by Catty Diva
Checking her emails again, there was one from Lista.
Cash is going crazy without you. Are you sure there’s no bond between you?
She sent a quick message back.
If only….
It was almost enough to make her dream about how things might have been, but no. Dani couldn’t allow herself to fall into that trap. She was building a life for herself. An alarm went off to remind her of something. What was she forgetting? Ah, yes. She was taking self-defense classes that Justice and Envy taught. She changed into sweats and jumped in her hover car. It was a loaner from Lista. The female was too kind.
The gym Justice had built wasn’t far so she made it in time. It was new and cutting edge. The class had grown and now the gym had just enough room for the students. “Looks like you have plenty of paying customers now.” Dani said.
“Isn’t it great? We’re splitting the class and having two now.” Envy shared.
“Girls and boys?”
“No, some of the girls only come to see the boys. We’ll have an advanced class for those who have learned quickly. The rest will stay in this class.”
“Where do I go?”
“You’re moving up to the advanced class.”
“Are you sure?”
“The only thing you lack is confidence.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am, now fall into line.”
“Bossy!” She whispered, but Envy heard.
“You betcha.”
They began with exercises and some of the males began to strip off as they got sweaty. It reminded her about what Envy had said about females coming to the lessons to see the males. All of them were well muscled and sexy. If her heart wasn’t taken, she would be interested. She still looked, they were easy on the eyes, but the appeal wasn’t all it could have been.
One of the guys gave her the eye, but she shook her head. Too bad to, the guy was a hottie. He shrugged and turned his attention elsewhere. If only she could do that as easily. Her feelings were too deep and the night she’d spent with Cash had bonded her to him. Cash was the lucky one because he was free of the connection.
The class wore on until she felt dog tired and achy all over. She’d taken a few hard falls that had hurt even though they’d been on a padded mat. When the class was done, so was she. Slipping out fast before anyone asked anything of her, she hopped in the hover car and headed home.
After she arrived, she took a warm shower to help her achy muscles relax and almost fell asleep. She got out, dried off and dressed. It was time to try to get a couple more jobs done. There was a message from Cash again.
I’m not sure that you understand how important this is. I need to talk to her even if I don’t know exactly where she is. Just a brief conversation, that’s all I need. Please.
Dani decided she would give it some thought before she answered. Was there some important information she hadn’t given him before she left? She didn’t think so, but she would give it some thought. Meanwhile, she had a list of jobs she needed to get done for Lista and others. Squaring her shoulders, she got to work. It wouldn’t be more than a few weeks before she could get out of here for good.
Chapter 3
Now What?
Cash looked out the side window of the shuttle as it pulled away from his headquarters. A list of over a hundred names had been delivered by Lista’s super hacker. Before turning everyone loose, Razar and a couple of his brothers had each led a team to one of the families indicated to be sure there were illegal children being kept on site. There were.
Most were treated terribly, although one had been treated like a member of the family. The family ran a restaurant and everyone helped out. The boy had felt so much at home, he refused to leave. Since he’d shared a room with one of the siblings and they shared everything, Razar let him stay. He assured the family there would be welfare checks.
They seemed relieved the boy had stayed because the family seemed to care about him. It had been touching to see one of the children out of so many find a true home. The others would find homes too. They would make sure of it.
Now Cash and all his people not assigned to taking down labs were assigned to teams of four to take the children away from their abusers. Justice and Envy sat across from him and Ralph, a new hunter was piloting. It was a small shuttle only large enough to hold six. It was small enough to make it hard to be picked up on radar thus is was used on spy missions mostly.
“So how far are we going?” Envy asked.
“Only two galaxies away. There are two children being kept by that family. We’ll recover them and put the family on report if they abused them.” Cash explained.
“Haven’t they all been abused?” Justice asked.
“Most, but Razar found a boy who’d been taken into the family. He was being treated like the other family members. The kid liked it there and refused to leave. The family was documented and welfare checks will be made.”
“A decent family in the universe. How amazing.” Envy said with a snort.
“There may be more.” Cash said hoping this family would be another.
Six hours later, he was surer than ever that the majority of people in the universe were worthless. They’d arrived a few weeks too late to save one of the children and the other was barely hanging on. They rushed her back to Oison to see the doctor.
“Gods have mercy.” The doctor said as his crew took the small child and rushed her into their care area.
“Let’s go.” Cash ordered.
“Shouldn’t we stay to see how she does?” Envy protested.
“There are over a hundred kids out there waiting for us. Let’s apply ourselves to something where we can help.” His crew nodded. It was time to go.
They piled into the ship where Ralph sat in the pilot’s seat. He’d stayed with the ship when they’d transported the girl to the med facility. “How is she doing?” Ralph asked.
“She’s in bad shape, but she has the best medical care available.” Cash responded. “Let’s get on this. We have more kids to help.”
