Kissing Steel (2 page)

She stared at the retreating man, watching mutely when he grabbed the gun strapped

to his thigh as he rushed away. She heard the doors swish open and then closed, leaving

her alone. Rena bit her lip as she unbuckled her belt to move to the pilot’s chair to watch

out the window.

Above her all she could see was a huge hull of a ship the size of a large building. She

sat in the captain’s chair, eyeing the console but couldn’t really understand any of it. She

noticed a red light flashing that read docking clamps.
Was that bad that it was flashing?

She was alone on the shuttle with her thoughts and fears.
What if the team fails? What if

the pirates get the drop on them?
She didn’t know how to pilot a shuttle but she bet it

wasn’t anything similar to driving a hover vehicle through streets on Earth.

She wished Dell had given her a headset so she could hear his team. She’d asked, but

he said he hadn’t packed an extra set, which made her nervous. Wouldn’t a top-rated

outfit keep spare equipment? She eyed the shuttle, determining it was a nice one, a newer

model but not top of the line. She sat back in the chair, knowing she couldn’t do anything

but wait and wonder what was happening aboard the
Star
.

Another blip on the radar screen started to blink near where Dell had shown her the

signal of the
Star
. It was on the outer edge of the screen and the red light was getting

closer to the one she knew belonged to the
Star
. Fear slammed into her. She wasn’t a

pilot but she wasn’t an idiot either. Another ship was coming at them.

“Computer?” No response. “Shuttle?” Nothing. “Autopilot?”

Silence met her questions and dread swamped her. Obviously the voice commands

for the shuttle were either turned off or not in operation. She tried again, thinking there

was no way that a modern shuttle had a malfunctioning computer.

“Emergency response.”

That was the universal code to activate a computer but the shuttle’s computer didn’t

respond, stunning her. If something happened to Dell and his men she had no idea how to

get away with the computer off-line. She watched the blinking light on the monitor

coming closer and it was moving fast. She knew it wasn’t another recovery team unless

8

Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Demco had lied to her but that wasn’t unheard of. Her company did shady things from

time to time but she’d had to pay Dell’s team so she knew how much they earned for this

job. She couldn’t see Demco paying out more than the small fortune they’d already paid

the crew of the
Bridden
for a risky venture.

She lifted her gaze when the blink on the monitor looked as if it were on top of the

blink she knew was the
Star
. Staring up at the back of the
Star,
she didn’t see a damn

thing until she stared in astonishment as another jumper shuttle came into view suddenly,

slowly moving toward her, a large gray ship with outer lights on.

Her shock evaporated. “That bastard!”

Fury filled Rena as she saw the other jumper shuttle dock on the other side of the

Star
. It was too far away to really see much but the lights and general size of the jumper

shuttle but she knew by its shape that it was damn near a twin of the
Bridden
. Demco had

sent out another team with another investigator. It was obvious to her that her asshole

boss hadn’t trusted her on this recovery and she wanted to scream in frustration.

This was Joe Emmit’s doing. Her new supervisor thought all women were

incompetent and he’d tried to block her from getting this assignment. The creep had tried

to go over his boss’s head to Chuck to get her assigned to another recovery but he hadn’t

been able to do it. He didn’t know that Chuck wanted Rena in deep space. They kept their

loveless marriage a secret from the lower employees because it was bad policy to let the

association known.

No way would Chuck knowingly send a second team so this was definitely

something Joe Emmit had done on his own. Chuck didn’t want his wife dead but she

represented more brownie points to his father who owned Demco if his wife landed the

biggest recovery in company history. She shoved away thoughts of Chuck. She was

angry enough without thinking about her husband and the ways he used her.

She stood up to pace, knowing she was going to chew Emmit’s ass when this was

over. No matter what investigator they sent out, she had seniority, this was her recovery

and it was her bonus. Chuck had given her the written assurances she’d demanded. She

knew better than to trust him as far as she could throw him. She’d learned early in their

marriage what a lying bastard he was.

She kept pacing, half tempted to leave the
Bridden
and board the
Star
. A thought

stopped her.
What if there are still pirates alive onboard?
The
Star
was a really large

ship, a first-class travel model made for deep space exploration and it could take hours

for the
Bridden
’s crew to go deck by deck, room by room to make sure they didn’t miss

anyone. Sure, she was a military brat and had been raised rough. She could handle a little

trouble but did she really want to have to defend or risk her life?
No.
She wanted to live

too damn much, just out of spite, if for nothing else.

Finally she heard a beep as the doors whished open. She turned, gasping in alarm

when it wasn’t Dell or his men who walked into the cockpit of the
Bridden
. Her knees

went weak and her heart nearly stopped before it started to pound in anxiety.
It just

couldn’t be.
She blinked a few times, her focus jerking from one large male to the next to

stare at all seven of them. Someone softly whimpered, and she realized she’d made that

sound.

The man at the front frowned. He had light, nickel-colored skin and his full lips

twisted downward. She couldn’t look away from his intense dark blue eyes as he stared

9

Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

back. His gaze scanned the room then returned to sweep her from head to foot with a cold

look before locking with hers once again. He did not look happy.

“I’m Flint.” The man had a deep voice. “Explain yourself for attacking my ship.”

