by test
“I found you.” Jarrod narrowed his eyes. “Now you will truly be mine!” He threw the gun across the deck.
“That’s it, darling. Now just let my sister go,” Samantha encouraged, hoping he would release Johanna. Her eyes went straight to his signet ring and her heart stopped.
She darted her eyes back to lock onto her sister’s gaze and she blinked three times. She just prayed to God that Johanna would recognize the signal. Calling upon telepathy in this situation was a bad idea. She might just inadvertently send out too strong of a signal and fry Johanna’s mind. She was basically damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
She pushed the button on her belt that activated her grappling hook. Relief washed over her when the retraction button worked.
Samantha sailed up into the air. She was on the roof of Marty’s office building in the blink of an eye. While Jarrod was distracted, Johanna kept her eye on his poisonous ring and took her elbow and slammed it into his gut. Jarrod groaned in pain and reached for his abdomen releasing his hold on Johanna.
That was all of the time that Johanna needed. She pushed a random button on her belt and was surprised when a bubble force field formed around her body. It bent and moved with her every movement. She rolled out of his way and went bouncing over to where Samantha stood on the roof.
Samantha flew down to where Jarrod was doubled over in pain. Retracting her grappling hook, she served him a taste of her leather boot. Jarrod went flying backwards. Blood gushed from his mouth. Despite the few teeth she’d knocked loose, he stood up. He was a resilient little bastard; she’d give him that.
Samantha steeled herself for what was to come and threw herself in a series of cartwheels and acrobatic flips. She roundhouse kicked him several more times and wasn’t surprised when Jarrod’s thugs jumped out of nowhere.
Sighing, she pulled her titanium Bo staff out. In a flash, it grew to its six-foot length. She smiled.
“Come on, boys! Let’s have some fun!”
Twirling it in her hands, she sized up her opponents. She focused her ki ... her internal RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 19
energy and added a boost of power to her natural abilities and took them down with a series of parries and thrusts. They never knew what hit them, poor bastards.
Jabbing the end of her staff on the ground, she used it as leverage and propelled herself into the air knocking them both out.
In the next instant, Jarrod charged toward her. She released her hold on her Bo staff for a split second, and heard it clatter to the ground. Her eyes widened. The force of his impact knocked all of the wind out of her.
They both went hurtling toward the water’s edge. She was just able to inhale a gulp of air before they both catapulted into the murky depths of the water.
She fought against him. Kicking out in the water. It was no use! He continued to pull her down toward the bottom. She hated water. It was her biggest fear. And one she had yet to overcome. She couldn’t abide the thought of drowning and it sent tremors of fear coursing through her body. Her fear paralyzed her. She couldn’t function normally, and in this state, she definitely couldn’t call upon her abilities. She heard Johanna screaming out for her in the distance and wondered why she still hadn’t come in to help her. Johanna knew that she hated water.
Samantha once again focused her ki and punched Jarrod. Blood from his cracked lip trickled into the water. She pushed against him with all of her might. She frantically reached down into her boot and pulled out the only old-fashioned weapon that she carried.
It was a Celtic dagger that had been passed through her mother’s family for generations.
Coincidentally, it was the only weapon that she could trust under water. Family legend stated that it was charmed—just like she was.
Jarrod was upon her once again. His signet ring hovered inches away from her face. She tensed herself for what was to come and slammed the dagger into his gut. He immediately released his hold upon her. Sickened by what she had done, she swam to the surface. She broke out of the water gasping for air.
Samantha pushed the water out of her eyes. Reaching for the side of the dock she noticed Johanna struggling to deactivate the force field that shimmered around her. She climbed up onto the dry land and was touched when Johanna tried to reach for her.
“791,” she sputtered. “That’s the deactivation code.”
Johanna nodded her head thankfully, entered the sequence of numbers and then smiled when the force field shimmered out of existence. “I couldn’t jump in or I would have electrocuted myself and perhaps even you,” Johanna exclaimed.
“Don’t worry about it.” Samantha waved her hand in dismissal. Her cool exterior belied the drumming of her heart in her chest. Her teeth chattered and she rubbed her arms briskly to try to warm herself up. She slowly walked toward her sister.
“Samantha! ” Johanna screamed.
Samantha turned. Horror etched on her face at the gruesome sight of Jarrod lurching toward her. Before he could reach Samantha, purple lightening erupted out of nowhere.
It connected with Jarrod. His whole body convulsed.
Both sisters looked to where the purple lightening had come from and Johanna cried out with joy. She ran toward Dylan and threw herself into his arms. He swung her around and kissed her passionately.
“You and Samantha were taking too long for my own comfort level. So I thought that you would need some assistance. It’s good to know that I can be of some help.” He boyishly grinned.
