Reese lurched against the stairs, momentarily unable to think on the man’s threat. Pain coursed through him with each watt of electricity. Reese tried to count the seconds, just as the leader was doing, but each second felt like an eternity as he forgot how to breathe.
At last, the man removed the wires from the bottom of his foot and sat back on his haunches, staring at Reese as though he was simply waiting for Reese to make up his mind about what they should have for dinner. Reese gasped, rolling his head to the door to the crew’s quarters.
One of the man’s goons stood in front of the door, though, based on the pounding coming from beyond the door, Reese guessed they had overridden the ship’s security system.
“Oh dear. Smells like someone had an accident,” said the leader.
Slowly, Reese’s brain caught up with the man’s words. He assessed his own body, thinking past the various pains pulsing with his heartbeat, and understood. Reese had soiled himself. He closed his eyes, trying his best not to feel the humiliation the leader was hoping for, but it was impossible not to be embarrassed by the way his body gave out under the extreme circumstances.
He was an adult and adults don’t wet themselves, even if they are getting electrocuted.
Reese had the textbook knowledge to know better, but it was an entirely different thing to read about torture than it was to be tortured. He knew he was supposed to ignore the moisture around his groin and backside, and set aside the humiliation, but he couldn’t do it. He knew he was supposed to abolish the feeling of shame he felt when he thought about the cuts marring his good looks, but the harder he tried the more worthless he felt.
And now they were threatening to cut off his penis.
“Is that what you want me to do?” the leader asked. “Maybe you don’t like being a man.”
The group of thugs laughed.
Reese ground his teeth together, trying to block out the sound of their voices and the fears they created. He very much liked being a man and very much like what his member could do. Like any man, he didn’t want to lose it.
“Tell me when they check in,” the leader said as his goons stepped forward and began to unzip his trousers.
“0800 and 2000!” he screamed without thinking as he felt the bite of cold metal to his flesh.
“Thank you,” the leader said as he slapped Reese on the sole of his foot, right where he had applied the wires.
Reese screamed again. The men stepped back, slowly heading toward the airlock.
“Let’s hope we don’t have to meet like this again,” the leader said as he pulled his jacket back and holstered his weapon.
From his painful position sprawled across the stairs, Reese watched in horror as the metal glint of a peace officer’s badge caught his eye, hanging from the leader’s hip. The man gave him a sickening smile and closed the airlock.
“So tell me, Bit, you think you can forgive Blaine for all this when we get back on the ship and get our lives back to normal?” Oden asked out of nowhere.
Bit let out a long sigh. “What do you mean?”
“Well, he’s practically been a stalker to you… all over protective.”
“I know. I think something’s been done to him. You know as well as I do that what we saw up on the ship wasn’t the Blaine we know and love.”
“So you love him.”
“Oden, are you trying to be an ass?”
“I’m just asking.”
She rolled her eyes. “I love him just like I love you… as a friend. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“So you think you can still be a friend to him when he’s physically hurt you.”
“He didn’t mean to. Gosh, can’t you see that?”
Oden went silent and Bit left him to stew. She was too angry with him to say anything.
“I’m sorry, Bit. I’m trying. I know I’m sucking at it… big time. Just please give me the same amount of patience you’re giving Blaine.”
Bit ground her teeth together. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thank you,” he said as the train slid to a stop. “This is us.”
They climbed off the train and descended the steps onto the street; they had to change train lines to make it to the bar in the cliff district where Jack and the others waited. The pair turned the corner, pausing at the sounds of a riot coming from the opposite street. Bit glanced down the street, wondering what could be causing such a scene.
“What’s that building?” she asked, pointing to the crowd thronging around the entrance.
Peace officers, their skin and armor stained a sick shade of green, worked to govern a boisterous crowd of protestors. A few signs were still being held above the heads of the mob, though from their position, Bit couldn’t make out what had been painted across their surfaces.
“That’s an Authority Station,” Oden mumbled, more to himself, as his feet headed toward the station seemingly of their own accord.
Bit followed him, more than a little curious. They stopped directly across from the Authority Station and watched as a protestor took to using his sign as a weapon against an officer with a Taser. The battle was brief and pathetic. Within seconds the green-stained protestor was drooling on the ground.
Bit plugged her nose with her fingers, overcome by at the stench wafting from the other side of the street.
“C’mon. We need to get going,” Oden said, turning away.
Bit followed, her eyes still on the group. “Wait.”
“What now?”
“That sign says something about embryos.”
Oden turned back to her and closed the gap. He stared at the protesters trying to catch a glimpse of the swinging signs.
“Let’s get a little closer.”
They crossed the street at an angle, arriving at the other side a few meters away from the edge of the embattled mob. Just as she had seen, the few signs still bobbing above the crowd read various slogans involving MGC and embryos.
“This can’t be a coincidence,” Oden said.
“You think Jack was here?” Bit asked.
“I don’t know. We’ve got to find a comm.-for-rent,” he said, taking her hand and dragging her away from the Authority Station.
