I tried.
Her eyes closed as she experienced a surge of such soul-crushing sadness. Guilt soured her belly when she thought of the way she and her father had fought the last time she had seen him. He had been trying to save her life and she had treated him so abominably.
“They’ll take them underground.” Dizzy raised her voice to be heard over the din. “The rods are going underground.”
Torment strode toward her and snatched the postcard out of her hand. “Do you know where this is?”
She nodded. “The City started building a massive subway system, like, seventy years ago, but they ran out of money. There were all sorts of scandals surrounding the build and it was never completed. The tunnels are abandoned but they’re used by homeless people and street kids and for illegal dance parties.”
Torment showed the postcard to Vicious. “It’s the perfect place to hide a shipment of fuel rods until a transport ship can sneak them off the planet.”
“Do we even have specs of these?” Vicious took the card from Torment. “I can’t send my men in blind. There’s no telling what the Splinters could have waiting for the SRU.”
Dizzy refused to allow Venom to go into such a dangerous place without any intel. “I have a friend who knows the tunnels better than anyone. If you can get me to The City, I’ll take you to Hopper.”
“Hopper?” Orion repeated with a frown. “What kind of name is that?”
Dizzy shot him an oh really look. “It’s her nickname. No one knows the tunnels like her. That’s why they call her Hopper. You know? Like a rabbit in a warren?”
“You’re not going down there.” Thorn slashed his hand through the air.
Dizzy calmly stood. “It’s a little late for you to pop into my life and start thinking you can make decisions for me.”
“Actually he can,” Vicious cut in gently. “You’re his offspring, which means you’re one of us. Technically you weren’t eligible to be Grabbed. Venom had no right to claim you so your classification aboard this ship is—”
“Our laws say you belong to me,” Thorn interrupted. “I’m not risking your life. You could be walking into an ambush or worse. Those damn fuel rods may be leaking. You’re staying here where I can keep an eye on you.”
“I don’t care what your law says.” Dizzy ripped the postcard from Thorn’s hand. “My dad is missing. You know? The man who actually raised me. The man who taught me how to ride a bike and tie my shoes. The man who stayed up with me when I was sick and rocked me when I had nightmares.”
Every word etched such pain into Thorn’s face. She hated to be so cruel but the fear of losing her dad and Venom demolished any control she had over her mouth.
“I won’t be sent to my room to wait like a good little girl while my dad and my husband are fighting for their lives. You need those fuel rods and you need Terror. I’m the best chance you’ve got at finding them—and you know it.”
“I also know that you are irreplaceable. We can build more fuel rods and there will always be more men filing into the ranks of the Shadow Force.” Thorn touched her face. “There is only one of you in the entire universe.”
“There is only one Venom in the entire universe,” she countered. “He’s the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. If I lose him…” She couldn’t even bear to finish the thought.
Tension stretched taut between them like razor wire. Thorn finally growled at Torment. “If she comes back with even one hair missing from her head—”
“Understood, sir.” Torment clasped her upper arm and dragged her toward the stairs.
While she raced to keep up with Torment, Dizzy couldn’t stop thinking about the way her mother had died at the hands of the Splinters. She prayed that her love story with Venom wasn’t going to share the same terrible end.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Our less-lethal options are severely limited in an underground space,” Venom said as he checked and rechecked the seal on his gas mask. They had been on Calyx for three hours, two of them spent clearing the woods around the crash site and ensuring there was nothing left behind that might be salvaged or sold.
Now their transport ship sat in a field two miles outside The City. With their cloaking shields on, they waited for their orders from the Valiant. The debris field from the Night Bird had just begun to reach the outer atmosphere of the planet and was causing major communication interference. Two of their communications satellites had been clipped and were out of operation.
Threat, their infiltration and breaching specialist, sketched out various scenarios for entering the subway system they would soon be searching. So far their intelligence was severely limited. Raze had been attempting to make contact with the Valiant but Cipher couldn’t establish a com-link.
