Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1)

by Marly Mathews

Samantha eyed him warily, waiting for him to sign Tyler’s death warrant. Here they were waiting for Tyler to be carted off because she hadn’t been smart enough or good enough.

  She should have done something different, instead of making a bargain with a man that took the name of a bird of prey.

  She was so bloody stupid!

  She had her hands tied, and she’d never felt so out of control in a situation before.

  Maybe if someone gave her a pistol, she could shoot herself out of this predicament. Yes, Samantha, and then you would make it about fifty yards outside of The Emerald Star before The Red Falcon blew you into the next century.

  Using her powers was out of the question. In her state, she could accidentally blow a good-sized chunk out of the Excalibur. That wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

  The Red Falcon opened his mouth and her heart plunged right down into the pit of her stomach.

  “No. Devlin, I won’t be giving Tyler Cassidy to you. What the hell would that do for my reputation? I mean give me a break! I may be known as the most ruthlessly cunning pirate in the galaxy, and people might piss themselves when faced with confronting me, but I have honour.

  And I am standing by that honour. I am not completely convinced that Tyler is guilty. You haven’t even given him a trial, how just is that? Tsk, tsk, for such an intelligent individual you seem to have your head shrouded in ass at the moment. You are allowing your personal feelings to affect the outcome of this whole debacle. We shall enact the simple laws of jurisprudence on my ship. Tyler will remain here while I assemble a crew to investigate your wife’s murder.”

  “It’s a closed case,” The one stinky bodyguard whispered.

  “Oh, get off your high horse, Edwina,” The Red Falcon sighed, giving her a look of impatience. “You also need to stop using so much of that Space Flower 85 junk. You are making the rest of us endure the torture of smelling you.”

  “Edwina is right. We have Tyler on surveillance leaving my wife’s chambers, right before she was discovered dead. How do you explain that one?” Devlin asked. Samantha was about to open her mouth when Devlin cleared his throat. “I’m not asking you, Samantha.”

  “Piss off, Dev,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

  “Those things can be tampered with,” the Red Falcon said, dismissing the issue. “And if we can’t prove Tyler’s innocence, then I will personally place the noose around his neck, myself.”

  “I’d like to see you try!” Samantha said below her breath. She groaned, falling silent, when Devlin stepped forward, and heartily slapped The Red Falcon on the back.

  “I taught you well, son. You bring tears of joy to my eyes. Even though you have risen up against me, I cannot contest you. I would be a hypocrite if I did. You shall have your time for an investigation, but I warn you it will be a poor waste of time.

  Ah, well if that is what you need to do then who am I to step in your way? Good luck to you, my boy, but I shall make haste to pick out the perfect champagne to toast that one’s death with.” Devlin looked straight at Tyler.

  “Whatever you say, Devlin,” Red relented, keeping a close watch on his mentor.

  “I will of course keep one of my people here with you to help you guard the vagrant,” Lord Devlin remarked. His dark blue eyes twinkled at The Red Falcon.

  Samantha desperately wanted to get rid of Devlin. She’d had it up to here, with his overbearing attitude. She still doubted the Red Falcon, but she had no way of not trusting him.

  She had to yet again place her trust in a pirate whose only code was his code of honour. But it would have to be enough to save Tyler’s neck.

  It just had to be!

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “That won’t be necessary. You may keep your bodyguards with you. With all of the death threats you receive on a daily basis, you shall require the extra security,” Red said, tensing as he waited for Devlin’s reply.

  Samantha inspected the two tall women flanking Devlin’s sides and likened them to the Amazon women of Ancient Greece. She didn’t like the looks of them and didn’t want them anywhere near anyone she knew.

  “I haven’t been receiving quite as many death threats, these days since I enacted the New Charter of Rights and Freedoms of New Monaco. In it, it states that anyone that shall be caught uttering or writing death threats against Lord Devlin shall be executed immediately. That stringency has in effect cut the amount of death threats I receive daily in half,” Devlin explained, reaching out and pulling The Red Falcon aside.

