Not the Man She Thought

by Paige Tyler

  “I think we should be able to go this way,” she said to Pammay as she pointed at the map.

  Her friend frowned. “That does look like it would be shorter, but didn’t Dev say to stick to the main thoroughfare?”

  “I know, but we still have a lot of shopping to do yet, and this way would be much faster,” Laken said. “Besides it’s broad daylight. What could happen?”

  Pammay looked like she wanted to protest, but after a moment, she nodded. “Okay.”

  When Rade had told her to stay on the main thoroughfares, Laken thought he was just being overprotective as usual, but as she and Pammay made their way along the deserted backstreets a little while later, she was beginning to think she should have paid more heed to his warning.

  “Are you sure this is the right way?” Pammay asked as they turned down yet another alley.

  Laken nodded as she looked at the holo-map. “I’m sure. I have a very good sense of direction.”

  At least she hoped it was the right way. She was just about to check the holo-map again when two men entered the alley up ahead. As they made their way toward her and Pammay, Laken felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she stopped in her tracks. Pammay stopped, too.

  “Maybe we should go back,” she told the blonde woman.

  “I think you’re right,” Pammay agreed.

  When they turned around to go back the way they had come, however, Laken was horrified to see two more men heading toward them from the other direction. Her stomach clenched.

  “Wh-what do we do?” Pammay asked nervously.

  Laken threw a glance over her shoulder to see the first two men quickly closing in on them. She swallowed hard as she turned back to the second pair. These two were heavier set and looked like they were more out of shape than the other men. If she and Pammay got past them, then surely they’d be safe.

  “Run!” she told the other girl.

  The men must have anticipated the move, though, because as soon as she and Pammay started running in their direction, they spread out to cut off their exit. Laken tried to sidestep the man barreling toward her, but he was quicker than she gave him credit for. Reaching out, he caught her around the waist with one arm.

  Laken drew in a breath to scream, but he clamped a meaty hand over her mouth, silencing her. Not about to make it that easy on him, she jabbed an elbow into her captor’s stomach. Though he grunted, his hold around her waist didn’t loosen. Desperate to get away, she reached up to rake her nails down his face. He released her with a foul expletive.

  Surprised he had let her go that easily, Laken looked around wildly for Pammay to see the blonde backing away from one of the men trying to corner her. Her heart pounding in her chest, Laken started forward intending to help her friend when the man she’d jabbed in the ribs grabbed her again.

  Instead of wrapping his arm around her this time, he spun her around to face him. Her nails had dug deep grooves into his cheek and blood ran down the side of his face. Holding onto her with one hand, he drew back the other. “You’re going to pay for that, bitch!”

  Laken stared at his fist, her eyes wide as she braced herself for the blow.

  “Don’t even think about it,” one of the other men ordered. “Enak won’t pay anything if she’s harmed.”

  Enak. Laken’s blood went cold at the name. These men worked for that bastard?

  Terror gave Laken renewed strength and she began to fight wildly, trying to pull away from the man holding her. But he merely laughed and grabbed her other hand in his, holding her fast. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound was muffled as something heavy was thrown over her head. The last thing she saw was Pammay running toward the main street, one of Enak’s men in pursuit.

  Laken struggled, but she was no match for the men, and one of them wrapped a rope around her, binding her arms to her sides.

  As one of the men picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, Laken could only hope Pammay made it back to Rade’s ship in time to get help.

  Chapter Thirteen

  When he and Kellen got back to the ship that afternoon, Rade wasn’t surprised to hear Laken hadn’t gotten back from town yet. According to Dev, she probably wouldn’t be back until that evening. Though Rade couldn’t understand how anyone could spend an entire day shopping, he figured Dev was right. He certainly didn’t mind that Laken wanted to spend the day shopping. He just hoped she was back before dark. While Alphalon 7 was comparatively safe, it still had its dangers, and he worried about his fiancée. Even after all the things that had happened since she’d come on board, Laken could still be a little naïve when it came to how dangerous it could be out there.

  As he walked into his office, Rade smiled at how comfortable he had become with the idea of Laken being his fiancée. After sending Laken away, he had never thought to see her again, but in a few days they were going to be husband and wife, and he couldn’t be happier. Somewhere along the way, his life had taken an unbelievable turn for the better, and he was still having a hard time believing he had gotten so lucky.

  Going over to the computer, he brought up his messages. He was just reading through them when Pammay burst into the room, Keir on her heels. One look at the blonde girl’s tear-streaked face and Rade’s gut clenched.

  “Laken’s been kidnapped!” she said. “Enak took her!”

  Rade felt his blood go cold at the name. “Enak? Are you sure?”

  The blonde nodded. “Yes. I heard one of the men who grabbed her say that Enak wouldn’t pay if she was harmed.”

  Shit. Rade ground his jaw. He should have killed the bastard when he had the chance. “Keir, get everyone and meet me in the hold.”

  “I’m on it, Captain,” Keir said, hurrying out of the room.

