“Wait!” I suddenly heard the voice of the man at the stall call out to me. Though I tried to elude him he caught up to me quickly.
“What do you want?” Dismayed by my sudden show of emotion, I turned away. Tears were now streaming down my face. The man caught my elbow and steered me into an empty alley. I was too distraught to resist.
“Are you missing someone?” the man asked. His voice was kind but when I peered up at him he appeared to be frowning and agitated.
I pulled away from him. “What’s it to you?”
He shrugged. “Just thought you might want to hear what I have to say.”
“What could you possibly have to say to me? I don’t even know who you are,” I snapped.
“You may not know me, but I know you. At least, I know of you.”
“And what do you know?”
“I know you miss your child, or should I say your egg.” He smiled, knowing he now had my full attention.
My body stilled completely as though I’d suddenly turned to stone. When I failed to reply, he went on.
“I have a message for you…from Clay. He says if you go to him, he’ll let you see your kid.”
“Why’s he want me? He had his chance.” It was a trap of course.
“Seems the egg’s not doing so hot. Turning yellow or something.”
“It’s sick?” Oh no! It needed me. The doctor had said to keep it warm and next to my heart. Clay may be wrapping it up in blankets, but he had no heart, just a block of ice.
“Yeah. I can take you to him, but you have to come…now.” He looked around as though he was worried he was about to be discovered.
Though I should have used caution, every maternal emotion inside of me was freaking out. My baby was sick and it needed me. No voice of reason could be louder than that. I nodded my head and when the man began to stalk down the alley, there was nothing to do but follow him. We wound around the back alleys like a pair of thieves until we reached the exit of the dome. Once outside, he led me through the hot, moist region for what felt like twenty minutes until we came to his spacecraft. About the same size as Tigg’s, he had it similarly hidden beneath shrubbery to keep it from sight.
The man opened the hatch and climbed on board. When he turned to offer me a hand up, I felt a moment of hesitation. What was I doing? Why should I trust him? Sure, Clay could have sent him, and he probably did, but what if he hadn’t? What if he was actually sent by King Ranox? Maybe he’d discovered the missing link to the cure? What better way to assure my obedience than to appeal to my maternal bond?
“How do I know Clay really sent you?” I asked, raising a brow in suspicion.
It seemed he didn’t have time for questions; he pulled a gun out of his jacket and aimed it at me. “Get up here.”
He could just as easily kill me on board the ship, or when we reached wherever it was he planned to take me. No. Somebody wanted me alive. He sneered when I held my ground. “You wanna die?” he demanded.
“I asked you, how do I know Clay really sent you?” He could see he wasn’t going to have my cooperation until he told me.
“Clay warned me you were a real pain in the ass,” he said, jumping down to land beside me. Before I could react, he cracked me over the head with the handle of the gun.
Chapter 19
My head hurt. It was the first thought that came to mind as I tried to open my eyes. And my tongue felt like I’d been licking sand. I’d been on a ship, I remembered, waking once and a while, only to be knocked out again. The dolt had used something other than the butt of his gun though—a tranquilizer injected in my arm—which I groggily remembered. I wiggled my arms and legs a bit and was relieved to find I wasn’t tied. There was a soft mattress beneath my body I realized.
“Ah, you’re awake,” said a voice from across the room in the shadows.
I struggled to rise, forcing my poor aching body into motion. The room spun and I had to steady myself by gripping the bed sheets in my fists.
The phantom-like figure came closer and finally focused into a familiar form. Clay. “Where’s my egg?” I demanded.
“All in good time,” he assured me.
“That guy who brought me here said it was sick.” Perhaps it was a lie? But he’d told the truth about being sent by Clay.
My nemesis sat down on the bed and I scooted away until my back was against the wall. It was the furthest I could get from him in my incapacitated state. He reached out a hand to push the hair from my eyes and I turned my head away.
“My favorite redhead,” he said. I detected lust in his voice making me cringe.
