by test
“Samantha, sweetie, he’ll come back,” Johanna whispered.
Dylan met Johanna’s gaze and signaled to her that he was going to leave. Johanna nodded.
“No. He won’t,” she said, stifling a sob. “I didn’t choose him. His heart has been broken and I broke it. How could I have done that to him, Johanna? You and Dylan are so perfect together. You never fight and he always supports you no matter what. I loved Tyler so much!
Where could I have gone wrong?”
“The two of you clashed like titans. You were both so stubborn that neither one of you wanted to bend. Dylan compromises with me. And let me tell you I know that he is frightened to death when we go out on a job. But he can’t imagine life without me and he wants to see me happy. He also has faith in our abilities. He knows your little psychic twinges can keep us out of peril. Tyler wanted to protect you all of the time, I think that maybe he couldn’t stand imagining you risking your life when he wasn’t there to control the situations. Be honest with yourself Samantha, you do get yourself into some precarious situations,” Johanna pointed out.
“So do you.”
“Yes, dearest, but you stare death right in the face and you always manage to cheat it. I think Tyler feared the Angel of Death would someday catch up with you. Last night, I was frightened out of my mind when you didn’t answer me. You also shut off your abilities last night. You are afraid to use them when you need to. You are afraid of becoming a slave to them.”
“I was just hanging around. I guess I should have thought to give you some attention,”
Samantha scoffed.
“Don’t be a smartass,” Johanna reproved. “Think about what you did last night. Don’t you even realize what could have happened to you? The last time I checked you didn’t have a pair of fairy wings.”
“I could have.... Look I’m not Charlotte, but when the situation presents itself, I can call RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 14
upon the well of power inside of me. I just repress it. I think it might have kicked into gear before I went splat.”
“You think?” Johanna snorted. “How do you know? You haven’t been trained like Charlotte. And even though she has honed her abilities, she could still be taken by surprise.”
“Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? I push everyone away. Even my twin won’t stick by my side.
Instead, she’s decided to go and become one with who she is, and embrace the inner psychic. A psychic assassin killed dad....” Bitterness tinged her voice.
“And only a psychic hunter can track down that assassin,” Johanna countered. “Charlotte is trying to help us the only way she knows how. She’s doing her best to keep the world around her from falling in and crushing her. And, thanks for the vote of confidence. Even if Charlotte is your twin, I always thought we had a strong bond....”
Hurt briefly creased Johanna’s face. As the oldest sister, Johanna always had looked out for her… Samantha’s reckless and impulsive personality warranted someone to keep a constant eye on her.
Dylan’s voice through the intercom broke their conversation. “Marty wants to know if we have the prizes all wrapped up and ready for delivery.”
“Tell him that we do, love. I’ll be on the bridge in a few minutes,” Johanna replied quickly. She hugged Samantha once more and then released her.
“Hey, don’t forget about me. I’m coming too. Don’t you dare think this is little injury is going to get me down. Wait up!”
Samantha gritted her teeth together and carefully got down from the high med bed. She winced, but quickly replaced her wince with a smile when she noticed her sister’s watchful eye.
“I should put that in a sling,” Johanna mused, staring angrily at her.
“No, no, I’m fine. A sling will only hamper my movements. This is just a little boo-boo I’ll be right as rain by tomorrow. Like I said last night, you’ve done a bang up job on my arm. If it gets sore, I’ll pop some Earth Certified non-drowsy painkillers. They’re miracle pills don’t you know,” she said cheerily, quickly hiding her real feelings from her highly perceptive sister.
Tyler’s face and voice still haunted her. Her heart hurt. She really missed him. She wanted him back, like yesterday. Why had she heard him call out to her? Was he in trouble?
Her sister Charlotte would have told her to follow the dream as a sign. She knew he wasn’t hurt.
But she was getting worried. If he’d been hurt, she would have felt it wouldn’t she? If not her, then Dylan, would have. If only she could harness her abilities enough to reach out through the abyss of space and find him. His call for help could have just been a figment of her imagination or a result of her nightmare. She wasn’t like Charlotte she couldn’t take every precognitive sign seriously.
“I give up,” Johanna declared, throwing her arms up in the air. “After all of the years I have lived with you I should know better than to argue with you. It never gets me anywhere and besides it only wastes precious energy that I could be spending on attending much more important matters. When you were little you would hurt yourself, and you could have been literally bleeding out of your mouth and you would continue to play seemingly unaffected by your boo-boo. So don’t worry, I am finally growing wise.”
Turning on her heel, Johanna walked toward the door, leaving Samantha to follow in her wake.
Minutes later, they were on the bridge and Marty’s face was on the large display screen showing how appreciative he was of their services by flourishing two large sacks of money in front of them.
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“I’ll go down and make the delivery,” Johanna said crisply, moving down to the exit hatch.