  Rade glanced at Pammay as they strode down the passageway a moment later. “Tell me everything.”

  The girl had to almost run to keep up with him as she tearfully explained what had happened.

  Rade swore. “What the hell were the two of you doing in that alley?”

  Pammay sniffed. “There was a jewelry store across town that she wanted to go to. We were taking a shortcut through the alley. It’s all my fault. I knew it was dangerous, but I let her talk me into it.”

  Rade shook his head. “Laken has a mind of her own, Pammay. You couldn’t have dissuaded her no matter what you’d said. Did you see which way the men took her?”

  “Not really. I don’t even know how I got away from them. I guess Laken was putting up so much of a fight that they weren’t really paying attention to me. I didn’t want to leave her, but I was so afraid that I just ran. I didn’t know what else to do, so I came straight back here. I should have tried to help her get away. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right, Pammay,” Rade told her. “If you hadn’t gotten away, then I would never have known that bastard had taken Laken.”

  When the girl said nothing, Rade glanced her way to see fresh tears shimmering in her eyes.

  “Don’t worry, Pammay. We’re going to get her back.” Rade started down the steps leading to the hold. “What street is the alley near? Do you remember?”

  “Candash.” Pammay followed him. “Captain Karsten.”

  At the anguish in her voice, he stopped in mid-stride to turn and face her. Tears were running down her cheek, and when she spoke, her voice trembled.

  “When Enak found the other girls who tried to escape from him, he did terrible things to them before he killed them,” she said. “You have to find Laken or he will do the same things to her.”

  Rade felt sick at the thought. If Enak so much as touched Laken, he would tear him apart with his bare hands. “I’ll find her, Pammay. I promise.”

  Pammay nodded, and looked like she would have said more, but just then Keir and the rest of the crew came bounding down the steps and into the hold.

  “Keir told us that bastard Enak kidnapped Laken,” Kellen said.

  Rade nodded, but when he spoke, it was to his pilot. “Kam, I
want you and Jorn to go down to Candash Street and see if anyone saw anything.”

  Both men left with a quick, “Aye, Captain.”

  “Vance and Finn, you’re with me. We’re going to see if Enak’s ship is still docked.” Rade glanced at Kellen and Dev. “You two stay here. I’m hoping that Laken managed to get away. If she comes back here, call me right away.”

  Knowing they wouldn’t get anything helpful out of the spaceport officials, Rade, Vance and Finn split up to talk to the dock workers at the spaceport. Rade’s biggest concern was that Enak had grabbed Laken and high-tailed it off the planet as fast as he could. If he could confirm Enak hadn’t left yet, Rade could turn his search inward. He’d tear this planet apart if he had to.

  It didn’t take much to get the information he needed from the dock workers. A few credits here and there, and his worse fears were realized. Enak’s ship had already left Alphalon 7. There was no doubt in Rade’s mind that Laken had been on it.

  “You didn’t by chance overhear where they were heading, did you?” Rade asked the man who had refueled Enak’s ship just before it left.

  The man shook his head. “Sure didn’t. But they were in a damn hurry, I tell ya. Nearly ripped the fuel line right off of the dock, they were in such a rush.”

  Rade clenched his jaw. Thanking the man, he headed down the dock to meet up with Vance and Finn.

  “According to everyone I talked to, Enak’s ship left an hour ago,” Vance said.

  “And no one knew where they were headed,” Finn added. “They didn’t file papers of any kind.”

  Rade swore. He’d hoped Vance and Finn would have better luck.

  Praying Laken had somehow escaped and was back on his ship safe and sound even now, Rade quickly made his way down the dock. When he stepped on board, however, it was to find Kellen’s brow still creased with worry.

  “What do we do now?” the first officer asked after Rade told him what they’d learned.

  “Go to Yerel,” Rade said without hesitation.

  Kellen’s frown deepened. “You really think he’d take her back there?”

  Rade didn’t know for sure, but it made sense that Enak would take her back to the slave planet he called home. And right now, he didn’t have any other way to track down the man. He only hoped they got to Laken in time.

  * * * * *

  Laken thought someone would have stopped a man carrying a woman wrapped up in a blanket over his shoulder through the city streets. But apparently Alphalon 7 wasn’t the kind of place where people even noticed that type of behavior because no one even raised a cry, much less tried to stop them. She tried to struggle, but it did no good. Tied up like she was, she couldn’t do more than bounce up and down uncomfortably on the man’s hard, bony shoulder.

  They were taking her to Enak, she was sure. The thought of being at that cruel bastard’s mercy again made her shiver.

  Abruptly, Laken felt herself being hoisted upright and dropped. She automatically braced herself, expecting to land on the ground. To her surprise, she landed on something relatively soft instead. Heart beating wildly in her chest, she immediately began to struggle, but once again, it was to no avail. She screamed in frustration, but the sound was muffled by the heavy blanket, and the men only laughed. Terrified, she lay there breathing hard and trembling.

