His Human Hellion (Ultimate Passage Book 2) (4 page)

“What do you want?” May as well find out why they still wanted her. She hoped it wasn’t for the whole Target 41 thing.

He didn’t respond, his eyes glued to the road ahead, face expressionless.

“Why have you abducted me?”

In her bag, her phone rang.

Again.

And again.

The soldier looked at her purse. Marissa prayed he wouldn’t pick up the phone. Finn was the only one with this number.

Well, except for her brother, but he wouldn’t call her. Not her, not the black sheep of the family. Family. Yeah, right. She had no family. Just a brother who rejected her, and she was sure would not call her. Had he watched this douchebag kidnap her? Did he see that? If he did, he didn’t intervene. Hatred for him scorched through her.

The phone stopped ringing. The soldier smirked. “Expecting your boyfriend?”

Did he mean Finn? Did he know about them? She was afraid to say anything either way.

“Why don’t you convert to your true skin instead of masquerading as a human?”

“True, it is not fun being in a lower being’s body.”

Ugh
. “Humph. What would you know about lower being?” She wanted to say something denigrating about his skin or his wings, but that would be an affront to Finn. She couldn’t do that.

The phone rang again.

He looked down. She held her breath.

He put one hand in her purse, pulled the phone out.

Finn

Was Marissa going to answer the phone? Had she charged it? Or turned it on if she’d turned it off? He was well on his way to Houston, but he was worried about her, she still hadn’t texted or called to say where she would be or where she was. He stared at the phone, wishing the words
Dialing
and
Ringing
would become a time indicator, showing that she’d answered.

The phone stopped
showing the words, it changed to a timer indicator readout. The readout read 00:01.

She was silent on her end, but he could hear road noise.

“Marissa?” Why wasn’t she talking?

“She’s busy at the moment.”

Finn knew that voice. He knew it. Cursed be the shadows of ash. His body flooded with the frost of fear. “Merck.”

“The very same. How are you Finneas Ramont?”

“How is Marissa?”

“She’s—busy—but then you already know that. I am also sure that you already know that she is pregnant.”

How the hell did Merck know that Marissa was pregnant?
“Don’t you dare harm her.”

Merck laughed softly on the other side. It may have been soft, but it was menacing.

“You hurt her, I’ll kill you. I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

“Finn!” Marissa’s voice. She was alive.

“Marissa!” He yelled her name.

The line went dead. He looked at the screen on the phone. 00:31.

Thirty-one second phone call. The worst thirty-one seconds of his life.

He was still hours and hours from Houston.

Kal’s instructions not to send emails by phone be damned. This was a crisis. An emergency. He kept one eye on the road while he composed an email on the phone’s screen.

Marissa has been taken by Merck. He did not let me talk to her. I’m concerned. Please respond immediately with information on the situation.

He pressed send.

Marissa

The soldier backhanded Marissa for yelling Finn’s name out. Blood trickled down the corner of her lip. She could feel it, even if she couldn’t see it or reach out to touch it. She squirmed against the discomfort of her handcuffed hands being jammed behind her while riding in the car. She hoped Finn heard her, even said a short prayer, though she wasn’t the praying kind. He had to have. Unless they’d disconnected the call before that.

She knew the route the Asazi soldier was taking. It was the same route she and Finn took the night she met Parn and Kal.
He was taking her toward the compound or the ship, or whatever was out there. She looked out the window, pissed, refusing to talk to him. He didn’t let her talk to Kal then he backhanded her. An hour or more later, the beautiful countryside wasn’t something she could enjoy. The soldier pulled into a dirt road, passed over some cattle guards that made the car vibrate, drove at least a minute down the unpaved road, raising dust around them, then pulled into a grove of trees.

He parked the car, popped the trunk then came around and opened her door.

“Please release my hands.” I can’t feel most of them, and the part I can feel hurts from having had circulation cut off.”

That’s when she saw it. A knife with a blade that was at least eight inches long. “Oh. No. don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt my child. Please don’t.”

He didn’t say a word.

