Microsoft Word - MaximumVelocity.rtf (22 page)

feel freaking useless inside of this tin can.”
Eleanor
let out an indignant snort at that remark. “I’d like to have some part in my daughter’s rescue!”

“Attempt.”

She caught Charlotte’s one stray thought. Samantha chewed her lip. Her stomach rolled.

She didn’t like those odds. But she could make it work. Charlotte just had to learn that Samantha

made the impossible, possible on a daily occurrence.

Closing her eyes for one brief second, she jumped off the hover motorcycle and flipped

on the jet pack power. Soaring upwards, she pulled out her phase pistols and shot her way toward

the bus. It took a few minutes to break through the blockade with the help of Devlin and

Charlotte.

Hovering in front of the door to the bus, she locked gazes with the Asian woman.

Pointing her pistol at the door, she blasted a sizeable hole through it. The Asian woman screamed

and stepped back.

Samantha shut her jet pack off and dived into the bus. Somersaulting to her feet, she fell

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 92

into a fighting stance.

“Hand her over, and I’ll let you live.” Samantha fell into a fighting stance.

“You don’t intimidate me, little missy.”

“Who are you calling, little missy? The name’s Samantha Cassidy, mark it down and

never forget it.”

“You are a woman that many people must forget.” The Asian woman sneered.

Samantha’s eyes fell to the Triad brooch pinned to the woman’s lapel.

“Who the hell are you, anyway?”

The woman smiled, curling her lips upward in a disgusting attempt at a genuine grin. “I

am a woman of great power and importance. You should know my name…but I’m not sharing.

You only need to know that I am known within The Anasazi Triad as the Matriarch.”

“Well, at your age, I can see why.” Samantha yearned to get her hands on Rory. She

wanted to shoot the Matriarch, but she feared she’d hit Rory by accident.

Rory groggily peeled her eyes open. “I know you…” she trailed off when a coughing jag

took hold.

“What did you do to her?” Samantha demanded angrily.

“I merely gave her a sedative that would make her more compliant to my wishes.”

Samantha’s mind reeled. “Aunt Samantha?” Recognition and delight dawned across

Rory’s features. Samantha smiled. At least Rory remembered her early childhood years spent at

the family villa. In the days when her father was alive he had been able to secure large bounties

because of his business contacts. When he died, those business contacts suddenly didn’t want to

have anything to do with the Mallory’s so much so that they had put into motion a series of

events that almost financially ruined them altogether. Her mother had sold the villa cashed in

some of her investments securing enough funds to enable Johanna and she to attempt to pick up

right where her father had left off.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m taking you home.”

“I don’t have a home anymore.”

“Of course you do.” Confusion raced through Samantha’s brain. “What did you say to

her, crazy lady?”

“Crazy lady? You are the one that looks a little off your rocker at the moment,

Samantha.” Samantha winced. She didn’t like the way that her name rolled off the Matriarch’s

tongue. It set her right on edge. Danger pricked at the back of her senses. She shook the feeling

off. Charlotte’s voice came to her as if from a far off tunnel.

“Samantha, watch out.”
Samantha shook her head and ignored Charlotte. Rory was all

that mattered at the moment.

“They killed my father.”

“What? No.” Samantha grunted when something hard slammed into her from behind. She

found herself airborne before she could even react. Rory let out a petrified scream. The

Matriarch put her hand over Rory’s mouth silencing her. Samantha slammed against the front

benches. Her head felt like it was going to split into two. Some form of a new energy weapon

had hit her. Stars streamed across her vision. If she hadn’t been wearing leather, she knew the

energy weapon would have burned straight through to her skin. Pain nearly overwhelmed her

senses. For the first time in her life, she felt like curling into a fetal position.

Even through her hazy disorientation, she knew that Quinn and Charlotte had their hands

full inside of
Eleanor
. They were being besieged on all sides. It would be a miracle if they got

out alive. Things weren’t going as they’d planned. Samantha struggled to bring her pain into

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 93

herself. She had heard Charlotte’s mental scream....

“Oh, shit that smarted,” she croaked. She tried sitting up, and fell back into a heap.

Whatever had hit her had temporarily paralyzed her. “Holy shit!”

Samantha watched in horror as the Matriarch pulled Rory toward the bus door.

“Let me go. Aunt Samantha, help me!” Samantha tried to sit up. She put every ounce of

grit she had into the effort. But it was a no go. She even tried to use her powers and was

rewarded with more agony rushing through her body. She just couldn’t win for losing.

Devlin. Her mind went straight to him. She needed Devlin.

“I hear you.” Gunfire filled the communication signal. She hadn’t spoken aloud and yet

he’d heard her. Summoning her strength, she started to talk in a raspy pain filled voice.

“I need you to help Rory. Tell Charlotte and Quinn to follow her, and get her back. I’ve

been hit, I’m out for the count for the time being.”

“Hit? Did you say you were hurt? I am on my way.”

“Yes, but I’m fine. I’ll be okay. Rory won’t. Someone has to help her.”

“Okay. I will relay those concerns and then nothing is going to stop me from getting to

you, Samantha.” His voice sent a rush of hope through her heart.

She tried to sit up again. The Matriarch was almost into the hover limo that had pulled up

alongside the bus. They were gone in a flash.

“Shit. Double shit.” Samantha tried to push herself up again. Nothing was working. The

bus had emptied. Or was it empty to begin with? She didn’t know. All she did know was that no

one was driving the damn bus!

How could she get off the bus?

“Double damn,” Quinn’s voice exploded through the communication device she wore.

“We lost Rory—again.”

“Dear God,” she rasped.

“I’m going to try to find her and guide Quinn toward the vehicle carrying Rory. You just

hold on, Samantha, Devlin is coming for you,” Charlotte murmured.

