by Susan Hayes
Fear and fury churned in his guts as he took it all in. Maggie’s tracks were the only ones leading to this point. That meant the others had either flown or ridden some kind of hover-transport.
He saw a patch of trampled bloodvine in the undergrowth. Some of the thorns still had blood on them. Whoever had walked through it hadn’t known to move it out of the way first. Everyone in Haven knew how to deal with the thorny plant, which meant someone who didn’t know their way around this place had taken Maggie.
Who were they and where had they gone? There were no more tracks to follow. No clues as to which way they’d fled. How was he going to find her?
He pulled his kes’tarv from his belt and opened it. He felt better once he had it in his hand. He twirled it, thinking about the damage he’d do once he found the bastards who’d taken Maggie.
She’d fought back. That was clear. The only energy weapon she had was the kes’tarv he’d given her. Had she taken down any of her attackers? He couldn’t tell. But three against one were impossible odds for someone like her, even if she was armed.
Armed. With a weapon he’d given her. And it had a tracking beacon.
It took him a few seconds to activate the link. Belatedly he realized Maggie didn’t know about it. He’d intended to show her this afternoon during their training session. She wouldn’t be happy he’d forgotten to tell her, but he could add that to the list of things he needed to apologize for—right after he killed everyone involved in her abduction.
The tracker pinged. The simple system didn’t rely on satellite support. All it gave him was a direction and relative distance to target.
Whoever had her was fleeing toward the ocean. He turned and followed, but within a minute he knew it was hopeless. The beacon pulsed every thirty seconds, and by the time the third ping came, it was clear they were traveling too fast for him to catch them. That confirmed it. They weren’t Vardarians or cyborgs. Neither species could sustain that kind of speed for so long.
Strangers were on his planet, and they’d taken Maggie. Now, he was going to get her back.
He pulled out his comm unit and sent a message to the only beings he knew would come help without running afoul of the council—Wreckage and Ruin. He couldn’t ask Edge or any of the others. They needed to stay and protect Haven in case he was wrong.
He had no idea how many they’d be up against, though, so he sent another message. He didn’t know if Damos and Tra’var would help or not, but he didn’t know who else to ask.
Then he contacted Skye. “Someone took her. I’m going to get her back. Keep the others safe. Don’t tell Edge or Shadow what’s going on. They’d have to tell the council, and I don’t want anyone telling me I can’t go after Maggie.”
He snorted to himself. Granted, once they did know, the council would probably want to have a meeting to discuss their options. By the time they’d decided, Maggie would be safely at home. It was clear to him now that she was going to need a bodyguard… probably for the rest of her life. He was just going to have to convince her that he was the one for the job.
Once she’d forgiven him for letting his anger and biases blind him to the truth.
“Ow.” Maggie’s head felt like someone had used it for batting practice, and when she tried to open her eyes, only one of them did. The light made her wince. Where was she and what the hell had happened to her?
“Too bright,” she mumbled and then raised a hand to touch her face. At least, that was what she wanted to do. That’s when she discovered her hands were bound together in front of her. She cracked open her good eye again and took a proper look around. Metal floor. Metal walls. The hum of a fan. The familiar taste of recycled air. Haven had an atmosphere, so there was no need to recycle it. She must be on a ship. But whose? And how had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was…
It took her still-scrambled brain a while to dredge up her memories and string them together in the right order. Once she did, she groaned and closed her eye again.
So much for being a badass. She’d done more damage to the trees than her attackers. Not that she’d had much of a chance to fight back. The transports they drove had been almost silent, and they’d surrounded her before she even realized she wasn’t alone.
She’d done her best, but too much adrenaline and not enough time learning how to wield her new weapon had resulted in a short, ugly fight that had ended when something hit her in the head. There’d been a flash of red and white light and then she was falling. She’d been out before she hit the ground, and judging by how much she ached, no one had caught her on the way down. Assholes.
No one appeared to be around, so she eased herself slowly to a sitting position, discovering new bruises as she struggled to keep her balance with her hands bound and her head spinning.
“You look like crap.” The voice was weak but familiar.
“Jade?” Maggie whipped around and nearly fell on her face as the motion triggered another bout of dizziness.
“Present. Mostly.” Her best friend was in the cell across from her, and she looked like hell. Her face was gaunt, her golden skin far too pale, and she had on a disposable ship’s jumpsuit that was torn and stained.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Maggie’s throat tightened and tears welled up as she took in Jade’s appearance. Her bruised eye stung as the tears seeped through her swollen lids. “Oh, fraxx. What did they do to you? Are you okay?”
“Honestly?” Jade raised her arms from her lap. Not far, just enough for Maggie to see they were both covered in bloodstained bandages. “Not really. They took…” Jade whimpered softly and cradled her injured arms close to her body.
They’d taken her implants, and they hadn’t been gentle about it. Maggie had to swallow hard to push the contents of her stomach back where they belonged. “Those bastards. We’ll fix this. You’re going to be okay, Jade. I promise. I’ll make this right.”
“Not your fault. Mine. Got sloppy. Got caught.” Jade managed a crooked little smile, but all Maggie could see was the pain etched into the lines around her friend’s mouth and the shadows in her eyes.
