by test
“Sure, no problem,” Samantha answered. “Besides, maybe Dylan will have gotten us a lead. He’s the one that reads all of the crime and mystery novels. Don’t worry, Johanna. By the way, what’s wrong with you?”
“It’s nothing to be concerned about. I should be feeling back to normal soon.”
Lucy’s outraged voice filled the intercom. Samantha winced and couldn’t help but feel sorry for her sister. “All of your weapons are in the black duffel bag, plus a few little extras that Dylan put in just for good measure,” Johanna explained. “Be safe, and try not to blow up anything. Devlin’s rather fond of this little planet. I don’t want you to get us all in trouble.”
“Thanks,” Samantha said. She walked back into the bedroom. “Send me the coordinates, and I’ll head down there right away,” Samantha stopped suddenly. Tyler was gone, and in his place stood Lord Devlin. Crap.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she complained. She ignored him and walked over to the black duffel bag that Johanna had prepared for her.
“I just thought you might like to know that Johanna’s husband, has just started a brawl at the Moonlight Bar. I’d suggest that you get there soon. I don’t have many of my people stationed there, and it is quite a rough and uncontrolled area. So if you want to see him alive again, you’d better get your ass moving,” Lord Devlin murmured, sprawling his lanky form into the overstuffed armchair that sat near the window.
She began grumbling, outfitting herself with every weapon imaginable. She looked over expectantly at The Red Falcon.
“Yes,” he drawled, obviously enjoying the fact that she would be forced to ask him for another favor. She’d really gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Since she was stuck up in space on his damn ship, and The Excalibur was on the surface there was only one way for her to get down there. She would have to use his stinking transporter again.
“What? No thank you, for the heads up?” Devlin asked, smirking over at her. She ignored him and glanced back at the Red Falcon.
“The only thank you, you’ll get from me is a kiss my ass. By the way, what’s up with the whores in your guest rooms?”
“Excuse me?” Lord Devlin asked.
“Oh, don’t play stupid. If you have a problem…maybe you need to get treated for it…lots RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 107
of people are sex addicts. Anyway, Falcon, I know that you can have me transported from here down to the Moonlight Bar, so could you get a move on it?” she asked, not quite bringing herself to use the words please or thank you.
“I could have you transported, but I’m wondering if I should,” he mused, gaining supreme satisfaction out of messing with her head. She grumbled, and frowned at him, crossing her arms in anger.
“If you don’t transport me, I’m going...,” But her words faded as she felt the tingly sensation overwhelming her and she heard his amused laughter, as if from far away. Then she was in the middle of a dimly lit room, and objects of all shapes and sizes flew everywhere.
She quickly dived behind a table as she tried to get her bearings. She heard Dylan’s voice and looked up, only to see a very large man, about to take a swing at him.
“Son of a bastard! ” she cursed, quickly drawing her phase pistol.
* * * *
Now there were two things that Samantha hated doing before her second cup of coffee.
She hated finding her ass in the middle of a raging fight and she hated having to be the one to figure out how to get out of a fight that she hadn’t started. But then, she was always one to finish things, and this little battle looked as if it needed ending.
She pulled out her other phase pistol, made sure they were both set to stun and lunged out from behind the table. The bar could possibly be filled with suspects in Lady Devlin’s death, and she needed to get to Dylan to find out if he had found out anything substantial.
She made her way to Dylan with both pistols blazing and pinged the man that was about to deck Dylan in his big butt.
The man let out a bear like howl and swiftly turned around, with his weapon raised.
“Nighty night! ” she murmured, shooting him in the chest. “Please, don’t have sweet dreams.” He dropped at Dylan’s feet. Dylan sent her a grateful smile, all the while reaching for his own pistol.
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 liable 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 their direction.
“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 kind of 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 cartridge do you?” Dylan asked quickly.
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She reached inside the pouch on her belt and tossed him a cartridge.
“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 shit load 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 butt!!!” 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 l
ittle 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.
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“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 hocking 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, and 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, cause RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 110
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 high tail 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 backwards. 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.
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Chapter Twelve
She 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 wind walk 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. Lord 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 sc
hematics 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 against 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.
