by test
“I…I know you,” she stammered, keeping her eye on the sky in front of her, while she reached for her communication controls.
Tyler enclosed his hand around her wrist, and gently tugged it away from the console.
“Please, lady, don’t do that,” he muttered, darting a furtive gaze behind him.
Crenshaw was still there a few feet back, but he was quickly closing in, and Fred might not understand that Tyler had an innocent woman sitting beside him.
“You are a murderer! You’re going to attack me, and then kill me! My father was right.
I should have never left Jupiter Prime. I should have stayed where it was safe, and where the criminals were all taken care of. But no, I had to make my own mark on the galaxy, and travel out to the border worlds. I had to seal my own fate. If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have a convicted felon sitting right beside me...,” She took a break for a gasp of air, as Tyler began gently massaging his temple. He had never dreamt that anyone could say so much without taking a break for air.
“Shut up!” he shouted, wishing beyond all else that he had jumped into a hover mobile that had a nun or a priest inside that had taken a vow of silence.
The annoying woman obediently clamped her mouth shut looking at him sideways with her large glassy brown eyes. They were filled with undeniable fear and something else.
Damn it all, he hadn’t meant to scare the wits out of her, he just wanted to make her babbling end. Tyler maneuvered himself to look out the back window, and saw how Crenshaw was closing in on him.
He was the prey, and Crenshaw was his predator.
“I must apologize for dropping in on you like this, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he began as he searched furtively for a means to escape his would be captor.
This time Tyler feared that he wouldn’t be getting out of this without being in a body bag.
He reached inside of his pocket, and placed a few coins on her dashboard.
“For your considerable trouble,” he muttered. He turned away and pressed the button that would roll the window down.
“Where are you going?” the whiny woman wailed, just as he swung his legs over the side, and briefly sat for a moment. Lord, this woman was nerve wracking.
“Oh, I’m going for a night time flying lesson,” he remarked wryly, turning back to her and winking at her.
RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 29
“But you can’t fly! ” she said stupidly. She put the car in automatic mode and tried reaching for him. “Men with huge bounties on their heads, just don’t drop from the sky, into my vehicle, and then leave before I collect the bounty. Get back in here, Mister,” she ordered, as all of the feigned fear fell from her voice. “Move your ass and hop to it!”
Tyler could feel something hard protruding into his back, and he was pretty certain it wasn’t her purse. He tried forcing the dry lump down that had somehow lodged its way into his throat. Okay, so he was cursed with the worst luck. The woman next to him could give him a run for his money when it came to putting on a show.
She had to be frigging kidding! He hadn’t just escaped the hunter only to fall into the hands of the huntress.
“Say, why don’t we just negotiate a fair price for my head?” he offered, slumping his shoulders. “I’m open to anything, you know. I’m rather fond of my head.”
She pulled him back into the hover mobile, and slammed him none too gently into the seat.
The woman still had her craft on autopilot, and Crenshaw was backing off, since he had obviously recognized the vehicle. And as Tyler stared over at the woman next to him, he felt like kicking himself. He wished beyond everything else that he had wished for that day, that he had taken the time to truly look at her well-defined features. She certainly had the sort of face that made an impression.
Tyler took a good long look at her now, and bile rose in his throat. It didn’t take him long to recognize her from his wife’s records. Her name was Veronica Hutchins, and she was the hardest ass-kicking woman this side of New Earth. Veronica’s reputation preceded her, for she even intimidated Crenshaw, as she was a ball basher of the worst sort.
“Hello, Cassidy,” she drawled out, fastening metal handcuffs around his wrists.
“Welcome to my home turf. You’re out of your element. And don’t think about escaping me, cause if you do, I’ll make sure that you curse the day that you were born!” Veronica emphasized her words, by knocking him across the back of his head. His head lolled forward. He lost all coherent thought and fell into an unwelcoming darkness.
* * * *
Samantha sat forward suddenly, coughing as she nearly spewed coffee through her nose.
Her sister stared over at her in disgust and quickly reached for a tissue, to hand to her. A piercing pain thudded against Samantha’s temples.
Tyler’s face flashed in front of her.
“Did you just see that?” she asked Johanna knowing what her answer would be.
“I saw you spew coffee all over the place, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.”
Samantha rattled out a shaky sigh. “Have you ever felt like something terrible has just happened, when it hasn’t?” Samantha asked slowly, wiping her mouth with the white tissue.
Her hands were cold and clammy, and she struggled to keep them from shaking. She had the most colossal headache, and her stomach hadn’t stopped rolling since she’d learned of Tyler’s current situation. She wished The Excalibur could go faster. But even though it could outrun most spaceships, it was no Star Speeder.
They heard a loud crackling noise as the ship’s AI materialized in front of them. They had affectionately called the female Artificial Intelligence Lucy, and she stood at attention in front of them, with her hands crossed behind her back.