“Is this about…” Maggie raised her bound hands and dropped her gaze to the arm with the implant.
“Insurance,” Jade confirmed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sent it to you. Now you’re fraxxed, too.”
“Can they hear us right now?”
Jade nodded firmly but said, “Nope.”
Damn. So much for just being able to say, “Don’t worry. Help will come.” Striker was angry at her, but he’d sent her back because he wanted her safe. When he discovered she wasn’t there, he’d come looking. At least, she hoped he would. She’d screwed things up between them, but even if he didn’t come himself, he’d tell Skye and Shadow what she’d done… and they’d want to look for her.
Unless they decided she was more trouble than she was worth. No. They wouldn’t do that to her. She had friends here—beings who cared about her.
“Family,” she whispered the word to herself. She had a family. And she’d let them down. Striker was right. She’d brought too much of her old self to Haven. It was a mistake she wouldn’t make again… if she lived through this.
“Family?” Jade asked.
“You remember that gang who came after us a while back?”
“Which one?” Jade asked and cocked a brow in question at the sudden change in topic, but she didn’t say anything else. She’d caught on to what was happening. Maggie was speaking in code. Yet another thing Maggie thought she’d left behind.
“The Wilde Ones. You remember. It was about five years ago. They thought we’d targeted one of theirs and were out for revenge.” The Wildes were a family, a mishmash of siblings, cousins, friends, and lovers who all claimed the same last name. If you crossed one of them, you crossed them all.
“Right. We tried to duck them for weeks but they kept hunting us down.”
“And they never stopped. Not until we finally met and gave them proof we weren�
��t the ones they were after.”
“Yeah.”
Maggie looked hard at Jade and then clenched her hands together and looked pointedly toward the back wall of her cell. “Family,” she repeated.
Jade’s eyes widened slightly and a hint of her old fire flashed in her eyes. “Too bad neither of us had any worth a damn back home.”
“Truth. No one there is going to help us out of this,” Maggie agreed and tried to make herself more comfortable. Jade had gotten the message. Hope wasn’t lost. Not while they were still on Liberty.
“Any idea why we’re not airborne yet?”
Jade flashed her a grin that was pure defiance and fire. “I warned these assholes that the grid might not stay down long. That Vardarian coding is complicated.”
“Alien tech is tricky,” Maggie agreed. “Can you bring it down again?”
“Not from here.” Jade glanced up. “I need to be close enough to tap into the network. My implants weren’t designed to reach orbital satellites. Serious oversight on the designer’s part. I mean, think of the opportunities we could have had back on Earth. I was already a menace to society… I could have been the queen!”
“Queen Jade has a nice ring to it. Think there’s an opening for royalty on this world?”
Jade shook her head, eyes dark and shadowed with grief. “They took that from me, Magpie. The only thing I was good at… and they tore it out of me one piece at a time.”
“We’ll get out of this somehow, Jaybird. The Vardarians can fix you up.”
“Somehow,” Jade gave her a wan smile. “Maybe. Fixing this?” she looked down at her bloodied bandages. “I don’t think so.”
Maggie had never seen her friend so despondent. Jade was a fighter. To see her like this hurt her heart. She cast about for something to say, but Jade beat her to it.
“How’d they finally catch you? I heard one of them complaining you were holed up in town and they couldn’t figure out how to get to you without being seen. I’m glad you ignored my message to run.”
Maggie frowned. “I didn’t. I left five minutes after I got it. I was in the woods when they found me.”
“Those fraxxing bastards. I sent that message days ago. Dammit, they’re smarter than I gave them credit for. They must have blocked it and then sent it once they had a plan to find you.”
If they knew where she was, they’d been watching her. No wonder they’d managed to find her. Once she left the colony, she’d gone to all the same places she usually did. It was inevitable they’d catch up to her.
“So, any idea who they are?”
“Assholes of the first order? Brutes that get off on hurting people who can’t fight back?” Jade curled her arms closer to her stomach. “I don’t know. Can we talk about something else?”
“I’ve missed you.”
“Same. It’s been weird not having anyone to talk through my plans with. What’s it like here? Got an alien boyfriend yet?”
“No alien boyfriends.” She wasn’t going to mention Striker. She didn’t want to warn their captors about him. Not that she was sure he would come, or even if he was her boyfriend anymore, but that information was too important to share right now.
“They’re nice, though. Every Vardarian I’ve met has been kind and helpful. They’re also the most flirtatious species I have ever met. They might bond for life, but until they find their mates, they’re all about enjoying themselves.”
“Yeah? Sound like my kind of beings. I wish I’d gotten to meet one. Breathed some fresh air for once in my life.”
“The air is amazing. The sky takes some getting used to.” She told Jade all about the colony and the woods, making sure not to mention any names or important details. She didn’t know what their captors were waiting for, but they’d be coming for her sooner or later. If this was all the time she had left, she’d spend it trying to comfort her friend. It also served to distract herself from the heartache that started every time she thought she might never see Striker again.
