He aimed behind her. Two seconds later, she heard another scream and then a loud crash. She finally got to his side and between her heavy breaths, managed to ask her question.
“Have you found any suspects?” she muttered. She saw Dylan nod his head, out of the corner of her eye.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if they’re still here. In the confusion, they may have escaped.”
“Shit!” She holstered one pistol and pulled Dylan behind another table.
Someone was now throwing long metal knives and they lodged deeply into the wooden table.
“Holy shit!!!” Dylan muttered, his eyes widening, as she gave him a wicked grin. He turned white.
“You can thank me later,” she promised quickly.
She stood up and shot the man that had been so very happy to throw real knives at them.
“Where’s Ross and Veronica?” she gasped, kneeling down, searching the other side of the bar.
“Don’t know how you could miss Ross. He sticks out like a sore thumb,” Dylan muttered, shooting his pistol again.
“Damn it!” she muttered, as a laser bolt narrowly missed singeing her head.
“I’m out of charge, you don’t happen to have a spare energy magazine do you?” Dylan asked quickly.
She reached into the pouch on her belt and tossed him a magazine.
“Here,” she muttered.
She fought the urge to cough. Thick smoke billowed through the air.
A beer bottle smashed on the wall behind them, and Samantha frowned, chewed her lip and considered her tight surroundings. She glanced up once again and caught sight of the hulking form of Ross. He picked up two men that were trying to take him.
She watched, fascinated as he lifted the fairly large men and slammed their heads against each other. They dropped to the floor and Samantha winced, creeping over to kneel beside Dylan.
“Ouch,” she rasped, imagining the pain that those two men had just endured.
She would never cross Ross as long as she was within arm’s reach that was for sure. She still wondered where Veronica was, but her thoughts were put to rest when she heard the woman’s pissed off scream.
“Music to my ears,” she muttered, earning a confused glance from Dylan.
She glanced around and saw that Veronica was in a shitload of trouble and Ross was too far away to reach her.
“Stay here,” she told Dylan. He rolled his eyes and began protesting.
“You need someone to watch your back,” he stated, twitching his jaw.
Dylan was a laid back kind of guy at the best of times but she could see the tense situation was beginning to affect even him.
“I was told that you started this brawl,” she said, reaching for her retractable Bo staff. She pushed the button as it grew to its full size. “You aren’t used to being in the middle of all of the excitement. I don’t want to see Johanna become a widow. You’re a lover, not a fighter, remember?”
“Yeah. But when the going gets tough the not so tough have to get going. I don’t need to be protected. I am a full grown man, I can take care of myself.”
“Great! Take care of yourself. But let me do what comes naturally to me.”
“And what’s that?” he shot back.
“Kicking some good old-fashioned ass!!!” she grinned.
“Good luck,” Dylan winked at her and then fired at a man just as he was about to blast Samantha in the back.
“Thanks, Dylan.” Samantha gave him a relaxed smile. “And, by the way,” she said almost as an afterthought. “If you want to watch my back while I go save Veronica’s scrawny little butt, be my guest,” she said, turning and reflecting another bolt of laser fire with her Bo staff.
“Same goes for me,” Dylan said.
His face broke into that little boy grin that Samantha found so endearing. She held her Bo staff confidently between her hands mentally focusing her energy.
During her youth she had spent many hours meditating beneath her martial arts master, but today she would have to use a less skilled approach with the band of everyday thugs that were in the bar. The only language they understood was pure brutal force.
Under any other situation, Veronica could have handled herself quite nicely, but when you had a gang of men ready to get a piece of you, the cavalry needed to be called. And Samantha had already received her calling card. She swung her Bo staff and caught one man off guard as he went flying through the already broken up bar. She heard his outraged cry and a smirk broke the stern line of her lip, as Veronica caught one man in his family jewels.
“Hey, Big V,” she called, distantly hearing Ross’s bellow of fury. “Thought you might like a hand.”
“I was doing fine by myself, thanks,” Veronica shot back smacking her gloved hand against one man’s face.
Samantha ducked as another man tried swinging at her and quickly brought her Bo staff up into his groin.
The man gasped, turned as white as a sheet, and then flopped to the side, breaking through a table. Veronica picked up a chair and used it to whack another hulking man with.
“They seem to be coming out of the bloody woodwork,” Samantha muttered, backing up against Veronica.
The men they were fighting were a hearty and determined bunch. As soon as they thought they had taken care of one, another moved forward to fill his empty space.
Samantha worked her magic with her staff and smiled as she swung swiftly at another attacker. He went down with a grunt, and then she heard the charging of something that made her hair stand on end.
The ticking time bomb landed at their feet and Veronica and Samantha looked at each other with twin faces of horror.
Samantha moved into action, swiping her Bo staff at it like it was a puck and her staff was a hockey stick, hoping that it wouldn’t explode before she got it away from their location. She pelted it toward the nearest window, and it broke through the glass and then exploded. “Score!” she shouted.
She grunted when the force of the blast sent her and Veronica flying to the other side of the bar. Samantha slammed up against a wall and heard loud ringing in her ears, dazedly shaking her head.
