Immediately she revised her assumption. They were not customers. They were criminals, she thought as she took in their hard-faced appearance. She took a step back but one of them lunged forward and grabbed her, quickly shifting his hold so that she was positioned in front of his body like a shield.
Max instantly whirled, but the other man raised a metal stick and brought it down on Max’s head.
As he crumpled to the floor, the shop woman screamed.
“Max,” Amber gasped, before the man holding her clamped his hand over her mouth. When she bit down on his finger, he did something to her ribs that was like the stab of a fire stick in her side.
She gasped and struggled to stay on her feet.
His voice was hard and cold as one of the ship’s metal walls when he said, “Cooperate—if you want to live.”
She was in too much pain to answer, but she was aware of her surroundings as he pulled her into the corridor. Desperately, her eyes scanned the people around them. Didn’t anyone care what was happening to this raggedly dressed woman?
It seemed not. Residents here were intent on minding their own business.