Winner Takes All

by Winner Takes All (lit)l

  Gren held up his hands. "I was ordered out." He heard Temis moan loudly again and grinned. "Apparently Rorn wants her to himself, to test the merchandise."

  The guards were uneasy but nodded.

  "And he said he was to remain undisturbed until he called for anyone. Otherwise he'll be very displeased."

  They looked nervous as they nodded their understanding.

  Gren strolled away casually, projecting a pleased image when he really wanted to smash someone, to release the tension building inside him. Not to mention Temis was all alone in that room without a stitch of clothing.

  I put the rags back on. I can moan fully clothed you know, she said with disgust.

  His heart lightened at her pique. Content Temis was fully aware of the situation even if extremely irritated with him, he made mental contact with the last five women on his list. He didn't note any additions, and breathed easier when he saw the limited amount of "clients" under the smaller tent.

  He noted two disreputable leaders of organized crime on Melan, a few Afleran traitors, and a legendary smuggler and cutthroat from Ragga named Abjon. He would definitely be the one to watch. The dozen or so other participants didn't look worthy of Gren's concern.

  A crowd was gathering around the center stage of the private auction, where the bidding was to begin. Gren counted six guards stationed around the perimeter of the area, plus the two in front of Rorn's room, and wished he'd brought his sword. But he knew Rorn would have the technology to ferret hidden weapons, and he'd earlier relinquished two decoy throwaway blades to Rorn's men without a qualm.

  Gren didn't need a weapon to hinder Rorn's guards. He had two hands aching for the challenge. His blood heated, similarly as it did when around Temis, and he felt her respond, her pleasure still pulsing in him.

  The energy she'd given him had yet to dissipate, and the build-up was just what he needed to debilitate Fenhal's men.

  He glanced at the center stage and did a double-take at the sight before him. He felt for the women, but couldn't have asked for a better distraction.

  Two of the slaves had disrobed and were touching each other at the behest of Nero, another minor obstacle Gren would need to overcome.

  Moans and groans of approval from the small crowd grew louder and naturally the guards' attention wandered.

  Gren easily knocked unconscious two of the furthest from the stage and quickly took their weapons. He left them slumped against one another and walked quickly to the next nearest pair, who happened to be guarding Rorn's private room. With a well-aimed phaser, Gren zapped them both, then fired upon two more, eliminating them as a threat.

  His actions finally noticed, the crowd around the stage shouted angrily for help, drawing the remaining security.

  Moving in a blur, Gren rolled to avoid a blast from Nero's laser and cut the man down. Then he aimed several pulses at the remaining guards and came to his feet, knowing it wouldn't be long before the outer guards checked on the commotion.

  "What are you doing?" Abjon snarled, surprising Gren with a mighty blow to his abdomen.

  Lifted violently from the ground, Gren gasped and landed hard on his back, rolling to avoid Abjon's follow-through stomp to the throat. He'd lost his phasers upon landing, and glanced hurriedly to see where they'd flown.

  * * * *

  "Like I'm going to moan in here all day while he has all the fun," Temis growled, waiting a few moments after Gren made contact with the women before leaving the tent.

  She wore only her slave garments and hoped to use the lack of material to her advantage. Instead of distracting Rorn's guards with her beauty, however, she found them passed out on the ground.

  Narrowing her gaze, she found Gren silently creeping around, disabling security while the crowd was distracted by ... she blushed bright red seeing the women so engaged on stage.

  "By Narok's breast, is that the senator's daughter on her knees kissing--" she paused the thought, shaking her head. She had better things to do than ogle such a graphic display.

  Seeing that all hell was about to break loose, she quickly neared the three remaining women, naked and caged on the side of the stage, obscured by a curtained partition unseen by the spectators.

  Gren, I need your help here, she communicated at the same time she felt extreme pain around her stomach. She gasped and the pain vanished.

  The crowd quieted as someone grunted, then they began shouting encouragement to someone named Abjon. From her vantage she saw the back of a large man, most likely a Ragga with his height, standing over someone.

  With a knot in her belly, she imagined that someone to be Gren.

