Broken & Hunted

by Charissa Dufour

“Because I love you.”

  Bit felt her mouth drop open. Well, you asked.

  “I-I think we should go check on the others.”

  Blaine grabbed her arm, stopping her. “You asked. You can’t handle me telling you how I feel.”

  Bit squeezed her eyes against the fresh wave of pain flowing through her, twisting her stomach into active nausea.

  “Bit,” called Debby from the lower level. “Let’s get you looked at. Can I get her some pain meds, Blaine?”

  Blaine glanced down at the nurse, conflict waring on his features.

  “She’s hurting, Blaine. Let me help her out. And Jack needs you to help Dirk and the others. He needs someone strong like you,” Debby said in a calm, consolatory manner.

  Slowly, Blaine nodded and walked down the steps, his eyes never leaving Debby. He passed her and rounded the corner to join the others. Bit let out a long sigh and joined Debby at the base of the steps.

  “What about them? Won’t they need you?” Bit said.

  “Jack and the others are going to get them into the infirmary and get the heating blankets going. Then I’ll get the IVs in. But I can at least get some pain meds in you in the meantime. C’mon.”

  Bit followed her into the infirmary and up onto one of five exam beds. Debby sifted through the cabinets finding what she wanted. She returned with a pill and a cup of water just as Vance and Calen appeared supporting a half-conscious Dirk between them. Following close behind them came Jack and Blaine with Forrest slung over their shoulders. Reese and Nathyn carried Jeremiah by his arms and legs. The young black man was completely unconscious. Debby handed Bit the pill and cup and turned to her new patients.

  “Put them on the tables,” she ordered as she raced back to the cupboards and began pulling out bundles, tossing them in the general directions of the exam beds. “Get them wrapped. Vance, go start boiling water.”

  Bit watched from her own bed as she downed the pill. Vance ran out of the infirmary as fast as his bulk would allow. Calen grabbed one bundle and tore the plastic open. A blanket that looked to be made of tin foil burst open. He wrapped it around Dirk. Jack did the same for Forrest while Nathyn lifted Jeremiah into a sitting position while Reese wrapped a blanket around the unconscious engineer. Oden trailed in, ready to assist wherever he was needed. Debby continued to search through the infirmary’s supplies until she found the IVs.

  Debby went to work starting the IV lines but refrained from hanging the bags. It wasn’t long before Vance returned with the first pot of boiling water.

  “Plug the sink and pour it in,” ordered Debby.

  Vance obeyed and left to get more. Debby mixed cooler water in the sink until she liked the temperature and sunk the IV bags into the warm water.

  Bit felt the meds begin to take effect and slumped back onto the inclined bed, for once not worrying about the pain in her ribs. Blaine came to her side and sat on the elevated stool. He took her hand, his other firmly gripping his comm. device as though it was his lifeline to reality. She let him hold her hand; she didn’t have any fight left in her.

  Debby continued to shift through the supplies, looking for something Bit couldn’t fathom in her drug-hazed state. Finally, the nurse turned to look at Jack, a box filled with strange red contraptions in her hands. From where Bit reclined, she thought they were made of rubber, but she couldn’t be positive.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Jack.”

  Jack shrugged as he scratched the back of his neck. “What?”

  “These were antiquated when your grandpa stocked this infirmary,” replied Debby.

  “Can we still use them?” Oden asked.

  “Assuming they haven’t cracked,” Debby said as she climbed to her feet and moved to the sink.

  Vance appeared with another pot of boiling water.

  “Perfect timing,” Debby said as she lifted a strange looking pitcher from the box. “Use this to fill the bags with hot water. Then place the bags around their bodies.”

  The men jumped forward to help while Debby moved to hook the men up to machines that beeped. Bit closed her eyes, unconsciousness slowly taking control.

  Jack settled back into his seat and stared at the four beds in use, his eyes drifted to the only vacant one. He thought about climbing onto it himself, but chose not to—just his luck, it would be then that they would need it. At least both his pilots were uninjured. When all this was over they could still fly away. He shook his head, slumping forward until his head rested in his hands, his elbows pressed against his knees.

