Page 48 of Enthraller

Wren sent him a quick look, then ducked into the room, with Hatch right behind her.

The reason she hadn’t been able to see anything before, she realized, was because they were indeed tied up. Two women, chained to the wall, only visible once you were fully in the room.

They were sitting on thin red cushions, legs pulled up, arms around their knees, peering at Wren through greasy locks of hair, thick metal collars around their necks. They were attached to the wall with heavy chains.

Wren stumbled to a halt.

Behind her, she felt Hatch do the same.

He began to swear under his breath, and then he turned, ducking out as he called for medical help.

Two sets of eyes fixed on her.

“It’s all right,” she said, keeping her voice gentle. “We’re here to get you out.” She moved toward them, both hands out, and crouched between them.

They both flinched away from her, and she shuffled back, hands up in apology.

She had been in captivity herself, on Ytla. She understood.

“I’m Wren,” she said. “My colleague Hatch is going to help me free you.”

Hatch came back in holding a cutting tool for the chains, but the women both cringed at the sight of him and Wren got up, herding him back a little, and took the laser tool.

“Get Violet Fann in here.” She kept her voice low and didn’t say why, but he gave a nod, ducking back out.

Violet Fann crawled in, face set and blank.

“This is Captain Fann, of the Protection Unit,” Wren said. “She’s going to help me get you free.”

Violet Fann helped her slice through the chains that connected the women to the wall, but that wasn’t an option for the collars around their necks.

“Do you know how he got this on you?” She was crouched in front of them again, and both women stared at her, one a little less glassy-eyed than the other.

“I woke up with it on,” the woman said, voice hoarse. “It feels seamless, I don’t know how he got it on.”

“Can I?” Violet asked, sinking down beside them, hand out to the collar.

The woman gave a nod.

Violet ran a finger around it. “Electromagnetic lock,” she said. “We need to look for a small device with the right frequency to open it. Probably in his room.”

She crawled back to the door to let Ed, Darnell and Hatch know, and Wren thought she heard a faint cry of pain from the freighter captain.

She wouldn’t have been surprised if Ed wasn’t asking him where he kept the device.

We could work it out, her nanos offered.

It was comforting that they could, but she declined.

Only if there’s no other choice.Making him hand it over, he condemns himself further in the eyes of the law, and we don’t give ourselves away,she told them.

They settled, accepting her logic, and Violet came back in, holding the device in her hand.

She was obviously familiar with locks like these, because she had the collars off in moments.

It was a rush after that, getting the women out of the room, and then off the ship into the hands of the Protection Unit medic. Darnell took responsibility for the captain, so the women didn’t have to be on the same runner as their tormentor, and Wren thought he and Fann parted on more cordial terms than before.

“What happens now?” one of the freighter crew asked, as they stood in the bay, watching the military runner leave with the captain in restraints.

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