Through Uncharted Space: A Phoenix Adventures Sci-fi Romance (12 page)

She felt his hard body wrapped around hers, but she couldn’t see him through the smoke. She slapped her hand around until she felt his face.

“Dare!” He was still. Motionless. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Wake up. We need to get out of here.”

Suddenly, he moved, heaving in a strained breath. “What the hell?”

“Fire.” She could hear it crackling. “We have to go.”

He wrapped an arm around her and together they slid off the bed.

“Stay close to the floor,” he warned.

Together, they scrambled across the room until they reached the door. Dare grabbed the handle. He rattled it, then shoved against the door.

He sank back down with a vicious curse. “Locked. I can’t open it.”

Dakota looked wildly around the smoke-filled room, coughing. “Balcony?”

It was their only other option, but it was on the opposite side of the room.

With a grim look, Dare nodded. “Stay low, and try not to breathe in the smoke.”

“Thanks. I was thinking of taking in a few mouthfuls of it.”

He shook his head. “Smartass.”

They crawled across the floor toward the balcony. Or at least, Dakota hoped it was in the direction of the balcony. She couldn’t see a thing, and her coughing fits increased. It was getting harder and harder to draw a breath, and her lungs were burning.

She wasn’t sure how far they’d gone, but she had to stop. She stayed on her hands and knees, the pain in her chest like fire.

A big hand settled on the back of her neck. “You’ve got to keep moving.”

She managed a nod and with Dare’s help, she reached the glass windows. He reached up and she prayed the door would open. She was drawing the tiniest breaths possible, and each one was agony.

Then, there was the sound of a door sliding open. Cool night air rushed into her face and Dare half dragged her out of the room.

Dakota greedily drank in the air and heard Dare coughing.

But there was no time to rest. Dare dragged her onto her feet. Behind them, smoke poured out of the open door, rising up into the night sky.

“We have to get out of here,” he said.

She looked down over the railing. It was a three-story drop that made her stomach turn over. They’d break something for sure. Then her eye caught movement below, and she frowned. “Dare, look.”

He glanced over. A group of black-clad people were stealthily moving around the front of the building. They looked very well-trained.

Not good.

“Shit,” Dare muttered. He glanced at their surroundings. “We need to go up. We’ll get onto the roof and then we can jump across to the neighboring building. I’ll call Rynan and Justyn for help.”

“Jump across to the neighboring building?” Her throat went dry, and it had nothing to do with the smoke she’d inhaled. “No, sorry. I’ll just burn to death, thanks.”

He shot her a look that told her he didn’t find her funny. She didn’t tell him that she was only half joking.

He found a place where there was latticework heading up toward the roof. He put his bare foot into a space on the lattice, gripped another one with his hand, and started climbing up. “Come on, Dakota, it’s easy.”

“Easy for you to say, you aren’t afraid of heights.” She heaved in a breath. Stay here and be cooked to death, or be captured by whoever the hell was down below, or climb on the roof and risk falling to her death. She was sick of only ever having shitty options.

Still grumbling, she set her foot in the latticework, and started climbing up behind Dare.
Just don’t look down. Don’t look down.

She’d almost reached the top when strong arms reached down and pulled her up. She rested against Dare’s bare chest. At least she wasn’t alone. Having Dare and his distracting bare chest with her made her shitty options slightly more bearable.

He touched his ear. “
Sky Nomad
, come in. Ry, are you there? We need help.”

Then he shook his head, frustration crossing his face. “Comms are jammed.”

Dakota blew out a breath. Someone really wanted them dead. One sadistic terrorist group came to mind. Surely Golden Nova couldn’t have followed them here?

He led her across the roof, and at the edge, they both glanced down. She gripped his hand hard, her head spinning. But when laser fire appeared out of the darkness, hitting the edge of the roof near their feet, they both jerked backward. Dakota fell on her ass.

Dare was looking across the gap to the next building. “It isn’t far. We can jump.”

Jump? To her, it looked like the Grand Canyon of the dark moon of Azziz. “I can’t jump that.”

