Krac's Firebrand (11 page)

Chapter 14

“Krac, have you found her?” Kordon asked, leaning forward to pierce Krac with his dark blue eyes.

“She is safe. I have her,” Krac replied as he leaned back in the cockpit of his own starship.

“Oh God! Oh God! Oh Kordon!” Gracie’s voice broke as she wrapped her arms around her mate from behind and lowered her head to his shoulder. “She’s safe. Our little girl. Oh Kordon, she’s safe.”

Kordon’s throat worked furiously as he pulled Gracie around and into his arms. He lowered his head for a moment as he fought for his own self-control. When he looked back up, a cold ruthlessness had filled them.

“Where are you? I can have a warship meet you. Both Ty and Malik are on standby, as well as Bran,” Kordon stated.

“I’ll send you our current location now,” Krac replied.

“Is she… is she okay?” Gracie asked in a husky voice. “Did they hurt her?”

“She is very well. It would appear her kidnappers were not expecting someone else to take their prize,” he replied dryly.

“Who?” Kordon bit out even as he notified both of his younger brothers about the location of the short haul freighter.

“She was taken by Captain Lulu Belle Mann,” Krac replied.

Kordon frowned. “I’ve heard that name before.”

“She is Ti’Death’s daughter, though I do not know how that is possible,” Krac answered.

Kordon’s face cleared as he recognized the second name. “Now I remember. Rorrak couldn’t walk straight for two days after he met her at one of the bars. I had to bail him, Bran and Cooraan out of the brig on Newport. I remember them saying something about Ti’Death’s daughter, dancing and a fight that broke out. I’ll have to ask them what happened again.”

“Can we talk to Violet?” Gracie interrupted. “Please… I need to see that she is alright.”

“I’ll connect to the
Lulu Belle’s
communication system so you can see and speak with her,” Krac said.

He focused for a moment as he linked into the
Lulu Belle’s
computer system. He found the necessary codes and bypassed the security system so that he had control. He opened the link within seconds. Froget’s smooth green head and face appeared on the vidcom.

“What in the hell? What are you doing now? I thought you had left. You need to before Ti’Death finds out you kissed his daughter! He’ll have both of us either in that damn tank of his or as new members of Cramoore. Personally, I’ll take the tank before I let those bastards cut off my…,” Froget’s voice faded as he saw the fierce expression on Kordon’s face. “That’s it! We’re dead. She’s brought the whole damn Zion council down on us now. I knew I should have stayed in the swamp and been a mushroom harvester. I just knew it.”

“Where is my daughter?” Kordon demanded.

“Daddy!” A voice in the background squealed. “It’s my daddy! He’s here.”

“Violet?” Gracie called out, desperate to see her daughter. “Violet, sweetheart.”

“Mommy!” Violet’s vivid dark green eyes, shimmering with excitement, suddenly appeared on the vidcom. “Hi mommy. I’m on an… an… adventurer. Skeeter and I was playing dinosaurs and knights and I got to be a knight but she was the dinosaur and she was going to eat me up but she hit her nose and she wanted me to kiss it then Uncle Krac came and he cut up her costume and she fell asleep cause he was bleeding then he kissed her all better but I told her I was really sad so she made me cheesy sandmidges and macaroni and cheese. I like it. Can I have some when I come home, even if I’m not sad. Skeeter says her Tila made it for her when she was little.”

“Violet,” Kordon said, sitting forward as a relieved smile tugged at his lips.

“Oh, Skeeter likes to wear pants too, and Frog doesn’t like his name and he isn’t a Prince Charming cause Skeeter kissed him and he didn’t change, but she hoped he would because he looked just like the frogs in the picture books but he didn’t and…”

“Violet Coraleen Jefe,” Gracie said sternly. “Take a deep breath.” Violet stopped and drew in a big breath. “Now, release it. I love you, Violet. We’ll be with you soon.”

“I love you too, mommy. I love you, daddy,” Violet said, leaning forward and pressing her lips against the screen. “Bye-bye.”

“Bye-bye, baby,” Gracie whispered, reaching out to touch the screen where Violet’s lips had been. “Krac. Thank you.”

“I owe you more than I can ever repay,” Kordon added gruffly.

