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it would run smoothly enough, but they’d be dead by the time they reached the surface. So, the

only other thing she could do was.... “Devlin, do you know how to ride a hover motorcycle?

“I might.”

“Well, then you’re just about to get the ride of a life time.” She dashed toward the hover

motorcycle, and pulled out the helmets. “Life’s hard, wear a helmet.” She threw the helmet at

Devlin, and somehow he managed to catch it. “Jump on.” She climbed onto the motorcycle and

waited for Devlin to join her.

“You can’t be suggesting I ride behind you, can you?”

“You’ve been injured, and beside, you can give me cover fire.”

For one brief moment he looked like he was gearing up for a fight. Then defeat shone in

his eyes, and he climbed on behind her. She sucked in her breath, when he tightly wound his

arms around her. “Ease up a bit, or you’re going to kill me.”

He obliged, and lessened the strength of his grip. “I don’t know why I let you get me into

these situations.”

“Hold onto your horses, ‘cause away we go.” She revved up the engine, and then

activated the mini force field that would serve to keep out some of the gunfire, and allow them to

ride under water. The jet propulsion system would allow them to fly through the ocean without a

care in the world.

“How good of a driver are you?” Devlin whispered. The hover motorcycle took to the

air. She leaned forward, and resisted the urge to let out a triumphant whoop.

“Oh, I’m one of the best. Now my landings on the other hand, are ones that will jar your

teeth.” She laughed, as they tore away from the casino. Already, the bikers were beginning to

mount their own motorcycles. “Don’t worry, I’ve gotten us out of sticky situations before. I

mean cut me some slack. At least I didn’t leave your sorry ass back there, like Quinn tried to do

to us.”

They flew right by the under water security checkpoint. The under water Atlantis seemed

really devastated. The security officer was lying with a blazing hole through his chest, and his

eyes wide open. Obviously, they’d been given no warning. By all of the evidence it did seem as

if Gregory was the one now running the show. She didn’t know how they were going to get back

to the
Excalibur
but they’d have to find a way. It didn’t take them long to reach the surface.

And when they did, she couldn’t decide which was worse, being down there with the bikers or

up here with the storm troopers that were marching across the streets.

“Uh, Devlin, please tell me those men and women down there work for you.”

“They don’t. They’re obviously part of Gregory’s troops.” Samantha licked her parched

lips, and scanned the skies for some sort of safe haven. The energy reading on the hover

motorcycle was almost down to zero. She had to find somewhere safe to land, and quick.

“I’m going to head for the space docks, unless you have some other really brilliant plan?”

“No. We can’t go back to my mansion. Gregory will no doubt already have taken it

over.”

“I feel like I’ve been thrust back into the bloody middle ages.” She rolled her eyes. They

had fifteen minutes before the motorcycle ran out of energy, at which point their asses were

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 43

grass. She doubted that she would be able to carry Devlin that far with only her jet pack, which

wasn’t fully, charged either. “Well, hang tight, Dev, because if we aren’t blessed by the fates,

our lives are going to get
a lot
rougher.” She’d have to reveal the full extent of her powers to

him if it came to that point where all else failed them. She knew he’d seen a bit of her abilities

six months ago when Veronica and Ross had seen them. He’d noticed when her personal force

field had conked out and he’d seen what she’d done with her own abilities to make up for the

device malfunctioning. She knew he would never betray her to anyone that would take

advantage of what she was.

Why or why, couldn’t she live the life of a woman that had no worries in the world?

Why of all things did she have to a have a brother that would save his own skin rather than

sticking it out with her?

“Oh, and Dev, pray for a miracle. Cause that’s the only way we’re going to get off this

bloody planet alive!”

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 44

“Well, at least life is never boring with you around, Samantha.”

“Hey, if I wasn’t here, you’d be one of Gregory’s trophies right now.” She smiled, and

stared through the hazy glass of her helmet. If only the
Excalibur
was nearby. Right now, she

really missed her family. She could try to open a com channel to them but evidently, it wouldn’t

do her any good since they were probably out of range. Instead, she reached down, and

activated her own communications device. Hopefully, she’d at least be able to contact
Eleanor
.

“What are you doing?” he asked. She looked up, nearly shrieked, and swerved to avoid

an incoming transport truck.

“I’m doing some really fancy flying, Dev.” She could hear him muttering, but she didn’t

have the inclination or concentration to listen to him. “
Eleanor?
” She breathed in deeply, while she flew through a red light.

“
Samantha,
” Quinn murmured with his silky smooth voice. Her blood nearly curdled.

She couldn’t understand how someone from such an upstanding family, could turn out so damn

rotten.

“Quinn, I’m going to make your nads disappear the next time I see you.”

“Whoever says they’ll be a next time?”

“Oh, I’ll be with you in a moment. Besides, you said so yourself that you needed me to

help you track down Rory.”

“I’ve decided to find Aurora on my own.” She rolled her eyes, and nearly steamed up the

inside of her helmet with her hot breath.

“Tell him that without you and I, he’ll be going in blind. Sort of like looking for a needle

in a haystack, if you get my drift,” Devlin said.

“Devlin says....”

“I heard what Devlin says. Tell him that his situation was a lot different from mine. I

don’t know what I’m getting into. I should have never run to you.”

Samantha’s head was reeling. She really had to ask what Devlin’s situation was.

Johanna had only filled her in on part of it, and she really wanted to see how Devlin would tell

her the story. Despite her better judgment, Devlin had actually been tolerable so far. That is, he

was making her fall for him even harder. Devlin was so much more appealing to her right now

when compared to the devoid of all feeling man that Tyler had turned into.

