Microsoft Word - RecklessBounty (7 page)

Tyler craned his neck to spot the bastard’s vehicle. “Over here,
Cassidy
!” Tyler met Crenshaw’s gaze through the back window.

Tyler flashed his middle finger at Crenshaw gaining some small satisfaction at the rude RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 27

gesture. “
Up yours, asshole!
” Tyler yelled, totally pissed off. This had gone far enough.

Then with dawning realization and dread that started in the pit of his stomach and worked its way up he watched Crenshaw veer off and fly to a safe distance.

Oh, no! He knew what that meant. It meant he had to get out, and get out fast!

Tyler took his hands off of the steering wheel and desperately reached for the door handle when he heard Crenshaw’s creepy laughter and then his voice.

“I choose dead,” Fred said, firing at Tyler’s car. Multiple hard impact shots hit Tyler’s car, causing it to explode into tiny little fragments. The burning pieces hailed down onto the streets of
New Monaco.

* * * *

Tyler propelled himself from the vehicle with only seconds to spare. He began free falling. Burning wreckage tore down around him in large molten chunks. He winced when one small piece snagged his leg.

He felt hot sticky blood seeping down his leg, but grit his teeth together to keep from crying out. For at the moment, he had more pressing matters to attend to...like how he was going to keep himself from becoming a pancake on the sidewalk below. He had to think quickly. Now, he could definitely identify with Samantha’s world.

He reached for the mini-parachute that he wore on his back beneath his many layers of clothing, and thanked his lucky stars for his rather questionable choice of professions.

As a highly skilled cat burglar, he was sometimes called upon to scale trendy, expensive apartment buildings that were several stories high. As an added precaution, he had learned to make sure that he had all of the necessary gear that he would need in case of an unforeseen emergency. The parachute expelled, propelling him upwards. The force of the upwards jerk caused a shooting pain to go running through his injured leg.

He searched the sea of hover mobiles for Crenshaw’s and squinted his eyes when they began tearing. At last, he saw something that made him expel a long shuddering groan. He tried to take control of the situation but there was no stopping it. He grunted when his parachute snagged on a gargoyle.

Why there was a statue of a gargoyle on a building so high up was beyond his reasoning.

He struggled with the intense frustration he felt rioting inside of him. Crossing his arms he began considering his ludicrous predicament.

Before he could get his scattered thoughts together his ears perked up, at the sound of weapons being charged. His eyes widened. His heart stopped. Right at that instant, he locked gazes with Crenshaw, who was by now speeding straight at him.

The man just didn’t give up!

“
Holy Shit!
” Tyler cursed, reaching inside of his trench coat for his pocketknife.

He hastily cut through the parachute lines. His entire body stiffened, as he realized that he was about to be used for target practice. Crenshaw was indeed a sick and twisted asshole.

“Please, by all that is good in this God forsaken world, don’t let me die, like I have a great big bull’s eye on my forehead!” Tyler sighed with relief. The lines gave way, just before Crenshaw’s laser tore into the gargoyle. Bits of stone mortar fell around him, and he brushed a piece out of his hair, as he did the one thing that he should have
never
done. He looked down.

He didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve.

Now what was he going to do?

Tyler swallowed thickly. He caught sight of a hover mobile not far from him. If she didn’t move too quickly, he could ride the wind, and land on her roof.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 28

If she moved too quickly he could still ride the wind, and become a mere smudge on the sidewalk. He took a deep breath, and prayed he would hit her hover mobile.

He impacted with a great thud, and groaned. He felt every bone in his body cry out in agony. Climbing across the roof, he reached down to knock on the passenger window. The woman rolled down the window. Once he saw how large the opening was, he slid inside. His injured leg hurt like a bugger. If he weren’t in such good physical condition, it would be hampering his movements right now. He glanced down to see how badly it was bleeding. Then realizing he had to give an explanation to the driver, he prepared to give one of the best performances of his lifetime.

