Page 5 of Crossing Quinn

“Drop your weapons,” Dolon ordered.

Using two fingers, my father slowly put his laser pistol on the floor.

“And the knives too.” Dolon tightened his grip.

Papa removed his boot knives and placed them next to the pistol.

I forced my badly twitching fingers to hit an icon on my communications bracelet.

A computerized voice announced, “Distress beacon activated.”

Dolon laughed. “You stupid female, my ship is equipped with a signal jammer.”

Which our command computer had disabled, along with all their weapons systems. Papa was an expert in battle tactics, and our ship was equipped with enough firepower to take on a Coletti warbird.

“Harm any of them, and you will answer to me,” Quinn warned.

“Drekking Coletti warriors think they’re the lords of the universe. You aren’t. You come here. You die.” Dolon turned his pistol and blasted the view screen.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind Quinn would come, and when he did, the only one dying would be Dolon.

“Wake Eleni up. She’s taking me to that treasure,” Dolon instructed my father.

If looks could kill, my uncle would be a dead man. “There is no treasure.”

“You think I’m a fool?” Dolon countered.

“Yes.” Papa pointed to the work counter covered with pieces of bone, a stone figurine, and a massive ball of fused metal. “That’s what Eleni considers treasure.”

“You’re lying. Everyone knows Qeeturah’s rulers had a fortune in gold, silver, and jewelry made from faience, the rarest metal in the galaxy,” Dolon retorted.

Good thing only a few knew about the obsidian sphere called the Shebu. It was a source of unfathomable power. The Nabateans fled Qeeturah after severe solar flares killed billions of their people. Mami was decoding a star chart I had found inscribed on a wall. We hoped it would lead us to the Nabateans’ new world and the Shebu.

Papa scowled. “We haven’t found any gold, silver, or jewelry.”

“I want my treasure,” Dolon reiterated.

Papa raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Your treasure?”

“As the head of our family, it’s my right to claim it,” Dolon declared.

“Eleni is my legal mate. You have no rights to her or her property.”

“An easy fix. I kill you and everything reverts to me.”

“Zarek, the Overlord of the Coletti clans, is my partner in this venture. You do not want to anger him,” Papa advised.

A lie, but my uncle wouldn’t know that. He grabbed a handful of my hair, yanked my head back, and rammed the muzzle of his laser pistol against my throat. Blind fury swept through me, and I struggled to control my spastic limbs. I wanted him dead so badly.

“Wake my sister up, or your daughter dies,” Dolon said, his voice full of hatred.

Papa kneeled and patted Mami’s face gently. “Eleni. Open your eyes, my love.”

Mami stared up at Papa in confusion. “What happened?”

“You fainted as usual,” Dolon grumbled, removing the laser pistol from my neck.

Praise the Goddess my spasms were slowing down.

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