  I've released the women from their drugged haze. Take them through the house to the southernmost window, like we discussed earlier. Sernal should be in place by now.

  She saw the Ragga lift Gren and throw him ten feet, and she flinched when he made contact with the unforgiving ground.

  Hurry up! He sounded pained. You're distracting me while I'm supposed to be distracting all of them.

  The crowd roared its approval of the fight, pleased at the added entertainment. She heard Gren growl something insulting at the Ragga, who gave a bloodcurdling war cry before lunging at Gren.

  Convincing herself he could take care of himself, Temis deftly opened the unlocked the cage and motioned the women to exit. Whispering to the women on stage to follow suit, she turned to encounter two salivating men who had decided to use the crowd's distraction to their advantage.

  "I don't have time for this," she muttered and struck at the nearest fool. With his eyes fixed on her breasts, he wasn't prepared for the kick to his face. His partner cursed in astonishment before suffering the same fate.

  "Come on, ladies," she said through clenched teeth. "We don't have much time."

  Apparently Gren's compulsion made them follow her orders to the letter, for they moved quickly and without question.

  As she entered the house, with a grudging thanks to Cherel's knowledge of Rorn's estate, she heard more shouts and phaser fire exchanged. Please, she prayed, let that be back-up arriving.

  She raced to the extraction point bypassing several startled servants. All of Rorn's security had apparently been used for the slave auction, for she encountered no trouble on the bottom floor of his mansion.

  When she reached the southernmost window she found it open and shivered at the cold breeze infiltrating the house.

  "Temis?" came a tentative call from just outside.

  She poked her head out and saw Rafe peering at her from atop a nearby tree. When he saw her, he visibly relaxed and slid to the ground. He motioned to his men and entered through the window with two dozen peacemakers.

  Seeing her in next to nothing, he had the gall to softly whistle, then handed her a green jumper that she hastily donned.

  "You can stop ogling me now," she said dryly, aware that while she dressed, other guards were similarly clothing the women with her. "We have to go back in for Gren."

  "Squad one, secure the women and shuttle them out of here. The rest of you come with us." Rafe handed her a pair of boots and her phaser, then followed her through the now empty hallways.

  The floor echoed ominously as they ran back outside into the heated slave tent.

  "Where did everyone go?" Rafe asked, puzzled.

  The crowd had disappeared, as had the disabled guards. She and the others searched the small tent. Nothing. Feeling hollow in her gut, she raced to Rorn's blue room.

  Rorn had also disappeared.

  "Damn it."

  Gren was nowhere to be seen when she and the others swept through the smaller tent into the main tent. There she spied more women being covered and protected while Sernal and his men arrested the masses trying to escape.

  "Peacemakers, fan the perimeter," Rafe yelled.

  While they secured the area, Temis searched for Rorn and Gren.

  Gren? Where are you? Her question met with silence and she grew more worried.

  Sernal motioned for
Rafe and her to approach. "Listen to this." He didn't look happy as he held the man whose wrist Gren had broken, shaking him for information.

  "Like I was telling you, right before you guys showed up this monster Ragga burst through the tent there." He pointed to the large hole in the fabric separating the general sale from the private sale. "He threw that mercenary piece of shit around like he was a doll." The man cradled his wrist and grinned before his face soured. "Then the merc bastard drew blood. I don't know how, but he really hurt the Ragga."

  Temis exhaled a deep breath.

  "And what else?" Sernal shook the little man, his eyes a promise of retribution.

  "Th-then Lord Fenhal followed looking more angry than I've ever seen him. The three of them disappeared into the house through that doorway." He pointed at a faraway door made of broken glass. "Then you assholes showed up and ruined everything."

  Sernal yanked him by the collar and shoved him toward one of his men. "Secure this offal with the rest."

  He turned to Temis, his golden eyes blazing. "Why didn't you wait for back-up?"

  Gren must have been rubbing off on her. Before meeting him, she would have felt nervous under Sernal's thunderous anger. Instead she shot back, "I would have waited, but the mercenary you chose decided to do things his way."

