Page 3 of Freedom Mine
Kayo set the glider down, and the familiar series of clacks indicative of treads lowering for land travel vibrated through the glider. With a final jerk, the treads snapped into place and they were moving on the ground. The road, if one could call it that, had its share of ruts that made the ride bumpy enough that the term glider no longer seemed appropriate. A slight laugh escaped her, nervous energy mostly, until she remembered where she was. She glanced up, to see if he’d noticed. Dark eyes turned away, the set of his jaw clear. She’d displeased him already. Her right hand rested on the knife pocket. She’d seen Kayo’s rage. Would the knife be enough when the moment came?
Kayo cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to be so brusque back there.”
He had a nice voice, really, when he wasn’t angry. But he hadn’t asked her a question, so it was not her place to speak.
Kayo returned his attention to the long winding road. The familiar white pylons every few hundred feet marked his property. The landglider easily handled the transition to the grassy terrain. Already she could see the two entry pylons, with their green lights indicating a live fence. As she braced for the jolt in the back of her neck that would register her as they passed through the pylons, the landglider hit a particularly nasty rut, bouncing her in her seat. As she tightened her harness, the pylons caught her unprepared. The jolt made her yelp. She slapped her hands over her mouth, but her owner said nothing. Maybe the sound pleased him, a thought which made her shudder as she pictured how Harko liked to choke her during sex.
“That was the last time you’ll be shocked,” Kayo said. “It was necessary, as part of the registration process.”
He spoke to her as if she were a new slave, but she was far from new. It wouldn’t be the last time she’d get shocked, not as long as that damn chip rested against the top of her spine. He didn’t even have the decency to be truthful with her, that subsequent shocks were always worse than the first one.
If she crossed the property line again, without Kayo entering the right codes to deactivate the pylons, she’d suffer more than a slight jolt. How high would he set the fence, enough to incapacitate or kill? Either way, she couldn’t simply walk through those pylons. She’d have to find the control panel and deactivate the fence. In all her years and all her attempts at doing just that, she’d never succeeded.
“My place,” Kayo announced, pointing to the large house straight ahead.
His property sat at the foot of a huge mountain. There’d be no escaping in that direction. Garitt’s property wasn’t far. By foot, she could make it in an hour. For now, she needed to bide her time. Kayo was pointing out the various structures, the last of which was a long narrow building. Slave housing. At least it had a roof and windows.
Three men were chopping wood to the side of the longhouse. As the landglider passed, they set their axes down and followed the glider to where Kayo finally stopped, next to what looked like stables at the far end of the compound. He shut down the glider and headed into the cargo hold. The moment he popped the back door, fresh, or not so fresh air, rushed in. Definitely stables.
The glider dipped as the men stepped into the rear and began unloading the supplies.
“No slaves this time, Boss?”
“One. Up front,” Kayo said. He sounded pissed again. Alli tensed.
A moment later, her door sprang up. Standing there, staring at her with wide eyes, was a man in his twenties with black hair, a thick beard cropped close to his face, and huge hands that could likely hold both of hers in one while he. . . She tried to shove those memories aside and focus on the present.
The man holding the door open didn’t say anything, not with his mouth at least. The grin on his face said enough.
Kayo grabbed the man and shoving him aside. “See to the supplies, Liet.”
Her new owner unhooked her harness and motioned for her to follow. She fell in step behind him, catching a quick glance at the now five men staring at her. The one who’d opened her door looked rather dreamy-eyed, two wore scowls, one was blowing her suggestive kisses, and another one was making crude gestures with his hands.
She glanced at the slave house. The structure could easily fit twenty. Maybe it was a blessing Kayo was taking her to the main house, assuming he intended to keep her for himself instead of giving her to the other slaves. Alli kept her hand over her pocket and waited for orders.
