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  INTERGALATIC JUSTICE:

  RECKLESS BOUNTY

  By

  Marly Mathews

  RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 2

  © copyright by Marly Mathews, June 2010

  Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, June 2010

  ISBN 978-1-60394-436-6

  New Concepts Publishing

  Lake Park, GA 31636

  www.newconceptspublishing.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 3

  Nova Cornwall

  The Future

  Chapter One

  Samantha Cassidy eyed her opponent warily, struggling to maintain her composure.

  Inhaling deeply, she tried ignoring the blinding pain shooting through her right shoulder. The stupid jackass had shot her! Now the old-fashioned bullet was lodged deeply into her shoulder.

  She fingered the wound tentatively and was relieved to discover that she wasn’t bleeding profusely. Either way, she still required medical attention and she still had a job that needed to be finished.

  “Look, Clayton, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Right now, I don’t really give a damn. But one way or the other, I’m going to collect my bounty, and I can’t collect the money unless I have the prize. Don’t be stupid. Quit wasting my time, and get your ass over here because you’re going down one way or the other.”

  “Now see here little girl, I don’t think that you’re in any position to be giving me ultimatums. I ain’t the one with the piece of metal in my shoulder. Now run along before I get really angry. I’m not a pretty sight when I’m pissing nails.”

  Not a pretty sight? Hell, he wasn’t a pretty sight right now.

  Clayton gave her a sly grin that sent her stomach rolling with revulsion. Good God, he was at least twice her size. His pants were barely staying up beneath his rather over-sized belly.

  His shirt was two sizes too small. He wore a sweat stained baseball cap on his head. Oh, yeah, he was a real stud muffin.

  His gun remained leveled at her. His beady little ferret eyes filled with an unquestionable need to pull the trigger once again. He let out a long belch and then swiped the back of his sleeve across his face. She grimaced. He had the manners of a pig. What’s more, with his large frame, pig’s snout nose, he kind of resembled one too. Now all she had to do was to check for his curly tail when he turned around.

  “You know I really should be sittin’ in a bar and drinking a pint of beer. That’s what I always do at this time of the night instead of playing games with you, little princess! You look like a china doll. Do you actually think you have a chance in hell against me?”

  “Oh, I don’t give a rat’s ass about your plans,” she drawled sarcastically. She had to ignore his china doll remark. In a moment, he’d learn she had the grit and the guts to take him down. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes heavenward. She quickly reached inside her black leather trench coat and enclosed her hands around the electric grappling rope that she kept to detain her prisoners.

  The man was sloppy and arrogant. But she could tell by the stone-cold glint in his eye, that he had a feral sense of cunning. She had one chance and one chance only to bring him down and in. She decided to give him one final opportunity to give himself over peacefully. Even though she figured it was a waste of breath. Still, she had scruples.

  “You do realize the wanted bulletin stated that you were wanted dead or alive. Though I prefer to take in my prisoners alive, I will consider enforcing my other option. But hell, as far as I’m concerned, it’s totally up to you.”

  RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 4

  Then, she watched while he stuck his hand down his pants and relieved himself of an itch. That was it. She was going to lose her cookies. That was the thing about this job. She had to deal with all sorts of criminals. In a minute, he’d be picking his nose ... or worse.

  “Well. Now see I was considering that one myself,” Clayton bragged, flaunting the gun in front of her.

  Samantha remained impassive at his threat. Suddenly, everything went into fast forward motion. In one heart-stopping moment, she had her electric whip out of her coat and fully activated. It crackled through the night air, snapping as it made its way toward his waist.

  Diving toward the ground, she evaded his line of shot. His gun discharged. She smiled when she heard his howl of surprise. The rope was fully tied around him and she was just about to activate the small shock the electricity would give him, when the foul smelling Clayton yet again surprised her with the extent of his stupidity. He pulled against the whip and even the small electrical surge it gave off failed to deter him. It must have been his ample body weight.

  Damn. She should have thought to reset the charge to compensate for his extra girth.

  Before she could react, he was rushing toward her, like a mad bull moose. He knocked the wind out of her when he jumped on top of her.

  She struggled to knock him off. Screaming obscenities and threats, she freed her one leg and brought it up to slam against his crotch.

  Hard.

  Clayton howled in fury and Samantha smiled at his red face. Only, the dirty bugger didn’t know when to quit. He reached his ham-fisted grubby paws out and encircled them around her throat. She gasped for air. He was trying to squeeze the life out of her. She managed to reach into her pocket to pull out her immobilizer.

  She discharged it into his belly and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He released his hold on her long enough for her to plant a booted foot to his chest and push him off of her.

  Samantha surged to her feet drinking in blessed air and felt the cool night air ripple against her face. Clayton struggled to regain his footing. He was doubled over in agony.