“I’ll go with you...,” Dylan started, but Samantha cut him off.
“The
team will go down and make the delivery. Dylan, you stay with the ship,” she commanded, gently pushing Dylan out of her way. “How about you try to get some of our outstanding repairs done while we are gone? If I go to use something else and find out it’s broken, I will not be a happy camper, and you know what happens when I am not happy.”
Dylan groaned. “Yeah, you blow up my toys either with your guns or your mind. You can be such a....”
“Dylan!” Johanna snapped her brow wrinkling. “Don’t say it.”
“I was merely going to say that Samantha can be a real witch when she wants to be. I am so glad you don’t have explosive things happen when you blow your fuse, darling.”
Samantha made a gagging noise. “Johanna, let’s go and get this show on the road.”
Johanna gave a small shrug of her shoulders and looked at her husband with a helpless expression. Sighing, she clasped her hands behind her back and followed Samantha out the door.
* * * *
Marty Silvestri turned to his new business partner and watched him warily. The man was twisting his elaborate signet ring that he wore on his pinky finger. Marty shivered. He was no idiot. He realized what was inside the ring. Lethal poison that when released and injected into the victim’s skin, would kill them almost instantaneously.
“So, you said you know Sam and Jo. How close are the three of you?” Marty asked nervously. He popped the piece of bubble gum he’d stuffed into his mouth, and swallowed the belch raising in his throat. Burning acid rolled in his gut. He’d never been this anxious in his sixty-five years of life.
Sweat beaded out across his forehead. He felt like he was trapped in a sauna. He nervously cracked his pudgy knuckles swallowing the thick lump in his throat. Marty fidgeted from side to side and concentrated on keeping all of his bodily fluids right where they were.
“Do you happen to remember the old saying hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn?
Well, I want to rewrite it to hell hath no fury like a man’s scorn. Your Sam thought that she could break up with me three years ago. But she was sadly mistaken. I am not easily deterred.
She is mine. She will be mine, FOREVER! ” he vowed, slamming his hand down on Marty’
s antique walnut desk, and making Marty jump.
“Hey, be careful, I got that at an auction four years ago, for a steal. It’s from the 1940’s and it’s become very important to me,” Marty said.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!!!
His big mouth finally betrayed him. He stopped chewing and tensely watched for the man’s reaction to his blunder. His stomach soured and made a rude noise.
The strange man caressed his hand along its grainy surface, and turned to Marty with a maniacal glint in his eye. “Is it more important to you than your fucking life?”
Marty shook his head and tried to keep himself from shivering with fear or worse yet, finally losing control of his bodily functions. This was definitely a man that Marty Silvestri didn’t want to go up against. Not in a million years.
God help Sam and Jo Cassidy, because they certainly didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.
* * * *
“Are you ready yet?” Johanna fidgeted impatiently. Sighing, she leaned against the RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 16
bulkhead.
She glanced over at their two cuffed prisoners and then she stared at Samantha who was fully arming herself. “What battle do you intend to be fighting?” Johanna asked. Samantha added one more of the little gadgets that Dylan continually purchased or invented.
“Arm yourself, Johanna,” she instructed, nodding her head at the weapons locker.
“I told you I have my laser pistol and my hands and feet normally work remarkably well.
When I use them that is,” Johanna chuckled. “And besides, you should just give into your inner power and use that instead of resorting to using weapons. If I could do what you and Charlotte can, I would never pick up another pistol.”
When Johanna turned her attention to their prisoners, Samantha slipped a little mystery device onto her sister’s belt and smiled, secretly thinking she’d succeeded into fully ensuring her sister’s safety.
“We don’t need Aggie. The rendezvous point is easily within walking distance,”
Samantha said.
“I really wish that Marty would find a nicer place to conduct his business dealings than his seedy filthy cramped little office on the waterfront,” Johanna sighed, wrinkling her nose up with distaste. “That building is such a seedy hole in the wall, it makes a shack look like a palace.”
“Come on, get moving,” Samantha pushed Clayton and Gus down the gangplank of the ship out onto the wet squishy ground of Notting Prime. It felt as if the drizzle that spattered around them was about to change to a soft flurry of snow.
“I always forget how cold Notting Prime is,” Samantha groaned. Shivering, she pulled her black leather trench coat closer around her. She stared up at the orange streaked sky and fought back another shiver. Damn. She really hated this cold and dank second-rate excuse for a habitable planet.
“You shoulda given me a heavier jacket,” Clayton said interrupting her thoughts. “It’s way too cold out here. Couldn’t you have found a tropical planet to do your dealings on? New Acapulco would’ve been perfect. At least then I could’ve taken in the sounds and sights. Instead of freezing my nads off, I’d be getting my eyes full of tits and ass.” Clayton’s whiny voice became grating.
“Shut up! I swear if you keep going on like a broken record I’ll shoot you,” Johanna warned. They neared the rendezvous spot.
