B Clones, page 13
Her delicate features were imprinted in his mind. She’d hate him when she found out what he was…but he’d still protect her. Some instincts were imbedded deeply in him, and she was an innocent.
He found the three other members of the boarding party clearing out the cargo hold, moving everything to their smaller ship. The sight of them instantly had him tensing. All three humans could be unstable on their best days.
“Any problems?”
“The crew are dead,” Blade announced.
Clint frowned. “Shit. How?”
“It seems they were taking tainted drugs. I found them in the main living area. They were drinking booze as well.”
Mick snorted. “Did you find hype injectors?”
Blade nodded. “There was a box of them, and some had been used.”
“I guess they didn’t get that warning being transmitted about the recent deaths.” Craig chuckled. “And that, boys, is why we don’t do drugs and only sell them. It’s a government conspiracy to wipe out the riffraff. They probably poisoned that crap themselves.”
“This shuttle is a Varlius model. It’s got a tracking system. They were due somewhere, with this much cargo. The tracker will be automatically activated when they don’t arrive on time. It’s an anti-theft measure.” Blade couldn’t allow them to return the Morgan to their hub. Hailey would quickly be found. “Corbo Corp will send out an all-frequency activation and the beacon will transmit the ship’s location to every authority cruiser. It’s part of the warranty package on these models. I can disarm it, but I’ll need help. It’s a two-man job.”
“Not a problem. Go with him, Mick. We’ll finish offloading this shit and tow this fine piece of machinery home.” Clint paused, staring at Blade. “Pull out that law report thing I let you keep, see if anything has been sent about this ship.”
Blade withdrew his data bank. He was the only one who could access it, since the devices were synced to each owner’s DNA, otherwise the pirates wouldn’t have allowed him to keep it. It was basically a transmission receiver of any alerts sent out by the space authorities. It also stored information on criminal offenders. Blade had been assigned the device on Clone World, to make certain none of the incoming guests were being actively sought or had a history of committing heinous crimes.
He’d taken it with him when they’d fled. It’s how he knew the owner of CW hadn’t made an official report to the authorities about their escape.
He looked up at Clint. “There’s nothing about the Morgan.”
“Good.” Clint turned away. “Let’s finish moving all this shit. Get that fucking tracking system offline.”
Craig grumbled. “Why don’t we just haul the cargo in this ship?”
“We’ll get more if we divide it before we return home. You know everyone’s going to see this ship when we haul it into port, and they’ll try to sneak aboard to steal whatever they can.” Clint’s humor fled. “How many times do I have to tell you that, idiot? Their focus will be on this ship, instead of ours.”
“Right. Sorry. It’s just that these crates are heavy.”
Clint glared at Blade. “Make damn sure you deactivate that tracker. You know one fuck-up and the group will take you out.”
“I’m aware.” Blade forced a smile. “I’m grateful that I wasn’t floated in space.”
Mick removed his work gloves and moved toward him. “You’re as big as an ox, and as strong as one, too. You also kick ass with technology. You’re one of the best finds we’ve ever picked up. That’s why we didn’t shove your ass out an airlock. Where do we need to go?”
“The cockpit.” Blade spun, leading the way.
Mick followed. The other man began cursing before they’d even reached the living area of the ship. “Fuck! What is that stench?”
“Four decaying bodies.”
“Why didn’t you float them?”
“I figured someone else could do that while I deactivate the tracker. I said it was a two-man job.”
Mick pulled his weapon and pointed it at Blade. “You’re going to do the dirty work.?”
He raised his hands in submission. “Okay.”
“I give you the orders.” He pointed the gun at Blade’s crotch. “You don’t need a dick to lift crates and repair shit. Do replacement skins care about keeping their junk?”
Blade clenched his jaw and gave a sharp nod. He hated it when they called him that. It was an insult. He also didn’t like being threatened with castration.
“Good. No more implying I do anything beneath me. You get all the shit jobs, like disposing of bodies. Got it?”
“I do. I apologize. It was just my attempt at a joke.”
The weapon in Mick’s hand lowered—and Blade struck.
He lunged forward and grabbed the man’s wrist, snapping the bone with one vicious jerk. He used his other hand to clamp around Mick’s throat, lifting him off his feet.
Shock and pain creased the other man’s features as his mouth opened. The coloring in his face changed as he struggled for air. Blade held him tightly, until Mick’s weapon dropped from his fingers.
Blade released Mick’s wrist and gripped his head, using the hold on his neck to help him snap the bone. He hated killing, but the innocent woman locked in the captain’s quarters motivated him to do so. The pirate crew couldn’t be allowed to get their hands on her, or she’d wish for death.
He dragged Mick’s body down the hallway to the airlock and shoved it inside. It took a little longer to cut the carpet under the two bodies sprawled on the floor of the living area and drag both to the same airlock, before sealing the inner door. He opened the exterior door and watched as the three bodies floated into space.
He sealed the outer door and opened the inner one again, shoving the fourth body—and the couch it had died on—inside. He opened the airlock once more.
The last body was more difficult to clean up. The guy had died half in a chair, half on the floor. Blade took the chair and the body to the airlock, as well as the carpet under both, so the decaying smell wouldn’t continue. After sealing the inner door, the airlock took the entire mess away.
