Broken & Hunted

by Charissa Dufour

  Thirty minutes later, Gregory Winsington had heard the long story of their weekend. He sat in amazement over his cup of coffee, his eyes flicking from Jack to Randal to Bit and back.

  “It seems you’ve earned yourself quite the bonus.”

  “We were just doing our job,” Jack countered.

  “No. You’ve gone above and beyond anything I paid you for. Anyone else would have dumped the box on our doorstep and left this god-forsaken planet the moment things got hairy.”

  “The thing is,” began Jack, rubbing his aching hands, “some of what happened, some of what we did to get those embryos to you wasn’t exactly legal.”

  Gregory waved the concern away. “Leave that to me. As you pointed out, legality seems to be up for debate on this planet. I’ll take care of that. None of you will be implicated.”

  The door to their room creaked open and one of his men poked their head in. Gregory nodded and gave them a smile.

  “The caravan is here to transport you back to headquarters where I’ll see to your payment. My doctor is waiting there to see to your injuries. He’ll also accompany you up to your ship, if you’d like, to see to your man there. Shall we?”

  “May I make a call before we depart?” asked Jack, thinking it was time to call Katrina Krelski.

  “Of course. I’ll see to getting the transport loaded. Take your time.”

  Jack waited for the other men to depart before he pulled out his comm. device. He dialed in her frequency and waited.

  “Hey charming,” she said in her usual voice.

  “Hey. Ready to start earning that paycheck?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ll tell you on the ship. We’re at dock sixty-nine.”

  “See you there.”

  Jack ended the call and joined the others in the main room of the strip club, which was gradually transforming for the nightly show. The club’s doctor was ushering Calen out on a stretcher. Jack beelined it for his brother.

  “Calen,” Jack said, taking his hand in a tight grip. “It’s going to be okay,” he added, believing it for the first time. “Mars Genetics Consortium is here and their people are going to take care of everything. They’re even paying us extra! It’s all going to be okay. We’re going to a real doctor now.”

  “Jack,” Calen whispered, “I’ve got to tell you something… in case I don’t…”

  “Don’t talk nonsense!”

  “Shut up and listen… just in case…”

  Jack let out a put-upon sigh. “Fine, what?”

  “You’ve got to… make Oden first pilot.”

  “What?” demanded Jack.

  “He’s the better pilot.”

  Jack didn’t really want to admit it to his brother, especially as he lay half alive with a hole in his gut, but the facts were the facts. Oden had proven time and again that he was in a class of his own. Slowly, Jack nodded. A sad smile spread across his brother’s features.

  “You’re too good, sometimes,” Jack said, gently patting his brother on his shoulder.

  Two of Gregory’s men came into the small medical room and lifted Calen’s board. Jack followed them out. Within minutes they were all aboard the large caravan hover car and air lifted out of the pleasure district.

  “Dare I ask,” began Jack turning to Oden, “what in the world possessed that stripper to help you out to such an extreme?”

  Oden cleared his throat. “We were raised in the same orphanage. I always kept away the bullies.”

  Jack didn’t know what to say. He had never known his pilot had been raised in an orphanage, nor did he know how to respond.

  “No wonder she came to your rescue,” Bit said, saving Jack from any further awkwardness.

  Oden nodded, a faint blush running up his neck and into his cheeks.

  “Daisy may be a bit of a loose cannon, but she’ll have your back when it counts.”

  “I’m certainly glad to know her,” Bit replied, slipping her arm through Oden’s and scooting up against his side.

  Jack smiled, liking the sight of them snuggled up together. He ran his eyes over to the long board holding Blaine’s unconscious body. Across from him lay Calen, half asleep. His crew really was banged up, but at least Bit was doing okay.

  He would take his blessings where he could find them. Jack smiled.

  Things were turning out okay for once.

  Bit sat on the cold exam table, dressed in nothing but the soft hospital gown. Oden sat across from her, dressed in his own gown. To his annoyance, Randal was likewise garbed. Calen lay in a machine at the other end of the room, robotic arms probing the recently un-stitched gunshot wound. Blaine lie in another machine, tubes running in and out of each arm as the machine worked to filter the drugs out of his system.

  The MGC doctor returned from his desk with his electronic pad. He glanced up at the three of them and smiled before going back to his pad and flicking through a few screens.

  “Okay, I think we’re done with the two of you,” he said to Oden and Randal. “Go ahead and get dressed. We just need to finish up with young Bit here.”

  “What more is there to do?” she demanded, annoyed to find that she was stuck continuing in the drafty hospital gown.

  “We need to see to those ribs.”

  “What about them? They’re broken.”

  “Indeed. Wouldn’t you rather they not be broken?”

  Bit just stared at him for a moment before speaking. “You can change that?”

  “Of course. Now, follow me.”

  Bit hopped off the table and followed him to a large machine. He directed her onto another table, where she laid down. The table portion shifted inside the machine, where she was directed to lay extremely still. Fifteen minutes later, the table swooshed back out and she sat up, feeling minimally dizzy and a little tired.

