Creature Worlds: Solar Slick (11 page)

“One more word from you and your mate will die,” he threatened. Guns were still aimed at Tigg and I.

“How did he know about the baby?” I cried. “It wasn’t even due for two more weeks.”

The king shrugged. “Remember the little bottle of refreshment you were so kindly offered after Tigg left?”

We put the pieces together quickly. “It wasn’t just a coincidence she went into labor right after I left, was it?” Tigg said.

“Son of a…” I started again.

“Enough!” the king bellowed. “Be glad I’m allowing you to leave with your heads still intact. Go now, before I change my mind.”

With a wave of his hand, the king beckoned us to be taken from the hall. We were brought out to Tigg’s craft and the sack containing our meager possessions was thrust into my hands. The guards practically pushed us on board. Tigg went to the controls and started the ship.

“Minka, sit down. If we hurry, maybe we can catch Clay,” he said anxiously.

I took my seat and strapped on my seatbelt. It was a long shot but maybe Tigg was right. Besides, we needed to leave before the king changed his mind. Ventillian ships escorted us until we breached the atmosphere and zoomed off into space. Tigg tried to spot Clay on his radar but his ship had disappeared into thin air. The look on Tigg’s face told me it was over.

“I can’t believe he took my baby.” My hands clenched into fists so tight that my nails almost punctured my skin. I began to cry. To have held my child in my arms, only to have it be ripped away so cruelly, was unbearable.

“He will have to return to Treox,” Tigg said.

“What?”

“When the child hatches. It is Lizord and must eat only the jineg bugs from the jungles of Treox.”

“Oh God! What if Clay starves it? What if he doesn’t know?”

“He will know. He’s resourceful.” It wasn’t a compliment.

“Yes. He’ll want to protect his little investment,” I snapped. “Oh, Tigg! We will be there waiting when he returns. We’ll get our baby back.” We had to succeed. To fail would be unthinkable.

Tigg programmed in the coordinates for Planet Treox. Soon we would be there and we could set up in the jungle and wait for the return of our precious child.

“How long will we wait?” I asked.

“As long as it takes.”

Chapter 18

Tigg landed the ship in the same place we had originally found it. How long ago it all seemed now, those months when we’d left Treox and headed out for Earth to try and clear my name. Instead, we’d stumbled upon the cure, opening an even bigger can of worms. If it hadn’t been for the cure, none of this would have happened. Clay wouldn’t have had a juicy tidbit to dangle before King Ranox, and my baby would not have been bartered. We left the craft and Tigg covered it up with brush to hide it from sight. It was early evening and soon the land would be dark.

“Do you want to go home?” Tigg asked.

“Home?” I asked. Oh, my rinky-dink apartment under the dome. I’d almost forgotten about it.

“You said you hated the jungle,” he reminded me.

“I could have endured it…” I said.
For the baby,
I didn’t add.

“He may not return with the child for a month. We have time.”

I brushed a tear off my cheek fiercely. “And we’ll be waiting.”

Tigg pulled me against his chest and held me tight. “Tomorrow I’ll find my brothers and put out the word. Every Lizord in every jungle on this planet will know by day’s end to watch for Clay.”

“You’re so sure he’ll return.”

“I’m positive.”

The resolution in his voice sustained me. Soon, my baby would be back in my arms where he or she belonged. Tigg let go of me long enough to throw the bag over his shoulder, then he picked me up and began to run. We headed for the dome. Soon we arrived and joined the line-up heading inside. When we made it back to my apartment I tried the door and remembered it’d be unlocked. Clay had been the last one here. Had he really expected Tigg and me to return in three days’ time with the menite? Or had he known we would run? I frowned as I walked inside, Tigg right behind me. He shut the door and slid the bolt into place since Clay and his goons had broken the lock. No. Even Clay couldn’t have foreseen the future. He had no way of knowing I was carrying Tigg’s child. He’d probably tracked us to my old house on Earth. If he’d seen those papers we’d left lying around he’d no doubt figured out the same thing we had about there being a cure.

“Can the jineg bugs survive anywhere else?” I asked suddenly. “What’s to stop Clay from sending his men here to trap a bunch and leave with them?”

“They would not survive away from Treox. Clay will know this, or will soon figure it out.”

I smacked my fist into my other palm. “Then we’ll get him.”

Tigg looked at me, his eyes blazing. “Then I will kill him.”

“Good.” I wanted Clay dead. Bloodlust—it must be the maternal part of me rearing its feral head.

We were both exhausted. My bed, dingy as it was, was almost inviting. Wrapped in Tigg’s arms I fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares of a baby crying for its mother. When I awoke in the morning it was with resolve. Tigg had promised me something yesterday. Something he wasn’t going to get the chance to do. He’d promised me he was going to kill Clay. But he wasn’t. I was.

Tigg was already pulling on his clothes, oblivious to the deadly thoughts coursing through my mind. He was immersed in the need to do something productive. “There’s nothing to eat, I’m sorry,” he said distractedly.

I wasn’t really hungry anyway. “I have some money stashed. I’ll pick up some stuff.” I didn’t ask to go with him. I’d only slow him down.

