“So that means we’re stuck here for three days?”
Hunter wanted to snap at her. Because of her actions they were stuck. And this wasn’t the friendliest planet. To top it off, he had to find some way to get a secure connection to contact Masters. He had work to do, and now he was stuck with a party girl. He fought the urge to wrap his fingers around that slender, ivory neck and squeeze. The only thing keeping him from that satisfaction was her expression. If possible, her face had paled another shade. Her voice, usually so damn loud, was barely above a whisper. Her reaction wasn’t anything near what he expected. Yes, she could be pissed about missing some event, but not this. She stood staring out of those amazing jade eyes, unseeing. It was as if she were in shock.
“Yes, we’re stuck here for three days -- and not only three days. We have to be here for three sunrises and three sunsets.”
She blinked at his harsh tone. “Oh.”
That was all she had to say? She’d caused him major problems, aggravation, and sexual frustration, and she had one word to sum it all up. It figured.
Sterling, being Sterling Wainwright and a pain in the ass, wrapped his arm around Mila giving her a reassuring squeeze. “Now, Mila. Don’t worry about it. You have Hunter, and he will take very good care of you.”
Hunter opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but Sterling threw him that fatherly look of reproof, and he snapped it shut.
“Why don’t you go freshen up, Mila?” Sterling led her through the drapes as his voice floated back to Hunter. “Right through there, my girl.”
When Sterling came back in, he frowned at Hunter. “You weren’t being very nice to your lady friend.”
“She’s not my lady friend. She’s to be my new stepsister, if you must know, and my father wanted me to find her. I did, and this is what I get for it.”
“Hmm, I heard he was remarrying. An American?”
Hunter nodded. “I haven’t met her, but I doubt it’s high on her priority list of things to do.”
Sterling studied him, his gaze steady and almost unnerving. “I doubt that, Hunter. But even so, Mila has a reputation.”
“Reputation? I believe it with that mouth.”
Sterling chuckled and ambled over to an oversized chair, collapsing on it with a grunt. “I don’t mean like that. Although, she does have a reputation for telling people exactly what she thinks of them. Of course, I met her a few years ago, when she and Robbie were involved.”
Every muscle in his body froze, his mind concentrating on that last phrase. “Masters? She was fooling around with Masters?”
“Yes. In fact, they lasted quite a long time. Well, for Masters, anyway.” He poured hot tea into an antique ceramic mug. “Tea?”
Hunter shook his head still trying to come to grips with what he had just learned. Something he didn’t recognize swept through him. Something that made him want to find Masters and wrap his fingers around the bastard’s neck. Because he clenched his teeth, Hunter’s words came out harder than he intended.
“I’d never guess Robbie had a craving for the socialite set.”
Sterling chuckled good-naturedly. “Oh, he never did. But then, he knew her father, so I think they met that way. It was when he was working undercover on that Sedilic terrorism probe. I remember meeting her then ... must have been three years ago.” He took another sip, then pursed his lips in thought. “I didn’t recognize her at first, and apparently, she didn’t recognize me. I thought it odd, because you know Robbie, not his normal sort of woman. He doesn’t like them with brains.”
“No, he doesn’t.” And just how did Robbie know her father? He’d thought her father a diplomat from a rich family. He would have questioned Sterling further, but stopped for two reasons. One, Sterling probably didn’t know much more, and if he did and didn’t volunteer it, the cagey old bastard wouldn’t share. Secondly, he realized that Mila had been gone for a while. He studied the drapes. “There isn’t a back way out of here, is there?”
Sterling’s eyes widened at the comment. “No, there isn’t. Not one she could find on her own. Besides, she wouldn’t last five seconds in that weather. If she tried to run, you’d be transporting her back for a funeral.”
Just the thought had his blood running cold. Lord, she was stupid enough to do it, he thought, as he strode in the direction Sterling had taken her.
