Stolen
Page 17
She knew her father had never wanted her to take over his bounty-hunting business. Truth be told, he never thought it was possible, but after spending a childhood chasing after crooks all over the galaxy, she didn't really know any other life. She was good at tracking people and getting out of scrapes and skirting the law. Her father had taught her well.
Danica shook thoughts of her father out of her head as she glanced at the fuel gauge. "Good work. We should have enough steam to reach the Gendarvian outpost, where we can unload our bounty and get our reward."
Tori crossed the bridge to stand next to her, the chain belt wrapped several times around her waist jingling as she walked. "I wonder what this one did to command such a high price."
Danica shrugged, tucking a loose strand of wavy, blonde hair behind her ear. "It's not our business to wonder why. I can tell you it wasn't for a violent offense. I've never had a bounty put up less of a fight."
"The tracking was the hard part. Dr. Max Dryden did a fucking brilliant job of hiding."
The women turned to see their engineer, Holly, step onto the bridge. While the rest of Danica's crew favored utilitarian clothes that made them look more like their male counterparts—military issue pants, T-shirts, multi-pocketed vests and jackets—the ship's engineer and resident computer whiz wore color and patterns and combined them fearlessly. Red hair spilled over her shoulders and down the skintight, pink-paisley top she'd paired over an equally snug pair of turquoise pants. Her decidedly feminine appearance didn’t do a thing to stop her from cursing like a space pirate, which usually startled people who thought her girly looks meant she was all sugar and spice.
"Not good enough to outfox us," Tori said, hand on her hip.
"Luckily for you, I understand the doctor's research and narrowed it down to the few planets that are ideal for that type of scientific study," Holly said. “And then Bexli did her thing.”
Bexli was the other non-human in the crew. A Lycithian shape-shifter who excelled at sneaking in and out of otherwise impenetrable places, she was their ace in the hole. Officially, she was their acquisitions officer, but only in the sense that she could acquire any bounty by way of her shape-shifting skills. She was so indispensable, Danica even put up with the pet glurkin that Bexli had insisted on bringing on board.
"Remind me again what type of research," Tori said, then shook her head. "Never mind, I actually don't care."
Holly rolled her eyes at Tori. "The study of a rare mineral only found in a few systems. Word on the astronet is that the doctor has figured out a way to harness its power, which would be fucking amazing."
Caro twisted in her chair to face them. "I'm still not thrilled we're turning over a scientist. Are we sure this is a legit bounty? How many doctors do you know who commit crimes severe enough to command this amount? Should we really be turning in other women? I mean, we’re an all female bounty-hunting crew."
Danica frowned, partly at Caro’s barrage of questions and partly because she'd had the same thoughts, and had been trying to ignore her inner voice during the entire search. "We don't have the luxury of picking and choosing our bounties. Anyway, if we don't turn the doctor in, someone else will. At least we treat our prisoners well."
"Not that all of them deserve it." Tori pulled up the hem of her black cargo pants to reveal a thin, red scar running up her calf. "We should have put that Daxian smuggler out the airlock."
“Agreed,” Bexli said, as she joined the other women on the bridge, a tiny puff of green fur running along beside her. “He was particularly repulsive.”
“Is the bounty all settled?” Danica asked.
Bexli nodded, and her iridescent-lavender bob swung at her jawbone. “This one was a breeze. I didn’t even have to transform into something terrifying to keep her in line.”
She leaned against a console and scooped Pog up in one arm, ruffling its fur and making it emit a low purr. “The Daxian from our last mission only stopped struggling when I morphed into a gorvon.”
“Remind me again, what’s a gorvon?” Holly asked.
“A particularly gruesome creature from the Daxian’s home world.” Bexli grinned. “Lots of claws and fangs.”
Caro laughed, tightening her high ponytail. “That explains why he soiled his cell.”
"At least he kept us in fuel and rations for a month," Danica said, glancing at Tori. "And you gave him a few scars, if I remember correctly."
Tori grinned. "A souvenir from the bounty hunter babes."
"You know I hate that nickname." Danica folded her arms across her chest.
"Babes is better than the other name they call us that also starts with a b." Holly leaned against one of the consoles, crossing her long legs at the ankles.
"I don't mind the name so much," Caro said. "At least they're talking about us."
Danica let out a long breath. "They should be talking about us because we've brought in the two highest bounties in the past astro-year, not because we're all women."
Holly patted her on the shoulder. "It's just because we're the first—and so far only—all-female bounty-hunter crew. Once the novelty wears off, or another crew comes along, people will talk about something else."