Lucy was programmed to resemble Samantha, although she had bright purple hair at the RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 30
moment, and was dressed in a Neon pink jumpsuit. Lucy certainly didn’t have any fashion sense.
Samantha stared over in annoyance at Lucy, and scrunched her features up. She snorted and whispered to her sister, “Remind me to kick that husband of yours in the ass the next time I see him. I hate the way he made Lucy look like me. I can’t even change it, because he knows that I don’t have a clue about those sorts of things,” she lamented angrily, sipping at her dark brew. “And to add insult to injury he made her hair purple because of the unfortunate display my abilities make when they decide to make an impression.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear. I think Dylan thought that he was paying you a compliment. We most certainly can’t change Lucy’s look now that she is used to it.”
“Dylan could just wipe her memory,” Samantha suggested. It wasn’t the first time that she’d suggested wiping Lucy’s memory, and probably wouldn’t be the last.
Lucy cleared her holographic throat so as to catch their attention.
“What is it, Lucy?” she snapped, wincing at her overly harsh tone, as Johanna served her with a disapproving stare. She stuck her tongue out at Johanna. For some reason, Johanna insisted in treating Lucy as an equal.
“I have been monitoring vital communications through the large network of the United Bounty Hunters Federation, and have also been monitoring all vital communications on New Monaco. Now please, stop congratulating me for such diligence to my job,” Lucy said, putting up her hand, as Samantha kept herself from kicking Lucy’s non-existent butt. Lucy also had a habit of going on ego trips.
“What have you found out?” Samantha demanded. Her senses were heightened, and she tapped her foot restlessly against the floor.
“Well, I was just getting to that....” Lucy said, calling up a recording that she had made.
Samantha tensed, instantly recognizing the nasally voice.
“Veronica!” Samantha muttered. “I so did not need to hear her whiny assed voice.”
Johanna gave her a worried gaze.
Veronica Hutchins’s
voice streamed out through the speakers, and Samantha balled her hands into fists as tears of frustration welled in her eyes. She didn’t need this.
“That woman will have Tyler for dinner,” she murmured. Her heart jumped.
There was one thing that you could always count on in Veronica, and that was her vicious attention to detail. Samantha wasn’t surprised that Veronica had managed to capture Tyler, she had just been praying that Tyler would have had the capacity to elude his hunters until his family arrived to bail him out.
“This is going to complicate matters,” Johanna said below her breath. Right at that moment, Dylan appeared on the main bridge.
He looked weary and defeated, and Samantha could already guess that he had overheard Lucy’s update.
“That
woman
hates men,” Dylan said, shuddering. He leaned against the nearest bulkhead, and rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, and she doesn’t like women much better,” Samantha declared, instinctively rubbing the spot where Veronica had dislocated her shoulder two years ago.
She hated the woman. Hated her because she had her husband, and hated her because she matched her skill for skill. It would be bloody difficult rescuing Tyler from her. But hell, she was always up for a challenge.
“Veronica’s a definite ball buster,” Dylan continued. Spacecraft flew around them. They approached New Monaco’s spaceport. It wouldn’t be long now.
RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 31
“If Veronica lays one grimy finger on Tyler, I’m going to have to give her a few reminders of what happened to her the last time she went up against me,” Samantha threatened.
“Hang on, Tyler, we are coming.”
Johanna began speaking to the space traffic controllers, “New Monaco Space Traffic Authority this is the star ship, Excalibur requesting permission to enter New Monaco’s planetary atmosphere.” Samantha fell silent at Johanna’s gesture to shut it. She pushed herself up from her chair, and yawned while she stretched.
Ambling over to the refreshment bar, she absently poured herself another cup of steaming coffee. Johanna hated the precious brew, but Samantha couldn’t seem to get along without it. It was her life force.
She loved Johanna dearly, but they were as different as night and day. Samantha loved excitement and adventure, and Johanna loved piloting the spaceship, and staying out of the dirty part of the business.
Johanna was as adept at ass kicking as Samantha was, though Johanna hated to put herself to that much exertion. So, they had made an agreement early on, Johanna would do the driving and Samantha would do the fighting. Besides, as Johanna never failed to point out, Samantha loved to kick ass. And when she really thought about it, it was one of the highlights of her job. The scum they dragged in usually deserved everything she handed out to them.
They always made sure to use their aliases when on a job, and preferred that their colleagues referred to them as Sam and Jo, since it made them seem more formidable.
Sadly enough, even in their sophisticated age, men still dominated the bounty hunter work force. And if Samantha and Johanna weren’t so competitive the men nearly always made the most cash. Samantha quietly sat back down beside Johanna, and watched Dylan slip back into the hallway.