She was mute. She had to be seeing things but she knew there wasn’t a damn thing

wrong with her eyesight. All seven men in the room with her were cyborgs. But they

didn’t exist anymore. Earth had eradicated them decades before. Her father had told her

horrible stories about the brutal, vicious, and cunning manmade species. They had

genetically enhanced bodies with enough hardware inside them to make them virtual

weapons and ultimate warriors.

One of the men to Flint’s left cleared his throat, drawing her attention to him. He was

a light-gray-skinned cyborg with dark eyes and black hair. None of the seven males were

less than six feet tall and all were probably at least two hundred twenty-five pounds.

Muscled, human-looking males, except for their sleek metallic skin tones and their larger

bodies. The man’s eyes looked black as he studied her.

“I heard some humans keep an onboard pleasure worker with them. You noticed the

men’s expensive clothing and it’s a topnotch ship. Hiring a woman to see to their sexual

needs stands to reason, and she isn’t in their crew uniform.”

“Pleasure worker?” Her voice finally worked as she glared at the cyborg. She’d gone

from fright to purely offended in a heartbeat. “I’m not a space hooker. How dare you.”

The man frowned. “Then who are you?”

Rena straightened her shoulders. “Who is in charge?”

Flint took a step forward. “I am. The
Star
is my ship. Why did you attack? You sure

as hell aren’t pirates unless you’re a group of rich Earth assholes out here to alleviate

boredom.”

“I’m Rena Gates and I work for Demco Insurance. This is definitely not your ship,

Mr. Flint. By the authority of Earth Transit I have an order to retake the
Star
. She was

stolen and I’m here to recover her. When the claim was paid out, the
Star
became the

property of Demco Insurance and I represent them in this matter. I demand you release

the men who boarded the
Star
and vacate my ship immediately so they can pilot her back

to Earth for me.”

Okay, Rena knew that probably wouldn’t go over well but she had to try. She did

have an order from Earth transit so everything she’d said was true and it sure beat

dropping to her knees to beg them to not kill her. Her father had taught her when in doubt

to never show fear so for good measure she glared at the large cyborg. She saw his eyes

widen, the dark blue seemed to deepen in color before he barked out a laugh.

“Is this a joke?”

She managed to keep her shoulders from slumping. “No. I’m the primary lead

investigator for Demco. The
Star
is a stolen vessel that now belongs to my company

under Earth Transit laws. We paid the claim so I’m here to recover her.”

More of them laughed. Flint finally spoke, grinning, showing off perfect white teeth

as he did. “As amusing as you are, there’s no way in hell I’m giving up the
Star
to you.

You are far from Earth and we don’t give a damn about Earth Transit or Demco. Here’s

how my law works. We took it from pirates, so it belongs to us now. You attacked my

ship when you boarded without permission.” He scanned the shuttle and then he

10

Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

glowered at Rena, all humor gone. “Under space law that’s a death sentence and this

shuttle now belongs to me along with everything in it, including you.”

A new man arrived, pushing his way forward to the front, shouldering past men so

easily she couldn’t miss him. He was taller than the rest, at least six and a half feet in

height with light silvery gray skin. His hair was beautiful, a light silver, looking almost

illuminated, it was so pale. He was huge—thick chest, massive arms—his big body

encased in tight black leather.

“They are all dealt with, Flint.” The man’s voice sounded rough and deep, giving

Rena chills just hearing it. “We tried to reason with the two pinned down but they’ve

heard that bullshit about us so they wouldn’t surrender.” The man turned his head and a

really light blue gaze locked onto Rena and widened in shock.

Flint looked irritated. “I’m glad you arrived when you did. Thank you for the help.

Who the hell started those damn rumors anyway? The worst we’ve ever done is take

DNA samples so our scientists have something to work with. We don’t kill people unless

we have to and we don’t steal their damn organs.”

The largest cyborg was still staring at Rena. “They refused to believe me. I heard you

as I came in. You’re sentencing her to death? She’s a woman, Flint. She’s not even

wearing weapons and as bitter as I am right now over women, I think killing her is far too

harsh a punishment.”

Flint barked out another laugh. “Tired of the women you’ve dealt with, huh?”

The man tore his strange, light blue gaze away from Rena. “It’s not the females we

rescued who have pissed me off. Vonlona believed I was dead so she voided me from our

family unit to take another man into her bed.” He sounded angry. “If I’d known I was no

longer taken then I would have had a much better few months since I haven’t touched a

woman in a long time.”

“I’m sorry.” Flint sighed. “I’m sure you can get her back.”

“I don’t want her,” the man rumbled, clearly vehement. “She was resentful that I

made that choice because she wants me, but I want no part of her anymore. She can keep

her other male.”

“I am sorry, Steel. I know you were happy with her.” Flint turned his attention back

to Rena. “I don’t kill women. I’ll have the single males take a look at her, and I’m sure

many will want her, so we’ll hold a lottery to give her away.”

Revulsion washed over Rena, knowing they thought she was a pleasure worker and

planned to draw numbers to see who got to sleep with her first. She experienced dizziness

and her knees nearly collapsed under her weight. She wasn’t a hooker and she didn’t

want to be passed around to a bunch of huge cyborg men. She wouldn’t survive long.

Forced pleasure workers never did.

“Flint,” one of the shorter cyborgs said softly. “Give her to me. Volt and I are bored

in our down time between shifts.” Dark green eyes scanned Rena’s body and his tongue

came out to lick his lips. “She would definitely make me look forward to getting off my

shifts and Volt will be thrilled as well to have her amuse us.”