“My job is not finished yet,” Krac said, disconnecting his connection with the
Lulu Belle
so he could speak privately with Kordon. “The threat is still there. They did not get Gracie this time, but they will try again. We already know that. There is no guarantee that they will not try to take Violet or your son or another family member. They have done this to others on the council back on Earth. More often than not, those members were found too late.”

*.*.*

Harden glanced back at Crane and nodded. Moss stood to the side, his head down as Crane released the box containing Mace. His face twisted in grief and rage as the outer door closed again. He looked up at Harden with dark eyes.

“I am going to kill the gray man,” Moss swore. “He killed Mace. I am going to kill him.”

“You go right ahead and kill him,” Harden responded. “But, we need to get the kid back before they hand her over to one of the warships.”

“I have a lock on their location,” Crane said. “Are you sure about this? I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“Yes,” Harden and Moss said at the same time.

“I’ve never failed a job and I have a score to settle with the bitch who took the kid. I don’t like it when someone steals from me,” Harden said.

Crane couldn’t help the retort that escaped. “She paid you for her,” he reminded the other man. “Fifty credits and a bracelet. You know, if you kill Ti’Death’s daughter, he is going to come after you. I’ve heard he is very protective of her.”

Harden’s eyes flashed with cold fury. “Then he should have taught her to keep her hands off of other people’s merchandise. I don’t give a fuck whose daughter she is. She is dead.”

“I want to kill the gray man,” Moss said again. “You kill the girl. I kill the gray man who killed Mace.”

Crane threw his hands up in the air. “Fine! You kill the girl. Moss kills the gray man. I just want to get the fuck out of this alive and richer.”

“Then you’d better make sure while we are doing the killing, you get the kid,” Harden replied. “Let’s get this fucking job done once and for all.”

Chapter 15

“So, you’re staying?” Skeeter asked quietly as she stepped into the galley later that night. “Until when?”

“There are three Zion warships headed this way,” Krac said, looking up from the tablet he held in his hand. “When they arrive and have Violet Jefe in their protection, then I will leave.”

Skeeter bit her lip and shifted from one foot to the other. He hadn’t really answered her question about how long that would take and she really wanted to know how much time she had before he left. She didn’t understand why, but she wanted to know more about him.

“Would you like a drink?” She asked, nervously twisting her hands together when he looked back up at her again. “I’d like a drink and it is only polite to offer. I mean, since I’m getting one and you’re sitting here and…. I’ll just get you a drink.”

Krac’s lips twitched as he watched her turn quickly and walk over to the counter. His eyes greedily roamed over her lush figure as she stretched to get a couple of cups out of the cabinet above her head. She was built differently from Anastasia and Gracie. She had wider hips that made his hands itch to hold them. He bit back a groan when she bent to pull a container out from under a lower cabinet.

He quickly schooled his features to a calm mask when she glanced over her shoulder and gave him a shy smile. He closed his eyes the moment she turned back around and breathed deeply. If she didn’t quit biting her lower lip, he was going to kiss her again.

He glanced blindly down at the tablet in his hand. He was trying to clean up the mess that she called a security system. He’d had a long talk with Froget while Skeeter was bathing Violet and putting her to bed. He had to agree with the little male; Ti’Death needed to be shot for letting his beautiful but naïve daughter out of his sight.

*.*.*

“She’s got a heart of gold that gets her in trouble,” Froget had told him soberly as he worked on the auto-pilot. “I don’t know why she wants to be a freighter captain. She can’t pilot one worth a damn. That’s why she’s got all the buttons color coded, it’s to help remind her what they are supposed to do. On top of that, she is constantly volunteering to haul stuff for free or minimum cost. The only reason we weren’t overtaken by pirates a few weeks ago is because she got nervous and backed the freighter into them. I’ve never seen that happen in open space before.”

“She… pirates?” Krac had muttered. “What else?”

“I’m her fifth co-pilot. I think,” Froget said glumly. “You don’t say no when Bulldog asks you to do something. Especially when the last co-pilot is floating in a freeze tank behind him when he does.”

“What happened to her other co-pilots?” Krac asked carefully as he connected with her defense systems. He grimaced when he saw most were offline or deactivated. “Why did Ti’Death kill him?”

