“You really think the Rippers are here to help you?”
“Of course they’re not,” he spat back. “But do you think I have a choice in this? My companies are about to implode. Unless I take their money and allow them to get a foothold here on Tarkun IV, I’m done. This is the choice that I have: become broke and irrelevant, or work with the Rippers.”
“They’re the enemy, how can you—?”
“Haven’t I told you to shut up?” He slapped me so hard that stars exploded behind my eyelids. I tumbled onto the bed, surprised and dazed. “You’re mine, Alicia, so start acting like it.”
I balled my hands into fists. “Is that so?”
If he wanted to take me, I was going to make him bleed for it.
Razar
The hangar was crawling with mercenaries.
Hiding behind some crates, I ensured my gun had enough ammo, then I popped the safety off. I didn’t want to shoot down even more Jorkan, but I wouldn’t cry about it if it had to be done.
I remained hidden for a moment, trying to gauge the situation, and I recognized a few of the mercenaries patrolling the hangar. I had never met them, but I recognized them from Tarkun’s IV criminal database. Apparently, they had been working with Yilap’s previous boss, a wealthy resort owner who, as it turned out, was acting as an arms dealer for the Rippers.
Again, I wondered about Varon’s connection with the Rippers.
Could he have been so stupid as to make a deal with them? His companies were all drowning in debt, and creditors were already sharpening their knives...maybe Varon had decided the Rippers could help him with that. If that was the case, I pitied the fool. He had no idea who his new bedmates were.
With all the weapons and gear I needed stowed in a canvas bag, I slung it over one shoulder and started sneaking past the mercenaries. I was as cautious as possible, moving from cover to cover, and set my sights on the sleek corvette parked on the far side of the hangar. It was one of Varon’s toys—a two-seater racing shuttle—and it was exactly what I needed.
Miraculously, I managed to reach the corvette without being seen. The mercenaries all stood at the center of the hangar, smoking and laughing, and they didn’t seem that preoccupied with securing the premises. It just went to show the kind of assholes Varon had decided to hire.
I unlocked the corvette’s side, threw my bag onto the copilot’s seat, then climbed inside. The mercenaries only noticed me when I revved up the engines, and by then it was already too late. I directed all energy to the thrusters and, as soon as the corvette lifted off the floor, I grabbed the yoke and gritted my teeth.
“Stop right there,” I heard one of the mercenaries shout, but I just flipped him the finger, one of Earth’s greatest gestures. He went for his rifle and started peppering the corvette’s fuselage with bullets, but it didn’t matter. The entire ship was reinforced with ultralight alloys, and small projectiles would only make a dent.
The moment I accelerated, I was immediately thrown back against the seat. The corvette sped past the frantic mercenaries, and one wing even clipped one of the bastards, slapping his head so hard, I was pretty sure it broke his neck.
“Here we go,” I muttered, angling the ship so that it could fit through the hangar doors. The mercenaries hadn’t even bothered with fully closing them. The hangar was one of the hottest places to be in, and they’d probably decided to leave the massive doors open so they could get some fresh air.
Minutes later, I was cutting across the blue skies like a speeding bullet. I zoomed past the city’s skyscrapers, flew over the tropical shoreline, and continued toward the horizon. Soon enough, I was surrounded by the endless ocean, a big nothing on all sides.
It didn’t take much time before I reached the yacht’s coordinates. I kept the corvette just a few yards above the water line, so the yacht’s sensors couldn’t detect my approach, then killed my ship’s engines while still a mile away from my target. The fuselage hit the water gracefully, and I rose to my feet once I felt the ship swaying with the waves.
I glanced out the windshield, narrowing my eyes at the yacht’s silhouette in the distance, and headed into the tiny hold. It took no more than two minutes to gear up—I put on a lightweight tactical vest, slung a rifle over my shoulder, and strapped two guns to my thighs. Then I put the small breather between my teeth, a device that’d allow me to breathe underwear for at least half an hour.
Almost forgot, I thought, then grabbed the hunting knife I had thrown into the bag. Back when I was still in the military, most of the guys in my unit used to laugh at me because I didn’t go anywhere without that knife. They all stopped laughing after I gutted three Rippers with it.
I popped the corvette’s door open, and without a moment’s hesitation, threw myself into the ocean. The cold water hit me hard, but it gave me the boost that I needed—I started swimming as hard as I could, careful to only resurface when I saw the yacht’s stern. I moved around it until I found a ladder and, grabbing onto the rails, I removed the breather from my mouth.
The first thing I heard was the sound of loud music, then came the unmistakable laugh of Aurvelian women. Someone was having one hell of a party, it seemed.
As I stepped onto the deck, I immediately came across one of the low-paid crewmen Varon employed, a small man with four tentacles protruding from his shirt. His beady eyes widened as he saw me, but he wasn’t a threat. I just pressed my index finger against my lips, telling him to be quiet, and he nodded at me.
“What’s happening?” I asked him quietly. “Is Varon here?”
“Y-yes…” he stammered. “The boss is here.”
“Who else?”
“The...the Rippers!”
My insides twisted into a knot. It seemed like I had made the right choice when I packed up all my gear. If the Rippers were here, then bullets were going to fly and blood would be spilled.
