Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (10 page)

“You can worry about what you do to her after you find her, my friend. But, for now you need focus on how to get her out of there,” Zeb said to Brylon in the voice that all the ship’s crew knew a direct command.

“I am doing the best I can, commander.”

****

Emma was extremely tired now. She had no idea how long she had been crawling through the low ceilinged vents and realized that she hadn’t passed an access vent or panel for a very long time now. All she knew was that she was thirsty, hungry, tired, and hopelessly lost. This was one time she wished she hadn’t followed one of her hair brained escape ideas.

Continuing forward was her only hope at this point. Going back wasn’t an option since she already knew there wasn’t any kind of exit. She told herself that she would take the first vent cover or access panel she found in order to get out of this seemingly endless journey. A huge gust of cold air came toward her, causing her to close her eyes against the force of it. Suddenly, without warning, her hand, which should have landed on the cool steel floor of the vent, went further downward then she expected causing her to lose her balance and pitch forward. She opened her eyes just in time to see herself slip over the edge and fall head first down the shaft. She opened her mouth and screamed, but in the vent her screams sounded like a disembodied voice. Her body continued to fall until the vent curved into a more horizontal direction, making her body then go head over heels a few times. While she flipped, her wrist bent backwards with a crack that she heard over her own scream. She slid to a stop when her body hit the side of one of the walls as the vent turned to the right. She immediately pulled her wrist against her stomach as the tears of pain fell down her dirty face.

“Son of a bitch,” she shouted out, as the pain radiated outwards from her broken wrist. Her stomach was flip-flopping as the pain coursed through her body. She rocked back and forth
hoping that all of the pain would stop. Never in all her life, had she felt anything this painful, not even during all her years in foster care.

She inhaled deeply and slowly let the air leave her lungs as she eased her wrist away from her chest and saw that it was swelling considerably. Her situation was dire now.  She let out a sob as she looked at her wrist then back to the direction she had just fallen from. She definitely wouldn’t be able to go back that way. She looked at her wrist and wondered how in hell was she going to be able to crawl now?

“I found her!”

Brylon was on his feet in a heartbeat and heading out of the engine room door. Zeb was following close behind, along with two of the crew members that knew the air system. They were all running towards the crew elevator down the hall.

“Where is she?” Zeb said to Brylon as the elevator opened in front of them.

Brylon pushed the level 14 button and leaned on the wall for support as the elevator began its descent. “She is in the maintenance shaft on level 14. There is only one access panel in the zone, and it leads directly to the turbines. What complicates the situation is that there are several sharp drops in that area. If she happens to fall into one of shafts, she can end up falling into one of the fans. She will never survive if that that happens.” Brylon’s voice was shaking with emotion as he relayed the information to his commander.

“Is there any way to turn the fans off remotely?” Zeb asked

The door to the elevator opened and Brylon shot out in a dead run, “The only way to turn it off is at the turbine itself.”

The four men ran as fast as they could to the access panel that was located in a small room about five hundred feet from the elevator. The panel was roughly three feet by three feet and had more than a dozen screws to hold it in place. Without being told to do so, the two crew members rushed forward and started the agonizing process of unscrewing each one. The screws fell to the floor with a clatter as one by one each of them was pulled from the panel.

Finally, when all the screws were out and the door was lifted off the wall and set to the side. Brylon moved in to the vent space and shouted, “Emma! Emma, can you hear me?” He squeezed his large frame into the confines of the shaft and continued to shout.  He turned to Roran and the other crew member and said, “The two of you need to go to the turbine access panel on this level and get ready to shut it off if necessary.  We may not have much time to do this if she is moving in this direction.  As soon as I find her, I will let you know if you need to shut it down.  Now, go.”

Roran and the other member of Brylon’s staff ran down the hallway in the direction of the turbine and Brylon focused his attention on the now opened vent with Zeb standing right behind him.

“Emma, answer me,” Brylon inched forward, “Emma!” Behind him he heard someone crawl in and follow behind him.

Zeb called out to Brylon as he caught up with him, “Brylon, we are going to get stuck in here, you fool.”

Brylon wasn’t listening to the voice behind him as he kept crawling forward, deeper into the maze of ductwork. He was determined to find his mate, before she accidently fell into one of the turbines. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that happened.

“Emma!” he shouted every few feet.  He stopped when he thought he heard the sound of crying.  He slowed his breathing to hear the faintest of sounds.

“Emma, can you hear me? Where are you?” He listened quietly for the reply to come again. Sure enough he could hear the faintest cry for help. “I’m coming Emma. Stay where you are.” He crawled as fast as he could through the duct work until he came to a junction. He looked around the corner and at first saw nothing in the direction he was searching. Turning his head the opposite way, he could make out dark figure at the far end of the shaft.

“Emma!”

****

Emma was startled when she heard her name being called from somewhere inside the duct. She wasn’t sure which direction the sound was coming from and really wasn’t sure if she had heard it or if in her panic imagined it, so she stayed very still and waited for the sound to make its way to her again.

“Emma!” She heard it again and let out the cry of relief that she had been holding on to while she sat there with her wrist cradled into her chest.

“I’m here,” she shouted back. She heard some sounds of movement coming from down the shaft close to where she was, but she was too frightened, and in too much pain to move. Not to mention, she was so afraid that there would be another drop that she would fall into if she started to move toward the sound of the person shouting her name. She decided that she would just sit still and wait for the rescuer to come to her.

