Marianne's Abduction (7 page)

Chapter
Seven

Vaughn
watched from the doorway while Marianne slept. The second storm was long gone,
but from the weather reports online, they were due for more all night long. He
and River had slept a couple of hours, but now they were both awake and rested.

She
was naked, curled up on her side, with one pillow supporting her arms and one
between her knees. She looked so vulnerable and peaceful, a slight smile on her
face. Was she dreaming about them, or about Jacob?

She
must have placed her chain with the ring on top of the dresser after her shower
last evening, because when she’d come out onto the deck, she hadn’t been
wearing it. Vaughn crept over to the dresser and gently lifted it. The ring
wasn’t huge, but it was very pretty. Jacob must have loved her very much.

How
could any man not love her? She was warm and funny, intelligent and kind.
And downright beautiful.
And she made love like an angel.

He
glanced around the room, then went into the bathroom and retrieved a tissue. He
carefully wrapped the chain and ring inside it, and then placed both inside the
top drawer of the dresser. He’d tell her later where they were so she didn’t
think she’d lost them.

What
must it be like to live as the Earthlings do, having relationships where sex is
the norm, and where they enjoy it so much? Their marriage beds must not be cold
and calculating. They probably snuggle in each other’s arms instead of sleeping
in separate rooms, and they make love every night.
Or at
least, more often than once or twice a month.
And their women like it.

They
don’t cry during it or beg their husbands to stop, even though they aren’t
being physically hurt. The mental and emotional aspects of sex weren’t
something the Alpha Centauri women could deal with any more than they could
tolerate the physical act for longer than necessary.

Should
he tell her he’d had sex with only two women his entire life, and that both
times, they hadn’t wanted to see him again? No. She would assume he’d hurt
them, and that would kill him. Better to let her think his past relationships
had simply not worked out for him. He’d rather die than have her think ill of
him.

“Is
she all right?”

River’s
soft voice startled him. He turned and nodded. “Yes.
Just
watching her sleep.”

“Should
we cover her? The rooms get cold overnight with the AC on.”

Vaughn
smiled. River had it bad for this girl already. He’d seen it the first day she
was here. Not that he blamed him. But they had to be careful here. This woman
had been through a lot, and it’s not like she’d simply forget about her dead
fiancé. Not to mention the fucking Tyranns had taken her aunt and uncle
prisoner. She wasn’t here to fall in love with two men who were aliens in her eyes.

Then you shouldn’t have fucked
her.

River
pulled the comforter out from under her so slowly that Vaughn held his breath
as he watched his brother. He covered Marianne, and then he gently kissed her
hair. She stirred but didn’t wake up. When he joined Vaughn in the hallway,
River asked what they were going to do now.

“We’re
awake. Let’s work.”

“I
mean about Marianne.”

He
knew what River had meant. “I don’t know. I was thinking about that just now.
What do you want to do?”

“Never
let her leave.”

Vaughn
sighed. This wasn’t the time to tease River. He didn’t give away his affections
easily, and he wouldn’t find Vaughn’s ribbing funny. “I feel the same way.
Let’s just take it one day at a time for now, okay? We need to find her aunt
and uncle, and figure out how to get them off Voyeur Moon without killing them
in the process.”

“And
then what?”

“And
then we’ll see. I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore than you do.”

“I’ve
never felt this way about any woman.”

“And
I have?”

River
nodded. “I know you haven’t.”

“Come
on. Let’s get some work done.”

****

River’s
attention wasn’t focused on work. His thoughts kept wandering to the look in
her eyes as he made love to her, the way her hair had smelled tonight, all
clean and flowery, and the soft moans that had filled her bedroom.

For
over a week he’d sat in this very room next to her, working with her, thinking
up excuses to sit closer to her or touch her, even for a fraction of a second.
He hadn’t expected this tonight. He hadn’t imagined her simply standing up, walking
back into the quarters,
shedding
her clothes as she
went. He hadn’t been able to picture the first time he’d make love to her
because he’d never believed in the depths of his soul that it would happen.

And
now that it had, he couldn’t imagine it never happening again. He couldn’t
imagine it not happening every day for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to
think about a life without her in it, but he knew she’d have to leave one day.

They’d
find her aunt and uncle, and she would go somewhere safe to live with them.
Someplace the Tyranns could never find her or them again. Or they wouldn’t find
Blake and Betsy Williams, and Marianne would have to leave anyway because every
day she was here, she was on borrowed time.

And
he and Vaughn would return to their work, behind the scenes, and try to forget
her. And it would never happen. Not a chance.

He
and Vaughn had been working for close to four hours when River frowned, staring
at the database he’d just uncovered. For almost a year, they’d been searching
for documentation that directly linked the Tyranns to the Earthlings who had
come to Sera to work. They had bits and pieces, but nothing that fit them all
together.

The
Tyranns used computer programs like people used to use scraps of paper.
A note here, a sentence fragment there, and maybe once in a while a
complete letter.
But nothing was organized, or fit together in a logical
way, or turned out to be what they had labeled it. The Addonians surmised this
was done on purpose to hide information from prying eyes.

But
this…
He
hadn’t come across anything like this before. He almost hadn’t opened the
spreadsheet because it was labeled as a schedule for trash dumps. But
curiously, he’d found it in a folder alongside documents labeled “Zoo Guards”
and “Drone Report Template”. Not too bright of them to label documents with
such red flags, and then put them in the same folder, side-by-side.

