Page 35 of Max
“You almost killed Stalker,” Max accused.
“Only because I thought he was going to kill me. I went there to get back the Mesaarkan flyer for Thrix to keep on his good side until I found Tessa. But, he’s dead, so it doesn’t matter now,” Colton explained. “Come on, Max! What would you do if someone sold your mate to the Mesaarkans?”
“I would end them,” Max replied without hesitation.
“So, you understand. Please, let us leave, and I swear you will never see or hear about me again. I have a place in the mountains back east. I just want to go home and live with Tessa in peace.”
Max looked at Colton, then at the woman, he held, clinging to him, wrapped in a sheet. There was a bruise on her face and bruises on her arms. Finally, the cyborg ranger nodded and stepped aside. The other cyborgs moved out of the way so he could pass.
Once Colton left, Max and his team searched the house. They only found a dead Mesaarkan propped against the wall in front of the doorway into the BDSM chamber of horror. That in itself was not shocking. But considering a Mesaarkan was using it, those activities weren’t consensual.
Technically, Colton could be sent to the prison planet. But he’d fought in the same war the rangers fought. He’d lost a part of his humanity and returned to find his wife stolen.
Max knew that if someone stole Falyn, he would go on a tear and beat down anyone who got in his way. He had a pretty good idea of what Tessa had been through. She’d hung on for Colton to find her. Whatever Colton might deserve for his methods, she didn’t. Max’s decision was for her, not Colton.
Chapter Twenty-One
The gangers on guard at Thrix’s residence had tried to flee when they saw Max’s team approach. They didn’t get far before the cyborgs dropped all four of them with stun blasts. Inside the building, the guard at the harem’s suite dropped his weapon and surrendered.
The women were frightened when Max entered in his shiny dark gray armor. Retracting his helmet helped because the young, handsome cyborg didn’t look at them with lust in his eyes even though most were scantily clad.
“Females, please remain calm. I am Lieutenant Max Steel of the Cyborg Rangers. We are here to free you. All the buildings and wreckage in this part of the city will be leveled and cleared away starting two days from now, and we are evacuating everyone.”
“But where will we go?” a young woman asked.
“East to our base, where we will provide you with food and shelter while demolition and new home construction proceeds. The Enclave has provided medics and educators to help you transition into modern living and homesteading trades. Gather your belongings and be ready for transport in fifteen minutes.”
A few other women called out questions. While he knew most of the answers, he needed to interrogate Driscoll. “The Enclave liaisons will answer your questions when you get to the shelter. I have other duties right now.”
As Max made his way through the cluttered streets toward Driscoll’s residence, he was glad he used a minimum violence plan. He hadn’t realized how many females and children lived among the ruins. Most of them were gangers’ families. Working for the overlord was how they provided for their mates and children.
He hoped their loyalties were stronger for their families than the overlords. Neither Max nor the Enclave wanted to separate fathers from their families. They would be given a choice to abide by Enclave laws and remain with their families or go offworld to Penta Prison Planet.
He wouldn’t be offering that deal to Driscoll. He was second in command to Ven’Rel Thrix in trafficking humans to the Mesaarkans, who had nearly destroyed Earth.
When Max arrived, Driscoll was seated in a plastic chair with his hands zip-tied behind his back and his ankles tied to the front chair legs. He eyed Max warily when he came into the tiny room.
“I’ve got two choices for you, Driscoll. I doubt you want either one of them, but one is better than the other.”
“What choices? Whether you kill me slowly and painful or fast and painless?” the prisoner sneered.
“Mr. Driscoll, it’s not up to me to determine your punishment; that’s for the court to decide. Because you were trafficking humans to alien slavers, odds are good you will be shipped to Penta Prison Planet.
“Whether you cooperate or not will make a difference which Colony you’ll live in—the primitive barbaric underground mining colony, or the secure settlement with amenities such as food and shelter and low competition for necessities.”
Max used his com-tablet to present holograms of each part of the penal colony as he spoke. He showed the mine with prisoners working under horrific conditions along with prisoners fighting to the death for whatever reason.
Driscoll cringed visibly and closed his eyes.
Max shut that one off and waited before he showed the second choice. He could live in the farming colony and work a few hours a day growing and processing food for the rest of the settlement. There he would have a private residence with overseers that kept order among the inmates and no separations of the sexes.
The threat of transfer to the mines incentivized them to behave and follow the rules.
“It’s your choice,” Max said finally.
“What do I have to do?”
“Give us Gergis.”