  “I will have your compliance, Devlin!” Red muttered.

  She strained to listen to all of their conversation and was nearly noticed by Devlin.

  “You expect a lot of me, Danny,” Devlin murmured, staring at him with what seemed to be adulation.

  “I expect you to stop calling me, Danny. That isn’t even my real name, and I look forward to the day, when you call me by my real name!” Red shot back.

  The two Amazon’s closed in around the Red Falcon. If they thought they were going to put on the heavy, then she’d show them how to kick some ass!

  Samantha edged forward, waiting to hear the real identity of the Red Falcon revealed. No one in the galaxy knew his real name, and she wanted to be one of the first to know.

  “Perhaps, Samantha should call you by your real name so that I could learn by her example.”

  She swallowed at Lord Devlin’s suggestion. Oh, no! Where was Charlotte when you needed her? Her telepathic sister would be able to bail her out of this mess in no time.

  Samantha did a double take and tried to pretend she hadn’t heard what he’d said. She cringed when she felt his fiery blue eyes focus on her.

  She shuffled in the same spot and stared intently at Tyler and the Red Falcon. But acting inconspicuous wasn’t one of her talents.

  Shame, really.

  “Well, speak up, Samantha. I trust you do know what your lover’s first name is?” he asked, his eyes blazing with jealousy.

  Well, this was definitely one of those moments where she was up shit creek without a paddle.

  “Of course,” she bluffed, rolling her eyes.

  Her voice croaked, and she tried to diddle fart around so she could stall for time. Think, Samantha, use those extraordinary brains of yours. If Devlin were calling the Red Falcon Danny, then what would be his name? ‘Course it could be a nickname, and if that were the case then she’d never figure out the long form of it. Daniel would have been her first choice, but that was too damn obvious.

  It had to be something else. But she was never even good at remembering the names of people that she knew. So how the hell was she going to figure out the name of a man she’d just met? She never lucked out…oh, to have his name handed to her on a platter!

  Samantha fought against the stinging in her eyes and wished they could all take a time out, so she could go back to her bed, and get some sleep. She felt like a walking talking zombie she was so tired. Her mind was completely freaked out, and she was running on empty.

  “This must remind you of the time you spent with your sister on that one bounty hunt. You know the one where you were being questioned by that annoying, Englishman,” The Red Falcon hinted.

  Yeah, she could see the parallel between those two incidents. Devlin was an annoying Englishman.

  She stared stupidly at him, as her fuzzy brain reworked through his carefully articulated plan. She knew he was providing her with a hint of what his identity was, but she didn’t understand it until she caught her sister’s eyes.

  Johanna gesticulated wildly at herself and dropped her hand when Lord Devlin suddenly glanced her way.

  Johanna would remember…she had a memory like a steel trap, whereas hers was on a good day like a sieve.

  Samantha felt like an imbecile. Why the hell was her sister pointing at herself, in less Johanna was implying the Red Falcon’s first name started with a J, in which case, the Englishman’s last name had been Jordan.

  She resisted
the impulse to snap her fingers.

  Hot digiti damn, she had it!

  She stared smugly at Devlin and met his gaze straight on.

  “Jordan,” She drawled out.

  Damn, she was good.

  Feeling extraordinarily pleased with herself when Devlin’s nostrils flared. He had tried to blow apart everything the Red Falcon had carefully constructed, and it was Samantha that had the pleasure of shocking him all to hell.

  She wanted to laugh in his face, and then do a dance of joy around him, but she settled for crossing her arms against her chest instead.

  She had done it!

  She had saved the day again and ensured that much needed time had been bought for Tyler. And she swallowed against the hard lump in her throat.

  Wincing, she saw an imaginary hourglass in her mind’s eye. The sand trickled through it, and she groaned as she felt an ulcer begin growing in her stomach. Now she was in for the race of her life.

  The race against time.

  And as Samantha stared over in consternation at the Red Falcon, she wondered where he had gotten all of his information.