The
documents had nothing to do with the Zoo or the drone reports, but the labels
had made him curious enough that he’d opened the spreadsheet labeled “Trash
Dump Monthly Schedule” and found this instead.

He
moved the monitor so Vaughn could see it. “Tell me I’m not hallucinating.”

Vaughn
read, frowning, and then a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “What do
you have here, little brother?”

“Just
read it again. Tell me it’s real.”

They
read the columns and rows together, out loud this time, and Vaughn touched the
screen lightly, tracing across one row until he came to the names Blake and
Betsy Williams. Next to their names
was
a cell block
number, and then a specific cell within that block. “Holy shit,” whispered
Vaughn. “What facility is this? Does it say?”

With
trembling fingers, River brought up the same spreadsheet on his second monitor,
and then clicked around until he found the code hidden behind the database.
“Atkins Prison.
That’s on the other side of Voyeur Moon,
close to where Jakara lived. It’s only been open about three months.”

“And completely inaccessible by
air due to patrols.
We’d have to reach it by ground, and we’d have to get through the mountain
passes without being seen.”

“Once
we landed on Voyeur Moon and got through security, of course.”

“Of course.”

What
they’d just said was complete fiction. How in the name of all the stars would
they do that? “
And
we first need to
verify this is real, and that they’re still there.”

Vaughn
nodded several times. “Yes.
That, too.”

“Holy shit.”
River punched in the code on his
phone for Jakara, and the man answered on the first ring. “You won’t believe
what Vaughn and I just found. Can you come over?”

****

Marianne
woke to the sound of several unfamiliar voices, all but one of them male. She
found another note, this time on top of her dresser.

We’re having a strategy planning
session. There is much to tell you. Take your time getting ready and then join
us in the common room. Oh, and your chain and ring are in the top dresser
drawer, wrapped in tissue to keep them safe.
River and
Vaughn.

They’d
put away her ring for her? Marianne fished it out and stared at it. When had
they done that? She’d left it on top of the dresser after her shower last
night, after deciding it was time to get used to not wearing it.

She
wondered what was going on in the common room, and hoped it had something to do
with her aunt and uncle. Marianne took a quick shower, letting enough memories
from last night wash over her that she could savor them, but not enough to
delay her unnecessarily. She’d never forget it. No matter what happened from
this point on, it would be indelibly etched forever in her memory as the most
erotic, decadent, fun night of her entire life.

When
she found them, she counted no less than a dozen people in the room, in
addition to River and Vaughn, and one of them was a woman. River spotted her
first, and sprang out of his seat, surprising the hell out of her by giving her
a quick hug. Then he kissed her on the cheek. “Did you sleep well?”

“Y-yes.
I did.” He looked ready to jump
out of his skin. “What’s going on?”

“First,
let me introduce you to everyone.” He moved behind her and placed his hands on
her shoulders, gently pushing her into the room. Everyone was dressed in
fatigues, including the woman. “This is Marianne Kowalski. It’s her aunt and
uncle we’re going to spring from Atkins Prison.”

“
What
?” She turned to face him, and he
beamed. Marianne heard good-natured chuckles and quiet conversation behind her,
but she was too focused on River’s bright eyes to listen the words the others
spoke. “You found them?”

“We
found a database that lists them as being there.
Finding out
if they are actually there, and then getting them out, are two very different
matters.”

Her
eyes filled with tears, and the look of tenderness in his gaze made her breath
catch in her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered. For what felt like an
eternity, she stared into his eyes, and every delicious moment from last night
came tumbling back into her consciousness. Her pulse raced.

She
was falling for these two. There was no doubt about it. But that was madness
and probably dangerous for all of them.

But
she couldn’t help notice the way a smile played at the corners of his mouth,
and the softness in his face as he continued to hold her gaze, as if he were
totally at peace. The same way she felt now that last night had happened.
Everything fit now. It finally made sense.

“My
pleasure,” he said softly, breaking the spell. “Turn around now and meet our
friends.” She turned to face the room once more.

“Sitting
on my left are Thane and Rune,” said River. “They’re brothers, and they ran a
freight company here on
Addo
. They were one of our
biggest clients, and also one of the few businesses who stuck by us when the
false charges were handed down.”

“Nice to meet you both.”
The men were blond with
startling blue eyes, and she guessed them to be roughly the same ages as Vaughn
and River. They, too, were very handsome men. In fact, as she glanced quickly
at the others, she didn’t see a man in the room who wasn’t tall, muscled, with
visible tats, and possessing a chiseled face. Were there any unattractive
people on this planet? “Do you both still own your business here?”

“No.
We work for
Jakara
now,” said Thane.

“And
we’re happy to have them here,” said River. “Next to them are Kayden and
Korben. As you can see, they’re twins. These two are strictly warriors, all the
way. They used to be Tyranns, like Jakara, but have joined us now.”

“Hello
there.” She took a deep breath and tried not to stare at the two dark-haired,
dark-eyed men. Each had a hint of stubble on his face, and like the rest of
them, had visible tats. They smiled and nodded in greeting.

“And
the men next to them are Rygal, Vito, Daven, and Tallis.”

There
were two people left he hadn’t yet introduced, a man and the woman. He took a
deep breath, and she glanced up at him to see him grinning from ear to ear.