Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (15 page)

behave, but to no avail.

Minutes later, they reached the surface. Only moonlight lit their way, and Pee-coo-

mee and Pee-coo were willing to accompany them as far as their trailer.

“I fear a very disturbing war is about to begin,” Pee-coo-mee spoke after they’d

walked some distance along the side of the mountain. “We have new information about

those who attacked us. A handful of our people were taken hostage in a cavern we

don’t use often. I guess that’s where these moon people had set up camp. It’s amazing

we didn’t notice them sooner, really it is.”

“You weren’t looking for them,” Tara offered.

“What’s your new information?” Darius seemed to tire quickly of the trivial

chitchat.

“I’m getting ready to tell you.” Pee-coo-mee snapped, and a scowl could be seen

beneath the shadows on her face from under the hood. “Well now, the hostages we

retrieved don’t remember a lot about their captivity. They were all found strapped in

beds and hooked up to machines. Our doctors have turned in their reports about them.”

“What did the reports show?” Tara felt impending doom consume her.

“Nothing at first. So our governor asked our doctors to do a more thorough

examination. That’s the report we just got back. It appears that each female hostage was

impregnated. Some of the women had the pregnancy aborted, and some of the women

we recovered are still pregnant. They used the male hostages to impregnate the female

hostages.” Pee-coo-mee wrinkled her nose. “Can you believe such a thing?”

Darius led the small procession through the trees and now raised his hand

indicating they should stop. He put his finger to his lips, then pointed through the trees

ahead of them. A handful of dark figures wearing long flowing capes moved around

the trailer. They’d successfully pulled it out of the cave where Darius had parked it.

Several more figures emerged from the cave pushing Darius and Tara’s bikes.

“How many do you count?” Darius whispered.

“Ten or eleven.” Tara scanned the area wondering what transportation these people

had used to get here or if they, too, had walked. “We can’t use the Eliminator, it would

take out our bikes and the trailer as well.”

“We can’t let them take our only means of transportation out of here.”

“Agreed.” She pointed to bushes alongside the men. “I’ll work my way over there.

Then we open fire on them. All we need to do is get our bikes.”

Darius looked ready to disagree. He turned Tara’s face toward him, grabbing firmly

onto her chin.

Tara knew he could see the determination in her expression. And there was no time

to lose by arguing.

“Be careful now,” he growled and then, before she had the chance to pull away, he

lowered his face to hers and gently kissed her on the lips.

Tara blinked as the heat from his fingers scorched her cheekbone and chin. As his

lips brushed over hers, the denied love she felt for Darius swam through her system

like a euphoric drug. Tara meant to pull away from him, reminding her she couldn’t

feel affection for this man. But she didn’t pull away, and she knew in her heart that she

didn’t want to pull away.

Darius ended their kiss and straightened, his expression blocked by shadows. Tara

said nothing, not trusting the emotions running through her.

Within seconds, she reached her destination.

The robed intruders were leaning over the two bikes, either studying them or trying

to figure out how to start them, or both. Regardless, they hadn’t noticed Tara and now

she was several yards away from them.

Okay. I’m relying on you, Darius. She knew no matter how angry she was with him,

he wouldn’t let her down in battle. And this was more than battle. The survival of

Nuworld could well rest on their ability to reach Patha before the Lunians made their

next move.

Tara drew her laser, aimed it at the robed figures, and fired. Immediately, laser fire

came from Darius’ direction. Gunfire exploded through the air, as well. It took Tara a

second to realize it was Pee-coo-mee and Pee-coo firing alongside Darius.

They took the would-be thieves by complete surprise. Tara successfully eliminated

the two men hovering over her bike. She rushed to her motorcycle and got on it before

the remaining robed figures had an opportunity to react.

But they did react in the next second. Those standing by the trailer pulled long, flat,

black weapons identical to the guns the Lunians used and opened fire on Darius.

Tara drove the bike back into the bushes, using them as a shield and struggled to

breathe as pain reminded her she wasn’t in fit condition. Doing her best to ignore her

body’s warning signals, she threw off the robe and immediately regretted the fact that

she wore the bright green outfit underneath. An easy target in the darkness. She hugged

her bike and drove around bushes and trees until she reached Darius.

“Head down the side of the mountain,” Darius said as she pulled up behind him.