Cash and his team had a list of twenty kids. Two had now been dealt with. A few of the homes had two or three kids. Those were the ones they planned to hit first. The next one was only one galaxy over and there were three. Their targets had been prioritized by the super hacker based on inside information. Whoever the guy was that worked for Lista, he was damn good. It was a shame he wouldn’t help Cash track down Dani.
He had to admit saving these kids and taking down the labs was a life and death matter. Finding Dani was a matter of the heart. It was important to him, maybe important to Dani. The rest of the world couldn’t care less about their love life. It didn’t seem to matter right now anyway. Cash and his team were so busy saving kids, there was no time for a personal life anyway.
The first three, yes they overloaded their ship and Envy sat in the small cargo hold so the third kid could take her seat, went well. The kids weren’t treated well, but not so badly they risked dying. Ralph flew them back to Oison without wasting a moment and the kids were taken into the care of Mazlans. Cash and his crew crashed at headquarters. It would be an early morning.
Cash smelled coffee and for just a lovely moment thought Dani was back. She always started the coffee every morning and she cooked him breakfast. The woman had been a marvel, but he’d not appreciated her enough so now she was gone. It seemed she disappeared without a trace. Having a second to think, reminded him Justice and Envy were here with him so he knew they had gotten things going this morning.
Both of them seemed to have an inner alarm as well as an ability to do with less sleep than normal people, or as normal as any lab bred people were. He loved them more than he could express, except for the fact that he hated morning people. Today he loved them because they would help get him going which he needed to because those kids needed saving.
Once he took his shower and dressed, he felt almost alive. The coffee, which was sitting just outside the are
a reserved for his use, was a full pot. It meant Envy and Justice had finished off a pot then brewed another. The food cooking was something else that would get him going. Ralph was already sitting at the table. He was no morning person either, he just wasn’t as bad as Cash.
“Where to next?” Ralph asked looking at Cash.
“We’ve got all the ones nearby. The Mazlan’s newest space ship is getting all the ones around Earth which has the largest single concentration of homes. Other smaller ships are picking up those in the furthest reaches. We don’t go more than five galaxies away.” Cash explained.
“So many are that close?” Envy asked. She was carrying plates piled high with eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes.
“Seems like they were thumbing their noses at us.” Justice added.
“I doubt that. They had to go where the volunteer families were.” Cash observed.
“Wonder how they found those people?” Ralph asked.
“The family that kept the boy said they heard about it from a friend who ended up not participating. I think because they took the original family’s place, they didn’t investigate them. They just weren’t mean enough to be selected otherwise.” Cash said.
“I hate those people, but when they’re lazy, we always benefit.” Envy offered.
“It’s rare to find a good one. Even when you do, a few years among the others affects them.” Justice observed.
“It’s hard to be nice when you’re punished for it. They get beaten up, raped, starved, and abused in other ways. Their employees are reprogrammed to be as bad as possible. The light goes out in their eyes.” Cash admitted.
“They can leave.” Justice insisted.
“Once they get drawn in, you only leave feet first.” Cash explained.
“I’m glad I found Moon Hunter’s instead.” Ralph declared.
“It will just keep getting better.” Cash observed. “Let’s get out of here.” The food was eaten and the dishes cleared. Envy and Justice worked together well.
They exited headquarters engaging the security system. Other hunters would be in and out all day long. Only a percentage of them was working on this case. The others were on business as usual. Today would be another long day for Cash and his team. Two kids free, they decided to keep them with them so they could go straight to the next target. The kids agreed, they were just happy to be removed from the households they’d been placed in.
Ralph took them to the next galaxy through a small jump gate. An advanced race had left the gates behind in the far distant past. These were the only gates small ships and shuttles could use. Humans had mapped them all, even if they didn’t truly understand how they worked. This would be the last of the day since they’d run into problems with one of the families. It had turned out just to be a middle aged man who was willing to fight to keep the teenage girl. He fought and he lost.
There had been no doubt the male would lose, but he’d delayed them anyway. Now he’d be buried in space. It was the cheapest burial and the male had no family to see to his last needs. They immediately headed out once arrangements had been made.
Ralph took them through the gate quickly. It could make people sick to their stomachs or give them headaches so he was concerned about the kids, but they made it with no ill effects. The home turned out to be a bar, the child’s room was a pallet in the corner. The young boy hung on to Cash as if his life depended on it.
“You can’t take him. I own him.” The bar owner yelled.
“Slavery is illegal in this quadrant.” Cash observed.
“I meant he’s my child.”
“I know what you meant and if you report this to the people you got him from or speak of this to anyone, you’ll get punished in a way you won’t ever forget.” Cash promised.
The male looked like his head might explode but he didn’t say anything back. Cash refused to worry. These so called parents were being monitored for any calls out. The calls would be blocked and the parents picked up if anything suspicious occurred.