  Oh, she so didn’t need to see any crack tonight. Temptation ate away at her. She kicked him in the ass. He fell face first to the ground.

  “Hey, no fair!” Clayton mumbled.

  Fair? He wanted fair? He was a cold-blooded murderer. She’d give him all that he deserved and then some. Bastard.

  Groaning, Clayton struggled to regain his breathing. She looked down at her watch. She didn’t have all night. This was supposed to be a quick job. Tag him and bag him had been her motto. “Clayton, get up!”

  “Can’t you see I’m in pain here? Little girl, you really don’t know how to play nice.” He pushed himself to his feet, turned around and glared at her. Well, she preferred his pig’s snout to his crack. That was for sure.

  Samantha watched as he backed away from her. She realized by the pain-induced expression on his face that he actually didn’t notice what he was doing. They stood on top of a one hundred storey tall building and the idiot was backing away from her toward the edge of the roof.

  “Clayton, look...,” she began. But she was too late.

  The stupid fat ass had lost his precarious balance and was swaying. He almost looked comical with his arms flailing out, as if he wanted to take flight. His eyes widened in dawning clarity and she grasped the blue glowing whip. With all her strength, she struggled to pull him RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 5

  back. But in a blink he was gone. He had disappeared over the edge of the roof.

  “Oh, shit. This is so not my night. Oh, please God, no! ” she cried out.

  Her feet skidded toward the edge. Only then she realized her tremendous mistake. She had fastened the charged whip to her wrist and now the release mechanism was jammed. Digging her heels in, she tried to stop her forward momentum. It was a lost cause.

  “Oh shit! ” she screamed. Before sh
e knew it, she’d toppled over the edge.

  Samantha fought against the growing panic welling inside of her and glanced down at Clayton’s hulking form. He was falling fast. Soon, he’d go splat. After that, it would be her turn. Looking away, she tried to ply the rope from around her wrist. She reached up and pulled a hairpin out of her hair and inserted it into the release mechanism. It made a loud popping noise and in one split second she was free! But that still didn’t stop her from continuing to free-fall to her demise. She couldn’t go out that way. She could see the news headlines now.

  Bounty hunter falls to her death, lands on top of her bounty.

  Man oh man! She would become a laughingstock!

  Swallowing hard she said a quick prayer and reached for her grappling hook. Closing her eyes, she released it, grunting as it connected with the side of the building. It brought her sailing upwards where she bounced for a few moments.

  With effort, she slowed her breathing. Looking to the side, she decided her only option was to pull herself back up to the roof. To her unending despair, she found the bloody grappling hook wouldn’t retract.

  “What else is new?” she grumbled. “This is bloody fantastic.”

  She was stuck. Utterly and completely stuck. She was quite simply hanging around.

  She shouldn’t have been surprised. Looking to the side, she saw a sight that made her blood run cold.

  “How the hell?” she growled. “Damn him straight to New Hades!”

  Clayton’s almost toothless grin stared her right in the face. With some weird twist of fate, he’d avoided becoming one with the sidewalk.

  To make matters worse, he now sat on a hover-motorcycle! He had one of his equally wicked looking cohorts with him. She didn’t remember seeing this man on the wanted bulletins.

  She couldn’t stay out at the mercy of either man. So she looked toward the window that was in front of her. She squinted her eyes shut. “This is going to be a close call. I can do this…piece of cake.” Swinging toward the wall, she made impact.

  With one loud noise, she crashed through the surprisingly thin glass and cut the wire to her grappling hook. Reacting quickly, she dove into a roll. Somersaulting onto her feet, she brushed the remaining shards of glass off of her leather coat and smiled sheepishly at the man that sat across the room. He held a cold beer in one hand and his T.V. remote in the other hand.

  His eyes bulged out of his head, and his mouth hung wide open.

  “That was nothing,” she scoffed, “you should catch me on a bad day,” she joked, winked, and threw some money at him. “I’m sorry, man. Umm...it’s all in the name of justice. Really.

  Okay, well, I’ll be going now. You might want to get a coat. It’s a bit chilly out there.” She bolted toward the door. Pulling it open, she heard the guy finally speak.

  “Uh. Thanks. Glad to be of service.” He was still in shock. As she left she heard him say,

  “Bye.”

  She was now at the disadvantage. Though on the upside, if she did manage to capture Clayton and his friend she might just be able to collect twice the amount that she had originally anticipated.

  RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 6

  Oh, happy days!

  Sometimes her partner made mistakes and missed some of their targets. If she could bring this one in, Johanna would definitely be excited.

  Samantha dashed frantically through the building, down the stairs and then stopped at the door. Clayton and his friend laid in wait for her and she knew they’d be there. Opening the door she threw out her disorientation grenade. They started hacking and gasping for breath. The thick blue smoke the grenade emitted swirled around them. She smiled. Within seconds, they were completely debilitated and harmless as babes. But they were in no shape or form as cute, and she wouldn’t change their diapers in a million years.

