Not the Man She Thought

by Paige Tyler

  “Where are we?” he asked, though from the small, windowless room they were in, he thought he already knew the answer to that.

  “On a Federation ship,” she said. “They put us on a shuttle, and then threw us in here.”

  Here being some kind of holding cell. “How long was I out?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. It seemed like days, but I suppose it was probably only an hour or two.”

  That was good to know. “Did they hurt you?”

  Rade held his breath as he waited for her to answer, and when she shook her head, he let out a heavy sigh. However, his relief was quickly replaced by the same anger he’d felt when he discovered she hadn’t gone with his crew like he’d ordered, but had come back to fight alongside him on Marlon Prime.

  “I told you to go with Finn and the others to the shuttle,” he growled. “Why the hell did you disobey my order? And why the hell did Finn let you?”

  For a moment, Laken seemed taken aback by his words, but then her eyes flashed. “I didn’t exactly give Finn much of a choice. And I would have thought it was obvious why I came back—to help you.”

  “Well, all you did was end up getting yourself captured.” He swore under his breath. “I should put you over my knee and spank you right here for being so damn foolish!”

  She glared at him. “If we get out of this, I’ll let you.”

  Rade didn’t know which of them was more surprised by what she had said, and the words hung in the air between them for a long moment before he felt his mouth twitch. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  A blush crept into her cheeks. “What is the Federation going to do to us?”

  He felt the muscles in his jaw tighten. “Question us.”

  Her brow furrowed. “About what?”

  He shrugged. “Who we are. What we were smuggling. Who we were working with.”

  She was quiet for a moment as she considered that. “And then what?”

  Then they would both be executed for crimes against the Federation, or shipped off to an industrial camp where they would be worked to death, Rade thought grimly. But he couldn’t tell Laken either of those things. She was terrified enough as it was. Besides, he was going to get them out of this mess before it came to that.

  “Rade...?” she prompted nervously when he didn’t answer.

  Rade swore silently. Damn it, this was exactly why he hadn’t wanted Laken anywhere near this job. He tried to think of something to say that would both satisfy her curiosity and reassure her at the same time, but before he could come up with anything, the door to their tiny cell slid open. Getting to his feet, Rade grabbed Laken’s hand and pulled her upright just as a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a Federation uniform stepped into the cell. From the rank he wore on his collar, it was obvious he was some high-level officer. He was flanked by two guards brandishing weapons, and Rade instinctively found himself stepping protectively in front of Laken.

  The man eyed them coolly, his gaze lingering on Laken for a moment before finally settling on Rade.

  “This is how it’s going to work,” the man said coldly. “I’m going to ask you questions, and you’re going to answer them.”

  Rade’s eyes narrowed. “And if we don’t?”

  The man’s mouth curved into a menacing smile. “That’s not really an option. As I said, you will answer the questions. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Behind him, Rade felt Laken stiffen at the man’s words. He clenched his jaw. The bastard obviously wasn’t above torturing them to get what he wanted. He could probably handle it, but the thought of Laken being hurt was more than he could take. Why the hell had he agreed to let her come on this job?

  “Now,” the Federation officer continued. “What were you smuggling, and who did you deliver it to?”

  Rade frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We weren’t smuggling anything. We were supposed to be on Marlon Prime for some adventure tour and the next thing we know, the Federation is shooting at us. When we get home, I’m demanding our money back from that travel agent, I can tell you.”

  The man’s expression darkened at Rade’s flippant reply. “Very funny. You and your companion are in serious trouble, you know. The penalty for running a Federation blockade and smuggling good to the enemy is execution. However, the Federation is willing to go easy on both of you if you cooperate with us. So, let’s try this again, shall we? What were you smuggling, and who is your contact on Marlon Prime?”

  “I told you before...” Rade began, but the Federation officer cut him off.

  “Enough! I’m tired of wasting my time with you. We’ll see how glib you are after spending an hour with one of my interrogators.”

  Rade didn’t even flinch. “My story will be the same.”

  The man smirked. “I thought you might say that. Which is why I’m going to have him start with the girl. Maybe watching him work on her will loosen your tongue.”

  Rade’s gut clenched. Shit. What the hell was he going to do? While he might be willing to endure whatever he had to at the hands of the Federation to protect the people of Marlon Prime, there was no way he was going to let them torture Laken. God forgive him for what he was about to do, but he had no choice. Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth to tell the Federation officer everything he wanted to know when the door abruptly opened and a man dressed in a uniform rushed in.

  “I apologize for the intrusion, Sir,” the man said to the officer. “But we have a situation that requires your immediate attention.”

