Page 41 of Warrior's Captive
He strode forward, but the broker stepped in front of him. A bold move, considering the male was a half arm length shorter. “Unfortunately, there has been a problem with the transaction,” Zhiannur said.
“What?”
A smile curved his thin lips as he stared at Tai’ri, no humor in his brilliant eyes. “The identity verification was not successful.” He lifted a hand.
The door slid open and the weaponed guards who’d been their escorts all evening slipped into the room. The one Tai’ri had spent the evening terrorizing stared at him with particular malice. Whoops.
Tai’ri didn’t bother wondering how they’d broken through Evvek’s cover. “Haeemah’s Mercy.” The illusion cloaking him froze, then shattered. “Liked this outfit better anyway.”
The Aeddannar moved in a blur. Tai’ri’s gloved fingers swiped towards him, clipping Zhiannur on the neck. Zhiannur stumbled briefly, but Tai’ri had to let the scum flee, the job done. The sacrifices he made to delay short term gratification. Then the soldiers—mercs—were on him.
The females dove behind the divan for whatever flimsy cover it provided. Evvek tossed them a circular device. The clerk proved her experience by immediately depressing it and a military grade shield snapped into place around them both.
He put them out of his mind; they’d done what they could to see the females were safe. There was only one exit, so the human couldn’t be taken through stealth.
His silk and leather getup shifted, nanotech constructed fabrics responding to the physiological cues of his body and morphing instantly into a thin, impenetrable body armor.
Fit like a glove, hurt his enemies like a bitch.
The mercs fanned out, then engaged.
Neither Tai’ri or Evvek had come aboard with visible weapons. But they wereAdekhantrained by an acolyte of Haeemah.
Their hands were weapons. Their feet.
Tai’ri disarmed the first merc as he depressed his weapon to fire. Tai’ri was in the line of fire; and then he wasn’t.
“You see me,” Tai’ri said, moving in a blur, and grabbing the male by his neck, “then you don’t.”
The fight was short, nasty, and complicated by the presence of the females but in the end, there were few paid soldiers even someone filthy rich could hire to match Ibukay’s private guards.
“We need to get out of here,” Evvek said, crouching next to the females. “They’ll either bring more fighters or try to shoot us down.”
“This is Anthhori. If they try to shoot us down, the Station Master will respond with commensurate force.”
Evvek grimaced as he helped the females to their feet. The pregnant one watched with wide, angry eyes, clutching her protruding stomach. “I never did like the idea of this place,” he muttered.
“You’re in the custody ofBdakhunIbukay of Beysikai province,” Tai’ri said to the auction clerk.
“You don’t have the authority to detain me.”
“I can always kill you.” He wouldn’t, but she didn’t know that.
The female stilled, then nodded. “Very well. But I expect due process.”
He smiled grimly. She had spine to demand due process when she worked for traffickers. “You’ll receive it if you cooperate.”
“What about me?” the human woman demanded. “You bought me.”
Tai’ri winced. “Yeah, sorry about that. Please come with us, we need to leave before more mercs come. You are free, and I promise I’ll see you settled on planet with the appropriate medical care and housing.”
“It’s not like I have any choices, do I?”
“No, for now, but you will. Let’s go.”
She nodded, and they left.
* * *