She still held her Bo staff, though it had shrunk down to its normal carrying size. Realizing that it was busted until Dylan could fix it, she latched it back onto her belt and searched the cloudy room for her friends.
She spotted Dylan first and his head was lolled to one side while blood trickled down from a small cut on his forehead.
Veronica was nowhere to be seen. But then she quickly realized that Ross had finally made his way over to Veronica and had protectively thrown himself on top of her. Samantha admired the big lug for his heroism and devotion, but her mind was centered solely on reaching Dylan’s side.
She stood unsteadily, breathing sharply as a wave of dizziness rushed through her. Undeterred by her physical issues, she vaguely noted that the bar had fallen eerily quiet. No more shouts, or the sounds of shattering glass could be heard, not even the whine of weapon fire could be noticed.
Weird.
Someone had deliberately thrown the bomb inside of the bar, planning on taking out everyone that inhabited it. It hadn’t come from any of the patrons, so she just had to figure out who the hell had been behind the explosion.
She stumbled over fallen bodies to her brother-in-law and gently pulled him into her lap.
“Dylan?” she whispered, turning his head slowly.
He fluttered open his aquamarine eyes. They were blurry, and he probably had a concussion as a result of the blast.
“Am I in Heaven?” he mumbled.
At his words, she realized he hadn’t recognized her.
“No. You’re not in Heaven you silly dolt! You’re still very much alive. Thank God,” she returned, brushing wood chips out of his hair.
“Oh, Samantha, I didn’t see you at first. Now I know I’m definitely not in Heaven because you’re no angel.” He winced, as a ghost of a smirk twitched the corners of his mouth.
“You’re a freaking barrel of laughs, monkey boy,” she frowned. “I was worried out of my mind for you, and you repay me by insulting me? Why I ought to smack you silly.”
“Too late,” he muttered, moaning he rubbed his head. A shocked expression filled his eyes when he noticed the hot sticky blood. “I’ve already been smacked past silliness,” he replied, slurring his words together.
“We’ve got to hightail it out of here. Whoever sent the little gift, might be coming back soon,” she grunted. Trying to help him to his feet was proving to be quite the job. “Do you have bricks in your ass?” With one last heave, she finally managed to get him upright.
“Is it normal to be seeing stars?” Dylan groused, nearly pulling Samantha back down to the floor with him.
“Not unless you’re in space,” she snorted. Her feet slid on the floor. “I’ll never give you an argument about your size ever again. With the way that you’ve let everything go loose, I feel as if I’m trying to pull up a ton of bricks.”
“Everyone always said I was a dead weight,” he muttered.
She let out another agonized groan. Tensing, she quickly dropped him.
“Sorry, Dylan!”
She heard him cry out in pain, but she had already reached for her pistol and was firing it at the two men that had literally appeared out of nowhere. She managed to shoot one man, but her eyes bugged out of her head as she realized that the other man had been too quick for her distracted senses.
She had nowhere to dodge to, so she could only remain rooted to the same spot as if in slow motion the shot made its way to her. It slammed into her protected chest, but even though she had been unharmed, the brunt of the attack still sent her flying off of her feet.
“Samantha!” Dylan yelled.
The force of the impact hurtled her backward. She closed her eyes and heard the breaking of glass. She realized too late that she had been sent careening through one of the many windows, and realized even later, that the Moonlight Bar was not a ground level structure.
“Oh, freaking hell!” she cried, but her voice was lost on the shrieking wind.
*****
Samantha wasn’t going to die at such an early age. She still had her whole life ahead of her. She felt the wind rushing around her, gulping she looked down. She was going to be toasted if she didn’t do something soon.
Nobody would be rushing to her rescue. She thought back to all of the items that she had put on from the black duffel bag. Purple light glimmered around her, but her mind was racing too fast for her to get a good grip on her abilities. She seemed to be slowing her descent but could she slow it enough that the impact wouldn’t kill her?
Many with Charlotte’s level of experience could actually skywalk, but she couldn’t do that… she was light years away from mastering that ability.
The vest that she wore had saved her from being knocked unconscious by the stun bolts, and then she realized that the vest had also been outfitted with many more gadgets.
She pursed her lips into a determined smile and reached for the top button on her left shoulder. She quickly triggered it, as her body jolted with the force of the small jet pack activating itself.
She was flying all over the place and she scrambled to gain control of it. She could be thankful for one thing. Devlin had put some good distance between each building. If he hadn’t, she would’ve been splattered up against one right now.
She and Dylan had worked on the design schematics of her new vest for a good deal of time and had decided to add the jet propulsion to it. She smiled gleefully and hooted when she finally gained control over it.
Samantha soared up to the broken window of the Moonlight Bar, pulled out her two pistols aimed and shot the second man. She was just in time, as he was about to shoot Dylan.
She stepped up into the bar, wincing at the noise of shattered glass crunching beneath her feet. Veronica and Ross now stood by Dylan and helped him to his feet. She shakily walked over to them.
“You’re alive!” Dylan breathed. His big eyes became even bigger.
“Glad to see you too, Dylan!” Thankfully her heart had begun to beat normally.