“I just gave birth,” I reminded him in case he was entertaining any vile ideas. “And I asked you about my baby.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
“How can it be fine when you’ve stolen it from me? I’m its mother.”
He laughed cruelly. “You don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl.”
I glared at him defiantly. “I don’t care. Now, give it to me.” I wanted to rip into him, tear the laughter from his lips and jump on his bones.
“I want to make a deal with you,” he said.
“I gave you a chance to take me instead of my baby. You turned me down.”
“I was in Malenea’s kingdom. You are Ventillian—at least half of you. The king consented to give me the egg in exchange for information. He kept his word. You weren’t part of the deal. Wretch that he is, he never would have agreed to hand you over. But the baby is half Tigg’s. King Ranox has no loyalty to Lizords, only to his own kind.”
“Some loyalty,” I scoffed.
“If I’d agreed to take you instead, the king wouldn’t have allowed it. Then he could say I reneged on the deal and I’d get nothing.”
Twisted as Clay’s logic was, it made sense. “So now you’re ready to deal?” Somehow, I couldn’t quite believe him.
Clay gestured to a man at the door I hadn’t noticed was standing there. “Bring it in,” he said. He drilled me with a glare. “Don’t get any ideas about shrinking down with it and sneaking away. I have no qualms about stomping on you both.”
The man appeared a moment later holding a bundle in a blanket. I put out my arms and he came over and passed it to me. Ignoring Clay, I peeled back the blanket and peered at the egg intently. It was still green. When I lay my hand upon the shell I could feel the beating of its heart. I replaced the blanket and held the egg tight against my chest.
“See, the little guy’s fine,” Clay said. “Now, here’s what we’re gonna do…” He regaled me with his grand scheme, but I wasn’t listening. Instead, another voice was sounding in my head. Tigg’s. Strong and determined, telling me we would get through this. I vowed he would be right. No matter what foul deeds I had to commit in order to secure my child’s safety, they would be carried out. It was all that mattered to me. However, I wouldn’t agree to any of Clay’s plans unless my child was delivered to his father. I’d be his slave, his thief, his whore, I promised, as long as the baby was returned. But Clay didn’t want to give up the egg.
“Without it, you have nothing to lose,” he argued.
“Taking away Tigg’s child is bad enough,” I said. “Take away his child and his mate, and he’s got nothing to lose.” I’d let that thought sink in a while. Clay had heard Tigg’s promise in Malenea. There would be no peace. Not for Clay. “He will hunt you down forever,” I warned, and then added, “Unless I tell him to leave you alone.”
“And you think you could convince him?” He sounded doubtful.
“I dunno. I can be very convincing for the sake of my child. I do know if I don’t try he will not stop coming for you.”
Clay looked unsure. I swooped in while he was vulnerable.
“Come on, what do you need a kid for? Soon it’ll hatch and since it can only survive on jineg bugs, found deep in Treox’s jungles, you’ll spend all your time on that hot, bug-infested planet with Lizords hunting you down.”
“I know about the jineg bugs,�
� he assured me.
Another thought came to mind. “Aren’t you afraid to be on Earth? Now that the king has the cure, I’d have thought you would have high-tailed it out of here.” Despite waking up in an enclosed room, I instinctively knew I was on Earth. I guess I owed that to my spidery-senses.
“He’s not gonna get far with only one vial.”
“Ventillian scientists could be replicating batches of it as we speak,” I warned.
“You and I both know he’s missing the main ingredient,” Clay said.
I gasped. “You knew?”
“You don’t think I’d reveal all my secrets to him do you?”
I smiled ruefully. “I was wondering why you were so quick to sell out your own planet.”
“So, if I agree to give the egg to Tigg, you can deliver a message along with it to back off,” Clay said, returning to the immediate problem.
“It won’t work unless I talk to Tigg face to face. He’ll never believe a note.” It was true.
Clay shook his head. “If he sees you, he won’t let you go.”
“He will,” I insisted. “We’ll meet on Treox, out in the open. Just send a message telling him to come alone.”
