Another volley of laser shots struck his ‘borrowed’ car. His mind raced. He was a clever thief.
He had even self-proclaimed himself to be the King of Thieves in this galaxy but he’d never been faced with this type of situation before.
Tyler was out of his element. Being charged with murder on a hostile planet had definitely never been in his plans when he had set out to seduce and pilfer from the enchanting Lady Devlin.
He lurched forward again. “Crenshaw, you fat bastard, I’ve had enough of you jerking me around!” Taking his one hand, he flipped on the car’s computerized system. A frail female voice blared out at him.
“What may I do to serve you, Master?” it asked.
He quirked his eyebrow, evidently the owner of the car had a superiority complex.
He hated those kinds of men. The sort that was weak, sniveling and usually cruising for a bruising.
A quest for dominance didn’t make you a strong man. Unfortunately, he’d run into his fair share of that sorry sort. He needed a miracle to get through this alive, and right now, it didn’t seem as if any were coming his way.
“Call up your weapons,” Tyler said. He sent the car into a dive. Narrowly missing a cluster of shots that would have most certainly disabled him. “Oh, Samantha, I wish you were here.” Somehow hoping if he voiced his wish, she’d magically appear out of thin air.
She really had a knack for getting out of these situations. It was almost as if she had a leprechaun as her constant companion. Memories of her filled his every waking moment, and haunted his dreams.
“I do not understand, Master. I am a Class C vehicle. I am not equipped with such machinery,” The sickly female voice said. A loud screeching noise filled the car. Not only had he ‘borrowed’ a car low on fuel but to make matters worse it didn’t have any weapons.
“Just great. Not the answer I was hoping for, Lady. What kind of a hover car company makes their vehicles without being outfitted with any defensive systems?” It simply didn’t make sense. Everyone knew that the only truly safe planet in the Milky Way was his homeworld of Earth.
“I was created by the Antigone Corporation. They are advocates against air rage. They have a motto, if you have no defenses no one will attack you.”
“Some bloody motto. I’d like to get my hands on the guy that thought that up. I am being attacked right now and if I don’t do something about it, my ass is grass and that vehicle behind me is the fucking lawnmower!”
Crenshaw fired another volley of shots at him.
“Sir, I will have to land soon, or else, we will crash.” The sickly female voice made him roll his eyes.
“Son of a bitch!” He pounded his hand on the steering wheel.
It had been a day from hell and now incomprehensibly it was bloody well getting worse! He had nowhere to go. Wherever he ran he’d be tracked down.
He should’ve just stayed put and faced the gallows. He probably would have been better off. Then he saw a sight that nearly took his breath away.
If he could just manage to reach the transport ship he might be able to talk his way into getting aboard. In fact, he knew he’d be able to talk his way aboard. He did have a silver tongue. And if all else failed, he could drop his family name into the negotiation.
A mere slip of his family’s name did wonders for gaining admission to any class of transport spaceship. Before he could reach the transport though, he had to come up with a large enough distraction to occupy Crenshaw. He had to hope that the hover car stayed aloft long enough for him to ditch it.
And with his tired brain, he was sorely taxed to even think of that. Usually distractions were as easy for him to create as breathing was.
Then he jumped in his seat. Crenshaw’s irritating voice came blaring out through the intercom. He reached to turn it off when he heard something that made his blood run cold.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you. My computer hacked into your computer. I now have control over your vehicle.”
“Oh, Shit! Okay, where’s my bloody leprechaun?” Tyler rolled his eyes. He stared helplessly down at the steering wheel.
Always one to challenge anything including Crenshaw’s announcement he tried to maneuver the car. The steering wheel wouldn’t budge.
“Double fucking shit!” he cursed.
“Well, now don’t we have a dirty mouth for such a man of distinction!” Crenshaw’s cruel laughter made his skin crawl.
“Kiss my ass, you stupid fucking asshole!” he shot back, checking to make sure that he had everything where he wanted it. If he didn’t get this right the first time, he wouldn’t have a second chance.
“You know, Cassidy. The bounty does say dead or alive. What do you think? Should I choose dead or alive? You know it’s quite a hard decision to make,” Crenshaw teased.
Tyler craned his neck to spot the bastard’s vehicle. “Over here, Cassidy!” Tyler met Crenshaw’s gaze through the back window.
Tyler flashed his middle finger at Crenshaw gaining some small satisfaction at the rude gesture. “Up yours, asshole!” Tyler yelled, totally pissed off. This had gone far enough.
Then with dawning realization and dread that started in the pit of his stomach and worked its way up he watched Crenshaw veer off and fly to a safe distance.
Oh, no! He knew what that meant. It meant he had to get out, and get out fast!
Tyler took his hands off of the steering wheel and desperately reached for the door handle when he heard Crenshaw’s creepy laughter and then his voice.
“I choose dead,” Fred said, firing at Tyler’s car.
Multiple hard impact shots hit Tyler’s car, causing it to explode into tiny little fragments. The burning pieces hailed down onto the streets of New Monaco.
Chapter Four
Tyler propelled himself from the vehicle with only seconds to spare. He began free falling. Burning wreckage tore down around him in large molten chunks. He winced when one small piece snagged his leg.
