Dangerous Designs (23 page)

Hmmm. As much as she had no use for the Councilman, the women and children didn't deserve a life of servitude with the Louers. "Stylus, can it be resealed?"

No.

"Can we leave without disturbing the seal by using codexes?"

Yes.

She spun around searching for Eric. "Eric, are you ready?"

"Yes, just checking the status of the armory."

"How come you have an armory if you don't need such a thing," she asked mockingly of Eric's father. That pompous windbag really pissed her off. She wouldn't mind if he was captured again. It's not like he was doing anything to help save his people.

Eric shot her a sideways look. "Because at one point in time, we did need it. Therefore, for a long time we kept the training and weapons current. Then the threat died off and well..." He shrugged. "That could be a problem too. The weapons might be there, but I'm not sure what condition they are in." He motioned to the other men. "We'll go there first."

"Then let's move or we'll be too late."

He walked over, that wide cocky grin back on his face. Reaching out for her arm, he nodded to the others. "I'm dialing now. Step over."

The group rushed over in time for the black air to swirl around their feet and block out the rest of the room.

About damn time. This place would crumble with old age before anyone got down to business.

"Still as impatient as ever, I see," murmured Eric beside her.

She bent her head to hide her grin. If he only knew.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A
t the basement, they split up. Eric took several men and headed to the armory. Storey and the remaining two men headed for the anteroom. She didn't know what they could do on their own, but hoped something would come to her on the way. The burly man strode at her side. The younger, pimple-faced, barely adult male loped along on the side. The teen smiled at her. She smiled back. "What's your name?"

"Horath."

She raised her eyebrow, "That's an interesting name."

He straightened, even his smile brightened.

"My name is Jendron." The burly man grinned knowingly at her. "Neither of us is mated."

What that had to do with anything, she didn't know. She knew enough to keep her mouth shut though.

She was grateful to see Eric ahead of them at the entrance to the anteroom. His nostrils flared. He lifted his head, almost sniffing the air. "They're here already."

"Good," she murmured. "Let's get in there and take them down."

He looked at her sideways. "How?"

"With the gun you're carrying."

His face broke into a half smile. "You've got that right. We have three stun guns. Old but still functional, I hope. Still, we'll be lucky if we shoot four or five. What about the others?"

Storey smiled and tapped her sketchbook. "I'm not without some resources."

"True. But it takes time to draw. You aren't going to have that time."

"No," she said. "I won't. Maybe you'll be able to handle them all and I won't need it." She didn't bother telling him she'd been working on an idea. She opened her sketchbook, stared at it and started drawing. She created the same door that started this whole mess from her bedroom. She fell into the project with the same intensity she put into all her drawings.

She barely noticed when Eric set up position and motioned to the others to be ready. One hand on the doorknob, he turned back to Storey. "Are you ready Storey? In three, two, one..."

Storey raised her head and watched. Her hand, stylus gripped tight in her fingers, sketched at a mad pace. The gate was almost done, the latch, the shading. Just another minute. She watched the men even as her hand, the stylus clenched tight, drew at a furious pace.

Eric reached for the knob. He kicked the door wide and jumped in low. Storey peered into the room. Darkness, complete and utterly blinding, greeted them. There should have been some light from the windows, at least. Nothing. All her instincts screamed at her.

"What's wrong?"

He cast Storey a frown and nudged her to silence. Pulling his weapon forward, he entered the darkness. One step. Two steps. All he could hear was heavy breathing from those trying to peer into the room from behind him. A bright light flashed. He blinked, then blinked again. Black smoke wafted at the floor level.

The smell hit him first. Sour and cloying, the fetid aroma filled his nostrils and threw him off stride. He bent slightly, gasping for air. The black smoke thickened. Then it hit him. He scrambled backwards. It was a portal.

"Watch out," he yelled in warning. "It's an active portal."

"I made it. Toss them through." Storey screamed back. "I didn't expect it to be that big."