“I counted seven of them. At first, I thought they had come to steal the ship or something, but...but then the boss arrived, and he started talking with them, and they seemed to be all friendly, and—”
“Calm down,” I whispered, and only then did he shut up. “Don’t worry about the Rippers. I’m here now.” I grabbed my knife. It had been a while since I had used it on a Ripper, but I was pretty sure I still hadn’t lost my touch. Besides, I was confident that I wouldn’t fuck this up, even if I had seven Rippers to face.
After all, Alicia was on the line, and for her…
For her, I’d do the impossible.
Alicia
“Get away from me,” I growled.
Rolling off the bed, I tried keeping my distance from Varon. That only encouraged him, his sick smile turning into a demented grin. He walked around the bed, his eyes never leaving mine, and I was forced to jump on top of the mattress in order to stay away.
“This isn’t going to end well for you,” I warned, grimly aware the tools in my arsenal were slim to none. Furious, I threw pillows at him, fuming at the uselessness of that action. He just swatted them out of the way, and so I decided to graduate from soft projectiles. Grabbing the lamp on the bedside table, I waved it around as if it were a cudgel, then hurled it at Varon. He just bobbed his head to the side, and the lamp hit the wall behind him.
“I see you want to fight me,” Varon said, and his laughter echoed around the room. Shaking his head, he gave me a condescending smile. “Go ahead, see what good that does you. Do I really have to remind you of the situation you’re in? Those are Rippers out there, woman. Do you think they’ll bat an eyelid if I ask them for a favor, and send one of them to Earth? How would your parents like to meet one of those fucking monsters, huh?”
“You’re the monster.”
“Maybe I am,” he said, a vicious grin on his lips. “But that doesn’t change anything. You’re mine now, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.”
I froze, mind racing as I considered and discarded different scenarios, not sure how to act.
I wanted noth
ing more but to punch his stupid face, but he was right—if I insisted on fighting him, I was just going to make an even bigger mess of things. Not that I was worried about myself. Sure, Varon would inevitably punish me for my disobedience, but I couldn’t care any less about it. What truly made me pause were his threats against my parents.
I simply couldn’t put my parents' lives in danger. It was why I’d let Varon drag me off in the first place. My parents, and Razar.
“Finally,” Varon said, hands on his hips as he looked at me. “Now, fetch me a drink.” He sat in the armchair in the corner. He draped his arms over the armrests and crossed his legs, his eyes watching me attentively. When I didn’t move, he snapped his fingers at me. “C’mon. Don’t make me say it twice.”
I took a deep breath and did as I was told.
Taking my time, I walked toward the drink cabinet facing the bed and opened the glass casing. I didn’t know what kind of drink he wanted, so I settled on the hardest liquor I could find. With some luck, my strategy from before would still work, and Varon would get so drunk he’d just pass out.
“Move it,” he said. “I don’t have all fucking day.”
Reflexively, my fingers tightened around the bottle, and I had to make a conscious effort not to throw it at his head. In my mind’s eye, I imagined how satisfying it would be to smash the glass against his stupid purple nose, and that was enough for my hand to stop trembling. Carefully, I put a single ice cube into a glass, then poured an obscene amount of liquor over it.
“Here.” Pushing the drink into his hands, I quickly took two steps back. Even though Varon had calmed down, I still felt disgusted by him. The bastard was playing games now, but I knew he hadn’t forgotten about all the sick stuff he wanted to do. I just prayed I wouldn’t lose my mind and end up kicking his ass. As satisfying as that would be, it just wouldn’t be worth it.
“See? It wasn’t that hard.” Peering at me over the rim of his glass, Varon gulped the whole thing down in a matter of seconds, and let out a satisfied sigh. He pushed himself up to his feet, then took one step toward me. “All you have to do is keep up with the good behavior, Alicia. That’s really all I ask of you. In time, you’ll even start to enjoy it.”
“I doubt it.”
“I can give you a life of riches and luxury,” he continued, ignoring my comment. “In return, all you have to do is smile and obey.” With that, he finally closed in on me, and his right hand shot up to my neck. I felt his fingers gently wrapping themselves around my neck, and panic welled up inside me. “I went to a great deal of trouble to procure you.”
As I processed what the hell he could mean by that statement, Varon reached for my face and caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. His fingers trailed down to my right shoulder, and he started pushing my dress down. The fabric slid down my shoulders, and my heart started beating so furiously I wouldn’t have been surprised if it burst out of my chest. I dug my fingernails into my palms hard enough to draw blood, my thoughts engulfed by a wave of helpless anger and fear.
“Stop acting like this is new to you,” Varon snapped, the fingers around my neck tightening. “I’ve seen all that footage, remember? I know what you’re capable of. So let’s drop the act, shall we? I want the same treatment you’ve given Razar. Don’t make me remind you of what’s at stake here.”
I couldn’t even think straight.
Varon had made it clear how despicable he was from day one, but I hadn’t realized he would turn into such a monster. Now I was going to pay dearly for my short-sightedness.
I closed my eyes.