  How had it come to this? Bit drugged out of her gourd to give her a break from the pain, and all three of his engineers fighting for their lives. Debby insisted they had turned the corner and just needed time to recover, but he struggled to believe it despite the steady beep of the monitors.

  His tried eyes drifted to the stool where Blaine had recently sat. At least they had gotten Blaine to go to his bunk once Bit fell asleep.

  Jack let out a long sigh as he slouched back into his seat and stretched out his long legs. Blaine sure has it bad.

  “Something funny?” a voice asked from the doorway.

  Jack looked up to see Randal standing in the doorway; Jack gave him a pathetic smile. “Blaine. Never seen a man fall so hard.”

  Randal didn’t smile. “I’m not so sure it’s that simple.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked as he waved for Randal to find a seat.

  “I’m not exactly sure, but we need to keep an eye on Blaine. He’s acting odd.”

  “Don’t we all when we’re in love?”

  Randal gave a disgusted snort as he took up a stool. “I’m not sure love is the right word. We need to watch him.”

  Jack nodded. Great, what’s one more issue to worry about?

  A groan from one of the beds alerted them to the waking of one of the engineers. Jack and Randal moved to the first bed to find Dirk shifting in his tin-foil blanket. The IV bag continued to drip into his veins, warming him from the inside out.

  “Jack,” Dirk groaned.

  “We’re here,” Jack said, drawing the Chief Engineer’s attention over to his side of the bed. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  “I don’t really know. We were working in the engine bays. They had us all unconscious within seconds. They were fast, professional. We woke up in the freezer.”

  “How long were you in the freezer?” asked Randal.

  Dirk shook his head. “I don’t know. Felt like forever. What’s this all about?”

  “We’re trying to figure that out. Bit’s been stalked a couple times. She’s pretty bunged up. Someone’s tossed my mom’s place while we were out. And then armed men showed up last night. We barely escaped.”

  “Don’t forget about the paint,” added Randal.

  Jack rolled his eyes. “I hardly think that’s the same thing, but yes, some protesters threw some paint on us. Someone wasn’t too happy about the embryos we shipped here.”

  “You’re a fool if you don’t think they’re related,” grumbled Dirk. “This is all about the embryos. We’ve royally pissed someone off.”

  “You really think someone tried to kill you over us carting animal embryos into Mars?” asked Jack.

  “More likely they are trying to steal the embryos. We were just in the way.”

  Jack smiled. “That you were. Fine. I just don’t think we should ignore the possibility that some of this disaster is related to Bit.”

  The captain looked back at the young woman, making certain she was still asleep. She snored lightly, still drugged into blissful unconsciousness.

  “Fine,” sighed Randal, “we’ll keep the possibility on the table.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack with a smirk.

  “The real question is: What do we do?” asked Dirk.

  “First of all, I’m calling MGC. The sooner we can hand these embryos off the better. Secondly, I’m calling the Tifton authorities. Randal, stay with Dirk. See if you can learn anything else.”


  Thirty minutes later, Jack returned to the infirmary, no better off.

  “Well?” asked Randal.

  Jack grunted.

  “That good, eh?”

  “Well, MGC is still shut down for the holiday.”

  Randal grunted in return. “What did you expect on Sunday?”

  “I could hope.”

  “Sure. And how did that hoping work out for you?”

  Jack glanced up at the older man, his breath caught in his chest. Did the middle-aged man know he was quoting his father? Jack shook the memory from his mind. No. Randal was just being Randal, with no intention of throwing Jack off by reminding him of his dead father.

  “Not very well,” Jack said when he realized the security guard was still waiting for an answer.

  “And did you call the authorities?”

  Jack shook his head. “Chose not to at the last moment.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Wouldn’t we be held responsible, at least in part, for what happened at my mom’s building? After all, we did run.”