They hurried down the street for a few blocks until they stumbled upon one of the common blue boxes. Bit jumped in first, quickly followed by Oden. He swiped his payment card and dialed in the ship’s frequency. They waited and waited, but no one answered.
Bit glanced up at Oden, panic making it hard for her to breathe—or was the pain of her broken ribs stabbing her in the lung?
His jaw was tensed, the muscles rippling under his smooth skin. She frowned.
When had he had time to shave? she wondered silently to herself.
Oden dialed in the ship, once again with no response.
“Why is no one answering?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
Oden glanced out the door of the small box to be sure no one was waiting to use it before turning back to look down at her.
“Okay, let’s think this through. Those protestors were there about embryos. I don’t believe in coincidences. And no one is answering at the ship.”
“Are you sure Jack said he was waiting for us at the bar?”
Oden stared at her. “Yeah. Of course.”
“But if he wasn’t, would he come this way?”
“Well, he…” Oden’s eyes shifted back and forth as he thought. “No, he would have to change trains just like we did. If he was coming to meet us in the pleasure district he would get off at the station we were heading toward and get on where we just got off.”
“Okay, so technically there is a chance he could have just been here.”
“But Reese said he was waiting at the bar.”
Bit tried to think back to their last call to Reese, but it was all a haze thanks to the strong pain meds.
“I don’t know except that I agree coincidences don’t happen. And why would those protestors be there unless one
of our groups was also there. It wouldn’t be Nathyn and Debby. They’re not high profile enough for protestors to start a riot over. Besides, those protestors look more like the peaceful sort. My guess is that mess was ‘egged on’, if you know what I mean.”
Oden let out a long sigh. “Like if Randal got them going to distract them with the peace officers while they escaped.”
“Exactly.”
“That does sound like something Calen and Randal would do.”
“I got to tell you, Oden, I don’t think Jack is waiting at the bar.”
Oden stared at the controls of the comm., concern written on his features. It was an impossible choice to make. Either way they would be guessing. Oden glanced back at the door, finding a man glaring at them.
“C’mon,” he said, opening the door. “Sorry, sir.”
They exited the box and began to wander back toward the station they had just left.
“So we’re going back to the pleasure district.”
“I don’t know,” Oden mumbled.
They walked slowly. Bit kept her eyes on the ground, too stressed to make eye contact with Oden or anyone else. Gradually, she started to notice a strange string of stains on the pavement.
“Oden,” she said before she could stop herself.
He grunted in response.
“Is this what I think it is?” she said as she stopped.
He turned to look at her, two paces ahead. A fresh frown pulled at his eyebrows and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Yes. That’s dried blood. How long have you noticed it?”
“Since shortly after the comm.-for-rent.”
Oden turned and traced it back to the blue box and beyond. It trailed all the way back to the Authority Station. From there they turned and followed the stains back to where they first found them, and all the way to the train station they had recently left.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bit asked.
“That one of our guys is hurt?” Oden replied sounding more like he was asking a question than making a statement.
Bit swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
“Looks like we’re going back to the pleasure district.”
Within minutes, a train arrived and they climbed on, settling back down for another long ride.
“I’m starting to hate the train,” Bit mumbled.
“You and me both, friend.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Once again Bit and Oden climbed off the train, back in the pleasure district. At 1030, the district had a bustle it lacked before. Near the train station wealthy women were carrying bags of purchases or leading indentured servants thus weighted down as they hurried to catch their trains. As Bit and Oden worked their way farther into the district, such sights lessened and signs for bars, strip clubs, and tattoo parlors increased. Bit and Oden began glancing down side streets, agreeing to each focus on one side of the street.
“There,” Bit suddenly called, reaching out and thwacking Oden on the chest.
“Ow,” he said as he turned to glance down the alley.
Sure enough, a small group of men huddled, half hidden behind a dumpster while Jack stood in a blue comm.-for-rent, a frown lining his features. Oden raced across the street between two ground cars, leaving Bit to follow at her slower pace.
“Jack,” he called as Jack emerged from the box.
The group spilled out of the alleyway just as Bit reached the far sidewalk. Each man took turns clapping Oden on the back. Before Bit could join in the joy of the moment, Blaine grabbed her up in a fierce hug, squeezing her until she screamed.
“Blaine!”
“She’s hurt!”
“Put her down!”
They called, but Blaine seemed beyond hearing. Through her tears, Bit noticed the eyes of the few pedestrians turned on them. She clamped her mouth shut, willing herself to keep quiet as he continued to hug her. Her broken ribs stabbed into her lungs, nearly making it impossible to breathe.
“Blaine,” she whispered, choking back the sobs threatening to escape. “Blaine, please put me down so I can look at you.”
This seemed to snap something in his mind and he obeyed. He set her down with a thud and grabbed her shoulders, not letting her escape his fierce grip.
“You’re crying. Who hurt you?” he demanded, fire in his clouded eyes.
