Abducted Read online

  Unfortunately during our struggle, our places had gotten reversed and now Doloroso was between me and the mouth of the alley where the mechanic’s shop was. I cast one last glance in that direction. Where was Sarden? Well, wherever he was, I couldn’t trust him to save me. I was going to have to get away on my own.

  If I can just get back to the moving walkway, I told myself. If I can just get back, I’ll be safe. There are plenty of people there and if Doloroso tries anything I can shout that he’s hurting me.

  Mind made up, I turned in the direction I thought was most likely to lead back to the walkway. Then I kicked off the ridiculous stripper heels and ran.

  Sarden

  “Stop. Did you hear that?” I pulled off the protective ear-shields the mechanic—whose name was Gil, I had found out—had given me to wear as he turned off his equipment.

  He’d wanted to show me the new panels and then his assistant had helpfully offered to demonstrate by using a lithium cold laser blowtorch on them. And after that, he’d insisted on showing me that even a blast grinder wouldn’t scratch them. And then of course, we had to have a simulated meteor shower in their private wind tunnel. All these tests were extremely loud. In fact, even with the ear-shields on, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever hear properly again.

  But I did hear something—it sounded like someone calling my name.

  Zoe? My heart started pounding and I dropped the ear-shields carelessly on the floor as I jogged back to the swinging metal door connecting to the front of the shop.

  She’ll be fine, I told myself uneasily. It was just my imagination—I’m sure of it.

  I wasn’t so sure when I pushed out into the front of the shop and found it empty. Zoe, who had been sitting on the organically grown stool in the corner of the room, wasn’t there anymore.

  Well, maybe she just went outside for a breath of fresh air.

  I went out of the shop but she was nowhere to be seen in the alleyway either.

  “Zoe?” I called and then raised my voice. “Zoe?”

  No answer. I felt my heart stutter in my chest.

  It was just as I had feared—she was gone.

  Zoe

  I hadn’t been running for more than a couple of minutes before I got a horrible stitch in my side. Also, I could hear Doloroso gaining on me. He was panting and letting out a string of curses that didn’t make sense but sounded extremely nasty nonetheless.

  He’d been acting like such a gentleman back when he was making his deal with Sarden but, he’d turned into a real potty-mouth now. I was pretty glad I didn’t understand half of what he was saying—no doubt it would have really hurt my feelings.

  Ha—better my feelings than my body though, right? I had no intention of letting him catch me to find out.

  I wanted to keep running in the direction of the moving walkway, but the creepy Count was making my plan unfeasible. I had to get away from him any way I could.

  I saw a side street coming up but I didn’t know if I could make it—or even if I should try. What if I ended up someplace even worse? What if I got trapped?

  Then again, maybe I should take a chance.

  My feet were getting cut and tattered on the jagged pavement but I couldn’t worry about that now. I could practically feel him breathing down my neck and the chattering of my nib-nibs was getting more and more frantic when something that was either the best luck or the worst luck ever, happened.

  A huge voice that came out of the sky like God talking to Moses suddenly boomed, “Light cycle is over. Night cycle now commencing.”

  And suddenly, the pinkish glow from the “sky” overhead faded to nothing but a dull, barely-there gray which left everything in almost complete darkness.

  The sudden change made me feel as if I had gone blind all at once. I tripped over a rock and stumbled, almost going down. It was a good thing though—as I rocked forward, I felt the wind of Doloroso’s arm and hand making a missed grab over my head. Clearly he was trying to get his hands on hair again.

  If he gets me now, I’m dead! I thought wildly. I felt like a character in a slasher movie where the bad guy is right behind them with a long, sharp knife and they keep making stupid decisions—like going with the killer, letting him distract them with tiny cute monkeys, then lure them away from safety—until he ultimately catches them and kills them.

  Okay, time for a good decision.

  My eyes were adjusting a bit now and I could still see the side street I’d been eyeing coming up.

  Go for it—now or never, Zoe! I told myself in a silent pep talk. Quick and quiet as a rabbit running for its life, I dodged down the narrow side street and came to…

  A dead end.

  Sarden

  The night cycle of Gallana had commenced by the time I ran to the end of the alley we’d entered to get to the mechanic’s shop. The street outside was plunged into gloom but that didn’t bother me—the Vorn part of my heritage gives me excellent night vision. I could easily see that Zoe wasn’t there.

  I almost charged out of the alley and went back the way we had come. I was thinking that she must have changed her mind about being traded for my sister to Tazaxx. I guessed I couldn’t blame her for that but I was still worried as hell. What I had told her about being taken aboard a strange vessel and cut up for cloning seeds was the absolute truth. She might not want to go live in Tazaxx’s private zoo, but at least she’d be safe and well cared for there.

  A safe, well cared for prisoner, whispered a voice in my head. Can you blame her for running? Of course she tried to get away.

  But was this the way she had gone? Something—some instinct, maybe the same one that had tried to warn me when she was drowning in the sensitivity tank—told me no.

  I jogged back the other way, going to the distant end of the alley instead. She wasn’t there either but something else was. First I found an empty yellow drawstring bag—the kind used to hold merchandise bought at the docking area. I sniffed it and drew back, my nose wrinkling—nib-nibs! Exactly what Zoe had been asking for so insistently back at the mechanic’s shop.

  I frowned. What the hell was going on here? Had someone offered Zoe what she wanted and gotten her to follow them out of the shop? But who? And where would they have taken her?

  Heart beating fast I walked a few more steps and found some other things. The first was something anyone without my night vision would have missed—a few strands of long, curly hair. And then the ridiculously high shoes I’d given her to go with the Majoran dress she was wearing. She’d taken them off. Why?

  It wasn’t another visual clue that gave me the answer—it was an olfactory one. Because of the Ambergeis amplifying her natural scent, I could smell that Zoe had been here recently. And there was a sharp tang of fear mixed in with her sweet natural aroma. She’d been frightened then—possibly she’d called out for me but I hadn’t heard her due to the damn ear-shields.

  I gritted my teeth. Gods, what must be happening to her now? Had whoever had lured her out here taken her away?

  I thought of how much attention her unique beauty had attracted at the docking area. Every male within the entire area had probably been watching us. They’d seen what she showed an interest in—those damned nib-nibs. Then they probably followed us to the mechanic’s shop, waiting for the right moment to make their play. And, like a fool, I had given them the perfect opportunity. I had dragged her out to this Gods’forsaken area of a spaceport known to have a brisk black market in cloning and then left her alone. What in the Frozen Hells was wrong with me?

  Should have known better than to leave her alone. Should have known better than to bring her here in the first place. I should have found another way to get the ship fixed. Now she’s gone, possibly being cut into little pieces while I stand here like a fool and it’s all my damn fault. My heart twisted in my chest and I felt sick, imagining her cries of pain. I don’t usually pray but I sent up a prayer now.

  Please, Goddess