Page 108 of Owned By Two

My heart was in my throat for the final few yards as he pumped his legs hard.

He reached the ship… but he wasn’t out of the yippic yet.

He slapped a hand on the ship’s underside and a hatch door whirred slowly —painfullyslowly — open.

He pulled himself up before it fully extended and climbed on board.

I breathed a half-sigh of relief, knowing only the first part of our escape had been completed.

After all, it was possible the enemy could have infiltrated our ship and lay in wait inside, or else planted bombs that would detonate once the ship’s engines were engaged.

But as the shuttle hovered above the ground and arched toward me, I realized that maybe, just maybe, we might get away after all.

Uhti overrode the system and left the hatch door open as he dropped down low enough for me to hurl the bag of tat he’d handed me onto the ship and then climbed inside.

The hatch door whirred shut as I held on to the rigging, as we hurtled upward and into the atmosphere.

I fought against the resistance and snapped the straps over myself in the bucket co-pilot seat.

We didn’t say a word to each other until we escaped the planet’s gravitational pull and ascended into the heavens.

“Well, that saved us a little time, at least,” Uhti said, grinning at me.

“The risk was too big to take,” I said.

He shrugged. “Maybe. But it was worth it. This means we can use the time we saved to get to Lizzy faster.”

“Even if we get to her, how are we supposed to get close enough to rescue her? It’s virtually impossible to break into any Hive colony.”

“Virtuallybeing the operative word. No one has ever tried with the tools we have on board. For such a powerful race, the Hive doesn’t keep a lot of treasure lying around. Any time they get anything of value, they sell it and use the funds to buy more ships to expand their reach and get more species they can assimilate.”

“So why did Qeyel not tell who his client was earlier?” I asked.

“Because the Hive paid him to attack anyone who came looking for one of their ships.”

I shook my head. “I still don’t understand why they took her. What do they want that she has?”

“They think she has come into her inheritance and by assimilating her, they can take possession of it. It’s how they became so rich so fast. They don’t only take your mind and memories, they take everything you own and possess too.”

“But she doesn’t own it yet,” I said.

Uhti nodded. “But they don’t know that. Not yet, at least.”

I reached for the bag Uhti had risked our lives for and was surprised at how light it was.

I reached inside and took out a pair of briefcases, some stylish glasses, expensive pens… and other junk.

“Wait. This is it? How is this going to help us get Lizzy back? You didn’t think to grab some actualweapons?”

“Thoseareweapons,” Uhti said with a grin.

I peered once more at the clothes and accessories, thinking that perhaps they were some kind of advanced camouflage gear… and found they were just regular clothes.

“Can’t you see?” Uhti said. “If we go in blasters blazing, we’llneverget within ten light years of Lizzy. But when the Hive contacts us — and believe me, they will — they’ll want Lizzy’s lawyers to rewrite the contract for her to sign, which will give them everything Lizzy gets with her inheritance. Don’t you see? They’re going to let us in and we’re going to pretend to be Lizzy’s lawyers! Well, are you. I’m just going to be me.”

I stared, aghast at Uhti as I realized he was being deadly serious.

Thiswas his grand plan.

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