Imprisoned Read online

  “One of those males is Jak, which is why I have to go,” Ari reminded her. “And size doesn’t matter so much. You know Jak’s been teaching me Ton-kwa self defense for years. I can take on an opponent twice as large as me and throw him.”

  “Maybe in the sparring ring, My Lady,” Hanna objected. “But never in a desperate, awful place like BleakHall! They won’t obey the rules there—there’s no referee to stop the match if things get too rough. And what if more than one attacks you at a time? Oh…” She brought her faded apron up to her eyes and began to cry. “Oh Goddess of Mercy, what will you do then?”

  Ari felt a sudden cold chill go down her back. What would she do if she was attacked by multiple assailants at once? Hanna actually made a very good point.

  Resolutely, she pushed the fear away.

  “That’s not going to happen, Hanna,” she said firmly. “In fact, I’ll probably barely be in the prison for an hour. All I have to do is get in and find Jak. The moment I can touch him…”

  Grabbing the old nurse by her arm, she touched her Prison ID again, rubbing the lower point of the triangular metal plate in a specific rhythm. At once a glowing golden bubble enclosed them both and they began to float upward.

  “My Lady!” Hanna gasped, grabbing for Ari’s hand. “What—?”

  Once more Ari rubbed her ID, turning off the switch hidden beneath it. The bubble popped noiselessly and they fell the inch and a half they’d floated back down to the flagstones.

  “Oh!” Hanna stumbled and would have fallen to her knees if Ari hadn’t caught her. “What was that?”

  “A tribian transport bubble,” Ari said. “It cost me almost all the profits Jak had saved from his last three harvests but I don’t think he’ll mind if it works. When it works,” she corrected herself quickly.

  “But how…how does it work? If you can tell me without getting too technical, My Lady,” Hanna added quickly.

  “I think I can manage.” Ari smiled at her. “The transport bubble is a solid lightbeam sphere just big enough for two. It can be deployed at any time and as long as you’re out in open air, it will take you straight up into the sky.”

  “It…it will?” Hanna still looked shaken. “But then how…?”

  “Don’t you see?” Ari asked. “I’ve just got to get to Jak when we’re both outside—probably in the exercise yard, which I know they have because I’ve studied the plans of the prison. Then the two of us float up…up…and away to a remote life support craft I’ve already got orbiting the moon where BleakHall is located. It’s not much but it will get us back to Phobos with no problem. So you see, Hanna, I really do have everything planned out to the last degree. Now do you feel better?”

  The old maid nodded thoughtfully.

  “You know, I do a bit. Although…” she gestured to Ari’s closed robe doubtfully. “I had no idea you were getting up to such things in your lab, My Lady.”

  Ari coughed, feeling her cheeks get a bit hot. “Well obviously this wasn’t the originally intended use for the solid-holo tech I’ve been working on. I was thinking more along the lines of people being able to hug their loved ones when they made a holo call. I was just getting ready to publish my findings before…” Her throat was suddenly tight. “Before Jak was taken.”

  “Well I must say—what you’ve come up with is nothing short of amazing. I do hope it will help keep you safe.” She enfolded Ari in a hug, her frail old body trembling with emotion. “I pray the Goddess of Mercy will watch over you, My Lady. No matter how many gadgets and gizmos you have hidden inside that awful metal tag you’re wearing, I still worry about you.”

  “I know you do, Hanna.” Ari hugged the old lady back and reflected that Hanna was much more than a servant. She’d been with Ari’s family her entire life and though Hanna insisted on calling her “My Lady” and Jak, “My Lord” she was really more of a surrogate grandmother than a domestic.

  “Oh, My Lady…” Hanna mourned softly. “I can’t believe you’re really going to do this.”

  “I have to—what other choice do we have? You know the Yonnites don’t allow their prisoners appeals—Jak has no hope unless I go for him. Besides, I’m going to be all right.” Firmly but gently, she disengaged from the embrace and held Hanna at arms length, looking earnestly into her eyes. “I’m going to go get Jak and the two of us will be home before you know it—you’ll see.”

  “From your mouth to the Goddess of Mercy’s ear, My Lady,” Hanna whispered. But though she tried to smile and put on a brave face for Ari’s benefit, her faded blue eyes still filled with tears.

  Ari smiled and tried to comfort her but she couldn’t help worrying herself. No matter how prepared she was, the fact was, she was a small female walking into a triple max prison filled with violent, dangerous males—many of them murderers, rapists, and homicidal sociopaths.

  She couldn’t help wondering if she would make it out alive.

  One

  Six Months Before

  “Commander Lathe, I think you know why I asked you here.” Sylvan drummed restlessly on his desk, a frown hovering around his mouth as he waited for the other male to be seated.

  “I think so.” Lathe nodded, a fierce look coming into his piercing turquoise eyes as he settled in the chair across from Sylvan’s desk. “Is it about BleakHall?”

  “It is.” Sylvan spoke quietly, still studying the other male.

  For a Blood Kindred, Lathe had unusual coloring, he thought. Most of his kind had the same pale blond hair and ice blue eyes that Sylvan did himself. Lathe had brown hair though—a deep chocolate brown with auburn highlights and long, thick lashes to match, which fringed his strange turquoise eyes. But then, his coloring probably had something to do with the special type of Blood Kindred he was.

  More than almost any other branch of the Kindred family tree, the Blood Kindred seemed to have a penchant for mutations and variations. And Lathe was the rarest of them all. In fact, Sylvan hated to risk him on this mission, which was horribly dangerous. Like himself, Lathe was a doctor aboard the Mother Ship and a well-respected scientist as well. Such a mind and such rare talents shouldn’t be wasted on such a hazardous assignment. But the other male had a personal stake in this and honor demanded that Sylvan offer the mission to him first before he asked anyone else.

  “As you know, the complaints about BleakHall have been piling up—from all corners of the galaxy,” Sylvan said, choosing his words carefully. “Ever since the Yonnites outsourced the guard duties to the Horvaths, there have been reports of abuses. Cruelty, torture…”

  “And death,” Lathe finished for him, his eyes flashing.

  “And death,” Sylvan agreed heavily. “Yes, I’m sorry for I know how it pains you to speak of this.”

  Lathe’s younger brother, a promising young officer aboard a Kindred freighter, had been captured and sold into slavery on Yonnie Six. When he refused to submit to his mistress, he had been sent to BleakHall. Lathe had learned of his brother’s incarceration and had asked the High Council for help in rescuing him. But before a rescue effort could be made, word came that Thonolan had died in the dungeons of the Triple Max penitentiary.

  Lathe’s eyes were bright, but with fury, not tears, Sylvan saw.

  “I don’t mind speaking of death as long as we also speak of justice,” he said, his voice a low, angry growl. “What can be done to avenge my brother’s murder?”

  “First and foremost we must prove the problem exists,” Sylvan said.

  “What?” Lathe demanded. “Of course it exists! You said it yourself—complaints are pouring in from everywhere. Clearly this prison is corrupt—the Horvaths are torturing the prisoners, killing them! They—”

  “No one cares,” Sylvan cut in harshly. Seeing the shocked look on Lathe’s face, he made his tone softer. “Forgive me, Brother. I should have said, no one in Yonnite society cares. More specifically, no one on the Yonnite Council of Mistresses—the Sacred Seven—cares. And until we can bring the matter to them with corroborat