  “That’s it?” she asked the doctor.

  “Move around,” he suggested.

  She did and found she had her full range of motion again. “That’s incredible.”

  The doctor gave her a condescending smile. “You may feel some dizziness over the next couple of days, along with some fatigue. The energy sent into the body can have an unusual effect on people, differing from person to person. Some people experience nausea, others fainting. One person went blind for a whole day. So long as any symptom doesn’t last for more than twenty-four hours, I wouldn’t worry.”

  Bit stared at him, suddenly less impressed with the magical machine.

  Before she could say anything, the doors to the enormous infirmary swung open and Jack walked in. Though he wasn’t badly wounded and in need of the doctor, Jack looked horrific. Calen’s blood covered him from head to toe. Bit tried not to show her disgust and was only minimally successful.

  Oden and Randal returned from the dressing rooms and made no effort to mask their thoughts.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jack said, waving their taunting aside.

  Bit smiled. It felt good to watch her friends tease each other. It felt as though it had been weeks since they last felt comfortable enough to tease one another.

  “Are you all ready, Bit?” Jack asked.

  “I think so…” she said, trailing off as she looked at the doctor.

  He gave a nod as he poked at his electronic pad.

  “Why don’t we have one of these on the ship, Cap?” she asked as she hopped off the table. “It fixed my ribs!”

  Jack glanced at the doctor.

  “Because it costs about half a billion dollars,” supplied the doctor.

  “Oh.”

  Bit ran back to the changing room and dressed in the MGC sweatpants and sweatshirt, supplied by Gregory, before tucking her crew jacket under her arm and stuffing her feet into her stained boots. The rest of her clothing was ruined, but she managed to save her jacket. Stained and torn it might be, but it was still hers and that made it precious.

  She returned to the group just as they prepared to follow the doctor out of the infirmary, ready to ta
ke a MGC transport vessel directly up to Ward Port. While she had been dressing, the doctor and his assistant had disconnected Calen and Blaine from their machines and strapped them to hover tables that would transport them while still unconscious.

  Bit followed the group from the infirmary and to the transport. She breathed a healthy sigh of relief as she worked the complicated straps, her fingers working on their own, as if she rode transport ships all the time. Bit smiled. She did ride transports all the time. This was her new life and, despite all the guns and pirates, it wasn’t so bad.

  She leaned back, prepared for the impact of takeoff. It came, and her smile grew.

  MGC’s transport was extremely fast compared to the ships they paid to take down to the surface from the port, and in record time they were docking. They walked along the packed corridors, surrounded by an array of guards provided by the company.

  Bit wondered what had taken place behind closed doors between Jack and the CFO to garner such first class treatment, but she decided to bide her time. It wasn’t her place to know, anyway.

  Outside the airlock waited the beautiful woman they had met in the park at the beginning of the weekend. Bit thought back, amazed to realize it had only been a few short days ago. So much had happened. Katrina smiled at her before turning her eyes on the array of security.

  She whistled. “Jack, what have you done?”

  Jack rolled his eyes before looking up at the security cameras and waving to whoever might be manning them. “Don’t ask. It’s been the weekend from hell.”

  A second later, the exterior comm. crackled and Nathyn’s voice announced that it was safe to key in their code.

  Jack did and they began the slow process of shifting the large group through the small airlock. At last, it was just her and Jack left.

  “Ready, Little Bit?” he asked.

  “Let’s go home,” she said, winding her arm through his.

  He smiled tiredly down at her. “Yes, let’s.”

  “Captain Jack!” a voice called from the crowd.

  They turned to see Gregory Winsington emerging from the crowd along with a strange man.

  “I’m so glad I caught you. We just missed your transport. Had to take a public one.”

  The rich man shook his head as though it was the greatest hardship in the known galaxy.

  “This is a friend of mine, and he wants to speak to you.”

  “Well,” began Jack, “let’s talk inside.”

  They went through the airlock and found the whole group standing in the central room of the living level, waiting for them, including Reese in all his bandages, the engineers, and Vance. Happy welcomes and hugs were being passed around the group as those on the planet greeted those from the ship. Kat was perhaps the loudest of all, happily introducing herself to the few crew members she didn’t know.

  Slowly, the crowd died down and eyed the man standing next to Gregory.

  Jack turned to the strange man.

  “Captain,” began Gregory, “this is Brett Morgan, owner of Morgan Reactors, and he has heard about what you’ve done for me.”

  “I have a job offer for you and your crew… but it’s not strictly legal.”

  Silence descended on the crew as they all turned to look at their captain. He smiled.

  “Screw the government,” said Reese, drawing their attention away from Jack. “What have they done for us?”

  Thank you for reading this fun story of adventure and romance.