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Samantha smiled affectionately at the two of them. Johanna dashed back to the water’s edge, and wrapped her dry coat around Samantha’s soaked, and shivering form. “Thanks,”
Samantha mumbled, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
Dylan turned back toward Aggie and activated her engine.
She stopped abruptly and tensed. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. A purple glow enveloped her body. She whirled around and kicked Jarrod so hard that it sent him hurtling back into the sea.
“Obviously, I was proven wrong again. It seems the two of you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves,” Dylan relented, smiling that easy and affectionate trademark grin of his.
Johanna shivered. She stared out to the sea. “I hate those kind of people. So what do we do now about our bounty?”
“We have more pressing problems,” Dylan remarked. Samantha and Johanna stared at him quizzically. A sinking feeling entered Samantha’s gut.
“Tyler,” she whispered dread slithering up and down her spine.
Dylan nodded. “You hit the nail on the head, Sam.” He inhaled deeply. “Seems there is another bounty that has just been placed and it is worth much more. You could even call it a King’s Ransom.” Tension rippled off him in waves, and his aquamarine eyes filled with pain.
Sighing, he led them back to their hover mobile. His shoulders slumped. The news he had for them wasn’t good. Her heart was still in her throat and she followed Dylan closely.
Dylan called up the bounty files on the minicomputer he carried. A holographic image filled the car. Samantha’s heart filled with dread. Her stomach lurched. She recognized the roguish face in front of her.
“I wanted to be wrong!” she murmured, recalling her dream from the night before. She had to reach for the door handle for support. She suddenly felt weak. The day’s activities were taking a toll. She climbed into the hover car, and snapped her safety belt into place, as did Johanna and Dylan.
“Wrong about Tyler?” Johanna asked, giving her a quizzical stare. Johanna nodded knowingly. “You should have told us you’d gotten a sign that Tyler would be in trouble. We need to get to him before some other bastard does,” Johanna stated, bringing Aggie up into the air. “You get these feelings and you don’t enlighten us so we’re all caught off guard. It’s not good to work like that, Samantha.”
Tyler’s smiling face continued to stare back at Samantha. She closed her eyes several times
and couldn’t erase his face from her mind. Her heart ached. She clasped her hands together to still the incessant trembling.
“How far do you think this file has gone?” she whispered. She closed her eyes. Pain wound its way around her heart.
“Broadband,” Dylan replied. “Every bounty hunter on this side of The Rim will be gunning for Tyler’s hide.” He looked away. She watched him enter some jargon into his personal mini-computer.
“That means we’re up against an army of the most ruthlessly cunning men and women.”
Samantha rolled her eyes, and said with false bravado, “That’ll be a walk in the park. Piece of cake.”
She grimaced, as an intricate knot tightened in the pit of her stomach. Soon, she’d be hyperventilating and Johanna would be handing her the paper bag that she kept for these blasted moments.
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“Yep,” Dylan agreed. “However, on the upside we are part of that army and we should be able to beat them at their own game. Everyone knows the Cassidy’s are the best in the system.”
“Yes. And everyone also knows that we will be going in for Tyler. We can’t risk losing him to someone else. Do you know what they do to criminals on New Monaco? ” Samantha asked, pushing her straggly hair out of her face.
“You bet your life,” Dylan answered morosely. His face went completely white. “They hang them even if they don’t have the benefit of a trial.”
“Exactly, ” she answered. “And since Tyler is most assuredly not guilty of what they are accusing him of we need to get him away from them until we are able to prove his innocence.”
“Fill me in,” Johanna began. “What exactly is he accused of?”
“He has been accused of murdering Lord Devlin’s wife,” Dylan whispered.
That notion was absurd. Whatever Tyler was, murder would never enter his mind.
“Lord Devlin. Why that should work out to our advantage,” Johanna mused, tightening her hands on the steering wheel. “I almost married Lord Devlin,” she whispered. She flinched as Dylan’s astonished shout echoed throughout the hover car. “Well. I didn’t!” Johanna darted a furtive glance back at her husband.
“I thought that there wasn’t anyone before me!” he said, confusion filling his eyes.
“Of course there wasn’t, silly boy. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you,” Johanna drawled, rolling her eyes. “Though he did do a fabulous job of courting me and almost whisking me off of my feet.”
“Yeah. Then I came and gave her a good dose of reality. Which opened her eyes to see the pompous prig for what he really is,” Samantha muttered. Her heart constricted. She had to think of something else. At this rate she’d go nuts before they found Tyler. Being the mayor of Crazy Town wasn’t on her top ten lists.
“And what is that?” Dylan asked, raking his hands through his curly wayward hair.
“He’s a snooty, pretentious jackass,” Samantha announced. Granted, he was a hot jackass but a jackass nonetheless. She stopped talking when they arrived and entered the docking bay of their ship.
“Yes. But I still have some sway over him. I know that he’d be happy to see me. Why I may be even able to talk some sense into him,” Johanna protested.