“Sure you can. Seems to me you can do whatever you set your mind to.”

She snorted. “You’re trying to charm me into jumping from one building to another.”

His smile was faint. “Maybe. But it doesn’t make what I said any less true.”

Damn the man
. With his praise ringing in her ears, she let him lead her back a few steps.

“You go first,” he said. “Run as fast as you can, all the way to the edge, and jump across. When you hit the other roof, roll.”

Okay, now she felt lightheaded. She looked at the neighboring building and was grateful that it at least seemed a few meters lower than theirs. That should make it easier to reach.

He yanked her in close and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. She clutched his shoulders and kissed him back.

He set her away. “Now go. Do it!”

She pulled in a shuddering breath, then started sprinting. She pumped her arms and legs, the edge of the building getting closer and closer.
Oh, stars
. She hit the edge and threw herself into the air, her arms windmilling.

She heard shouts from below, and the whine of a laser, but then the roof of the other building rushed up to meet her. She hit hard, fell to her knees, and felt skin scrape off. Then she rolled, her skirt tangling around her legs and came to a stop on her feet. She released the breath she’d been holding. She’d made it!

She glanced back at Dare.

He’d started to run. He sprinted fast, his powerful body moving like some big hunting cat. Then he was airborne.

Seconds later, she saw green lasers shooting through the air around him.
Oh, stars
. She rushed closer, willing him to reach her. As he twisted his body to dodge the laser fire, he lost some of his momentum.

Her heart constricted. He wasn’t going to make it. She knew in an instant that he was going to fall short of the roof.

“Dare!” She rushed toward the edge.

He smacked against the edge, his chest on the roof, his lower body hitting the side of the building. His hands scrabbled for purchase as he slid downward.

Dakota dived, landing flat on her belly. She grabbed his wrists. “Hold on.”

She took as much of his weight as she could, pulling backward. Damn, he was heavy. She strained, gritting her teeth, heaving back.

“Let me go, Dakota,” he shouted.

“No.”

He cursed at her.

Their gazes locked, and for a horrible second, she thought they were both going to slide right off.
No!
She pulled back again, her arms straining.

His body came over the edge of the roof, and they both collapsed.

He rolled, wrapped his arms around her, and they sat there for a second, both of their chests heaving wildly.

“You stubborn, obstinate woman,” he growled.

“You bossy, obstinate man.”

He made a choked sound, burying his face in her hair. “We have to keep moving.”

“Yes, you’re welcome for saving your life.”

He shook his head, and then tipped her face up to look at him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

He got up and pulled her to her feet. “I may still punish you when we get out of this.”

“Punish me? I don’t think so.”

He gripped her chin. “Don’t you dare risk yourself like that again.”

“I do as I please, Dare. Don’t you forget that.”

With a shake of his head, he grabbed her hand, and they set off running across the roof. At the edge, she was relieved to see the next building was far closer. Still holding hands, they both leaped over the space, and onto the next roof.

They kept moving like that, building to building, until the shouts on the ground below faded away. Thankfully, some buildings were so close together it was only a step across. Finally, something was going their way.

“It’s Golden Nova down there, isn’t it?” she said.

“Has to be. For now, we just focus on getting out of here.”

Finally, they leaped from the final structure onto the top of the building that had a pretty domed roof. She looked over and saw thick metal cables disappearing into the darkness. The cable car station.

Dare climbed down a wall, and as Dakota shimmied down, with her eyes locked firmly on the wall in front of her, Dare reached up, circled her waist, and lifted her down.

There were no lights on in the station and everything was silent. In the moonlight, she could see one of the big glass carriages sitting at the platform. Just past it, she looked up and saw that a section of the cables was completely missing. There was hazard tape and signs around it indicating that maintenance work was being carried out.

Dare was studying the cables intently.

Her stomach turned over. “There’s no way we can take the cable car down. The lines are cut for maintenance.”

Dare was frowning, and she could tell he was assessing the situation. Then, he pointed farther down the platform. “Look. We can take that.”