Tyler turned to the woman and gave her one of his most charming smiles. Her eyes were widened in shock, and she gripped the steering wheel so hard that he just knew she was going to leave an imprint.

The woman’s suspicious eyes narrowed, then they relaxed slightly. She quickly studied his profile, before emitting a blood-curdling scream. Which caused her to nearly rear end the hover mobile in front of her. His life flashed before his eyes—again.

“I…I know you,” she stammered, keeping her eye on the sky in front of her, while she reached for her communication controls.

Tyler enclosed his hand around her wrist, and gently tugged it away from the console.

“Please, lady, don’t do that,” he muttered, darting a furtive gaze behind him.

Crenshaw was still there a few feet back, but he was quickly closing in, and Fred might not understand that Tyler had an innocent woman sitting beside him.

“You are a murderer! You’re going to attack me, and then
kill
me! My father was right.

I should have never left
Jupiter Prime
. I should have stayed where it was safe, and where the criminals were all taken care of. But no, I had to make my own mark on the galaxy, and travel out to the border worlds. I had to seal my own fate. If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have a convicted felon sitting right beside me...,” She took a break for a gasp of air, as Tyler began gently massaging his temple. He had never dreamt that anyone could say so much without taking a break for air.

“Shut up!” he shouted, wishing beyond all else that he had jumped into a hover mobile that had a nun or a priest inside that had taken a vow of silence.

The annoying woman obediently clamped her mouth shut looking at him sideways with her large glassy brown eyes. They were filled with undeniable fear and something else.

Damn it all, he hadn’t meant to scare the wits out of her, he just wanted to make her babbling
end
. Tyler maneuvered himself to look out the back window, and saw how Crenshaw was closing in on him.

He was the prey, and Crenshaw was his predator
.

“I must apologize for dropping in on you like this, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he began as he searched furtively for a means to escape his would be captor.

This time Tyler feared that he wouldn’t be getting out of this without being in a body bag.

He reached inside of his pocket, and placed a few coins on her dashboard.

“For your considerable trouble,” he muttered. He turned away and pressed the button that would roll the window down.

“Where are you going?” the whiny woman wailed, just as he swung his legs over the side, and briefly sat for a moment. Lord, this woman was nerve wracking.

“Oh, I’m going for a night time flying lesson,” he remarked wryly, turning back to her and winking at her.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 29

“But you can’t
fly!
” she said stupidly. She put the car in automatic mode and tried reaching for him. “Men with huge bounties on their heads, just don’t drop from the sky, into my vehicle, and then leave before I collect the bounty. Get back in here,
Mister
,” she ordered, as all of the feigned fear fell from her voice. “Move your ass and hop to it!”

Tyler could feel something hard protruding into his back, and he was pretty certain it wasn’t her purse. He tried forcing the dry lump down that had somehow lodged its way into his throat.
Okay, so he was cursed with the worst luck
. The woman next to him could give him a run for his money when it came to putting on a show.

She had to be frigging kidding! He hadn’t just escaped the hunter only to fall into the hands of the huntress.

“Say, why don’t we just negotiate a fair price for my head?” he offered, slumping his shoulders. “I’m open to anything, you know. I’m rather fond of my head.”

She pulled him back into the hover mobile, and slammed him none too gently into the seat.

The woman still had her craft on autopilot, and Crenshaw was backing off, since he had obviously recognized the vehicle. And as Tyler stared over at the woman next to him, he felt like kicking himself. He wished beyond everything else that he had wished for that day, that he had taken the time to truly look at her well-defined features. She certainly had the sort of face that made an impression.

Tyler took a good long look at her now, and bile rose in his throat. It didn’t take him long to recognize her from his wife’s records. Her name was Veronica Hutchins, and she was the hardest ass-kicking woman this side of
New Earth
. Veronica’s reputation preceded her, for she even intimidated Crenshaw, as she was a ball basher of the worst sort.

