She had to do something to stop that from happening. She had to get away and warn the others.
She had to find a way to save Moriah…
They reached the end of the tunnel and she took a deep breath.
"Don't make a mistake," Jess said, his tone deadly. She nodded her head quickly, not needing to feign fear. Jess hardly seemed like the same man who had been so tender with her earlier.
She raised one trembling hand and knocked on the door.
"Guards, I need you," she said, her voice quavering. There was no answer at first.
Jess and Logan looked at her with questions in their eyes. She shrugged.
"Sometimes they don't stay by the door," she whispered. "I think they get bored."
"Try again," Jess said, his tone harsh. "Louder this time."
She did as she was told, calling out the same message. This time one of the men replied.
"What do you need?"
It was her moment, and at that second she knew what she had to do.
“Get help! The-" She was abruptly cut off by Jess’ hand coming down across her mouth so hard she bit her lips. Instantly she could taste salty fluid that had to be her own blood. Logan looked at her with hatred in his eyes.
“Bitch,” he hissed.
“What was that?” the guard called. “I couldn’t hear you. Just a minute.”
There was some muttering, and then they could hear the bolt sliding through on the other side. Logan poised to move while Jess pushed her roughly behind his body. She drew breath to scream, but it was too late.
The door swung inward. In a flash, Jess slammed it back, hitting the guard in the head. The man dropped like a stone. Logan jumped through the doorway looking for his companion. There was no one there. Jess followed him quickly, ready to move.
"Where the hell is the other guy?" Jess whispered harshly. Bethany stepped through the door hesitantly, following Jess. He and Logan were looking up and down the corridor, but neither of them seemed to notice the small alcove that held the table where the guards usually sat. There was a bottle of bakrah, and some kind of board game set up. And a blaster.
Moving quickly and silently, she crept toward the table, hoping desperately she could stop this revolt here and now. Someone tackled her from behind; she went down, hard. A man's heavy body hit her, and suddenly she couldn't breathe.
"Stop pulling crap like this or I won’t be able to guarantee your safety," Jess whispered in her ear. "I don’t want you to get hurt, but I’m the only one who feels that way right now. Shut up and do as I say if you want to live."
She gasped, trying to catch her breath. He couldn't guarantee her safety no matter what, she though darkly. He couldn't guarantee anyone's safety.
"I've got the blaster," Logan said quietly. "We need to get her out of the way, and get rid of that guard, too. His friend could come back at any minute."
"You get the guard," Jess said grimly, his voice a rumble against her back. She had to get away from him, she thought desperately. She forced herself to go limp, not fighting as he pulled her to her feet. She raised one hand to her head, wobbling. He'd fooled her about his physical condition for ten cycles. Time for him to learn what it felt like to be the fool.
Watching out of the corner of her eye, she waited until Logan was dragging the guard's body through the door to strike. She raised her knee with all the force in her body, slamming it into Jess'
crotch. He dropped to the floor and she was off. She was around the corner before either man realized what happened. They'd come after her, of course, but they had a serious disadvantage. She knew her way around the station, had played in these corridors as a child. There were a thousand hiding places.
No way they'd be able to catch her now.
Behind her she heard a startled cry; the other guard must have returned. There was the sound of blaster fire and the smell of burning plastic. Everything was suddenly far more real than it had been just seconds earlier. If she didn't warn them, every woman on the station could end up raped, even dead. She didn't even like thinking what might happen to the children.
Then she heard footsteps behind her. Someone was following her, running hard. It had to be Jess.
She ducked around another corner, desperately pushing into a small store room. If she remembered correctly, there was an air vent at the back. As a child, she and her friends had crawled through it.
Would she be too big to fit through now? If he found her, he'd probably kill her.
She scrabbled frantically through piles of debris. Old blast casings, torn pressure suits, parts for mining tools. There it was, the grating that covered the vent. She felt the corners for the fasteners and found them gone.
The children must still play here, she thought with satisfaction.
Pulling off the grate, she started crawling into it, feet first. It seemed like she would fit, although her skirts would make it tight. Why hadn't she thought of that? She started to pull her legs back out to take off the bulky clothing, but then she heard someone out in the corridor. He could find her any minute. She slithered into the vent as quickly as she could; when she was all the way in, she reached out and pulled one of the pressure suits across the open space she'd cleared. She pulled the vent casing into place behind her and started scooting backwards. There should be a wider vent about ten meters back. Once she was there, she would be able to turn around and crawl more easily.
Time to go and warn her people.
Jess cursed, opening door after door along the corridor trying to find her. She'd simply disappeared, and now he was wasting valuable time looking for her. They had hoped to take on the Pilgrims slowly and steadily as they slept.
That wasn't going to be an option now. More people would have to die. It was only a matter of time before she brought help, and all they had to show for their efforts so far were two blasters.
Disgusted, he jogged back to the main entrance of the mining complex. Two slaves stood over the dead guard's body. When the second Pilgrim had come wandering back up to the corridor, he’d seen Logan, and raised his blaster to fire. Logan had reacted instantly, shooting the blaster like a seasoned soldier. In those seconds, Jess had realized how little he really knew about the man. They had never discussed their backgrounds or their families. He didn't even know what Logan had done before he'd become a slave. After seeing him attack the guard, Jess had a few suspicions.
He jogged past the men guarding the door, moving quickly down the corridor to the main room outside the barracks. Logan and the others already had one of the lockers open. He was handing out small cubes of explosives, while another man—Kresn—was showing them how to use the detonators.
"Remember," Kresn said. "You blow this in the wrong place and the dome looses pressure. We don't want that to happen, but keep your helmets ready. If something goes wrong you’ll only have a few seconds to pull them on."
"Why don't we just blow the dome and kill 'em all?" another man muttered, his voice harsh.
"Because we're better than them," Logan said, staring at him with cold eyes. "We don't want to kill the women and children if we don't have to. Those children are completely innocent."