Blade sighed. It would be difficult killing Clint and Craig at the same time. He could claim Mick was clearing the bodies while Blade piloted the luxury shuttle behind the Cracker, then open fire on the small transport once it had undocked. But Clint would never believe Mick was touching a dead body, nor could his youngest brother fly the massive shuttle.
They always made Blade do the dirty or dangerous tasks. That’s why they’d sent him inside to handle the crew alone with a useless weapon. It was for looks only. He was dispensable.
He needed a game plan.
He picked up Mick’s working weapon. It was an upgraded version of the one they’d allowed him to carry. He returned to the lower deck, an idea forming as he stepped out of the lift and moved toward the cargo hold with purpose.
Clint saw him the second he entered the room. “Where’s Mick?”
“He decided to check out the captain’s quarters. There are crates of weapons stored inside. He said that was more important than helping me deactivate the tracker. He’s also planning on scavenging the owner’s possessions, to keep the best stuff for himself. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that part…but my loyalty is to you.”
Clint cursed. “That fucking bastard. He should have gotten us first!” He stepped out from behind a tall crate of food supplies. “Craig, let’s go find that moron to remind him that we’re a team.”
Blade lifted Mick’s weapon the second Craig came into view. He fired and hit the male in the throat.
Clint reacted by going for his gun, but Blade had already targeted him. He didn’t hesitate.
Clint took a hit center mass and was thrown backward.
Blade advanced, prepared to fire again at either of them if they moved. Clint still breathed as he stopped next to him. The downed pirate clutched at his bleeding wound and appeared shell-shocked.
“Why?” he sputtered.
“I’m not your property, Clint. And that’s how you treat me. I put up with it out of gratitude for keeping me alive, but now I’ve found someone in need of protection. You’d never have let me to just take off with this shuttle—and the woman hiding inside. She’s young and innocent. But that wouldn’t last long if you got your hands on her. I refuse to allow you to sell her into sexual slavery. And I can’t allow you to live and just fly off in your ship. I’ve gotten to know you too well. You’d hold a grudge. You’d also put a reward on my head at the hub until every pirate crew was searching for us. I’m sorry.”
He fired again.
Chapter Two
Hailey woke and lifted her arm. Her wrist and hand had been neatly bandaged and splinted, and she wasn’t in any pain. She pushed off the covers and sat up. The doors to the corridor were wide open, but Blade was nowhere in sight.
A sound startled her, and she turned her head just as the bathroom door open.
The missing man himself stepped out, rubbing a towel against his wet hair. Her gaze lowered. He wore only loose sleeping pants. She recognized them from one of the closets she’d gone through in the room.
Blade dropped the towel away from his head and looked directly at her. “You’re awake.”
She had no words to respond. The tight uniform had already revealed that he had a buff body, but seeing most of it bared was something else entirely. The men on her planet didn’t look like him. Miners were a sturdy people but tended to be on the short, slim side.
Nobody on Prospect colony would ever be accused of eating too much. It was one of the poorest planets in six solar systems. They also didn’t have tanned skin, since they spent so much time underground, and there were only five hours of mild sunshine in a thirty-hour day cycle.
“I apologize. I couldn’t resist after I saw that bathroom. It has a sauna shower with twenty water nozzles. I’ve always wanted to try one, and you were peacefully sleeping. I didn’t see the harm in using it.”
She was staring at his chest but she couldn’t stop. It was truly a sight to see.
“Hailey?”
She finally lifted her gaze to his face.
“How do you feel?”
“Better. I’m not hurting.”
“Good. Your hand has been treated, and I gave you a shot to help accelerate the healing. We should be able to completely remove the tape within a week.”
“Are we on our way back to Prospect? Were you able to contact my parents? They’ve got to be worried sick.”
He returned the towel to the bathroom and came back, staying across the room. “We need to talk.”
That didn’t sound good, and she tensed. “What is it?”
“I can’t take you back right away. I’d be killed as soon as I landed this shuttle and your port authority officers boarded.”
“I don’t understand.” Fear took over as the truth dawned on her. “You lied to me, didn’t you? You are one of the men who kidnapped me.” She scrambled to roll across the bed and almost fell off the other side. It put the big piece of furniture between them. She darted a terrified look at the door, expecting the rest of the crew to come rushing in.
“Easy,” Blade crooned. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“But those other men will. I heard what they want to do to me!”
“They are dead. That wasn’t a lie. They were injecting drugs and used a bad batch. It’s just you and me onboard.”
She glanced at the door again, wondering if she could flee before he caught her, and where she’d go.
“Hailey?”
She looked at him.
“I won’t come any closer. You look frightened but there’s no reason to be. I treated your hand. Why would I do that if I planned to harm you? It makes no sense. And I could have done anything to you while you slept. I didn’t.”
He had a point, but she wasn’t sure what to think.
“I’m going to tell you everything. I just need you to listen. I had my own shuttle but a year ago, my engine blew. It left me dead in space. The damage took out long-distance transmissions. I couldn’t contact the few people I trust to come help me, then I was boarded by pirates before I was able to make any repairs. They realized what I was immediately…and decided not to kill me. I was forced to live and work with them.”