“And I’m to just trust that he will?”
“Yes.” Although he’d probably have a camouflaged army of Lizords waiting in the brush to take Clay down.
Clay looked at the egg in my arms. “I really would like to unload that thing.”
I wrapped my arms tighter around my child. I wasn’t about to delude myself with ideas that Clay harbored any sentimentality. He was a dangerous man. If my egg got in the way of his plans, he’d do away with it—one way or another. The only reason he even entertained my plan was to keep me compliant.
“But we won’t meet on Treox,” Clay informed me. He must have read my mind about the Lizords.
“Whatever, then Tigg can come here, he has a ship.” I just wanted my baby safe.
Clay stood up. “I’m gonna work out the details of the switch with my guys,” he said nodding in the direction of the other room. “Benny will deliver the message to Tigg. He’ll be at your place?”
I guessed Benny was the dolt who’d brought me here. After I got through with Clay, he was next in line for getting his ass kicked. “Yeah, he’ll be there. If not, leave him a note. That is, if Benny can write.”
Clay didn’t find me amusing. He left the room and shut the door. Not wasting a moment, I put the egg on the bed and pushed the blanket up around it, making a little nest. I tiptoed over to the door and transformed into a spider. It was easy to slip under the door and stalk across the floor undetected. I wouldn’t, however, take the chance with my egg. Even if we did manage to escape I didn’t know how I’d get back to Treox in time to warn Tigg. Clay’s goons would get there before me and no doubt kill him. No. I had to stay where I was and see this thing through. There were only two other men in the apartment besides Clay. In this form I was all eyes and ears. It wasn’t hard to listen to their plan and then sneak back into the bedroom. When Clay cracked the door open and peeped his head in, I was holding the egg on the bed as though I’d been there all along. When I saw him I couldn’t help but warn him. “If Benny kills Tigg, Tigg’s brothers will be your new worst enemies.”
He nodded in understanding, but refrained from commenting.
Clay was crafty. Despite wanting to double cross us, he didn’t have much choice. I knew that grated on him. If given the chance, he’d no doubt kill Tigg and our child at the first opportunity. But right now he needed them safe in order to have my obedience. But I had a plan as well. Once Tigg and the egg were safely away, all hell was gonna break lose.
Chapter 20
We decided to meet at my parents’ house. It was out in the middle of nowhere and would be the perfect place to hand over the egg. Plus, Tigg knew where it was. Benny had delivered Clay’s message—leaving a note in my apartment since Tigg wasn’t there. We arrived before the meeting was scheduled to take place. It was late afternoon. I’d spent a sleepless night at Clay’s apartment, all the while tossing and turning, worried about the next day. Now, I sat inside my old house on the lumpy couch facing the window and couldn’t help but smile as I remembered the last time I’d been on it. Clay and his two goons paced around inside, distracting my pleasant musings, waiting for Tigg’s craft to arrive.
Right on schedule, we heard the unmistakable sound of the little ship. From my vantage point I could see Tigg park practically on the front lawn in a haphazard landing and soon he dashed out the exit. In the yard he stood staring at the house.
“Minka?” he yelled.
Clay and the other two pulled out their weapons and pointed them at me. “Don’t try anything stupid,” Clay warned as he gestured for me to go to the door.
I rose, holding my egg in my arms, and started to walk. Benny opened the door, and when I got to it I answered, “Tigg. I’m here.” He was a sight for sore eyes. I could tell by the way he stood clenching his fists and by the grim line of his lips that he was furious.
“Outside,” Clay hissed at me.
We left the house and soon came up to stand in a row before Tigg. He faced Clay armed with only his anger.
“It’s not enough that you steal my child, now you dare to steal my mate?”
“Shut up,” Clay sneered at him. “If you can’t keep them safe you have no right to them.”
“Don’t be such a dick,” I said to Clay.
“Are you all right, Minka?” Tigg asked. “The baby?”
“I’m fine, we’re fine,” I assured him.
