Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page B

answer.
    “Prisoner transport.” What the heck? It worked for Luke and Han.
    Mari ignored the scalding pain of acid in her bloodstream. Terror made her stronger, lent stability to her legs. If she faltered here, they were all dead for sure. She stepped away from Raiden’s arms to halt in the doorway and block both men from their view. It was the only direction she could go. She had to stall them, give Raiden enough time to escape. She motioned behind her back, pointing at the dive tanks, hoped they’d take the hint before it was too late. The agony of fire in her veins and the sharp, stabbing pain in her shoulder were enemies now, enemies that would kill her as surely as these two creatures straight from her darkest visions.
    “Enter.” One of the creatures walked to the far end of the room to a monitor of some kind, completely dismissing her. Mari couldn’t see what he, it, was doing. She turned to her dive partner and shook her head when he tried to block her way. Mari tilted her temple toward Raiden and their gear, then leaned up on tiptoe to whisper to him.
    “Get ready. We have to get him out of here. I’ll stall these things.” She wiped her hand on his, sure to transfer some blood. “My blood opens the door. Flood these bastards out.”
    The televisions and radios were even louder once she entered the room, nearly deafening her with hundreds of voices speaking at once, in a multitude of languages.
    She shook her head in an effort to clear some of the noise. After the quiet of the dive, her eardrums felt like they were going to explode. Chancing one quick peek over her shoulder, she mouthed one word to Raiden before turning back around. “Go.”
    Creepy Number One continued to face her, unmoving, simply observing her as she skirted the walls trying to keep his attention focused on her. She studied everything she could, looking for a control switch she could throw that would open the cave back up, or get them the hell out of here. She had her pistol, but something told her neither the gun’s steel darts nor her dive knife would be enough to slow these things down, let alone stop them. She palmed the weapons anyway, one finger wrapped around the trigger, and her other hand clenched around the knife handle.
    Time. They needed time.
    Anything useful would be good at this point. Even if it only gave them a few seconds head start.
    The volume increased but she resisted the urge to cover her ears. The being closer to her raised his arm and the volume decreased to near silence.
    Except it wasn’t quiet. Their bodies hummed with an eerie vibration that felt wrong to her, like a violin constantly missing its note. Just. Not. Right.
    The sound of their bodies was much worse than the previous cacophony of human radio chatter.
    “Where do you think you are taking our prisssoner?” The two creatures closed in on her, one in front, and one behind.
    Mari frantically searched the screens, her mind racing to find something they might believe. But she’d always been a terrible liar. Terrible. Which was why, when someone asked her if she believed in aliens, she said “yes” no matter who did the asking or how much ridicule she knew her answer would bring. Terrible liar, obsessed with aliens. It was the double knock-out punch and the reason every boyfriend she’d ever had had dumped her. Rational men couldn’t deal with her personal brand of crazy, and she couldn’t deal with the obsessive natures of the conspiracy chasers who would. There was crazy…and then there was crazy.
    She was a freaking hypocrite and she knew it. Still, none of the men she met had ever been able to compete with Raiden in her mind. He’d been what she wanted, even when he wasn’t real…
    Sadly, she didn’t even have to open her mouth and these things already knew she was lying. But she just needed to buy some time. She’d done it before, in her more successful dreams. She’d still died, but she was nothing if not an eternal