Microsoft Word - RecklessBounty (9 page)

“Yes, you son of a bitch. You don’t need to rub it in. I always knew you were a sick monster…and now you’re only putting yourself on my hit list,” she snapped. Her thoughts strayed toward Veronica.

That woman would be an impossible feat to overcome, and while Crenshaw was stalling them, she may have already delivered Tyler to the authorities.

“We don’t have time for this,” Johanna whispered. “The bugger is stalling us.”

Samantha exchanged a puzzled glance with her sister, wondering if Johanna had read her mind. “Tell me something I don’t know,” she muttered. “Look, Crenshaw, I don’t have time to talk to my ass at the moment, so if you would be so kind as to piss off, I’ll be sure to drop you a line at my earliest convenience.” Samantha really wanted to smack Crenshaw’s head against something hard.

“I shall be waiting in anticipation,” Crenshaw returned, smiling as the view screen went blank.

“We’ve got to get down to
Aggie
. Lucy, have her ready by the time we get there,”

Samantha barked.

At her words Lucy disappeared with a loud crackling noise. Samantha knew that Lucy didn’t hold much affection for her, but Lucy had been fond of Tyler. Yet another trait they shared. She was beginning to get sick of the similarities that she and Lucy shared. But for once, she couldn’t blame Lucy. The AI
did
have good taste.

“Dylan, when we get out of this mess, I’m going to have a little discussion with you concerning
Aggie
,” Samantha promised, brushing past him.

“Fine, but can you make sure that Johanna, is there when you have this discussion? I wouldn’t want to return a lesser man to my lovely wife,” Dylan teased. They all moved down to the cargo bay. Samantha sighed. Much as she hated to admit it, they were strapped for time.

The more time they wasted, they increased their chances of losing Tyler to Lord Devlin.

Aggie
stood ready and waiting for them, and Samantha grabbed her necessary trinkets, while Johanna embraced Dylan.

“I should really come with you. Tyler’s my brother,” he began, and then quieted when Samantha served him with a stern glare.

“Shouldn’t you stay here, and guard the ship, and access how much damage Crenshaw did to
The Excalibur
when he greeted us so damn affectionately?” Samantha asked all in one breath. She knew she had turned into a bit of a bitch, but she couldn’t help herself. Dylan and Johanna hadn’t seemed to grasp the seriousness of their situation.

Big V was a dangerous woman, and right now, Tyler was at her mercy. She felt restless.

She was so damn worried about him, that she’d already popped half a dozen heartburn pills. She RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 36

needed
to get to him. If she didn’t, her world would crumble down around her. She still loved him deeply. Dylan and Johanna had their happily ever after, and she wanted her second chance at it with Tyler. This time she
wouldn’t
screw it up.

The passenger side door into
Aggie
opened automatically, and she let out a shocked gasp.

“Huh, I see that you’ve already made some adjustments to
Aggie
, good work, monkey boy,” Samantha said, giving him an appreciative stare. Johanna groaned, and rolled her eyes helplessly.

“Samantha’s in a foul mood, Dylan. Please, don’t provoke her. She’ll need all of that bitchiness when she goes up against Veronica.”

“
Excuse me?
” Samantha huffed.

She hated how well Johanna read her mind. Samantha jumped when
Aggies’s
voice greeted them affectionately. The hover car never failed to annoy her with her chirpy attitude.

“Admit it, Samantha, you’re in a bad mood, and you’ll feel much better when you rescue Tyler,” Johanna pointed out.

Samantha snorted indelicately. Yep, Johanna could freak her out.

“Yeah, then I can kick his sorry ass all the way back to
Earth
,” she grumbled, reaching to belt herself in. “Are we going today, or are you going to wait until Christmas? I’m aging over here for cripes sake,” she groused. Johanna heaved another irritated sigh.

“I’m coming. Honestly, Samantha, I don’t know how you survived to get to your present age. You’re so damn annoying at times that I want to strangle you in your sleep.” Johanna rested her gloved hands on the steering wheel. “Take care, love, and remember don’t let anyone on the ship except for us.”

