I cross my arms and glare at them both. “I’m part of the team now, am I?”
I want to help those women, and I don’t need him to do it.
“We are not allowed to take you. There are rules—”
“Which you have already admitted to breaking.” I can list a dozen human laws Thistle has broken, and involved me in the process.
“Removing you from your home world is rather more serious than the other infractions.”
“I am an accomplice to murder and kidnapping. And if Doug is connected to the missing women, then I will also come under scrutiny. You messed up my life.” In that heartbeat, I hate him. If I’d broken up with Doug yesterday, I wouldn’t have been here when Thistle arrived.
I’d have never known Doug was missing until someone started to ask questions and asked where I was and who I was with.
Without Thistle, my life would’ve been a mess anyway. At least now I know the truth and I can do something to help fix the mess Doug made.
“You want my help? I want more than this. I want to help find the women that he took.”
“You wouldn’t be able to come back. Even if you find the women that have been sold and are able to free them, they won’t be able to come back either.”
“Maybe not, but there will be something I can do to help them.” I glance at Mikhail on the ground. Two missing businessmen will be noticed, and I was seen with both of them before they vanished. Even if the cops don’t catch me, one of their associates will. Shit like this doesn’t get swept under a rug and forgotten about.
Missing women, yeah they are forgotten all the time. I bet Doug selected them carefully to make sure no one missed them straight away.
“We have his sales records, so we can figure out where the women are. Surely, we can rescue them from whatever hellhole they’ve been sold into?” Assuming they weren’t sold as food, that is.
Shadow nods. “Fine, we will cross reference the list of buyers with those who are wanted for other crimes and start with them so that at least we are paid.”
“That seems fair. So you’re going to help me?”
They both shrug. “If you stow away on our ship, and we find you, then by law, we are responsible for you.”
I frown. “What kind of a law is that?”
“It is supposed to stop people from killing stowaways and instead hand them over to security at the first scheduled port. From there, they will either be given asylum or returned.”
“And I will be given asylum?”
“Yes. You then need approval from the Association to be a bounty hunter and to fly with us. None of them are small hurdles.”
“Then we take them one at a time.” I point at Mikhail. “What are you going to do with him while we find the women?”
“He will come with us, because we will put him in the brig.” Light picks Mikhail up and slings him over his shoulder, before tossing me the car keys. “Since you can drive.”
I catch them and smile.
While Light is all glares and hard edges, Shadow is smiling. “We like you, but you are also annoying as you backed us into a corner without giving us a chance to invite you to come with us.”
I lift one eyebrow. “Would you have?”
“We will never know.”
CHAPTER10
THISTLE
Her scent is maddening,and we can’t escape it in the car. We want to touch her. We want to avoid her. Shadow is sitting in the front, and Light is in the back. Mikhail is in the trunk again. Driving around with a bound body in the back of a vehicle is a risk on most worlds.
This one is no different.