“Well, aren’t you a bitchy little twit. I think I like your sister better.” At his confession Clayton’s protuberant eyes bulged out even further.
“Fine with me. Did you hear that, Samantha? Clayton thinks you’re the sweet one.”
Samantha could see Marty’s short and bulbous form, in the distance. The drizzly rain turned to snow and she comforted herself with thoughts of her vacation in Hawaii on their native planet.
“Jo,” she cautioned, “I don’t like the feel of these docks. Something’s off.” She tensed and tried to allow the feeling of the place to strike her guarded senses.
“Well, there’s Marty. I can feel it too. But maybe we can turn in the prizes for the booty and avoid the whole troubling situation.” Johanna stared down in disgust at the brown muck that she had nearly stepped in. “Oh, gross! Remind me to clean my boots when we get back to The Excalibur. This just better be mud!”
Samantha’s eyes darted across the full length of the dock and she quickly inspected every yacht and boat. Everything appeared normal. But something was terribly, horribly wrong. She RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 17
focused her attention on every single object in view and attempted to find the oddity that would tip her off on the approaching danger.
“Samantha,” a female voice whispered.
“What do you want, Johanna?” Samantha asked.
“I didn’t say anything,” she muttered, looking at her oddly.
“Okay, now I’m really getting the willies. I could have sworn I just heard your voice.”
Marty walked toward them with two of his hulking assistants who held a bag of money each.
“Hand the money over and you can have them with our compliments,” Samantha called out, pushing Gus out in front of her. They exchanged prize with bounty and that’s when all hell broke loose. “Why can’t I just have an easy time of it? My life is anything but simple. Shit!”
Samantha muttered, diving for cover. “Johanna!” she screamed. Grunting, she hit the ground behind four steel barrels that held who the hell knew what. “Please don’t let those be filled with explosives,” she muttered, shivering.
“I’m fine,” Johanna shouted, from her cover spot.
Samantha looked out into the harbor and became transfixed by the burning yacht.
Recognition dawned. She realized what was missing. Those thugs of Marty’s weren’t really his thugs. She should’ve guessed that from the start. These thugs were as ugly as sin and meaner than the goons Marty liked to employ. His goonba’s usually looked affable if not a few bricks short the full load.
Right at that moment, she saw something that scared the bloody life out of her. There was a yacht that was safely away from the one that burned. Wonders of all wonders its bloody name was Journey’s Prize.
Damnation.
This was just the icing on her already multi layered cake. She chanced one final glance at the yacht that had almost claimed her life three years ago. Ducking back beneath the barrels she stifled a scream of frustration. Sorting out her thoughts was proving to be difficult. Jarrod Rodgers had finally found his way back into her life and no doubt he was hell bent on gaining revenge against her.
But she was safely away from Jarrod she could leave the docks without him ever catching her. All she had to do was signal to Johanna and they could leave together. Thereby getting away from the psychotic bastard that had almost succeeded in killing her.
Jarrod had surprised her with his obsession. He’d drugged her. And nearly drowned her.
But Johanna had helped her out of that situation. No matter what happened, Jarrod wasn’t going to take her this time either.
Three years ago she had made it quite clear to him that she didn’t want anything to do with him. This time was no different. She just had to make sure her message registered with him the second time around. Jarrod had foolishly believed that she loved him and his dangerous delusions had almost cost Samantha her life.
Samantha’s senses reeled. It clicked. She realized her weakness.
Johanna!
When she edged up to peer over the barrels she wasn’t surprised to see her sister held firmly against Jarrod’s thin yet wiry body.
Rodgers was cleverly using Johanna as a shield and he had one of those damn old-fashioned revolvers pointed against her temple. Those bloody freaking things really needed to be outlawed.
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Stay calm.
She hunched back behind the safety of the barrels. What the bloody hell was she going to do? She could risk herself, but she wasn’t about to put her sister’s life on t
he line. Especially when it wasn’t her sister’s battle to fight. She could try to use her abilities against him but since they were so volatile under the best of times, she couldn’t risk using them under such extreme duress since she could inadvertently end up hurting her sister.
Samantha stood up with her hands in the air and walked slowly toward Johanna and Jarrod.
“I give up! You can have me, Jarrod,” she continued, walking toward her sister. “Now please put the gun down. You don’t really want to do anything stupid. If you kill Johanna I will kill you. So why don’t you make the right choice and choose the prize? I swear you won’t find anything like it anywhere.”
“You shouldn’t have left me, for that useless pathetic excuse for a man. Tyler Cassidy was never worthy of you,” Jarrod remarked, tightening his hold on her sister.
“Tyler and I are no longer together. I came to my senses. I realized you and I belong together. But darling, you can be pretty elusive when you want to be. It’s like trying to find a ghost, I swear!”