"Maloney, Mack - Wingman 07 - Skyfire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maloney Mack)

Stepping over his fallen foe, the Wingman resumed his climb. He judged that he was at least halfway up the tower by now.

Halfway to his Dominique.

She had watched, first with fear and then with growing hope, as the battle swirled above and around the castle.

From the narrow window at the top of the tower, she couldn't identify the attacking forces, although she caught a glimpse of a couple of airplanes that somehow looked familiar. She almost let herself believe that the invaders were coming to rescue her, that the W she had seen in the sky really was proof of Hunter's presence and not just a trick of her tormented mind.

But then, just as her hopes were rising higher than ever before, her cell door crashed open, and a gang of six fash-

34

ionably dressed female guards burst in, rifles raised.

One of the women, her voice sounding both drugged and desperate, hissed at Dominique: "Don't think your friends will save you, my lovely little thing. They're not going to get here in time."

Another of the Amazonlike women then stepped forward and grabbed Dominique by the hair.

"In fact," she told her harshly, "we're here to waste you. But not before we get a little of this . . ."

The guard suddenly ripped the front of Dominique's gown down to her waist and began crudely squeezing her lovely, heaving breasts. Exhausted and depleted beyond words, Dominique nevertheless attempted to fight back. But two more of the women grabbed her and then two more. It was hopeless. On the verge of unconsciousness, she collapsed, unable to prevent the gang of women from savagely fondling her private parts.

In the meantime, a strange odor began to leak into the tiny room. Despite her condition, Dominique sniffed it and felt her panic rise up yet another dizzying notch. Was this poisonous gas? But in another instant she knew it made little difference. She might as well die now, she thought, rather than endure the rape and then get shot.

But her assailants smelled the gas, too. They immediately stopped ravaging her body and quickly covered their noses and mouth with kerchiefs, hoping the cloth would keep out the mysterious gas.

"Enough of this stuff," one of the women shouted through her improvised mask. "We've got to finish this and get out of here . . ."

Her companions quickly agreed. The leader then picked up her AK-47 assault rifle, cocked it, and pointed it straight at Dominique's heart.

Dominique braced herself for the bullet, in the instant between life and death regretting that she never would see Hunter again. Not in this life anyway.

But the shot never came.

Instead there was a loud commotion near the cell's en-

35

trance and a sudden burst of white smoke. Instantly everything went fuzzy in front of Dominique's eyes, but she was vaguely aware of the woman with the gun suddenly slumping to the cell floor, the rifle making a loud rattle as it struck the hard surface. Behind her, the other guards also fell like dominoes, their limp bodies forming a twisted line back to the massive cell doors.

Standing in that doorway was a tall, broad-shouldered figure surrounded by the fog of white gas and with a head that looked like it belonged to a grotesque, giant insect.

Immediately Dominique thought she was hallucinating. She struggled to remain conscious, struggled to remain sane-but it was no use. She was fading fast, and had no strength to resist when the creature walked over, bent down, and picked her up.

The last thing she remembered was how gentle this monster seemed to be.

Ten minutes passed before Dominique opened her eyes again.

She gradually came to realize that she was being carried to some unknown destination, the change in light telling her that she was outside the castle.