Page 51 of Caught By Menace

The life-sign sensor on his wrist shot a signal to Cipher who waited back on the ship Zephyr had expertly and silently piloted into the small clearing outside Harper’s Well. As the tech expert on the SRU team, Cipher monitored various streams of information including team positions, radar bursts of the surrounding vicinity and radio traffic from theGuardian, a small gunship currently in the airspace nearest them. The tech specialist was also a damn good shot and frighteningly good at improvising explosive devices on the fly.

Up and to his left, Venom had taken a sniper position. One of the top three shooters in the entire Harcos force, Venom was exactly the kind of man Menace wanted watching over them. He had seen Venom in action during the Sendarian siege eleven years earlier. The man had gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep the enemy away from the gated city and buy enough time for much needed supply drops to reach their pinned-down forces.

Twenty yards in front of him, Raze waited to make first contact. His relaxed posture hid the tension Menace was certain the SRU team leader felt. The most skilled negotiator Menace had ever met, Raze often fooled people with his easy smile and gentleness. At a moment’s notice, Raze could become one of the most deadly soldiers imaginable.

“Two incoming life signs at the perimeter mark.” Cipher’s calm voice filled Menace’s ear. The specialist spit out a positional reading and Menace adjusted his body accordingly. “Contact in ten, nine, eight…”

“Stop there,” Raze loudly and clearly ordered. “Hands in the air. Face away from me.”

Two members of the SRU team who Menace wasn’t very familiar with came forward from their positions to secure the two and bring them forward. Cipher activated the small hovering lights they had set up earlier to illuminate the area. Menace pushed his night vision glasses on top of his head and blinked a few times to clear his vision.

His gaze fell to the young woman first. She had pale-blonde hair that hung to her waist and wore loose-fitting pants and a tunic. He pegged her age in the same range as Naya’s. From this distance, she looked pretty. He hoped Flare would approve.

The man caught Menace’s attention next. Though he looked short next to Raze, he was actually tall for a Calyx male. He held a bag in one hand. Menace thought it was the woman’s at first but she gripped a brown one tightly.

“Menace.” Raze’s voice dinged in his ear. “Come on up.”

Menace crossed the distance with quick, hard strides. At Raze’s side, he nodded at the woman. “Ma’am, I’m Menace and I’ve been charged with escorting you safely to Flare.”

She offered a meek smile. “Thank you.”

He reached for her bag. “Let me take this for you.” He pointed to the man’s hand.

“Is that yours also?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s for someone else.”

“Someone else?” Menace’s chest tightened. Was another woman hoping to hitch a ride?

“The name’s Dankirk.” The man offered his hand but Menace frowned at it. “Right,” he said quietly and dropped his hand. “Look, a friend of mine was taken during the Connor’s Run Grab. I’d like to get her bag to her.”

Menace wavered. Most women usually brought a small bag to the Grabs and those bags were taken to the processing line so they could join their owners on their new ships and homes. Sometimes bags were lost or left behind. Naya hadn’t had one with her but the woman who had packed that one probably missed it a great deal.

With a sigh, Menace reached for the bag. “What is the woman’s name?”

The man, Dankirk, started to hand it over. “My friend’s name is Naya.”

There was no suppressing the jerk of surprise that shook him. He held tight to the bag’s handle. “Naya?”

“Have you met her? She’s about this tall and has dark hair and brown skin.”

“I’ve met her.” Menace yanked the bag out of the man’s hand and crooked two fingers at him. “You. With me. Now.”

Dankirk didn’t hesitate to follow but kept a safe distance. When they were in as much privacy as could be found in the clearing, Menace asked, “How do you know Naya?”

The man chortled. “I think the real question here is how the hell doyouknow her?”

“She’s my wife. I Grabbed her.”

The man’s eyes widened. “You?”

“Yes.” Menace narrowed his eyes. “You have a problem with that?”

“That depends,” Dankirk replied. “Have you hit her? Are you going to hit her?”

“I’ve never harmed a woman in my life. I don’t plan to start with my wife.”

Dankirk studied him a moment. “She’s very important to me. I need to know she’s safe.”

---