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“It’s done,”
Eleanor
answered, just as they were rocked by another volley.

“Uh,
Eleanor
, I thought
Faerie Cruisers
were supposed to be powerful hover mobiles.”

“I assure you, I am trying my best.”

“I know. I’m just at my wits end at the moment.”

“Veronica, don’t you go away from me. Wake up damn it!” Johanna said, abandoning

her medical supplies and shaking her. “I hate poison.
HATE IT!!!
”

“What’s the matter with Veronica?” Tyler’s question went unanswered for a few minutes.

“She’s been injected with what seems to be a deadly poison.” Samantha sighed.

“Good God. I should call Ross up here.”

“No! Don’t. It would only worry him. But you can tell Dylan to get med bay ready for

us,” Johanna called out.

Samantha looked back and felt the blood drain from her face. She’d never seen Veronica

look so bad. She should have done something else to keep the crazy bitch from going after The

Triad. This wasn’t supposed to be how the night ended. Veronica was supposed to just be in a

shit load of trouble that was easily enough to rescue her from. Samantha hadn’t expected to find

her drugged silly, and now dying. It was funny how so much could change in such a short

amount of time. She shook her head, and bit down on her lip, to keep her eyes from watering.”

“It’s done. Dylan’s down in the med bay ready and waiting.”

“And Ross?” Samantha asked.

“He’s still in engineering blissfully unaware.” Tyler’s voice was heavy. “How are you

and Johanna?”

“I’m fine. But I think Johanna’s about ready to scream.”

“Samantha, how much more time until we rendezvous?” Johanna asked anxiously.

She was just about to answer Johanna, when the
Excalibur
came into view. At the sight

of the large ship, The Anasazi Triad broke off and scattered through the sky. But Samantha had

a sneaky suspicion that they’d meet again. Because if Veronica didn’t pull out of this, she’d gun

for their asses personally. And as everyone in the universe knew, when you pissed off Samantha

Cassidy you made an enemy for life.

“Oh, God.
NO!!!
” Johanna cried. “You can tell Dylan not to rush on things,” Johanna

said in a shocked whisper.

“Why?” Samantha asked, feeling her heart plummet.

“Because Veronica is
dead!
”

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Samantha felt sick. She couldn’t believe what Johanna had just announced.

“
Dead?
Veronica
can’t
be dead. I won’t allow a team member to die on my watch. I

didn’t tell her she could die, so she must still be alive!
Eleanor
, get your super duper sensors up and running. Check for
any
smidgeon of a life sign on Veronica. And since you can multi task,

take us into the
Excalibur.
”
Samantha dashed into the back seat, and grabbed a hold of Veronica.

Tears streamed down Johanna’s face, and yet Samantha was still in a state of shock. She would

not let Veronica die!

“Wake up,
BIG V!
” she cried out, pulling her into her lap. She touched Veronica’s

temple, searching for a sign of life from her. She felt Veronica clinging to the living world at the

same moment
Eleanor
detected it with her super sensors.

“She is not dead, though she is nearly there,”
Eleanor
announced triumphantly. “You

were right, Johanna. Veronica has been injected with a particularly lethal poison. It is slow

acting, that is why it took so long to work its way through her blood stream.”

“Okay. So she isn’t dead. That’s good news. But how the hell do we resuscitate her?”

Samantha felt her heart beat start up again, even though her hands still trembled.

“You shall need to find the antidote. Veronica will simply fall into a coma without it and

within ten days she will more than likely die, she will simply wither away.”

“We’re not even going to contemplate that option,
Eleanor
. Tell me, where and how do

we get our hands on this antidote?” Samantha demanded.

“It will be extremely hard to find. It is very rare, and highly expensive, even if you do

find it on the market somewhere, though I’d warrant that you’d be more likely to find it on the

Galaxy’s Black Market.”

“Ain’t no way I’m breaking intergalactic law by doing business with criminals. Has it

suddenly slipped your electronic brain that we are by the book bounty hunters?”

“Certainly not!”

“We do have one friend that could lend us the money to buy the antidote,” Johanna

suggested.

Samantha groaned and smacked her forehead. She stared at Johanna and narrowed her

eyes. “Don’t you say
his
name!"

“Samantha, you have to admit that
he
would help us.”

“He is a dirty sneaky bastard, and I don’t want to ever hear his name again.” Guilt

slammed her heart. She couldn’t admit to Johanna that she’d been dreaming of Devlin to the

point where he robbed her nights of the dreams she should have been having.... Thinking of him

now made her want to scream. Her relationship with Tyler was disintegrating before her very

eyes. She knew that Johanna could see the troubling signs, though Johanna never broached the

subject to her.

“Samantha, he helped us,” Johanna insisted, her bright eyes filled with determination.

She swallowed against the lump forming in her throat. Tears pricked behind her eyes, she

couldn’t get emotional now. She couldn’t forfeit all she had with Tyler by admitting to Johanna

that Devlin was slowly consuming her every thought.

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“Yeah. Helped us by nearly sending Tyler to the gallows. I won’t take his tainted

money. I’d rather go and ask
you know who
for money than take his.” Her voice trembled a bit.

If Johanna had detected her slight wavering in belittling Devlin she didn’t betray it.

“You know who goes through money like most people go through toilet paper. Believe

you me; we’d be better off going to Devlin for funds. At least his checks would never bounce!

And, Lord Devlin would be more than happy to lend us the money. He wouldn’t want to see

Veronica die, just because she went after the Anasazi Triad. Devlin doesn’t like them anymore

than we do. They have caused innumerable problems for him in the past. I actually think Devlin

would do the dance of joy if he heard the Triad was down for the count. They’re one hell of a

nasty lot. The galaxy would definitely be a nicer place without them!”

