Page 76 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
Odessa
Mads burst through the door,covered in soot and wearing that silly T-shirt with from the coffee shop, proclaiming “I love you a latte.”
She had never been happier to see anyone in her life, even if he wore the dumbest shirt possible.
“He has Ruby,” she said, standing next to the tube containing her daughter.
“Did Karl hurt you?” Mads entered a command and the tube slid open. Ruby remained asleep. He turned his attention to her. He ran his hands over her, inspecting every inch.
“I’m groggy. He dosed me with a sedative, I think, but I’m fine. What’s wrong with Ruby? Why won’t she wake up?”
After a crushing embrace, he turned his attention to Ruby. The control panel must have made sense to him as the tube slid open. Odessa struggled to lift Ruby, but she hauled her baby out of Karl’s glass cage. No one was taking her child away from her.
The floor lurched again.
“What’s happening?”
Mads mumbled, annoyed, “Svallin is not a skilled pilot, despite his claims.”
“Who’s Spalding?”
“My friend and, technically, my handler. He was unhappy with my performance bringing in my last bounty.”
Odessa shifted Ruby, trying to get a good grip on the sleeping child. “I’m just going to assume that you were supposed to capture Karl, seeing as how he went full cuckoo bananas on me.”
Mads nodded. “I’m sorry. I thought he was harmless. Eccentric.”
“He’s a lunatic.”
“I know. Forgive me.” Genuine pain seemed to permeate his voice.
Now that the edge of terror had left her, her body was filled with adrenaline and ready to explode, wanting to yell and scream from frustration and gratitude at not having her skull sawed open.
She took a sniff of Ruby’s hair, breathing in the baby scent of strawberries and that stupid lip gloss she begged to buy at the store. It was sticky and gross but had glitter in it, so naturally Ruby loved it.
“I just want to go home. Please, Mads, take me home.”
* * *
Hours later—orminutes, she really couldn’t say—the ramp lowered and Odessa spotted Mads’ truck. She shifted Ruby’s weight on her hip, exhaustion leaching the strength from her arms.
The air smelled fresh, of pine and snow, and she had never been so happy to be back onterra firma.
The other reilendeer, a severe-looking man with short, cropped hair and absolutely no smile, placed a hand on Mads’ shoulder and stopped him from descending the ramp. Mads had introduced the male as his friend, Svallin. Nothing about him seemed friendly.
“I’m staying,” Mads said.
Svallin sighed, grabbed the pistol from Mads, and shot him in the shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Odessa raced back up the ramp and pressed her hands to the wound, staunching the blood flow.
“Do not worry,” Mads said, his tone almost bored, like he got shot every day. “It is already closing.”
“He shot you! You said he was a friend.”
“I am a friend, female,” Svallin said.
“Don’t you female me,” she said, turning her ire to Svallin. “My name is Odessa, notfemale.”
