Chapter Eight

EMMY

Before I jumped, I evaluated the distance between the two cars. Ven’s message to me said to open the door. There weren’t any additional instructions, but what else could I do except jump? As long as the car next to me kept an even speed, I thought I could make it.

I hoped there weren’t any intersections ahead.

The distance between the two cars was small. The computers allowed them to drift much closer together than a biological driver could. I thought it was about two feet to the next car. Even though I didn’t have far to jump, we were still speeding down the freeway. If I missed, I was as good as dead.

I didn’t stop to think. I took a moment to envision myself landing safely and jumped, sailing through the air. I knew I was moving quickly, but during the time I was airborne everything seemed to slow down. When I tumbled through the open door of the other car, I crashed and fell into a heap.

Ven closed the door behind me immediately and told the car to move in a different direction. The vehicle shifted into another lane and exited the freeway. We were now driving on a road leading back to the spaceport.

It felt good to lie on the bottom of the car floor. I was still trying to make myself believe I was safe. My only regret was not getting to see the look on the blond guy’s face. I missed it because I was focused on staying alive by jumping between two cars racing down a twenty-lane freeway.

“Emmy? Are you all right?” he asked, putting his hands on my shoulders and shaking me a little. His purple stripe seemed darker than before, and I wondered what made it change color.

I nodded, hoping I seemed calm.

All the fear of the past few days hit me at once, and I started to shake uncontrollably. I saw him search my face. It was easy to get lost in his eyes. Without warning, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

I surprised myself when I let him. I had never been held by a man before. My mom raised me. She was an only child, and her friends were all women. I had never had a real boyfriend, except Christopher. He was all about making out, not hugging.

I had no idea it could be such a pleasant experience.

My eyes closed and my arms moved by themselves, wrapping themselves around his waist. I buried my head into his chest and enjoyed the feeling of something bigger than myself.

His chest felt firm under my cheek. I loved how his arms held me closely like he was worried about me. Did he care for me? It seemed impossible because we had just met. I drew in a deep breath and let it out. The stress and tension left my body as his presence comforted me.

It felt good and safe. The sensation was so much like home that it scared me. The memory made my mind begin to function again, and I sat up, pulling away.

I smiled at him. Would he know that meant thank you? I sat back on the seats of the car. Ven turned to look at me directly. “Emmy, what are you doing?”

“Leaving?” I said hopefully.

“Why? We just got married. I wanted to get to know you.” He glanced out of the window for a moment and looked at me again. “I thought you were going to stay.”

“I married you because I thought I could do you a favor. It’s nothing personal. I’ve helped you out, but I have a list of things to do for work. I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in it.”

“Does your work usually involved being kidnapped?”

Shit. “My job can be dangerous sometimes.”

“What’s the job? You should be able to explain that, at least. Are you ex-military?” Ven had an odd expression on his face.

“No way.” I laughed at his misunderstanding. “Not that kind of dangerous.”

“If you could give me a kernel of truth, it would explain a lot.”

“I’ve been honest. I told you everything I said would be the truth. There were some things I don’t feel comfortable talking about.”

“You said you’d see me in the morning.” He looked unhappy. “That seems deceptive, at the least.”

“Not really. I’m seeing you right now,” I pointed out.

“Why did you climb out the window instead of using the door?”

“I didn’t want you to know when I left. I thought using the window would make it harder for you to find me.”

“That seems reasonable, but you should have read up about Stalwart's weapon licensing regulations. If you didn’t want anyone to locate you, it was a mistake to take a gun with a built-in tracking chip. I wish I could have been here sooner.”

“I would have figured something out. I always find a way. No worries.”

“No worries?” He said the words in an intimidating tone. His purple stripe nearly became black. I shifted away from him, not wanting to take the brunt of an outburst. “I think they were going to kill you, Emmy. They were trying to kidnap you, weren’t they?”

He looked at me for confirmation. I thought about their threats and shuddered. “You’re half-right. They were going to take me somewhere against my will.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “But they won’t kill me.”

“How do you know that?”

“They have to keep me alive. I have some information they need.”

He shook his head. “It better be information that can save the galaxy, that’s all I have to say.”

“It’s complicated, and it’s not your problem. If you could let me take care of a few issues, I could return and pose as your wife for a while, if that would help you out.”

“That’s not how it works. We have to live together and be together. If you go off somewhere for some undetermined time, the executors will assume I only married you to keep my uncle’s fortune.”

“That’s remarkably perceptive,” I murmured.

