“No!” she screamed. She fought but she couldn’t get away.
The men hauled her higher, slamming her down on a large table-sized crate with enough force that pain tore through her back where she landed. The air was knocked from her lungs. Rough hands gripped her as they rolled her over onto her stomach. One of the men dropped on her, his body slamming down over her to pin her in place. Mira sucked air into her lungs. Her wrist was yanked above her, something closing over it so painfully that she screamed out. The other wrist was yanked upward and more pain shot up her arm as something pinched that wrist.
“Nice,” a raspy voice hissed. “Where are the other ships?”
“The jumper is approaching fast. The second ship is larger and slower.”
“Pull back behind the asteroid. We’ll be off their sensors and we can jump them as we did the pod. By the time their proximity alarms go off we’ll have hooked them. It’s two for one day. We’ll have to let the larger ship go, unfortunately. We’ll lose them in the asteroid belt where they won’t dare follow us.”
Hands gripped her hips and yanked them away from the crate as the weight lifted off her. The man who’d pinned her smelled horrible. She breathed through her mouth so she wouldn’t puke. The entire cargo bay smelled like garbage and rotted flesh so it wasn’t just his stench that was getting to her. She lifted her head, shaking the hair from her eyes, to see at least seven of the radiation mutants approaching her. The man behind her slid his hands around her waist and reached for the front of her pants.
“What a nice one,” one of the men rasped.
If snakes could talk Mira imagined this was what they would sound like. Fear struck her as the hand started to unfasten her pants. She’d heard horror stories about pirates who got their hands on women. She threw her hips forward, grinding her pelvis between the crate and the man’s hand, trying to smash it.
She saw that her wrists were tied over the edge of the crate. Blood ran down one of her fingers. They’d bound her so tightly that her hands were going numb and the straps they’d used had cut into her skin. She yanked anyway, trying to break free. Pain made her gasp. The man behind her cursed as his knee slammed into the back of her thigh. Mira screamed.
“Get the pants off. I want to fuck her before we attack the shuttle. We’ll see what goodies it is carrying. Maybe there are more women.” It was the man who’d first boarded the pod.
“I’m worth a fortune for ransom,” Mira yelled in terror. “I work for Firmaline. They’ll pay heavily for my unharmed return.”
The hand yanking at the front of her pants froze. Mira turned her head, glaring at the horrible-looking mutant gripping her. He looked at the first mutant she’d seen on the pod, indicating that he was the one in charge. That man stared at her with his two-tone eyes, one iris totally white, and she realized he had to be blind in that eye. His other eye was brown and milky looking. She stared into his eyes and tried not to show her horror at his bumpy and scarred features.
“I’m Mirasia Carver. My family is rich as well. You could double ransom me. You could name your price. They won’t pay though if you hurt me,” she lied. Her family would still pay regardless of her condition as long as she was breathing. Firmaline wouldn’t. The company refused to pay for useless employees. If Mira were gang-raped she knew she’d be deemed useless because they would consider her unstable. “Think about it. Hurting me isn’t worth that kind of profit loss.”
The man frowned. It twisted his misshapen lips horribly. His mouth opened and she saw missing and crooked blackened teeth. “What is your employee identification code?”
Relief hit her. “Mirasia four-four-six-thirty-nine.”
The man turned his head to shoot a look at one of the men. “Check it out. Contact them and see what they offer for her.”
One of the men turned, almost running from the cargo area. The hand left Mira’s pants as the man behind her eased away from her body. Two-tone eyes moved closer, studying her. “Who is following?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. I thought they were pirates.”
“How did you end up on a pod?”
Lie, she thought frantically. “We had engine trouble. Because of my worth I was put on a pod for safety. The pod malfunctioned and jetted away from the ship. They aren’t the ones pursuing me though because they were off line for repairs.”
The man who’d run away came back in less than a minute. “The asteroid field is blocking transmissions so there is no signal.”