  She gave Sernal a mutinous glare, worried and angry that Sernal was admonishing her when they should be looking for Gren.

  He stared at her, nonplussed. Rafe, however, chuckled. "I told you, brother. He's gotten to her." She scowled at Rafe who held his hands up in mock surrender.

  "Why don't we find Gren and then you can interrogate him yourself?" Rafe suggested, to which both Sernal and Temis answered.

  "Agreed."

  Chapter Fifteen

  "I've heard of you," Abjon said as he swung a meaty fist toward Gren's face.

  His ribs throbbing, his face bloodied and his shoulder most likely dislocated, Gren used the pain to enhance his reflexes and narrowly avoided another blow to his cheek. Recoiling from the larger man's lunge, Gren leapt to the side and leaned low, kicking at Abjon's knees.

  He made contact and the Ragga hit hard, knocking a priceless vase from a nearby table. A murderous curse rent the air and both Abjon and Gren glanced back to see Rorn standing behind them in the mansion's overlarge reading room with a phaser in each hand.

  "You," Abjon roared, regaining his feet with graceful ease, a curious motion from one so large. "You promised security for this ambitious trade. And now the woman that should rightfully be mine is out there with Mardu peacemakers!"

  Rorn didn't waver, his expression grim as he stared loathingly at both men. "It's not my fault I stole Seriana before you could. Besides, if you really want to blame someone, blame the drun next to you. I didn't invite the peacemakers to my party, but I'd be willing to bet he did."

  Abjon stared at Gren in surprise, his orange eyes pulsing with a strange light. "You're telling me a mercenary with more murders and thefts on his plate than most of the criminals out there, this man, is a peacemaker?"

  "No, not a peacemaker," Rorn spat and closed the distance between himself and the combatants. "I suspect he turned to bail himself out of trouble."

  Sensing the rage building in the Ragga, the more dangerous of the two despite Rorn's phasers, Gren quickly improvised. "Actually, Rorn, I don't know how the peacemakers arrived when they did. I admit I knocked you out, for the sole purpose of keeping Temis and your beks." He shrugged, mindful of his ribs and shoulder. "Though I have to say your security really is lacking. I took out nearly all of your interior guards myself. And you call yourself a professional?"

  A muscle in Rorn's cheek started twitching. "I've had it with you, Gren. You ruined what should have been perfection. I know you brought the peacemakers to my home, my sanctuary." His voice grew rougher, the man's pristine uniform dirtied and his once perfect hair in disarray. "If I can't have Temis, then neither can you."

  A sudden burst of weapon fire tore one of the phasers from Rorn's hands. Gren rolled for cover by one of the overlarge settees and saw out of the corner of his eye Abjon do the same a few feet away.

  Phaser blasts exploded while the thunder of booted feet raced through the room, the occupants of said boots firing on anything that moved. Unfortunately, Gren couldn't tell if the fire was friendly or enemy.

  "This isn't over," Abjon rasped, a hint of blood pouring between his fingers clutching at his neck. "You're going to pay for this. You and the peacemaker." Then in an astonishing burst of speed and strength, the Ragga sprinted for a nearby glass door leading to the outside. He broke through the thick panes, rolling to his feet and continuing his stride into the frozen forest surroundings.

  "Stupid bastard," Rorn muttered from beyond Gren's cover and began firing at Gren, shredding the expensive settee.

  Unlike the phaser Gren had set to stun, Rorn's was set to kill, as evidenced by the massive black burns left scorching in the blast's wake. Gren couldn't risk being hit, but he needed to find Temis with an intensity that made it increasingly hard to function.

  Needing to keep his pain from affecting her, he'd been forced to shield himself. It was maddening to know she was out there and possibly in harm's way. But he knew Temis could take care of herself, much as he didn't want to admit it. And he had to finish Rorn before the man escaped to do more damage to the innocents of the system. Gren would just have to believe in Temis, both for her sake and his own.

  "You couldn't share, could you, Gren?" Rorn's voice was raspy, his control all but shot. "All week you had her on her knees, begging you to let her go. I know you fucked her in every way imaginable. Who wouldn't, in your position? But you just couldn't give her up. I would have paid you thousands, you know."

