“Get up!”
Hector rolled over. The dark silhouette looming over his cell’s tin bench jostled him again.
“Let’s go!”
“Alexandra?”
The bounty hunter frowned. “I have a shuttle waiting. We don’t have much time.”
She helped him up off the bench and pulled him toward the open door. He stumbled out into the hallway behind her. The holding cell’s security guard was face down at the end of the corridor. She knelt, grabbed his keycard, and used it to gain access to the elevator.
“I don’t understand,” Hector mumbled. His speech slurred as if he was drunk. The sedatives they had pumped into his system were still wearing off.
The elevator door opened. Inside, a wide-eyed guard reached for his sidearm. The bounty hunter shot him in the chest. He slammed into the back of the elevator and slid down to the floor. She pushed Hector into the elevator.
“I have two teleportation drives. Contact your headquarters so they can sync us up.”
Hector held his head and grimaced. “I can’t.”
“What?”
“I deserted them. If I go back they’ll lock me up—you too.” He hit the elevator car’s ‘emergency stop’ switch and it ground to a halt. He held his head and squinted at her. “Why are you doing this? Why the sudden change of heart?”
She pushed past him and released the switch. The elevator started moving again. “I saw my file. It’s true. You are my brother.”
Seconds later, the doors opened to reveal the underbelly of XLS Phase Travel Operations—the auxiliary receiving center, where incoming supplies and outgoing waste were processed before being transferred to other locations in New London. A shuttle waited beside the nearest loading dock. Several bodies, unconscious or dead, were scattered throughout the expansive area. A man with a shaved head and grimy leather coat stood next to the shuttle.
“Took long enough,” he said. “This job gonna be worth my while?”
“Just get us out of here, Wraith.” Alexandra hopped into the shuttle. Hector hesitated. She arched an eyebrow. “Well?”
Shouts. Guards poured out of the doorway opposite the transport. The man in the dirty coat cursed, pulled a pistol, and started firing.
“Time’s up, sweetheart!” he yelled.
Hector grimaced. The loading dock gate began to close. He was running out of time and he had very few options. Shaking his head, he jumped aboard the shuttle. Wraith slid into the front seat, wrapped his fingers around the shuttle’s controls, and swung the vehicle around to the exit.