“Hello, Cassidy,” she drawled out, fastening metal handcuffs around his wrists.

“Welcome to
my
home turf. You’re out of your element. And don’t think about escaping me, cause if you do, I’ll make sure that you curse the day that you were born!” Veronica emphasized her words, by knocking him across the back of his head. His head lolled forward. He lost all coherent thought and fell into an unwelcoming darkness.

* * * *

Samantha sat forward suddenly, coughing as she nearly spewed coffee through her nose.

Her sister stared over at her in disgust and quickly reached for a tissue, to hand to her. A piercing pain thudded against Samantha’s temples.

Tyler’s face flashed in front of her.

“Did you just see that?” she asked Johanna knowing what her answer would be.

“I saw you spew coffee all over the place, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.”

Samantha rattled out a shaky sigh. “Have you ever felt like something terrible has just happened, when it hasn’t?” Samantha asked slowly, wiping her mouth with the white tissue.

Her hands were cold and clammy, and she struggled to keep them from shaking. She had the most colossal headache, and her stomach hadn’t stopped rolling since she’d learned of Tyler’s current situation. She wished
The Excalibur
could go faster. But even though it could outrun most spaceships, it was no
Star Speeder
.

They heard a loud crackling noise as the ship’s AI materialized in front of them. They had affectionately called the female Artificial Intelligence Lucy, and she stood at attention in front of them, with her hands crossed behind her back.

Lucy was programmed to resemble Samantha, although she had bright purple hair at the RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 30

moment, and was dressed in a Neon pink jumpsuit. Lucy certainly didn’t have any fashion sense.

Samantha stared over in annoyance at Lucy, and scrunched her features up. She snorted and whispered to her sister, “Remind me to kick that husband of yours in the ass the next time I see him. I hate the way he made Lucy look like me. I can’t even change it, because he knows that I don’t have a clue about those sorts of things,” she lamented angrily, sipping at her dark brew. “And to add insult to injury he made her hair purple because of the unfortunate display my abilities make when they decide to make an impression.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear. I think Dylan thought that he was paying you a compliment. We most certainly can’t change Lucy’s look now that she is used to it.”

“Dylan could just wipe her memory,” Samantha suggested. It wasn’t the first time that she’d suggested wiping Lucy’s memory, and probably wouldn’t be the last.

Lucy cleared her holographic throat so as to catch their attention.

“What is it, Lucy?” she snapped, wincing at her overly harsh tone, as Johanna served her with a disapproving stare. She stuck her tongue out at Johanna. For some reason, Johanna insisted in treating Lucy as an equal.

“I have been monitoring vital communications through the large network of the
United
Bounty Hunters Federation,
and have also been monitoring all vital communications on
New
Monaco.
Now please, stop congratulating me for such diligence to my job,” Lucy said, putting up her hand, as Samantha kept herself from kicking Lucy’s non-existent butt. Lucy also had a habit of going on ego trips.

“What have you found out?” Samantha demanded. Her senses were heightened, and she tapped her foot restlessly against the floor.

“Well, I was just getting to
that
....” Lucy said, calling up a recording that she had made.

Samantha tensed, instantly recognizing the nasally voice.

“Veronica!” Samantha muttered. “I so did not need to hear her whiny assed voice.”

Johanna gave her a worried gaze.

Veronica Hutchins’s voice streamed out through the speakers, and Samantha balled her hands into fists as tears of frustration welled in her eyes. She didn’t need this.

“That woman will have Tyler for dinner,” she murmured. Her heart jumped.

There was one thing that you could always count on in Veronica, and that was her vicious attention to detail. Samantha wasn’t surprised that Veronica had managed to capture Tyler, she had just been praying that Tyler would have had the capacity to elude his hunters until his family arrived to bail him out.

“This is going to complicate matters,” Johanna said below her breath. Right at that moment, Dylan appeared on the main bridge.