“Hunter, don’t be ridiculous. She wouldn’t try to get away from you.”
Hunter snorted as he rapped on the bathroom door. Yeah, the woman would like nothing better than to lose him. He didn’t even try to reason out that idiocy.
“Mila, come on, I don’t have time for this crap.”
Silence had his stomach dropping to his feet. She wouldn’t be stupid enough ...
Hell, yes, she would be. He punched the button to open the door. It slid open, and a chill slithered down his spine when he found the room empty.
Chapter Four
This, thought Mila, was getting old. Her captor muttered something under his breath. She tried to gain satisfaction from the fact he was irritated by the weight of her. But it was hard. And cold. So fucking cold.
One minute she had been sitting on the floor crying, because there had been no way in hell she would have done that in front of Hunter. The next something was thrown over her head. Before she knew what was going on, she was being carried away. She’d screamed and kicked and cursed. And it had done no good. They hadn’t gone very far, and she suspected they were still in the building that housed the weigh station.
She was dropped onto something hard, and she winced. Jesus, couldn’t she at least get some gentle kidnappers. She was going to be bruised from head to toe before she made it to Robbie. And it was her own damn fault for getting them stuck on this Godforsaken planet and then feeling sorry for herself. After all the years she’d been working as a courier, she should know better. At this point, she doubted she would have a job next week. If Robbie heard about this, he’d pull her clearance. He’d always worried she was too susceptible because of her social status. Up until now, it had worked in their favor. People tended to think she was a bubble-headed idiot. And she used it against them.
She sighed, pulling herself out of her thoughts and back to the situation at hand. Still covered with the fur, or what she suspected to be a synthetic fur pelt, Mila didn’t move. Just listened.
“They said top dollar, right?” a high, whiney voice asked.
The only answer it got was a grunt. Well, at least it wasn’t Mutt and Jeff. But then, these captors might be a bit more dangerous. Mutt and Jeff were about as dangerous as a three-year-old running with scissors. Her smirk faded when she heard the next comment.
“What do you think Nikiraki wants with her?”
“I have no idea, and I don’t give a damn.”
Holy Moses in a dress. She was in deep shit. If Nikiraki wanted her, he’d made her, and the operation might have been exposed. And who knows what else was jeopardized. Certainly anyone she worked with. Damn, this was not her week. She would have to get hold of Robbie. And he was going to kill her. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore, because she would be dead. Great.
She needed a way out. If the jackasses who captured her this time were hanging around the building, they weren’t that bright. But then, considering it was probably forty below outside, she could understand. They’d tied her hands, but not her feet. But the way the pelt covered her, she couldn’t see to gauge her chances of running.
Before she could figure out a way to escape, the shuffling of feet brought her out of her thoughts.
“You coded the door, right?”
“Of course I did.”
As soon as idiot number two said that, several shots rang out. The sound of the door sliding open caused her heart to plummet. Fear coated her stomach with a thick layer of ice. There was always a chance it was help, but the way her luck had been going, she knew it would be Nikiraki’s men.
Relief poured through her when she recognized Hunter’s
voice.
“I think you have something that belongs to me.”
She sighed and decided getting upset by his wording would be stupid. She’d be right, but knowing him, he’d leave her to her own fate just to pay her back.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She heard a grunt, then feet shuffling again. There were two cries of pain, one long moan, and then, silence. A moment later, she was lifted off the ground, much higher than she had been before, and draped over Hunter’s shoulder. The heat of his body warmed the front of hers, and it wasn’t until that moment she realized just how cold she’d gotten. It didn’t make his actions any less annoying.
“Hunter! Put me down.”
He ignored her, only answering with a grunt. She struggled, kicking her feet and wiggling her bottom, trying to convince him to let her walk. His arm clamped tighter around her legs, and his hand pressed against the small of her back. The relief she’d felt just moments earlier was now replaced by irritation.
“Woman, settle down. I can’t let you out of that wrap, or you’ll freeze.”
