Star Wars_ Rebel Force 2_ Hostage - Alex Wheeler [44]
X-7 simply blasted a hole through his head. Then, stepping over the dead body, Elad busted through the door.
"Elad!" Leia cried in relief. "Get me out of here! Before he comes back!"
X-7 took in the durasteel slab, the small table of torture devices, the injector sitting by her head. "What was he going to do to you?"
Leia shuddered in her restraints. "It's some kind of experimental brain agent," she said in disgust. "Designed to wring all the information out of my brain and then destroy it."
X-7 turned his back on the princess and scoured the floor. He seized a twisted piece of metal lying in the corner. He slammed the door shut, then wedged the metal underneath.
He'd broken the lock, but this should hold, at least for a few minutes.
"What are you doing?" Leia asked.
He approached the slab. "The building's filled with stormtroopers," he said, peering down at her. She was completely helpless. "Have to keep them out until we're done here."
"Done with what?"
"Getting you out of these restraints," X-7 said, pretending to look around for something to slice through the durasteel. He had to handle this carefully. She'd been tortured before, and resisted. There was a chance that even the mental agent would fail if she tried to fight it.
Which meant he needed to convince her not to fight.
X-7 palmed the injector, then bent over the cuff pinning her left arm to the table, as if examining the locking mechanism. He pulled out his blaster, switching it to the lowest setting, and pressed it to the cuff. "This could hurt, just a bit," he warned her.
She pressed her lips together, steeling herself.
With one hand, he shot the blaster, careful to miss the cuff and lightly singe her skin.
With the other, he pressed the injector to her arm and injected the drug. The pain of the blaster bolt would disguise the lesser pain of the injection.
She grimaced. "That didn't feel like it worked."
"Sorry, Princess. The binders are stronger than I thought. There must be something in here that will cut them."
"Just hurry," she urged him, "We need to…"
"What?" he asked, pretending to search the lab, while keeping a close eye on her. She was breathing rapidly, and her skin had gone pale.
"Nothing, I just feel…strange," she said faintly. "Lightheaded."
"You've been through an ordeal," he told her. "It's only natural."
The drug was taking effect. He had to get his answers now, before the others showed up. Or before it killed her. "The Empire went to a lot of trouble to get its hands on you,"
he said casually.
"I'll never tell them anything," she said. Her eyes fluttered. "I'd die first."
"It must be a burden, keeping all those secrets."
"Is it very hot in here?" she asked, drawing in deep, ragged breaths. "We have to get out of here. Why don't you get me out of these binders?"
"I'm trying," he lied.
"Can't you shoot out the locking mechanism with your blaster?"
He looked at her curiously. "I just tried that," he reminded her. "You don't remember?"
"Of course I remember," she snapped. "I…" She shook her head as much as the neck restraint allowed, as if trying to clear the fog. "I'm just so tired."
It was now or never.
"Of course you're tired, Leia," he said kindly, switching on the miniature holorecorder hidden in his utility belt. The Commander would want proof. "You've done everything you could to protect the Rebel Alliance. Especially the pilot who destroyed the Death Star."
"The Empire can never find out who he is," she murmured, sweat beading along her forehead. Her pupils had narrowed to black pinpricks. "We have to protect him."
"I'd lay down my life for him," X-7 said. "But I can only protect him if I know his name."
Her eyes rolled back in her head.
" Leia! " he snapped.
A small sigh escaped from her lips.
"His name, Leia," X-7 urged her. "Who must we protect? Who destroyed the Death Star?"
"Luke." She smiled. "It was