Right near the edge of the platform, where the thick wires dropped and disappeared down the mountainside, she saw what he was pointing at. Dakota stared in horror. Hanging from the wires was a tiny, two-man, open sling that wrapped around the wires and then dangled below it. It looked like the beach hammocks she’d seen on the resort world of Duna.

“The maintenance workers must use it to inspect the wires,” Dare said. “We can take it down to the city.”

Okay, maybe Dakota had prematurely thought that her luck was turning. She decided she’d been cursed. Some vengeful force had decided to curse her with facing multiple heights all in one day. Life just wasn’t fair.

“No.” Her nerves had suffered enough. “I’ll just let the bad guys take me.”

Dare grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.

“Dare, I mean it. I can’t handle any more heights today. I’ve gone past my limits.”

“Get in.”

“No.”

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet. As she continued her protests, he ignored her. She hammered her hands against his chest, but he just climbed up into the small sling, dragging her in with him. She landed in one of the bucket seats set in the bottom.

As the sling wobbled wildly, she went still. Dare settled into the tight space, eyeing the simple controls.

Barely daring to breathe, Dakota sat in the narrow seat without moving an eyelash. Dare reached over her and clicked her harness in. She didn’t care that she had a belt, there were still no sides on the damn thing.

He clicked his own harness into place and placed his hands over the controls. When the small maintenance carrier moved forward, she shoved a fist in her mouth to stifle her scream.

They zoomed forward quickly. “I’m going to kill you for this.”

Dare ignored her, his gaze focused ahead. They gathered more speed, then dropped over the edge. Dakota’s heart leaped into her throat. They were now racing down the mountainside. In the darkness, she only had a vague view of the dark trees beneath them. She could hear animals screeching, and ahead were the distant lights of the city, like a sprinkle of jewels on a blanket.

Dakota squeezed her eyes closed.

“Someone sold us out,” Dare said darkly. “If Vero gave our location to Golden Nova, I’ll make him pay.”

She was thankful that his dark, slicing tone wasn’t directed at her. She had no desire to be on Dare Phoenix’s bad side.

Dakota pried her eyes open. Even with them closed, she was still well aware of what was beneath them. She stared straight ahead, her breathing shallow. “I can’t say I like Vero at all, but it could have been whoever sabotaged the
Nomad
. They could have found out where we were headed and passed it on.”

Dare grunted.

“Whoever it was,” Dakota said, “I’ll help you beat them up. They deserve it for me having to ride in this damn thing.”

Dare’s hand curled around her thigh and squeezed. “You’re doing so well, baby.”

“I’m one second away from the biggest panic attack uncharted space has ever seen. Don’t mock me.”

The air was rushing past them, but as long as she kept looking forward, she felt like she wasn’t going to lose it.

Suddenly, a wild, high screech echoed from below them. It made goose bumps rise on her skin. “What the hell was that?”

Dare’s hands flexed on the controls. “Vero said it wasn’t safe to travel up or down the mountain at night. My guess it’s because of whatever creature made that noise.”

Dakota curled in on herself and moaned.

There was another screech, closer this time, and something impacted the bottom of the sling. It swung wildly.

This time Dakota screamed and grabbed onto her belt with white-knuckled hands.

“Dakota!” Dare’s hand on her face. “It’s okay. Whatever it was, it can’t reach us. We’re too high.”

“It
hit
us.”

“Just a glancing blow. It won’t be long and we’ll be on the ground.”

Their destination couldn’t come fast enough. Dakota tried to calm her breathing, imagining she was lying on a warm beach somewhere. Yes, the sweet sand between her toes, perhaps a naked Dare coming out of the waves. Hmm, okay, this was working.

Dare touched his ear, trying to make contact with the
Nomad
. His voice was becoming more and more frustrated.

“Okay, we’re coming to the end of our ride,” Dare said. “Hold on.” He pulled back on the controls and Dakota felt the small car jerk as it started to slow.

Bile rushed into her throat, and she saw the pale shadow of the platform at the bottom rushing up to meet them.
Stars!

Dare’s hands were steady on the controls. They zoomed into the station, slowed, and drifted into a smooth stop.