  Samantha stormed out in front of Clayton and his friend. She grinned at the effect of the grenade. They were so woozy they looked like they were ready for deaths door. She reached inside her coat for her electrical handcuffs. Fastening them around Clayton’s wrists, she snorted.

  “Why couldn’t you have just done it the easy way?” And she laughed at her wiseass remark and clenched her teeth together. Her shoulder pulsed with pain reminding her that she was a wounded woman. “You know, Clayton, you’re a great big pain in the ass. Literally. You really try my patience!”

  She reached for her communicator and sighed with relief when she heard Johanna’s strained voice on the other end.

  “Dear God! Samantha, where are you?” The whirring sound of traffic carried through the speaker.

  “I have the targeted bounty and I am down on the ground in front of Landry’s Apartment Complex. Please come and get me. I have a 180,” Samantha explained, exhaustion seeping into her otherwise calm tone.

  “Right away,” Johanna snapped off.

  Johanna instantly interpreted the code they used. Since 180 meant that she was harmed in the line of duty, her sister would hasten to come and get her. She blinked her eyes, having a hard time warding off her dizziness. Everything swirled around her. She felt as if she’d been drugged. The pain and loss of blood was definitely getting to her. She just had to hold out and pray that Johanna would reach her in time. Johanna would. She’d never failed her before.

  Johanna lowered the hover mobile down to the cement walkway outside of Landry’s, and released the hatch. She jumped out of the driver’s side and her eyes widened with concern when she noticed how pale her sister had become.

  “Good lord, Sam. You look like death warmed over,” Johanna exclaimed, grabbing a hold of the two prisoners and hauling them over to shove them in the back of the hover mobile.

  “I feel like death warmed over,” she muttered.

  All of the fight had vanished from Clayton and his buddy thanks to the drugs rippling through their systems.

  “Sam,” Johanna called out. “Can you manage to get yourself into Aggie? ”

  Aggie was what they called their hover mobile and though they both knew it was foolish to name a vehicle they just couldn’t help themselves.

  “Yep, you bet,” Samantha gasped. Wincing, she slumped into the passenger side.

  Johanna shoved Clayton and his friend into Aggie, and then harnessed them in. She activated the force field that surrounded them and kept them out of sabotaging the rest of the hover car.

  Slamming the door shut she locked it securely. Running back over to the driver’s side she slipped inside. She turned her head at the sound of two hovercrafts quickly approaching their RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 7

  position.

  Turning to Samantha she gave her a jubilant smile, which quickly faded when she looked at the random blips on the computer screen. “That doesn’t look good. What do you think, Sam?”

  “I think we’ve got trouble. Aggie, identify incoming vehicles,” Samantha ordered. She pressed a gauze pad onto her shoulder from the med kit.

  “Third class Dyvanian hover speeders. Two humanoid individuals_ genders male occupies them each. The Dyvanian race is a cruel and calculating race known for their illegal drug trafficking on the Rim and for slave trading. I would suggest we lose them, posthaste.” The female computer system promptly answered in her monotone voice.

  “Double

  Damn! ” Samantha muttered, craning her neck around to look out the back window. “I need this like I need a hole in the head. Uh, Jo, I think that it would be very wise if you took us away from here as quickly as you can. It seems that Clayton has some friends that are really missing him.” Her eyes widened. It didn’t take her long to sum up the battle capabilities of the craft that were quickly overtaking them.

  “He’s a bloody murderer. How many friends can he have? Oh, wait. Scratch that question. He’s probably got a freaking ship load of nasty assed cohorts waiting to rescue his fat ass,” Johanna shot back. She activated Aggie, and slowly brought her up into the air.

  “It was all a misunderstanding. Really. I had to
teach him a lesson. I never thought that it was gonna kill him. But did he listen?” Clayton whined from the back of the car.

  “What did you think he was going to do when you threw him out of your hover car? Did you actually believe that he was going to sprout wings and fly? Plus, they were the wrong race to cross. They are the kind of people to send you home in pieces!” Samantha shouted.

  Aggie shook under the massive impact of the enemies mounted phase guns. Samantha reached for the weapons control. Leaning forward, she tried to program some defensive shooting patterns.

  “Dylan wasn’t able to finish that,” Johanna murmured. “He’s been a little preoccupied what with Tyler gallivanting all over the galaxy....” Swerving, they narrowly missed colliding with an oncoming car.

  “Freaking wonderful. Remind me to smack him upside the head the next time I see him.

  If we live through this that is.” Samantha slammed against her door and was then hurled forward when another blast connected with Aggie.