Trapped: A SciFi Convict Romance (The Condemned Book 1) (9 page)

“Stay right where you are,” he demanded.

The quiet click of Pogue’s gun cocking echoed like a shout.
“We’re done waiting.” We? Wasn’t it Winthrop’s decision to make? Suddenly, a
lot more than Convict’s fate seemed to be unraveling.

Acting on impulse, she pushed Convict aside—or tried to. The
man refused to budge, grabbing her elbow and hauling her back behind him. At
the same time, a figure stepped in front of Pogue’s gun.

“Ava, no. Get back.” Bella’s voice was shrill and tight.

“No.” Ava stood unsteadily on her one good leg, her gaze
locked on Pogue. “You don’t get to decide what happens next.” Her gaze shifted
to Winthrop. “Nor, forgive me for saying this, should you, no matter what
Council protocol dictates. Dragath25 is not Earth. She might not be a
Council-descendant, but Bella has earned the right to be heard, her judgments
respected.” For once, a haughty, Council tone infused Ava’s voice. “She’s done
more to keep us alive than anyone else. She’s the real hero here.”

Touched and awed, and a lot embarrassed, by her colleague’s
words, Bella sent her a shaky smile. Somehow, some way, Ava had become a
friend—and found her strength.

But one side-glance at the malice in Pogue’s gaze as he
stared at Ava and Bella’s smile faded. It was clear Ava had also gained an
enemy for life.

Before Bella could try to lessen the tension, a dark, long
shadow skimmed over the ground, blotting out the sun.

“Holy shit.” Three of Pogue’s soldiers swung their guns to
point at the sky.

She looked up, her breath leaving in a rush. Like something
out of the prehistoric Earth stories of old, a giant, orange bird-like creature
with wings nearly the width of their shuttle soared above, its hooked, sharp
beak opening as it let out a shrill shriek. One that sounded strangely
familiar.

“Oh,
God
.” She
stood frozen in horror as it dove closer and closer.

All around her chaos erupted as everyone started yelling,
some calling to run, some to shoot. All except for Convict.

Calm as ever, he pulled her from behind him, his arm going around
her waist as he walked them both slowly backward the way they’d come. “It’s a
saybak
. It came when it heard the mating call from
Winthrop’s whistle.” His tone was shockingly nonchalant. Like he had all day to
explain. Like they were not about to be eaten by a living, breathing dinosaur.
“I designed it purposely to give me an added advantage.
Saybak’s
can’t resist the sound and they have great hearing.”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded, barely listening, her gaze locked in
terror on the approaching creature.

“Though they look menacing, they’re actually harmless—”

“Fire,” shouted Pogue.

A stream of red lasers sliced the air.

“—Until you do that,” finished Convict.

The creature shrieked in fury, its orange feathers shifting
to bright red. With a hiss, it unleashed a line of flames from its mouth. One
soldier screamed, managing by inches to dodge the line of fire.

“Go! Go, now.” Convict pushed her back up the cliff. “They’re
distracted.”

“But they’re going to be killed. We can’t leave them.”

In the next instant, she was upside down, slung over his
shoulder.

“I knew you were going to be a pain in the ass about this,”
he mumbled, breaking into a run.

“Let me go.” She wouldn’t hurt him, but she could try and
twist herself off. Squirming wildly, she leveraged herself up, her eyes locking
with Ava’s as her colleague found cover under a rocky ledge.

A sharp sting landed across her ass, freezing her in place.

“Stop fighting and listen.
Saybaks
can’t keep attacking like that. It takes time to recharge. It will turn and
flee in less than twenty seconds. Your colleagues are going to be okay.”

She took a second to absorb his words, jostling upside down
all the while. “Ava?”

“With us gone, there’ll be less reason for your friend to
risk herself for you.”

Bella let out a long sigh. “Then put me down and let’s get
the hell out of here.” Better to wait and talk to Pogue and Winthrop without
Convict or Ava around. In the meantime, Winthrop would watch out for Ava. And
Pogue would keep Winthrop alive since the Council-connected Doctor was his
ticket home.

