Microsoft Word - RecklessBounty

by test

  Eleanor called out.

  Samantha actually waved back at her. As soon as she proved Tyler’s innocence, she was going to go and have her head examined. And she meant that literally.

  * * * *

  “So this is the famous Caterra Casino,” she said, leaning up against the doorframe. A security guard gave her a dirty look.

  Samantha stuck her tongue out at him and then made a funny face at him. He sighed, looked at Devlin, bowed and walked away.

  “Do they kiss your feet, or dance if you want them to?” she asked. She followed Devlin farther into the casino. Slot machines rang out around them and farther in she could see that people were closely milled around the gaming tables. “I can see why you were worried about me making a scene. There are a lot of witnesses. But don’t worry. I’m not the shy sister. You haven’t met her, yet.” She swaggered into the casino.

  All eyes suddenly turned to Samantha, and she basked in the glory of all of the attention.

  This was new, having an audience, but hell she was always willing to entertain. As long as they got out of her way when bodies began flying.

  “That’s very encouraging, Samantha. Never ever decide to become a therapist. You’d have the poor person ready to go ape shit bananas as soon as you opened your mouth.”

  “Ha, ha, I’m laughing on the inside, Lord Dumbo,” she said.

  Someone let out a shocked exclamation upon hearing her insult to Lord Devlin.

  “You should not speak to our Lord in that disrespectful tone,” A woman said, nosily poking her head into something that was not any of her business.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Lord Dickhead,” Samantha drawled out.

  The woman let out another shocked gasp. She pushed the woman not so gently out of her way, and then tried to pinpoint Veronica and Ross. She whistled in appreciation, when she heard something crack against a wall, followed by Veronica’s angry bellow.

  “I don’t think that you’ll have a very hard time, finding your friends, they seem to be getting the show started without you,” Lord Devlin pointed out. He had a weird expression on his face. He seemed almost uncomfortable. Well, if that’s what Veronica’s act did to him, then he hadn’t seen anything yet. She was about to get started.

  “Attention hogs! ” she muttered, clearing herself a path. She arrived just in time, to catch the gist of what Veronica was talking about.

  “You’re the lowest of the lows. I’m going to bend you backwards like an accordion and reacquaint you with your asshole!” Veronica threatened, breathing deeply in the man’s face, as she held him up against the wall. “Or do you think that I should play find them if you’re able?”

  “Find

  what? ” the man sputtered.

  RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 133

  Samantha walked up beside Veronica. “Well, they come in a pair, and they’re something that you probably don’t want to live without, at least that’s what I’m guessing. Though truthfully, I’d like to buy the ticket for the first act,” Samantha decided.

  Veronica stared incredulously at her, keeping a firm grip on the man she’d plastered up against the wall.

  “What are you doing here?” she muttered.

  Samantha gave her a charming smile. “I’m here to watch the show, and then become the star.” She gave Veronica a look that simply stated shut your mouth, and we’ll talk later.

  “Where’s your dear hubby?”

  “Open your eyes. He’s over there keeping the other guy busy, while I interrogate this one.

  I didn’t want to make too much noise and Ross’s ways are a little more subtle than mine.”

  “I can see that,” Samantha answered, following her hand. She wanted to laugh so badly, that it was taking all of her willpower to hold herself back.

  Ross was sitting drinking a cup of tea or coffee. She couldn’t guess which, looking as innocent as the day he was born. Every one would believe that he was a great big loveable harmless man, except for the fact that he was keeping the man in question busy, by sitting on him.

  “I can honestly say I wouldn’t want to be in that guy’s place right now.” She flinched.

  Veronica shook the man and then pulled back her fist, readying herself to inflict some more damage.

  “Just a minute, Veronica...,” Samantha interrupted, gaining a relieved sigh from the man.

  “Your whole form is wrong, here let me show you how it should be done,” she said, inching in front of her, as she took over and slammed him up against the wall. “Oh, did that hurt? ” she asked, “Because if it didn’t this is definitely going to,” she promised, bringing her knee up. “I take it that you were the one that went into my ship, The Excalibur, and attacked a woman when she wasn’t looking. News flash buddy, that woman was my sister. And well, I’m rather fond of her. I don’t take kindly to piss ants like you trying to kill her. Tell me whom you work for, and we won’t have to play hide and go seek.”

  She could sense Devlin’s continued presence, even though she wished he’d just leave.

  Didn’t he have better things to do? There were a lot of whores in the casino, maybe he could go and occupy himself with one of them. That would be about his speed. But, uh, oh. He was going to speak. She made a shushing noise, hoping he’d pick up on it. But did he? Oh, no!

  “I’d humor the woman and tell her who you’re working for, because you’re going down one way or another. But I could consider making a deal with you if you sing like a little birdie. I don’t really think that you want to face the gallows, just because someone is paying you good money. After all, no amount of money can be worth your life, and your life certainly wouldn’t be worth a lot of money.” Samantha stared over at Lord Devlin, and wanted to shoot him for referring to her as a mere woman. She had a name for God’s sake. Maybe he should try using it.