“Perhaps,” Tyler broke in, just as
Eleanor
landed in the docking bay. “I could ask my

family for the money, or I could go and....”

Samantha sighed heavily, suddenly remembering that Tyler was still eavesdropping on

them. He’d picked up that nasty habit about six months ago come to think about it. He was

always monitoring her every move and it was beginning to grate on her last bloody nerve!

“Don’t even think about it quickie fingers. You’ve sworn off thieving, remember?” Samantha

asked. She couldn’t take his drastic mood swings. One minute, he seemed like his old self again

and the next, he seemed like a totally different person.

“Yes. I remember,” Tyler, muttered reluctantly. “But I could nick something that would

bring us more than we could ever have imagined. I know of just the relic....”
Eleanor
opened her

doors, and Tyler reached in for Veronica.

“Tyler, don’t even think about it. No way are you going to get into that cat burglar get up

of yours again. I don’t care how shiny that object you spotted was. No way…no how, end of

story. Where’s Dylan?” Samantha asked, darting her eyes around the docking bay for her

brother-in-law.

“He’s down in engineering, breaking the news to Ross.”

“I think Ross is on his way,” Samantha muttered. She could hear something pounding

toward her, which sounded remarkably like a herd of hippos. The ground rumbled beneath her

feet.

“
BETSY!!!
” Ross cried, the agony steaming across his face. “I’ll take Betsy to the med

bay.” Ross went running back through the ship with his wife cradled tenderly in his arms.

“How do we break it to him that we can’t bring Veronica out of her coma without finding

the really expensive antidote?” Johanna asked.

“Hey,
Eleanor
, I almost forgot, what is this frigging expensive antidote called?”

Samantha could feel her stomach plummeting at the thought of the mega expensive price tag.

“It is called Alorian the fruit of all life on New San Francisco. But humans simply call it

Alo. Not only is it an antidote, but if used improperly, it can become a narcotic.”

“Freaking wonderful! Just what we bloody well need,” Samantha sighed. And then she

let out a loud and long groan when Dylan’s voice boomed out over the speakers.

“We have an incoming distress call.”

“Who’s it from?” Samantha questioned.

“I can’t stick around and with my thumb in my bum and my mind in neutral. I have to go

and attend to Veronica.” Johanna rushed away, allowing Samantha to try and digest the night’s

activities. This was
definitely
a night to remember.

Samantha nodded her head, and smiled at Tyler, when he came around to wrap one arm

around her. She brushed some dust off of her black leather trench coat, and inconspicuously

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shrugged off Tyler’s arm. She couldn’t stand having him touch her at the moment.

“Keep us updated on Veronica’s condition,” she called out to Johanna’s retreating form.

“You got it,” Johanna called back.

“Come on. We’d best hightail it up to the bridge. Tyler, as soon as we get up there, you

can take us off this godforsaken planet as quickly as possible. As far as I’m concerned New

Jamaica can go to rot.”

“It will be my pleasure, love,” he said, smiling down at her, with that oh so sexy smile.

“What’s the matter with you?” she asked. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her.

“I was just thinking when I saw Veronica I was so happy it wasn’t you that had been

poisoned. And I feel so awful for having such a singularly selfish thought.”

Samantha didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t given her this much concern in six long

months and her stomach rolled with the suspicions blanketing her mind. She couldn’t get like

this, she hated hearing about the wives were always suspected their husbands of doing something

nefarious. Tyler had never been like that, even during their separation she’d known he’d still

loved her but now—her throat went dry. She shook her head. “Don’t worry about me, Tyler. I

always make it out alive.”

He stared at her with a look that almost seared right through her. “That you do,” he

mused, forcing a smile on his face and narrowing his gaze at her. She looked away from him.

Why did she feel like she was staring at a stranger? Snap out of it, Samantha. You’re getting a

little too obsessive compulsive about this, there is nothing wrong with Tyler, and he’s your

husband no matter how you might think about Devlin 24/7. Her face flushed. “Come on, we need

to get to the bridge.” She walked ahead of him, darting one last look behind her. He straightened

and met her gaze. A chill went through her. She blinked, snapping herself out of her reverie. She

could cope with Tyler, the man of many personalities. She would keep her marriage on track no

matter how hard she had to work on it or how hard she had to fight her burgeoning emotions for

a man she claimed to despise.

They made their way onto the bridge and Tyler immediately settled himself in the empty

pilots chair. Dylan stared at Samantha from the co-pilots chair and pointed at the console.

“I think you might just want to listen and watch the visual distress call that’s been sent to

us. The signal conks out at points so you’ll have to rely on audio only.” He pressed the

activation control, and crackling static poured out to them, until the channel cleared.

“Samantha, I hope you and Johanna are receiving this message. I need your help. I’m

into shit right up to my waist, and I don’t even think that hip-weighters will help me at this point.

They’re coming after me, and they’ve already gotten Rory.”

It was at this point that the view screen filled with a handsome man’s desperate image.

He looked dirty, ragged and tired.

“
Quinn!
” she breathed, not willing to believe her eyes. “What a prick! He has some

nerve getting in touch with Johanna and I after what he has done.” Anger filled her being and she

flared her nostrils and took a step forward.

“Maybe you should give the hottie a chance,” Lucy said, as she shimmered into

existence.

“And maybe I should get Dylan to deactivate you.”

“You know, you’re always threatening me with that but you never deliver.”

“Listen to me, you little....” Samantha droned off right when gunfire rang out over the

communiqué.

“I’m sorry for all of the shit that I’ve disturbed in our past. Can you please forgive me?

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