Page 77 of The Commander

“You were here, weren’t you? And what were you doing, hanging out with Danov? Batteries for pussy, you said? Was it willing?” Kitten snarled, angry at everyone.

Bastian drove the transport forward, and she looked from Mackie to the group of men outside who watched it move.

“What? You don’t think they were willing?” he asked back in a voice that even Bastian thought sounded oily.

“Your people are coming, but you’re at least going to kill the pig, right? Danov?” Kitten wanted to know.

There was an impressive number of men holding pitchforks and watching them drive toward the old Mill & Feed store where Danov liked to hold court. Built off the ground to facilitate loading and unloading, the front of the store gave the mayor a platform where he stood higher than everyone else.

“He played me dirty, too. I made an honest trade, even threw in the blade for good measure, but he lost a round of poker. I guess he didn’t like that so much.” Blood smeared Mackie’s chin. He’d tried to wipe his face on his shoulder, but it hadn’t gone very well.

“Why would he play a human dirty? Are you not all for one, one for all?” Bastian prodded the man.

“I don’t know what that fucking means,” Mackie said.

“I think it means we are supposed to help each other since we are all human,” Kitten filled in the blanks like an accusation.

Bastian squeezed her leg. She tapped his hand back, her lips pinched.

“I picked his favorite pussy. Pretty sure he’s the reason Jensen is dead, and I got to enjoy your boyfriend’s kind hospitality. I don’t owe him anything. I don’t owe you anything, either, but since you didn’t kill me and promised me access to some fine alien technology, I think we can see this out.”

Bastian had a good idea of how he was going to see things out, but he didn’t think his prisoner was going to like the ending.

Next to him, Kitten stiffened when he pulled to a stop. Bastian tried to see what she saw. Was it the mayor? The surrounding humans? Or did she see the shadows moving behind the crowd of humans in the open doorway of the store?

The night duty had told Bastian that some of the team had been killed fighting a greater number of human rebels. There should have been recordings of the incidents from the red hat body cameras and patrol surveillance, but all of that information was missing. No red hat on the base had the type of clearance that would interfere with how a P.I. stored information.

The jerky movements from the shadows came from one type of creature—a red hat attempting to go unnoticed. He didn’t know why they had faked their deaths and ended up here, but it no longer mattered.

“Do you see the one called Andy, who had the name day blade and the power cells?” Bastian asked Kitten.

“Yeah. The skinny guy with the blonde beard next to the fat guy in the white suit.”

“Good.”

“And the woman next to him is Brenda,” she added.

Bastian didn’t take his eyes off the platform. He didn’t need to turn to his mate to know that seeing her friend next to Andy caused her several emotions. From what he understood, Brenda was not supposed to be there any more than the red hats.

He opened the door to his vehicle. There were things in the back he needed.

“Let me out. Are you going to let me out?” Kitten asked as he exited the vehicle.

“No. You are safer right there.”

“Safer? What are you planning? Don’t kill anyone.” She fought the restraints, yelling at him as he closed the door, her face getting that fighting, determined expression he’d seen her wear the first day he saw her.

There was no fear spice, however. A different, hot, juicy scent rose off her skin.

What was that?

Whatever it was, he didn’t have time for it. Going to the back of the vehicle, he unloaded the things that he needed.

“Commander, Sir, this is unexpected. What can I do for you? Is something wrong with the taxes?” the mayor asked, his voice wavering up and down. The man had numerous ticks, but the sounds he created while talking to Bastian were among the most annoying. His white suit, sewn in another era, had yellowed at the seams with age, the buttons on the sleeves and down the fitted waist pulled tight from the weight of his gut.

Why had the humans elected this person? There was nothing about him that said leader.

“The taxes are in order, although it seems you have had some irregular visits from the duty guard,” Bastian said as he opened the case with his battle weapons and took out the compact antimatter pulse gun. Although it was the smallest version, it still packed in a lot of bang for a buck, as the humans said. He fit it into the clamps on the roof of the vehicle while the humans on the platform watched him, and Kitten fought the harness, yelling at him to get out.

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