Another mutant came closer and rubbed the front of his pants. “I say we have her and just take her so we don’t break anything. They’ll pay if she’s not broken.”
She shivered in revulsion. “They don’t pay if you rape me. They will deem me an unfit employee because of mental instability.” She didn’t have to lie about that. “I’m a sales representative who has to travel deep space often. I won’t be able to do that anymore if I’m attacked. They won’t mentally clear me for those missions. I’ll be useless to Firmaline and they won’t pay for my return. They always scan their employees before payment. If you’ve ever dealt with them for ransom then you know this.”
“Captain,” a voice rasped from speakers. “The jumper is searching for us. It has entered the asteroid field.”
Two-tone spun away. “Don’t touch her. Watch her. We’re going to take down the shuttle.”
The pirates were going to attack the Rally. Fear for Flint’s safety hit Mira. He’d said the Rally was heavily armored so she prayed it was. If the pirates attacked the Rally though Flint might have to blow up the ship she was in. Her eyes traveled the cargo area, thinking it wouldn’t be a loss. It was a floating garbage tank as far as she could see and smell. The men on board were all radiation mutants who had turned to attacking space shuttles for profit and they were rapists too. She’d die but she’d rather do that than suffer their brutality.
The ship vibrated as the engines came on. A high-pitched sound emitted when the engines shuddered. Fear hit her. The ship was in really bad shape. She heard metal groan, wondering what that meant, knowing for sure that it couldn’t be anything good. Seconds later men started yelling.
“What is going on?” the man who was guarding her yelled out.
Another mutant ran into the cargo area from the direction from which the others had disappeared. He ran for the far corner. “They have weapons,” the man shouted as he ran. “We’ve been damaged. I’m sealing my ass in the tank so when the hull ruptures I’m not sucked out.”
“Fuck,” the man behind her rasped. He ran for that corner too, leaving Mira strapped over the wooden crate.
The engines died slowly. They didn’t just shut off. They groaned and shook. At least the high-pitched sound died with the engines. A painful jolt ran up Mira’s legs from her feet on the floor. Something had hit the ship hard enough to cause the metal to send shock waves through the floorboards. She yanked her feet up so she lay on top of the crate. A hard push sent her body sliding a foot on the crate but her tied hands kept her from flying off it to roll away. The gravity was still on but a scream tore from her as the ship started to tilt badly. The stabilizers had been damaged.
Mira saw the deck lift up on one side. Unsecured boxes started to slide toward the now-lower section of floor, slamming into the metal walls. She rolled off the crate and slammed into the floor painfully since she couldn’t stop the fall when the ship tilted more. Her bound wrists kept her from sliding down the slanted floor into the wall. She stared at the large table-sized crate and was relieved that it was tied to the deck. It wasn’t going to slide toward her and crush her.
Something slid loudly on the tilted floor. Mira looked up, another scream tearing from her when she saw a large barrel rolling toward her. She screamed again and used her feet to brace on the deck to turn her body to roll, barely getting out of the way before it passed her. It smashed into something below. The deck was now at a good forty-five-degree angle. She prayed the ship wouldn’t roll all the way over.
&nbs
p; Something dripped on her cheek. She looked up as blood drops hit her again. The ties they’d used on her wrists were digging deeper into her flesh. Her weight was supported by those ties, causing blood to run down both arms now that she was putting more pressure on them. She was grateful that her hands were numb because she feared the bindings were going to sever her hands from her wrists as her weight stressed them. Hot tears poured down Mira’s face. She never should have left the Star. She was going to die horribly.
An explosion rocked the ship with a deafening blast. She shut her eyes and said a final prayer as she lay on the dirty floor. She waited for the suction to start. She’d read about what happened to ships with breached hulls. In a matter of seconds that breach would enlarge as objects sucked in that direction widened the hole and in minutes, if a person were unlucky enough to survive that long, all air would be sucked into the vacuum of space. She would die painfully but quickly.
