“I know. Mebbe there’s another way.”
“Yeah, but possibly no time.” Krysty curled her fingers inside the crack where the steel plate met the door frame. There was barely enough room for her to force her fingertips inside. It was painful keeping them there, and the pressure was complete enough to cut off circulation.
“We can try,” Ryan said.
“Gaia, help me,” Krysty whispered forcefully, drawing on the secret teachings her mother had given her. “Give me the strength to protect the Earth Mother and the innocents who succor her.”
Krysty was never able to adequately describe how the power came into her. But it did come, rolling in to fill her with liquid fire until it was a part of every fiber of her being.
She set herself, holstering her blaster, then placed one foot against the door frame and shoved the other hand to join the first in the crack. The pain was the first thing to go away. She pulled with all her strength.
With a shriek that sounded like a lost and tortured soul, the steel door began to peel back. Light flooded into the dark tunnel.
CLOVE WAS IN A STATE of bliss, and Mildred knew the time had come. The sudden squall of the Klaxon siren sounding the alarm almost caught her off guard, though.
Startled, the young Celt started to pull away. “What’s going?”
Mildred closed her hand tight over his hard cock, making sure she had his scrotum. With only a little guilt, she squeezed his balls tightly together. It wasn’t enough to rupture them, but it was enough to bring severe pain to the guard.
With a shrill scream of fear and incredible pain, Clove reached for his trapped cock.
Mildred didn’t release it. Her escape depended on it. She gave a final squeeze that rendered the younger man unconscious.
Pushing herself to her feet, Mildred hiked up her pants and streaked for the door. Clove had left his rifle there, and she took it up at once, slipping off the safety.
Mildred figured guards would show up in short order. There was an ammo belt for the rifle on a chair against the wall. She pulled it over her shoulder, then tried to open the cabinet where she’d seen an earlier guard store her pistol.
The cabinet was locked.
Moving back, she shouldered the rifle and aimed at the lock. She squeezed the trigger smoothly, taking the recoil expertly against her shoulder.
Sparks jumped from the cabinet. The bullet left ravaged metal behind as it whined out the other end of the row of cabinets.
This time the door opened after she yanked on it. The ZKR 551 Czech pistol was inside, wrapped in her gun belt. She wasted no time in draping it around her hips.
Footsteps warned her of the approaching sec men. Two of them entered the lockup area as she faded to the side of the room and dropped the rifle into position. She didn’t try anything fancy, just dropped the sights over the center of the guard who entered first.
The lead man took in the unconscious form of Clove lying in the cell, both hands holding on to his genitals as if for salvation, and the open cell door. He came around, going into a crouch as he brought the gun in a sweep with him.
Mildred fired without hesitation.
The bullet caught the lead man in the abdomen with enough force to bend him over and send him stumbling back into his partner. Both men went down in a confused tangle of arms and legs.
“Throw the blasters away,” Mildred ordered, “or I’ll chill you where you lay.” She kept them covered with the rifle.
The second man tossed his pistol away without objection. The injured man kept his arms wrapped around his stomach, blood glistening on his clothing. “You shot me, Ivory Ginnifer take your soul and damn your eyes!”
“Do it again if I have to,” Mildred promised. “Breathing or chilled, it doesn’t make any difference to me. I count three and you’re still carrying, you’re dead right there.”
The second man reached forward and stripped the other man’s weapon, then threw it away, as well.