Page 9 of Taking Jenny
“Don’t work on credit ’round here,” she grunted. “You thinkin’ he can stiff me?”
“Not at all.”
I had to admit, she was striking—skin black and gleaming in the sun, her pink hair threaded with beads. Her eyes were shaded, unreadable in the shadows of the trash piles. I tried tomemorize every detail of her in case I needed to describe her to the police later.
Then she said, “You got as good a dick as your boss man?”
Tiger let out a smooth, practiced laugh. “Boundless, I had hoped Jac could settle his debt with you himself. For now, how about two thousand credits for the parking space?”
She sucked air through her teeth and squinted. “That’ll do for now.”
She held her arm up, and so did Tiger. The device on his arm projected a hologram toward her device. They looked like gauntlets I had seen at renaissance festivals, but metal instead of leather. Once she saw something happen that she liked, she uttered, “Pleasure doing business wit’ no one, then.”
“Thanks, Boundless.”
“Don’ you worry none ‘bout me. I didna see nothin’. Not you, not your lit’le human gash.”
I gasped. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, it talks Ladrian?” She reached out to rub my head and I swatted her hand away. “It’s cute when you get one that talks. Like chatty lit’le cina. She could fetch a good price.”
“What?” My voice rose. I was furious.
“We’re good. Thank you anyway, Boundless,” Tiger said quickly.
“Suit yourself.” She tromped off, disappearing into the trash piles.
I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to fix it. “What the hell was that all about?”
“Eh… Boundless used to sell humans, so—”
My knees went weak at the thought. “Sellhumans?”
He nodded, already walking toward the exit between the trash piles. I followed, more than happy to leave her behind.
“Humans aren’t widespread,” Tiger told me, “but they’re known to Ladrians. Your culture is considered…trendy. At leastamong the elite. You ever hear stories about people being abducted by aliens?”
I let out a dry laugh. “I’m very familiar with it.”
“There a reason for those stories, which are true.” He glanced at me. “Humans and their culture are a status symbol for the classed Ladrians. It’s popular to have them for servants.”
I frowned. “Do you mean slaves?”
“On Halla, there are some human slaves. Here, they’re servants, meaning they have to work forever for their Ladrians, but they are paid and have some freedoms. There are the rare humans who are not owned in some way, but I would guess there are fewer than fifty un-owned humans on Orhon.”
That sounded awful and I glanced around a little nervously. “Am I in danger here?”
He looked at me, his eyes dark with something sharp and possessive. “I’ll keep you safe, Jenny.”
I smiled, hearing the truth in his words. After seeing how he’d diffused being held at gunpoint, I knew he could handle anything. “I believe you, Tiger.”
“If anyone asks, tell them you are here as a donor.”
“What’s that?”
“Sometimes humans get sick, so if we can’t find what they need with the available humans here, we’ll go to Earth to get a donor. We screen them on Earth to make sure they’re a match—”
“You mean like, if a human here needs a kidney or something?”