There was a shocked silence. Several of the men turned to stare at her, disbelief twisting their features. Eric, his temper barely held in check, said, "Next time, how about a little warning first, please."

"Sorry." She hunkered down close to the floor. Not a good start.

Louers rushed through the charcoal fog. "Don't let them grab you. They'll be able to take you through to their world."

Storey scurried further back from the action, shaking so bad her legs couldn't hold her. Panic knotted her stomach down tight. She grabbed her stylus. She'd drawn the portal, but hadn't expected it to be so big or right in the front of the door. Making the best of the situation, sketching as fast as she could, she placed a stickman in the room, labeled it Louer, then tossed him into the portal. A rasping scream sounded from the room. She ignored it, desperate to send another Louer into the portal. The intensity of the fighting increased and screams echoed down the empty basement.

The smell seeped out to where she was. It caught her sideways, making her gag. She choked several times, her eyes watering.

The sounds of fighting went on around her. She coughed a couple more times.

"Storey, a little help please!"

Crap, that was Eric. Still coughing, and with tears running down her cheeks, she returned to her drawing, urging the stylus to increase the speed. Another male screamed. Sounded like Horath. She sank deeper into her focus and sketched faster. The hell going on in there was beyond her experience. That Eric may not survive hadn't been a serious consideration before.

This hadn't been real before.

Just then Jendron tumbled out of the room to roll to a stop at her feet. He groaned and lay there gasping in pain. Scratches raked from shoulder to elbow on both arms as if he'd been grabbed and had pulled free. She thought he might be seriously injured, when suddenly he let out a roar, bolted to his feet and blasted back into the center of the fight.

Gulping hard, Storey tore her gaze away from the fighting and tried to draw. Her nerves rattled making it hard to hold the stylus. Consumed with panic, she had to close her eyes to stay focused. Imagining Louers attacking Eric, she mentally picked them up and tossed them in, her hand mimicking her action on paper. It was as if she could see everyone clearly in the melee. Eric was there, so was Jendron at the back. Sketch, pick up, and toss. Repeat. Suddenly she realized that Eric was in the air and flying toward the portal.

"No," she screamed. She scribbled over the portal and Eric hit the closed wall – hard. She'd shut the portal. Shocked, everyone stilled and stared as they worked to catch their breath. Only two Loures remained. Eric bounced to his feet and shot them both. Stunned, they collapsed to the ground.

"Oh, thank God." Storey clambered to her feet and raced over to Eric, throwing herself into his arms. "You're safe."

He wrapped her up tight in his embrace, his chest heaving from exertion. "Thanks to you."

Rearing back slightly, she noted, "Yeah. Apparently as I become more bonded to the stylus, my abilities or the scope of my capabilities is improving."

"No, really." He grinned and leaned over to kiss her, hard. Just as she was enjoying the feel of his mouth on hers, he set her aside. Laughing at the look on her face, he grabbed her hand and walked a few steps to stare down at the unconscious enemies. "Now what do we do?"

The others shook their heads and walked around the two prisoners. Sweat now mingled with the noxious odor of the captives. Raw sewage couldn't have smelt worse. Storey looked from them to the attack party. At first glance, everyone appeared to be alive and accounted for, although Horath held his arm at a funny angle. The others appeared bloody, yet not seriously injured.

Storey stared down at the creatures she'd yet to see up close. Her throat seized. Lord, they were ugly. Nothing she'd care to see late at night, that's for sure. They had human features, but were disproportionate in size. And hairy. She could only see the face of one, but it resembled the pictures she'd seen in natural history class of early Neanderthals, with huge foreheads and thick jaws. Their palms were thick and ending in impossibly long skinny fingers. She took a step back. She couldn't stand to be so close, their very skin reeked.

"How do you attach codes to send your supplies where you need them?"

"We attach tags generated by the codexes."

"Will that work in this case?" She grabbed her sketchbook and asked the stylus to give her the sequence of numbers that the codex computer could pick up. Instantly, a series of numbers came up on the paper. "Okay, here they are."

