Salvation for Three Read Free Page A

grasp.
    She could smell him before he got within a hundred yards. She let him roll her over and lean closer, holding her breath to ward off the stench. Gods help us, he smells worse than a boar herder. She gave a helpless moan for effect and took a breath, pushing her breasts further out of the suit, and then slipped her tongue out to moisten her lips.
    "Bless you, Terra Earth, it's a real female!" He sniffed her appreciatively and ran his nose nearly in her chest, then pushed a rough finger down the open suit fastener attempting to grasp the two globes that jutted directly at his face. One red dirt-soiled hand came in contact with her breast before Keer shifted, pushing the treasure into his palm. When he groaned in appreciation, she pounced, pulling the razor coil out and sending it with a metallic snap down, bonding the runner's legs together. She came up in a crouch, fast, and jerked hard, simultaneously pointing the gun at the runner's left shoulder and
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    zipping him with a sting.
    He screamed before he hit the ground, red dust rising around him.
    "Bitch! You're a fucking bondsman?" he wailed at her, a hand grabbing the bleed in his shoulder. Then began to shriek as the razor tie cut his legs through the ragged jump boots he wore. "Gods help me!" He writhed for a moment then thought better of it. "They'll find you. You won't make it out of here before they come." The runner had stopped moving against the razor wire and lay still, gasping in pain.
    "The Alliance has me registered here, pig-breath. No one's getting caught but you today." Hunter's teeth! What was the man babbling about?
    "The lunar winds hide…" he spat at her as she watched him, one eyebrow raised waiting for the wailing to stop. He began to gasp at the pain.
    She assessed the dirty man. "Colonists have been looking for you for nearly a full three moon turns." Keer was puzzled. He looked to be well fed. He wore dirty and shredded clothes, but still appeared nourished and hydrated. "Have you been eating subter beetles to survive or stealing from the City?" Stealing more likely, she thought Subter beetles had an armor coat, although she had heard they made a good stew if you were patient enough to steam the armor away. A lot of runners lasted months in the Endlands if they moved quickly enough to catch food. This particular prisoner didn't strike Keer as smart enough or fast enough to survive the red dust and the lunar storms.
    "They give me food if I move the rocks at night." He grunted in pain again. "Have to watch for the lizards but if you stink badly enough they won't catch you." So that explained the smell. He could certainly be successful if stench was his bodyguard.
    Even in pain, he ogled her skin, breasts still bursting from the bra inset and low fastener on the jumpskin. She holstered the sting gun and adjusted herself back into the suit, sealing it tight against the breeze.

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    "Who's got you moving rocks?" Keer eyed him, grabbing for his wrist as he winced. She felt for his tracking chip. Locating the chip, she pressed down, activating the secondary track.
    "They're in the subter. Hunting for females." He groaned involuntarily as the razor tie cut another thin line through his dust-covered boots and a trickle of red began to drip onto the clay.
    "Females." Keer laughed, hoisting the runner up to his knees and then his feet with her enhanced arm. "Keep pace and the wire won't cut. Try to run and I'll lash your arms too." She activated the callback pouch for the freighter which was probably not yet out of range. The drum of the engines carried over the dust. She started back with the runner at a stilted trot to the dry reservoir of the landing site.
    "The Colonists here only have a one-to-seven female quota. They won't let them get away so easily, runner. And no fertile females to be had in the ten planet range." She tossed that in for good measure.
    Her pulse had picked up pace at the Runner's claims, but what could he know after months