Samantha knew that he loved his brother, and she knew that he was tormented by the thoughts of what might happen to Tyler. But at the moment she didn’t want to entertain any of those notions.
No one was going to keep her from her man, not even a self-vindictive bitch, who had given her more trouble than she could handle.
“Thank you,” Johanna said, to the amiable man on the other end of the communiqué.
“We’ll find him soon, Samantha. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
Samantha smiled over at Johanna. “If anyone else had told me not to worry my pretty little head they’d get a punch in the nose. You, dear sister, get a pass.” Her sister’s upbeat tone almost made her believe in happy endings.
They
entered
New Monaco’s atmosphere, and Samantha groaned as she stared at all of the flying spaceships. If she kept looking at them, she was going to get a migraine the size of Earth.
Samantha leaned back, deciding to let her sister take control until the moment was right for her to take command of the situation.
“Lucy,” Samantha said, as the AI moved toward her, and leaned over her shoulder. “Do you think that you could possibly narrow in on our dear Veronica, and see where she might be at the moment?”
“Only if you promise to never tamper with my systems,” Lucy purred into Samantha’s ear. Samantha bristled, but managed to keep her mouth shut. Why did Lucy have to be so bloody brilliant?
“Fine,” Samantha agreed, wishing that Dylan hadn’t given Lucy such a stubborn RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 32
personality. She hated how Lucy always questioned everything, and never gave in, no matter what.
Then she formed her lips in a thin line, and realized for the first time that Dylan had not only made Lucy look like her. But that he had given the AI her personality as well. This time Dylan had really stepped over the invisible line.
“I’m going to shove your head up where the sun doesn’t shine, Dylan,” she muttered beneath her breath, staring hatefully over at Lucy. “What’s up Lucy Q? You’re taking all damn day,” Samantha prompted, arching her brow expectantly. She took another sip of her java, and sighed with contentment. She locked her eyes on Lucy. The AI made a series of weird humming noises, as her violet eyes lolled back into her head. After about a second, her gaze met Samantha’s.
“They are in the capital city of the Eastern State of Brunswick. The capitol city is York,”
Lucy answered patronizingly. Samantha glared at her again, and barely managed to hold back her pent up anger.
“I know what the damn capital city is called!” Samantha barked. “I wasn’t born yesterday!”
“That’s quite obvious,” Lucy quipped.
Johanna changed their coordinates, and let out a heavy sigh.
“Samantha, cool your jets. Lucy, pull a map up for me, I haven’t been to New Monaco in ages, and I don’t want us to get lost, when it’s so vital we get to Tyler before he’s delivered.
Lord Devlin lives in York, and Veronica might already be at the delivery point,” Johanna stated.
Lucy hurried to comply. That was the most frustrating part of Lucy, as Samantha rolled her eyes in disgust. Lucy literally kissed Johanna’s ass, and yet Lucy didn’t even want to cooperate with her, in the slightest. It really ticked her off!
“Crap!” Samantha swore, dribbling coffee down onto her white shirt.
“Oh,
Samantha,” Johanna sighed, not surprised at her sister’s clumsiness. “Are you sure that you don’t want me to contact Devlin and ask him to go easy on Tyler?”
“Certainly not!” Dylan bellowed from the other side of the bridge.
“Freaking hell!” Samantha cursed, jumping up from her seat, she spilled some more coffee down her front. “Where in God’s name did you materialize from? You disappear and reappear faster than a magician!” she demanded, wanting to have a good old-fashioned fight with him. “Look what you made me do,” she accused, biting her lip, as Dylan strode purposefully over to them. “And you Johanna, you are getting on my last nerve, with your Lord Devlin shit.
We don’t need him, and if you contact him, I will make you really, really sorry,” she muttered, trying to wipe the coffee from her shirt, which only made the spot spread as the stain worked its way into the fabric.
“We are going to have to land The Excalibur, and then pursue Veronica,” Johanna said wearily. An angry voice streamed out into the bridge.
A figure of a tall take no prisoners looking man appeared on the large screen, and he scowled down at them.
“You ignored docking procedures!” he pointed out, emphasizing the fact with his index finger. “Land immediately at the nearest docking bay.
Though The Excalibur is small enough to enter the atmosphere, you are too bloody large to go speeding through our planet. You will cause an accident, if you continue on your current course.”
Samantha was getting ready to have it out with the man, when Johanna put a restraining hand on her arm. “Do you want us to get our license taken away from us?” she muttered, staring RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 33
sweetly up at the ranking New Monaco official.
Samantha shook her head, and then allowed Johanna to smooth things over.
“We apologize for the inconvenience, Captain,” Johanna said in her best ambassador’s voice. “We shall hasten to dock.”
The official smiled down at her. “Thank you,” he said. In the next second, he’d disappeared from the screen.
“Why do you have to always do that?” Johanna demanded impatiently.