Page 146 of Alien Burn

She kicked the table. A chair fell across his shins. He swore and hauled her back hard enough to lift her feet from the floor.

Roemary bent over the fallen guard and took her communicator.

“Leave it,” the male holding Sereya snapped.

“It has my records on it.”

“Then move.”

They had done this before. Sereya heard it in his voice, in the way the other male checked the corridor while Roemary tucked the damaged device away.

This had been arranged before Sereya said no.

The male dragged her through the service door at the back of the visitor room. Its lock hung out of the frame. Beyond it, the second guard lay on his side, his arm trapped beneath him. Cold air struck her face as they passed machinery and a staircase marked with yellow lines.

Behind her, the guard moved.

His hand reached for his comm.

Sereya shouted the only thing he still needed.

“East loading bay!”

The male clamped a hand over her mouth.

She bit him.

His grip slipped, and she got one more breath.

“Roemary!”

He slammed her against a wall. Pain burst along her shoulder. She kept her eyes open.

The guard had heard.

Dhomhes would come.

They took her down two flights of service stairs. The male's grip stayed cruelly tight, but he had to slow whenever she let her weight drop. She did it at each turn. Once she caught a railing and held it until he pried her fingers loose.

Roemary kept looking back.

“You should have done as you were told.”

Sereya tasted blood where she'd bitten the inside of her cheek.

“You brought them before you knew what I'd say.”

Roemary walked on.

At the lower door, Sereya let her knees fold again. The male swore, reaching to lift her properly, and she twisted out of his hands.

She ran toward the light.

It was a floodlamp above the freight apron. Beyond it, tall stacks of containers cut off any view of the housing wing. A cargo skiff waited with its rear hatch open.

No workers. No one coming to load it.

She stopped so abruptly that her shoes skidded.