Bought By The Zandians (Zandian Brides 2)

“Right to the prison, then?”

“Yeah. Bounty hunters don’t waste time. And we need to work fast. We changed our ship ID to that of a bounty craft, but I don’t know how long that will fool them if they dig.”

I set the coordinates, and within a tick, we see the foreboding walls of the penitentiary building towering above us, gray, steel, thick. Impenetrable. Walking to the entrance, we smell rotting garbage mixed with the emissions from the local mining ops.

Gorde grunts. “Raxx said they disconnected the electro fence while they switch ownership.”

“Good. They’re not as organized at they want to seem.” I scan the foreground, senses alert. I touch the bag of stein at my waist. “And Ocretions are always open to bribes.”

“Here we go.” I take a breath. “Ready?”

“I was born ready.” There’s that tone in his voice, the one full of eager energy.

I raise my han

d and the Ocretion guard at the entrance pushes a button. The glass wall slides open.

“Bounty hunters.” I snap the words out, staring at the guard. “Understand you have my legal property on this site.”

He doesn’t react, and then a slow, unctuous smile spreads across his face. “Everything in this place is my property, now. Civilian.” He smirks. “You’ll address me with my rank, if you want to speak further. General Ofte. You low-lifes never get it right the first time.”

I snarl, as if I’m insulted, and lean forward, grabbing his collar. “You fetid corpse. I should cut you up right now.”

He stiffens under my hands, but his gaze doesn’t waver. He’s not worried, which means security here is tight. Veck.

“You do that, and you two will end up in the Pit.” He laughs. “Not a place anyone wants to be for a day, let alone eternity.”

“Refusal to relinquish legally owned bounty is punishable under galactic agreement X-27.” I force myself not to react to his threat. I release him with a shake, and dart my eyes to the side. More guards laze in a side room, but they’re listening. Watching. Armed. “Something I know you Ocretions take advantage of, often.”

“Who’s going to enforce that here?” His smirk makes it easy for me to act further enraged.

“Maybe I will, right here and now.” I reach forward again, but Benn is there in a flash, his hand on mine.

“Stand down,” he snaps, then his voice eases as he looks at the guard. “Heard that pay here is going down with the new ownership.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” But the guard leans forward, eyes glittering.

Benn shrugs and leans on the half wall, the partition separating the guard from us. “Doesn’t matter much to me. My salary’s the same, regardless of what I bring in.” He gestures to the locked inner doors, beyond which lie the holding cells. “In fact, I got a bonus this solar cycle for my efforts.” He raises a brow. “Nice to be recognized. Handsomely.”

“Must be.” The guard slides his eyes from Benn to me, to the other Ocretions in the side room. He clears his throat. “Perhaps I could see if your property is here. No promises.”

“Compensation is commensurate, of course. With what we get.” Benn touches a pouch at his side.

“Indeed.” The guard finally steps forward. “But you can’t take weapons into the prison, naturally. They’ll be safe here.” He gestures at a silver safe behind him. “So if you care to relinquish your protection, I can gladly take you on a tour.”

We expected this, but it still feels like ice in my chest to hand over my stunner and my dagger. Not that Master Seke didn’t train us to use anything and everything as a weapon, including our hands and feet. The guard scans us with a handheld wand, and takes my extra knife from my ankle. “Come, then.” He leads up to the main door and uses his fingerprint to open it. “Biometrics makes it easier to prevent escapes.” He smirks at us, his eyes cold.

“As it should be.” Benn’s voice is easy. “Living quarters here are difficult, I suppose. On the planet.”

“We get by.” The Ocretion lifts his hand and another door opens, thick glass and steel.

“We recently…acquired…a shipment.” Benn keeps pace with the guard, while I follow behind. “Luxury items from Matrigar. Worth a hundred thousand stein. As soon as my ship leaves this airspace safely with our prisoner’s live bio IDs on board, I can have it diverted here. Automatically in the system, no override. To thank you for your troubles.”

The guard laughs. “Careful, aren’t you?”

“Is there any other way to be?”

“Show me.” The guard stops in front of a cell, a dank, dark hole in the wall that makes me want to shudder. Instead, I roll my eyes and tap my foot.