“You’re a pirate?” She remembered his data bank. “But you had access to information on me. I don’t understand. Only authorities can do that.”
“I told you that I worked for Clone World for six years. That was the truth. I was given access to all official alerts and reports that are sent out to the authorities. At the time, I was one.”
That makes no sense. Unless… “You went undercover with the pirates? Like, to catch them?”
“Think of it more like being trapped and enslaved. They made certain I couldn’t steal a shuttle, I was never sent alone or given a working weapon. But I felt gratitude toward them for not killing me outright. I played by their rules—until earlier today. You changed everything.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “I knew what they’d do to you, and I couldn’t allow it. I always promised myself if we boarded any vessels with women or children that I’d protect them. I couldn’t sleep at night if I took either back to that hell. Over two hundred pirates live on one of the abandoned way stations. They call it the hub.”
“Is that one of the places they built when it used to take a really long time to travel in space?”
“Yes. The pirates living there would have put you up for auction to the highest bidder. Some of those pirates let other men have sex with their women for the right price. I don’t envy the ones kept purely for personal use, either. Some of them live off scraps from their owners. Most of them sport bruises or other signs of abuse. I even met one who’d been forced to give birth to four children. The man who owned her wanted her to breed his own crews of pirates. She didn’t survive the fifth pregnancy. He bought another woman to replace her less than a day after her death to birth him more babies.”
She shuddered.
He inclined his head. “Exactly. I swore I wouldn’t ever hand over a woman or a child to that kind of life. They use the children as slaves. I lived only slightly better while in captivity, but I still couldn’t stand by and watch kids suffer near starvation. I gave them food allotted for me, even bought medicine for the sick ones with money I stole from the crew that owned me.”
Some of her fear eased. Though, he could be telling her what she wanted to hear to get her to let down her guard. “Why can’t you take me home?”
“Remember how I told you about Clone World, and the reasons why some of the clones tried to run away?”
She nodded.
“I’m a clone, Hailey. I escaped with a small group of others. I’ll be executed on sight by any port official.” He turned and gripped the waist of the sleeping pants, tugging down one side enough to show a round tattoo on his hip.
Her gaze locked on that stamp. It was roughly the size of the circle if she touched her index finger to her thump. She’d heard clones were marked that way during the process of being created.
His news stunned her. He was a clone. A real one.
“I’m also not data imprinted in my palm, like humans are, because Clones aren’t considered people. Every customs center scans incoming guests. Even your colony planet. I’ve already checked. There are a lot of transports that travel there to pick up the minerals your planet mines.”
Her gaze jerked up to his face, finding him staring at her still. He pulled up his pants and faced her fully.
It sank in slowly that he was truly a clone. She hadn’t ever met one before. None of them had lived on or visited Prospect. He looked real, as if he were a regular person. Just a big muscled one.
“Do you know how difficult it was to capture my own kind on Clone World? I hated that job.” Emotion deepened his voice. “They often killed clones who disobeyed orders. I never knew if the ones I prevented from leaving would be killed or just punished. Imagine having to live that way. It was horrible. I’d have died for certain, though, if one escaped on my watch.”
She was beyond horrified to hear that.
“A small group of us plotted our escape successfully and made it off the planet. I would drop you off somewhere safe, but that would mean visiting an official port with authorities. They would kill me on sight. And I wouldn’t trust just anyone not to do you harm if I dropped you off at an unsanctioned station. Women are valuable on the open market. You told me how you were kidnapped. Those men could have made you a price bride or sold you to a sex-slaver ship when they were done abusing you. Those are basically traveling whorehouses.”
“I know that,” she said in a small voice. Everyone had heard of those horrible slaver ships that traveled around space looking for customers. One of them had visited her solar system twice in her lifetime so far…that she knew about. Her parents hadn’t allowed her to leave their home both times, because sometimes the crew on those ships would visit colonies just to steal women and girls.
“I killed the pirates to keep you safe, Hailey. I’m not saying that you have to stay on this shuttle with me forever, but you need to remain until we run across someone that I have no doubt will take you where I can’t go.”
She tried not to panic. Clones were supposed to be friendly beings. At least they looked that way in all the advertisement clips she’d seen on their entertainment screen at home. She’d assumed they’d been created without violent tendencies…but he’d just admitted to killing the men he’d come with. “I’m all my parents have. I need to go home.”
“I’ll let you send them a message that you’re alive, but it’s going to take some time. We have to travel to a distant satellite relay first.”
“Why?”
“Those two hundred pirates I mentioned? They’re now missing a pirate ship and crew, but they don’t realize it yet. They’ll soon figure it out when our transport doesn’t return. The group of pirates who run the hub aren’t going to just let that go. You never quit that line of work. It’s for life or they kill you. It’s one of the reasons I’ve never tried to escape before. I knew they’d come after me if I took out the men who’d enslaved me. All their transports have multiple trackers hidden both inside and out. Pirates don’t trust each other. I’d never have been able to lose them if I’d stolen the Cracker.”
