Bounty Page 2

  Max eyed the zip-up vest with frayed edges. "Just this?"

  Danica glanced at the brown pants the woman wore, glad they'd gotten dirty when she and Bexli had apprehended the doctor and brought her back to the ship. If she looked too neat and buttoned-up, the plan would never work.

  "Would you ever wear just a vest?" Danica asked, searching her pants pockets and finding a black grease pencil she'd used as part of her camouflage on a recent mission.

  "Not in a million astro-years."

  "Perfect." Danica crossed to her. "The last thing we want you to look like is yourself."

  The footsteps echoed off the metal corridors, causing Max's hands to shake as she pulled her white shirt over her head and slipped on the vest. Roars and screams followed blaster fire, and both women flinched.

  "Were those your crew members?" Max asked.

  Danica gave a quick shake of her head. "They're fine. They're just creating a distraction to give us more time." She grabbed the back of Max's head. "Hold still." She drew a thick black line under both of the doctor's blue eyes, extending each line out to make a cat eye. "There, that makes you look less uptight."

  Max spit in her palms and ran her hands through her neatly parted hair, making it stand up. "How about that?"

  Danica grinned. "Now you're starting to look like one of my crew." She squeezed the woman's arm. "Remember to look pissed off, but not afraid. You're part of a badass female bounty hunter crew, you’re not a scientist."

  "To be honest, I am pissed off. Why did you drag me onto this ship, and why should I go along with your plan to pretend to be a part of your crew?"

  Danica sighed. She did not have time for this. "I brought you on this ship because there's a massive bounty on your head. It's nothing personal."

  Max's mouth fell open. "A bounty on my head? That's impossible. I'm a scientist."

  "Yeah, I know." Danica put the grease pencil back in her pocket. "But the guys who've boarded my ship couldn’t care less. Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to be held captive by them."

  Max studied her for a moment before nodding. "Okay, fine. And you are…?"

  "Danica." Opening the door, Danica led the way into the corridor, pulling out her blaster and holding it in front of her with both hands.

  "Do I need one of those?" Max asked, staying tucked behind her.

  "Can you use one without blowing my head off?"

  "Maybe not," Max admitted.

  "Then let's hold off on that for a while." Danica put up a hand as the pounding footsteps came closer and caused the floor to tremble.

  The two women held their position in the corridor as a group of three enormous creatures rounded the corner, holding weapons almost as long as their arms. They were decked out in black pants and shirts that showed plenty of bicep, and their chests were draped with weapons and bullets. One had bumpy, purple skin, but she thought the other two were human.

  "Drop it!" the man in front said, when he saw Danica's blaster. He had a tattoo running up the back of his neck, and a blond buzz cut.

  Danica quickly assessed that she was outgunned and dropped her blaster to the floor. "Do you mind telling me why you boarded my ship? This is a violation of galactic—"

  Her words were cut off as the man backhanded her, and she stumbled against the wall. Max screamed and backed up, then seemed to remember who she was supposed to be.

  "Just who the hell do you think you are, hitting my captain like that?" she yelled, helping Danica right herself.

  "Looks like you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut, too." The man lifted his arm to deliver a blow.

  "Enough!" A deep voice made the man freeze and drop his arm. "They can't talk if you knock their teeth out."

  Danica glared up at the owner of the deep voice, tasting the metallic tang of blood for the second time that day. "Mourad."

  The tall, broad-shouldered man with a bald head, jaundiced skin, and completely black eyes grinned at her. He was a Gorglik, which meant that he had no body hair, and spoke a language populated with sharp clicks, reminding her of an insect. The fact that he didn’t blink confirmed the comparison. "You don't seem happy to see me."

  Thanks to the universal translator implant she and all her crew had, she could understand him, although she wished she couldn’t. "What do you want?" Danica spat out the words along with a mouthful of blood.

  Mourad laid a thick hand on her shoulder. "Give me my rightful bounty, and we'll leave you and your sad little crew alone."

  "Your bounty?" Danica tried to laugh, but her mouth ached. "How do you figure that?"

  "It's taken us weeks to track you across the galaxy." Mourad shook his head. "And I'm not good at patience."

  "So your plan is to follow us around and snake our bounties every time?" Danica asked.

  Mourad shrugged. "If you can't manage to keep your prisoners, that's not my fault." The smile slipped off his face. "Now where is the doctor?"

  "Do you see any doctor around here?" Danica swept her arms wide. "We didn't find him, Mourad. He wasn't on the planet."

  The bounty hunter leaned close and his eyes became slits as he stared at Danica. "I don't believe you."

  Danica turned her face slightly to avoid inhaling Mourad's foul breath. "You're welcome to search my ship, but you'll find no trace of a Dr. Max Dryden anywhere. If he was ever on that planet, he bugged out before we arrived."

  "Then why did you try to outrun us?" Mourad asked.

  "Gee." Danica tapped a finger against her chin. "Maybe because we didn't feel like being harassed by you and your goons."

  Mourad straightened up, touching a comms link inside his ear. "Anyone find the prisoner yet?" He frowned as he listened, then turned to his men. "Search every corner of this ship. If they're hiding my bounty, we'll find him, and then they'll all pay for our trouble."

  The three men split up and ran off in two directions down the corridor, as Mourad crossed his arms and stared at Danica and Max.

  "You're wasting your time," Danica said. "From one bounty hunter to another, I'm telling you that we don't have him."

  Mourad's lip curled into a sneer. "You're not a bounty hunter. You're a little girl pretending to be a bounty hunter."

  Danica fought the urge to remind him of the two large bounties they'd brought in. It didn't do her any good to poke the bear. Or, in this case, the Gorglik.

  "What about you?" Mourad turned his attention to Max. "You don't talk?"

  "I'm fine with letting my captain do the talking," Max kept her voice steady.

  "She's one of my engineers," Danica said. "She's still in training."

  Mourad took in the petite woman. "A piece of advice? Find yourself another job." He let his eyes wander to the low neckline of her vest and stepped closer. "Better yet? A real warrior who can take care of you."

  Max's cheeks flushed. Mourad took it as an encouraging sign and moved even closer until the pounding of footsteps interrupted him. He stepped away as his men came around the corner.

  "Nothing, sir," Tattoo Neck said. "Our team searched everywhere. And it's not a large ship."

  Mourad growled.

  "I told you," Danica said. "The planet was a dead end."

  Mourad's eyes rested on Danica. "I've left you alone for all this time out of respect for your father."

  "You call this leaving me alone?" Danica spluttered. "Chasing us across the galaxy? Boarding our ship? Knocking me around? Trying to steal our bounty?"

  Mourad leaned over her. "You and your crew have no business being bounty hunters."

  Danica put a hand on her hip. "Well, that's not really your call, is it?"

  Mourad spun on his heel. "Bring them."

  Tattoo Neck took Danica by the arm, and another, thick-armed bounty hunter grabbed Max.

  "You can't take us with you," Danica struggled as she was dragged along. "What are you going to do? Keep us in your brig the rest of our lives?" Her stomach dropped as she said it, and she hoped that wasn't his plan.