  “Untie her.”

  Laken stiffened at the sound of Enak’s gruff voice.

  Rough hands undid the rope binding her. The moment they were off, she pushed the blanket away and scrambled to her feet. Keeping one eye on Enak and his men, she took a quick look around and saw that she was in a ship’s cabin.

  “You didn’t think I’d let you go that easily, did you?” Enak said.

  Laken took a nervous step back as he came toward her. But there was nowhere to go in the small cabin, and she was backed up against the wall within a few steps. “How did you find us?”

  Enak smirked. “Like I told you before, Karsten’s reputation precedes him. And after what he did on Marlon Prime, he’s practically a celebrity. Rather stupid if he wants to continue being a pirate. It certainly wasn’t too hard to track him down.”

  She lifted her chin. “I would have thought that after what Rade did to you that you would have been too afraid to come after me.”

  Enak’s lip curled. “Afraid of Karsten? Hardly.” He reached out and cruelly caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re mine, and I don’t let anyone take what’s mine. I told you that before.”

  Laken jerked free of Enak’s grasp to glare at him. She wouldn’t let him see how terrified she really was. “He’ll come after me.”

  Enak laughed harshly. “Oh, I have no doubt of that. In fact, I’m counting on it.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Why would you want Rade to come after you?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I want him to come after you so that I can kill him, of course. Preferably right in front of you. Then my revenge will be complete.”

  Laken stared at Enak, unable to breathe. Unable to even think.

  “You seem surprised,” Enak said. “You didn’t really think I’d let him live, did you? No, I’m going to lure him into a trap, then I’m going to make you watch while I kill him.”

  Laken clenched her hands into fists. Not caring about her own safety, she hurled herself at Enak. “You bastard!”

  She barely managed to rake her nails down Enak’s face before he caught her wrists. Shoving her away from him, he lifted his hand and slapped her hard across the face. The force of the blow knocked her to the floor and she cried out. Pressing one hand to her stinging cheek, she pushed herself into a sitting position with the other and looked up at him defiantly.

  Enak wiped the blood from his face with a finger. “I’d like to make you pay for this right now, but we’re about to leave and I need to get back up to the bridge, so retribution will have to wait until later.”

  With that, Enak turned on his heel and left the cabin, his men following. Laken couldn’t suppress a shiver as she watched them go.

  Slowly getting to her feet, Laken looked around the small cabin. She had to get out of there. If the door weren’t locked, which it probably was, then it would most certainly be guarded, so there would be no escape that way. Even if she could manage to get out of the cabin, though, there would be no way to get off Enak’s ship. Which meant she would have to wait until they arrived wherever they were going. Or until Rade came for her.

  Enak’s threats echoed in her head. Surely Rade would never be stupid enough to fall for a trap like the one Enak was setting. But even as she had the thought, she knew how wrong she was. Rade would do whatever it took to rescue her, even if that meant putting himself in danger. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to find some way to warn him.

  But how?

  She looked around the cabin again, an idea coming to her as her gaze came to rest on the air vent in the ceiling. It was small, but she thought she might be able to fit. She didn’t know much about how ships were built, but she knew the air vents had to be connected. If she could manage to get to the communications room, then she could get a message to Rade.

  Pulling the chair out from beneath the desk, she positioned it underneath the vent, then stepped up on it. It took her a little while to figure out how the vent was held in place, but luckily, there were no bolts to be unscrewed, just a series of clips that needed to be flipped over. She slid them over and let the vent cover swing down on its hinge. Going up on tiptoe, she cautiously poked her head inside. It was even smaller than she’d thought, but she could make herself fit.

  Sticking her arms inside the opening, she put them on either side and pulled herself up into the ventilation shaft, pushing the chair away with her foot as she did so. It didn’t slide far, but hopefully it would confuse Enak and his men for a little while. Once inside, she twisted herself around so she could reach down and pull the cover closed. Enak and his men would figure it out quickly enough anyway, but it might give her a few more minut
es.

  Since Laken didn’t know where the crew was, she had to be careful not to make any noise as she made her way through the ventilation shaft. Since she had no idea where the communications room was, she had to stop at each vent opening to look into the room below. She was just beginning to think she’d never find the communications room when she finally stumbled upon it. She looked through the opening in the vent cover and was relieved to see that the room was empty. Opening the vent cover, she lowered herself to the floor below.

  Throwing a quick glance over her shoulder at the door, she hurried over to the computers. Wanting to both warn Rade as well as let him know where she was, Laken sent out a distress signal that repeatedly spelled the words “trap” in code. She set the frequency to the same one that Rade’s ship usually operated on. If anyone on his ship was listening to the radio, they would pick up the signal. She just hoped Rade would be able to figure out what it meant. All he would have to do after that is track where the signal was coming from and it would lead him right to Enak’s ship. Before she left the room, she reset the main communications frequency to what it had been when she’d come in so Enak’s crew wouldn’t know the radio was sending out a distress signal.