17. Chapter 17

I swaggered over to where Willis and his cohorts lingered.

"Whoring yourself out to the alien, I see," he sneered.

"You sent three men after me?" I replied with a little tremble in my voice, hoping he couldn't detect that it was from anger rather than fear.

"I suppose your alien took care of them for you?" His eyes darkened, but I was willing to bet not over the loss of his men but for me still standing here.

"Somebody had to," I confirmed, committed to the little game Dzur-Khan seemed to want to play, which fit with my plans quite nicely. The longer Willis didn't realize that I could handle myself, the better. Let him think Dzur-Khan came to my rescue rather than me taking his men out. I preferred my enemies to underestimate me.

Willis thinking that I was whoring myself out to Dzur-Khan for protection didn't faze me either, especially when I got kisses out of it. And what a kiss it had been. Hanging off Dzur-Khan's muscly body did things to mine…

"Next time, you won't be so lucky," Willis threatened, cutting off my delicious train of thought before I could get to the part where Dzur-Khan slung me over his shoulder or pinned me against a tree with his hands around my wrists or throat. My breathing increased, but lucky for me, Willis interpreted it.

"Where are my men anyway?"

I sorted my head. I enjoyed mind games, but obviously, mine wasn't in this game right now, something that had never happened to me before, and I decided Dzur-Khan and I better get it on tonight before I lost the last of my clear-headedness.

"Out there," I said, pointing as far away from the pond as I could get away with, considering the direction Dzur-Khan and I had entered the camp from, which I was sure Willis had taken note of.

"You better watch yourself. Dzur-Khan and his men will make mincemeat out of you," I warned.

"We'll see," Willis replied smugly. Too smugly. I didn't like that at all. Something was up. My little spidey senses were in full receptor mode. The way they got when I was close to unraveling a secret plot, or someone's poker weakness. I had been good at reading people even before I joined the Navy Intelligence, and they taught me a few more tricks. Willis was planning something, and whatever it was, I was sure it was connected to my sister's death. IC had sent Willis and his men for a reason. And that reason had something to do with conquering Vandruk .

If I had been sent to scout for weaknesses, that's what I would have done: scout. I would have sent my men out every chance I got, but the only time I had seen Willis and his men leave the group had been to go hunting, which they had done rather unwillingly. I was still missing something from this puzzle. Something vital because Willis's behavior so far didn't make a lick of sense with what I knew. I wasn't about to underestimate him either; the IC would never have picked an incompetent leader for this. There was too much at stake here for them.

"Watch your back, Amber," Willis advised as I turned away from him.

Dzur-Khan was watching meat at the hotrock, surrounded by a bunch of giggling women, shamelessly flirting with him or trying to. His eyes seemed to follow my every move, something Sandra noticed. Another one to watch out for, I decided. She had to be getting desperate to catch herself a Vandruk if she wanted to stay. But just like before, she was barking up the wrong tree, and we all knew where that had led in the past. Not that I would go down as easily as poor Gwyn had, but I was plenty busy watching my back already with Willis and his guards. I didn't need the added threat from her and her Queen Bee club.

Sandra sent a contemptuous glare my way, and I decided it was time for a preemptive strike.

"Careful, I'm not Gwyn," I hissed at her, shouldering past and taking the wooden plate Dzur-Khan was about to offer her. His eyebrows arched in questioning, to which I responded with my sweetest smile before whispering to Sandra, "You wouldn't be my first campmate who woke up with a knife in her back."

I would never stab anybody in the back, but she didn't need to know that. The wave of hostility I sent off made my point clear. She swallowed and stepped back. Good.

"Thank you." I held up the plate to Dzur-Khan, who seemed confused. Some things human men simply didn't get, and from the looks of it, alien men didn't either.

I found a spot by a tree and chewed the juicy meat. It was really good and surprisingly spiced, but I was growing tired of this meat diet. The few vegetables the Vandruk had thrown in so far weren't enough to satisfy my tastebuds either, which I was afraid had grown quite spoiled ever since I switched careers.

When it got dark, I entered Dzur-Khan's tent, took off my boots, and made myself comfortable on his nest of furs. I waited for a while, but when he didn't follow me, I realized he was going to keep watch again. I felt a slight stab of guilt. I should have offered to take a shift, but I didn't suppose Dzur-Khan would have trusted me yet. So, I might as well get the rest I needed after today's activities. I closed my eyes and wasn't surprised when I fell asleep without any disturbing thoughts of guilt. I had long ago learned to compartmentalize. Those men who would have killed me deserved what they got, along with all the other people I had sent to meet the Devil over the years.

Did their faces haunt me? No. Did they sometimes win and stab, throttle, and shoot me in my nightmares? Absolutely .

The last thing I remember before falling asleep where Dawn's words: You're a psycho .

This was probably the reason why I thought I was still dreaming at first when a shot and a shout woke me in the middle of the night. Frozen, I sat up for a moment, which wasn't like me at all, wasting precious seconds, before Dzur-Khan shouted my name. "Amber, kev—run!"

That and the sounds of scuffling, followed by another shot, got me going. I grabbed my boots in one hand, one of Dzur-Khan's bone knives in the other, and cut a slit through the material just as a bullet whizzed right by my head. I propelled myself forward, rolling on the ground and hitting my hip against a sharp rock as another bullet pinged against the ground by my foot.

I didn't take the time to figure out how Willis had managed to bring guns to Vandruk when all metal dissolved here within minutes of coming in contact with the air. That would have to wait until I figured out what the hell was going on.