Knowing that was true didn’t make her any happier about being carted around like a side of beef. She stopped her struggles, waiting until she could let him have it. The man had some nerve. He shows up, gets in her way, complains about her flying skills, and then has the freaking nerve to treat her like baggage. That he was right didn’t make any difference.
As he walked up a set of stairs, he jostled her with each step. To take her mind off the numerous bumps and bruises, she warmed to her anger, thinking of his actions. Okay, so he had saved her. It didn’t mean he could tell her what do to.
What did he say to her last set of kidnappers? Oh, yeah ... She was something that belonged to him. The nerve. Mila didn’t belong to any person.
The moment she felt the heat, she knew they were inside. She couldn’t stop the sigh of complete and absolute pleasure at feeling her body warming. He continued to carry her down what she figured was the back hallway to Sterling’s store.
“Ahh, you found her. I told you she didn’t run away.” Satisfaction laced Sterling’s voice.
“No, but she met with another couple of kidnappers.” Hunter dropped her onto her feet, then pulled the wrap off her. He was frowning down at her, but there was a hint of worry in his gaze as he studied her. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
She smiled at him. He had been worried about her. “No.”
“Good. Now, what the hell did you do this time?” By the time he finished the sentence his voice had raised to a shout.
“Just what the hell are you implying?”
“Hunter, now, I’m sure Mila didn’t do anything wrong.” Sterling stepped forward to offer her some help.
Hunter whipped his head around, ignoring her and concentrating on the older man. Sterling took a step back, and when Hunter turned his attention back to her, she knew why. The death look he gave her had her wanting to take a step back. She didn’t, because there was no way in hell she would let him think she was afraid of him. Which at the moment she was, but it was all about appearances.
“I don’t want to hear how anything wasn’t your fault, Mila. Just you breathing apparently attracts trouble. What I want to hear is what we are going to do for the next three bloody days stuck here on this planet.”
He pronounced each syllable as if concentrating on saying them was the only thing keeping him from throttling her. She opened her mouth to tell him just what he could do for the next three days, but Sterling interrupted her.
“Now, Hunter, if you wanted off the planet, you just needed to tell me.”
Both of them turned to look at him. A conspiratorial smile curved his lips as he bounced with excitement. “I probably have a way to get you out of here.”
* * * * *
The dulcet sounds of the female Densuit singer filled Nikiraki’s office as he studied the men in front of him. Two of the most disgusting creatures he’d ever set eyes on. One so damn fat, he couldn’t move without heavy breathing. The other left a wet spot on the Persian rug from his drool. Bruising marred both their faces.
They clashed with the opulence of Nikiraki’s office. He’d surrounded himself in the richness of the late twentieth century. Deep, rich red carpeting, lush leather chairs. It hurt to look at his two visitors.
“So, you say you have no idea who helped Mila Simmons off the satellite station where you were holding her?”
At first, neither idiot said a word. They both glanced at Nikiraki’s guards who stood a few feet behind them. His men didn’t even acknowledge their captives.
“No,” the fat one blurted when he turned around. After a few moments, he released a sigh as if relieved he hadn’t been struck down for answering.
Nikiraki, being the kind of man who liked to build the tension and watch the worm wiggle, rested his hands on the arms of his antique leather chair. “He just showed up and took her away?”
“Oh, no. She’d gotten away from us and apparently met up with him somewhere else.”
Nikiraki smiled as he heard his guards chuckle.
“Mila Simmons? Little Mila Simmons, who is what, maybe five-foot-four? She can barely weigh one hundred pounds.”
“She’th crafty.”
Yes, she was. She had information he wanted, and he was sure she didn’t even know it. Dammit. All these years and he had been close. So close.
“Is there anything you want to add?”
He asked the question knowing they didn’t have anything else. The confirmation he’d been wanting from the two losers had not come, even though he knew down to his bones who had been there. When both of them shook their heads, he smiled at them and signaled to one of his guards.