“I’m just happy to see you,” she said, not letting her eyes drift to the other men, as much as she wanted to see their expressions. “Are you okay?”
“I am now. We have to go.”
He shifted his grip to her wrist, preparing to drag her away from the others.
“Wait. We need to stay with the group.”
“No. We’re safer alone.”
“Blaine, don’t you trust them?” she asked, pulling painfully against his strong grip.
“We’re safer alone,” he repeated.
“Shit,” Jack mumbled under his breath.
“Well, I don’t want to leave them.”
“We have to,” he said, still dragging her away.
“Jaaaack,” called Oden, keep his voice just above a whisper.
“Please, Blaine, stop. Let’s talk about this. It’s Jack. It’s Randal. Don’t you trust Randal?”
At this, Blaine stopped and looked at his mentor and boss. Randal took a cautious step forward.
“I want to keep Bit safe too, Blaine. Won’t you let me help you do that?” asked Randal.
“What about the others?” Blaine demanded.
“They want to help too. They’re with me. They came to help.”
“What about him?” asked Blaine, eyeing Oden.
“He was protecting Bit, under my orders.”
“He was good to me. Took good care of me until you could,” Bit added for good measure.
Blaine glanced around the group, eyeing each man one at a time. “All right then. We need to get her off the street.”
“I couldn’t agree more. There’s a little diner down the block. Bit, are you hungry?” asked Randal.
She wanted to say “starving,” but guessed Blaine would accuse Oden of maltreatment. Instead she only nodded, communicating her true need with her eyes. Randal nodded and began to lead the group toward his chosen restaurant. Blaine kept her in the center of their new little group, allowing the other men to flank them.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at the diner and found a large table with a view of the whole room. Bit found herself prodded and pushed into just the right seat to suit Blaine’s special preferences. Once seated, Blaine wrapped an arm around her and dragged her half onto his own chair, pulling her back into an angle until she had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from crying out. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
“Blaine, you need to let her go. You’re hurting her,” Jack said.
“She’s safe with me,” was all Blaine said, his head jerking from side to side as he scanned the room.
Bit gave Jack a tiny shake of her own head. She could handle the pain for a few minutes, hoping once he settled down, he would release her.
The waitress arrived and Bit ducked her head, trying to hide her tears. Jack ordered a set menu that would feed them all and hurried the waitress away.
“Now,” began Jack, “what happened? We’ve been searching for you for a while now.”
As quickly as he could, Oden explained the mix up.
“I see. Well, we found each other now. We were at the Authority Station and a man—the man… the man from the port,” he said, leaving out the fact Mr. Windbreaker had been stalking Bit for Blaine’s neurotic sake, “came up and hit Blaine with a sort of gunk. Blaine kinda went silent for a while and, well, you’re seeing the results.”
Blaine didn’t respond. He was too busy scanning the restaurant. Slowly, though, his grip loosened on her shaking body.
“May I sit up, Blaine. Please,” she whispered, trying her best not to startle the man.
He released her and sh
e straightened her back.
“Do you want a pain pill?” Oden asked, quietly pulling the bottle from his coat pocket.
She nodded.
“What’s that?” demanded Blaine, slapping the bottle from Oden’s outstretched hand.
The bottle skidded across the table, landing in Randal’s lap.
“They’re just pain pills. She’s in pain,” Oden explained calmly.
“I need them, Blaine.”
“They could be trying to poison you.”
“Okay. I won’t take them,” Bit said.
Oden opened his mouth to protest, but Bit gave him a microscopic shake of her head, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. Oden turned his face down, glaring at the table top instead of letting Blaine see it.
“We need Debby,” Oden said to no one in particular.
“She bolted. Left Nathyn early this morning,” Jack growled.
“What?” asked Bit as she surreptitiously wiped tears away with her napkin.
Jack shrugged. “Guess she didn’t want our protection. She hasn’t tried to contact me or the ship. She’s on her own now. But it means we don’t have her help with…”
“Damn,” Oden mumbled.
“So what’s this information you found out?” asked Randal, changing the subject.
“I talked with some, well, contacts I have here in the pleasure district,” Oden explained, a blush rising to his cheeks, just as the food arrived. “They service men from both MGC and Brighter Futures Biometrics, their competitors. Rumor has it that MGC is slaughtering Brighter Futures on the market, but if Brighter Futures could get their hands on even just one specimen they could back engineer. The other big word on the street is that bioengineered animals are huge in the ritzy neighborhoods. The rich clientele at the strip clubs evidently were going on and on about what animal combos they were going to order. The girls said there was four million dollar premium just to get on the waiting list for a genetically modified animal.”
“So Brighter Futures wants the embryos to back engineer,” reiterated Jack.
Oden nodded.
“What’s this have to do with Bit?” demanded Blaine.
The crew glanced around the table, looking for an answer.
Bit gently placed her hand on Blaine’s, drawing his attention down to her. “I’m the one who thought to seek out this information. They know that. I’ve made it personal.”
Broken & Hunted Page 23
