Microsoft Word - RecklessBounty (28 page)

“
Wow!
I really don’t like heights. Hey, Samantha, you know I don’t like heights. Why’d you take me up here? I liked it better down there,” Dylan muttered, clamping his eyes shut.

“When I have to go up and fix things on the ship I swear I shit a brick every time.”

“You’re never going to take pain medication again, while you’re on active duty. That’s a new rule. I’m going to write it down as soon as we get back to
The Excalibur
.”

“Okay, Captain Lady,” Dylan mumbled.

She rolled her eyes. Grabbing his hands, she wrapped them around her waist. Then she wrapped her one arm securely around him.

“No

matter

what,

you

HAVE
to hold onto me, Dylan!” she stressed, once again activating the jet pack.

“
Gottcha
,” he slurred, blinking his eyes open, and then shutting them again. “Could you make everything a nice purple color, maybe? That way, I know I’ll live or if you screw up, I’ll blow up....” he rambled.

“
Bloody wonderful
,” she muttered, as she ascended toward the opening that Ross was standing in. “Just don’t get sick on me.”

She handed Dylan to Ross, who was by now fast asleep. Just then, she turned her head.

Her heart stopped. The grapplers made the most wretched noise. In an instant, they made another horrid noise. Then, they finally broke beneath the weight.

“
Shit!!!
” she cursed, turning her body toward the elevator.

She quickly set her jet pack at its highest speed. Cringing, she heard Veronica’s panicked scream. That woman could scream like no other. She sounded like a tortured banshee. Purple light streamed in front of her as she called upon her abilities to speed up the jet pack, praying that Veronica wouldn’t notice and that the energy flowing from her wouldn’t turn on her.

I have to get a medal for this!
She raced toward the opening of the elevator. She sped toward it, and sighed with relief, when she noticed Veronica desperately trying to cling to the roof of the elevator.

Samantha didn’t have much time. She swooped down. Veronica’s eyes met hers. She reached for her hands. They connected, just as the elevator fell out beneath Veronica’s feet.

They rushed toward Ross and Dylan, and Samantha wanted to pat herself on the back for her mind-blowing skills.

She raced to where Ross stood, and handed the stunned Veronica over to him. Timing it perfectly, she perched herself on the edge of the opening and shut the jet pack off at that exact moment.

She smiled triumphantly as she felt the ground beneath her. Her eyes went straight to Dylan. He was still fast asleep, and his face was awfully pale. She moved over and checked Dylan’s pulse, sighing when she discovered that it still beat in a regular pattern.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 116

At that moment, her com link crackled to life, and she heard Johanna and the Red Falcon’s frantic voices both at the same time.

“
Slow down!
” Samantha ordered. Veronica and Ross were still collecting their composure. “What did you
say?
” Dread dawned in the pit of her stomach.

No. This couldn’t be happening. Her day had been bad enough, and now incredibly it was becoming even worse. “Uh, guys,” she said, addressing Veronica and Ross. “The building has been rigged to explode in approximately five minutes.” Well, she’d managed to deliver that sounding as if she was reporting the weather. Damn, she was good.

They gaped at her and she nodded her head in confirmation.

“Ross, can you grab Dylan, and then we should
really
be moving our butts!”

Veronica took the lead with Ross right behind her. Ross slung Dylan over his shoulder.

She had to admit, the guy was big, but he did come in handy.

“Why can’t you just transport us out of here?” Samantha demanded, not needing to address her question. Johanna was probably worried half to death and she certainly didn’t need to be told her husband had lost consciousness.

“Too much interference.
I’m sorry
,” The Red Falcon answered. She sighed, hearing true regret in his voice.

“Okay, where’s my miracle?” she muttered, glancing briefly at the ceiling.

They reached the nearest stairwell just as the com link frequency faded out of existence.

They all ran down the stairs as fast as their legs would carry them. Samantha grabbed onto the railing, when she nearly slipped.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, grimacing as pain shot up her leg. “Keep going,” she urged, her pace slowing considerably.

