Page 87 of Through Uncharted Space

That was when he spotted blood in the water. He looked up and saw that Dakota’s shoulder was bleeding.

“It isn’t bad,” she said quickly, slapping one hand over the wound.

“Time to end this,” Korrdo shouted.

Fuck. Dare spun, pushing Dakota behind him. Of course, she was struggling to move out from behind him.

Korrdo leveled the laser pistol on them.

Suddenly, above them, Dare heard more glass shattering. He looked up and saw two bodies falling straight down, with a waterfall pouring in from outside.

The bodies slammed down into the water, landing on top of Korrdo. The two newcomers were wearing envirosuits.

Rynan and Justyn.

Ry grabbed Korrdo and pulled the man under the water. Ry was treading water, and holding Korrdo down. Bubbles and splashes churned the water.

Dare pulled Dakota closer, and watched impassively as the bubbles died away.

When Ry released the man, his body rose up, floating facedown in the water.

“We sabotaged Korrdo’s sub.” Justyn held up a small component. “His guys are out there, turning around in circles, not sure what to do.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” Dare asked. He spied a basket of delicate gold jewelry bobbing past.

“I can get Korrdo’s sub going again,” Justyn said.

“Whole lot of Golden Nova guys between us and it.”

“Let’s start by getting out of this temple,” Dakota suggested. “Maybe we can take down the rest of the Golden Nova men and get to the sub.”

It was a long shot. There were still more Golden Nova goons, so they were outnumbered. And the dome was rapidly filling with water.

They’d just started to move, when Dare spied movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time, to see Korrdo rear up out of the water.

Korrdo lifted his laser pistol and fired. Dare spun to cover Dakota, just as another body leaped in front of them.

Rynan!

The laser hit his brother in the head, and Ry hit the water with a splash.

Justyn and Dare shot forward. Dare landed a hard punch against Korrdo’s face.

“Maxir and Golden Nova do not accept failure.” Korrdo held the weapon to his temple, and pulled the trigger.

One shot, and he was dead.

Dare cursed, and then spun to swim back toward Dakota and Ry. She was holding his unconscious brother’s head in her arms, keeping him above water.

“Ry?” Dare reached them, turning Rynan’s head to the side. There was a deep, bloody groove carved in the side of Ry’s scalp. Dare’s jaw locked. It was bad.

“He’s unconscious but breathing,” Dakota said. “There’s nothing we can do for him right now.”

“Yeah.” Dare reached out, and wrapped his arm around Dakota.

Justyn was treading water nearby, his face grim.

“Maybe the treasure is cursed.” She stared at all the chaos around her, and the rising water. “All of this stuff doesn’t really seem so valuable now.”