Bella’s world went topsy-turvy once again as Convict set her
on her feet. He dragged her along, his arm around her for balance, until she
found her equilibrium. Then she was charging up the cliff on her own steam, his
big body right behind her, pushing her on. He didn’t even let her catch her
breath when they reached the top. Merely snagged his pack from the hidey-hole
and corralled her down a different path. Since he was leading them toward the
Oasis, she didn’t complain. Plus, she could barely breathe. Much less talk.

It wasn’t until a lot later when everything was silent and
they were once again on flat ground that she found enough breath to actually
speak. “Where are we going?”

“Home.”

Her steps faltered. She hadn’t really thought in terms of
Convict and a home. It had an odd sense of permanency. One she definitely
wasn’t ready for. She’d been thinking more in terms of a few hours or, at most,
a day away from her crew. “Is…is it far from here?”

 
“Far enough.” His hand
was firm against her lower back as he propelled her onward, farther and farther
from everything and everyone she’d ever known. “They won’t bother us. No one
will.”

She wasn’t sure whether to be comforted or terrified by his
assertion.

Chapter Nine

“Is it much farther?” Bella scanned the horizon, trying to
remember if they’d turned left or right at the last split in the rocky cliffs.
Covered in miles of the same rust rock and debris, it was hard to tell one part
of the terrain from another. The Oasis had definitely looked a lot closer from
the top of the cliff.

Which was making it especially hard for her to feel confident
about her ability to return to her colleagues’ campsite on her own if
necessary.

“A little ways more.” One hand around his spear, one hand at
her lower back, Convict urged her forward, his gaze scanning everywhere, his
shoulders tense.

It was the same response he’d given her a half hour ago.

“Can you tell me more about this jammer? Where they keep it?
How hard it was to make?”

“Why?” His voice had gone hard.

“I’m curious.”

“I told you before, there’s no going up against 225 and his
pack. They number at least three thousand and fifty men, each more psychotic
than the last. And they show no mercy. If they get hold of you, you’ll long for
death.”

A shudder passed through her. “Still, there has to be some
way to stop them.”

“Not without dying yourself.”

They walked in silence for a long while.

“I’m sorry about my colleagues.” She couldn’t stand the quiet
any more. It was giving her too much time to think, especially about whether
she’d made the right choice to leave with Convict. “They’re frightened and
unsure and lashing out at everything as a threat. I’ll be able to get through
to them next time we talk.”

If he noticed her subtle reference to seeing them again, he
didn’t remark on it.

“They’re smart to be on guard,” he said instead. “It’s the
only way to stay alive on this planet. Still it won’t make a bit of difference.
Most of them will be dead within the month.”

At her soft gasp, his scowl deepened.

“You need to toughen up.” His hold tightened on his spear.
“Don’t forget those soldiers are the same bastards who left you and your
friends to die that first day. They deserve everything that’s coming to them.”

Disturbed, Bella said nothing. But inside, doubts battered at
her. She kept trusting the humanity she’d glimpsed inside Convict, kept telling
herself the way he touched her was more significant than what he said, but
could she be fooling herself? Had she truly chosen the wrong side with which to
stand? Ava’s reminder that there was a reason that Convict was a prisoner on
Dragath25 echoed ominously through her head. Worse, hadn’t he himself warned
her he wasn’t one of the good guys?

Questions clogged her throat, too many to let out at once. If
his claims about what would happen to anyone who tried to rescue them were
true, what did that mean for their deal? Was he thinking to use her for a while
and then bring her back to the others when he got tired of her? Should she turn
back now? Return to the soldiers and Winthrop and take her chances?

Maybe she should slip away when he relaxed his guard….It
might be easier for both of them in the end.

She snuck a sideways glance at his profile. Convict’s
shoulders were taut, deep lines bracketing his eyes as he shifted his gaze
between her and their surroundings. He definitely didn’t look like a man who’d
be relaxing his guard any time soon. And still the hand on her back propelled
her on.

It was at least another half an hour before she tried talking
again.

“How did you find this home of yours?” Goodness knows it
wasn’t easily accessible.

“By accident.”

She waited. Nothing more. “Are you deliberately shutting me
out or do you just not realize I’m trying to make conversation?”

He didn’t stop walking, but his brow crinkled. “Maybe a
little of both.”

