Cloak & Silence Read Free Page A

for my damaged battlesuit might actually make me feel better for once.”
    “I know it’ll do great things for me.” Darling pulled a fully charged blaster off his holster and exchanged it for the one Zarya had shot. “Stay behind us.”
    Maris handed one of his blasters to Ture. “Do you know how to shoot?”
    Ture scowled at the foreign feel of the weapon in his hand. Ironically, his father had tried to teach him for years and he’d always sucked terribly. He offered a lopsided grin at Maris. “Not straight... in more ways than one. But if I aim at their feet I can hopefully wound them until one of you finishes them off. And that way if I really miss, I won’t kill an ally. You’ll just limp a little.”
    Maris laughed. “Thanks for the consideration. I’m Maris Sulle, by the way, and I should probably warn you that it didn’t go well for the last guy who accidentally wounded me.”
    With Maris’s air of bad ass machismo, Ture could just imagine. And he was doubly glad he wasn’t the one who’d shot him. “I’m Zarya’s friend, Ture Xans.”
    “Nice meeting you.”
    Well at least Maris had manners. Even in the middle of battle.
    Darling tapped his link. “Hauk? Are you still evacing the civs?”
    “Yeah. Are you pinned?”
    “No. We’re coming out of the last cell. I just didn’t want you to shoot us by mistake. I know how caught up you get in a fight.”
    Hauk hissed. “Why are you bitching about that again? I only shot you once and it was an accident caused by your premature explosion problem. Had you not startled me while I was changing our charges, it wouldn’t have happened.”
    “Anyway,” Darling said, ignoring the outburst. “There are four of us. Don’t fire.”
    Darling turned back to them. “Can you two walk at all?”
    “Are you kidding?” Zarya asked. “Right now I could fly.”
    Nodding, Ture agreed. “To get out of hell, I’d skip to the beat of the worst song ever recorded. Even if it means dragging my entrails behind me.”
    Darling snorted. “We’ll go slow and if your entrails happen to start dragging, please let us know.” Then, he and Maris headed for the door.
    “Stay put and we’ll be right back for you,” Maris said.
    For the first time ever, Ture believed those words.
    Ture waited behind with Zarya while Darling and Maris opened fire and made a pathway for them. Fearless and skilled, they moved in total synchrony.
    Impressed with both their skills, Ture frowned at Zarya. “Are you sure Maris is gay?”
    She smiled at him. “Absolutely.”
    Ture wasn’t so sure. Not that he believed in stereotypes of any kind. He’d known many gay men who didn’t betray themselves. At least not to outsiders. But with Maris...
    He really hid it well.
    Maris returned to help them to their feet while Darling stood guard at the door.
    They stayed behind Maris and Darling with Zarya giving cover fire while they walked slowly down the hall, then up the stairs with Darling and Maris taking turns to help them. Ture’s head was light and his stomach churned. Worse, the stench of burning wires aggravated his nausea.
    Please don’t let me be sick. Not when they were so close to finally getting out of here. He wanted nothing to delay this escape. Especially not with something that would make him look weak in front of Maris and Darling.
    No sooner had they reached the upstairs landing than the entire building went dark. Maris and Darling fell back to cover them.
    Darling swapped out his charges. “We’re on our way,” he said to someone who must have spoken to him through his link. “Just a few minutes more.”
    They moved forward again.
    As they rounded a corner, a group of assassins opened fire. Darling shielded Zarya while Maris covered Ture.
    “Don’t worry,” Maris said softly to Ture as he placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
    Those words stunned him as much as Maris’s possessive hold. He wasn’t used to people