Slowly she could see the shadow of a figure that filled the shaft as it moved toward her. Emma knew immediately who it was, Brylon. Hours ago, he was the one person she didn’t want to find her.  But now, given her current situation, she was so very happy to see him. She closed her eyes in relief, knowing that she was finally going to escape this maze of an air conditioning system.  A little while ago she was starting to believe that it would become her tomb. When she opened her eyes again Brylon’s face loomed before her. She looked directly into his copper eyes and whispered, “I’m Sorry.”

She flinched when his hand came up to her face and caressed her cheek. She was surprised with his gentleness with her since she had gone to great lengths to escape from him. She waited for some kind of reprimand or scolding, but none came. His hand remained on her cheek while he spoke to her,

“Come, little one, let’s get you out of here.” He grabbed for her arm that she had bent towards her body and she screamed out in pain. Once she recovered from the wave of pain that radiated from her broken wrist, she told him what had happened while she in the ducts.

“I think I broke my wrist when I fell down a duct that had suddenly gone vertical.” She lowered her eyes in shame and waited for him to say something, anything. She couldn’t look him in the face any longer. She was embarrassed for causing him so much trouble. Now, of all things, she had injured herself and she would have to depend on him for care.

She heard him let out a long slow breath before he commented, “I will have to bring you to the clinic and have Zane look at it as soon as we get out of here. Now, come on, we’ve got to move.” He took the transmitter off of his belt and spoke into it, “Roran, I have found her and we are leaving the duct system.”  He looked at Zeb and said, “Let’s get her out of here.” The gentleness of his voice appeared to have left him as he started to guide her in the direction he had come. She knew she had screwed up, but she would not have been able to live with herself if she hadn’t at least tried to escape. Way deep down, she knew she would never have made it off the ship.

She had to slide on her butt in order to make her way out of the
shaft. Brylon had to reverse his path because he was too large to turn around in the narrow vent. The pace was slow, but eventually the light coming in from the access panel came into view. She heard the voice before she saw who it was, and then cringed at the realization of who it was.

“Is she alright?” She heard the voice of the commander.

Brylon was still backing up out of the vent, “Yeah, but she’s injured.”

“Do I need to call for Zane?” Zeb asked as his body became clear of the vent.

Brylon’s body made it out through the panel next and said, “No Zeb, I will bring her to the infirmary myself. It looks like she has a broken wrist.” He helped her out of the vent shaft and into the small room. He waited next to the access panel as Emma scooted the rest of the way to the opening then swung her legs out. She stopped short when she saw the look on the commander’s face. She knew she was in real trouble now.

“Do you have any idea of the amount of danger that you put my men and yourself into?” He was all up in her face, and she could see the anger that was brewing in his eyes. “That was a very stupid move on your part. Brylon will deal with you when he has you back in his quarters.” She watched as he folded his arms across his chest and stared at her with an angry expression on his face. She felt like a child in foster care again that was being chastised by the social worker for having made yet another attempt to run away. She hadn’t a clue what to say to this man, because frankly, his demeanor scared the crap out of her.

“Let’s go Emma. Zane needs to check your wrist.” She heard Brylon speak to her as he reached for her uninjured arm to help pull her the rest of the way out of the shaft. Three of them walked back to the elevator while the other two crew members stayed behind to screw the access panel back into position. They waited in silence for the elevator to arrive and didn’t say a word once inside the elevator. Emma was feeling uncomfortable in the small confines of the elevator with the two gigantic men, as the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Every now and then she would see out the corner of her eye one or the other of the men glaring down at her.

The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors slid open, but only Brylon and Emma exited.  Zeb remained inside as he said, “Report to me later Brylon, after she sees the doctor and is secured in your quarters.  We will need to discuss this.”

Brylon stopped and looked back at his commander, disappointment showed on his face, “Yes sir, Commander.” Emma’s heart sped up after hearing the commander’s comment. What the hell was Brylon going to do to her? She looked up at him and saw that he was staring at her with a look she wasn’t very sure about. She wanted to say something but was abruptly cut off.

“I would advise you not to say a word right now, Emma. You have caused enough trouble for one day,” Brylon said, as he led her down the hallway to the infirmary. This was the first time in her life that she was actually regretful, for something she had done. When she had come up with her plan, she never realized that she would have been putting others’ lives at risk. She never intended for anyone to get hurt, and thankfully the only person hurt was her.

They entered the infirmary and Brylon called out, “Zane?” No reply came at first. “Zane, are you here?”

Zane came out of one of the rooms, “I see you have found your little fugitive.” He walked over to where Brylon and his mate stood. “Where did you find her?” He stopped in front of Emma and stared down at her, looking her over.

“She was in the air system quite close to one of the turbines. She has succeeded in injuring herself,” he nodded his head towards her wrist that she was holding close to her body. “Could you please take a look at her wrist and see if she managed to break it.”

Zane could tell, not only by the look on Brylon face, but also by the tone of his voice, that he was extremely frustrated with his little Earth female. Zane had heard that Brylon was having a difficult time with Emma and took pity on him. Brylon was such a good hearted Theron warrior, but he was often misunderstood. It was hard for Zane to see his friend in this state of mind.

“Brylon, bring her over here and I will run a scan on her wrist.” Zane walked towards one of the rooms again while Brylon took hold of Emma’s upper arm and guided her to the nearest bed. “Sit,” was the only word he said and was surprised to see that she obeyed without argument.

Zane returned carrying a small device that reminded Emma of a portable glucose meter. She grimaced in pain when Zane gently took her wrist in his large cool hand. He passed the scanner over her injured wrist while she looked on with amazement as a red warm light passed back and forth quickly over the affected area. The scanner beeped when it was finished.