just shook his head, mumbling ‘bastard’ under his breath.
Main motioned for the march back to the mansion base to continue he still held Connor’s arm tightly.
“What did he say? Did you get anything useful out of him? Talk or so help me you’ll be in restraints too.”
“It seems Chesara has a crossbow bolt in her shoulder, as well as the broken ribs Tamas gave her after she prevented him raping me. She is wandering around somewhere out here alone, without water, and is being hunted like an animal by his men. The man who helped us, this bastard’s nephew, lost at least an eye in his torture chamber, his own flesh and blood. He got away, but I’m fairly sure it was him who got the warning message to the Apollo.”
“We’ll find her, I promise we’ll find her,” Main told him, but neither of them had a great deal of confidence in his words.
It was mid-afternoon by the time Connor and Main handed their prisoners over, although Tamas’ guards had carried his body for the last two hours after he’d suffered a massive heart attack on the trail.
Connor had watched expressionless as the man had clutched his chest, gasping in extreme pain before falling to the ground. He’d tried to get Connor to hear his last words, gasping and motioning for him to come over as he lay in the dirt. As the soldiers fussed around Kalzirian, Tamas kept his eyed fixed on Connor. The relief on Tamas’ face, that he was going to be able to cause a little more pain before he dies, turned to horror as after glancing briefly down, Connor turned and carried on walking up the trail.
He never saw Tamas’ mouth moving frantically, or his reaching hand as it turn into a claw, before it relaxed and dropped to the dust.
CHAPTER 8
A fter meeting the squad sent out to take the prisoners, Connor and Main set back out to continue the search. Main and his soldiers brought their weapons to bear as a green uniformed figure walked towards them carrying an alarmingly familiar figure.
Connor started towards them at a run as Melton stopped and carefully laid Chesara down on the ground, raising his arms in the air.
“She’s alive, and she was like this when I found her,” Melton called as soon as they were in range of his voice. He was eyeing Connor with distinct trepidation, but Connor didn’t care about his former jailer’s concerns as he slid to the ground beside her.
Moving the blanket she was wrapped in, he saw she was still wearing oversized guard’s pants, although she was naked from the waist up apart from the clean bandages around her ribs. He tried to ignore the bruising on her breasts, telling himself that Tenset could have caused them during their enthusiastic ‘goodbye’. It didn’t explain the finger marks on her throat.
“What’s wrong with her, what happened?” Connor heard the strain in his own voice as he checked her over. The physical wounds didn’t explain her condition, or at least they wouldn’t explain the condition of a human with similar injuries.
“She’s got an infected crossbow wound in her right shoulder. I cauterized it, but I’m still not happy, and I think she has some broken ribs too.”
Melton raised his hands a little higher as he spoke quickly. “I didn’t do either, the ribs were bound up when we found her, and the shoulder happened a couple of days ago. It still took me a while to catch up with her. She’s damn fast, even wounded.”
“I never should have left her, but I couldn’t get back. Two of your lot caught up with me.” Connor told Melton as he knelt beside her. Melton still stood with his hands above his head, covered by two federation soldiers.
“D’you know a guard named Baxter? He’s dead, and his partner’s tied up somewhere out there.”
Main was already reporting in, his finger against the implant behind his ear as he requested a medivac for Chesara and a search team to find the guard.
Connor looked up at Melton as he stood a few feet away, with his hand clasped
Main motioned for the march back to the mansion base to continue he still held Connor’s arm tightly.
“What did he say? Did you get anything useful out of him? Talk or so help me you’ll be in restraints too.”
“It seems Chesara has a crossbow bolt in her shoulder, as well as the broken ribs Tamas gave her after she prevented him raping me. She is wandering around somewhere out here alone, without water, and is being hunted like an animal by his men. The man who helped us, this bastard’s nephew, lost at least an eye in his torture chamber, his own flesh and blood. He got away, but I’m fairly sure it was him who got the warning message to the Apollo.”
“We’ll find her, I promise we’ll find her,” Main told him, but neither of them had a great deal of confidence in his words.
It was mid-afternoon by the time Connor and Main handed their prisoners over, although Tamas’ guards had carried his body for the last two hours after he’d suffered a massive heart attack on the trail.
Connor had watched expressionless as the man had clutched his chest, gasping in extreme pain before falling to the ground. He’d tried to get Connor to hear his last words, gasping and motioning for him to come over as he lay in the dirt. As the soldiers fussed around Kalzirian, Tamas kept his eyed fixed on Connor. The relief on Tamas’ face, that he was going to be able to cause a little more pain before he dies, turned to horror as after glancing briefly down, Connor turned and carried on walking up the trail.
He never saw Tamas’ mouth moving frantically, or his reaching hand as it turn into a claw, before it relaxed and dropped to the dust.
CHAPTER 8
A fter meeting the squad sent out to take the prisoners, Connor and Main set back out to continue the search. Main and his soldiers brought their weapons to bear as a green uniformed figure walked towards them carrying an alarmingly familiar figure.
Connor started towards them at a run as Melton stopped and carefully laid Chesara down on the ground, raising his arms in the air.
“She’s alive, and she was like this when I found her,” Melton called as soon as they were in range of his voice. He was eyeing Connor with distinct trepidation, but Connor didn’t care about his former jailer’s concerns as he slid to the ground beside her.
Moving the blanket she was wrapped in, he saw she was still wearing oversized guard’s pants, although she was naked from the waist up apart from the clean bandages around her ribs. He tried to ignore the bruising on her breasts, telling himself that Tenset could have caused them during their enthusiastic ‘goodbye’. It didn’t explain the finger marks on her throat.
“What’s wrong with her, what happened?” Connor heard the strain in his own voice as he checked her over. The physical wounds didn’t explain her condition, or at least they wouldn’t explain the condition of a human with similar injuries.
“She’s got an infected crossbow wound in her right shoulder. I cauterized it, but I’m still not happy, and I think she has some broken ribs too.”
Melton raised his hands a little higher as he spoke quickly. “I didn’t do either, the ribs were bound up when we found her, and the shoulder happened a couple of days ago. It still took me a while to catch up with her. She’s damn fast, even wounded.”
“I never should have left her, but I couldn’t get back. Two of your lot caught up with me.” Connor told Melton as he knelt beside her. Melton still stood with his hands above his head, covered by two federation soldiers.
“D’you know a guard named Baxter? He’s dead, and his partner’s tied up somewhere out there.”
Main was already reporting in, his finger against the implant behind his ear as he requested a medivac for Chesara and a search team to find the guard.
Connor looked up at Melton as he stood a few feet away, with his hand clasped
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