Page 37 of Lost in Barbarian Space

“You’re handy to have around, warrior.”

“Of course.”

She rolled her eyes at the unabashed arrogance, and stood. They made their way back through the snow to load the box in the back of the marlin.

While Colm maneuvered the lockbox into the storage compartment, Honor touched her visor. “Derek, we found an artifact. We have it loaded. Did you find anything else?” She waited for the agent to respond.

“Copy that, Agent Brandall. We have nothing else to report.”

“All right, let’s head back to the Drake. If we’re lucky, there might be something in this artifact we found that will narrow down where the rest of the ship is.”

“Acknowledged.”

Moments later, Derek’s form appeared out of the fog. He tipped up his visor, his face creased in concern. “Is Dr. Behati with you?”

She froze. “No, I thought he was with you.” She looked around. The fog had an eerie feel to it now and it was getting thicker by the second. “Dr. Behati, do you copy?”

Nothing.

“Dr. Behati, please respond.”

Having finished stowing the box, Colm appeared. “What’s wrong?”

“Dr. Behati is missing and not answering his comms.”

Colm’s face turned grim. “Let’s find him.”

“Alpha, this is the Drake.”

At the new voice in her ear, she held up her hand for the others to wait. “I’m here, Drake.”

“We’ve picked up a snowstorm moving in on your location.” Ning sounded out of breath. “Honor, it’s huge and it’s coming in fast.”

Honor cursed. “Behati is missing.”

“You have ten minutes until the storm hits…no, wait a second… Stars, make that four minutes. It’s speeding up!”

Honor looked at Colm and Derek. “We’re about to get hit by a huge snowstorm. We have four minutes to find Behati and get out of here. Let’s move. Now.”

Colm nodded and swiftly moved to look around the area. Derek moved to the left and Honor went right. Together, they moved in larger and larger circles around the marlins. Honor called out and kept trying the comms. Where the hell was the archeologist?

Ahead, she saw Colm crouch and touch something in the snow.

She hurried over. “What is it?”

He looked up, and his face was as hard as she’d ever seen it. He moved his body slightly…and she saw what he was looking at.

The snow was stained with a splatter of bright-red blood.

Honor felt her stomach turn over.

Colm shot to his feet, his eyes flashing gold. “Something’s here.”

The fog had thickened more, and the wind was picking up. With her heart pounding, she turned around, trying to see anything through the thick, white mist.

“Agent Brandall!” Derek yelled across the comm. “I saw something in the fog. Something big.”

“We need to leave,” Colm said.