  Rorn fired again, this time coming close to taking the top of Gren's head. Gren glanced under the rubble of settee and saw Rorn's feet nearing. The massive firing that had previously interrupted Rorn had faded into the background, coming now from somewhere outside this room. If Gren didn't move quickly, he wouldn't live to see tomorrow.

  Just as he was about to send Rorn to his grave with a series of complicated moves learned on Zephyr, he heard Temis.

  "Gren?"

  Rorn shifted several feet away, facing the direction of the front entranceway. Damn it!

  "Temis, do step closer. No, no, my little slave, drop your weapon or I'll kill you where you stand, and your clumsy oaf of a lover as well." Gren couldn't see Rorn's hands and had no idea if the other man bluffed or had actually regained the second phaser.

  Apparently he had for Temis sighed and tossed her phaser to the ground in a clatter.

  What are you doing? he fairly shouted, trying desperately to stave the pain while communicating. Why didn't you shoot the drun?

  He heard her gasp and drew in on himself, making a mental note to hunt down Abjon and return his myriad breaks and bruises to the Ragga's body.

  "What's the matter, Temis?" Rorn asked snidely, walking toward her. "Embarrassed to admit you liked feeling his cock inside you? Did you really think I wouldn't eventually discover your feigned submission, the lack of needle marks on your arms and legs? You were never drugged, just a dirty little whore playing the mercenary to make me jealous."

  Rorn had lost his mind altogether. Gren took the opportunity to roll quickly away from the settee, in full view of Rorn and Temis, and stood on steady feet, his anger boosting his reserves.

  "There you are, Gren." Rorn smiled, his eyes shining with madness. "I wanted so badly to kill you after you lived out my fantasies with Temis. But you wouldn't do it. Now I think I'll live out my fantasies with you watching. What do you think?"

  He shared his gaze between Gren and Temis while he steadily stalked her. Temis stood frozen, not in fear, but in concentration. Gren could see the lack of trepidation in her gaze. If anything, she looked angry as she glared past Rorn at him, as if he'd done something wrong.

  Knowing Rorn planned to rape Temis and force him to watch, he moved one
step closer to Rorn, one step closer to ending the bastard's miserable life. Did Rorn really think Gren would allow him to rape Temis? Or that he could rape her now, with peacemakers and slavers running amuck on his estate? At any moment Gren expected to see a squad of lawmen running through the door.

  Instead, out of the corner of his eye he saw Rafe sliding quietly into the room. Now confident Rafe could take Fenhal down should the need arise, something in him relaxed.

  "I'll bet you fifty beks you can't rape her." Gren folded his arms and stood nonchalantly as he challenged Rorn.

  Rorn blinked and paused, now standing right behind Temis. "What did you say?"

  "Make it a hundred beks. There's no way you can rape that woman."

  Rorn shoved one of his phasers into the small of his back and stepped to the side. He opened the fly of his trousers, exposing a raging erection. "I can do all sorts of things with this," he hissed and held the phaser to Temis' temple, rubbing himself against her jumpsuit.

  "But you should see what I can do with this," Temis said softly as she butted the back of her head into his face while simultaneously grabbing the phaser aimed at her head.

  The phaser went off and Gren's heart leapt into his throat. Luckily Rorn's shot fired into the wall, barely missing Temis. Just as Gren reached her, she threw her elbow back into Rorn's stomach and pushed away, turning to fire as she did so.

  Before her phaser tagged him, however, Rafe had his hand around Rorn's throat, choking him unconscious, before securing the criminal's hands at the small of his back. The Mardu moved so quickly Gren had missed his movements altogether.

  "Didn't I tell you not to leave my side, partner?" Rafe asked Temis calmly, his eyes glowing with reproach.

  Temis had the grace to look shamefaced. "I know, but, well, I meant to stay with you. The confusion, the phaser fire--"

  Rafe sighed with disgust. "Forget it. Just help the stupid merc sit before he falls down. I swear, one week with the man and you're useless with orders," he muttered, dragging Rorn from the room.