He felt hot sticky blood seeping down his leg, but grit his teeth together to keep from crying out. For at the moment, he had more pressing matters to attend to...like how he was going to keep himself from becoming a pancake on the sidewalk below. He had to think quickly. Now, he could definitely identify with Samantha’s world.
He reached for the small parachute that he wore on his back beneath his many layers of clothing, and thanked his lucky stars for his rather questionable choice of professions.
As a highly skilled cat burglar, he was sometimes called upon to scale trendy, expensive apartment buildings that were several stories high. As an added precaution, he had learned to make sure that he had all of the necessary gear that he would need in case of an unforeseen emergency.
The parachute expelled, propelling him upwards. The force of the upwards jerk caused a shooting pain to go running through his injured leg.
He searched the sea of hover mobiles for Crenshaw’s and squinted his eyes when they began tearing. At last, he saw something that made him expel a long shuddering groan. He tried to take control of the situation but there was no stopping it. He grunted when his parachute snagged on a gargoyle.
Why there was a statue of a gargoyle on a building so high up was beyond his reasoning. He struggled with the intense frustration he felt rioting inside of him. Crossing his arms, he began considering his ludicrous predicament.
Before he could get his scattered thoughts together, his ears perked up, at the sound of weapons being charged. His eyes widened. His heart stopped. Right at that instant, he locked gazes with Crenshaw, who was by now speeding straight at him.
The man just didn’t give up!
“Holy Shit!” Tyler cursed, reaching inside of his trench coat for his pocketknife.
He hastily cut through the parachute lines. His entire body stiffened, as he realized that he was about to be used for target practice. Crenshaw was indeed a sick and twisted asshole.
“Please, by all that is good in this God forsaken world, don’
t let me die, like I have a great big bull’s eye on my forehead!” Tyler sighed with relief.
The lines gave way, just before Crenshaw’s laser tore into the gargoyle. Bits of stone mortar fell around him, and he brushed a piece out of his hair, as he did the one thing that he should have never done. He looked down. He didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve.
Now what was he going to do?
Tyler swallowed thickly. He caught sight of a flying car not far from him. If she didn’t move too quickly, he could ride the wind, and land on her roof.
If she moved too quickly, he could still ride the wind, and become a mere smudge on the sidewalk. He took a deep breath and prayed he would hit the roof of her car.
He impacted with a great thud and groaned. He felt every bone in his body cry out in agony. Climbing across the roof, he reached down to knock on the passenger window. The woman rolled down the window.
Once he saw how large the opening was, he slid inside. His injured leg hurt like a motherfucker. If he weren’t in such good physical condition, it would be hampering his movements right now. He glanced down to see how badly it was bleeding. Realizing he had to give an explanation to the driver, he prepared to give one of the best performances of his lifetime.
Tyler turned to the woman and gave her one of his most charming smiles. Her eyes were widened in shock, and she gripped the steering wheel so hard that he just knew she was going to leave an imprint.
The woman’s suspicious eyes narrowed, then they relaxed slightly. She quickly studied his profile, before emitting a blood-curdling scream. Which caused her to nearly rear end the hover mobile in front of her. His life flashed before his eyes—again.
“I…I know you,” she stammered, keeping her eye on the sky in front of her, while she reached for her communication controls.
Tyler enclosed his hand around her wrist, and gently tugged it away from the console.
“Please, lady, don’t do that,” he muttered, darting a furtive gaze behind him.
Crenshaw was still there a few feet back, but he was quickly closing in, and Fred might not understand that Tyler had an innocent woman sitting beside him.
“You are a murderer! You’re going to attack me, and then kill me! My father was right. I should have never left Jupiter Prime. I should have stayed where it was safe, and where the criminals were all taken care of.
But no, I had to make my own mark on the galaxy, and travel out to the border worlds. I had to seal my own fate. If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have a convicted felon sitting right beside me…” She took a break for a gasp of air, as Tyler began gently massaging his temple.
He had never dreamt that anyone could say so much without taking a break for air.
“Shut up!” he shouted, wishing beyond all else that he had jumped into a hover mobile that had a nun or a priest inside that had taken a vow of silence.
The annoying woman obediently clamped her mouth shut, looking at him sideways with her large glassy brown eyes. They were filled with undeniable fear and something else.
Damn it all, he hadn’t meant to scare the wits out of her, he just wanted to make her babbling end.
Tyler maneuvered himself to look out the back window and saw how Crenshaw was closing in on him.
He was the prey, and Crenshaw was his predator.
“I must apologize for dropping in on you like this, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he began as he searched furtively for a means to escape his would be captor.
This time Tyler feared that he wouldn’t be getting out of this without being in a body bag. He reached inside of his pocket and placed a few coins on her dashboard.
“For your considerable trouble,” he muttered. He turned away and pressed the button that would roll the window down.
“Where are you going?” the whiny woman wailed, just as he swung his legs over the side, and briefly sat for a moment.
Lord, this woman was nerve wracking.
“Oh, I’m going for a night time flying lesson,” he remarked wryly, turning back to her and winking at her.