“If you take off on me, there’s no going back. Johanna, Charlotte and I, and the rest of

the family won’t ever help you ever again. Do you hear me?
Never!
Charlotte’s probably right

at this moment trying to psychically pinpoint Rory. Are you honestly going to let her go through

all of that for nothing? I mean I’ll still tail your ass around trying to find Rory on my own, but

it’s better if we go as a united front. Think of it, the Mallory’s and the Cassidy’s against the

galaxy.”

“Hey, don’t forget about me,” Devlin interjected.

“Yeah, by the way Devlin, what is your first name, or last name? I mean is Devlin your

title or your first name or surname?” Silence met her. Okay, so maybe Devlin still didn’t want

to open up about a lot of things. That was fine with her. If he wanted to shut her out then so be

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 45

it. Mental note, Samantha, don’t take such an interest the next time. “Quinn, did you hear me?”

“
Yeah
.” She looked to her side, and smiled when she saw
Eleanor
.

“Hey, Eleanor, long time no see.”

“I do not really like your brother, Samantha. I prefer you, even when you’re bitchy.

Your brother knows how to hack into my systems. You’d better tell him that he is never to do

that ever again.”

Samantha chuckled. “Sure, I’ll do that Eleanor.” Just then, a hail of laser fire shot past

them. “Are the shields holding up back there, Dev?”

“So far, yes. But I’ll be happy when we’re not out in the wind.”

“Eleanor, contact the
Excalibur
and tell them that we’re going to need a lift as soon as

they can get here. I want off this crazy planet,” Samantha said tiredly.

“Hey, this crazy planet used to be mine,” Devlin interjected.

“Case in point.”

“Samantha, you are as they say a barrel of laughs.”

“Oh, well, I was serious.” They were hurtled forward as a particularly large blast hit the

back engine. “Uh, Oh! That isn’t a good thing.”

“Bloody hell. All you can say is that isn’t a good thing when we are careening to our

deaths?”

“Oh, we’re not going to die. I’ve been in far worse straits than this before.”

“If that is the case, then you are barking mad.”

“No, it’s just the life of a determined bounty hunter. For some reason people always

want to kill me.”

“Oh, well! I can’t imagine
why
.”

Quinn’s voice blared out through the intercom. “You good? Or do you need me to

swoop down and save you?”

“That’ll be the day. Just give me a sec, and tell Eleanor to be ready, cause I’m coming

in!”

“What are you planning, Samantha? For some reason I have a very bad feeling about

this.” Devlin grunted.

“Actually, you’re going to have to shimmy around so that you’re in front of me. If I

activate the jet pack with you in your current position I’ll blow you away. Either that or you are

going to have to jump and trust that I’ll catch you.”

She waited for a few moments while Devlin pondered his situation. “I’ll jump.” With

that, he jumped off the falling motorcycle arms flung out like a bird’s wings.

“Bloody brilliant. Just the choice I would have made.” Without giving it a further

thought, she hurled herself off of the doomed motorcycle and freefell toward him. Then just at

the right moment, she turned her jet pack on. “Gotcha,” she muttered, fastening her arms around

his large form. “You know, you feel as if you have a load of bricks in your ass.”

“Thank you. What a nice compliment. But then, it’s better than having bricks for a

brain.”

“Ha, ha. I’m laughing on the inside.” She grunted, pulling him up toward
Eleanor
. All

the while, she was swerving from side to side, trying to avoid the laser fire. “Holy crap!” she

exclaimed, just as a large missile came shooting toward them. “This must be Gregory. He’s the

only person I can think of that could play this dirty.”

“Oh, I could think of a few others.”

“Yeah, well, I’m trying to look on the bright side of things.”

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 46

“If that’s your bright side, then I don’t want to see your dark side of things.” A trace of a

smile crinkled at the corners of her mouth. They were just about level with
Eleanor
. At the

most opportune moment,
Eleanor
opened her back doors. First she flung Devlin inside. Then

she tried to get as close to the car as she could. Switching off her jet pack, she hung onto the

door for dear life, and finally managed to pull herself up into the hover car. She was met with

Devlin’s ass, which was stuck up in the air at an odd angle. His voice was muffled, as he moved

around to face her.

“You know, you could have warned me.”

“Yeah, but that would have taken the fun out of it wouldn’t it?” she said sassily. He

rolled his eyes. “Eleanor?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Take us out of here at your maximum velocity, and only stop when you rendezvous with

the
Excalibur.
”
Without so much as a warning,
Eleanor
shunted to an abrupt stop.

“Uh, Samantha, I think we’re in
BIG TROUBLE
,” Quinn said, as she scrambled into the

front seat. She looked to where he was pointing.

“Uh oh. Hey, guys, do you think a really nice gal could be given two miracles in one

day?”

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 47

Chapter Nine

“I don’t know, Samantha, but that’s definitely what we’ll be requiring,” Devlin muttered

from the back. She groaned. Then she stared down at the weapons console.

“Eleanor, how much longer can we keep this up?”

“We are at a max right now. If we don’t get some backup soon, though I am a
Faerie

Cruiser
, I won’t be able to take the significant strain on my systems.”

Samantha exchanged a worried glance with Quinn. “Well, if we go boom now, then

Johanna will have to continue the search on her own.” Static sizzled over the com frequency as a

channel was opened by another party.

“Hello there, sister mine, did someone call for the cavalry?” She grinned widely.

“Johanna, you couldn’t have made better time. Where are you guys?”

“We’re about fifty kilometers from your position. I’ve got the
Excalibur
hovering in the

brand spanking new stealth mode that Dylan installed.”