by Dani Hoots
Grinning, he held out his hand. “We never fully introduced ourselves. I’m Kane Hullihan. I’m the leader of this city.”
“Myra Ryetirf. Don’t really have an occupation, or much of anything at the moment. Just kind of making my way around the galaxy.”
“You mean pickpocketing your way across the galaxy?” he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. I was surprised that he had seen me, I was pretty careful after all. “You saw that? How long have you been following me?”
“Just saw you at the port, that’s all. Thought to myself, that is definitely a girl I want to get to know. So when I saw you at the bar, I just couldn’t resist.”
If I had known who he was, had known that Jack was safe, I would have gone along with the act a little more. It would have made things so much easier. “Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn’t in the greatest mood. I’m better now, I’ve had a while to think things through, to realize the truth of what had happened.”
He watched my eyes suspiciously. “Didn’t you say your love was murdered right in front of your eyes?”
Right, I forgot that I had mentioned that. Me and my big mouth. “Yes, but the part I left out was what kind of man my love was. He was dark and had hurt a lot of people. The people who killed him were trying to bring justice to their city. I was actually supposed to be next, but I got away.”
Kane laughed. “So what you’re saying is that I have a wanted criminal in my city.”
“Doesn’t that describe all your citizens?”
“Citizens?” He let the word linger on his lips. “Thinking about staying here then?”
I shrugged. “I might, if given the right incentive. Heard you all have a race coming up. Sounds like fun.” I took a sip of the whiskey. “And besides, the drinks you all have here are like none other. I might just stay for them.”
“I hope that isn’t your only reason,” he smiled as he leaned closer.
“We will have to see, now won’t we. But those races do look like fun. Not every day you get to go so fast. I bet the adrenaline rush is to die for.” I picked my words carefully, to make sure I had his attention, and I did. I could tell by the way he was looking at my lips, then letting his gaze slip down to my dress.
“You think you will enter?” he asked as he motioned to the bartender to bring him a drink. The bartender brought a glass of whiskey, neat. It was perfect.
“I just might. Just want to know what’s in it for me.” I moved my foot over to touch his leg.
He coughed. I must have caught him off guard, which was a little surprising. “Umm, well there is always the trophy, which has a high gold value. But then, if you do win, I will see to it that you will start working close to me.”
“That sounds exciting, working close to you. I guess I will sign up then. Four months from now?” I asked as I took another sip.
Kane nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, I better start training then. Don’t want to disappoint you.” I winked. Damn I was too good at this. Logan was definitely right about me. I would do anything for a mission to succeed. Well, almost anything.
He took a large gulp, finishing his drink.
I nodded over to his group. “As for now, you should probably get back to talking to your friends. You don’t want to keep them waiting.”
Kane stared at me for a moment longer, biting his lip. “You are right, I probably should. But we will see each other again, I will make sure of that, Myra. Until then.”
He stepped away and went back to where the group of men were waiting for him. And, luckily, he left his glass of whiskey at the bar. Jack was quick to come and pick it up, with gloved hands of course.
“You did that all too well, Cadi. Makes me worry,” Jack whispered.
I laughed. “Don’t worry, I usually only use those moves on you.”
“I don’t like how you used the word ‘usually’.”
I pulled out my blush and the tape I had in my purse. “Now, now, Jack. It’s no time to get jealous. Just think of this as a means to an end.”
“You better not just look at me as a means to an end.”
Putting some blush on the glass where I saw a good fingerprint, I put some tape on it and pulled it off. Perfect fingerprint. “You know you are more than that. At least you are now.”
“Right, I forgot. You tried to kill me when first met.”
I gave him a little pout. “But I didn’t so all’s good.”
“You didn’t kill me because I was one step ahead of you,” he commented, which was true. Jack had given me a run for my money and if he wasn’t so interested in me, I would have been dead.
“That was a long time ago, you really need to move on and be lucky that Neil never ordered me to try to kill you again. Now, let’s get out of here before Kane comes back.”
CHAPTER 23
We got back to Jack’s bar with good timing. I wanted to change, of course, before we went to the building where the trophy was. Jack had all the codes memorized. Apparently, there was a pattern only those who ruled Himeo knew and he was able to backtrack to the present. They definitely did odd things here.
I quickly changed into a black tank top, black pants, and a black jacket with boots. Jack did the same. We had to be stealthy, in and out without anyone noticing. Jack, at least, could read minds so he could easily listen for anyone who was coming and fight them knowing what they would do. I could use my powers a bit and would hopefully stop anyone we ran into.
Once we were ready, Jack and I hurried out the door. This needed to happen tonight, we didn’t know when Joss would come looking for me, when he would figure out where I went. I had a feeling coming here was his first thought. I had been stupid thinking he wouldn’t look here. I still wasn’t sure what drove me here, as there were plenty of other planets I could have gone and never be found, such as Ttkas, though I would never be caught dead hiding on that planet. Nevertheless, I found Jack and that was all that mattered for now.