“I know.” Her heart swelled. She was in so much pain; she thought she was going to start

crying. Never before had she endured such hideous suffering.

She heard Devlin crash onto the bus. “Shit. They got my motorcycle… looks as if we’re

getting out of here on yours, Samantha.”

Samantha closed her eyes. Biting her lips, she drew blood. She needed a pain pill and she

needed it right now. Whatever had hit her was definitely affecting her nervous system.

“Samantha?” The bus rocked to the side, against Devlin’s added weight. She looked up.

Her vision was going shadowy. But she could just make out his worried gaze as he knelt down

next to her.

“Dear God.” Fury shone in his eyes. He tried to cover for it by overcastting it with

concern…and love? She blinked her eyes. She hadn’t just witnessed a tender moment from

Devlin. “You’ve been hit by a nerve stun pistol. You’ll be out for the count for at least another

twenty-four hours.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He nodded his head. “Here, let me get you out of here.” Devlin reached toward

her. His touch made her shiver. “I’ll try to be gentle, but I can’t help it. Your skin has become

extra sensitive to the touch. I tell you, the Triad pulls all the punches when it comes to fighting.

They hit Quinn with that when they took Rory. Now you know why he couldn’t help her.”

Samantha nodded her head and let out an inward scream as more pain ripped through her

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 94

body. “Thanks.”

He picked her up and somehow managed to get her on the motorcycle before the bus

crashed.

“Charlotte and Quinn are still in pursuit of Rory. They won’t give up until Charlotte says

it’s a lost cause.” She nodded her head. She couldn’t speak. It only increased the pain.

Samantha’s heart plummeted. She’d let everyone down. She wasn’t used to being so

reliant on others. Devlin sat behind her on the hover motorcycle. “I’m thinking I should get you

back to the
Excalibur
so that Johanna can give you a pain reliever.”

“No.” The small movement made her teeth jar. “You take us to where my brother and

sister are.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m fine. I’m a trooper. I’ll survive this. Quinn did.”

Devlin chuckled. “I always knew you had nerves made of pure steel.”

“That’s right, Dev.”

“Quinn won’t ever be able to repay you for what you went through to get to Rory.”

“I failed her.” Samantha closed her eyes.

“No, you gave her hope. You showed her that we are coming after her. I know how much

that strengthens someone who is in captivity. That will give her enough hope to fight for as long

as she needs to.”

Samantha wanted to scream. She held herself back for the sake of Quinn. They might

have won the first battle, but they wouldn’t lose the war. Once Samantha got her strength back,

she’d give The Triad a world of hurt. No one went up against Samantha, and won. The Matriarch

had only put her out of commission for twenty-four hours. The next time she saw the Matriarch,

she’d give the woman a one-way ticket to hell.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 95

Devlin looked briefly down at Samantha. She looked paler than he’d ever seen her and

he could almost feel her pain.

She’d been deluding herself for years and now that she was finally coming out of her

self-induced delusion he was facing the prospect of never having her as his own.

Tyler had always been in their way. He was the crutch she used to keep herself from

barreling straight into his arms. He knew why Samantha always ran from what the two of them

could share. She ran because she viewed him as the very sort of man she’d vowed to take down.

Of course, he had dabbled in the kinds of things that would make Samantha cringe but

down deep he knew she knew he was a good man.

He should resent her for putting a wall between them that had taken years for him to bash

through but he didn’t. He only wished that she hadn’t done it. She shivered and he yearned to

pull her back against him but he had to keep his one hand on her and the other hand steering the

damn hover motorcycle they were on.

“Quinn, we need your coordinates so that we can rendezvous with you.”

“How is Samantha?” Quinn asked sounding stressed to the limit.

“I’m holding my own, Quinn,” Samantha rasped. “How is Charlotte?”

“She’s feeling a bit under the weather. I assume she feels sick because of your injuries,”

Quinn answered. “I’m sending you our position right now. You two should be able to catch up

with me in under ten minutes.”

“Right you are. Devlin, out.”

It only took a few minutes for Devlin and Samantha to catch up to Quinn and Charlotte.

“What the hell? Devlin, where is The Palace located here on New Beijing?”
Eleanor
had pulled

up beside Devlin and Samantha. They both looked up to where The Triad hover limo had almost

broken orbit.

“Well, we’re going in the wrong direction. The Palace is behind us. I don’t know what

they’re playing at, but they must have decided to flee New Beijing,” Devlin said angrily. He

hated that Samantha had gone through hell only for them to come up empty handed once again.

“If they’re going to orbit we have to stop them!
Eleanor
, get Johanna on the line,” Quinn

ordered.

“Right away, boss.”

“What’s going on?” Johanna’s anxious voice streamed out over the com system. She

sounded as if she knew things were going badly.

“You need to go into stealth mode, right now. When a bright red hover limo arrives in

orbit, I want you to tag it with a tracker.” Quinn fired off his instructions without even taking

time out for a breath.

“Got it.” Johanna suddenly sounded in control of the situation. “Do you think they’ll be

hitching a ride with a larger space ship?”

“Could be, why?” Quinn asked.

“I only ask because a very fancy
First Class Star Speeder
just dropped out of

hyperspace.”

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 96

“
Star Speeder
?” Devlin asked, smiling. It couldn’t be, but then she’d always had a way of

coming through when he needed it most.

“Shit,” Tyler swore. “We’ll never catch up with them if they have a
Star Speeder
.”

Devlin rolled his eyes. He wished Tyler wasn’t camped out with Johanna on the bridge.

He wanted the man as far away from him as was possible but that never seemed to happen.

“This would be a great time for Winter to rendezvous with us. I sent her a distress signal

three days ago when I sent one out to Jordan. I’m not surprised that Winter beat Jordan to the