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Samantha, you’re the only one that I can trust. They took Rory in the middle of the night, and I

think they’re planning on selling her to the Republican’s Slave Trade. Please don’t allow that to

happen to her. I’m only a bloody smuggler, I’m up over my head this time.”

Samantha grimaced, and snagged her teeth on her upper lip.

Dylan suddenly paused the distress call and stared back at her in concern. He leaned

forward and pierced her with his aquamarine gaze.

“The following gets a bit sketchy, but I want to know how you feel about it right now.”

“He cheated me out of my inheritance,” she said dully. She walked away and shakily

poured herself a cup of black coffee. Struggling to control her rioting emotions, she just barely

managed to bring the cup up to her lips without spilling any of the precious brew.

“You can’t hold a grudge forever,” Tyler remarked.

“Look who’s talking,” she scoffed, staring at Tyler and then Dylan. “This is coming

from the two brothers that no longer associate with any member of their family.”

“We do that, because they could not accept us!” Tyler and Dylan said almost

simultaneously.

“I won’t forgive him.
EVER!
” she stressed.

“What about Rory?” Tyler countered matter-of-factly. “Whether you want to

acknowledge it or not, she’s part of your family too. Maybe we should call up Johanna to weigh

in on this issue.”

“Johanna, will have the same opinion that I have.”

“I wouldn’t bet your life on it,” Dylan muttered.

“So what do you expect me to do? Help the man that stole everything from my mother,

and forced Johanna to quit her internship and me to go into the family business?”

“Sorry to break this to you, Samantha, hon, but you would have gone into the family

business either way,” Tyler pointed out.

“Maybe I would have,” she admitted. “Okay. I admit it I had my heart set on it. But

sometimes, I think that Johanna’s only in this crazy lifestyle because I’m in it up to my head.”

“You wouldn’t be able to track down your father’s killer any other way,” Dylan reminded

her.

Samantha fell silent for a minute, considering what they’d both said. They were both

right, but she didn’t want to openly admit it. She couldn’t blame Quinn for her becoming a kick

ass bounty hunter. She would have had no other choice especially when her father had been so

brutally murdered. She was still trying to seek out her father’s killer, and she feared that it would

be a quest that would never be fulfilled.

“Quinn Mallory is a royal pain in my ass,” Johanna stated. Samantha turned her head and

found her sister standing in the doorway, with her arms crossed. “Lucy filled me in down in med

bay. I couldn’t do anything else for Veronica, so I thought I’d allow her and Ross to have a

private moment. She still isn’t conscious but I thought Ross just needed some privacy. You

know, Samantha, if we help Quinn he might be able to help us.”

“How? Quinn doesn’t do anything out of the goodness of his own heart. To him, money

makes the world go round.” She was tempted to spit on the floor, but she’d never participated in

such a disgusting act, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“We
have
to consider Rory. She is our niece after all.”

“
WHAT?
” Dylan and Tyler said at the same time.

“Oh, didn’t we ever tell you?” Samantha asked, falling into a chair. “Quinn Mallory is

our father’s bastard son.”

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“But we thought that he was your
cousin
.” Dylan’s eyes were popping out of his head.

“Yes. Well, dear, that’s what we wanted you to think,” Johanna murmured.

Samantha sipped at her hot coffee and grimaced when she nearly burnt her tongue. “I

didn’t want anyone to know how closely Quinn was related to us. He’s a bloody greedy pig!

Johanna’s right. I hate to admit it, but we can’t very well allow Quinn’s daughter to be sold into

the slave trade. Can we send a message back to him?”

“Unfortunately, we only have what is in the distress call. Why don’t you ladies listen to

the rest of it before you jump to any conclusions?”

“Fine,” Samantha said, leaning forward so that she could see the view screen better.

Quinn’s movie star good looks filled the screen as visual was restored. “I’ll be heading

to New Monaco straight away. I should be there by the 24th of this month. Please, say that

you’ll help me. Either way, I’ll be out of communication range until I reach New Monaco.

Once there, I’ll meet you ladies at the Caterra Casino. I think I should be pretty safe there. The

Triad hates New Monaco, since Lord Devlin hates the Triad,” he paused, and darted a glance

behind him.

“He wants us to meet him on New Monaco? The man must be nuttier than a fruitcake! I

wouldn’t go back there for anyone in the world!” Her heart thundered against her ribcage. If she

returned to New Monaco she’d see Devlin again and her old feelings that she had smothered long

ago would continue to resurface. She’d be trying to tear Devlin’s clothes off before she could

stop herself. No, it was far too dangerous for her to be around him. He would unlock the love she

had for him—he would shatter her world, as she knew it. She was safer away from Devlin.

That’s why she’d always wanted to hate him. She could either love him or hate him, and

sometimes, she believed she did both. After her exploits with him on New Monaco and after

they’d left his planet, a hollowness had invaded her life. She had been happy with Tyler for a

time but he’d changed shortly after their vacation on Earth, and her thoughts had started to turn

once again to Devlin. When she was around Devlin she knew who she was, he looked at her with

annoyance, at times, but he accepted her for what she was as well. There was a brutal honesty

between them, one she found refreshing and in a strange way, highly desirable.

“I’ll be anticipating seeing the two of you again. Did I ever tell you, Samantha, that Rory

looks just like you did as a teen?”

Samantha scrunched her face up.
That did it!
There was no turning back now. She

wouldn’t for the life of her go back to New Monaco for all of the money in the world, but Rory

was family whether she liked it or not. And you just didn’t abandon an innocent family member

to the fate that she’d be facing.

“Johanna?” she asked softly.

“Yes?”

“How long will it take us to reach New Monaco?”

