Stealing Coal (2 page)

“Actually, I’m scared shitless. I don’t want to die, but if I do, I’m with Ice. It’s the

only way I want to go out. Is it just me or does this thing look similar to a deep coffin?

Talk about irony, considering I might die in it.”

Coal smiled. “I’m going to put myself and the council male into the last pod so we

at least have a chance of survival as well. Good luck, Megan. You’re worthy of Ice. He’s

a good male who I am honored to call friend. Tell him that please.”

“I promise. Thank you.”

When she jettisoned away he turned, staring down at the council member who had

fought to give him freedom. They both deserved a chance to live and to possibly one

day find happiness. As long as they breathed, they had hope. Ice had clocked the male

hard, a lump already formed from the blow he’d received. Coal dragged the male out of

the way, activated the life pod to open it, and gently dumped the unconscious Zorus

inside.

8

Stealing Coal

He hesitated, not wishing to ever be locked up again but then the entire shuttle

shuddered under his boots and around him. The acrid smell of burning wires

threatened to choke him as it grew stronger. The shuttle emitted a high-pitched alarm,

warning of imminent destruction. He climbed inside the tight space, lying chest to hip

to thigh with Zorus, and activated it.

The lid sealed closed and the pod launched hard. The sick feeling in his gut assured

him the pod shot away from the shuttle into space.

“Emergency life capsule activated,” a female computer stated. “I am currently

triangulating our location and will make exact calculations to set course to Earth. I will

send distress signals for pickup of any Earth vessels we may come into contact with as

soon as we are within transmission range of one. I am currently not showing any on

radar.”

Frustration roared through Coal. “I am ordering you to abort your protocol.”

The life capsule computer hesitated with her response. “State authorization codes.”

“Damn it,” he roared, attempting to wake Zorus but he remained unconscious.

Only Zorus could remote hack into the computer to change her programming. “You

need to cut engines and turn this thing around now. You’re taking me away from my

people. You’re going to get us killed. Do you understand? If you don’t stop we will

die.”

The computer didn’t respond. Coal roared out in rage, his fingers curling into fists,

unable to do anything as the life capsule headed straight for Earth.

9

Laurann Dohner

It’s not my problem
, Jill told herself, looking anywhere but at the center of the cargo

bay. It became difficult not to repeatedly glance at the gray-skinned, mostly naked

male, strapped down flat on his back and secured to a freight-loader table.
What are they

going to do to him? Is he a cyborg?
She had no answers to the questions nagging her

thoughts.

“My men just double-checked the manifest.” The captain of the large C-class freight

carrier smiled at her but his attention fixed on the front of her shirt. He didn’t even try

to hide his interest in her breasts. “Everything is accounted for. I’ll transfer the payment

if you just put your thumb here.”

She moved closer and held her breath once she got a whiff of the man’s obnoxious

odor. He was another man who didn’t care about personal hygiene, something she’d

discovered often, unfortunately, in her line of work. She pressed her thumb down on

the electric pad he held out and hid the wince as it jabbed her with a small needle to

take a sample of her DNA to confirm her identity. She pulled her hand back, the

machine beeped and she read the acknowledgment flashing on it as it completed the

transfer.

“It’s been good doing business with you, Captain Raul.” She quickly stepped back,

putting space between them.

“Now that the business part is over…” He flat-out leered at her. “What would you

say to some pleasure?” He winked, shoved the pad under his arm, and took a step

closer. “I haven’t seen a woman who looks as good as you do in at least a year. I could

do all kinds of things to you. I hear redheaded women are fiery in bed.”

She fought the urge to lose her breakfast and resisted the snort that attempted to

rise. The guy had to be absolutely delusional if he thought she would be interested in

having sex with him. She forced a smile when she met his gaze.

“Sorry. It’s against the rules to fraternize with clients. Big Jim killed the last guy I

hooked up with. You’ve heard what a mean bastard he is. He believes if I sleep with

someone then he can’t trust him anymore to do business with me.”

Fear caused the man to take a quick step back. Jill relaxed. Her father had a

widespread vicious reputation and was the only reason she hadn’t been killed―yet. If

they knew he’d died a year before and that she really ran his trading business now…

She hid a shudder of fear, just considering the possibilities of what would happen. A

lone woman dealing with the lowest forms of humanity wouldn’t have lasted a week

without being raped or sold into sexual slavery at a space whorehouse, and eventually

killed. It could be brutal in space.

10

Stealing Coal

Her com beeped and she looked down.
Right on time
. She pushed the button. “I’m

hurrying, Big Jim. Please don’t get mad. They aren’t screwing with me and the transfer

just passed. Check it yourself. Please don’t blow up their ship.”

The captain of the freighter got a wild look as he backed up more, bumped into one

of the boxes of food she’d just offloaded, and nearly tripped.

“Hurry up,” a gruff male voice snarled. “I’m in a bad mood today and would love

to kill shit. I’m monitoring every move you make. You need to undock my shuttle now

to make the meeting point with my warship.”

The com beeped, signaling the end of the connection. Jill peered up to see the effect

on the man who’d just hit on her. He paled and his fingers gripped the electric pad so

hard she wondered if he’d break it.

“He sounds mean.”

“He is. Everything you’ve ever heard about him is all true.” She pretended to be

terrified. “I gave him coffee he didn’t think I made hot enough last year and he broke

my arm in two places. I once saw him skin a guy alive for cheating him out of a crate of

gel fuel.” The lies were easier to tell with a lot of practice. “He enjoys killing.”

“You need to go now.” The captain paled more. “It’s good doing business with Big

Jim. Please tell him we appreciate it a lot and hope to do it again soon.”