“One canister of tear gas in a space that confined?” Fierce shook his head as he tested his night-vision gear. “It’s going to be fucking pandemonium.”
“The real issue is going to be accessing the subway without garnering the attention of half the damn city,” Venom grumbled. “Cipher, how long until sunrise?”
“Four hours,” he said absently, his focus trained on the communication equipment in front of him. “Hey, boss? I think I’ve secured a short window on the com.”
Raze tapped his throat mic and moved into a quiet corner of the ship. “SRU Alpha Squad to Valiant?” A moment later, Raze nodded at Cipher and gave him a thumbs-up. “We read you loud and clear. Ready to receive orders.”
“While the boss is talking to the mother ship,” Venom said with a crooked smile, “let’s discuss the contamination issue. We all saw the craters left by those pods. Some or all of these fuel rods may be leaking. Contain. Isolate. Neutralize. Understood?”
Amid the agreeing nods, Raze rejoined them. He had an odd look on his face that Venom couldn’t place. “Shadow Force reinforcements arrived via darts one hour ago. The team will be here in two minutes. We’ll be using native assets on this one.” Raze squeezed his shoulder. “Uh, Ven, let’s talk over here for a second.”
Confused by his friend’s strange behavior, Venom followed him to the opposite side of the cargo bay. “What’s up?”
Raze hesitated. “Yeah—there’s no easy way to say this and you’re probably going to lose your shit regardless of how nicely I deliver the news so I’m just going to throw it out there.” He paused and seemed to be bracing himself for a blowup. “In about sixty seconds, Torment is going to knock on that cargo door—and you’re going to see Dizzy standing next to him.”
Venom thought for sure he had misheard Raze. The eerie silence surrounding him told him that he hadn’t. Every single SRU member in the cargo bay held perfectly still as they seemed to wait on bated breath for Venom’s response.
“Shadow Force reinforcements are in view, Major Raze.” The ship pilot’s voice came across the speakers. “Lowering shield. Contact in ten, nine, eight…”
Seething with fury at the very thought of Dizzy being placed in such extreme danger, Venom crossed to the rear cargo entrance and punched the button. The cargo loading ramp that doubled as a door slowly lowered.
As in some kind of bad fucking dream, Dizzy appeared between Torment and Pierce. Even in the dark of night, her pale hair, whipping so wildly in the wind, was visible. She looked so out of place in her pretty dress. The second she spotted him, she raced up the ramp and right into his arms.
“What are you doing here, sugar?” He tried not to squeeze her too tightly because the grenades and flash-bangs tucked into pockets lining the front of his vest might hurt her.
“It’s a really long story and we don’t have time, Venom.” She gripped his gloved hand. “Short version? My biological dad is General Thorn. My mother was a Shadow Force asset. My dad took her place when she died. He’s being blackmailed to move the fuel rods that are probably in the subway and my friend Hopper is going to help us find them.”
Venom blinked a few times as he tried to take it all in. Her mother was a spy? General Thorn, one of the most highly respected members of the military, a member of the war council and a man expected to someday be president, was his father-in-law? Unable to think of anything smart to say, he simply replied, “I see.”
“Yeah. I know. It’s crazy, and we don’t have time to hash it all out right now. We’ll figure it out later.”
Gripping her hand, he tugged her out of the way as the cargo door closed. Thinking of the superfast descent she had taken in the dart, he began to worry. “Dizzy, you weren’t supposed to fly for weeks because of your ears. How do you feel?”
She rubbed his arm. “I’m fine. Risk had them put me in this weird pressurized box that the medics use to evacuate head-trauma victims. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience but I survived it.”
Venom didn’t like risking her health. Thinking of the fuel rods waiting for them and the possibility of a leak, he turned his attention to the Shadow Force operatives with her. “What the hell are the two of you thinking? She has no business in a situation like this.”