Maybe a different tactic would work. “Finn will kill you if you hurt me.
”

The soldier smirked, then swiveled her around, placed her legs on the ground, took the long knife out and sliced through
the duct tape with one slash.

“Please, my hands.” Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. “Do not try to escape.”

“I won’t.” Marissa rose to her feet on shaky legs, turned around. “Please. They hurt so badly.”

He grabbed her arms, none to gently, and within seconds her hands were free. Marissa rubbed her wrists, tried to flex her fingers, slowly feeling returned.

“Why do you hate me?”

“I am not
partial to emotions. I am Asazi. I do not hate you. I have a mission.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “What’s your mission?”

“I do not discuss my mission with you, Earth woman.”

Wow. The hostility with this one. “Okay, so that’s fine. Can you at least tell me what you plan for me?”

“You will be traveling in the vessel. You are bound for Kormia.”

“What? Wait. Why?”

“I merely obey orders.”

“So what’s next?”

“We wait for my partner. Now silence. I do not want to hear any more insipid words from your foolish human mouth.”

Bastard. She bit back her reply and any more questions.

She wondered why they would take her to Kormia. It had to be for whatever reason they had originally planned. Some sort of procedure. Would that risk the life of the baby? Was it some sort of surgery? She didn’t know if Finn would make it on time. He didn’t even know where she was. It wouldn’t be wise to assume he’d come here looking for her.

She looked at her Asazi guard.
She had to escape him. But how? Kill him. That’s the only choice she had. Could she kill another human? For the life of her baby, you bet.

How? He leaned against a nearby tree. Watching her. The knife was
stuck in the tree that he was leaning against. Could she get to it before he got to her? Not a chance. She only had one option. The pepper spray in her purse. Marissa leaned back, her feet still on the ground in front of her. With one hand behind her, she reached for her purse as slowly as she could. Quietly, she rummaged, one-handed, behind her back. A clink when she knocked one item into another in her purse made her wince. She held her breath, froze, eyes on him to see if he reacted to the tiny sound. Nothing. He kept his eyes focused on the road, glancing at her every now and then.

Eureka. She found it. She wrapped her hands around the canister, feeling around, she aligned it to shoot. Now for a plan. But what plan? She had to wing it. She could do it, couldn’t she? She knew how to make up stuff on the fly, didn’t she?

“Will you at least let me call my brother to tell him goodbye? I don’t know if I’ll make it back from your planet.” She pulled the lid off, slowly, praying it didn’t make a popping sound. She coughed as the seal released, in case it did.

“Why would you want to contact him, when he called us?”

“He thought he was calling the police, didn’t he? It’s not like he knew he was calling a reptilian hybrid jerk.”

His Asazi skin darkened from a light peach color to a soft tangerine.

Marissa bit back the smile at getting under his skin.

“You must want to be handcuffed again.”

“Why? So you have a reason to put your hands on me? I doubt you rate too highly with Asazi women, what with that lizard skin and bad attitude.”

His color darkened to a deep orange. He stepped away from the tree. Took a few paces in her direction.

“Oh, what? Is the big, bad lizard-soldier going to threaten the little, pathetic human? Oooohh, color me scared. Oh wait, you’re the one that changes colors, right? Not me? I’m the normal one.”

With a bellow of pure rage and skin that had deepened to an orange red,
he lunged.

Marissa slammed the car door shut, and slid to the driver’s side. She locked the doors.

He looked at her as if she’d gone crazy, dug in his pocket and took the keys out, swinging them like a slow pendulum.

She read his lips more than she heard the words, “Stupid human.”

He clicked the remote, with a beep the car doors unlocked.

Marissa slapped the lock button again. He pulled on the handle. Nothing. He clicked it again, and this time he pulled on the door at the same time.

“Not as smart as you thought you were, are you?” He reached in for her.

O
pening the other door, she climbed half-out. He extracted his upper body, stood up, and looked at her over the top of the car, as if daring her to do something.

Marissa didn’t move. He stepped back, made like he was going to come around the back of the car. Marissa slipped back, closed the door. Reached across, closed the other door, and slapped the lock button again.