This was going to happen, and if I wanted to keep my loved ones safe, I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“Yes, relax,” he whispered, his voice becoming more high-pitched as he became excited. “It’ll be easier for you if you just relax.” His hand traveled from my shoulder to my collarbone, and he was about to tug on the right cup of my bra when he froze in place, a loud sound coming from outside.
It was the sound of a gunshot.
Razar
“I’m going to need you to do me a favor.” My little tentacled buddy looked like he might faint, but managed to give me a tentative nod. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing major. Now, how many Rippers are around the far side of the deck?”
“Up top?”
“Sure, we’ll start with the ones up top.”
“I don’t know, uh…” his beady eyes shifted, and I put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
“It’s alright. We’re all getting out of this. Just breathe, and tell me.” He did his best to settle down, and I pitied him for a second. I had made him a promise that there was no way of guaranteeing I could keep. Still, if he kept his head down, he might walk away. Or swim.
“Three, I think. Maybe four. They’re getting pretty heavy with some women up there.”
“It’s only the Rippers I’m worried about. You say four at the most?”
“Tops.”
“That’s a good start.” I gave him a firm pat and a wink. “I’m pretty sure I can handle four. Now, what I need you to do is head around and send one of them back here. Tell them you’ve got a line tangled or something.”
“Tangled in what?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just see if you can get one to come back with you.”
With another feeble nod, he went sweating around to the front, and I pressed myself against the wall, knife at the ready. In a weird way, it felt like old times. My breathing was shallow, and I had to remind myself to keep it steady and deep. This was going to take all the stamina and presence of mind I could muster.
Nothing. The sun beat down, and beads of sweat were running down my tensed arms. Had my little friend left me hanging? Worse, had he gone down to warn Varon that I was on board?
A tight burst of laughter from around the front settled my nerves, and I could hear grumbling about who was going to deal with the Big Emergency. There were groans, and some hectoring as whatever poor sap had lost made his way back to me.
“It’s just over the railing at the back…” the crewman was saying, and I wound tight as a spring. In a moment, the Ripper breezed past me, without even a casual glance to see if the rear deck was empty. He simply placed his hands on the railing and leaned over.
“What am I looking for, then?”
In a flash, I was behind him, clamping a hand over his mouth while I raked my blade deep and hard across his throat. A hot spurt of blood burst from his neck and I heaved him over the side into the water.
He floundered for a minute, then disappeared into the waves. I turned back to the crewman, who was standing still as a stone. The poor bastard had probably never seen anyone get killed before. Well, he was going to need to buckle up—this party was just getting started.
“How many are left?”
“Two. And some of the women.”
“Well then,” I said, “start shouting that he fell over.” He was probably so ready to panic that I didn’t have to tell him twice.
“Help!” he cried. “Man overboard.”
Ducking back to the wall, I readied my knife again as their boots slammed across the deck. The first one raced past me, but the second hung warily back. With precious little time before the first Ripper turned around and saw me, I had to make the call.
Ducking around the corner, I plunged my knife directly into the base of his throat, yanking it out with an arc of blood rushing after. Some of the Aurvelian women screamed as he hit the deck, and the one by the railing spun and saw me. Or, at least the flash of me. I was already tucked low and running, so that I managed to stick him right under the ribs before he could get his gun out of its holster.
The second Ripper had just joined his brother in the deep when a shot rang out, and I heard the bullet whistle through the air beside me. Spinning, I saw the Ripper I had stabbed clutching his neck and quivering on the deck. Thick blood oozed between the fingers of his left hand, and the right held a pistol, already chambering another round.
Gunfire was sure to bring the rest of them above deck, but I needed to save what ammo I had until the party started. Before the dying Ripper could manage another shot, I was on him, and ran my blade firm and deep up under his jawline.
I would have tossed him over, but my time was going to be better spent on his companions. Drawing my pistol, I switched the knife to my left hand and braced for the onslaught. It was ready almost as soon as I was.
A volley of shots tore through the air, and I dove to the far side of the deck, rolling onto my back, training my sights on the side decks. Nothing. But I knew better than to let down my guard.
The crack of a gun rang out above me, and the wood on the deck next to my head splintered. A lone Ripper stood on top of the cabin. Before he could fire again, my old instincts kicked in, and I sniped him with a single, clean shot. It only caught him in the shoulder, but it threw him off balance and he crashed down just a few feet from me.
I was on him in a flash and slid my knife deep into his heart. Tucking his gun into my belt, I prepared for the others to come, but nobody followed. A scream rang out from beneath my feet. Even with all the other women screaming on board, I recognized Alicia’s voice instantly.
Racing around, I found no Rippers on the foredeck. just a cluster of Aurvelians huddled against the railing, shielding themselves and trying to cover up their naked bits.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’m not going to hurt any of you. The human woman—where is she?”
One of the women pointed. The door down into the yacht stood open, and there wasn’t a trace of life on the stairs. Another scream. There was no way I could resist it. This was bound to be a trap, but if Alicia was the bait, I was going in.
My heart roared inside me as I bolted down the stairs and carved my way to Varon's private room. The corridor was deserted, but my gun was at the ready, and my trigger finger taut.
Razar Page 13