“We thought you were a goner for sure,” Veronica stated, staring at her in disbelief.
“Thanks to my brilliant brother-in-law, I have managed to cheat death for another day, at least.” She glanced around the destroyed bar.
“So where did those two blithering idiots we were questioning before the brawl, get off too?” Dylan rasped, as Ross let him lean against him.
Samantha barged forward and got in Dylan’s face, completely ignoring his question.
“We have to get you back to Johanna, she should look at that noggin of yours,” Samantha muttered. She pushed his hands away and quickly inspected the slight gash.
“They left as soon as the shit hit the fan. You had to go and throw the first punch, and then POOF everything went hog wild,” Veronica grumbled, even though a fleeting expression of satisfaction passed over her features.
Samantha couldn’t believe the woman!
Dylan couldn’t have been the one responsible. Why, he didn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. She hadn’t believed Devlin when he’d said Dylan started the brawl…guess she was wrong.
“Oh, get off of it, Veronica. I don’t believe for one minute that Dylan could have started all of this.” She swept her hand toward the scene of destruction. “This looks like something matching your M.O.” She loved goading Veronica and she was going to revel in it a bit more before saying she did believe her.
“Are we talking about the same man here, or did I somehow step into an alternate reality?” Veronica shot back, as Ross furrowed his large forehead.
“I don’t think that Dylan did anything wrong. Just ‘cause he called the man a walking, talking, Neanderthal didn’t give the guy a reason to try decking him one.”
“Yes, and then what happened?” Samantha demanded, glancing impatiently at Dylan.
“Then he blocked the guy’s punch and sent him flying across the room. I’ve never seen such a quiet guy display such a loud temper,” Ross said, laying his hand on his buddy’s shoulder. “I’m kind of impressed.”
“Please, don’t tell me that this situation could have been avoided, if only you’d kept your big mouth shut,” Samantha sighed, placing her pistols into their holsters.
“The man said that you were a stupid slut, he said that you’d betrayed Lord Devlin with my bastard of a brother.” Dylan’s glared at her.
“Huh,” Samantha managed to say, as murderous intent entered her eyes. “You shouldn’t have simply called him a Neanderthal, you should’ve bypassed words and gone straight for the action part,” she decided. They slowly made their way toward the exit to the bar.
They walked into the elevator, and Samantha felt a strange feeling overtake her as Veronica pressed the button for the main floor.
“Do you smell smoke?” Dylan asked.
Samantha shot him a worried gaze. She could hear something sizzling. Slowly, she put her finger to her lips to tell everyone to be quiet. Her heart thudded. Gradually, recognition dawned.
“Shit!” she cursed.
Veronica let out a blood-curdling scream. They all reached for something to grab onto as the elevator plummeted.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Samantha tried activating her com link to The Emerald Star, screaming when she realized that something or more likely someone blocked her signal. Frantically, she stared up at the ceiling and found an escape hatch.
“Hey, Ross, how’s about you give me a lift?” she asked, pointing to the ceiling as they all battled their feelings of anxiety.
Inwardly, she wanted to scream and cry out in frustration and fear. But she was a strong person, and no matter what, she would do anything to save the people that were with her. She was Samantha Cassidy. It was her job to save the day.
She grunted as they worked against the speed of the elevator.
“How much weight do you
think your grapplers are designed to hold?” she asked Dylan. His face spread into a grin and she nearly kissed him.
“I’ve designed them to be strong enough to tow a couple of hover cars, let’s hope that they hold this bloody elevator,” he whispered.
Samantha tore the hatch open and reached to fasten one of her grapplers to the roof of the elevator.
“Everyone, say a hope and a prayer, and cross everything imaginable,” she instructed, dropping easily to the floor of the elevator.
She activated the grapplers, and though only a few seconds had passed they’d dropped about twenty floors. She scrambled over toward Dylan. Veronica and Ross pressed themselves together.
She took a hold of Dylan’s hands and prayed. She said every imaginable prayer that she could think of. Then when they suddenly lurched to an abrupt halt, everyone stared at each other, as if they had been given the greatest gift in the world.
Samantha’s relieved expression slowly faded. The sound of the cords of the grapplers straining beneath the weight of the elevator made a shiver run up and down her spine.
“Now what?” Veronica asked, staring over at Samantha.
“Why are you asking me?” Samantha shot back, feeling another headache coming on.
“Because you saved the day once already, and I’m all out of ideas,” Veronica returned. “Besides, you’re the Queen of Danger, and this is a dangerous situation. I expect you to pull our butts out of this. After all, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you in the first place!”
Ross gave her a reproachful glare. “We’re in this bind together, Betsy,” he murmured.
Samantha gave him a grateful stare and made a mental note to find out why Veronica was called Betsy when they got back to The Excalibur.
She wasn’t defeated yet, and she was going to do everything within her power to get them out of the elevator.
Veronica was right. She had through some coincidence of fate become their leader. And leaders didn’t let their team down. She was a born leader. Her mother had always said so.
“Do you think the jet pack would work?” she asked a slightly woozy Dylan.
Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1) Page 22