“But you can’t fly!” she said stupidly. She put the car in automatic mode and tried reaching for him. “Men with huge bounties on their heads, just don’t drop from the sky, into my vehicle, and then leave before I collect the bounty. Get back in here, Mister,” she ordered, as all of the feigned fear fell from her voice. “Move your ass and hop to it!”
Tyler could feel something hard sticking into his back, and he was pretty certain it wasn’t her purse. He tried forcing the dry lump down that had somehow lodged its way into his throat.
Okay, so he was cursed with the worst luck.
The woman next to him could give him a run for his money when it came to putting on a show.
She had to be frigging kidding! He hadn’t just escaped the hunter only to fall into the hands of the huntress.
“Say, why don’t we just negotiate a fair price for my head?” he offered, slumping his shoulders. “I’m open to anything, you know. I’m rather fond of my head.”
She pulled him back into the car and slammed him none too gently into the seat.
The woman still had her craft on autopilot, and Crenshaw was backing off since he had obviously recognized the vehicle. And as Tyler stared over at the woman next to him, he felt like kicking himself.
He wished beyond everything else that he had wished for that day, that he had taken the time to truly look at her well-defined features. She certainly had the sort of face that made an impression.
Tyler took a good long look at her now, and bile rose in his throat. It didn’t take him long to recognize her from his wife’s records.
Her name was Veronica Hutchins, and she was the hardest ass-kicking woman this side of New Earth. Veronica’s reputation preceded her, for she even intimidated Crenshaw, as she was a ball basher of the worst sort.
“Hello, Cassidy,” she drawled out, fastening handcuffs around his wrists. “You’re out of your element. And don’t think about escaping me, because if you do, I’ll make sure that you curse the day that you were born!” Veronica emphasized her words, by knocking him across the back of his head.
His head lolled forward. He lost all coherent thought and fell into an unwelcoming darkness.
Chapter Five
Samantha sat forward suddenly, coughing as she nearly spewed coffee through her nose. Her sister stared over at her in disgust and quickly reached for a tissue, to hand to her. A piercing pain thudded against Samantha’s temples.
Tyler’s face flashed in front of her.
“Did you just see that?” she asked Johanna knowing what her answer would be.
“I saw you spew coffee all over the place, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.”
Samantha rattled out a shaky sigh. “Have you ever felt like something terrible has just happened, when it hasn’t?” Samantha asked slowly, wiping her mouth with the white tissue.
Her hands were cold and clammy, and she struggled to keep them from shaking. She had the most colossal headache, and her stomach hadn’t stopped rolling since she’d learned of Tyler’s current situation.
She wished The Excalibur could go faster. But even though it could outrun most spaceships, it was no Star Speeder.
“You do know there is a perfectly simple solution to the mess that Tyler has gotten himself into.”
“It isn’t Tyler’s fault. He could never ever kill someone, and Devlin is only going after him because he wants to get my attention.”
“Well, honey, I think he has. Why don’t you just call him up and ask him to at least drop the alive or dead thing on the bounty? That’s really working on Dylan. If only it said, bring him in alive, then I know Dylan would feel much better, and when he feels better, he works better, Sam.”
Samantha sighed. “I have Devlin’s private number but I can’t bring myself to call him. If I do, I will open a new can of worms, Jo, and I just can’t do it. Besides, he’ll tell me I have to trade mysel
f for Tyler or something foolish like that.”
“So trade yourself for Tyler,” Johanna said softly. “I just want you to promise me one thing. If everything goes crazy and we can’t find our way out of this mess concerning Tyler that you will overcome your pride and you will call your sweetie pie and do whatever he wants to ensure Tyler’s freedom.”
Samantha sat and quietly reflected on what Johanna said. “Fine. If it all goes to hell, and we can’t pull a fat white rabbit out of the hat, I will call up Devlin. And when I call him up I will tell him I’ll do anything so long as he lets Tyler live.”
“Good,” Johanna said. “That’s all I wanted from you. Think of all the trouble we could have avoided had you married him in the first place.”
They heard a loud crackling noise as the ship’s AI materialized in front of them. They had affectionately called the female Artificial Intelligence Lucy, and she stood at attention in front of them, with her hands crossed behind her back.
Lucy was programmed to resemble Samantha, although she had bright purple hair at the moment and was dressed in a Neon pink jumpsuit. Lucy certainly didn’t have any fashion sense.
Samantha stared over in annoyance at Lucy and scrunched her features up. She snorted and whispered to her sister, “Remind me to kick that husband of yours in the ass the next time I see him. I hate the way he made Lucy look like me. I can’t even change it because he knows that I don’t have a clue about those sorts of things,” she lamented angrily, sipping at her dark brew. “And to add insult to injury he made her hair purple because of the unfortunate display my abilities make when they decide to make an impression.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear. I think Dylan thought that he was paying you a compliment. We most certainly can’t change Lucy’s look now that she is used to it.”
“Dylan could just wipe her memory,” Samantha suggested. It wasn’t the first time that she’d suggested wiping Lucy’s memory, and probably wouldn’t be the last.
Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1) Page 6