“What do you think I’m planning to do, hold a bloody party?” Dylan demanded, as the cargo bay doors opened.

“I’ll see you later, sweetheart,” Johanna called out.
Aggie
began moving, and Samantha nearly bounced up and down in her seat. She just wanted to get to Tyler.

“Oh, please, give me a barf bag,” Samantha grumped, slouching back into her seat.

The sooner they reached Tyler, the better. Maybe then her indigestion would finally go away. She had ants in her pants, and she needed to show Veronica what happened when she invaded
her
territory. Samantha hated being crossed, and when someone deliberately gunned for her husband, she took that as a definite call for war. Veronica may have won the current battle, but she was going to
win
the war.

They flew at the highest legal speed toward
York,
and Samantha had time to continue her constant complaining.

“When I find Veronica I’m going to....” Johanna cut her off giving Samantha the inclination to glare at her.

“Yes, my dear, I know, you are going to rearrange her face to resemble her scrawny little butt. I’ve heard it all, and believe me none of it surprises me. But right at the moment I have a lot of distractions to deal with and you shouldn’t be one of them. I swear all of these drivers took a tutorial in asshole. I can’t seem to move an inch without having someone right up my ass!” Johanna barked. Samantha twisted her body around and eyed the car behind them. Soon, they’d be in their backseat.

“We could just hit them with something,” Samantha suggested helpfully.

Aggies’s voice streamed out through the car’s interior. “We could hit them with a disorientation shot or we could hit them with a jolt large enough to render their car’s systems inert.”

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 37

“I vote for the rendering their hover car’s systems useless. That way they’ll be able to do an emergency landing, and the skies will be clear for us.”

“None of that will be necessary,
Aggie
. Right at the moment, Samantha is out of her freaking mind, I’ll tell you when the real Samantha is back,” Johanna joked.

Samantha resumed reading all of the current information that Lucy had assembled concerning their friendly neighborhood nemesis.

Veronica had a list on her as long as anything that Samantha had seen in a long time.

Veronica had just as many bounties under her belt as she and Johanna, and she had been in the game for exactly as long as they had been. Not much was listed in her biographical information, and Samantha hated not being able to know her deepest darkest secrets.

“When will we reach
York?
” Samantha asked, for the hundredth time, as if she were an eager child.

“In ten minutes,” Johanna answered irritably, smoothing her hair back with her right hand. “And stop asking me that question. You just asked it two minutes ago.”

“I did not,” Samantha retorted.

“Actually,”

Aggie
cut in. “You did ask that particular question one minute and fifty eight seconds ago.”

Yep, that was why she hated computers. Samantha grumbled, and caught Johanna fixing her hair yet again. She studied her sister, and smiled. She couldn’t help herself. Johanna was ever the picture of perfection.

Johanna always strived to maintain her appearance and Samantha normally didn’t give a damn what she looked like. It wasn’t that her sister was vain, she was far from that, but she always wanted to seem neat and tidy.

Samantha inhaled sharply, and took in the breathtaking landscape of the capitol city. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, despite the technological marvels that dominated the city.

Soon, she would be with Tyler, and she would make sure that no one ever took him away from her again.

“I see Veronica’s hover mobile!” Johanna exclaimed.

“Where?” Samantha demanded, scanning the city’s airspace.

“Down there,” Johanna said, as her voice took on an anxious tone.

“
Where?
” Samantha repeated, feeling like a silly idiot. For the life of her she couldn’t find Veronica’s lime green hover mobile, even though it probably stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Down there. Outside of the Sheriff’s office,” Johanna whispered. She sighed, and all color drained from her heart shaped face.

“Freaking wonderful!” was all that Samantha managed to say.

* * * *

“So, dear sister, what do we do now?” Johanna curiously inquired, rolling her eyes heavenward.

Samantha slammed her hand against the dashboard. “Please, say that you’re kidding me,” Samantha retorted, rolling her eyes at, and then gesturing to the Sheriff’s office, below them. “We walk in and get him out of course. Seems to me it’ll be easy as one, two, three.”