“I will.”

Male laughter had Jill turning her head to discover the source. There were four

crew members surrounding the bound gray-skinned male on the freight table. One of

them punched the helpless man in the stomach. The sound carried as fist hit flesh. She

inwardly winced.

“Don’t mind that.”

Jill hesitated. “Is that a cyborg? I’ve never seen one before. I didn’t even know there

were any left alive.”

“It was the damnedest thing.” The captain’s voice grew excited. “We were hailed by

this life capsule. You know the law about having to respond to all emergency beacons

and intercept them. We scooped it up and there were two of them inside.”

Glancing around, she frowned. “I don’t see the other one.”

“You won’t. We contacted Earth when we found them to see if they were worth

anything, hoping to score a big reward. I only told them I had one, you know, in case

the government tried to pull any shit and they did.” Anger tinged his voice. “They sent

a damn warship right at us and forced me to hand it over to them. That one they didn’t

know about.” He gave her a wink. “I’m real smart.”

And heartless, mean, and a total jerk
, she silently added. “What a brilliant plan.”

“You know how Earth is.” His lip curled. “Damn Government these days. I long for

the old days before it all turned to shit when they began telling everybody how to live.

The last straw for me happened when they started charging fees for surviving past a

hundred and ten. It’s a sad day when you literally can’t afford to live there. They send

11

Laurann Dohner

out death squads to kill older folks if they can’t pay up. They seized my cargo, spouting

off some law I never heard of, claiming I had their property illegally. My ass. They just

didn’t want to pay for him. I would have fought it but they threatened to blow us up.”

“That’s why I don’t live on Earth anymore.” She tensed when she witnessed

another crew member hit the restrained cyborg. He didn’t make a sound but she knew

it had to hurt. “Aren’t you afraid they are going to kill him?”

“Naw. Those cyborg bastards are tough and my men are just warming him up. He

needs to learn how to handle pain. I’m taking him to the Arris Station. They offered me

real good money for him.”

Oh shit
. The Arris Station had become well known and feared. If they were selling

the cyborg there his lifespan would be pretty short unless he happened to be super

tough. The station broadcasted their twisted form of entertainment out to paying

customers everywhere in the galaxies. They usually used criminals or mutated space

pirates to put inside a locked cage together to fight until one died. The death matches

were said to be so brutal most official programming signal senders wouldn’t carry the

option to buy the feed.

“Want to see him up close? I kept this one because he’s got scars and looked

meaner. The other one was kind of pretty and I figured he didn’t fight much. I made a

good deal with Arris. They really wanted him bad when I sent a vid of him. I not only

get a flat-out payment but a small percentage of however many fights he survives.”

Jill hesitated. Pity welled up inside her for the poor cyborg. Soon enough he’d find

himself in a living hell far worse than the one he currently had been dealt. The captain

took her silence for agreement and started to move toward the flat freight-loader table,

leaving her to follow.

“Come on.”

The crew torturing the poor gray-skinned male moved back, all giving Jill’s body a

thorough examination when she stopped about five feet from them. Her gaze wandered

slowly over the biggest man she’d ever seen. They’d chained his arms above his head,

stretching them high up, and muscles bulged in his thick biceps. His skin—a warm,

sleek metallic gray—reminded her of the bulkhead color on her shuttle. She stared into

his dark, furious gaze.

She forgot to breathe as they studied each other. He had really pretty eyes, though

fury darkened them. They appeared nearly black under the bright, overhead cargo

lights but she knew they weren’t. They were probably deep brown. A low growl came

from his parted, full lips, drawing her focus to them. There was no denying his

handsome looks—in a rugged, strong-boned sort of way. The cyborg reeked of an

overload of testosterone in her opinion.

“See why I kept him? Doesn’t he look vicious?” The captain and his offensive stink

inched closer to Jill. “Those are grade-four steel chains. He broke free twice from the

lower density ones. He’s a strong bastard and on his feet, he’s six feet five—we

measured him for the Arris. He weighs in at two hundred sixty pounds.”

12

Stealing Coal

“That’s big,” she agreed automatically.

Her gaze lowered to his massive chest. She hid her horror at seeing darkened skin

there that she identified as bruises. The crew had definitely been pounding their fists on

the unfortunate cyborg. His stomach tensed, showing ridged muscles from his rib cage

to the waist of the black, baggy shorts he wore. Her throat dried and she swallowed at

the sight of how firm and in shape he appeared to be. She’d never seen anyone that

muscular.

“We had to shoot him with five doses of knockout drugs to get him down. He’s got

a high tolerance to them so we’re hoping it’s the same for his pain threshold.”

She nodded, unable to speak. His thighs were substantial, muscular limbs and his

legs were bent at the edge of the flat surface, his ankles chained by more steel, securing

them at the bottom of the freight carrier table. Her gaze jerked back to his face when he

growled low again.

“Like what you see?” He had a harsh, deep voice that sounded damaged.

No one spoke that way, that roughly, unless something bad had happened to their

larynx. They must have hit him there as well. Shivers ran down Jill’s spine when she

realized the cyborg was speaking to her.

He glared at the captain next. “I will break free and kill more of your men. You will

all die when my friends come searching for me.”

Holy shit
.
Die?

The captain took a menacing step forward and shook a first. “I lost four good men,

you freak. You really want to taunt me?”

“I’m going to tear you apart with my bare hands,” the cyborg promised calmly.

“Shut up,” the captain snapped. “You want my men to get the shock sticks again?”

He suddenly grinned at Jill. “Want to see something fun?” He turned his head and

nodded at one of the men. “Get them. Light his ass up for her and show her how he

jerks around. It’s amusing as hell.”