She stared down at her watch, bit her lip against the pain, and smiled as they reached the last flight.

Ross pushed open the frozen doors, and Veronica followed. Samantha was just about to reach the doors, when something hit her from behind. Hard.

She whirled around, and struggled with the masked man that wrapped his arms around her. She pushed him down to the floor, and her eyes widened when he produced a glinting knife.

Wild-eyed, she grabbed onto his wrist and tried to overpower him. Even though he was stronger, she was pissed off and knew that she needed to get out of the building before it blew up.

She grunted. Pushing backward on his wrist, her heart slammed against her ribcage when the knife narrowly missed stabbing her in the stomach. Then, she twisted his wrist, and having no other choice, plunged the blade into his gut. He groaned. She jumped to her feet.

She knew that she didn’t have much time, even as she tried heaving the man toward the door. She heard Veronica’s shouted warning and screamed, just as the assailant, pulled on her ankle, nearly pulling her back down to the floor. Bastard. Didn’t he know when to stay down?

She roundhouse kicked him and then fell out into the street. Pushing herself off of her hands and knees, she bolted into a run just as the bombs inside of the building detonated.

* * * *

Samantha was thrown face first onto the ground, as fire blew out of the building.

“Come on,” she heard Veronica saying, as she reached down to tug at her. “We
have
to get out of here.”

“Tell me something I don’t know!” She grasped Veronica’s hand. The woman hauled her up. Her ears were still ringing, and her eyes stung like a bugger. She didn’t know how she’d RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 117

survived that. For a moment she thought she’d been toasted. She released Veronica’s hand as they raced for
Aggie
. Her balance was still a bit off, but she was still in pretty good condition.

Dylan however, was out of it. Right out of it. If only he’d come around. Then she’d know he’d be okay.

“
Samantha?
” A female voice murmured. She shook her head. The voice sounded like Johanna but she couldn’t be sure. She could have sworn it was someone else, but it couldn’t be, not this far away from
Earth
. Even she wasn’t that talented.

Aggie
was waiting for them, and Samantha quickly ignored the pain in her body. She jumped into the driver’s seat, and reached for the steering wheel.

Veronica sat next to her, and Ross climbed into the back with Dylan. She lifted
Aggie
up into the air, and sped away at their highest velocity as the building began crumbling.

Pale-faced, she gripped the steering wheel as if it meant her life. She could feel Veronica staring at her, and she turned her head sharply when she heard
Aggies’s
irritated voice blare out at her.

“Two hover cars are pursuing us,”
Aggie
announced. Samantha’s heart fell. Even though she wore gloves, she could feel her hands beginning to sweat. “The inhabitants are male, their hover cars are B class. We can outmaneuver them.”
Aggie
informed Samantha.

She veered off to the left just as a laser bolt flashed past Veronica’s side.

“
Aggie
, do we have weapons?” Samantha asked, diving to avoid another volley of shots.

“Yes, though only lasers,”
Aggie
answered, which did nothing to raise Samantha’s spirits.

“
Shields?
” Samantha asked, really not wanting to know the answer.

“Dylan, did not have time to repair my shields,”
Aggie
answered promptly. Resisting the urge to smack her head, she expelled a long drawn out sigh.

“I’m all out of ammo. I used it all up in the Moonlight Bar,” Veronica piped in, furrowing her brow angrily.

“And I’m all out of patience. Do you think that you could slide over and fill my place, while I go and take care of those perfect assholes?” Samantha asked.

Veronica moved toward the driver’s seat, just as she opened her window and climbed out.

Clinging to the side of the car, she popped her head back in.

“Do some fancy flying, and as soon as you’re clear, make your way back to
The
Excalibur.
Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, just get Dylan to Johanna. He’s in bad shape.”

“The day that I worry about you will be the day that I kiss your ass. Besides I think you’re crazy to make yourself a moving target,” Veronica shot back. Samantha smiled back at her.