"Do we just write this on their skin?" she asked

Yes, but use me to write on them. Then the computer will have my signature."

Storey bent down to the thick arm in front of her. "Then we'll do that now. I'm at the first one. Let's repeat the first number." Once she touched the stylus to the Louer's skin, the stylus scratched out a complex series of numbers on his skin. No blood or obvious tissue damage. Weird. It was almost like a temporary tattoo when she was done.

She walked over to the other Louer and repeated the process. Then she stepped back and looked over at Eric. "This is your part now. Send them home."

Eric nodded and punched his codex several times bringing out the musical notes she'd come to understand. "Paxton gave me the destination code that he'd found in the archives used for Mansfield. Let's hope that's still effective." Mist started to swirl about. "Get out, everyone. The mist will take whoever is touching it."

The room filled with darkness. When Storey didn't move fast enough, she was grabbed and dragged out. The other men had filed out in front of them. They shut the door and waited.

Eric and Storey stared at each other. "Is this going to work?"

"It should. We send supplies to your world that way."

"Interesting." Something to keep in mind.

After a few minutes, Eric opened the door slightly, then threw it wide open. He grinned at her. "You did it. The room's empty."

She stepped in to look for herself. Turning back, she beamed a wide grin to the others. "I did it? This was a team effort." She kissed her stylus. "That leaves what, about thirty-one or so others? Let's go."

First though, they sent Horath and his broken arm back to Paxton for treatment. Now one man short, they needed smaller groups of Louers to keep the odds in their favor.

Using the stylus, they found a group of five Louers. This time they transported to within ten feet of their location, caught them by surprise and had them unconscious in minutes. The stun gun worked wonders now that the men were accustomed to using them.

Storey stared down at them in shock. "I haven't adjusted to arriving, and they're already out cold. This is great." With Eric's help they completed the code writing on all five. Standing back, Storey watched as Eric shipped them back to their old world.

"What's the chance of the other Louers being taken just as easily?"

Eric shook his head. "Not."

She grimaced. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Let's hope Paxton has closed those tears." She consulted with the stylus. "No more new crossings," she announced. "Still, we have another twenty-six to do."

The stylus came up with two in a group, and they were dispatched to follow their countrymen in a similar fashion.

"Two is about right, given how tired we are." Jendron said, adding, "Especially with there only being three of us now."

Eric nodded, fatigue pulling on his features. "Let's tell Paxton. He might have organized more teams by now. We're going to spend hours more doing this, otherwise. Not sure we'll be able to last."

Paxton reported everyone busy in rescue missions and fighting. It would be at least another hour before he'd have a second team for them, but he could send a couple of spare men for now. Eric's response was jubilant. "That's going to double our numbers. That's huge for us."

Coordinates were quickly sent and almost as quickly two more men, both big and broad, arrived. Storey grinned. Talk about a cool way to travel.

Feeling stronger with better odds, Storey's group repeated the process with another group of two and then one of three.

Jendron said, "This system works better with small groups." He wiped his brow, his voice deepening. "I don't know how many more we're going to be able to do. Now we need to find more this size."

"The stylus is looking." She glanced over at Eric. "How about an update from Paxton again. More teams would be wonderful."

He nodded.

"According to the stylus, the last of them are heading our way." She groaned. "Oh no, apparently three more have joined that group. There are now twelve Louers approaching. And no answer from Paxton."

Silence.

"Let's stay together and get the job done." Jendron had proven to be a great sergeant in this war. He took orders well and stepped up every time.

"Agreed," the group cried out, flushed with their success. Tired but willing. You had to respect the foot soldier.

Just then her stylus moved. Triumphantly, she read off, "Paxton is sending another team to meet us at the last location."

Watching the relief wash over the men, Storey could see how important it was for this last encounter to go fast and simple. She didn't want to consider failure and all that implied in this case. They'd been lucky so far. Horath's arm, a few scrapes and lots of bruises, but it could have been so much worse.