“Which one? Druss? He was going to sell Skeeter to one of the brothels run by Ti’Death’s arch enemy,” Froget said, hissing when sparks flew out of the panel. “Still, I’d rather be dead than have what happened to co-pilot number three,” he added with a shudder.

“What happened to the others?” Krac asked again, wishing the man was still alive so he could kill him.

“Well, co-pilot number one was drunk and had taken on cargo that was highly volatile. He didn’t correctly secure it down in the cargo bay. You may have noticed the large red bird on the side of the freighter. Skeeter painted it as a symbol of flight when one of the canisters broke loose and blew as they were coming into Sallas. There was a hole the size of a Zion battle tank in the side. The freighter was in planet-side dry dock for three months to repair the damage. The kicker was her co-pilot took the escape pod and fled, leaving Skeeter to bring the freighter in on her own. No one knows how she managed that.”

“And number two?” Krac asked, clenching his jaw to keep the curses from escaping.

“Oh, Bulldog killed him after Skeeter told him about the private dance he asked her to give at Zemora’s dance club. It seems that he offered Skeeter to three Zion warriors with the promise of a private dance at the exclusive men’s club, if you know what I mean. What he didn’t know was that she was into studying some ancient Maori Haka Earth dance called The Dance of Life.” Froget grinned at Krac. “I saw a vidcom of her doing it. I don’t recommend ever asking her. It scared the hell out of me. She is dangerous with a stick. I heard she almost knocked the balls off of one of the men and knocked the other two out before they knew what was happening.”

Krac’s mouth tightened when he thought about three other males who needed to be killed. Bran, Cooraan and Rorrak forgot to mention that little fact in their story. He gritted his teeth when he thought of what the last male must have done.

“And co-pilot number three?” Krac bit out darkly. “What did he do? What was he killed for?”

Froget looked up in surprise at Krac. “Oh, Terry isn’t dead, but he probably wishes he was,” he replied. “He is now a monk on Cramoore.”

Krac grimaced. He had heard of what happened to the males who went there. The planet was one of the smallest in the star system and had a complete male population of eunuchs.

“What did he do?” Krac asked, wanting to know what the male could have done that was worse than what the others had done. “Try to kiss her?”

“Oh no, something much worse,” Froget replied as he slid the cover back over the opening in the panel. “He became Skeeter’s lover in the hopes of tapping into Bulldog’s bank account.”

Froget cursed and looked around frantically when all the lights on the control panel started flashing wildly and the main lights dimmed. He quickly pulled the cover he had just tightened down back off. He looked up to ask Krac if he had any idea of what might have happened as everything returned to normal but the huge gray man was gone.

“Must have been a short somewhere,” Froget muttered under his breath with a shrug. “Hope it doesn’t happen again.”

*.*.*

Now, as he watched her prepare them something to drink, he couldn’t help but be angry at the thought of another male touching her. He looked down again as she carefully picked up the tray she had placed the drinks on and carried it over to the table. He had no right to be angry. It was true, she had kissed him, but it was probably more out of curiosity of what it was like to kiss a monster than out of true desire. This is what the whore the scientists brought in told him.

“I hope you like tea,” she said, setting a steaming cup in front of him. “Be careful, it is hot.”

“Why did you kiss me earlier?” Krac asked, tilting his head as she sat down across from him.

He watched as her eyes grew wide before her cheeks turned almost as red as her hair. He hadn’t meant to ask that question but he couldn’t forget the kiss. He could still taste her on his lips. He… liked it.

“I don’t know,” she finally answered in a soft voice. “I just wanted to.”

Krac frowned at her and sat forward. “Do you always do what you want?”

“No, not always,” she said, looking away.

Krac’s frown deepened when he heard the sadness in her voice. He didn’t like it. He liked it when she was laughing; like she did when she was with Violet. He liked it when she smiled as well.

“Are you sad because of the male called Terry? He wasn’t interested in you. He was only interested in Ti’Death’s credits. Why would you be sad for such a male when it is obvious he never cared about you?” He asked, staring at her.

“I… You… Terry…. That is the most horrible thing anyone has ever said to me!” She whispered in shock as she stood up. “Who told you about Terry? Never mind! It is none of your business,” she hissed out, leaning over the small table. “I wish now I had never kissed you! To think I thought you were cute. You… you are not cute any longer and the sooner you are off of my freighter the better!”