Free Survivor Planet III by Juliet Cardin Page A

before putting them up to his face. Then he reached down with one hand and felt the crotch of his pants. Seeming relieved, he stared around at his new surroundings. “I’m always afraid I’ll lose something important when that happens.”
    Ayres stepped forward and they clasped forearms in greeting. “It’s good to see you, brother,” he said.
    Kenix nodded at Lourde and then at me. “Good to see all of you. Now, where the hell are we?”
    â€œTaleon,” Ayres informed him.
    â€œTaleon?” Kenix snapped. “What are you doing here? You’re all supposed to be on Taseeus.”
    â€œLook, there’s time for explanations later. Right now I need you to help me kill some Akkadians. Are you in?”
    â€œOf course I’m in,” Kenix said.
    Ayres opened the bags at his feet and the pair began arming themselves. Once they were ready, Ayres kissed me hard. “Remember what I said.”
    I nodded.
    With his brother’s arrival, the need for Lourde’s help decreased. Ayres instructed him to stay with me and help guard the entrance.
    Kenix held up the coin he’d dug out from the pocket of his jeans. “Let me show you what this little baby can do.” He flipped the coin right outside the exit of the tunnel. In the next instant he was gone. Vaporized. But before Ayres and I could gasp in surprise and Lourde could chuckle in glee, we saw Kenix suddenly part the hanging vines on the other side of the entryway, holding the coin up in the air. He pocketed the coin, giving us a wink.
    â€œThat’s what I was trying to explain,” Lourde said. “It’s the perfect escape—a personal transporter. You toss it ahead of you, materialize, snap it up and toss it again. Faster than running. Or say you need to get past a door, or over a barrier, or to the bottom of a cliff…”
    â€œWe get it,” Ayres interrupted. “Well done,” he acknowledged.
    Lourde preened like a peacock.
    â€œGot me out of some sticky situations on Earth,” Kenix admitted. “Nothing like the morning after…” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
    â€œYeah, we get it,” I said. “Don’t you have some aliens to kill?”
    Ayres kissed me again and headed out, Kenix hot on his heels. Lourde and I kept watch as best we could from our position.
    * * * *
    It was dark out, so I figured Ayres and I had been under for quite some time. It was the most time I’d ever spent in Lara’s mind, and I’d felt the bond between us grow even stronger. Not a good thing perhaps, considering she was as good as dead once we got her to do our dirty work.
    Off in the distance, laser bolts lit up the sky, flashing off rocks and trees, leaving scorch marks, the sight of which made me shiver in memory of the cabin door back on Earth. From the amount of weapons the guys were packing I wasn’t too concerned with their safety. If anything, Ayres had made the Akkadian’s out to be more of a nuisance than a threat. Besides, according to the monitor, where we could practically watch a play by play of the action, it appeared that the green blobs were down from twelve to seven. Pretty good odds for two giant warriors to handle.
    But then we saw two more ships arriving.
    Unfortunately, they were directly in our range of sight which meant when they landed and disembarked, they would be able to use the same tactic the guys had used; coming up behind their target and catching them unaware.
    â€œFuckers,” I couldn’t help but mutter. “Time to get our hands dirty.”
    Lourde nodded and swallowed hard.
    Heading outside the mouth of the tunnel, we kept our backs against the wall of the stone hill letting the thick foliage conceal our presence. Our eyes remained on the ships as they flew in low and landed.
    â€œWait for them to get out and let them pass us,” I said. That way we would keep behind the invaders and place them