  The officer hesitated as if considering whether to go with the other man or not. Finally, he nodded.

  “It seems that we’ll have to continue this later,” he told Rade. “But make no mistake, you will tell me what I want to know.”

  Turning on his heel, the Federation officer walked out of the room, the man who had come to fetch him close on his heels. Rade let out a sigh as the door slid closed behind the two armed guards.

  “Wh-what are we going to do?” Laken asked in a trembling voice.

  Rade turned to look at her. “Get out of here.”

  “How?”

  “Short answer? Overpower the guards and take their weapons.”

  Her eyes went wide. “How are we going to do that?”

  “We aren’t,” Rade told her. “I am. You’re just going to get them back in here so I can do it.”

  She looked at him in confusion. “How am I going to get them to come in?”

  “By starting a fight with me.”

  “A fight?” she echoed. “About what?”

  The corner of his mouth edged up at the incredulous look she gave him. “You’ve never had a problem coming up with something all the other times we’ve gone at it. Yell at me for getting you in this mess, then tell the guard you’re ready to talk.”

  Laken chewed on her lower lip, but said nothing. Rade could see the indecision in her beautiful green eyes. Unable to help himself, he lifted his hand to gently cup her cheek.

  “I know it seems risky, Laken, but this may be our only chance to escape,” he said quietly.

  She gazed up at him for a long moment in silence before finally nodding her head. Wordlessly, she turned and walked over to the door. Rade followed. Taking up his post off to the side of it, he gave her a nod.

  Taking a deep breath, she banged on the door with the heel of her hand. “Guard!”

  When there was no reply from the other side, Laken gave him a questioning look.

  Rade shook his head. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, playing his part.

  “What do you think I’m doing?” Laken shot back, but despite her tone of voice, there was no real heat in her words. “I’m going to tell them what they want to know.” She banged on the door again. “Guard!”

  Still no reply. Shit.

  “Like hell you are!” he said in response to her words. “I didn’t bring you along so that you could sell me out.”

  “I wouldn’t even be in this m
ess if it weren’t for you. Guard!”

  Laken lifted her hand to bang against the door again when it abruptly slid open and a guard appeared in the entrance. The man motioned with his weapon for her to step back, which she did.

  “What the hell is all the noise about in here?” the man demanded.

  “I-I’m ready to talk,” she blurted out. “Just get me away from this creep.”

  The man glanced at Rade, then turned his attention back to her. “The major will be happy to hear that, but you’ll have to wait until he gets back. Now, don’t bang on the door again, or the next time I come in, I’ll stun you.”

  Giving her a hard look, the guard turned to leave. Rade wasted no time, lunging forward and quickly putting the man down. Grabbing his weapon, he pointed it at the doorway, ready to shoot the second guard, but no one was there. The man must have left with the major.

  “Dammit!”

  “What is it?” Laken asked fearfully when he walked back in.

  Rade shot her a quick look as he bent down to unbutton the unconscious man’s shirt. “The other guard is gone.”

  Her brow furrowed in obvious confusion. “Well, that’s good, right?”

  “No, that’s bad.” Rade didn’t bother to look at her as he stripped off the man’s shirt, then went to work on his breeches. “The rest of the plan was for you and I to put on their uniforms and slip out of here unnoticed.”

  Laken was silent. Rade glanced at her as he got to his feet and began unbuttoning his shirt. She looked small and frightened standing there hugging herself, and it was all he could do not to reach out and take her in his arms.

  Resisting the urge, Rade stripped off his shirt and tossed it on the floor, then reached for his belt. As he unbuckled it, Laken blushed and quickly turned her back to him.

  “How are we going to get out of here if you’re the only one wearing a uniform?” she asked softly.

  He reached for the guard’s breeches. “With you as my prisoner.”

  She gave him a startled look over her shoulder, but then quickly turned back around when she saw that he wasn’t quite dressed yet. “You’re kidding, right?”

  His mouth twitched. “Unless you have a better idea?” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Of course, I suppose you could have played the part of the guard and I could have been your prisoner, but I figured this would look more believable.”

  Laken wanted to tell Rade that kind of thinking was completely sexist, but she knew he was right. Besides, if someone stopped to question them, he would be able to talk his way out of it better than she could. The important thing was that they escaped, not how they did it.

  “You can turn around,” Rade said. “I’m dressed.”

  Her face coloring at the amusement in his deep voice, Laken turned around only to blink in astonishment when she saw Rade dressed in the dark blue fatigues, the brim of the cap pulled down low over his eyes. The other Federation guards should look this good in uniform.