He roared his frustration. Clicked the remote and opened the door right away. As quickly as he did this she jumped out and ran toward the tree while he was getting out of the car. She clutched the knife, tugging twice, pulling it free of the bark, then ran behind the next tree.

His heavy footsteps crunching pine needles and undergrowth, his breathing
loud behind her. She kept the knife in front of her tight to her body so he couldn’t see it.

She knew he was going to catch her. She wasn’t in the kind of shape that could get away from a trained soldier. But she had to hope for the element of surprise.

When he grabbed her arm, she screamed the loudest, most shrill war cry she could and aimed the knife for his neck. She closed her eyes, and slashed.

A grunt made her eyes fly open. Surely she missed. He was going to kill her.

Except he wasn’t. He was bleeding from the neck, a stunned look on his face.

She
was certain her own face had the same stunned look, so surprised she was at the blood pouring out of his body, and making a trail of red down the front of his uniform.

Dear
God, what had she done? She killed a man.

Okay not a man, not exactly. But, she
. . . she who had never so much as harmed a mouse, who couldn’t even imagine using mouse traps that weren’t humane had just slashed a man’s throat.

His eyes glowed with accusation and hatred.

“I’m sorry. Really.”

What could she do? He wanted to take her to Kormia, she had no choice.

No. What she had was no time to waste. If he was waiting for his partner, she had to get the hell out of here.

And go where? Who knows, but the hell out of here.

Keys. She needed the keys. She looked at his hands. One had the keys in them, she saw the jagged key teeth peeking out from this clenched fist.

“Give me the keys.” She softened her tone. “Please. I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t have a choice.” She hoped he didn’t have a family, a wife and children. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes were open, unfocused and glazing. He was gone. She reached to close them. He jerked, opened them. She jumped back, unsure if that was a post-mortem thing or what. She didn’t want to find out. She threw the knife down next to him, jerked his hand open, grabbed the keys and ran to the car.

Starting it, she headed down the unpaved road, swerving and skidding on loose rocks. She slowe
d her speed down to keep from slipping off the road, but didn’t slow it by much, she had to get out of here.

A few moments later she was on the highway and bound for Houston. She had to get lost in the humanity. Get off the highway and find some rest.

And food.

And
. . .

She looked at her hands. There was blood on them
and splatters on her clothing. She’d have to change. She’d have to do all of this without being noticed.

Finn

Finn drove a little above the speed limit, though he wanted to drive the car as if he’d stolen it. He’d waited for Kal to email him back. He’d waited patiently because he had quite a way to go before he arrived in Houston, but now he’d traveled even more hours and was close, and he was impatient. He was in no way interested in waiting. He would call the cell phone number he had for Kal. He didn’t know if he could answer it when he was on Kormia, he didn’t know how this technology stuff worked, but if he couldn’t get through by call, he’d send Kal as many emails as he possible. While he did that, he’d figure out a way to contact Kal’s father. As a Governor-Select he would be able to help him out. The only problem was figuring out how to contact him.

He pressed on Kal’s contact, dialed out. The phone rang. This was a good sign, because if
it had gone straight to voicemail . . .

Finn didn’t want to entertain that thought.

“Finn.” It was Kal’s voice.

“Marissa’s been kidnapped. Merck has her.”

“I know.”

“She’s alive—wait—what do you mean you know? What do you know? What is going on?”

“Merck’s partner contacted us. Said that Merck called him and told him he had Marissa.”

“Why do they have her? Is she okay? What do they plan for her?”

“Wait. There’s more. She killed Merck and escaped, before his partner arrived.”

Finn breathed a sigh of relief, then disbelie
f took over. “Marissa’s not the type to kill anyone. Anyway, how could she kill an Asazi trained soldier?”

“That’s a good question. When
Merck’s partner arrived on the scene, his throat had been cut, the car was gone. Merck was dead. She’s wanted now. For murder.”

“What is that supposed to mean? She’s not on Kormia.
Why did they want to bring her in anyway?”

“I have not seen the first set of orders calling for her to be brought in
, but I did see the ones accusing her of murder and calling for her to be detained and held for transfer.”

“Where is she now?”

“No one knows.”

“She better not be hurt. They better not hurt her.”