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Rokai’s brows narrowed as he considered working through everything that had just happened, but then he changed his mind and focused on the male again. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell me where the Cruestaci female is, and I might not let her kill you, one shot at a time, slowly. If the female is alive and unharmed, I might not let her kill you at all.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Elspeth grumbled, aiming her blaster at the old man’s other foot.

“Hold on, give him a chance to speak,” Rokai ordered.

Elspeth shrugged and pulled her blaster back to rest against her shoulder, pointing at the ceiling.

The male kept shrieking and sobbing while reaching for his leg as best he could with Rokai still gripping him by the hair.

“You’re going to stop that shit, and you’re going to tell me where the female is, or I’m going to let her shoot your other foot.”

“No, balls. Let me shoot his balls,” Elspeth said.

“No! No, don’t do it,” the old male sobbed. “It was Eienir. He beats me. He said if I don’t do his bidding he’ll sell me, too. I’m old. I’ll die if I’m sold into slavery! I had no choice.”

“Where is she?” Rokai demanded coldly.

“I don’t know. He took her from here two days ago. Those that bought her specifically asked for a Cruestaci female. I didn’t want to do it! He made me!”

“Where do I find them?”

“At the ports. There’s a blue ship that arrives twice a month. He loads whatever females he’s managed to steal onto their ship and they deposit credits onto his band.”

Rokai canted his head, listening to the bullshit the old man was spewing. “Where do you keep them until the blue ship arrives?”

“I don’t know. He brings them down here at first, then the first chance he gets he moves them.”

“Rokai, I know that ship. It hasn’t been here at all this month, but it is usually here twice a month just like he says.”

“Last chance, old male. Where do you keep them until they’re picked up?”

“I don’t know!” he cried, playing the part perfectly.

Rokai let go of his hair and shoved him away. “Kill him. He lies.”

Elspeth’s eyes lit up and she aimed her blaster at his opposite foot and fired.

The old male fell to the ground screaming his hands trembling as they reached for the shreds of what used to be his foot.

Elspeth stepped in front of him and kicked him backward, then aimed at his balls. She smiled at him and pulled the trigger, sending a blast of plasma to shred his balls and penis.

The male shrieked only for a moment longer then passed out from the pain.

“You really don’t like males, do you?” Rokai asked from the far corner of the male’s room. He turned boxes upside down, yanked dirty mattresses off the floor, and at a loss of anything else, found himself stomping on the floor, and pounding on the walls.

“Males are vipers that can’t be trusted.”

“I think I found something,” Rokai said, tapping on the wall. He stood back and started kicking the surface of the wall as hard as he could.

Elspeth watched for a second before she joined in. Her thighs were bigger than his, muscular and strong. Her arms and her trunk were the same way, and her height rivaled his. She was a big, muscular woman. Strong and capable. And together they kicked the wall until it finally splintered, revealing a hidden space behind it.

“There’s three of them,” Elspeth said.

Rokai tore down enough of the wall to be able to fit through to the other side and stopped near the first woman. He felt for apulse, then moved on to the next. He felt for her pulse, then did the same with the third. “There’s only two,” Rokai said. One of them’s gone.”

“He knelt beside the second woman once more and smoothed her hair out of her face. “Mirilla? Honey, can you hear me?” he asked, his voice louder than usual.

Mirilla gave no response.

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