Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

Wicked Missions 4

ELIZABETH RAINES

Copyright © 2011

Chapter 1

“I’ll kill you for this!” Syrus Graveland shouted as he turned his bloated face to watch the small ship take off.

Lyrianna Seebré laughed right in his face, relieved that her mission had been a success now that the ship was on its way to the Rhotan System. He might have slammed her up against the wall and wrapped a beefy hand around her throat, but her pulse pistol was poking into his stomach. All she had to do to save herself was pull the trigger. She could probably even squeeze off shots fast enough to take down the two men who flanked Syrus, especially since they both seemed breathless from chasing her. “Just try,” she croaked, her throat constricted from his squeeze. “You’ll be dead before your fat carcass hits the ground.”

“Those vaccines were mine! They would have gotten me a fortune!” he screamed, making little drops of spittle hitting her cheeks. She refused to cringe, despite the fact that everything about the drug kingpin sickened her. His sweaty smell. His disgusting looks. His repulsive job. Nor would she ever waste her inborn empathic abilities to try and get a read on the man. Belusians were taught from childhood to use their gift only for good. Wasting it on a man with no soul would violate her upbringing.

Living on the hellhole that was Rozale, she should have known one day it would come to this. Kill or be killed by one of the scum of the universe who used the planet to run their nefarious enterprises. Black marketing. Prostitution. Drugs. Hell, there were more thieves hiding out on the planet than anywhere else in the galaxy. She’d have enjoyed a much better life back on Belusia being a school teacher. Yet fate had set her on Rozale, giving her connections that helped her turn some of the bad things happening around her into good, such as swiping stolen vaccines and making sure they ended up in the hands of the people who desperately needed them.

“Well, now they’re heading to Fraiqua instead,” she replied. “You’ll have to comfort yourself that thousands of children will survive now. Pity they couldn’t pay your black market prices. Now let me go, or I’ll blast your ass to—”

“Freeze!” a masculine voice shouted as light flooded the area. Dozens of officers from the Rozale Enforcement Agency started pouring into the landing area, pointing their weapons at Lyrianna, Syrus, and his cohorts.

“It would seem, Syrus,” she practically purred, “that you are caught.”

Two officers grabbed him by the shoulders and jerked him away from Lyrianna. She breathed a relieved sigh and smiled. “Thank you, off—” A third officer hit her arm with a baton, knocking her pistol to the ground. Then the black-suited man whirled her around and pressed her against the wall. Her arm throbbed like a son of a bitch, but it didn’t feel broken. Their “greeting” seemed to indicate they didn’t understand she wasn’t with Syrus’s gang. “Hey… C’mon, now. Easy there, buddy. I’m on your side.”

“By order of the Rozale High Counsel, you’re under arrest for drug trafficking,” the officer said as he slapped restraints on her wrist, dragged it behind her back, and secured her other wrist.

She tried to get him to understand her role in the vaccine swipe. “Wait, wait! You’ve got it all wrong!” Lyrianna said, trying to turn back to face the officer. “I was just getting those demise pox vaccines to some missionaries to take back to—”

The officer grinned as a man in a suit with a badge hanging from the breast pocket strolled over. His smile was chilling. “So you confess you were in possession of black market virus vaccines? Should make the trial a helluva lot easier.” He elbowed the officer. “And I didn’t even have to beat that confession out of her.”

* * * *

Four weeks later…

The ancient judge stared down at Lyrianna from the enormous wooden bench. His blue eyes were hard as steel, his mouth was fixed into a hard line, and his gray hair spoke of a lifetime of enjoyment at passing sentence on the citizens of this fair planet. She didn’t even bother trying to get an empathic read on him. She was already resigned to her fate—had been from the moment they threw her in the jail cell and slammed the metal door shut.

While Rozale might have modeled much of its society after twentieth-century Earth cultures, on this planet, arrested was the same as guilty, especially if the accused wasn’t a Rozale citizen. So many of the things in the courtroom reminded her of the things she’d seen in the old books from Earth she loved to read. The big bench, wooden tables, and padded chairs. The judge’s black robe. The man who worked for the government and wanted to put her in a penal colony on one of Rozale’s moons. The one thing missing was the person who was supposed to be representing her best interests. No one defended her, and she’d not even been allowed to speak on her own behalf. They played back her confession that had been captured by the arresting detective, and only prosecutorial evidence was considered.

And now, she would be told her punishment for helping steal those demise pox vaccines right from under the noses of Syrus Graveland and his black market smugglers.

Four weeks in a cell in Rozale’s women’s jail had left Lyrianna bruised, thin, and dirty, but not broken. God knew that the penal moon wouldn’t be any better. Probably much, much worse. She’d been naïve to suppose the government would have mercy on her for getting the vaccines to the Fraiquan children intended to have them rather than make parents pay smugglers to save their children from that horrible, deadly sickness. No, nothing in the Rhotan System had ever been remotely fair, even now that the civil wars had ended.

“Lyrianna Seebré,” the judge’s voice boomed from on high, “you have been found guilty by this court. I intend to make an example of you and of all the other smugglers who seem to believe this beloved planet is a free-for-all for every type of illegal activity. Black marketeering and drug smuggling will not be tolerated on Rozale.”

