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Striker raised his hands and slowly lowered his guns to the ground.

“We could take him with us,” the Gente on the left said.

“What for? We won’t make any money at the auction from this piece of shit. I suppose someone may want him as a work slave.”

“Screw you,” Striker said.

“Leave him. We need to get to the ship,” the other Gente said. “They’ve got the females.”

“Yeah, we’ve picked ourselves up some sweet bounty.” The taller Gente on his right laughed. “I’m gonna enjoy myself with this prize.”

Striker snarled. He ducked, pulled a third gun from his waistband, and fired at the smirking Gente. He was spinning to take aim at his buddy, when the back of a gun slammed into his head and he sank to the ground.

He tried to raise his gun, finish what he’d started, but something smashed against the side of his head, and he went down.

Striker tasted blood and sand. Wren, she was out there. He hadn’t been able to get to her. He hadn’t kept her safe. He’d failed.

Chapter 16

Wren inhaled deeply, smelling dirt and sweat in the air.

Her ribs ached, her head throbbed like someone had stamped on it, and she could taste blood in her mouth.

“Hey, you’re awake.” Eden sat next to Wren, her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

Wren groaned as she eased herself upright. “Where are we?”

“The Gente shoved us in one of the giant animal cages. How you doing?”

“I feel like death warmed up.” Wren took in a deep breath and regretted it as her ribs screamed a warning.

“We did great out there,” Eden said. “We took out six of the bastards before they got us. The rest of the Gente were on the ship. We didn’t stand a chance against all of them.”

“What kind of tech were they using to shield themselves?”

“No clue. It’s probably something they traded for some rare animals. Whatever it was, it’s not Gente technology.”

Wren tilted her head back and shut her eyes, a cold hard ache lodging itself in her chest. “Did you see Striker and the others?”

“No. The Gente must have got to them. They’d wouldn’t abandon us for any other reason.”

A soft moan on the other side of Eden had Wren opening her eyes. “Daisy?”

“Yeah, that’s her. She’s got a bad injury on one shoulder. And one of the Gente assholes almost strangled her to death because she wouldn’t stop punching him.”

“I remember.” Wren eased around Eden and looked down at Daisy. Blood coated one side of her face, and she was deathly pale. She checked her pulse. “This is way too fast. Has anyone been to see her?”

“They threw us in here and haven’t been back since,” Eden said. “It’s been six hours.”

“We have to get her medical help.” Wren crawled to the end of the cage. “Hey, is anyone out there? We’ve got an injured person in here. She needs medical attention.”

“I’ve tried calling,” Eden said. “There’s no one down here. I think we’re in the cargo hold of the ship.”

“And we’re moving,” Wren said.

“They took off as soon as they had us,” Eden said.

“Cleo will be following the Gente. They won’t leave us behind.”