I kept rolling before I made it onto my feet, duck-walking awkwardly on bare soles, silently cursing the rough terrain. Another bullet went by, but this one was far to the left of me. Whoever had entered the tent and was coming after me had expected me to be on the other side. His amount of bullets must be limited if he didn't send a hail of them after me. Good, but I wasn't out of the woods yet, so to speak. Moving as quietly as possible, I bought more distance between myself and the camp, from which I could still hear shouting and the telltale sign of a struggle .

When I was sure I was out of range and didn't see any pursuer, I took the time to put my boots on before I cut my toes on the many sharp rocks littering the land. Keeping my belly to the ground, knife in hand, I slithered forward, back toward camp, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

A small puddle drenched my arm, but I took the opportunity to scoop up mud and smear it over my face, hands, and—I sighed since I had just washed it—hair to blend in with my surroundings and to prevent the light of the moon reflecting off me.

The thought that Willis might have killed the Vandruk sent a spike of pain through my heart. I had a hard time imagining Dzur-Khan dead; he was such a force of nature, but I had seen it happen to other strong men. I didn't like that thought. At all. And the stab of pain that came with it was more than the loss of a great sex partner. I liked him. A lot. He was the first man who stimulated me in more ways than one.

Voices rang out toward me, warning me that I was closing in on the camp. The fires were still burning and had even been fed to brighten up the camp. With the light, I could see Willis looked like an agitated bear stalking the ground.

"Find her," he barked out, holding something resembling a gun in his hand. It was too dark and far away to make out what it was exactly, but before I left Navy Intelligence, I had heard rumors of a new type of plastic gun. It hadn't been perfected yet, but it was supposed to shoot rubber bullets with an accelerated speed that could pierce skin like a real bullet .

If anybody could have gotten their hands on it and perfected it, I suppose it would have been IC, with their bottomless funding. This meant they had prepared for some kind of invasion on Vandruk, most likely even before Tzar-Than came through the portal.

"You ladies have a choice: join us and be nice, or stay here and starve," Willis offered generously as he pranced toward the huddled group of women. "Or you can try to make your way to the portal; it's not that far." He shrugged, making it clear that it didn't matter to him one bit what option the women chose.

"What exactly are you offering us in staying here?" Sandra asked, moving her arms to encompass the wilderness surrounding us.

"I'm not going to give away privileged information, but I promise you suitable and safe housing," Willis replied.

Sandra turned to the other women, who stared at her wide-eyed, none of them ready to make a decision on their own.

"I don't know. We're not that far from the portal. I think… I think I could find the way back," Kenley stated, shrinking from Willis.

"Your choice entirely." Willis shrugged. "You'd be on your own, though."

I only listened half-heartedly to the ensuing discussion between the women. Instead, I was mulling over what Willis had disclosed. They were never meant to be our guards , which explained their lackluster job and calling the brides alien bait . Again, though, what would those orders have been? They hadn't done any kind of scouting if they were going to establish a FOB—Forward Operating Base, at least none that I had noticed. Which would only be needed if IC planned to send more military or their own security guards here. The only reason they wanted to do that was to subjugate the current population of Vandruk and claim the planet as their own. I wished more than ever I had asked more questions of Dawn when she called me.

My earlier musings about Avatar and where I would stand in that situation came back to me, making my decision easy.

My nice, cushiony, boring life of luxury floated in front of my eyes: my apartments and houses, my private jet, my expensive wardrobe and purses—all things I had valued for so long. I had satisfied my adventurous side with rounds at the poker table, but the little bout with Tony and his goons had reminded me of another life I had lived and one that I had enjoyed equally. I had no idea what life on Vandruk would have in store for me besides adventure and a sense of purpose, but I didn't care. I had always lived more for where the wind blew me, what interested and lured me, and right now it was Vandruk and, yes, Dzur-Khan, whom I spied—here my heart did a little leap—a bit beaten up and bleeding, but no worse for the wear, tied up against a tree. Dhor-Van and Shan-Tal were also bound against other trees. Shan-Tal was bleeding profusely, and his head hung low, which wasn't a good sign.

"… would have to sexually satisfy you," Kenley's words penetrated my consciousness, and I listened back in.

"We wouldn't ask anything out of the ordinary from you ladies," Willis assured them, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up .

"What about them?" one of the other Queen Bees, Erika, inquired, nodding at the Vandruks.

"Don't worry your pretty head about them." Willis chuckled. He still needed the Vandruk, probably as guides. He wouldn't need all three, but for now, it seemed like he hadn't decided which one of them he regarded as dispensable.

"What about us?" Bob West, the leader of the science group, piped up.

"We won't need any sexual favors from you." Willis snorted, followed by laughter from his men, who had shrunk down to twelve if my count was correct and none of them were patrolling. Bob's face turned red, and he spluttered something unintelligible.

"You and your team would be handy in pointing us to natural resources, food, and valuables, but it's up to you if you want to join us or not," Willis informed him. "Having Pierre would be enough for us."

"What about Dawn?" Scott asked.

Willis waved his hand. "Something else you don't need to worry about."

I scrutinized the scientist.

"What do you mean, Pierre?" Bob screeched.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, if you decide to stay, Scott will be the new leader of your team," Willis remarked offhandedly.

So, this was the connection between Pierre and Willis. Now the question was, had Willis offered Pierre the job to keep quiet about Dawn, or had they conspired about something before Dawn had found out? My money was on the latter .

Alright, I had heard enough—it was time for a plan to free the Vandruk. I would interrogate Pierre and Willis later. Shan-Tal didn't look like he had much time left. If nobody cared for his injuries, he would bleed out soon.

I was good, but I wouldn't be able to handle twelve men and Willis. Twelve armed men. I needed Dzur-Khan. Getting him free would be my first priority.

"Tend to his wounds," I heard Willis bark before I withdrew further into the wilderness, hoping he was talking about Shan-Tal.