  “Do you think you can remember how to get to the shuttle bay from here?” Rade asked.

  She considered his question for a moment. “I wasn’t really paying much attention, but I think I can find it.”

  Rade nodded, but didn’t answer as he reached behind him to take a pair of metal handcuffs from his belt. Laken watched, expecting him to put them on the unconscious man, and was surprised when he walked over to her instead.

  “What are those for?” she asked, eyeing the handcuffs warily.

  “You. It would look suspicious if I escorted you through the ship without them.”

  Laken supposed he was right. The first thing the Federation guards had done when they’d first captured them on Marlon Prime was cuff her. Turning around, she put her hands behind her back and waited. A moment later, she felt Rade gently close the metal bands around her wrists.

  “We’re going to make it out of here, Laken,” he said softly in her ear. “I promise.”

  The warmth of Rade’s breath on her skin, coupled with the feel of the cuffs around her wrists, made a little shiver of pleasure course through her. What the heck was wrong with her? This was not the time to suddenly start having kinky fantasies!

  Gently taking her arm, Rade turned her to face him. “Ready.”

  She nodded.

  “Just follow my lead,” he told her.

  Laken held her breath as Rade led her out of the cell and down the hallway. All it would take was one misstep on their part and they would be done for. As they made their way down one corridor after another, however, none of the Federation soldiers they passed stopped them. They just gave Rade a nod and kept walking.

  “How much farther?” Rade asked as they turned and headed down yet another hallway.

  She waited until a Federation soldier going in the opposite direction passed them before answering. “Not much. At least I don’t think it is.”

  Laken hoped they were going the right way. She’d been so concerned about Rade when the Federation soldiers had brought them on board that she hadn’t really been paying attention. Of course, it would help if all the hallways didn’t look so much alike.

  Abruptly, the ship bucked underfoot, and Laken stumbled. She glanced back at Rade nervously. “What was that?”

  Beneath the brim of the cap, his brow furrowed, but he didn’t stop walking. “Someone’s shooting at the ship.”

  Her pulse skipped a beat at his words. “Do you think it’s your crew trying to rescue us?”

  He shook his head. “No. Even if they thought the Federation took us alive, they wouldn’t be dumb enough to open fire on a cruiser like this.”

  Laken’s heart sank. She’d hoped she and Rade wouldn’t have to go through with their plan to steal a shuttle.

  Her eyes went wide as she recognized the big double-doors at the far end of the hallway. “That’s it.”

  At her words, Rade quickened his pace. Outside the door, he stopped and drew his weapon. “Wait here.”

  Laken held her breath as Rade pressed the button to open the door. As it slid open, he darted inside, his weapon at the ready. A moment later, she heard a zing as he fired two shots.

  “Come on,” Rade urged, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the room.

  As he holstered his pistol, Laken gazed down at the two men lying on the floor. “Are they...?”

  Rade shook his head. “No. I stunned them.”

  Though she knew it was silly to care, Laken let out a little sigh of relief at that.

  “Turn around,” Rade ordered.

  Laken did as she was told. A moment later, she felt him unlock the cuffs. They fell away easily, and once they were off, she turned back to him.

  “There’s a security code that alerts the bridge when the outer doors are open,” Rade said. “Do you think you can disable it?”

  “I can try.”

  Going over to the bank of computers, Laken studied them for a moment. While she did that, Rade dragged the two unconscious men to the far side of the bay and dumped them behind a stack of cargo containers.

  Getting into the ship’s security center was actually easier than Laken had thought. Then again, she supposed they never expected someone inside the ship to poke around like this. She couldn’t believe how simple it was to disable the alarm for the outer doors, either. As she was backing out of the system a minute later, she ran across something that made her hesitate.

  “Did you get it?” Rade asked, coming back over to her.

  “Yes.”

  Rade’s brow furrowed as she continued typing on the computer’s keypad. “Then what are doing?” he demanded impatiently.

  “I found the ship’s security codes,” she explained.

  “Do we need those to get off the ship?”

  She shook her head. “No, but they could come in handy later. The Federation probably uses the same set of codes for all their ships. I thought I’d memorize them.”

  “We don’t have time for that. Let’s go.”

  “Let me just look at a f
ew more.”

  He swore under his breath. “Now, Laken!”

  This time, Rade didn’t give her a chance to argue, but grabbed her arm and ran for the shuttle, giving her no choice but to follow.

  The shuttle was smaller than the one on Rade’s ship, and Laken hurriedly slid into one of the seats while he took the other. She watched in fascination as his long fingers manipulated the controls, feeling herself relax as the small craft hummed to life. They were going to make it.