Page 5 of The Brightest Night

He was good at this, taking charge, but following orders made my skin prickle. I was the one in charge, and the urge to tell him so surged, but I bit it back. Now wasn’t the time to assert dominance.

“Wait till the next flurry of wind.” Gabe looked up at the sky. “Any second now…”

A high-pitched whine filled the air, and snow swirled, dancing to create a pretty veil. Perfect cover for a sprint into the open and for muting the freelanders’ cries of surprise as Gabe and Drax made their move.

No time to watch the takedown, though; I had my job to do. No keys. These vehicles were biometrically activated. “We need to override the bio reader.”

Rex leapt onto one of the machines, beeping and chirping in eagerness, which I assumed was his version of I got this.

I popped the front panel on another machine. Funny thing about tech: the rules tended to be the same in most universes, so the override barely took ten seconds.

I ushered Velos into the side car and climbed onto the driver’s seat. Drax beelined for the other mobile, hopping on while Rex loaded into the cab. Gabe joined us a moment later. His gaze went from me to the cab now occupied by Velos. The mobile was large enough for him to get on behind me if he wanted, or he could squeeze in with Velos. Kai could jump in with Drax.

I arched a brow. “Make up your mind, big guy.”

He settled behind me, his back to my chest, one arm around my waist anchoring me to him. Warmth unfurled low in my belly. I bit the insides of my cheeks.

Drax and I exchanged glances because as soon as we started the engines, the noise would alert the rest of the freelanders.

“On three!” Drax cried.

“One. Two⁠—”

Vrrrrooom.

Drax’s eyes flew wide, his head whipping toward the gates.

Amber lights bobbed in the distance.

“The magimech are here.”

“Go, go, go!” Drax yelled.

I started the engine, and we zoomed through the gates, veering away from the lights and toward what I hoped was north. A quick glance at the screen on the mobile confirmed we were indeed headed in the right direction.

“Where’s Kai?” I yelled over the roar of the engine.

“There!” Gabe pointed to our left, toward a silver streak running low against the ground. I turned toward it, dropping speed to let him catch up.

Whump.

Kai landed in the side car.

“Good to have you back, bud.”

Kai’s metallic body rippled, shaking off the snow. “Good to be back.”

“Go!” Gabe ordered. “Faster.”

“Really? Because I was thinking of shutting off the engine and making camp.” I gritted my teeth and accelerated.

We were so having a conversation about hierarchy of power once the danger had passed.

“They’re on our tail,” Gabe said. “Can this thing go any faster?”

“We’re at maximum speed.” My eyes burned and watered, the icy wind ripping at every inch of exposed skin.

Goggles would have been nice.