Danica knew there was truth in Holly's words, but she hated the fact that even though they'd brought in two of the toughest bounties around, the other hunters still didn't respect them. She'd known working in a field known for tough guys wouldn't be easy, but she'd hoped her unorthodox methods and maverick crew would win her respect. So far, they'd only managed to acquire nicknames.
"I say we own it," Tori said, taking one of the pointy chopsticks from her hair and pressing the needle-like point into the pad of her finger. "We know we can do any job the boys can do and, once we bring in this hot-shot doctor, we'll be rolling in enough dough to outfit this ship so we can blast anyone out of the sky. Let them call us babes then."
"Um, guys." Caro's fingers flew across the screen in front of her. "We probably shouldn't count our money quite yet."
Danica jerked her head to the screens above her, slamming her palm against the console when she saw the rival ship closing in on them. "I thought we had enough of a head start to lose them."
"They're faster than I expected for a ship that large," Caro said, maneuvering their ship so that it dipped to the left.
Holly slid onto the floor, landing with a thud. "A little warning next time."
"Sorry," Caro shouted over the sound of weapons fire hitting their hull. "You should probably brace for impact."
A blast shook the ship and alarms began screaming, red lights flashing overhead.
"Was that a torpedo?" Danica asked, shaking her head in disbelief. Was a rival bounty hunter really trying to blow up her ship?
“Shit.” Holly scrambled to her feet, using the nearest console to pull herself toward the door. "I'd better get back to the engine room. If we lose that, we're dead in the water."
“I’ll go make sure the prisoner is okay,” Bexli said, following Holly with Pog tucked under one arm.
The entire ship jolted, and Danica heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. Her skin went cold. "They've clamped on."
Tori's face was grim. "They're boarding us."
"Maybe they'll take the doctor and go," Caro said, although her voice quivered. Danica knew her pilot had been captured more than once when she was a pilot for a resistance movement, and she suspected it hadn’t always been pleasant.
Danica squeezed her hands into fists. "They're not taking our bounty or us." She turned to Tori. "Hold them off as long as you can, but don't get yourself killed. I have a plan."
Tori pulled the other chopstick from her hair and slipped both sharp metal sticks into her chain belt. "You got it, Captain."
Danica ran off the bridge and down the dimly lit corridor until she reached a steel door where Bexli stood guard. “I’ve got the doctor. Why don’t you and Pog try to hold off Mourad’s soldiers?”
Bexli nodded, her lithe frame and lavender h
air transforming into a hulking beast covered in matted fur, with only the slightest hint of purple at the tips. Pog gave a gruff bark and became a green lizard the size of a human, with short legs that scampered across the floor. Both creatures hurried off toward the noise of the enemy bounty hunters boarding their ship.
Danica turned back to the steel door and punched in a code. The door slid open with a groan, revealing a petite figure with short, chocolate-brown hair sitting on the edge of a cot in the sparse room.
"Doctor Dryden," Danica said, her breath ragged. "Some pretty nasty bounty hunters are coming on board to take you. I can promise you they won't be as humane as we've been, but I have a plan that could save us both."
The woman on the cot blinked her wide, blue eyes a few times before answering. "Call me Max."
To be continued . . .
Want to read BOUNTY, book 1 in the Barbarians of the Sand Planet series? Click HERE to keep reading!
Also by Tana Stone
The Tribute Brides of the Drexian Warriors Series:
TAMED
SEIZED
EXPOSED
RANSOMED
FORBIDDEN
BOUND
JINGLED (A Holiday Novella)
CRAVED
STOLEN
The Barbarians of the Sand Planet Series:
BOUNTY
CAPTIVE
TORMENT
TRIBUTE
SAVAGE
*TAMED, SEIZED, & EXPOSED are now available as audiobooks!
TAMED on AUDIBLE
SEIZED on AUDIBLE
EXPOSED on AUDIBLE
About the Author
Tana Stone is a bestselling sci-fi romance author who loves sexy aliens and independent heroines. Her favorite superhero is Thor (with Jason Momoa’s take on Aquaman a close second), her favorite dessert is key lime pie (okay, fine, all pie), and she loves Star Wars and Star Trek equally. She still laments the loss of Firefly.
She has one husband, two teenagers, and two neurotic cats. She sometimes wishes she could teleport to a holographic space station like the one in her tribute brides series (or maybe vacation at the oasis with the sand planet barbarians). :-)
She loves hearing from readers! Email her any questions or comments at tana@tanastone.com.
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