“Well, at least you’re honest.” Though a lifetime on
Dragath25 with someone who refused to share any part of himself would be a long
sentence, indeed.

“I always tell the truth.”

He looked so serious she nodded solemnly. “Good to know.”

He hopped over a large rock and then turned to help her. He’d
been doing that a lot. Probably best to concentrate on nice things like that
rather than her worries.

Then he surprised her by volunteering information she hadn’t
even asked. “This side of the planet is a lot more isolated. Most convicts keep
to the other side where the Council built barracks. That side is also where the
Council does the droid drops; and because it’s so bleak, it’s also less popular
with
tigos
and other predatory animals.”

“I can see the appeal,” she joked.

“No, you can’t.” He didn’t smile. “The penal barracks
are…bad.” Ugly memories tightened his jaw, making her wish she hadn’t been so
cavalier. “It’s a free-for-all over there, but the days the droids drop off the
fresh meat are the worst.”

“Fresh meat?”

“That’s what they call the new prisoners.”

She shuddered, remembering the wild shrieks.

Convict looked equally haunted. “Only the strong survive.”

Suddenly, his conviction that you can't save them all made a
lot more sense. He’d had to watch the new arrivals being raped and beaten and
torn apart. No wonder he’d turned so hard.

According to the required lessons taught to all non-Council
youths, Earth had been just as lawless and violent until the Command Council
established order. Clearly though, the Council remained unconcerned about what
happened beyond the planetary boundaries.

Unable to resist any longer, she reached out, resting her
hand on Convict’s forearm. Pale skin against bronzed flesh. The heat of his
skin warming her own. “So you left?”

His gaze locked on her hand. “I wasn’t interested in becoming
a 225 pack member. But this side of the planet has its costs, too. There are
more frequent dust storms and it’s
tigos
territory,
which is why most prisoners won’t come here—or if they do, they don’t last.”
His hand covered hers, almost as if he couldn’t help himself. “I was running
from a
tigos
female and her three babies when I
stumbled across the Oasis. I barely made it out of that skirmish alive.”

Her chest squeezed. “I’m glad you did.” Slowly, but surely,
he was sharing about himself, about his life—and everything he told her made
her only admire him more.

She couldn’t imagine believing as he did that he would live
and die on Dragath25 without any hope of rescue or pardon. It had to twist a
person. And yet, Convict hadn’t let the violence and ugliness of this place
destroy him. He might be hard, but he’d never been cruel or brutal.

Her chest fluttered. He really was an extraordinary man.

Oh no. Her heart beat fast at the direction of her thoughts.
She was coming to care for him. More than she should. In a way that went beyond
gratitude. Beyond lust.

A bead of sweat rolled down her spine. That wouldn’t do. Not
when he could never leave Dragath25 and she had to go. Not when she couldn’t
afford to grow attached.

She sucked down a deep breath and opened her mouth to tell
him she was going back.

 
“Hold up.” Convict’s
grip halted her in place, her deep breath—and her declaration—still caught in
her lungs. He cocked his head, listening.

She mirrored his actions, her heart thumping away.

Had he heard a
tigos
? Or another
sayback
? She didn’t love learning this was the primary
territory of the
tigos
. If she had her way, she’d
never see another one again in her whole life.

But as hard as she tried to hear something, nothing but the
bleak, desolate silence of the cliffs and the occasional whistling wind reached
her eardrums.

“I don’t hear anything,” she whispered.

He said nothing, his frown lengthening.

They stood frozen so long her legs grew stiff. Then,
suddenly, he startled her with a low, fierce whisper. “See that large boulder
straight ahead? About the height of two men?” At her nod, he pressed his spear
into her hand. Next, he gave her his pack. “Go there, crouch down with your back
against the rock so you can see what’s coming—and don’t move.”

“Where are you going?”

“I heard something.”

Her hands clutched his bicep. “So let’s investigate
together.” She definitely didn’t want to be left behind.

He shook his head. Peeled her hand from him. “Go, now.” His
words were an unquestionable order. “Do not move until I come for you.”

