DangerouslyForever (10 page)

Knowing what that would mean, tears ran down Yoshi’s face.
Kiehle would tell the guards that she’d tried to escape and Alharad would send
her back to prison. Max would be taken away and she would probably be sold to
another brothel, separated from both of them. And Yoshi would end up in
Alharad’s brothel sooner rather than later.

Ally eyed Kiehle and, against her better judgment, removed
the gag from his mouth. He smiled at her. She had the urge to knock that smile
off his face.

“Go on, it’ll work out.” She ushered Yoshi to the door.
“Remember, as fast and as quietly as you can.”

She watched the little girl scurry down the hall and
disappear out the front door before turning back to Kiehle. “I do need you.” He
seemed to have a better idea of what it would take to get them out of here.
“I’ll kill you if I get a whiff of your betrayal,” she said, pulling the shirt
over her head.

“You already had plans to take the child with you?”

“She’s not your concern.” She grabbed his blaster and made
sure it was on the highest setting. Anyone who stood in her way deserved to
die, including Kiehle.

She practiced holding it in her hand and let her sleeve fall
over it. Satisfied that no one would be able to see it, she turned toward the
male in bed. If he kept smiling, he was going to be casualty number one.

“You’re coming with me. If you try to give me up, I’ll blow
you away.”

“So does this mean you’re going to straddle me again?”

She scrunched her face.

He pulled on the binds. “You have to untie me.”

Ally sauntered beside him, portraying confidence that he
doubted she felt. He had to hand it to her. She knew that if she didn’t, the
guards would stop them before they made it to the transporter. Her hand rested behind
his back, just underneath his jacket, hiding the blaster that she pressed against
his skin.

She walked through the halls with her head high, as if she
didn’t have a care in the world. Her hair was gathered underneath the hat Yoshi
had given her. The clothes she wore didn’t fit her at all, but they hid all of
her best assets. The guards nodded him through all the exits, which he
expected. He made sure to keep his composure, pretending everything was fine,
all the while on the inside he was just as nervous as he thought
she
was.

“I came here with a friend. I need to tell him to meet us in
the docking bay.”

“No, he can’t come with us,” she whispered. “I can handle
one giant, not two.”

“If I leave without telling him, he’ll know something is
wrong and alert the guards.”

He could tell from her facial features that she was thinking
about what to do. After a long silence, she nodded to herself. “When we get to
the transporter, I’ll let you call him.”

“That sounds reasonable.” He would also have to find a way
to alert Taio to the situation. If this crazy plan of hers worked, Ally would
be free and it would be just a matter of getting her to his home on Saurene,
which wasn’t too far from Yinnis. From there they would wait for the
Saia I
and he’d take her to Drazlan to reunite with Eva.

The only problem was that he didn’t know if he would be able
to convince her to go to Saurene—well, without trying to kill him first. Ally
didn’t trust him. She was smart, volatile and calculating. She would be
comfortable with her control over him in the transporter with a blaster as her
enforcer, but controlling him at home would be another story. He didn’t see her
agreeing to that.

But…

If she spoke with Eva, she could tell Ally everything. He
glanced over at Ally. She looked relaxed, except for the small bead of sweat
working its way down the side of her face. He wanted to assure her, tell her
that they were going to get through this, no matter what. But that would have
to wait until after he got her away from all of Alharad’s listening devices.

Taio’s plan of meeting with Alharad and negotiating her
release was no longer needed. Now his brother would have another angle to work
from. Alharad’s slave had taken a member of the Drazlan royal family prisoner.
Taio wouldn’t owe Alharad anything. He’d love to see the brothel owner groveling
at Taio’s feet for forgiveness.

Kiehle hid the smile that began to form. This was actually
better than any plan he and Taio could’ve come up with.

But if this escape didn’t work, there was no way he’d turn
her back over to Alharad. He’d read the file on him. Alharad would enjoy making
Ally suffer for even thinking of escaping. No, he didn’t know what would
happen, and was sure there would be fines to pay for not returning Alharad’s
property to him, but she wasn’t staying here.

He looked away from her, not wanting her to be more anxious
than she already was. “So tell me about this Max person you’re trying to free
as well.”

“He’s not your concern.”

“Hmm, and you’re certain that I have room for another?”

She didn’t respond.

He narrowed his eyes. If it weren’t for the blaster at his
back, he would have stopped and whipped her around, making her face him. “Who
is this male to you? How well do you know him?”