Samantha got out of Aggie and slammed the door. She strode down the gangplank. Her leather boots clanged against the metal and she swayed slightly as a bout of nausea almost overwhelmed her. She halted mid-stride and groaned. She had a searing pain starting behind her eyes, and it had come upon her at the mention of Lord Devlin.
“We shall not in any way shape or form resort to negotiating with that dirty rotten bastard!” Samantha reached for the railing to still the brief feeling of sickness washing over her.
Johanna placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Samantha reached to pat it affectionately. “I’m fine,” she gasped. Tyler was a great many things but he wasn’t a murderer and the thought of him swaying in the gallows was enough to make her lose her lunch. “We have to get to him, the sooner the better!”
Her heart skipped a beat. She and Johanna walked toward the cockpit. Dylan remained behind to complete his little ‘patchwork’ jobs that he had done to Aggie.
“He is a thief,” Johanna pointed out, reaching for the controls.
“Aye, he’s the best damn thief this side of New Earth, ” Samantha agreed, lowering herself comfortably into the copilot’s seat.
Excalibur’s large engine whirred to life and they began hovering. They streaked through RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 22
the sky. Notting Prime's space control buzzed through the intercom. Johanna gave all of the authorization codes. Samantha closed her eyes and envisioned Tyler in her mind’s eye.
He was sinfully handsome and he had probably been up to no good with Lady Devlin.
But he couldn’t have killed her. She would not believe that of him.
The man didn’t have a violent bone in his body toward women that was to say. She smiled and imagined him roguishly extending a rose to her. Tyler was an incorrigible flirt. He was pompous. Arrogant and stubborn to the very end, but he was not a murderer.
“How long will it take us to reach New Monaco? ” Samantha asked sleepily. Her clothes had dried from her dip in the ocean back on Notting Prime, but she still needed a shower. If only she could keep her eyes open long enough. A short catnap should recharge her engines.
The day’s events suddenly began to take a toll on her. But if the truth were known, it was her emotional angst that was causing the most damage.
“Three hours at top speed and The Excalibur isn’t exactly a slouch when it comes to racing other bounty hunting ships,” Johanna announced. Smiling proudly, she patted the console lovingly.
“Is that what we’re in?” Samantha asked, dreading the answer.
“My dearest sister. We’re in a space race to save your husband’s life. Why do you think Dylan suddenly decided to play with Aggie? He’s worried to the point of distraction. He loves that brother of his, and I love him, too, even if Tyler does pale in comparison to Dylan. He’ll fight Heaven and Earth for Tyler. The way things are going it looks as if we all might have to do just that,” Johanna said, reaching for her cup of strong tea.
“Then you think we’re in for a struggle.” Samantha leaned back and let out a gust of frustrated air.
“No, dearest. Not a struggle. We are merely in for a war of monumental proportions.
Keep those handy little gadgets of yours close to you at all times. You’re going to need them.
You might also want to keep your senses alert…if you could, tap into those abilities you wield. I know you hate relying on them but we just might need them if we’re going to pull your husband’s ass out of the proverbial fire. We should probably contact Mom before we get to New Monaco. We might have to cut ourselves off when we are trying to prove Tyler’s innocence.
Whatever needs to be said we should say it. I think we should make sure that Mom knows how to get to our funds just in case something happens to us,” Johanna said practically, staring pointedly at Samantha.
Johanna was right. They needed to make sure that all of their affairs were settled in case the unthinkable happened.
“Ever the optimist, dearest Johanna,” Samantha murmured, flickering her eyes shut.
She fell into a restless slumber plagued with visions of Tyler swaying in the wind.
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Chapter Three
Tyler Cassidy pushed his way through the throng of people and stared up at the bright blue sky. He used his hand to shield against the harsh glare. The suns would be setting soon and New Monaco’s two moons would be glowing in the still sky. He had a price on his head and his loyal allies were growing thin.
He pulled his dark brown leather trench coat closer around him and turned the collar up to hide his facial features. Holograms of his wanted poster flickered every goddamn place he went and he hadn’t eaten in over twelve hours.
T
he last safe house that he had gone to had been abandoned. They’d all disappeared and gone into hiding, or they were dead. Obviously, his friend Jefferson had been forced to leave beneath a hail of fire. The whole place had been blown apart. Tyler had found Jefferson’s wife dead, pinned beneath a heap of stone. His fault. His bloody fault! He sank to his knees and dropped his head into his hands. With one gloved hand he reached over and gently closed Jefferson’s wife’s eyes. Then rolling his eyes heavenward, he prayed for her. After that, he’d left the safe house and he’d been running ever since.
He was at the end of his rope. He’d never been up against people that were ruthless enough to destroy everyone and anything in their path. The lives of others had no value. The bounty hunters that were after him were from a different class than Samantha or Johanna. His wife and her sister had principles.
They didn’t kill innocents.
