Chapter Nine

Would I ever stop making these stupid mistakes? Once again, I’d underestimated Jessie, blindly opening the door to her cell. Ironically, if the chair had been lighter, she could have hurt me, but she hadn’t been able to lift it high enough or swing it hard enough. So far, she’d broken my nose, shot me, and tried to bash my head in.

The building’s interior lights had been off, but as I carried her out, motion sensors lit up the exterior like a stage. I hunched over to hide my face as much as I could. I wasn’t worried about hovercraft flybys as much as vid-cam recordings.

From the dilapidated exterior, the house appeared to be abandoned, but the interior had been gutted and divided into cells. All but Jessie’s had been empty, but they all showed signs of recent habitation.

As I strapped her into the seat of my hovercar, her angry gaze vowed vengeance as soon as she could move. Another reason to hustle. I didn’t want to have to stun her again before we arrived at our destination, another ramshackle-appearing fortified country house, this one mine. I climbed into the vehicle, activated the shimmer tech, and we took off.

Fifteen minutes later, we entered the secure garage at my safe house. Lights came on. The paralysis had begun to wear off; she had surreptitiously been moving her fingers. I unbuckled her and carried her inside.

I had a couple of safe houses. Neither my residence nor hers was secure, and I had to keep her out of the way. Neutralizing her by wiping her memory wouldn’t solve anything at this point. She’d already caused a stir. Worse, it would be akin to declawing a cat and letting it loose among a pack of Cerulean warnocks. She’d be lunch.

A low counter divided the big room into a kitchen and a sitting area. The openness allowed me to keep an eye on things. After setting her on the sofa, I secured the doors with my handheld. Her blistering gaze followed my every move. Winning her confidence and cooperation wouldn’t be easy.

I stowed my weapons in an electronic safe to prevent her from making a grab. If intruders approached, perimeter sensors would alert me in time to arm myself.

I returned to the sofa. “Are you able to speak yet?”

“Fuck you.”

So, yes. “I’m sorry I had to stun you, but you attacked me, and we didn’t have time to negotiate. I had to get you out of there fast.”

I rounded the counter to the kitchen and poured two glasses of water. I set one on the table beside her. “For when you’re able to move. The paralysis shouldn’t last much longer. If you’d prefer something stronger, wine or beer, I can provide that.”

When she could move, she’d probably chuck the glass at me.

I took a sip of water then set my glass next to the chair facing her. I removed my hoodie and tossed it onto another chair.

Her gaze riveted on my horns. “I knew it! You’re Copan.” She spit out the name the way my people said ovwet, the derogatory word for human in Ara-Cope. Her body shivered with involuntary contractions, the residual effects of the shock. “Who are you? What do you want? Besides my handheld. Which I no longer have.” Her expression turned smug.

“Yes, I’m Copan. But I’m here to protect you.”

“Protect me?” She scoffed. “You’re in cahoots with them—the men who drugged and kidnapped me.”

That’s what she thought? “If I was with them, you’d still be in that cell.”

“Instead, I’m here with you.” She lifted a trembling hand and gestured at the room. She’d be weak and shaky for a while, but the paralysis was wearing off.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I joked, trying to apply a little charm.

“So, I can get up and walk out any time I please?”

“I didn’t say that.”

She reached for the water glass, and I braced myself. She drank, downing half of it. She probably hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since she’d been taken, and cotton mouth was a side effect of being stunned. I’d taken enough hits to know. “So, why am I here?” she said.

“As I explained, for protection.”

“I don’t need protection.”

“That’s why two men were able to drug you and abduct you from the Jericho garage as you left work. I saw the whole thing.”

Surprise flashed across her face before she masked it. “That’s how you protect me? Watch me get kidnapped?”

“I had to weigh the possible consequences of my limited options. I could have stunned one of the men, but the other one would have killed me, and then who would have come to your rescue? Plus, I wouldn’t have learned the location of their halfway house.”

Hopefully the tool I’d left behind and the nicks I’d etched into the inside of the cell would lead them to conclude Jessie had escaped under her own steam. They’d wonder how the tool had gotten in there but would guess she had had it on her—or, even better, that one of them had slipped it to her. They might try to cover their ishtas by not revealing she’d escaped at all. They might report they’d been unable to kidnap her. There were many possibilities, but the important thing was that Jessie wasn’t there anymore.

“Halfway house? That’s what they’re calling a locked cell these days?”

“The place is located about midway between the city and the landing site. They keep captives there temporarily while waiting for the cargo ship to arrive.” Although ships were cloaked by a shimmer, the longer they stayed, the greater the odds of detection, so vessels didn’t stick around. They landed, people were herded aboard, and they left.

She sneered. “Nice.”

I eyed her, weighing the pros and cons of revealing what her fate probably would have been if I hadn’t gotten her out of there.

Pro: She might drop her dangerous crusade.

Con: The information might invigorate her crusade.

Pro: She would work with me rather than against me.

Con: She’d redouble her resistance and fight me every step of the way.

No matter the scenario, she wasn’t leaving this safe house until the operation concluded.

“Except you weren’t going to leave the halfway house alive,” I told her. “They didn’t take you to sell you. They took you to shut you up. You were going to be interrogated and then probably executed.”

Her face drained of color, but she brazened it out with a jut of her chin. “You’re trying to scare me into compliance. How do I know I didn’t jump from the frying pan into the fire? You kidnapped me, too. They drugged me, but you shocked me. How are you any better than them?”

“I didn’t kidnap you. I took you into protective custody. My name is Maxx. I’m an agent with the League of Planets.”