She snorted a small laugh, not even caring what the judge thought of the disrespectful reaction. He hadn’t even considered what she was doing with those vaccines or why. He was lumping her together with people like Syrus Graveland, and
that
, she couldn’t allow. “This planet
is
a free-for-all for every type of illegal activity, and you damn well know it!”

“Young lady, you should show more respect for this court, especially when it is about to pass sentence on your crimes!” His face had grown ruddy, and she sure didn’t need to be an empath to know he was enraged.

So was she. “I committed no crimes. I took those vaccines from thieves who have operated as freely here as any legal business, and I gave them to Fraiquan missionaries who will use them to save thousands of children’s lives. If you want to send me to prison for that, fine. But don’t you
dare
say I’m a thief! I’m a…a…Robin Hood.”

The judge frowned down at her. “A what?”

“A Robin Hood. A figure from Earth’s history. A legend to his people. He stole from the rich to give to the poor. I stole from thieves to give those vaccines back to the people who truly needed them.”

The judge looked less than impressed. He grabbed his gavel and shook it at her as he shouted down her sentence. “What you are, Lyrianna Seebré, is a Belusian expatriate who has befouled our society and become nothing but a common criminal. I sentence you to forty years hard labor on the women’s penal colony on Delta moon.” He banged the gavel on the desk as the prosecutor and detective pounded each other on the back in some kind of show of masculine congratulations.

Forty years
. She’d be an old woman when she was paroled, assuming she’d last longer than a year or two on that godforsaken wasteland. Most women didn’t. The average life expectancy on Delta was less than five years, but Lyrianna was twenty-five, healthy, and strong.

She swallowed her fear and prayed that she’d find a way to raise the average.

* * * *

The shuttle landed on Delta, making the women in the compartment bounce. Not the smoothest landing, but at least they’d all arrived in one piece. A male guard in a gray uniform came walking into the compartment followed by a thin but imposing woman in a black business suit who carried a touch screen organizer. The warden? A ranking officer? She tapped away at the screen as she passed each inmate, probably checking them in by the number stenciled in white on their navy blue jumpsuits. When she reached Lyrianna, she stopped and stared.

Not a surprise. Lyrianna didn’t look much like the other women on the shuttle. She was, by far, the youngest. At least she appeared younger than her fellow inmates. Her hair was still shiny and vibrant blonde, while many of the other women had cut their hair short or had filthy, matted tresses. Several of the women were Amazons—members of a women’s gang that ran rampant on Rozale, terrorizing anyone who crossed their paths. They shaved their heads and sported tattoos on their faces that proclaimed each of their crimes. The Amazons on the shuttle had very little unmarked skin, their numerous and hideous designs announcing them as people she’d want to give wide berth while on Delta.

“What the fuck are you staring at, princess?” one of the largest Amazons shouted at Lyrianna. Judging from her face, the woman had committed more than her share of crimes.

Knowing there was no good answer, she decided to try some bravado. If she didn’t establish herself as a badass from moment one, her small stature would make her ripe for torture by stronger inmates. “Seems to me I’m staring at one ugly gorilla who might have been a female once upon a time.”

The Amazon tried to jump up, but her chains immediately dragged her back down. “Oh, princess. You picked the wrong person to fuck with. I’m gonna scratch those pretty blue eyes out and rip that ponytail off your skull with my bare hands.”

“If you had an ounce of brains in that thick skull of yours, you’d see my eyes are gray, not blue. I’m Belusian and proud of it. And you’re a fucking idiot if you think I’m just a
princess,
” Lyrianna replied, grateful her voice didn’t quiver. “Try laying a hand on me, and you’ll pull back a bloody stump.” She was probably going to have to endure several nasty fights before she showed them she might be short in stature, but she knew how to protect herself. And in any scuffle, she always gave as good as she got.

The lady in the black suit continued to stare at her. “A pathetic bunch. Not much profit here. Except…” She punched a few things into her organizer and then nodded at Lyrianna. The guard came over and started unlocking her shackles. “This is the only one going to auction. Get her off the ship and get her ready.”

“Auction? I beg your pardon?” The woman didn’t answer her. Tossing a glare at the guard, Lyrianna tried again. “What does she mean ‘going to auction’?”

A knowing laugh was the only answer from the guard. “Stand up.”

Lyrianna obeyed, but only because the guard had pulled a small stun-stick from his belt and pointed it at her. That, and he outweighed her by a good thirty kilograms. He shoved her between the shoulder blades to move her toward the exit hatch. “Where am I going?”

“Not fair!” the Amazon she’d insulted cried out. “That bitch deserves this place. Send me to auction! I’m strong. I’ll get you a good price!”

The lady in the suit laughed aloud. “You? A good price? Hardly. There isn’t a man in the world who’ll pay a single universal-credit for you. No, she’s the only one worth picking. The rest of you are moving on to the prison.” She stalked to the door and followed Lyrianna and the guard out of the shuttle.

Several meters away, another shuttle, this one with no identification markings, sat waiting. Just as Lyrianna turned to ask what was happening, the guard jabbed her in the neck with a hypospray. The world started turning, and her knees suddenly gave out. Everything went black before she hit the ground.