If she made it out of here, she’d make him listen to her one more time so she could come clean about everything, starting with the fact that she was falling in love with him.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before they heard voices. Long enough she’d had to change positions twice to stop her legs from falling asleep. “It’s your fraxxing fault we can’t do the extraction easily.” The male voice was clipped and angry. The second she heard it, Jade hunched into a ball and went utterly still. Maggie did the same.
“You told me to make her compliant. I did. Quit bitching,” another male voice spoke, and now she could hear them walking, coming this way.
“By ripping out her implants, which she needs to be able to pull the data. This was supposed to be a quick, clean operation.”
“Still can be.”
“Clean? Are you kidding me right now? The droids have been cleaning up the mess you made in the interrogation room for hours. I’m going to have to pay to get it decontaminated and resealed when we get back, and it’s coming out of your share.”
“Fine. But we can still make this quick. I can get what we need and then we’re out of here.”
They were close now, and Maggie risked a quick glance up. Two human males were coming down the narrow corridor, both wearing combat gear with an insignia she didn’t recognize on the shoulder. Big. Fit. With dark hair trimmed very short.
They looked military but didn’t sound like it. Mercenaries, maybe? Seemed likely. But mercs cost money—a lot of it. No one she knew back on Earth could afford anything close to what these men must charge.
Two pairs of boots appeared in her field of vision. “Up you get. If you’re awake, you can walk.”
A crack of metal on metal made her jump. “You too, Perez, up.”
The second mercenary had struck the bars of Jade’s cell with something. Maggie looked up and glared as she recognized what he was holding. “That’s mine.”
“Not anymore. Not sure how it works, yet, but this little toy is mine now.” The asshole gave her a wink. “Winner gets the spoils and all that. Nothing personal.”
“He says that a lot.” Jade struggled to her feet. “But I’m taking this all very personally.”
“All you had to do was cooperate.” The first man shrugged. “This didn’t have to be so… messy.”
The other man rolled his eyes. “Seriously? Let it go already, Tanner. I said I’d pay to have it cleaned.”
“Where are we walking to?” Maggie asked as she got to her feet. She still had a headache, but the dizziness had faded.
“Perez knows where we’re going. We need to extract that data storage gizmo from your arm,” Tanner said.
Jade moaned and shook her head slowly. “No, no, no. I did what you asked. I told you were to find her. I took down the defense grid. You don’t have to hurt her. Please?”
“Since you can’t extract the data yourself, that’s a bit of a problem.” Tanner shot a frustrated look at his nameless companion. “We need to get that thing out of her and bring it back to our employer. We’ve got a contract to honor. How we remove it is up to you. Give us the passcode to decrypt the file you stole, and Piper gets a dose of anesthetic before this starts. Keep holding out on us and…” Tanner shrugged, his face utterly impassive.
Son of a bitch. That’s why they hadn’t killed Jade yet. She was still holding out on them. Without the passcode, they couldn’t verify what they had, and it sounded like they needed to do that before they could get paid.
“You’re forgetting about the heartbeat issue,” Jade said.
“The what?” Tanner looked confused, but the other man grunted.
“Did you even read the report I wrote up? The redhead’s gizmo is powered by the flow of blood through her veins. Some kind of mini-generator tech. The power supply stops, and that thing will automatically wipe itself and shut down. No more heartbeat, no more data. It’s the whole reason we had to bring her back here at all.”
Maggie just n
odded, pretending to confirm what was being said. It wasn’t true. That kind of technology might exist, but she certainly hadn’t paid for anything that advanced. They could have killed her and cut out what they needed after she was dead. Jade must have realized that and come up with a reason to keep her alive.
“Fraxx! Seriously? You should have said so. Timmins said it was so we could use her as leverage against Perez. How are you going to fix this?” Tanner snarled.
“Easy. We get messy. All we need to do is keep Piper alive. A body can take a lot of damage and still have a heartbeat. We hurt her enough, I’m betting Perez will be happy to tell us how to override the safeguards just so her little friend stops screaming.”
Again, he turned to her and winked. “Nothing personal.”
“Asshole,” Jade muttered, but there was no venom in the words, only defeat.
Maggie needed to stall. She desperately hoped help was coming, but they were running out of time. “I know how to turn that off. But if I tell you, you have to let Jade go.”
“Bullshit. You don’t even know the passcode! She told us that much. You’re just the mule. You can’t even access the data you’re carrying,” the big man said, pointing the tip of the kes’tarv at her face. “You’re the brawn. She’s the brains.”
Jade had handed her another advantage. She’d made them believe Maggie wasn’t smart enough to be a problem. “That’s true, but I’ve got enough sense to make sure I knew how to turn that thing off. I mean, what if she died and I had to get it out myself without damaging the data? Encryptions can be broken, but not if there’s nothing left to work with.”
“Fine. She gives up the passcode, you tell us how to get it out of you, and we’ll escort you outside before we take off. Sound good?” Tanner asked.
She didn’t believe him for a second. Once Jade gave up the passcode, these men would kill them and leave the bodies to be burned to ash by the thrusters when the ship took off. She pretended to consider this for as long as she dared. “Deal.”