Had Convict been a soldier? His tone screamed military. So
did the way he disappeared in the blink of an eye. And why was she thinking
about this now as she hurried to do his bidding, her back pressing against the
hard rock as she crouched on shaky legs, the spear gripped tight in both hands,
the pack between her feet? Probably because she was terrified and a million
random thoughts were running through her mind.

Pull it together,
Bella.

Sucking down a deep breath and then another, she forced
herself to calm down. To remember all she had already overcome. A minute later,
her breathing was far steadier. Enough for her to hear absolute silence. No
sound of footsteps. Or a scuffle. Not even a shout.

She waited several more minutes. Flexed her legs. Scanned the
limited perimeter. Still no Convict.

After what felt like hours, she popped up, stretching her
legs as she used her higher perspective to see a little bit more of the area.
Still no luck sighting him.

She took a tentative step away from the rock. Then another.
Yes, he’d told her to stay, but he could be in trouble. Cowering and leaving
others to solve the problem had never been her way. Plus, she was the one with
the spear. That had to count for something.

Moving in the direction he’d been facing when he disappeared,
she hopped over rocks and crevices, the heavy weight of the spear making her
slower than she would have liked.

Suddenly, a thump sounded. Like something had leapt from the
cliff behind—a cliff she’d failed to scan thoroughly.

“Fuck, yeah.” It was a rough, soulless voice she didn’t
recognize. “Live pussy.”

Her spear hand came up, but it was already too late.

A meaty forearm closed around her throat, yanking her
backwards until her legs dangled off the ground. Her spear slipped from her
grasp.

The scent of rotted fish burned her nostrils.

“And 225 thought there were only male soldiers on board.”
Indifferent to the clawing against his arm, her oversized captor pressed his
nose into her hair, black spots clouding her vision as her lungs grew more and
more desperate for air. “Must be my lucky fucking night.”

She was slammed onto her stomach atop a flat boulder, her
lungs dragging in a frantic breath as pain reverberated through her ribs and
hipbones.

A hand gripped the nape of her neck and held her down. “I’m
supposed to bring back what I find.” He chuckled. “But this will be our little
secret, right?”

In shock, it took her a moment to register that her legs were
dangling over the rock.

Her attacker was already yanking her pants over her ass when
she kicked back, her boot heels connecting with his thigh. Unfortunately, all
her blow did was piss him off.

The hand against her neck dug in, choking off her air, no
matter how she fought. “Feel free to struggle. They all do.” Hairy thighs
flattened her legs harder against the rough rock scraping away skin. “You’ll
end up raped and dead all the same.”

A curious sense of detachment rolled over her. A comforting
hum sounding in her ear as her air gave out. The pain lifting away. She’d come
so far. But even she wasn’t going to survive this.

Suddenly, the horrible weight of her attacker disappeared.
Followed by the loud thwack of flesh against flesh. In a daze, she sucked in a
desperate breath and swiveled round.

Convict.

Chest heaving, face harder than she’d ever seen, he grappled
with a bald giant two heads taller with narrow grey eyes and a flat, blunt
nose. Her stomach jumped to her throat.

They crashed into one of the boulders and then another. Fists
flying. Grunts and curses exploding from both men. Her scream of warning
strangling in her throat as Convict ducked a vicious swing before popping up to
deliver a lightning-fast blow to the giant’s jaw. Then she blinked, and her
attacker fell backwards against a sharp rock, Convict’s fists plowing into the
man’s face and gut in rapid fire. His strength, his quickness, astonishing.

But Convict’s opponent was no weakling either. With a roar,
he launched himself forward, his arms swingy wildly.

She pushed off the rock, her movements clumsy as she jerked
up her pants. She needed to find her spear. She needed to help.

But even as her plan formed, slow and sluggish in her mind,
Convict sidestepped the man easily, using his momentum to ensure the attacker
stumbled past. Then, as quick as a
tigos
, Convict’s
powerful arms locked round the man’s neck.

Her gaze fused with Convict’s.

They were as black and unreadable as ever.

His arms twisted. There was a faint crack. Her attacker’s
body twitched.

Her mouth opened on a silent scream.

Convict dropped his arms.

Her attacker crumpled to the ground, his narrow grey eyes
open and empty.

Convict had killed for her.