They headed back to the shuttle, but this male could cause them trouble or at least try to. Cash kept his senses aware as he felt a disturbance. He dropped, turned, and shot with his stunner. Now they would leave with the cruel and foolish man lying on the floor. It seemed simple enough.
There was little excitement in this work. They traveled from place to place pulling these poor children out so they could have a decent life. Sometimes the people didn’t want to let their free labor go. Usually those people had no skills to fight, only anger and misery. They’d rather kill the children than let them go. Sad, sick people that they were.
Thankfully they’d not had too much trouble yet. Eventually someone would face a parent with the skills to fight and it would endanger the kids they were trying to save. Cash was tired of dealing with these awful people. The ones involved with the labs were worse than the ones in his other jobs. They were cold, cruel, and had no heart or soul at all.
They had the latest kid with them as they hurried to shuttle. The boy held Cash’s hand as if he were a lifeline. Cash liked the feeling that the boy liked him and needed him. He wanted to help all the kids they found, but this one made him feel a strong connection he didn’t understand.
Getting on the shuttle, Cash moved to the back, but the boy hurried after him. “Son, you need to sit in the seat. It’s safer and more comfortably. Let the pretty lady settle you in.” He pointed to Envy.
The boy shook his head furiously. Ah, hell. He took him to the back with him. They would grab one more kid who was nearby and head home. This day was almost done.
Chapter 4
Numbers
Today, Lista had her for the whole day. She was receiving reports so she could analyze information. There were also programs she put information in to check outgoing calls on anyone on her lists. The programs were good for monitoring and taking specific action. Once they did, she would be notified. Her program was practically overheating from all the action it had taken.
These people had an incredible loyalty to the lab owner or operators. It would bite them in the ass, soon hopefully. The program notified her, but it also notified Lista who would send troops to pick up the offenders. Those people deserved punishment anyway, now they would receive it faster than planned.
Dani was filling in the names, sexes, ages, and other information which was then checked against the original list. Most, so far, had been close if not exact. One child had died, another was in guarded condition. She’d hoped that the children would have been treated better in homes. Apparently some of these homes were bars according to the latest report from Cash’s crew.
She saw the description of the boy from the bar immediately recognizing the affection Cash’s report conveyed. The boy would likely end up with Cash. Dani wished she could have met him, Cash made him sound so sweet. It was better this way, she didn’t need any more attachments than she already had.
Her com buzzed. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Lista. Are you on information over load too?”
“It’s pretty crazy. Even with all the people on it, it will take weeks.”
“No, the smaller ship sent out their shuttles and registered fifty kids. They’ll be done in three days if all goes well. Once they’re done with their list, they’ll help Cash and then the others. The big ship that’s around Earth will also be done in days, but they’re too far away to get back in time to help anyone here.”
“At least the end is in sight.”
“Yes, listen, I have a special job for you. You know Tar just went in under cover?”
“I do.”
“I need you to lay a false trail to make it look like an employee that’s been there a long time is informing on them. Make it look like they erased them but they didn’t do it right. When the shit hits the fan, we want them to suspect the long term employees so much, that they don’t worry about the newer ones.”
“I get it. If they have informers already, they wouldn’t be sending anyone in.�
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“Exactly. We want to make it as easy on Tar as possible. He’s nervous enough without a reason to be.” Lista confirmed. “I gotta go. Great job you’re doing.”
“Thanks. See you later.”
Dani knew Tar. She liked the young Phoenix and hoped everything went well for him. She immediately hacked in and set a false trail of communications improperly erased going back years. Using an anonymous email, she sent it from several computers. That would give them something to worry about. She also erased the video surveillance she could find for the corresponding times.
Once that was done, she got back on her tasks. It was never easy when you had this many things to keep an eye on and this much information incoming. She said a silent prayer for everyone working to save the kids and of course, for the kids themselves. They’d been through so much and deserved to find happiness.
Slogging through the information, she sent report after report on to Lista. She also sent a quick email confirming the small task she’d set was completed. Dani got a smiley face back. That she understood. Now she dug back onto her work until the day was done. Her body ached all over and she’d forgotten to eat. When she worked for Cash, she always remembered to feed him and she ate then.
She missed that man for so many reasons. Her mind went back to the day after. The next day was often uncomfortable but she’d hoped for the best after all the sweet nothings he’d whispered in her ear the night before.
“Good morning, Cash.” Dani said as she noticed he looked at the floor to avoid looking at her. Maybe he was embarrassed.
“Morning. Got my coffee?” He asked then he quickly began to list all the things he needed her to do as quickly as possible.
Things weren’t going like she’d hoped for. This wasn’t at all the way she’d thought he be. Uncomfortable didn’t begin to describe the way she was feeling. He wasn’t lukewarm, he was cold and distant. It was as if last night, had changed everything for the worse and he just wanted to forget it all.
She just stood there staring at him until he finally looked up. “Don’t misunderstand things. It’s nothing personal. I messed up and it won’t happen again.” Cash said.