  She didn’t need his help anyway. She was doing quite swimmingly all on her own.

  “I’m no snitch,” the man said.

  Devlin approached him and gave him a death stare that even Samantha admired.

  “Do

  you

  know who I am?” Lord Devlin asked.

  The man nodded his head. “Yeah, and I don’t work for you!” he spat out. His beady little eyes filled with anger.

  “See, here’s how I see things. I can understand you not being impressed by Mister Big Shot, but I’m telling you. You should be impressed by me, and since you’re not, maybe you RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 134

  don’t know who I am,” Samantha said. A hint of danger entered her voice.

  “I know who you are! You’re the slut that’s trying to get a cold-blooded murderer off, with a slap on the hand. It’s not going to happen. Tyler Cassidy’s a dead man,” he promised.

  She narrowed her eyes. Slut? Who the hell did he think he was talking to?

  “Is that what this is all about? Someone is framing Tyler because he’s got a vendetta against him?” she demanded, barely keeping herself from wrapping her hands around his neck, and strangling the life out of him.

  “Nobody’s got to frame him. The evidence speaks for itself,” he bragged.

  She felt a tight little knot form in the pit of her stomach. “This just stinks to High Heaven. Tyler’s being set up, don’t you see that now?” she asked, turning to Devlin.

  “What I see is a group of men heavily armed, at the entrance to the casino. And, just in case you’re wondering they don’t belong to me. It seems as if someone’s just itching to start a war, and if they want it, I’m going to give it to them,” he vowed.

  “Oh,

  shit! ” Samantha said, turning around. She dropped the man, pulled out her phase pistol, and shot him. “Don’t worry, he’s just stunned. He’ll keep for later.”

  Ross suddenly jumped to his feet.

  “Ever been involved in a mob war before?” Samantha asked Veronica. The woman shook her head, and checked her weapons for ammo. “Me neither, but hell, there’s always a first time for everything,”
she muttered, just as the battle began.

  * * * *

  Samantha hated it when everything around her somehow went berserk, without her actually giving her permission. She needed to be in control of every situation she suddenly found herself involved in. But this time, she didn’t even know what she was fighting. She knew they were adversaries of Devlin’s and so in all probability they were in The Business.

  What Samantha didn’t know and wanted desperately to know, was who the hell was their ringleader. Obviously, the person had balls, not to mention a lot of power and money. She watched as Ross and Veronica prepared for battle. Samantha could feel the tension hanging in the air and knew almost immediately, that she was soon going to be facing a life or death situation.

  Whoever the small army belonged to meant business and that meant they didn’t care who they hurt in the process.

  Gamblers and whores raced for cover. She had to hand it to Devlin. He didn’t even seem affected. Devlin moved forward and grimly regarded the man that seemed to be in control of the mini army.

  “You don’t want to do this.” Steel entered Devlin’s voice. “No one wants a war with me, because I don’t lose!”

  “Neither do I,” Samantha piped in, shocking herself by actually standing close to Lord Devlin. A frown flickered across her face as she felt a unique sensation beginning to flow through her body.

  Samantha gasped, as she began to feel re-energized and giddy all at the same time. She felt as if she could single-handedly take down the whole small army, without breaking out in a sweat. Yep, now she knew what Devlin had meant by his smart-ass remark concerning that blasted juice.

  “Oh, this is not good!” she decided, as strength flowed through her.

  “That’s clearly an understatement,” Veronica muttered, falling into a fighting stance.

  Everything went straight to the dogs, as soon as a muscle in Samantha’s arm twitched.

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  Shots fired out around them and Samantha pulled down a roulette table to take cover behind.

  Then she began taking down their attackers at an alarming speed. Her hand eye coordination was amazing. It was as if she didn’t even need to think.

  “This is freaking fantastic!!! ” Samantha mumbled, boldly standing up from behind her makeshift guard. Anger rolled through her as she began to think about the idiocy of her situation.

  She was in a seemingly fantastical world beneath the sea. She was furious about the attack on Johanna and she wanted to nail the real murderer now more than ever because someone didn’t know how to play nice. Well, if they wanted to play a dirty game she could play along too!

  Throwing all caution to the wind even for her, she stood out in the middle of the room, just egging someone on to confront her, while she took them out of action in the blink of an eye.

  Samantha glanced toward Devlin and her mouth fell open when she noticed the heavy-duty damage that his weapon was doing on the army. She watched transfixed as he hit one person and they disappeared. Whatever she did she couldn’t allow her abilities to manifest and with the juice flowing through her system, they were just itching to emerge.

  “Where are they?” she called out, as he pointed to the floor. Just bloody wonderful! Here she was working with a sicko that incinerated his enemies. She so didn’t like his tactics of battle.

