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shimmied through the small gap before it closed up entirely. She took a moment to gain her

bearings. She was in unfamiliar territory. Her eyes closed in on a hover bus that was stopping to

pick up passengers. Setting her sights on it, she ran as fast as she could. She ran for her life.

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Chapter Twelve

“Master, we have lost the girl.”

Rick Chan looked up from the newspaper he had been reading. Steadily, he reached for

his coffee cup and brought it to his lips. Anger rolled through him. The hot coffee cascaded

over his tongue. He savored the rich smooth taste and finally, swallowed.

“Find her.”

“We have already sent out several patrols to bring her back.” The man quivered in front

of him. His knees looked like they had turned to jelly.

“How did she get away?”

“She surprised us all. We didn’t think she had it in her. She’s so tiny, and we had not

been feeding her, so we believed she’d be in a weakened state.”

“I see.” Rick set his newspaper aside. “You do realize this girl is of great value to me, do

you not?” Actually, he didn’t care for the girl one-way or the other. But there was one person

that was interested in the girl and he didn’t want to piss that person off.

“Yes, master.” The man bowed to one knee. “I am sorry that we failed you, master.”

“There is no we, in the failure, Sun Wu. It is you that failed me. You were responsible

for delivering the girl to me safely.”

“I had given her to Leon to look after. He failed me.”

“You delegated her to another? Why did you think you had that authority?”

“I did not think you would mind me taking the initiative.”

“Indeed.” Rick reached for the toast that sat in front of him on the rack. Reaching for his

favorite marmalade he slathered it liberally across the toasted French baguette.

Sun Wu shuffled nervously. “Leon was shot. The doctors do not know if he will pull

through.”

“Shot?” Rick looked up and dropped his baguette onto the plate. “When?” He stood up.

“The girl shot him.”

“In her attempt to escape, I presume?”

“Yes, master.”

Rick reached for his jacket and slung it around his shoulders. “I will go to see Leon right

away.”

“I will come with you, master.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Rick motioned to the one bodyguard that stood on the far side

of the room. “Sun Wu’s services are no longer necessary. Donald, you will give Sun Wu his

notice.”

“Yes, master.” Donald met Rick’s gaze, and bowed his head.

Recognition dawned in Sun Wu’s eyes. “No. Master. I beg of you! Spare me!!!”

“Why should I?”

“I have always served you with my heart and soul.”

“Your soul is of no consequence to me, neither is your heart. Your words mean nothing

to me. You mean nothing to me. You lost my prize and you put my son in the line of fire.”

“I…I don’t understand.” Sun Wu shook his head. His eyes were desperate.

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“Leon is my son. His mother was my first and favorite wife. You made a great error in

judgment, Sun Wu, and now you will pay for your transgression against me.”

“No!” Sun Wu began babbling incoherently in Mandarin. Rick made a slicing motion

across his throat giving the high sign to his bodyguard, Donald. The door whooshed open and he

walked through it. His men would not fail him. When they heard of Sun Wu’s fate they would

be motivated to find the girl as soon as they could. No stone would be left unturned. Now, he

had to make sure that the doctors did not fail his son. If they did, more heads would roll.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 74

Chapter Thirteen

Samantha was just biting into her bagel and cream cheese when Charlotte came bursting

into Devlin’s quarters. She’d spent the night with him sleeping in the single bed that occupied

the tiny spare bedroom in the suite.

Raising an eyebrow, she continued to chew her bagel. Devlin was still showering and

getting ready for the day. That man spent more time preening than any other man she’d ever

known.

“Good morning.” The sound of the sonic shower filled the bedroom. She just hoped that

Devlin would have the good sense to wrap a towel around his body instead of waltzing out buck-

naked. Frustratingly enough, Devlin didn’t seem to have a sense of decorum around her. She

knew he was testing her control. He wanted her to notice him and he wanted her to do what she

fought against doing every minute of the day.

“We have a problem. I thought I’d better tell you first, and you could help me break the

news to Quinn,” Charlotte murmured.

Samantha gaped at Charlotte and picked a piece of bagel out of her teeth with her tongue.

“You do realize it’s very early in the morning, right?”

“This is important, Samantha.” Charlotte flounced down into the chair opposite

Samantha. Absently, Charlotte reached for a banana and began peeling it.

“Well, in that case you’d better tell me all about it.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Charlotte said between bites.

“What happened?” Samantha sipped at her hot cup of java.

“I was having my downtime of sleep.”

“Very good. We all need sleep.”

“Be serious, Samantha!” Charlotte raised her voice.

“Did you just raise your voice to me?”

“Yes.”

“Some twin sister you are.”

“Get real, Samantha.”

“Okay…in all seriousness, tell me what’s going on.”

“What’s going on is that Rory is in even bigger trouble than she was last night!”

“What? You just cut to the chase with that bombshell? Thanks.” Samantha took another

large mouthful of her coffee.

“I don’t know how it happened. I knew she was thinking of doing something reckless, but

this…oh, God, Samantha! Even you wouldn’t be so…daring.”

Samantha’s hands shook, and she nearly spilled coffee all over the table.

“Take it slow. Give me all the facts. If you’re not careful, Charlotte, you will turn me

into a freaking basket case!”

“Rory was on her way to New Beijing when I went to sleep last night. I thought she was

safe…or I wouldn’t have stopped guiding her. Anyway, she woke me up from a dream when she

fired her gun.”

“Whoa! Back up. What gun? Where did Rory get a gun from?” A dozen or so possible

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scenarios flashed through Samantha’s still half-asleep brain.

“The gun she took from her one captor.”

Samantha swallowed. Suddenly, her coffee tasted really bitter. “Shit. Oh, freaking hell.

