Page 17 of Sawyer’s Mistake

“Don’t worry about that, just do as I say, ok?” His voice sounded strained. “I know what I’m doing, Saoirse.”

She nodded and moved her hand very slowly. She expected the bindings to tighten, but they let her go. She focused on the leg bindings that trapped her to the chair legs. These thankfully looked like normal ropes. Soon, her ankles were loose. She rubbed them gratefully.

Behind her, Jake made a strangled sound.

“Oh my God, Jake!” she whispered. She turned around to look at him. The ropes had let go of both her and the chair, and were snaking lazily around his left wrist, tightening around the chains that already bound his wrists behind his back. He grunted.

“I’m okay. Just a bit queasy,” he said. His lips were a thin line on his mouth. “It’s fine.” He didn’t look fine.

She went down on her knees next to him, ignoring the pins and needles in her legs.

She looked at his eyes. His pupils were huge. That was a sign of concussion, wasn’t it?

“Oh God, what are we going to do?” she cried out.

Chapter 9

Eva

Eva walked back to the vehicles after peeing behind a bush to find the men waiting for her impatiently. Being a woman sucked, sometimes. She sighed and straightened her black pants. Yesterday’s panties were stuffed deep in her pants pocket. She’d find some time to wash them tonight.

As soon as she saw the men’s carefully neutral expressions, she saw it wasn’t just impatience. Something was wrong.

“What’s happened?” she asked. “Is it Saoirse?”

Storme’s worried expression confirmed her worst fear. Meir came up behind them, holding a tablet in his hands.

“Sawyer just activated the tracker on his wrist,” Meir said. “He wouldn’t have done that if they weren’t in trouble.”

“Where are they? What are we waiting for? We’ve got to go find them!”

Storme came up and put his arms around her, his hold gentle. “It’s going to be okay, Eva. They’re alive, that’s what matters, and we know where they are now.”

“You don’t understand. Saoirse isn’t a soldier,” she said.

“Sawyer is a soldier,” Storme said simply.

“Okay, we’re ready to go,” Prado said, jumping down next to them. He ran a hand through his black hair, which was getting longer every day. In his other hand, he held the cloth he’d been using to wipe down the solar panels on the roof of the van.

“Where are they, Meir?”

“They’re about three hundred miles south of here. Not sure how they got there, to tell you the truth. There’s no direct road leading there.” Meir shrugged apologetically. “The only possible explanation is they’ve been captured by the Remur. Perhaps they flew in a Remur spacecraft.”

“I hate to point out the obvious, but we don’t have a plane,” Eva said.

“So we drive, and get there as fast as we can,” Storme said, his hand tightening reassuringly against hers. She drew strength from his grip.

“Prado, grab your rifle. Zander, we’ll need you as well if they’re injured. Meir, you and Kopf stay here and keep working on the energy shield, we’ll let you know if we need help.”

“Yes, Boss!” Prado shouted.

“Let’s go find them!”

Chapter 10

Jake

The urge to turn on his side and empty the contents of his stomach was almost overpowering, but he knew it would just scare Saoirse, so he clenched his jaw until the moment passed. Sweat dripped down his forehead, plastering his hair to his skin.