Bay walked out into the
living room and headed straight for the communication panel on the wall by the
front door. He'd been here long enough to figure out who he needed to call to
find out what in the hell was going on.
"This is Commander
Baylor of the King's Royal Guard," he said as soon as the call connected.
"What can you tell me about these explosions? Is the city under attack or is
this an isolated incident?"
"It seems to be centered
at the detention facility, sir," the commander of the security forces replied.
He was the same man who had helped Jynx when people were trying to kill him.
"I have men headed there now."
"Let me guess, someone
is trying to break the prince out of prison?"
Commander Torak frowned.
"It looks that way, but how did you know?"
"I just had a feeling
that this wasn't over." It had been too easy to arrest the prince and prove
his involvement with the attempt on the king's life. Granted, Bay was pretty
sure the guy was guilty, but he wasn't the mastermind of that mess.
"Do you have adequate
security personnel to deal with this or should I call a unit of guards down
from my ship?"
"I have it handled,
Commander."
"Fine." Bay disconnected
before the commander could say another word. He had seen the commander bristle
at the question and wished this wasn't a penis measuring contest. He just
wanted to offer help if it was needed. He didn't care whose dick was bigger,
although he was pretty sure it was his.
Bay brought up the
galactic weblink and waited for the call to connect. When it did, he crossed
his arm over his chest and gave a small bow. "Sire, may I speak with your
consort?"
King Nicolas sighed. "If
you must."
Bay almost smiled, but
the situation was too dire.
"Baylor," Cooper said
when he appeared on the screen.
"Sire, there's been an
attack on the detention facility where the prince is housed. I offered the
assistant of our guards. At the moment, the security commander believes he has
it handled so, with your permission, I will place a unit of guards on
standby."
Cooper's jaw clenched
before he nodded. "I want a full report as soon as you can get one. If Ruk is
involved in his, it might lead us to him."
"You believe Ruk is
behind this?"
"Honestly, no. He had
his chance with the prince and lost. I think he's moved on to another plan to
get Nicky."
Made sense.
"What would you like me
to do?" Bay asked.
"You go down there and
make sure the prince doesn't escape. If the commander gives you any shit,
plant your fist in his face."
Bay grinned. "Yes,
sire."
He liked this side of
Cooper. The human had become downright bloodthirsty ever since his Marsovian
genetics had been activated and he'd transformed into the man he was today.
"Report to me as soon as
you know anything."
"I will, sire."
Cooper disconnected the
interweb link. Bay turned to look at Jynx. "I don't suppose I could convince
you to stay here?"
Jynx snorted.
"I didn't think so."
Jynx was wonderful in
just about every aspect of his personality. He was sweet, caring, smart, and
so damn sexy, he made Bay's teeth ache. Unfortunately, he was also stubborn.
Bay didn't even need to see the man's jutted jaw to know he would argue if Bay
tried to make him stay behind.
"Well, come on if you coming. Cooper wants me to get
down to the detention facility and see if I can figure out what is going on.
He wants to know if Ruk is behind this, and if not, who is."
Jynx paled. "You think Ruk is behind this?"
"No and neither does to King's consort, but I'm not
ruling anything out. Until I know for sure, everyone is suspect."
A little color came back to Jynx's cheeks as he raised
an eyebrow. "Even me?"
Bay grinned as he grabbed Jynx and pulled him close.
"You're at the top of the list."
Jynx laughed as he leaned into Bay.
Bay pressed a kiss to his lips before turning them
toward the door. "You'll stay by my side at all times, understand?"
"Yes."
"If anyone tries to separate us, no matter who they are,
use our link to alert me. Things are going to be pretty crazy and I don't want
you getting lost in all of this."
"Consider me carbon bonded to your side."
Bay still had misgivings about Jynx going with him, but
he also didn't want to leave the man behind. He really didn't like it when
Jynx was out of eyesight. It was very hard to protect the man when he didn't
know if he was in danger.
Once they got outside and hailed a hovercraft, it didn't
take them very long to get to the detention facility. They had to get out of
the hovercraft a couple of blocks away due to security barricades and there
were a lot of people moving away from the area, but it was still closer than
the apartment.
Bay kept a firm hold of Jynx's arm as they walked down
the sidewalk toward the facility. He didn't trust that there wouldn't be
someone dangerous in the throng of people trying to escape the fallout from
the attack.
When they reached the security checkpoint, Bay looked
around for someone who looked as if they might have some level of seniority.
No one specifically stood out, but he knew there had to be someone in charge.
He spotted a man in a security uniform standing off to
one side, his arms crossed as he looked out over the crowd. Bay would have
dismissed him except there was something in the way he was looking at the
crowd, almost as if he was scanning the people milling about for signs of
danger.
He was the one Bay wanted to talk to.
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