“We can be there by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Well. Guys, I guess we’re going after Quinn’s daughter. And somewhere in between

will have to get that antidote for Veronica. Are you three up to it?” she asked looking at each of

them.

“Not three. Four,” Ross said, from the doorway.

“Right, then. Let the games begin,” she said, as Tyler pulled them up out of New

Jamaica’s atmosphere and they streaked into hyperspace.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 20

Samantha couldn’t seem to get the image of Devlin out of her mind. No matter how

much she paced the deck he kept popping back into her head. Sighing heavily, she sank back

into her chair. Johanna had gone back down to med bay to check on Veronica, and Tyler was

piloting.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. His voice was raspy, and his eyes were filled

with an extraordinary amount of curiosity. Dylan was off in the corner, fixing something that

had gone on the fritz.

“Not right now,” she muttered. Normally, she would not have pushed him away, but

Quinn had done some pretty despicable things to the family, and she found it very hard to

consider ever forgiving him.

They lapsed into silence for exactly five minutes. Just as her thoughts began to wander

back to happy days spent with Quinn, Tyler’s voice broke her reverie.

“Do you want to speak about it, now?”

“You know, Tyler, you are incorrigible.” Yeah, he used to be incorrigible, lately; she’d

found him extremely annoying.

“I thought that was why you loved me so damn much.” He gave her what was supposed

to be a passionate gaze, but it fell flat. Her heart panged. Why had the dynamic between them

changed so much? Had she done something or had almost being hanged transformed him this

much?

“Perhaps,” she smiled softly again averting his gaze and yearning for the old times spent

between them. She couldn’t dwell on the past; she had to deal with her particularly pesky

present.

“Well, I need to be, in order to keep up with you,” Tyler mused.

Dylan coughed from the corner, obviously trying to alert them to the fact that he was still

in their company. Then a loud hiss was heard from him, when he whacked his head.

“Ouch! Oh, shit.” He fell silent. Then to Samantha’s chagrin he continued to talk.

“Actually, I’m sort of interested in learning more about Quinn myself.”

“In that case, Dylan, you’d better go and ask Johanna. This storybook is closed.” She

clamped her mouth shut, and clenched her hands into fists. She groaned. Having both of them

staring at her gave her the willies. “He broke my mother’s heart when he betrayed us. I don’t

think I need to say anything more than that. Sufficed it to say…he’s an asshole of the highest

caliber.”

“Yeah. But what I’m really interested in knowing is whether or not we can trust this

dude,” Dylan wondered aloud.

“Well… I’d trust Quinn about as far as I can throw him. Does that tell you anything? He

isn’t like the rest of us Mallory’s. He’s in a class of his own.” She stared at Dylan then at Tyler,

and finally shut her eyes so she could see someone entirely different. Devlin. She dragged in a

sharp breath. He was intoxicating. His strength, his masculinity, his charm.... She grit her teeth

and brought herself out of her Devlin haze. “But Quinn
is
devoted to Rory. He loves her more

than his own life, I’d reckon. She’s his only weakness. Trust me when I say that.”

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 21

“So, we trust him. That is until we get his daughter back for him,” Tyler asked. “After

which, he becomes a loose cannon.”

“You would be right in that assumption, Tyler. Anyway, I want to find Rory as quickly

as possible. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend anymore time with Quinn than is actually

necessary,” Samantha said, sighing.

“Surely you must still love him. After all he is your brother!” Dylan was now standing

beside them. She stared out the view screen at the streaming stars.

“I don’t want to see him killed. If that’s what you mean. But I think I care more for

Veronica than I do for my so called brother.” Tyler’s hand brushed against hers, she fought the

inclination to pull away. She bit her lip. Thinking about Quinn gave her a nasty case of

heartburn.

She knew that she was being awfully bitter. But she couldn’t quite get past the

horrendous things that Quinn had done in the past. He had made her mother cry, and that was

definitely something that she’d never forget. Plus, he’d taken Rory away from them. In the

years since she had last seen her niece, Rory had probably grown into a whole other person. But

as long as she didn’t take after her father, Samantha would love her to bits. “We have to save

Rory. That’s all that counts. No matter what…we find her and bring her home.”

Tyler nodded his head. “Of course. The Republican Slave Trade should have been

stopped a long time ago. Earth should have taken a stand against them. As a result The

Republican Slave Trade has gained to much territory in the galaxy and they’ve amassed too

much power.” Why did he sound like an automated android when he’d said that? Shrug it off;

you’re going to drive yourself nuts!

“Yes. Earth and its colonies should have done a lot of things, but they haven’t. So it’s up

to us to take justice into our own hands.”

Lucy materialized in front of them, and nodded toward the view screen. “I’ve detected

another incoming transmission.”

“Is it another one from Quinn?” Samantha leveled her gaze at Lucy.

“No.” Lucy’s succinct answer caught Samantha off guard. “But it is from someone that

we know.” The taunting tone in Lucy’s voice put Samantha on edge.

“Lucy just get to it, and display the damn thing.” Samantha’s fuse was even shorter than

it had been before. It was nearing midnight and she should have been thinking about going to

bed, instead of traipsing after her wayward bastard brother. Either way, she would have to get a

few winks before they reached New Monaco.

“It’s a reply to a message sent about twenty minutes ago, from the
Excalibur,
” Lucy said.

Samantha narrowed her eyes, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Suddenly, she felt a huge

headache coming on. Where were her pain pills?

“Well, let’s give it a look see.”

With that, Lucy waved her arm, and the view screen was filled with an altogether familiar

face. “
Shit!
” Her heart pounded.

Staring back at her smiling broadly was none other than Lord Devlin. “Uh, Lucy, who

sent out the original message?”

“Johanna.” Lucy smiled, bowed and then puffed out of existence. Samantha wanted to