  But as she moved forward to challenge someone she let out a loud grunting noise narrowly missing stepping on something that was incredibly tiny. Unbelievable as it seemed, it was a person. A man if her eyes didn’t betray her.

  “Oh, my God!” she breathed, as she kicked someone and sent them flying across the room. “How’d you do that?” she called out, putting away her smoking pistols and reaching for her new Bo staff. It grew to its normal size and she hit the man that was facing her in the abdomen with it. While he was doubled over in agony, she struck him again and watched with satisfaction as he fell back completely unconscious.

  Samantha acrobatically hurled herself up in the air, to avoid a laser shot and almost hit the ceiling. Impossible! In the next moment, she somersaulted through the air, extending her leg as she kicked a man in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Her abilities and that juice worked in complete synergy and the resulting effects amazed her. She was almost super-human.

  She landed on the floor, in a catlike move and pulled out her pistol when a flurry of shots rang past her.

  She shot three men coming toward her but the third man kept moving as if he was a bloody freak of nature. He should have buckled beneath her onslaught of weapon fire at least two seconds ago, but he hadn’t! Her eyes widened as her pistol went dry. She still held her Bo staff in her other hand and didn’t have time to reach for her other fully charged pistol.

  “Oh, shit!!! ” she cried, extending her Bo staff and catching him across the knees with it.

  Her eyes widened when his legs didn’t buckle. “Why can’t you just fall down and go boom! ”

  she tried to catch him across the abdomen. He caught her Bo staff, and broke the tip off of it.

  “Holy crap!!!” she exclaimed, as she discarded what was left of her Bo staff. “You know,” she remarked, as he eyed her levelly. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.” His icy blue eyes glinted with fire, and she formed her mouth in a determined line.

  Samantha sized him up as best as she could and decided quite quickly that he had to be genetically engineered. No normal human being could still be ticking after the beating that she had just tried to give him. She breathed in deeply, as a giant sized paw swung toward her.

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  “Guess we’re going to do it the hard way then,” she concluded, as time stood still.

  Samantha knew he thought he was going to frighten her with his hard ass approach. She knew that he expected her to collapse beneath the fist that had yet to reach her face. But she wasn’t scared in the least. In fact he had only served to make her determination stronger and more resilient. At the last possible moment, she dropped to the floor before his hand could do its damage. She slid beneath his legs in a remarkable display of agility and speed.

  In one blinding flash, she’d produced two of her mini grapplers, which she in turn twined around his big fat ankles. Then she brought her free hand up and punched him in his balls. She heard him groan. Smiling, she shot to her feet and ran with the other end of the grapplers.

  The cord extended as she fought her way through another group of men that dropped where and when they were supposed to. The gigantic man hadn’t even noticed that she had grapplers twisted around his ankles until it was too late. By the time that she had reached a window, he was already trying to sucker punch Veronica.

  “This will teach you to play fair! ” Samantha muttered. Kneeling down, she reached for a grenade from her belt. She threw it at the stain glass window. Crouching down, she activated the electrical body force field that Dylan had invented just for her. The window blew with a loud crash. Shocked gasps rang out through the casino. A rain of beautiful colored glass showered around her. Fortunately, they were still located inside of the underwater city. If they hadn’t still been inside of the dome, well, everyone would be getting one hell of a surprise.

  As soon as the shards of colored glass stopped falling, Samantha deactivated the force field, stood up and smiled as her eyes fell on her intended target. As long as the grapplers had enough propulsion to connect with the target, she’d be free and clear.

  She extended her arms and aimed at a nearby hover transport. It was quite a long way, but she had faith that her grapplers would have enough momentum to reach it. They flew through the air and latched firmly onto the back of the transport. Grinning widely, she turned around toward the science experiment.

  Veronica tried to knock him silly, for what was probably the hundredth time.

  He shrieked like an annoying woman, as his feet fell out from underneath him. The whole area shook with the result
ing vibration as he skidded face first across the floor. Then he sailed through the window and stared at Samantha as he let out a furious howl.

  “Adieus Amigo! Send me a postcard,” Samantha called happily, just as someone’s hands wrapped around her neck.

  * * * *

  Samantha made a gurgling noise in the back of her throat, as she reached her hands out behind her. Her assailant was cutting off her air and she struggled to think clearly. No one was going to get the better of her, damn it! She kicked him in the shin and then freed her one hand from trying to pry his fingers off her neck, as she nailed him in the gut with her elbow.

  Samantha heard him let out a loud groan of pain and she took the time that was offered to her. His hold on her lessened, she’d been hoping that he’d let go entirely, but hell she couldn’t have it all. She felt the adrenaline pump through her veins. Reaching her hands out, she flipped him over her shoulder. She heard his terrified scream, as he went hurtling through the broken window.

  “Good riddance! ” She turned around and rubbed her neck. Shit, he’d almost gotten her there. Whoever had really murdered Lady Devlin was sending a message out to her, and she was hearing it loud and clear. She watched as Veronica fought her way over to her.