Johanna stared at her in stunned amazement.

“Excuse me, but maybe you should pull your head out of your ass, and start thinking logically for a minute. You expect us to just saunter in, and politely collect your husband?

Pardon my dirty mouth, but you’ve got to be shitting me.” Again, Johanna rolled her eyes. “So RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 38

basically, you go in, and break him out, while I stay in the getaway car. Guess I’m the wheel woman this time around,” Johanna concluded matter-of-factly.

“Well, in a matter of
speaking
,” Samantha hedged, tapping her fingernails restlessly against the side of the door.

“Don’t screw with my mind, Samantha. You go in, something goes
KA BOOM
, and you come racing like a bat out of hell with your beloved in tow.” Johanna demonstrated the ka boom part with her hand up in the air.

“No, that isn’t quite right,” Samantha began. “He isn’t my
beloved
.”

“Oh, get off of it, Samantha. You’re so full of it,” Johanna retorted, gliding the car down, so that it hovered just above the cobblestone street. “You really need to face facts about the way that you feel for Tyler. You can’t run from your emotions forever, you know.”

“You do realize this won’t be easy, right?” Samantha asked, resting her hand on the door handle. She had cleverly avoided Johanna’s remark. She could try to ignore her feelings for Tyler until the time was right. She had to keep a cool, calm and collected head.

“In case you never noticed, my life hasn’t been easy ever since you were born. You find trouble and trouble finds you, for you it’s an addiction. Just make sure that nothing goes ka boom while you are still inside of it.” Johanna placed a hand on her arm. “I don’t want to tell mom that you accidentally blew yourself up.”

“Oh,

put a sock in it
,” Samantha remarked, even though she smiled at Johanna. “Besides, if there is one thing that I’m good at, it’s making all hell break loose.”

“Yes, and then the shit hits the fan. Have you even considered what you are going to do once we get Tyler out of the Sheriff’s custody?”

“We run for it, and try to prove his innocence,” Samantha answered, speaking as if Johanna was a complete and utter idiot.

“That was what I was afraid of. Tell me one thing though, what happens when a team, and they shall remain unnamed, say a duo of bounty hunters, break out a so-called criminal and then run with him?”

“They get a bounty on their heads also?” Samantha gave her an innocent look.

Johanna gripped the steering wheel even tighter.

“Yup, that was just what I thought. We are
so
royally screwed.”

“Yes, dearest, but we are royally screwed together. You could sort of say it’s a family affair.” Samantha chuckled.

“I hate it when you make light out of a serious situation,” Johanna grumbled. “Samantha, we have so many enemies among the space faring community. Bounty hunters, mobsters, serial killers, terrorists, petty criminals, you name it, and they will be out for our blood!”

“I know.” Samantha sighed. “What other choice do we have? I won’t let Tyler get hanged by Lord Devlin, and you know that Dylan won’t be happy if we come back empty handed so to speak. Don’t worry, Johanna, it will all turn out the way it’s supposed to turn out. We’ll clear Tyler’s name and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

“Yeah, but for how long? Just never mind I ever questioned rescuing Tyler. I guess the family that runs together stays together.”

Aggie
automatically opened the door for Samantha. “Oh, and one more thing,” Johanna began. Sighing, Samantha tilted her head back toward Johanna.

“
Yes
,” she drawled out, expectation ringing through her voice.

“
BE CAREFUL!!!
” Johanna nearly shouted, staring at Samantha as if her cognac eyes were going to pop right out of her head.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 39

“Aren’t I always?” Samantha asked sweetly, easily jumping out of the hovering car, and landing like a cat on the sidewalk below. Samantha took a few steps away from the hover car, and then turned back. She couldn’t resist teasing Johanna. It was way too much fun. Opening their communication link, she smiled. “Just make sure that you’re ready, for when I make everything go
KA-BOOM!!!
”

“One more white hair, that’s what she’s going to give me, and then another, and another,” Johanna rambled, pulling the car up higher. She went to a secure communication frequency and waited.

* * * *

Samantha slid up against the wall of the building, and pulled out her grappling hook.