Page 33 of Crossing Quinn

Goddess, was he fast! I ducked under his outstretched arms, wheeled around, and Quinn was gone.

My berserker senses flared. Here he came again. I stepped to the left, ducked his swing, and drove an elbow into his stomach.

Quinn swept my legs out from under me, knocking me to the floor.

Before he could pounce on me, a red stun beam struck Quinn in the back. A look of shock on his face, he crumpled to the deck, twitching violently.

Mami walked over with Quinn’s pistol in her right hand. “No one keeps me from Lysis.”

“Must really suck getting shot with your own pistol, huh? If you’re wondering how my mother got ahold of it, I’ll let you in on a little family secret. My father taught us the art of lockpicking. It does come in handy.” I squatted down next to Quinn. “Neither of us is quite as helpless as we appear.”

“Neither am I.” Quinn yanked me on top of him and rolled, pinning me down. “My battle suit dissipates the effects of the stun beam. Gotcha.”

“That’s my line.” My mother lifted one of the tubes on her necklace and blew. The dart hit Quinn in the back of the neck.

With a growl of rage, Quinn yanked out the dart. “You cheated,” he rasped and slumped on top of me.

Clio’s mouth grew wider and wider, exposing her serrated teeth. “Can I eat him?”

“No! Auntie Detja and Uncle Zarek would be very angry,” I said firmly as I tried to get the huge warlord off me. “Mami, could you give me a hand?”

My mother rolled Quinn off me. “Let’s go get Lysis.”

The tranquilizer should knock Quinn out for the next eight hours. That gave us plenty of time to reach Qeeturah. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when he woke up. Wonder if the Talon came equipped with chains?

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