“Fuck,” he muttered as he hit the hard floor. Things weren’t going to plan at all.
* * *
Jade killed her faltering engine. The hull was about to be ripped to shreds by the collisions with the other captured craft and Stealth couldn’t escape the indiscriminate tractor beam. It was a futile situation.
Damage report, boomed the computer. Recommend evacuation. Hull breach imminent.
“Tell me about it.” Jade scowled. She’d had to pick herself off the floor several times with the force of the successive impacts. The computer had failed to spot the tractor beam or the shuttle because Jade had circumvented the boot-up protocols and activated the engines prior to the scanners. The way the computer was yelling at her made her think it was truly human and not the voice of a machine.
“Idiot,” she shouted back. There was little to do but hope the tractor beam cut out, then allow Stealth to limp back and re-dock with the Titan interceptor.
She waited. The terrible noises of the two ships tussling with each other ended. Everything went quiet.
Tractor beam deactivated. Recommend immediate re-docking.
“I know, I know.” With relief, Jade took control of her ailing ship and reengaged the airlock. Her palms were sweaty and her hands shook as she flicked the sequence of switches that shut down Stealth’s engine. She inspected the outside damage through a portal. One side was battered and bits of debris were floating off into space.
Stepping through the airlock into the interceptor’s docking area, she waited for Mason to appear and declare her incompetent. Instead, an eerie silence greeted her return. Where was he?
She edged along the wall, not daring to expose herself out into the open. When she approached the airlock attached to the other shuttle, the hatch sprang open and through it fell a man. A stranger with wispy hair and a tattoo of a snake coiled around his neck. He landed on the floor facedown and stayed there, unmoving. Behind him, striding over the threshold was an irate-looking Mason with blood trickling down the side of his face.
Jade gasped. “Mason! What happened?”
“What happened?” Mason glowered. “What happened, sweetheart, was you escaping while I was in the middle of apprehending this piece of shit. As you left the dock, the beam snagged your ship by mistake and boom! I was in the airlock about to board the shuttle when this jerk took advantage of the confusion and clobbered me.” He kicked the leg of the inert man.
“Are you alright?” He’d called her sweetheart—oddly, it affected her in a stupid way; she wanted to reach out and wipe away the blood. He was hurt and it was her fault.
“Yes,” he said with brevity, appearing to catch his breath. “The tractor beam’s own safety protocols released to prevent further damage. I managed to reacquire my weapon and KO’d him.” He pointed at his prisoner. “You came back?” Mason looked at her directly and she caught sight of his fiery eyes—the man was steaming with rage.
Jade swallowed hard. “Yes. My ship is too badly damaged to go anywhere.”
“So you really were planning on escaping. This wasn’t some kind of ploy to get my attention?”
“Your attention?” She didn’t understand. “If I wanted your attention, I would have used the intercom.”
He bent over and picked up the man’s ankles. “I’d best process this lowlife. You can return to your cell and stay put. I don’t want you wandering around until he’s in stasis, just in case he’s faking. Fortunately, fighting with his fists so far hasn’t been one of his strong points.” He heaved the unconscious fugitive along behind him.
Jade watched wide-eyed as Mason carted off his latest acquisition. There wasn’t anything to do but obey him. She’d nowhere to go—she’d wrecked her vessel and the other one, too, probably, and Mason didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked very angry with her. Hardly surprising—she’d tried to escape again, and
this time she’d caused even more trouble for him.
Somehow, she guessed her butt would pay the price.
Chapter Five
The cell door opened and Mason wagged his finger in the air. “Come with me.”
Jade scampered after him. “Where are we going? What happened to the other guy?” she said to Mason’s broad back.
“The other guy is frozen and no longer a threat. Turns out he’s highly suggestive in a stupefied state. Easy as hell to process him.”
Waiting for Mason’s return, which felt like an eternity, she’d stayed on the cot, hunkered down and contemplating her situation. Three escape attempts, three total failures. She wasn’t any better at absconding than she was at smuggling.
Mason stopped outside the medical bay. “In there, now.” He jabbed his thumb at the door.
Inside, he paced the room with his hands on his hips while Jade wrung her hands together. “So,” she said jovially. “I fucked up—”
“Shut it,” he said curtly. “I know what you did. I don’t need an explanation of why. I guess you feel some kind of loyalty toward your smuggling friends, so you decided to try to escape. Laudable, I get it.” He halted right in front her, staring down his long nose. She spied a small cut on his temple, glued closed and cleaned. He made no reference to his injury.