  Randal appeared to consider his words for a few minutes, the muscles in his jaw working and his eyes looking everywhere but at Jack. Finally, he gave a miniscule shrug. Jack watched him carefully, a tiny thought creeping into the back of his mind. Was there something Randal wasn’t saying about the men chasing him out of the condo building? Was he more injured than he was letting on? Or was he just feeling his age?

  “It’s possible. Even likely. I would say, until we know more about what’s going on, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry,” Randal said.

  Jack let out a long, tired sigh before nodding. Until now, he had never been one to question the governmental authorities; but now, as enemies appeared to be to materializing out of the very wood-works, he questioned everyone and everything—especially the entity that told them they couldn’t carry a weapon to protect themselves. After all, his own family had proven to work against him lately.

  How could he have been so foolish as to have trusted Derek? And if he could have missed the cues in his own uncle, what other signs was he missing now?

  “You were right to trust your instincts, Jack,” Randal said as though he were reading his captain’s mind.

  “Like I trusted my instincts with Derek?”

  “We can’t be right all the time. What matters when we are wrong is that we learn from those mistakes.”

  “And what have I learned?”

  “That is for you to figure out, Jack. I can’t give you all the answers.”

  Jack nodded. “I guess now we have to figure out what to do next. Obviously, we have to make the delivery on Tuesday.”

  “And finish getting the repairs done,” inserted Dirk from his bed.

  Jack glanced at him, surprised to find the Chief Engineer awake again. How long had he been listening?

  “Yes,” agreed Jack, “that too.”

  “And we need to get Bit to safety,” added Randal.

  Jack let out a long sigh. “Okay. So we need to deliver the embryos, finish the repairs, and take care of Bit.”

  “It sounds like we need to split up,” said Dirk.

  Randal stood up from his seat and began to pace. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Neither do I, but do you have a better idea?” asked Jack.

  Randal stopped at the far end of the infirmary, near Bit’s bed. “No. But I strongly suggest Blaine not be in the group that takes Bit to safety.”

  Jack nodded. “Agreed.”

  “You guys forming a plan?” Debby asked from the doorway.

  “Yes. I think we’re onto something like a plan.”

  “I came to check on Bit. I never got to examine her properly. Is she awake?”

  “She hasn’t made a noise,” said Randal from his place beside her bed. He gave her a little nudge. “Bit?”

  The young woman groaned and batted at his hand while Debby crossed to her side. Debby worked with the ship’s antiquated equipment, grumbling the whole way through. She pulled over the portable x-ray machine and the special screen to protect the other people in the room, took pictures of Bit’s chest and felt around her chest cavity. Bit grimaced despite the remaining effects of the pain medication still swimming in her blood stream.

  While they waited for the pictures to develop, Debby examined her various bruises, specifically the one on her lower side. It was back to being a nasty dark blackish-blue after being struck again.

  “No more getting hit. Okay, Bit?”

  The loopy young woman nodded.

  Debby went to check on the pictures and returned. “Looks like you broke two ribs and fractured a third. No wonder you’re in so much pain. I’m going to send you with pain meds, but try to use them sparingly.”

  “Oh, I will,” Bit said with enough force to bring a smile to Debby’s lips.

  Jack smiled too. He remembered the last time Bit had taken pain medications. She had been a little too enthusiastic about the men on his crew. He would have to consider carefully who he sent with her to keep her safe. It would not only need to be someone skilled in combat, but someone who could handle her drug-induced seductions. His smile grew. If it weren’t for Debby, he’d be tempted to go with Bit himself.

  He let out another sigh. What a mess he was making.

  Chapter Twelve

  Bit sat huddled over her steaming bowl of soup as she waited for the rest of the crew to gather their dinners. While she had slept off the pain medication, Vance had been hard at work. Despite any plan or preparation, he had managed to whip up an enormous pot of rich soup and the biggest buttermilk biscuits Bit had ever seen. It was comfort food, and she knew it, but she was thankful for it. The crew was battered and broken, both physically and spiritually, and this meal was the kind that a mother might make a sick child—not that Bit had ever experienced that kind of attention. Still, she could imagine it.

