She tried to reply to the text but the channel was dead. There was no way to trace the sender.
Giving this to the police wasn’t going to help. They’d say it was someone playing a prank on her or trying to extort her but Samyra knew it was real. It fit right in with what she’d been told by her father’s old confidante the day before yesterday. And the kidnapping fit with what she knew about the Amarotu Combine and how the mob operated.
Suddenly she rushed to the bathroom and threw up the food she’d eaten earlier. I told Tirion all those lies about Jamirr and about me getting new fighters from the Five Systems. What if the conversation pushed him into removing Jamirr from the picture?
Stomach pain easing now that it was empty, she rinsed her mouth with cool water and returned to the bedroom. She couldn’t stand being enclosed in the four walls so she made her way outside to the garden and sat on the bench where she and Jamirr had talked.
There was only one thing to be done. Swallowing hard, she got out her handheld and clicked on an interstellar number she’d hoped never to need.
“Kyden?”
Chapter Twelve
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, probably alerted by the tension in her voice and the stress on her face.
“Is this com secure?” she parried, afraid to talk openly.
He studied her for a moment. “End the com. I’ll initiate from my end and yes, it’ll be secure.”
She did as he said and a few minutes later the new com initiated. Kyden’s holo sprang up in the garden and she wished with all her heart he was actually here, not millions of light-years away.
“Jamirr’s been kidnapped,” she said, going to the heart of the matter. “I got a ransom note of sorts—they want me to throw the first fight of the season. There—there are dangerous new players involved, backing my biggest rival and I know either he kidnapped Jamirr or they did.”
“Combine?”
“Yes. An old friend warned me two days ago. There have been a lot of strange things happening since we got home, not good things, but nothing I could prove either, not until this happened today.” She walked him through what she knew and told him about the police visit. “But it’s obvious the cops won’t do anything.”
“They may be on the take,” Kyden told her. “Or someone higher up in the department may be.”
“I’d do it, I’d throw the fight if I could be sure it would save Jamirr’s life,” she said, tears overflowing. “But I’m afraid it would just be the beginning and they’d never free him.”
“When the Combine gets its hooks into someone they don’t let go,” Kyden confirmed. “The mob tried to muscle in here in the Five Systems a few years ago but we stopped them cold and they withdrew. Your planet doesn’t have the same institutional infrastructure we do. I’ll tip off a contact of mine here though and he may be able to take action at a high level to help your government.”
“Which won’t help Jamirr. I love him. I’d do anything for him. I can’t tell you how much I wish now we’d stayed with you in the Five Systems. Whoever took him cut off his bracelet so we can’t even track him.”
“You can’t keep a Badari from finding another Badari,” Kyden told her with a smile. His voice turned deadly serious. “We’ll be there in two days. Until then, keep your head down, say as little as possible and if the kidnapper contacts you again, let them think you’re leaning toward doing as they want. Try to get proof of life if you can. But Samyra, I need you to understand something.”
She met his gaze, noting his eyes were glowing like hot amber, the way Jamirr’s did on occasion. “Yes?”
“Neither of you are going to be safe on Porter Three when this is over. You’re going to have to journey to the Five Systems with us and Jamirr is going to be a free man. It’s not my price for helping—I’ll always come to help one of my brothers. It’s the cold reality. I can protect you both here and I can’t do that anywhere else. And if he’s here, he’s going to be free.”
Samyra glanced around her garden and at the huge house behind her. None of it meant a thing without Jamirr. “I should have freed him while we were there. But I was so caught up in wanting to have one more good winning season, to make my House secure for the future…and now it’s all going to be gone anyway. I understand what you’re telling me.”
“Pack a few essentials but be surreptitious. Don’t let anyone in your household know we’re coming or that you’re planning to leave. You can’t trust anyone, understand? I don’t care how long they’ve been with you or who they are—the mob has tentacles everywhere. When we arrive we’ll come for you first and then we’ll go get Jamirr. Whoever is holding him has no idea what hell they’ve unleashed on themselves.”
She panicked a little, remembering her other responsibilities. “What about my team? My animals?”
“I’ll handle things after we’re well away from the planet and safe. My mate-wife’s family has a huge interstellar business presence with fingers in every pie. Contacts everywhere. We can take care of transitioning your gladiators—I can backdate a sales contract to me and we can ship them to a farm team in the Five Systems and free them. Staff can be paid severance. Elara will figure out something for the animals. Your creditors will probably seize the estate once it becomes known you’ve fled. You must accept the fact there’s no going back for you once you board my flyer. The House of the Beast Lady is closing down and it’ll get messy.”
Her mind was reeling at all the aspects of her decision to ask him for help but Samyra knew this was the only way to save Jamirr. Truthfully, once he was safe it would be a huge relief not to have the worries and obligations of the House on her shoulders. Embarrassing to lose it all in this fashion but she’d never counted on finding a man like Jamirr or falling in love. She should feel guilty about the end of her father’s dream but didn’t. Had it ever truly been her dream too or had she merely gone along with what a beloved father wanted? She’d literally given it her all and she wasn’t prepared to sacrifice Jamirr too. “Retire gracefully, you said. This is hardly what I had in mind.”
“You had a good run,” Kyden assured her. “There’ll be opportunities here for you and Jamirr that don’t involve battle in the arena.”
“Once we have Jamirr safe.”
“Right. And we will get him back. My brothers and I are experienced in conducting difficult extractions. I’ll call you on this channel when we’re in position and ready to pick you up. Stay close to the house and don’t take any risks.”
“Got it. Thank you—I didn’t know what to do other than to call you.”
