a hell of an easier footing than a lot of couples get." She grinned and curled her fingers against the skin of his temple, brushing the back of her knuckles across the stubble of his haircut. "So, can you tell what I'm thinking now?"
"You're curious. And annoyed. Wondering when I'm going to kiss you."
She laughed. "Or maybe I'm wondering what you'll do when I kiss you first." Lucia leaned up onto her tiptoes and pulled his mouth down to hers. His lips were as soft as she remembered, careful as he returned the kiss like he had to keep himself in check or risk hurting her. She planned to break him of that habit eventually, to remind him she wouldn't shatter and wasn't the porcelain doll she might once have been, but for the moment it felt good to be treasured.
Better than good. It felt like being home.