Page 79 of Crossing Quinn

“Yes, the coordinates for this location are 451.1 mark 321.2. Does that help?”

A high-pitched whine sounded as the transporter activated. A glittering blue light formed. Twenty seconds later it vanished, and Quinn stood there, holding a laser rifle.

Exhaling a relieved breath, I grinned at him. “What took you so long, lovey?”

“I had to kill Komodo.” Quinn stepped off the platform and embraced me. “For a moment there, I thought I had lost you.” His mouth claimed mine in a frantic kiss. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“I’ll try.” I stroked his face soothingly. “Remember, a berserker is really hard to kill.”

“I don’t care how hard you are to kill. I’m buying you battle armor, and you will wear it. Every day.”

“I love you too.”

The transporter activated again. This time Wulf, Uncle Saul, and Papa beamed in.

Papa demanded, “Where’s Dolon?”

“Relax. He’s in no condition to fight,” I said, pointing at him.

Everyone walked around the control console and stared down at him with varying degrees of disgust.

Uncle Saul asked, “Is that his pecker?”

“It is.” I grimaced as bits of it crumbled off.

Rattling clicks sounded from Dolon’s jumpsuit, and out crawled a dozen var bugs.

“Holy shit!” Quinn hurriedly stomped on them. “This isn’t good.”

Wulf asked, “Can var bugs survive on Earth?”

“Don’t know,” I answered.

Another bug scurried from his body.

Papa crushed it under his boot and leveled his laser pistol at Dolon’s chest. “Time to die.”

“Wait! I need to know what information Dolon passed to the Tai-Kok,” Quinn interjected.

I patted his arm. “You sure you want to wade into that cesspool?”

“No, but it has to be done.”

I felt Quinn gingerly probe Dolon’s mind and caught fleeting glimpse of a one-arm Nilus frantically working to decode my bracelet. How Komodo ate him, piece by piece until it was deciphered. With a shudder, I backed out of Quinn’s head.

Uncle Saul patted my shoulder. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“Dolon has a lot to answer for.”

“You have no idea,” Quinn commented. He drew his laser pistol and fired.

Uncle Dolon’s body disintegrated into a million fireflies.

Papa grumbled, “I wanted to kill him.”

“After I saw the sick things that bastard planned on doing to Xenia, it was my right to end his life,” Quinn countered.

Wulf announced, “There are twelve Tai-Kok warriors and two humans approaching.”

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