The building was just as I remembered it, standing right in the middle of where the races always were held. The thought of attending the races excited me a little, as it had been such a long time. I wondered if I still could win. Probably, but there was just a little doubt in my mind.
I placed the thumbprint that we had taken onto the keypad while Jack entered the code.
And it worked. We had been successful in getting in, now we just needed to be successful in getting to the trophies and getting out.
Which is where my powers and Jacks’ powers would come in handy.
I could sense where people were in the building, listen to sounds coming through the walls, see what they were seeing. I had grown better at fine-tuning this ability as time had gone on, able to control it more. I was able to focus on when Jack was in different parts of the bar, be able to pinpoint his location. Never had I dreamed I would be able to do such a thing, though if I had been able to hone this power earlier in my life, many missions would have been a lot easier.
Though, maybe that was why my intuition had left me alive for all these years. Maybe I could have in fact sensed them, just not to this extent.
As we entered, I closed my eyes and focused. Jack knew where we needed to go, but I needed to make sure that there was no one waiting for us, no one to stop us as we were about to have our hand on one of the most valuable things on the planet.
It seriously made me laugh every single time.
There were five guards between where we were and where we needed to go. We needed to go around them, because if we were to knock them out, we would alert them of our presence and we didn’t want anyone to know that we had snuck in and out. We weren’t taking anything so there shouldn’t be anyone that noticed.
Jack and I had already disrupted the cameras, making them repeat the last hour. It was late and it really should have been the same things happening, the same guards walking back and forth at their stations. At least, that is what Jack remembered.
“We need to bounce back and forth between corridors. There
are five people in our way. It shouldn't be hard since we know where they are.” I pointed at the small map that he had made. “They are here, here, here, here, and here. See what we need to do?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. Smart thinking and damn those powers of yours come in handy. Imagine all the trouble we could have gotten in if you had them before now.”
“You mean all the trouble we wouldn’t have gotten in? I think the missions that we were on were troublesome enough. What more could we have done?”
“Well, there’s this.”
“But why would we have snuck in like this when you were the crime leader of this city in the future? There would be no point.”
“For the fun of it.”
I rolled my eyes. Only he would think of something so ridiculous. I should have figured. “Let’s just focus on this mission, okay? Then when it’s all over, when we defeat Nygard, we can do all the missions you want.”
He did a little happy jump, ready to get this over with. He was so predictable, but it did mean that it distracted him from asking questions and bothering me with them. It definitely had been a while since we worked together, just the two of us. Last time it was with my brother and the others, and the Empire. But this, it was really just the two of us.
We ventured down the hallways and I kept my mind open, making sure that we weren’t going to run into anyone. I also checked to make sure there was no one reacting from seeing us on the security cameras. Whatever Jack had done must have worked because those people were still in their room, watching the last hour’s transmission. Then, in about thirty minutes. it would go back to normal, just a glitch appearing for a moment so that the movement of guards didn’t seem so sudden.
“So, what do you think of this place?” Jack asked. “How do you think I could make it better in the future?”
I sighed. Was he really asking me this now? “I think you don’t need to worry about making it more secure since you aren’t dealing with people that have super powers ever.”
“But how do you know that? How do you know there aren’t others out there like Neil?”
“If that’s the case, I don’t think you should be worrying about security in this place. I think you should worry that they will take over the galaxy.”
Jack shrugged. “I guess that’s true.”
“Besides, if they were going to do anything, they would have already done something. So I wouldn’t worry about some stupid trophy.”
“Just because you don’t have to worry about money and goods, doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t have to.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re a businessman, aren’t you?”
He grinned. “One of the best.”
“I don’t know, Jack, that Kane seems to be doing a pretty good job.”
Jack frowned. “No, he’s not. He will fail. At least, that is how history will play out.”
“Is there a crime lord that doesn’t fail?” I asked. Although I didn’t like thinking about it often, the hierarchy of crime lords on this planet definitely changed every decade, or sooner. Jack had been lucky in lasting this long. He was lucky that no one in his circle hadn’t killed him in order to gain power.
“There have been a few through the years that have been good, lasted a while. My goal is to outdo them all.”
I smiled but didn’t answer. It was just a typical response from someone like him. He just wanted to prove himself in the galaxy. Though, then again, didn’t we all?
We came upon the room and I took a quick scan around. The guard that would come by wouldn’t be here for another five minutes.
Jack opened the panel to the door and played with the wires. After a couple of moments of tinkering, he looked up at me. “I’ll stay outside while you go in and put the gem in the trophy. You have one minute before the lasers turn back on.”
I nodded and entered the vault as the doors opened.
There was nothing in here except the three trophies. Seriously, all of this was just for them. It was ridiculous, but to each their own I supposed.
I started for the gold trophy when I stopped. What were the chances I would win first place again? Although I knew I could do it, I didn’t want to take that chance. So I stepped to third place and inserted the gem into the base quickly. I secured my mind, not wanting Jack to find out I had put it in third. This was my gem and I still wasn’t sure about Sanshli. I wouldn’t let it go to any other person except me. Not even Jack.