Clay grew agitated. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. I’ll give you the egg, and Minka stays with me.”
“What? The note didn’t sssay anything about Minka ssstaying,” Tigg hissed.
Before Clay could spout off, I attempted to sooth Tigg. “Please, take the baby. Clay agreed to give it up in exchange for me.”
“No!”
“Tigg, please. You have to take the baby, it’s all that matters,” I pleaded.
“Leave you…here…with him?”
I passed the egg into his arms and backed up before he could make a grab for me. “Please, go. Don’t look for me. I’m staying with Clay.” I knew I was hurting him—and it broke my heart—but I had no choice.
He looked hard at me and then nodded his head. “Very well.” In a few quick strides he was back to the entrance of the craft. “Farewell,” he said, and then he was gone. He disappeared up into the ship and the door slipped shut behind him. A couple minutes later it lifted off and zoomed away. Just like that.
I knew my mouth was hanging open. Clay saw the dazed look on my face and began to laugh. “Holy shit! That was easier than I thought. He didn’t take too much persuasion at all, did he?”
“No. He didn’t,” I agreed. Things had gone brilliantly, just the way I’d hoped. So why then was I so annoyed? Really though, what had I expected? The baby was safe, Tigg was safe—I, however, was screwed—but that was okay.
Clay reached out and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Have I got plans for you.”
Benny and the other goon began to walk toward the house. I could see they were disappointed there hadn’t been more action. Clay offered me his arm and I turned away. He shrugged and began to walk, catching up to his cohorts.
In the next instant, a laser beam shot swirled out. Benny dropped dead, a big hole in the middle of his skull. All eyes turned to the side of the house where, to our disbelief, Tigg stood. His feet were braced far apart, his arms held out in front of him, gripping a weapon.
“Minka, down!” he shouted.
I immediately turned into a spider and scampered away.
Another shot swirled out, this one hitting the other goon square in the chest. Now only Clay was left. He recovered quickly from his shock and immediately began to fire swirl after swirl from his own weapon in Tigg’s direction.
I scurried up the trunk of a tree so I could get a better view. Tigg had ducked be
hind the house taking cover.
“Where the fuck did you come from?” Clay screamed, looking at his two dead cronies.
Tigg swung around the side of the house and began to fire at Clay. Clay rushed to take cover behind the tree I was hiding in. I scaled up into the higher branches keeping a safe distance from the blasts. I knew each weapon had only twenty beams of laser shots in it. It didn’t take long for both men to run out of ammo. Tigg must have been counting Clay’s shots because as soon as I heard Clay swear and throw his gun down, Tigg was stalking across the yard with his huge knife clasped in his grip.
Clay had a knife of his own strapped to his hip, which he removed as he stepped from the cover of the tree.
Things were about to get messy.
The two men met and engaged in battle. Clay was good, but he was no match for Tigg. As they fought, I wondered what had happened. I’d seen Tigg take the baby and leave. The ship was nowhere in sight. So, how the hell did he get around the back of the house so fast?
“I warned you I would hunt you down,” Tigg said.
“I just saw you leave. How the hell are you here?” Clay demanded.
Tigg grinned. His cobra teeth were large and terrifying. “That was not me. It was my brother Teneg you gave the baby to.”
Teneg? Tigg’s brother? His twin brother? Holy crap. So that’s why he’d left me so easily. My tiny spider heart soared with relief.
I shut all my eyes when Tigg ended Clay’s life. Tigg held him in his arms for a moment as Clay’s life slipped away. Tigg lowered him slowly to the ground. I hurried out of the tree and switched back into a woman. Tigg looked at me and stepped over Clay’s body to take me into his arms.
“Minka, my love,” he whispered.
I held him tight and was glad his giant form hid Clay’s body from my sight. Despite all my bravado and declaration of wanting Clay dead, in the end, I was glad it hadn’t been me to do it.
“It’s over?” I asked, afraid it had all been a dream and I’d wake up back in Clay’s apartment.
Creature Worlds: Solar Slick Page 9
