Page 20 of Crossing Quinn

Chapter Five

Pain radiated through my head, and my lungs burned. A violent coughing fit shook me. Why was it so hard to breathe? What had happened? Where was I? Forcing my eyes open, I stared at the glowing energy barrier and groaned. Why was I in a cell? Had I been arrested again?

“Have I got a treat for you,” Dolon’s hate-filled voice growled from the speakers.

My memories returned with a vengeance. Dolon had gassed me. “You’re going to kill yourself?”

My uncle spewed some extremely creative curses. He stopped to draw a breath and off he went again. Some of his suggestions were anatomically impossible and icky.

I patted my pocket. Thank the Goddess I still had the portable med kit. I pulled it out, pressed the device against my neck and activated it. The kit chirped, and thirty seconds later, the burning sensation in my chest faded away, along with my killer headache.

Dolon kept on screaming obscenities.

He was definitely losing his grip on sanity. I glanced down. Drekk. My communications bracelet and weapons were gone. I felt naked without them. Just my luck. Dolon wasn’t a complete moron. I got to my feet and studied the control panel for the energy barrier. I might be able to hack it.

Dolon’s tirade finally stopped. “You’ve got a smart mouth. I would sever your vocal cords, but I want to be able to listen to your screams.”

“Feeling the love, Uncle.”

“Love? You? Or your mother? Here’s a tip. Family is good for one thing. Getting me credits. Lots of credits.” Dolon chuckled evilly. “You’ll be happy to know I’ve made my decision. I’ve decided to take you to Jandjviles.”

“The slave markets?”

“I have to recoup my losses, don’t I?”

My hands curled into fists. He was a dead man. “You lost nothing.”

“The treasure!” Dolon shouted. “It should have been mine.”

“It was never yours, and you’re the fool who led Nilus to Qeeturah,” I spat.

“Jeebito and Tabaw sold me out.”

“That’s because one of them was Nilus’s partner in crime.”

My uncle grumbled, “I didn’t know that.”

“Did you bother to check them out before you hired them?”

“Shut up, you drekking whore. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the bugs.” Dolon’s voice seethed with fury. “You should have warned me, Xenia. For that reason alone, I’m selling you to the Tai-Kok. You’ll make a tasty treat.”

Horror knotted my stomach. The Tai-Kok were depraved ghouls who literally lived to eat. They were tall, hairless, skeletal humanoids with mouths full of metal teeth and three bloodred eyes. They had eaten millions of people on Earth until the Overlord stepped in and stopped them.

Dolon cackled madly. “I’d love to see the Berserker’s face when he realizes his daughter has been sold to the Tai-Kok. The ones I’m selling you to like to fuck their prey while they’re eating them alive.” My uncle laughed again. “I might even get a vid of the event to share with Lysis. He can listen to your screams and live with the knowledge that he failed to protect you.”

Evil, twisted bastard. I had to get him mad enough to come inside the cell. “Laugh now, but you have a very short time to live.”

“You think your father can save you?”

“No, but you’ll be very dead before he tracks you down. If you had done a proper scan of the planet, you would have realized you needed a level-eight biosuit to protect you from the subatomic particles bombarding Qeeturah.”

“What! You lied to me! You lied to me!”

“I did. Just think, within days, your itty-bitty penis will be rotting off.”

“I’m going to kill you!”

“You can try.” There was more than one berserker in my family.

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