Leaving the vault, I grabbed Jack by the hand and we ran before the alarm could sound. I hadn’t been on a mission like this in over a year and my adrenaline was pumping. Jack and I had gotten into a lot trouble together over the years, but this felt like the first time I actually got to do what I wanted to do without orders issued from higher up the food chain.
We got out of the building without any trouble, but ran straight to the pub, never slowing down. We didn’t want to take the chance of being spotted. Laughing, Jack and I stopped in front of the bar.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had that much fun,” Jack said.
“Yeah, well, that’s because you didn’t have me around.”
He pulled me in close and kissed me. “Ain’t that the truth?”
The smile on his lips faded quickly and Jack looked at the door to the bar, his eyes like a hawk.
“What is it?” I whispered. Then I felt it. There was someone inside the bar. We weren’t alone.
He turned back to me. “Cadi, run!”
All of a sudden the door opened and Jack was pulled back. I turned and bolted. Joss had found me. He was fast, he had known where I would go, I should have known. Even so, there was still one question in mind.
How did he know that I was at this bar?
CHAPTER 24
It was still pouring, the storm from the day still continuing on through the night. I let the rain soak my clothes and heard the splash of each puddle as I stepped into it. I knew he would be following me, Tim, who I found out was Tom. That bastard wanted to catch me at my weakest point, which had always been Jack.
Tom was fast, but I had always been faster. He was the only person I saw, but that didn’t mean the others weren’t trying to corner me. Who knew, maybe he wasn’t supposed to go after me but was always so stubborn that he disobeyed Neil. It wouldn’t have surprised me.
I knew these streets like the back of my hands. I knew the ins and outs of where I could go, where I could lose Tim. The only problem was I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to lose him, that I really wanted to run for the rest of my life. I mean, to get out of this predicament, I needed to be captured and get everyone to Sanshli. Then I could be truly free, or at least that was what I hoped.
The only problem was if I stopped, Tim would use the chance to rub it in my face that he captured me. I couldn’t let that happen, now could I?
So my only choice was to run and see if he could he could catch me.
Rain soaked my clothes now and I was getting a bit cold. If I concentrated, I knew I would probably be able to take the water off my clothes with my powers but I couldn’t take that much concentration off of running. Tim was right on my heels and if I were to slow down now, he would easily catch me.
As I ran, I hoped that Jack was okay. I knew if Joss wanted to do anything to him, he would wait until I was there. And I wouldn’t let anything bad happen. Not again.
What I always loved about running through the streets of Himeo was the fact that no one really noticed. It was like they were so used to people being chased and fights going on that it was really no big deal. I didn’t know if that was good or bad in this case. I did appreciate not being shot at from every direction by either the enemy or officials in the area. But the fact that no one really noticed was always disconcerting. Especially for one that is used to nothing but action.
Funny thing, actually, I could have sworn that the next right was through an alleyway, leading towards where Jack used to work. Apparently, I was wrong because it was a dead end. Turning around
, I found Tim standing in front of me, smiling proudly.
“Shit,” I whispered.
He nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Before I could do anything, he grabbed me by the throat and pinned me against the brick wall. I felt the brick crack from the force with which he threw me back. I looked at him, his face as wet with sweat as mine. The light from the street casted shadows to where we were, making Tim seem all the more frightening. I wouldn’t let him have that satisfaction, though. I had to keep my cool.
“Finally caught me, after all these years,” I said.
He grinned, his white teeth appearing yellow from the light. “At least your clothes are on this time.”
“Watch your tongue, I am mastering my powers.”
“Oh yeah,” I felt a hot fire sear my wrist where his hand was. It seared my skin. “So am I.”
Finally, he let the fire subside. It definitely was going to leave a mark, but at least the cool rain felt refreshing on it. I bit back my need to scream out and replied. “Power of fire. Always knew you were hot Thomas but this is ridiculous.”
He raised an eyebrow, as if calling him hot was surprising. I probably should have chosen my words more carefully, but honestly, I just wanted to get back to where Jack was. I would say anything to be where he was. “So you admit I’m hot?”
“You were never my type.”
“But a crime-infested world with a street boy like Jack is?”
I shrugged. “What can I say, I like what I’m not allowed to have.”
“Speaking of which, Joss is pissed. Better say goodbye to your lover, he’s going to kill him for real this time.”
I just glared at him. I tried to stay away from weaknesses during my entire Imperial career, yet I had one the entire time. Neil used it to his advantage during that time since he needed me to find Sanshli, now he could actually do what he always wanted to do; destroy Jack and bring me the pain I deserved for not obeying him as I had promised in the beginning. There was no reason for Joss to keep him alive.
I didn’t say a word as Tim brought me back to the bar. I had nothing else to say to him, not after he humiliated me on Anosira. To think I almost… I didn’t even want to look at him again, let alone speak any more than we just had. If I could have my way, I would make him eat concrete. However, if I did that, then Joss would hurt Jack and I would be back where I was only a day before, thinking he was dead. Knowing he was dead this time.