Release Read Free Page B

with a kidnapped member of the nobility on board. Please identify yourself and prepare for scanning.”
    The man turned away from the console, glowering. “You couldn’t hold it, could you?” He shook his head. “How could I be so stupid? What did you do, send them a message on your comm?”
    So, he’d figured it out. It didn’t matter. They’d have him in custody in no time. Ariana tilted her chin up. “I can’t let you hurt Risciter.”
    “Give me the comm,” said the man.
    “It’s completely out of batteries. I had to use it in hypercomm mode.”
    “Then you won’t mind giving it to me.”
    “What does it matter? They’ve found you. Now they’re going to arrest you.”
    He smirked. “Oh, we’ll see about that, sweetheart. Now are you going to give it to me, or am I going to have to take it from you by force?”
    Well, it didn’t have any batteries, so she couldn’t use it anymore. She handed it over, shrinking from him. He couldn’t really get away from the Ossile Police, could he?
    The ships’s comm system blared again. “Identify yourself.”
    The man snatched her comm from her and stuffed it in his pocket. He didn’t respond to the police, but instead began punching something into the console.
    “Unidentified ship,” said the comm system, “we are detecting you are preparing to jump to hyperspace. We are activating a tractor beam until we have successfully determined your identity and business in the Ossile system.”
    Immediately, the ship began to tremble. Ariana looked around. She’d never been in a tractor beam before. Now, they were tethered to the Ossile Police, right? They couldn’t leave?
    “Damn, damn, damn.” The man began punching at the console furiously. “A tractor beam?” He glared at her. “I was going to let you go. I stopped here only to make sure that you would be comfortable. This has nothing to do with you.”
    “Risciter is practically my fiancé,” she said. “If you’re trying to kill him, then it has something to do with me.” The ship was still shaking.
    He shot her a withering look. “You want to marry that asshole? You’re not too bright, are you?” He hit several buttons on the console. The shaking grew more intense.
    “Shut up,” she said.
    “That ought to do it.” He put in a few more numbers. The shaking stopped.
    “What did you do?” Ariana was horrified, and a little scared. She was safe, right? He couldn’t get away from the police, could he?
    “I disengaged the tractor beam,” he said. “I’m not getting captured on Ossile.”
    No!
    “Disengaging the tractor beam has been taken as failure to cooperate,” said the ship’s comm. “You are now classified as evading arrest and measures will be taken—”
    “Oh, shut up,” said the man, flipping off the ship’s comm. He hit some keys on the console, and Ariana recognized the familiar whir of the hyperdrive warming up.
    “No,” she said out loud. “You can’t just get away.”
    “Watch me, sweetheart.”
    Ariana got up out of her seat and flung her body onto the man’s back. She began scratching at his face as hard as she could.
    The man yelled and tried to shake her off.
    Ariana clung harder, digging her nails in.
    The man reached back and ripped one of her arms away from his face. He yanked her off his back as easily as if she were an annoying child. Putting her in front of him, he seized her by the shoulders and propelled her back into her seat. She was pleased to see that his face was bleeding.
    She was less pleased to see that he was really mad.
    He let go of her for a second, and she cowered, cringing against the blow she was sure was coming.
    But instead he wrapped the seat belt around her shoulders. It was tight. He wound the belt around her seat two more times, binding her torso to the seat and her arms against her sides. Then he fastened the belt on the back of the seat, out of her reach.
    Swearing, he returned to the console.
    The ship started to shake again.