Page 20 of Stealing Mercury
Mercury growled deep in his throat. “Come let me out of this cage, you coward, and we’ll see who ends up fucked.” The words vibrated out of his still rumbling throat.
Drake shoved Samantha down to the floor and stepped across her to reach Mercury’s cage. She ended up on her hands and knees facing Diablo. He dropped to the floor, face less than a quarter of a meter away. Her racing heart stuttered, and a shiver raced along her skin. She had a moment to wonder if he’d kill her or leave her scarred, then he spoke beneath the howling that filled the small hold.
“Go, little Sam.” He spoke through gritted teeth, lips drawn back from his prominent canines. “Don’t let Mercury’s pain serve no one. Go. Now.”
Samantha looked over her shoulder and saw Drake shove the stun-stick into Mercury’s cage. Resler taunted Carnage with his matching weapon and a smirk on his face. The caged men backed away from their tormenters, but there was no room for them to escape the stinging weapon.
“Go now,” Diablo growled. “Mercury is strong and we’re used to such things.”
Samantha looked into his eyes. The midnight black had been almost completely eclipsed by the flecks of blood red. His thin lips curled back to show his teeth and rage danced in the depths of his eyes.
Fear made her arms shake as she pushed up from the decking, but she wouldn’t let any of them be tortured. Not again. Instinct had her launching herself at Drake, making a grab for the weapon. Drake shook her off, throwing her at Resler. The brute caught her around her waist, arms like steel cables. Luckily, the man was still unsteady on his injured leg. She swung her feet and kicked against Carnage’s cage. Unable to balance her shifting weight, Resler dropped her.
Pain radiated up through her hip. Damn! What had she been thinking? She knew she couldn’t take on both Drake and Resler.
Staying low, she reengaged her brain and scrambled past them. Mercury’s snarls rang in her ears as she dashed through the hatch. She ran through the halls, slamming blast doors closed behind her to give herself time when they came after her. And they would. She’d make sure of it.
When she reached the pilot’s station, she threw herself down into the seat. Still panting for breath, she hooked her feet under the bar beneath her chair as her fingers flew across the controls. TheDove’senvironmental system and grav-generators faltered in response. Anything that wasn’t tied down tumbled across the deck. The world dropped out from under her, and everything started floating, suddenly weightless.
Samantha’s lungs burned from the sudden drop in oxygen levels. The temporary outage might be a drastic measure, but she’d promised herself she’d keep the Arena Dogs safe. Grateful for her habit of wearing her deck-boots at all times, she slogged her way back down the corridor. The moment the grav-generators came back on, she collapsed to the floor. Gasping for breath, she counted the seconds until the oxygen levels normalized.
She needed Drake to believe she’d fallen on the waytothe controls, that she hadn’t yet made it to the pilot’s station, so she pulled her body around until she lay face down as if she’d dropped on the way forward. That done, she lay there, gulping air, and waited.
After a few minutes it got easier to breathe and the darkness at the edges of her vision receded. The sound of boots stomping toward her echoed along the corridor like the thumping pistons of a transgalaxy engine.
Drake lifted her up and set her on her feet. “What in hell was that?”
“Told you.” She panted, exaggerating for effect. “Environmental controls are acting up. Help me get to the pilot station so I can take a look.”
Lifting her arm over his shoulder, Drake dragged her to the empty seat and shoved her into the synth-upholstered polycarb. Drake cuffed her across the side of her head and she saw stars. “Get it fixed. We don’t have time for delays.”
She tapped in a few commands, then realized he still stood looking over her shoulder. “I’m trying, so lay off.”
“Get it stable,” he said. “Then we’re going to talk about your pointless stunt.”
Samantha cringed. Damn it. If he knew what she’d done—
A loud thump jerked her attention back to Drake and the fist he slammed onto the console beside her. “What in the hell were you thinking, getting between me and my Dogs?”
“I-” Samantha stuttered, unprepared for the accusation when she thought they’d caught on to something far worse. “I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re dealing with.” He paced, hands raking through untidy hair.
“I swear they must put out some kind of pheromones. Women back on Roma fall all over themselves to get at them.”
She didn’t know what to make of that, so she counted to five and then tried to ratchet down the tension in the room. “Listen. Let’s calm down. I don’t have time to deal with whatever drunken craziness is sloshing around in that whiskey-soaked brain. I need to deal with the ship.”
Drake’s attention fixed on Samantha with a laser focus that made her squirm in her seat.
“Your sympathy is wasted on those animals.”
Resler grunted from the corridor where he’d appeared. “Yeah, just ask that sexy brunette who tried to get cozy with Diablo. She was a knockout until he got a hold of her.” Resler used his sleeve to blot away the smudge of blood on his forehead. He must have hit his head when the ship jolted. “Maybe we should throw this one in with that devil. We could make a bet on whether he slashes her up or fucks her.”
Drake frowned. “Don’t be vulgar.”
Samantha wanted to shoutpot meet kettle, but the sound of his own condemnation seemed to shake Drake. He leaned against the nearest wall, letting his head thunk back against the bulkhead.
Samantha watched, relief easing her breathing, as Drake smoothed hands over his hair, scratched at his beard and shook himself before standing straighter, all traces of the wild man of moments earlier gone from his eyes. It was as if Resler’s crudity had snapped him back from the edge of some dangerous precipice.
