Her only hope was escape. The chill of the shuttle and the
loud pounding in her ears made her body quake, but Jewel
squelched the shivers.
She ran a hand through her
son's soft blond hair as he stood beside her, bouncing and
eager for the hatch to open. They waited in the small
docking area of the Geanus shuttlecraft. The same craft
she'd stolen from her husband, Kalon, days before. To steady
her shaking hand, she gripped Jared's shoulder in a light
squeeze.
"Will there be pirates?" Eyes twinkling up at
her, Jared grinned, full of adventure.
"No, sweet one.
Remember, we're on holiday. Everything's perfectly
safe."
The door swung open with a shlurp and
all hope of safety fled. Tears stung her eyes as she hitched
up her chin and stared at her husband's two goons filling
the doorway and blocking their escape. They'd almost made
it. Almost.
Behind the beefy men who glared at her,
phasers in hand—no doubt the choice of weapon to avoid
hurting Jared—the station docks filled with people going
about their business. None of them would stop, or even
hesitate, if she screamed for help. She swallowed the urge
and forced her trembling lips into a pasted-on smile at the
tallest one, who wore leather and a menacing smile. She'd
forgotten his name, if she ever knew it.
"Why, boys,
are you here to accompany us to the circus? Jared's excited.
He's never been to the circus before."
The guard's
scowl turned to confusion. "Circus?"
Spinning on her
heel, she scooped Jared into her arms and sprinted through
the cabin of the shuttle.
"Hey." One of the guards
sputtered. Clamoring and cursing erupted behind them.
The two goons right behind them, she stumbled into
the cockpit, turning to take the brunt of the fall. A sharp
pain throbbed in her hip. Still on the floor beneath Jared,
she stretched her leg and hit the door pad with her
foot.
Swish.
The hatch slid closed on the
curses of the tall one.
Her speech caught as she
sucked in air, too winded to reassure Jared who clutched at
her, ruining the expensive weave of her shirt—picked and
paid for by Kalon. She'd never liked the thing
anyway.
The pounding on the door was muffled from the
reinforced airtight seal. Good. The guards were locked out.
Or she and Jared were locked in this tiny cockpit. Jared
scrambled off her, and she pulled herself up using the
foldout table where she'd spent the journey teaching Jared
how to play cards. Their game had scattered on the
floor.
Jared stared at the closed portal. "Why'd we
close the door on Ben? He'd like the circus,
too."
Leave it to Kalon to send Jared's favorite
guard. Her husband might not make the effort to understand
his wife, but he apparently got full reports of Jared's
likes and dislikes. "I'm sure he'd enjoy the circus,
baby."
"I'm four. Not a baby."
"No. You're a big
boy. Brave." What was she going to do? All of this was for
Jared. All of it.
A light blinked on the console. A
message waited, probably from Kalon. She wouldn't check it.
There was nothing he could say that would make anything
right.
"Strap in, moonbeam. I'll show you the docking
controls before we go."
"Really?" His eyes widened and
all his teeth showed in his big grin.
After he sat,
legs dangling, she checked his harness and slammed her body
into the pilot seat, her hip protesting. She missed the
buckle twice. Finally, she clicked in and punched the
controls with shaking fingers.