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  And continue reading for a sneak peek of

  Cornered Magic, book 1 in the Void Series

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  Works by Charissa Dufour

  The Series that Just Plain Sucks

  Life Sucks (Prequel short story)

  Sucked In (Book 1)

  Sucked Away (Book 2)

  That Sucked (Book 3)

  Or purchase in a box set:

  The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Series (Books 1-3)

  Suck It Up (A little something extra. Can be read at any time in the series)

  The Dothan Chronicles

  Bought (Prequel short story)

  Torn (Book 1)

  Lost (Book 2)

  Alone (Book 3)

  Or purchase in a box set:

  The Dothan Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy (Books 1-3)

  The Void Series

  Cornered Magic (Book 1)

  Misguided Allies (Book 2)

  Balanced Chaos (Book 3)

  The Echoes of Sol Series

  Trust and Treachery (Book 1)

  Broken and Hunted (Book 2)

  Profit and Peril coming soon

  Sneak Peek of Profit and Peril

  Chapter One

  “Captain,” began Gregory, “this is Brett Morgan, owner of Morgan Reactors, and he’s heard about what you’ve done for me.”

  “I have a job offer for you and your crew… but it’s not strictly legal.”

  Silence descended on the crew as they all turned to look at their captain. He smiled.

  “Screw the government,” said Reese, drawing their attention away from Jack. “What have they done for us?”

  The crew erupted into a supportive outcry, each member voicing their own disgust with what the peace officer had done to Reese. Bit watched in surprise as each man called out obscenities, raised clenched fists, and released their anger in a chorus of grumbles, and yet no one dared look at Reese or his many bandages.

  While half the crew looked as though they had lost a cage fight, their cuts and bruises covered in a glossy gel that would help them heal, Reese was perhaps the most visibly damaged. True, Calen and Blaine were still unconscious, but it was Reese who had lost his charming looks at the hands of the peace officers. Bit’s eyes ran down to her forearm where the same gel covered a long gash. The wound already looked better than it had the last time she had given it any notice, sitting atop an exam table in the doctor’s exam room.

  Unlike the crew, Reese remained silent, allowing the crew’s uproar to speak for him. The poor man was more bandages than skin and, unlike the victims from the surface, he hadn’t seen the fancy doctor from Mars Genetic Consortium. The gashes on his face and upper body were covered in old-fashioned sterile bandages, and both his wrists were ringed in dark bruises. A zip-up sweatshirt hung over his shoulders in lieu of a shirt, revealing the bandaging wrapping his torso. If his limp was anything to judge by, Bit was certain his right foot was injured too.

  “What’s the job?” called Kat, the ship’s new XO.

  “I need a nuclear reactor delivered and installed in Nye Space Station,” explained Mr. Morgan.

  The crew went silent, each one glancing around, avoiding the gaze of the executive.

  “And that’s why it is illegal. It’s against the law for unauthorized cargo ships to transport nuclear material,” said Morgan.

  Another volley of anti-government sentiment erupted from the crew.

  “Let me explain,” called Morgan as he raised his hands. “For decades now the space stations orbiting Earth, Mars, Ceres, and Jupiter have been running on power supplies provided by the planets or companies that mine said planet in Jupiter’s case. Over the years, the contracts binding the space stations to their home planets have grown increasingly one sided, destroying the economics of the space stations.”

  “How does where the power come from effect the economics of a space station? I don’t get it,” admitted Forrest.

  Bit breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t understood either but she didn’t want to voice her confusion.

  “As the price of power from the planets increase, the space stations have been forced to increase taxes and fin
es to their residents to pay for it. That money can’t go back into the market, it just lines the pockets of power companies and the government officials facilitating the power transfer. Remember, each space station is the size of a medium-sized city. They have economic highs and lows—well, more just lows thanks to the power companies.”

  “And you just want to be philanthropic to these suffering space stations?” asked Oden, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Bit had to admit, with his bruises and cuts, Mohawk and tattoos, Oden looked extremely threatening. She turned back to stare at Mr. Morgan, who gave him a knowing smile.

  “Well, not exactly. Morgan Reactors will make a substantial profit and become the leading manufacturer of nuclear reactors in the solar system. That is why I am willing to take the risk for the space stations. Still, whatever my motivations are, this will help those living in the space stations. And it will help you. My compensation package is generous, as well as hazard pay for each member of the crew.”

  Morgan passed a folder emblazoned with Morgan Reactors’ logo over to Jack, who quickly flipped it open and eyed the old-fashioned printed paper—one of the few things in the universe that couldn’t be tracked. Standing beside him, Bit couldn’t help but notice the soft catch in Jack’s breathing as he read the compensation package.

  “So why not hire an authorized cargo ship to transport the reactors?” asked Bit, feeling naive for not knowing the answer.

  “If he went through the proper channels, the planetary governments would catch wind of his plan,” Oden said, once against staring the man down. “And he can’t have that or they’d stop the installation before it began. No one would ever suspect the Lenore of transporting nuclear material.”

  Morgan eyed Oden for a moment before nodding. “Exactly. I need the reactors to fly completely under the radar.”