“Sweet infant Jesus—why are you acting jealous?”

He straightened his shoulders and raised his chin. Jealous?
He’d never been jealous of anyone. “I’m not jealous. This is information I need
to know to help you.”

“Whatever.”

Whatever?
“What if I back out because you aren’t
telling me who we’re taking with us?”

She pressed the blaster painfully into his skin. “What if I
shoot you right now, drag your body to one of the unused rooms, meet Max and
Yoshi in the docking bay and take my chances by myself?”

Well, when she put it that way…
“Point taken.” He
could easily overpower her and take his blaster away, but there was something
so sexy about her ruthless account of how she would kill him. This Max person
wasn’t an obstacle anyway. If he wanted, he could win her over and steal her
heart away from Max. Whoever he was. Or kill him. Whichever came first.
If
he wanted to.

They finally entered the docking bay. They were lucky that
the room was almost empty. If he’d docked in the main docking station, there
would be customers coming and going constantly, but since he had docked in the
station reserved for important guests, they didn’t run into that problem.

She scanned the room with a worried look on her face. “Where
are they?” she whispered under her breath.

He looked around as well. There were only three workers
tending to some of the transporters, filling them with fuel and restocking food
supplies. But he didn’t see any sign of Yoshi or the other person she was
meeting here.

After a few minutes, the workers pushed an empty cart out of
the room. The bay instantly became silent.

Two small human children popped out from behind a
transporter and scurried their way. Ally exhaled, her fingers biting into his
arm.

She motioned for them. “Hurry.”

Two
children? He looked from them to her.

Reaching her, they wrapped their arms around her waist.

Max was another human child. After everything Ally had been
through, she still had the compassion to think of others. Escaping would’ve
been easier without the children, but she chose to risk taking them. No matter
how hard she tried to seem, there was a caring female not too deep underneath.

“You.” She leveled the blaster at him. “Open the door or
I’ll kill you.”

But he didn’t want to test how soft she
actually
was
with a blaster aimed at his stomach.

“Relax,” he said. “I can’t drive the transporter dead.”

“Hold there,” a deep voice said from across the room.

Ally froze. He could feel the nervousness pouring from her
body.

He turned in the direction from which the voice had come.
Standing there was a Quold guard. Ally took a deep breath as the guard started
toward them. The children moved behind her, hiding. Both whimpered.

“Give me the blaster,” he whispered. They were too close to
get caught now. He’d dispose of the guard without ruining their plan.

“No, I got this,” she growled.

He flexed and relaxed his fists. He didn’t really need his
blaster to incapacitate the guard. It would have made it easier, but he’d grown
up training with the renowned Drazlan Royal Guards—he could take down this
guard with his bare hands. They could get off the planet and hopefully a safe
distance away before anyone found his body. Or they could use Ally’s idea and
stuff him in one of the rooms.

“Let me handle this,” he whispered.

As the guard came closer, Kiehle could feel Ally shaking
next to him.

“I
knew
you were trying to escape when I saw you in
the halls,” the guard said. His eyes gleamed as he laughed. “Won’t Alharad be
surprised to find out you’ve gone back on your deal? He’ll take both of his
pets back. I’ll bet—”

“Sagnior?” Ally said. “Shut up and die already.” She pointed
the blaster at his face and squeezed the trigger.

His face erupted, sending blood, skull fragments and brain
matter everywhere, including on Kiehle. The children squealed in disgust.

I definitely wasn’t expecting that.
Kiehle picked a
piece of brain off his shoulder and flicked it to the floor. “Well, I guess we
should be going now,” he said calmly.

She stared down at the body, the blaster aimed at the guard.
Her eyes were wild with fury. Her hand shook uncontrollably. “I hated him,” she
whispered.

“I could tell.”

“He—”

He pressed down on her hand, pointing the weapon to the
floor. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

She lifted her gaze. She’d been abused. She’d been used. She
was a killer. And she was vulnerable. Using the pad of his thumb, he wiped away
a trail of Sagnior’s blood that dripped down her cheek. She allowed him to
start the task, but quickly stepped back and used her shoulder to finish the
job.

“Do you want to be next?” she asked.

He put up his hands. “I’m the getaway pilot, remember?”

She aimed the blaster on him. “Then let’s get going.”