  Goosebumps ran across her flesh when she imagined being followed for such an unfathomably amount of time.

  Creepy.

  She should have been bright enough to realize that she’d been trailed, instead of walking around in blissful ignorance. Of course, she’d always known that Devlin would have had someone watching over her.

  God, she was a dunderhead.

  “Well,” Samantha said casually, “I hate to spoil this lovely conversation. But since we have everything negotiated beautifully, I do believe that my crew and I would like to take some time to sleep. You all do remember what that is, right?” she asked, directing her gaze at the Red Falcon and Devlin.

  She wanted them to leave. Even though The Excalibur was still technically at the mercies of the Red Falcon, she was awfully tempted to take her steel-toed boot and kick them both out on their collective butts.

  Samantha inhaled deeply and waited for Devlin to take his gooney women and get them off her ship. She smiled when Lord Devlin turned away from her and then turned back to her. Her smiled faded when he took her hand and said, “Until we meet again, my darling,” Devlin murmured, kissing the back of her hand.

  “Until hell freezes over,” she said sternly. His smile slowly faded.

  He abruptly turned around, and quickly ambled toward the door. Samantha expected The Red Falcon to follow suit.

  “If everyone doesn’t mind, Ross and I will return to our quarters, and no one better get the smart ass idea to ever again override privacy mode. If they do, they’ll be eating a knuckle sandwich,” she threatened.

  Ross looked at Veronica with love shining in his eyes. They left them all alone, as Samantha prepared herself for a row with her hubby. And then her train of thought was completely wrecked, when The Red Falcon grabbed for Tyler and guided him toward the door.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Samantha asked, watching as Tyler went along without any objections.

  “I’ll keep Tyler on The Emerald Star confined to his quarters until his name is cleared. Oh, and you are going to stay with me. Devlin believes we ARE lovers, and we must ensure that we keep up appearances,” The Red Falcon explained, staring down at her with his sparkling dark blue eyes.

  “Appearances be damned!” Samantha nearly shouted, trying vainly to wrench Tyler away from the Red Falcon. But she’d never win this tug of war.

  “If you think I am going to stand by and take your shit, you have another thing coming!”

  “Do you wish to ruin everything I have set in motion?” the Red Falcon insisted.

  “Would you please be considerate enough to give me a private moment with my husband?” Samantha retorted, stressing the last two words.

  Something hesitant flashed in The Red Falcon’s eyes.

  Spontaneously, Samantha reached for Tyler, and pulled him so close to her, she could feel his breath on her face, and she knew he would be able to hear the rapid beating of her heart.

  “Certainly,” the Red Falcon granted.

  He moseyed out the door. Samantha felt her heart beginning to beat normally, as The Excalibur’s door shut firmly behind the Red Falcon. Tyler grasped her hands and pulled them up to worshipfully kiss them.

  “I must thank you, for always fighting so fiercely for me,” Tyler murmured.

  “I am not just fighting for you, Tyler. I’m fighting for Dylan. If you were hanged he would be heartbroken and when he’s miserable, Johanna is miserable so I am actually fighting for our family.”

  Dylan moved forward to quickly embrace his brother, and then Johanna followed suit. Johanna smiled at Tyler, and brushed a fallen wisp of auburn hair off of his face.

  “The Cassidy’s will survive,” Samantha decided, her heart overflowing at the final reunion. Even if their marriage didn’t.

  “And when we do, I’m going to take us all to Hawaii,” Dylan spoke up brightly, infecting everyone with his contagious enthusiasm.

  “You’re going to have to scrounge some money up, in that case, Dylan,” she laughed.

  Tyler and Johanna stared at her with bemused expressions on their faces.

  “It’s true,” she insisted. “We’re nearly broke.”

  “We haven’t exactly been collecting all of that much cash on our most recent bounties, and when we lost Clayton, well that little adventure nearly depleted our reserves. We need the money for the fuel, I mean we can’t travel on fumes can we?