He’d positioned himself behind a large rock and was returning fire at the robed figures

who protected themselves by hiding behind the trailer. “There’s a group of rocks that

thrust fifteen feet into the air, maybe a mile or two south of here, there is. It looks like a

hand sticking out of the ground. That’s the rendezvous point. Get going. I’ll meet you

there, I will.”

“I’m not going to leave here without you,” She spoke quickly, too quickly. Tara

realized the affection she tried to suppress came through in her words.

Darius noticed it, too. A small grin—a triumphant grin—appeared on his face and

his dark gray eyes danced wickedly.

“You can’t handle this by yourself,” she added and frowned stubbornly.

He was undaunted and his triumphant grin didn’t fade.

Gunfire shot through the air at that moment and a loud scream followed. Pee-coo

fell backward just in front of Darius, ripping through the bushes as his body hit the

ground.

“No,” Pee-coo-mee screamed and threw herself at Pee-coo, trying to catch him.

Another blast of bullets filled the air, and Pee-coo-mee fell to the ground next to

Pee-coo, both dead.

Darius remained hunched behind the rock. Tara was behind him on her bike. He

held his hand flat out behind him, indicating she should stay still and not make a

sound. He did the same.

The robed figures did not move either and the evening became deathly still. Darius’

bike stood out in the open and the lights in the trailer were off. Both Tara and Darius

could see slight movement by the trailer. Darius pulled the Eliminator out from under

his robe.

“You can’t use that,” she hissed. “It’ll take out the entire camp. You’ll lose your

bike.”

“I’m going to show these people who they’re messing with, I am.” He leaned his

chin down above the Eliminator, focusing on his target. “Besides, I’m sure they’ve

called for reinforcements. This may be our only chance to get out of here, yes.”

“Darius, we’re too close. You’ll have to fire on the run if we’re going to get down

this mountain once that trailer explodes.” She damned him for his willfulness.

“Scoot back.” He grabbed her handlebar with one hand, but kept the Eliminator

focused on its target.

Tara looked at him, ready to protest that it was her bike and she would drive it.

He stole a quick glance at her. “Now.” His growl meant business. “You won’t argue

this time, no.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but complied.

He swung his long leg over her bike with ease, and Tara found herself wrapping

her arms around his firm, muscular body. Instantly, Darius shot out from behind the

large rock that had served as their shield. Before their aggressors had an opportunity to

react, he fired.

The hit was direct and the explosion large. The trailer blew up into the air and parts

of it slammed against the ground in all directions. Metal siding and interior boards that

had made up the walls slammed against surrounding trees and hurled into the air.

Fireballs screamed, landing in scattered patterns amidst the wooded side of the

mountain.

Darius tore down the side of the mountain, avoiding the falling metal and burning

debris raining around them. A large rectangular shape in flames—possibly the trailer

door—landed in the top of a large evergreen. Within moments, the tree gave in and fell

to the ground. Darius slammed on the brakes to avoid being crushed and allowed the

bike to slide sideways before regaining control.

A large ravine provided the next obstacle. Accelerating with a vengeance, he

managed to clear the abyss, although barely. Tara did not need to be told to hang on for

dear life as she buried her head deep into his back, making her body one with his.

Darius lowered his body, allowing acceleration to reach its maximum force so they

could outrun the falling debris from the trailer. They were well down the mountain and

cruising over the high plateau before Darius slowed down. He brought the bike to a

stop, and the two of them looked back at the burning mountainside.

Tara realized she’d tightened her brow with such fury that as she relaxed, she felt

blood pulse through her veins in her forehead, aggravating her injuries. Instinctively,

she put her hand to her face to check for bleeding. There was none. Her arm also

throbbed as she loosened her grip on Darius. Suddenly she felt quite weak.

Darius turned his head to study her face. “I bet that hurts.” He smiled and rubbed

her leg.

“I don’t have any new injuries.” She glared at him coolly and picked up his hand

with hers and placed it on his own leg.

His grin widened which annoyed her. His gaze drifted then, his lips flattening into

a thin line of concentration.

Darius pointed with his thumb toward the mountain. “We’ve got company.”

Chapter Nine

“What is it now?” Patha had entered the small communications room across the

hall from the master bedroom and nursery, and stood behind Torgo, who sat hunched

over the computer screen.

The young lad studied the contents of one monitor while talking into his comm. He

ran his hands through his hair, causing curls to fall haphazardly. Then turning off his

comm, he typed furiously into the computer. It was then that he looked up at Patha,