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He didn’t blame her for hating him any more than he could blame Delaney and everyone else on this planet who wanted him dead. What nobody knew was that his flippant responses were how he coped with knowing everyone hated him.
“You’re an ass, you know that?” She eyed the transport again. “Fine, but I’m comming my mates first.”
As she did so, Ulrek got into the transport and contacted Tuhror. There were too many conflicting scents in the air for Ulrek to pick out Delaney’s, but Tuhror might be able to. He didn’t earn his reputation of being the Dominion's best tracker for no reason.
Then, he sent out her image to his entire crew, introducing her as their new greenroom technician and explaining that she’d gone missing overnight. He asked that the whole crew keep an eye out. If she was still on the planet—and she was, since none of the ships at the dock had moved—they’d find her.
The transport door opened, and Angie got in.
“They are meeting us there now.”
Delaney
Delaney blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling. She was still in the transport, and a bright light was shining into her eyes. She put a hand up to shade them, and someone moved the light off her. She blinked a few times, and two Tallean males came into view.
What the fuck? She could have sworn it had been Craig and Eric who’d attacked her, but the two towering over her now were clearly Tallean.
They were both huge. One was a little shorter than the other, but he looked like he’d compensated for that by spending every waking moment at a gym. The guy was built like a tank. The taller one had a giant scar that ran across his face.
Everything about them screamed Dominion, though they clearly weren’t military. Delaney tried to pinpoint it: perhaps the mix of the clothing style and the way they had their hair cropped. Regardless, they didn’t belong on Reka 5.
They pulled her out of the transport and into the Reka 5 wilderness. It had been overcast when she left for the tribunal hall this morning, but now large trees shaded out the sun.
She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious, but she was parched.
Two things that caught her attention immediately were the run-down dome-like structure directly in front of them and the shuttle parked next to it. Was that a bunker? Hadn’t the New Earth crazies talked about finding old bunkers in the wilderness and using them as their hideouts?
“Sit.” Tank pointed to a knee-high rock.
Delaney did as she was told. She had no idea where they were, and running might be more dangerous than staying if she encountered a pack of dragus, or a coilbeast. The wilds of Reka 5, the planet and not the colony that is, were not a place to go on vacation unless your idea of fun was fighting off giant man-eating monsters. For some Tallean males, it was. But Delaney was not a Tallean male.
Tank handed her a pouch of packaged water. “Drink.”
She squeezed the pouch experimentally. Nothing came out. Sealed. It should be safe. Also, she was extremely thirsty. She twisted off the top and squeezed the contents into her mouth. It was warm from being in the heat, but it quenched her thirst.
“Now talk,” Tank said.
“What do you want me to say?” Delaney asked.
“Stop pretending. We know who he is,” said Scarface.
The device in her ears translated the strange accent. It sounded almost familiar, and Delaney frowned as she tried to place it.
“Who are you talking about?” She blinked a few times, trying to look innocent.
Delaney had already guessed these thugs were here for Ulrek, but she played dumb. If they knew, then why did they need her to confirm it? As much as she hated Ulrek, she hated the Dominion even more. If Ulrek were to get his just desserts, she wanted to see it happen at the hands of all the humans he’d stolen from Earth, not the people he’d stolen them for.
Tank sidled closer. “We will make it worth your while. We’ll share his bounty with you, and you won’t need to sleep with him to earn credits.”
They thought she was sleeping with Ulrek for money?
“Bounty? I don’t understand.” Yeah, keep playing dumb. They thought she was a dumb bitch, so that was what they’d get.
“You’ve been inside theNew Horizontwice. He met you and your friends at the baths. At the bar, he said you were there with him. We know you’re fucking him.”
“Captain Uzzar’s got a bounty on him? That’s impossible. He’s friends with the directors; they were right there at the pub with us.”
The two exchanged a look; then the short, tanky one pulled the scarred one aside. “The bitch doesn’t know anything,” he hissed. “Maybe we followed the wrong ship.”
