Embracing Silence by N. J. Walters Page A

around in the outer city, unarmed.
    Leaving everything behind, he headed for the door and was pleasantly surprised to find it unlocked. He’d half expected her to bar him in and keep him prisoner until she could return with Adrian and his band of rebels.
    One corner of his mouth turned up as he slid out the door. It was dark, about midnight by the look of the night sky. It was a fairly clear night for a change. A rarity to be sure. He looked up at the vastness, enjoying the sight of the moon.
    His head snapped back down and to the right. Someone was there.
    Moving silently, he ghosted through the ruins, gathering his weapons from where he’d stashed them in several locations. When he was armed, he went up. Most people never thought to look up, not when the building was unstable. But Tienan had thoroughly explored the area when he’d chosen it as a base. He knew where to step and where to avoid. He’d also set some traps to discourage any curious trespassers.
    The clear night was now a curse and he found himself wishing that the air was heavy with smog and fog as it usually was. But there was no changing Mother Nature. All he could do was work with what he had. Fortunately, that was his specialty.
    He could hear more of them now, and see them. An entire squadron of security police was spreading out around the building. His muscles tensed as he caught a glimpse of the man at the head of the squadron. General Caruthers.
    The man might be in his late fifties, but he was in better shape than a man half his age. His iron gray hair was cut ruthlessly short. His lips were thin and hinted at the cruelty of the man himself. Tienan knew the General’s face as well as he knew his own. He’d fantasized for years about killing him. His enemy had come to claim him.
    How had they found him?
    Silence.
    He didn’t want to believe it, but there was no other explanation. She hadn’t locked him in the building because there had been no need to. She’d turned him in to the General and his security force.
    Betrayal hit him like a sledgehammer. Breathing was almost impossible. His chest felt as though it were being ripped apart. He ignored the pain, channeled it, used it to fire his determination as he slowly worked his way toward his escape route.
    There would be a reckoning. Silence would pay for her betrayal. He’d make sure of it.
     
    “You’ve got to help me,” Silence pleaded with Adrian for what seemed like the one-hundredth time. “The security police were just moving in when I slipped out. I think General Caruthers himself was there.” The glimpse she’d caught of the man was enough to chill her blood. His cruelty and ruthlessness were the stuff of nightmares. She couldn’t bear to think of Tienan caught in his clutches.
    “I barely got out as it was. I couldn’t go back to warn him without being caught. There’s no way Tienan could have escaped.”
    “Then he’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about it.” Logical as ever, Adrian sat at the head of a scarred wooden table, legs stretched out in front of him and his elbows propped on the arms of his chair. His fingers were steepled together as he contemplated her. “And after what he did, I’m not inclined to mount a rescue.”
    “He didn’t hurt me.” For some reason, she felt compelled to defend Tienan. Maybe it was the guilt she was feeling for leaving him.
    She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about that. He’d been sleeping on the pallet, legs sprawled, arms wrapped around the blanket she’d bunched up and left beside him. It had taken all her willpower to make herself leave the warmth and comfort of his embrace. She felt safe there. And that was crazy considering he’d all but kidnapped her.
    It had been her duty to escape and to return to the base camp and tell Adrian about him. Then why did she feel as though she was betraying him?
    “Are you sure?” Her eyes snapped open to find Adrian watching her. He reminded her so much of Tienan at that