Metal groaned loudly close by. She tensed. Mira squeezed her eyes shut tighter, waiting for the suction to hit her. She was actually grateful for one thing. She was tied down so her body wouldn’t be sucked out into space to float out there forever. At least inside a ship her family might one day have closure should her body be discovered.
Men screamed and then she heard popping noises. She frowned, recognizing the sound. She’d seen enough action vids to know that pack guns made those noises. She opened her eyes and turned her head. Shockingly, she saw cyborgs enter the cargo area. Above her she saw a mutant leaning out of a hatch firing down on the cyborgs. Mira turned her head and saw Flint. He held a pack gun but he didn’t spare her a look as he took aim to fire again.
Above her a male screamed, causing Mira to jerk her head up just in time to see a mutant fall from the hatch. He slid face first down the deck about eight feet from where she lay. He skidded limply down the tilted deck until he slammed into the wall of the cargo area with a sickening thud.
“Get her,” Flint snarled. “We’ll cover you.”
Flint had come for her. Mira stared down at him where he braced against the wall and the tilted deck. He held a pack gun firmly in his hand, pointing it toward the area from which they’d taken fire, still not glancing at her. She saw movement below her and turned her head. Iron was using what looked like hooks to climb up the floor toward her. She met his eyes, seeing how pissed off he was as he glared at her. He climbed the deck until his large body was next to her and stared into her eyes for long seconds before yanking a knife from his belt.
“You’re in deep shit,” he growled softly at her. “I wouldn’t want to be you when we get on the Rally.”
She swallowed hard as Iron sliced through the ties that bound her wrists, using his leg to pin her to the deck so she didn’t go sliding away. He shoved his knife back into his belt and wrapped his strong arm around her waist. She didn’t even gasp as the large man rolled her on top of his body so her back was to his chest. Iron yanked the hooklike tool from the floor, setting them free, and they started to slide down the deck toward Flint and his men.
Iron braced his feet, lifting them so when they hit, his legs took the impact of colliding with the wall. He softly cursed as he rolled her over. He was on his feet in a heartbeat, reaching down and grabbing her around her waist to yank her off the floor. Iron held her like that as he climbed out of the blown hatch with Mira folded over his arm. It hurt but she didn’t cry out from the pain—she was too terrified. In seconds he had her through the sleeve that attached the Rally to the pirate ship.
Iron stormed into a room that was nothing more than a hatch room. If the seal of the sleeve broke this room would keep the jumper shuttle from a hull breach. He hit the button that opened the doors. A second later she was in a much smaller cargo area. She saw two large cages set up. Iron set her on her feet and grabbed her by the back of her neck.
Mira saw five human women locked in the larger cage. They wore blue space jumpsuits that were comfortable for travel, sporting their company logo on the breasts of their suits. She only got a glance at them before Iron tore open the smaller cage door and shoved her roughly inside. She fell inside and cried out as the metal floor bruised her knees. The door slammed shut behind her.
“If you were mine I’d kill you,” Iron growled. “Right after I took a few inches off your ass with my belt.”
Mira slumped, collapsing on her legs so she sat on them. Her wrists burned with pain and her hands tingled painfully and sensation hit her as the blood flowed back into them. She was shaking as she tore away the corded ties they’d used on her wrists. Her wrists were cut and blood dripped. All she could do was cradle them to her chest.
“Here,” Iron snarled. He shoved something through the bars. “Clean and deal with them yourself.”
The first-aid kit hit the floor of the cage. Her gaze lifted. Iron was standing there glaring at her.
“Thank you.”
He spun away, storming for the door they’d just come through but it opened before he reached it. Flint and four cyborgs entered the cargo area. Mira’s eyes went to Flint but he didn’t look her way, not once. He turned to one of his cyborgs.
“Tell Ice to release the sleeve. We’ll blow their hull out and tow their ship to the Star. We could use the metal off the ship for building materials on Garden. Most of their cargo was secured so it won’t float away. Do life scans to make sure they all die.”