He keyed in the codes that opened the door but before he
stepped inside, he turned to whisper to her, “I have some things to tell you,
but it’ll have to wait until after we get someplace safe.”

She frowned. “Tell me now,” she whispered back.

He shook his head. “Alharad probably hid listening devices
in my transporter to learn information about my brother. Don’t worry, you’ll
all be safe in a little while.”

She pressed the blaster into his stomach. “I want off this
planet
now
.”

Can’t keep her waiting.

He entered the transporter and eased into the captain’s
chair. Ally and the children scrambled in behind him. As he punched in the
launch sequence, Ally helped the children into their seats and fastened their
safety harnesses. After that, she settled into the copilot’s seat and secured
hers.

When he finished the launch sequence, he opened a channel.
“May I help you?” the voice on the other end asked.

Immediately he felt the cold nozzle of the blaster pressed
so hard to his temple that his neck craned to the side uncomfortably. If she
wasn’t Eva’s friend, he would have broken her wrist and snapped her neck.

“Please connect me to Thesan Altriz.”

“Hold, please.”

“We talked about this already, remember?” he reminded her
with a growl.

She eased up slightly so that he could at least straighten
his neck.

“Thesan here,” he said, coming on the line.

“It’s me.”

“Where are you? I’m in the room and some of your things are
missing.”

“Don’t worry about me. I needed to leave sooner than
expected. Can you manage…um…anything that comes up before you leave?”

“What are you talking about?” Thesan asked, confused. “And
what do you mean you had to leave? What about—”

“Things took an unexpected turn. I’m taking care of that
now.” The nozzle pressed harder into his skin. “Just handle anything that
happens to come up on your end. Tell my brother that he won’t have to make that
trip.”

There was silence. He knew Thesan was figuring out the
situation. It wouldn’t take long and it wasn’t hard to do. He’d already told
Thesan of his plan to keep Ally in the room with them. Once it was discovered
that she was gone as well, Thesan would put it all together.

“Only if you’re sure about this.”

“I’m sure.”

“Consider it done.”

Kiehle disconnected the communication. “Can you remove that
blaster from my head now?”

She pressed harder before finally pulling back. “Let’s go.”

He should’ve been mad, and possibly thinking about how many
ways he could kill her. But he couldn’t bring himself to hold his anger for
long. Admiration replaced any ill feelings that popped up. She’d been stuck in
a brothel and had finally figured out a way to escape. And instead of leaving
by herself, she’d decided to save two children.

Not all females hated working in the brothels, but he could
only imagine how hard it must have been for Ally. He doubted any of her owners
had been able to make her submit and that probably caused her a lot of
punishment. He’d get her as far away from here as possible. Thesan could handle
damage control.

No one talked as he steered the transporter out the bay
doors and through the sky.

“Head to the nicest planet you know and drop us off,” she
said in a strained voice.

“I know of a place,” he said, not wanting to say the
planet’s name. He wasn’t even sure if she would recognize the name if he told
her, but he knew Alharad would. “It’s a small planet and the locals keep to
themselves.”

She nodded. ”Take us there. You’ll stay with us just long
enough to transfer credits into my name and then you can be on your way.”

He feigned surprise. “Now you’re planning to steal from me?
I think I might have to alert the Galactic Council.”

“If they knew you, they’d applaud me for not killing you
too.”

Damn skippy she was taking his credits. She’d take as
much as she could.

She relaxed into her seat. One hand grasped the harness
secured across her chest and the other held tight to the blaster. Her finger
pressed lightly against the trigger. Her heart thumped loudly as they cleared
the planet’s atmosphere.

This was it.

Yinnis was behind her. Alharad was behind her. Being a slave
and whore was behind her.

Then something she couldn’t explain happened. It felt as
though the shell around her soul burst free. By the time the transporter broke
through to the abyss of space, her sobs came out in uncontrolled waves.

They had done it. They were finally free.

She really didn’t want to cry. She wanted to laugh, scream
and shout. But a true celebration would have to wait until she was alone.

She sniffled and wiped her face on her sleeve and opened her
eyes again. The darkness of space was more than a welcome sight. It made her
feel blessedly
alone
. She hadn’t been alone for the past six years. The
constant talking and touching had fried her senses.

Now, looking out the transporter window, she saw nothing and
her heart sang. If only they could stay out here for a while… The idea of being
stuck back on a planet, pressed against numerous bodies, suddenly made her sad.