“Gerald will see to your comforts, gentleman.”
As he watched them shuffle out of his office, he signaled to Gerald to make sure neither of them made it through the night. The other guards followed them out, and when the door slid shut, Nikiraki let loose a pent-up growl of frustration. Unable to stay seated any longer, he stood and paced in front of the large window that looked down onto his gaming hall.
This one bit of information had haunted him for years. He knew he had a reputation for being ruthless, that many people in law enforcement knew he was dirty. A wry smile curved his lips as he stopped and watched his patrons. It drove most of the assholes crazy that they couldn’t pin anything on him. Not once had they linked him directly to any crime. Oh, they knew he had his hand in illegal operations on and off Earth, but the idiots fumbled around, looking to connect him. There had only been one person who had found that link, and he’d died protecting where he’d hid it.
Michael Simmons. Nikiraki’s fingers curved into the palms of his hands as he thought about the bastard. Fucker. Twenty years of hard work. Nikiraki thought of the one-room, dingy flat in East London where he’d lived during his childhood. He’d come a long way, wheeling and dealing and literally killing the competition. And not once had he been caught.
Not that they hadn’t gotten close, but agents had short life spans if they didn’t take the bribes he offered. Only Simmons had been able to find concrete evidence and had died protecting its location. Many people would find that admirable, but Nikiraki thought him an idiot. The murder of a Martian diplomat wasn’t big in the scheme of universal events. But Simmons had had the proof, and now his daughter had it.
Nikiraki flexed his fingers, thinking of wrapping them around Mila’s slender neck. A shot of excitement raced through him, warming his blood. Imagining her gasping for air, begging for her life, caused his dick to harden. She would make a pretty victim. That, he was sure of. But he would make sure before she died, before she took her last breath, that she knew he’d been the one to kill her father. He deserved that satisfaction.
Rubbing his hand over his erection, he started thinking of calling one of his girls up for a blow job when his transmitter beeped. He hooked it onto his ear.
“Nikiraki.”
“Sir, we got here about ten minutes ago and found the men who’d called about the bounty on the Simmons woman.”
“And, did they have her?”
“If they did, they don’t now. They claimed they had her when a man showed up to take her away. They’re pretty bruised up, so there is a chance they were telling the truth. There were reports of a red-headed female checking in here about four hours ago.”
Irritation inched down his spine. “Dammit. Is there not one competent kidnapper left in the universe?”
“Sir?”
“Take care of the idiots and then find out if anyone knows where they are. They have three nights and days that they have to stay on the planet. Not easy to hide there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And make sure when you do find her that she makes it here to me alive. I want to see her.”
“Of course, sir.”
He turned his transmitter off and pressed his intercom to the front desk. After ordering the whore he’d thought about earlier, Nikiraki collapsed in his chair and ground his teeth. He would find Mila Simmons and the evidence her father had had. Once he got the computer chip, he would definitely take great pleasure in killing another fucking member of the Simmons family.
* * * * *
Sitting at the computer console sending a transmission to Masters over a secure network, Hunter ignored Mila’s latest sigh as he had the three previous ones. He was sure he’d do her bodily harm if he talked to her. His emotions had been running the gamut since meeting her. Irritation, attraction, and now, the newest, fear.
He really didn’t know how he felt about that one. Nothing had ever scared him as much as finding that bathroom empty. Knowing deep in his soul that she hadn’t willingly gone out into the kind of environment that would kill her didn’t matter. Because that meant someone had taken her. And dammit, he didn’t like to remember the almost mind-freezing, blood-curdling terror that had consumed him as he searched for her.
“How long do we have to stay down here?”
There she went again. Talking. He couldn’t look at her, because seriously, he didn’t know what he would do. It could range from killing her to fucking her, and he wasn’t sure which would be worse.
Hunting Mila Page 4