  Proving Tyler’s innocence will run us dry. Sorry you all. But I’m afraid, when we’re done here we’ll have to get back on the old bandwagon, and go and find us some dirty rotten scoundrels with hefty prices on their heads.” She didn’t want to be a party pooper, but they had to look at things realistically.

  “Samantha has a point,” Johanna said, endorsing what she’d already laid out for them. “I am afraid we won’t be seeing Hawaii’s lovely beaches for quite a while.”

  “Fine with me!” Samantha grinned. As such, I believe we should all take our prescribed medicine and go and face what needs to be done. I will try to check in on you now and again, Tyler,” Samantha murmured, bidding farewell to her sister and Dylan.

  Tyler and Samantha emerged out into The Emerald Star’s docking bay, only to find the Red Falcon patiently waiting for them. He moved forward and gently gripped her hand.

  Samantha walked with the Red Falcon silently through his long corridors and began strategizing the coming days. She had to be on her toes and study everything that came her way. She would have to ask a lot of questions, and hope that some of them were answered.

  The real murderer was probably still on New Monaco and may have even been tempted to return to the scene of the crime.

  If they were completely sure they had pinned the offense on someone else, then they would be overly confident. That was how she was expecting to flush out the real perpetrator. She just prayed her expectations would come to fruition.

  She had brought in a lot of murderers on her bounty hunting escapades, and during those times she’d caught a rare glimpse into their psyches.

  “A gold doubloon for your thoughts.” the Red Falcon’s softly spoken question nearly gave her a start.

  She glanced his way and tried to get used to the recently discovered name he had. He didn’t at all suit his name. With his bright beard and glowing hair, he seemed much older than she suspected he had to be, and he had a dangerous air about him, that she wasn’t at all comfortable around.

  His eyes held more woe than she had ever seen compiled in one human being. Something horrible had scarred him early on, she suspected. Though she rarely discussed her father’s murder, she knew she’d changed after that heartrending incident.

  Witnessing your father’s own murder and not getting a full-on glimpse of his killer was the worst event in her short life. She had been dogged in finding his killer and still she’d only managed to unearth a few traces tha
t he even existed.

  Her memories of the event were hazy, and she realized that her mind might have even started to play tricks with her.

  Samantha’s family had suggested that she go and see a certified telepath, but she’d been unwilling to open that door in her mind. That imprint on her psyche was probably the thing that kept her from fully mastering her own abilities. Until she could come to peace with that part of her past, she’d always have volatility to her abilities.

  That was why her abilities behaved when she was around Devlin—he made her feel secure like no one else ever could.

  But as she studied the Red Falcon she knew that he harboured secrets similar to her own. A storm raged inside of the Red Falcon, and if he didn’t learn how to weather it, his life would turn out much differently than what he deserved.

  She doubted she would ever know him well enough to find out what they were, but she hoped that if he did come through for them, that he would find his tranquility one day.

  “They aren’t worth that much,” Samantha teased. “Don’t bother thinking too much about them. Really.”

  For some reason his smile faded. They stopped outside of a door. She tried slipping her hand out of his somewhat slackened grip. But he held fast. The door slid open and her smile vanished the same way the Red Falcon’s had.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I took the liberty of having some of your belongings transferred here since you will be here for at least more than one day. You, of course, shall be transported down to the surface during your day for your inquiry, and then at night, you will be transferred back up here.

  New Monaco is a dangerous place at the best of times, but at night, it’s nigh unimaginable. All sorts of lecherous people abound, and it is definitely not somewhere that you should be.”

  “Obviously, that tracker you put on me hasn’t told you a damn thing about me. I can handle myself quite nicely! I’m no little Miss Innocent, you know. I’ve been to worlds that make New Monaco look like a sweet shop in comparison.

  You do not want to know about some of the shit I’ve seen. Nonetheless, I don’t need anyone keeping a watchful eye on me. It makes me feel claustrophobic.” Samantha moved in to confront him.