“I thought I was the
Queen of Danger
,” She drawled out.

“Nah. I’ve reconsidered. Now I think that you’re the
Queen of Nut Jobs
.”

“See you in a few.” Samantha grinned.

She dropped off of the hover car, and activated her jet pack. If the little piss ants in the hover cars thought they were going to get the better of her, then they’d be better off jumping off of a bridge.

She was sore, angry, and tired. And she felt bitchy.
Really bitchy
. So if they thought that they were any matches for her, then they needed to be taught a lesson in the art of ass kicking.

They shot wildly at her, but she managed to remain agile enough so they couldn’t hit her.

Sometimes being a moving target wasn’t all that bad after all.

She decided to focus on the car that seemed to be the most determined to shoot down
Aggie
. Zooming toward it, she dropped underneath it, just in the nick of time. One of the men RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 118

inside stuck his head out, and tried vainly to hit her with his pistol.

“What’s up, asshole?” she screamed.

Spotting a grounded news banner, she reached for one of her grapplers from her belt. She shot it toward the news banner, and it coiled around the long post. Then, she shot out the second grappler, and waited as it latched onto the hover car that she targeted.

She quickly flew out of the way, and watched with glee, as the men in the hover cars, realized they were being dragged backwards at an unthinkable pace. She flew past them, and glanced back to see them careening toward the post. She waved to them, just as they crashed into the news banner. One down. One to go! She flew toward the last car.

Aggie
had slowed down considerably, and Samantha prayed that Veronica would be able to get them back to
The Excalibur
before
Aggie
conked out entirely.

“Now, round two, time to execute another perfect plan.” The traffic in the air was light, so the chances of hurting any innocents were almost non-existent. She seriously doubted that there were any innocents on
New Monaco
anyway, since it was a planet that attracted a variety of criminals from all walks of life. ‘Course, she’d probably end up doing some more damage to Lord Devlin’s lovely world.
Ah, well, shit happens.
Maybe the Red Falcon could get her a picture of Lord Devlin’s face as he was viewing the wreckage. Yep, that would be a GOOD

birthday present.

She glided down to the B class hover car, and waved tauntingly at the men inside. Livid faced, the driver gunned straight toward her. She glanced quickly behind her just to make sure she’d situated herself in the right spot. They weren’t far from the ground now, and she’d have to make sure that she was very careful, or she would become another skid mark on the pavement.

The street was clear and the men hadn’t realized how low they flew. She hoped that if she kept leading them down this path they’d finally bite and end up crashing their hover car.

Hearing the familiar sound of weapons being charged to fire at her, she froze. The sight that met her curdled her blood.

“
Holy shit!
” she murmured, frantically reaching for a smoke grenade. She said another prayer and threw it behind her.

She heard it hit the car, and then quickly flew out of the way, even as the large transport hover mobile raced toward her. It had been about to fire at her, but since she was able to move so quickly, the shots missed her, and instead grazed the car she’d thrown the smoke grenade at.

They collided. Smoke whirled around her. She struggled to control the jet pack. It had started to emit a screeching noise, akin to fingernails on an old-fashioned chalkboard. The engine sounded as if it were fried. Looking down, she realized how high she had climbed. Her heart danced in her chest.

“Ah, just great. Now I’m
really
in for it,” she muttered. At that precise moment, her jet pack lost power.

* * * *

As if by some miracle, a light flashed on her vest, just as she began to come to grips with meeting her maker. Another surge of power gave new life to the jet pack, and she realized with immense relief that Dylan had implanted a mini back-up engine. She regained altitude, and tried activating her com link. Nothing happened, and that almost had her crying out in frustration.

The bomb at the Moonlight Bar, and the bomb in the elevator were no coincidence. Then when she had narrowly escaped those two death traps, she had been informed that someone had made a back-up plan to ensure their deaths. Followed by the thug that had tried killing her, made her come to only
one
conclusion.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 119