Mira watched Flint leave the cargo area without ever turning his head to look at her. The men secured the door and then they followed Flint out. With shaking hands she opened the medical kit and started to work on her bleeding wrists.
Chapter Nine
Mira watched the five women who were all in their early twenties to mid-thirties. She’d gotten their names but she could only remember two of them. Her mind was foggy and she knew she was suffering from shock, blood loss, and she had a fever. The pirate ship’s hold had been filthy so she’d injected her arm with an antibiotic to guard against infection. She didn’t know how long she’d lain on the floor, shivering and miserable, but she knew she was in bad shape.
Dawn, a small redhead with bright blue eyes, was crouched in the other cage watching Mira. “You’re really sick.”
Mira clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. “Is it cold in here?”
“No. You’re burning up. I can see how flushed you are.” Dawn stood up and yelled. “Hello! Someone help! Can anyone hear me? We need help in here!”
In less than a minute the doors slid open as Iron stormed in. He eyed the redhead. “What is wrong?”
Dawn pointed at Mira. “She’s dying, damn it. She’s shivering and the shot she gave herself isn’t working. Please help her.”
Mira watched Iron turn to face her. A frown marred his features as he stared down at her. He reached for his waist to fish out a key. “You try something and I’ll hit you. Got it?”
She didn’t even bother to respond. She curled into a ball, shivering too badly to even think of a smartass response. She was freezing and miserable. Iron opened the door to the cage and crouched when he stepped in. He tore off one of his gloves and touched her cheek then her forehead. She saw his eyes narrow as his jaw clenched.
“Damn.” He dropped to his knees, put his arms under Mira and lifted her. He got to his feet and ducked out of the cage, carrying her against his chest. “Ice, contact the Star immediately. Hook us up fast. Mira is really sick. We need to get her to Doc right now.”
“Understood,” a deep male voice said through the speaker system. “Should I report this to Flint?”
“Yes.” Iron glanced down at Mira. “She’s in bad shape.”
Mira shivered in his arms though his body was warm against hers. As he studied her carefully his gaze softened. She was shocked that he seemed to care whether she was dying or not. He cradled her gently, walking to the door where she’d entered the ship. He stood there to brace his back to the wall.
“Hang on, Mira. We’re connecting to the Star. Doc will fix you right up.” r />
She just stared up at him. He watched her with worried eyes. He shifted her weight as the ships lightly bumped. Iron pushed away from the wall, holding her tighter. He faced the door and waited. It finally slid open. Mira saw corridors, recognizing the Star. It was her last thought before she passed out.
* * * * *
Mira woke when her clothing was being removed. She opened her eyes to see that Doc and Iron were stripping her. She tried to fight but she didn’t have the strength. Doc leaned over her, frowning.
“Calm down, Mira. We’re getting you out of your clothes. It’s all right. I need to check you over. You have an infection somewhere and it’s not your damaged wrists. I inspected them first. You need a stronger antibiotic but I need to figure out which one to give you. Do you know of any other injuries on your body?”
She couldn’t remember any. She shook her head and then groaned in pain as Iron pulled her boots from her feet. She looked down her body as large hands touched her hips. Iron glanced at her as he unfastened her pants. He shot Doc a look.
“I never thought I’d get the chance to take her pants off, considering how possessive Flint is of her.”
Doc looked pissed off. “Just strip her or get the hell out of my med bay. She’s a patient right now. Where is Flint? Has he been informed?”
Iron opened her pants and hooked an arm under Mira’s knees. He lifted her ass off the table and hooked his other hand at the waistband of her pants. He jerked them down, exposing her to their sight. She was too weak and sick to be embarrassed that she didn’t have underwear and that both men were seeing her naked.
“He was informed.”
“So where the hell is he?” Doc sliced open the front of her shirt, tearing it away from her once he’d sliced down each sleeve.
“He is in Control.” Iron stared openly at her naked body. “I don’t see any injuries.”