What happened? Was she hurt?” Samantha had to grip onto the table for support. If something

really bad had happened to Rory she would have a mental meltdown.

“No. She wasn’t hurt. But she badly wounded the guy she shot.”

“How? A phase blast can’t kill…not unless you have it set to kill.”

“Oh. Well, that’s the problem. It wasn’t a phase pistol.”

Samantha put down her coffee cup. “Let me guess. It was an old fashioned revolver,

wasn’t it?”

“You got it.”

“Oh God. I hate those frigging things!”

“My sentiment exactly. To put it mildly, Rory was shocked out of her mind. That’s what

woke me up. Her mental screams were broadcasting loud and clear. Rory is tired, hungry and

scared out of her skin. She needs us.”

“I’ll tell Dylan to push the engines again. Maybe we can cut our arrival time in half.”

“That would be a good idea. While you put that in motion, I’m going to see what I can

do to help Rory. Call me when it’s time to head out. I want to be on the rescue mission.”

Samantha was going to say something in rebuttal but hesitated.

“Don’t you give me that look, Samantha!”

“What look?”

“The look that plainly states you have no intention of taking me with you! I’m coming

with you, and if you won’t tell me when you’re leaving I’ll leave a message with Johanna…she

will at least tell me when it’s time. Not all of us are as pigheaded as you!”

To make things even more uncomfortable, Devlin chose that exact moment to come

striding into the room in all of his glory. Granted, he did have a towel wrapped around his waist.

For that she could be thankful. Samantha groaned. Charlotte didn’t seem surprised in the

slightest.

“Good morning, Charlotte. How convenient that you knew where to find Samantha. In

fact, I am quite surprised that Tyler never came by to see Samantha last night,” Devlin

murmured, giving Charlotte a wary glance.

“Tyler knows that Samantha gets into these kinds of moods after a tiff with him. He

wasn’t too bothered by it. I actually spent a good deal of last night with him going over our

notes on who knows Samantha better.”

“That sounds like such a bonding experience,” Devlin said sarcastically. “I shan’t

mention what else the two of you might have done.”

‘That’s enough, Dev.” Samantha’s heart suspended in her chest. She knew what Devlin

was intimating and she didn’t exactly like the idea but she knew that at this point in time, her

marriage was on the rocks and Tyler and her bedroom relationship had sort of been dried up for

the last six months.

Seeing Devlin in various states of undress last night and this morning was making her

teeter precariously toward the cheating edge.

“Try to play nice with my sister, Dev.” Samantha rolled her eyes.

“Why? I doubt she knows how to play nicely. Her life is made up of different sorts of

games, I bet she’s playing us right now.”

“Charlotte, I think you should just leave.”

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“What?” Charlotte started when Samantha addressed her. “What’s going on? I just

channeled out there for a minute. I wanted to check on Rory.”

“Charlotte,” Samantha sighed. “Please just leave and when you find Tyler tell him that I

don’t care if I see him today at all.”

“Well, okay I will. I don’t know why Devlin is looking at me like I am trying to steal

Tyler away from you. Tyler is your husband, and he’s my brother by way of marriage. It’s as

simple as that.”

“Right.” Samantha narrowed her eyes. “Charlotte, I am still not quite awake. I don’t feel

like getting into a marathon chat. Why don’t you go and keep an eye on Rory away from here?

Thanks! Besides, Tyler probably likes to be around you because of your uncanny resemblance to

me.”

“Yeah,” Devlin snorted. “It makes him feel like he’s not really cheating on Samantha

when he’s screwing you silly, Charlotte.”

“He is not screwing me, Devlin. But you are trying to screw with Samantha’s head. Get

this straight, Devlin, Samantha and I are completely different people.” Charlotte finished the rest

of her banana and stood up and stretched. “I won’t keep you any longer. You have things to

do…and so do I.”

“Yeah, I have to eat the rest of my breakfast and then wait until we can do something

productive in rescuing Rory.”

Charlotte caught her gaze and held it. “Don’t worry, we’ll save Rory. I am here nothing

can possibly go wrong.”

Irritation flared throughout Samantha’s body. She wanted to slap her sister. Instead, she

took another big bite out of her bagel. “Well you know there’s a first time for everything,” she

mumbled. Devlin still hadn’t retreated back into his bedroom. She felt that oddly disturbing and

yet, she didn’t exactly relish the thought of him leaving.

Samantha smiled. “It’s good to have you here, Charlotte. At least now I can keep an eye

on you.”

“Thanks. I feel the same way.” Charlotte reached up to push a wayward strand of hair off

of her forehead. “I’m thinking our carbon copy look will be an advantage this time around.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain right now, but it’s a pretty strong feeling I have…and you know all about

my strong feelings.”

“Yeah, they inevitably come to pass. Just promise me that you’ll be careful when we’re

down on the planet surface.”

“Why do you want me to promise? I’m not the one that rushes head first into every

situation without thinking first! At least I don’t use your ass-backward way of logic!”

Samantha sipped at her coffee again. “I’ll ignore that comment. I always seem to luck

out, you know.”

“That’s not luck.” Charlotte tossed her hair off her shoulders. “You know what it is. Well

enough of this, I’ve got to get back to Rory. If I see Tyler again, I’ll tell him you didn’t spend

the night with Devlin.”

“I didn’t.” Samantha watched Charlotte leave. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew what

Charlotte was hinting at, but for now she wanted to stay in the blessed state of self-denial. It did

wonders for a person when they had issues.

“Well, thank God she’s finally gone,” Devlin remarked. Samantha stood up. Draining

the last of her coffee out of her cup, she smiled. Placing the cup down, she crossed the distance

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to Devlin.

Her eyes drifted to his towel. She bit her lip. She was so tempted to reach for his towel.