He made a face at me. “They’ll declare the marriage a sham, and the entire exercise will have been pointless.” His voice sounded like he was losing hope. Part of me felt bad that I was deserting him in a time of need. But I had no reason to help him any longer.

“I’m sorry, Ven. I wish I could help you more. Would it help if you faked my death?”

When the words left my mouth, blasts of laser fire hit the side of the car, making it start to swerve wildly on the empty back road. Abel’s men were back, and they meant business. Maybe Ven wouldn’t have to fake my death after all.

VEN

Emmy was nuts. Why would she want to fake her death? I had a good plan, and she had blown it to pieces with a single crazy jump.

My idea was simple. I wanted to get my car close to hers, shoot any unwanted passengers, and pull her body across to safety. As soon as her door opened, she judged the distance and jumped between the cars. I did a lot of military operations where I had to move my body through the air, but even I would think twice before leaping to my doom. Emmy didn't even think once.

I was about to say I couldn’t fake her death when the car shook. A giant cannon was attacking us. I pulled Emmy down to the floor as the glass started to shatter.

These guys were bastards. Emmy said they wouldn’t kill her, but I thought she was wrong. Our car swerved wildly all over the empty road. We were fortunate to be off the main highway. At best, they wouldn’t intentionally murder her, but considering their giant weapons they could easily have an accident.

More importantly, they wouldn’t care at all if they killed me. I hadn’t survived ten years in the Stalwart military to die at the hands of random Earth goons.

“Tell the car to go back to the spaceport. Let’s head for one of the staff entrances.”

I opened the window and leaned out, holding the gun. With deliberate care, I aimed and hit a spot I knew would destroy their battery. All the cars on Stalwart ran on solar energy, which was renewable and good for the planet, but left them vulnerable to attacks on their power systems. Their vehicle began to fall back immediately. It would take them a few minutes to get the auxiliary battery online. By that time, I hoped we would be back in the spaceport.

They half-heartedly shot a few more times at our vehicle, forcing me to duck inside. Soon their car was out of range, and their guns were useless. We turned off into a back alley leading to a small door marked for employees only. We clambered out of the car. I keyed in another destination. It sped off by itself as soon as we shut the doors.

I ran up to the door and pulled out a device to open it. It would give me temporary clearance and wouldn’t leave a digital trail. I brought a few of my fancier gadgets with me when I realized I was going on a rescue mission. The door opened, and Emmy followed me without saying a word. I think she finally understood the gravity of her situation.

Once inside, we rushed past people getting ready for work or coming off their shift. I tried to look friendly and like I belonged here, smiling at people and saying hi. When we exited the employee room, we found ourselves in the heart of the spaceport. It was a deserted region where no ships were scheduled to leave. Across the open room was a maintenance door. I grabbed Emmy’s hand, pulling her across the area.

Something happened when I touched her hand. A pulse of energy raced up my arm. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I glanced back, wondering if she had felt anything unusual. Her eyes looked surprised, and she stared at her fingers. My hand tingled in the middle of my palm. I didn’t think about letting go until a group of five men and a dangerous-looking woman burst out of the employee door.

We ducked through a maintenance hatch. “How did they follow us here?” Emmy asked.

“They probably put a tracker on you. It’s the simplest explanation. There’s no other way they could have known which direction we went.”

“There’s nothing on me, is there?” She stopped to look at herself.

I followed her gaze and felt a shot of lust go directly to my cock. She was wearing the same tight, curve-hugging black pants as yesterday, but her shirt had vanished. Somehow I had missed this vital fact because I was so worried about keeping her out of danger.

She only wore a sports bra. Her generous breasts showed a fair amount of cleavage. Now that I was taking the time to inspect her body, I realized Emmy didn’t carry extra weight. Her body had large breasts and swelling hips. But her waist was narrow. Looking at that bare skin made me want to put my hands on her hips and pull her close to me.

I forced my gaze away from her body. I didn’t want to get distracted by her physical appearance. I reminded myself that she was annoyingly intelligent and possibly genuinely crazy. I had never seen anyone jump from car to car before. Emmy was the most maddening woman I could remember meeting, and she was not the type of woman with whom I ever wanted to get involved.

My moment of fantasy was interrupted when her pursuers spotted us. We had to run. I pulled Emmy through the maintenance door, and we immediately crashed into someone coming through from the other side.

“What are you doing?” he yelled. He grabbed Emmy and pulled out a gun. Belatedly, I noticed he wore a spaceport security uniform.

Fuck.

I put my hands in the air as he waved the gun in my direction.

“We don’t want any trouble.” We were already in trouble. In about a minute, the people chasing Emmy were going to come through that door. We were sitting ducks.