“It’s not her fault, Gromm. She crashed with the Raxxians. She’s not from here, you know that. The compartment she crashed in was a Raxxian holding cell. It was just luck that she and the others wound up free.”
Gromm’s anger faded but only slightly. “Others?”
“Yeah. You know about them, right? The ones she was being held with?”
“I’ve been a bit too busy to sit around talking with some woman,” he hissed.
Rylinn wasn’t picking a fight, but neither was he backing down. At least, not entirely.
“Well, if you had, you’d already know all of this.”
A curious look flashed across Gromm’s face as multiple ideas took root. He stared at Margot hard and long, then turned to one of his men.
“Others, eh? Zarlik, take a small team and go find this woman’s crash site. If there are others, find them and bring them back.”
“Yes, Captain!” the man replied, turning to run off to his ship.
“Wait!”
“Sir?”
Gromm flashed an angry glance Margot’s way. “You’re taking her with you. She knows where her ship crashed.”
Rylinn was not happy with that. Not one bit.
“Gromm, be reasonable.”
“Thisisme being reasonable.”
“Then at least send me with.”
“You have other work to do if you expect to be paid. Earn your keep, tracker!”
Rylinn’s face paled slightly at the threat of losing his big payday. Much as he was enjoying his time with Margot, he wasn’t about to jeopardize that.
She caught his eye, noting his discomfort. “It’s okay. I’ll be back soon.”
She had more to say but was grabbed by the arm and whisked away to the waiting ship. There were six men aboard including the pilot and copilot, all of them battle-worn and steely-eyed. Packs of gear were hanging from the bulkhead along with an assortment of strange looking weapons. This wasn’t your ordinary rescue team, apparently.
The door shut, and the ship lifted off at once, flying low and scanning the ground for life signs as they did. Of course, Margot was now aware that this place was tough on the scanning devices, so she doubted they’d find anything. At least, not until they landed and moved on foot.
One of the men, a fellow called Tikks, kept staring at her with an obviously lustful gaze. He turned toward the cockpit. “Any signs?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Keep looking. We’ll get a good price if we find them alive.”
Margot’s adrenaline spiked, along with her anger. “Hang on. This is arescuemission.”
Tikks laughed. An ugly sound matching his brutish façade. “Where’d you get that idea? Gromm’ll sell whoever he finds to the highest bidder.”
“No, that’s not right.”
“Who cares about right? We only care about currency. And as for you…” he said, rising menacingly and moving toward her.
“Back off. I’m warning you.”
“Warning me? Oh, girlie, you and me, we’re going to get to know each otherreal goodand there’s nothing you can do about it.”