  She stared at the crew, willing them to hurry up so she could dig in. Bit hadn’t eaten anything for lunch. She thought back over their crazy day and realized she had missed breakfast too. No wonder she was hungry.

  Blaine slipped into the seat next to her and began to fiddle with his spoon, clicking it against the leg of his pants. She spotted Oden eyeing her, concern bringing his eyebrows together. She gave him the tiniest shake of her head.

  Whatever was wrong with Blaine, it wasn’t worth the confrontation—not now, not when it would stand between her and food. She’d rather sit with him and get to eat than deal with the issue but miss her hot meal. Oden gave her tiny shrug and sat at a different table, keeping her within his line of sight.

  She ignored his own brand of protectiveness and watched as the last person took their seat. Jack was the last man, along with Vance, to take his food to a table.

  “Eat up, then we’ll talk about the plan,” Jack said as he took his own seat at the end of a full table.

  Even the engineers were out of bed and eating greedily. It wasn’t long before the entire pot of soup and all the biscuits were consumed by the hungry mob.

  Jack sighed as he pushed himself up to his feet. The crew fell into silence as they looked up at him. The moment they were all waiting for had come at last.

  “As you guys well know, we are in much deeper than we had ever intended. There are two points of view on this topic. One is that the violence against us is due to Bit’s past, that her previous boss is out to get her back…”

  The angry cries of the crew cut him off. Various voices informed her that they would never let her go back to “that jackass”. Blaine wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively and dragged her up against his side. The movement twisted her core until her broken ribs dug into her lungs.

  “Ouch, let go,” she gasped.

  Blaine ignored her plea, squeezing her even tighter. “I won’t let anything happen to you!”

  “Let go!”

  He wrapped his other arm around her, his gaze scanning the room for a threat. In desperation,
Bit pushed her hand up despite the pressure of his grasp of his arms until she reached his chest. Through his thin t-shirt she could make out the outline of his pectoral muscles coming to a head at his nipples. She gasped in pain as she grabbed his nipples, squeezed, and twisted, all in one swift motion.

  Blaine yelped as he jumped backwards, releasing her from his death grip. Bit didn’t hesitate, despite the pain of his release, and pushed herself away. She climbed awkwardly to her feet and pressed herself into the corner, as far away from Blaine as she could get. She knew fresh tears were leaking over her lids, but she couldn’t stop them.

  The rowdy crew stopped talking and looked at the corner of the mess hall where she stood, wrapping her arms around her core, and Blaine sat rubbing his chest.

  “Why’d you do that?” he demanded.

  “You were hurting me?”

  “No… I…” Blaine’s eyes jerked to their audience, round with fright and confusion.

  “Bit, come stand with me,” Jack ordered, his eyes on Blaine.

  Bit skirted around Blaine, disgusted with herself for the fear she felt around the man she had once considered her friend. She felt worse when she saw the glares of the crew being turned on Blaine from the other crew members. Had she just been able to endure the pain, none of them would have known he had been hurting her. He hadn’t intended it. Something was messing with his mind.

  She glanced up at the captain, whose eyes were still on Blaine. At least Jack was aware of the problem now.

  “The other theory,” continued Jack, trying his best to drag everyone’s attention away from Blaine, “is that the violence comes because someone is against MGC bringing genetically modified animal embryos into Mars’ ecosystem.”

  “Could it also be that someone wants to steal the embryos?” asked Bit in an attempt to further distract the crew. “I mean, the embryos, whether popular or not, must be worth a small fortune. After all, pirates attacked us for them.”

  Jack nodded. “Yes, someone might be trying to steal them. That might explain why my mother’s condo was tossed. They were looking for the embryos, rather than us.”

  “And it could be the mix of all three,” added Randal from his seat. “It could be a perfect storm.”