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“Maxwell.” Garrett felt the smaller man tense under his palm, and he fought the urge to wrap his arm all the way around him and pull him against his side. He knew that Maxwell was strong—he’d seen him on the front lines against the Klah’Eel plenty of times—but something about that strength and pride stuffed into such a small frame always made Garrett feel particularly protective. “It’ll be alright.”
Maxwell shifted away from him and scowled. “That’s what I just said.”
Before Garrett could reply, the gusts from the ships screeching to a stop before them lifted the hair from his forehead, and Garrett looked away from Maxwell to give his full attention to the alien ships landing in the center of the tarmac.
Moment of truth.
Garrett exchanged glances with Leon, Joan, and even Sebastian. Were they really going to see their comrades again? The ones they’d given up for lost and wrestled with the guilt of abandoning every day?
The three ships powered down. Garrett held his breath. After a goddamn eternity, the door of the large ship in the center hissed open, and a gangway dropped down. A huge, hulking klah’eel would walk down that ramp any second, and Garrett would have to fight the instinctive urge to either run in the opposite direction or launch himself at the alien and hope he could distract him long enough for his fellows to take him out.
Garrett swayed back on his heels when a human figure walked down the ramp first.
A human, but definitely not a member of the Resistance. The man looked almost twice Garrett’s age, but he held his spine as straight as the gatlung slung across his back, and he wore the uniform of the Klah’Eel army as comfortably as if he’d been born in it.
“Patrick!” Captain Mal’ik stepped forward, and the newcomer’s striking blue eyes lit up at the sight of the Klah’Eel captain.
“Mal’ik!” The man strode forward and clasped Mal’ik in a hug. “Goddamn, it’s good to see you alive. I’d heard the Resistance hadn’t killed you, but I wasn’t going to be sure until I saw it.”
“I’m sure they considered it.” Mal’ik turned back to them all and drew the man toward Leon. “Hess, this is Patrick Smith. My former second-in-command.”
“First in command, now.” Patrick held out his hand to Leon and jerked his head at Mal’ik. “They gave me his job when he turned on us.”
Sebastian put his hands on his hips and raised his eyebrows. “They didn’t know you helped him?”
Patrick’s eyes cut to Sebastian, and Garrett saw him put together who he was looking at with impressive speed. “The torvar, I take it.”
Leon stepped in smoothly and shook Patrick’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain Smith.”
“Patrick is fine.” Patrick smiled in a way that struck Garrett as too easy, considering the tension of the circumstances. “I think you and I will be spending a good amount of time together.”
Garrett tensed. It sounded like the sort of thing the villain said before springing an ambush, but Leon just raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“We’ll have time to chat later. First, let’s get your people off these ships.” Patrick waved at the reflective windshields, and the doors on the other two ships hissed open. “Some of them might need medical attention.”
Leon’s fists clenched. “Have they been mistreated?”
“Not by me,” Patrick said firmly. “But I wouldn’t want to have been locked in one of our prisons for as long as some of these men have.”
The anger that the comment sparked in Garrett’s chest blew away as soon as the next human figures crested the ramp of the middle ship.
“Colin!” Sebastian took a few steps forward but wisely stopped when the two klah’eel flanking the column of six humans gave him a look. But even Garrett almost rushed the gangway in relief.
The prisoners from Kaston. The ones Leon hadn’t let them rescue. A second group of prisoners appeared at the door of the ship. All of them.
As soon the first prisoners stepped onto Carta’s ground and had their handcuffs removed, Maxwell moved quickly past Garrett and tugged on his wrist. “Help me with Tyler.”
“Colin, thank god, I wasn’t sure you’d made it.” Sebastian yanked Colin into a hug.
Colin hugged him back with a delighted laugh. “I thought you were a fucking goner, Sebastian.”
Garrett reached out as he passed and palmed the back of Colin’s head, mussing his hair. “It’s good to see you, Colin.”
“Thanks, Garrett.” Colin smiled up at him. “Does this mean you’ll always move your stupid pool table for my dartboard?”
Garrett barked a laugh. “We’ll see.” Then he caught up with Maxwell and looped an arm around Tyler before he could list too far sideways and topple over on his one good leg. The other stuck out in front of him, encased in a huge clumsy cast. “I got you. They do this to you?”
Tyler leaned his weight into Garrett with a groan of relief. “No, I broke it jumping out of a window to get out of Kaston headquarters. The gas…” He shivered and didn’t go on, and Garrett gave him a squeeze.
