Page 86 of Caught By Menace

“You always were the smart one.”

Naya’s gut clenched at the sound of her mother’s husky voice. The memories of her childhood, most of them painful and tear-ridden, flooded back. She turned slowly to face the woman who had abandoned her. Decked out like a low-rent general, her mother commanded the attention of every eye in the place.

“Hello, Mama.”

She didn’t reply. Instead she walked a slow circle around Naya. “You turned out prettier than I’d imagined. With your daddy’s genes, I was sure you’d look like someone beat you with the ugly stick by now.”

Naya let the insult roll right off her back. Unable to help herself, she gestured to her own cheek. “The scar’s a nice look for you. Makes you look powerful.”

“Keep it up,” her mother warned. “I haven’t forgotten how easy it was to make you cry. I’ve still got my strap.”

Naya’s jaw tightened. “You don’t scare me anymore.”

“I should. Who do you think controls this city? It sure as hell ain’t the government. It’s me.” She touched her chest. “Me and my crew and my guns.”

“You and your crew and your guns are in big trouble. The Harcos forces know you’re working with the Splinter cell here on Calyx. They don’t care if they get their hands on you or the Splinters. They just want their weapons.”

Her mother laughed. “Honey baby, they’ve been trying to pin me down for years. They haven’t succeeded yet.”

“I found you in half a day,” Naya snapped. “You have no idea what kind of pain these people are willing to inflict to get their answers. All it takes is one set of loose lips and your operation is toast.”

“Let them come.” Her mother looked gleeful. “It will accelerate our plans but we’re ready. People are already on edge because of the food shortages and the riots. All it will take is one spark and this populace will rise up.”

“And what? You’ll be right there to supply them with weapons?”

“And food,” her mother gestured to the crates. “The easiest way to win hearts and minds is to give them what they need.”

“You are insane. This plan isn’t going to work. It’s just going to get a lot of people killed.” Naya pointed to a man decked out in stolen Harcos weapons. “Look, those weapons are fine for close-quarters combat but the sky warriors control the high ground. They have ships and bombs and weapons we can’t even imagine. If they think they’ve lost this city to enemy control, they will destroy this whole damn place.”

“Let them.” Her mother shrugged cruelly. “I’ll be long gone. Can you imagine the kind of sales volume I’ll have then? Everybackward country bumpkin on this planet will want one of my weapons.”

Naya’s stomach lurched. The Splinter cell and her mother’s Sixer crew had it all mapped out. The cost in human lives was nothing compared to the profits they could expect. “You’re a monster.”

“Oh, sugar baby, don’t look so sad.” Her mother drew the weapon from her thigh holster. “You won’t be around to see any of that.”

Before Naya could react, her mother fired three rounds. The impact registered in her brain before the searing pain ripping through her abdomen hit. Hands clutching her stomach, Naya stumbled backward. Rich, dark blood spilled into her hands. She stared at the crimson fluid, her brain on the fritz from the shock and trauma of actually being shot. Even when meting out death, her mother had chosen the cruelty of a slow, painful demise over the mercy of a plasma weapon.

“Naya!” Nattie rushed to her aid, cradling her body as she crumpled to the floor. He put a hand to her face. “Mama! Why? You said you were going to give her to one of the Splinter men.”

“You think I’m going to hand them a girl who has intel on us and our enemies? Grow up, Nattie!” Their mother tossed a gun toward him. “Drag her into the middle of the floor and leave her there. The rest of you? Get ready. They’re coming.”

***

Menace nervously chewedhis gum while Cipher got his mini-drones operational. Once they’d touched down outside The City, Hallie had come through like a champ. She’d made contact with a man who quickly put her in touch with Dankirk. Naya’s friend had been waiting for Hallie’s call. Menace had been sick with worry as the man relayed Naya’s plans.

In that moment, he’d understood why Terror had been so tempted to use her. She was tenacious—and reckless. He’d never had such a strong urge to swat her backside. She had to learn that her life was precious and worth protecting. Once she was safely at his side, he intended to do everything in his power to convince her that she was very much loved and needed.

From the staging point, Menace had a good view of the dilapidated factory. Their ship’s environmental sensors had gone haywire as Hazard brought them in for a stealth and fully cloaked landing. It seemed the place had been a factory at one point. Most of the toxic chemicals and byproducts were still onsite. The sooner they got Naya out of there the better.

His earbud clicked twice, alerting him that Pierce, their strike team leader, was coming on the line. He stopped chewing and listened.

“Cipher tells me we’ll have drone feeds within the next sixty seconds. The charges are set at the entry points. Once recon is complete, we make entry on my mark.”

Menace glanced to his left where Raze and Venom had taken up their positions. Hazard crouched down just to his right. The pilot hadn’t been hard to convince to take the dangerous mission. Pierce, two members of the Shadow Force and the other three members of the SRU team were ready to breach the old factory from another angle. Terror had remained behind on theValiantto supervise from his war room. It was no secret that no one wanted to go into battle with him right now.

Menace pushed his tactical glasses into place. The polarized lenses displayed a realtime feed from Cipher’s drones. He glanced away from the picture, not at all interested in the swooping turns the devices were making.

But when a drone entered through a broken window and provided a full view of the main factory floor, he grew very interested. Menace spotted the open barracks-style housingsection. The stacks of crates stampedperishableinterested him the most. Naya’s stories of food shortages and riots came to mind. Was this where all that food was going?

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