He came over and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have a small place inside the dome I share with a couple of guys. I’ll stop there on the way back and grab my stuff. Your place is bigger.” I didn’t disagree. We wouldn’t be here long. Soon, we’d be hunkered down in the jungle. Tigg left and I got dressed. My small emergency stash of money was where I’d left it. I took some and headed out to buy a few supplies. We’d probably only stay under the dome for a few days to a week, so I didn’t need much.

There was a market set up under the dome. Natives of Treox and others from different planets had food, clothes, exotic trinkets and additional stuff set up in little stalls that sat in rows. Crowds of people were milling about, more so than usual, which made me think it was probably a weekend. I’d lost track of time. While I looked at food from different vendors I distractedly thought about my job. Both Tigg and I had been AWOL for some time now so I guess they figured out we wouldn’t be returning. I couldn’t bring myself to be upset about money and the cost of survival. I’d paid my rent up several months in advance with the nice little bonus I’d lifted off Clay when I’d left town. It’d been my due, I’d figured at the time, considering all the riches I’d helped him obtain. We only really needed cash for food, until we got into the jungle that is, then I guess we’d just live off the land. That thought made me pause. Tigg could eat anything, but most of the native food here had made me sick in the past. I’d mostly preferred to buy the imported stuff from Earth. The food at the stall before me was from Earth. There was an assortment of freeze-dried, packaged, smoked and canned things that’d keep for months. I could stock up on these and have at least one small luxury while I sweated it out in the jungle. Later, after Clay was dead and we had our baby, I’d come back and stock up some more. Tigg had said the baby had to live off the jineg bugs for several months. We’d remain until then. Afterward, perhaps we could live on Zenet. Tigg liked it there.

“Excuse me,” the man beside me said to the lady at the stall. “Do you have any eggs?”

“Eggs?” the lady asked quizzically.

“Yes.
Green eggs
,” he emphasized while staring directly at me.

My eyes widened in amazement. I had a few items in my hands and was looking at the other stuff.

“Green eggs? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” the lady said.

“Oh, surely they’re not that uncommon?” he directed his reply more toward me than her.

The mention of green eggs conjured up a picture of my baby. I put the items I held back down onto the table. Even now, my child was probably in the greedy, grubby hands of Clay. The thought brought quick tears to my eyes. Leaving the stall, I dashed away, forcing myself to concentrate on my direction; it being so easy to get turned around in this place.

“Wait!” I suddenly heard the voice of the man at the stall call out to me. Though I tried to elude him he caught up to me quickly.

“What do you want?” Dismayed by my sudden show of emotion, I turned away. Tears were now streaming down my face. The man caught my elbow and steered me into an empty alley. I was too distraught to resist.

“Are you missing someone?” the man asked. His voice was kind but when I peered up at him he appeared to be frowning and agitated.

I pulled away from him. “What’s it to you?”

He shrugged. “Just thought you might want to hear what I have to say.”

“What could you possibly have to say to me? I don’t even know who you are,” I snapped.

“You may not know me, but I know you. At least, I know
of
you.”

“And what do you know?”

“I know you miss your child, or should I say
your egg
.” He smiled, knowing he now had my full attention.

My body stilled completely as though I’d suddenly turned to stone. When I failed to reply, he went on.

“I have a message for you…from Clay. He says if you go to him, he’ll let you see your kid.”

“Why’s he want me? He had his chance.” It was a trap of course.

“Seems the egg’s not doing so hot. Turning yellow or something.”

“It’s sick?” Oh no! It needed me. The doctor had said to keep it warm and next to my heart. Clay may be wrapping it up in blankets, but he had no heart, just a block of ice.

“Yeah. I can take you to him, but you have to come…now.” He looked around as though he was worried he was about to be discovered.

Though I should have used caution, every maternal emotion inside of me was freaking out. My baby was sick and it needed me. No voice of reason could be louder than that. I nodded my head and when the man began to stalk down the alley, there was nothing to do but follow him. We wound around the back alleys like a pair of thieves until we reached the exit of the dome. Once outside, he led me through the hot, moist region for what felt like twenty minutes until we came to his spacecraft. About the same size as Tigg’s, he had it similarly hidden beneath shrubbery to keep it from sight.

The man opened the hatch and climbed on board. When he turned to offer me a hand up, I felt a moment of hesitation. What was I doing? Why should I trust him? Sure, Clay could have sent him, and he probably did, but what if he hadn’t? What if he was actually sent by King Ranox? Maybe he’d discovered the missing link to the cure? What better way to assure my obedience than to appeal to my maternal bond?

“How do I know Clay really sent you?” I asked, raising a brow in suspicion.

It seemed he didn’t have time for questions; he pulled a gun out of his jacket and aimed it at me. “Get up here.”

He could just as easily kill me on board the ship, or when we reached wherever it was he planned to take me. No. Somebody wanted me alive. He sneered when I held my ground. “You wanna die?” he demanded.

“I asked you, how do I know Clay really sent you?” He could see he wasn’t going to have my cooperation until he told me.

“Clay warned me you were a real pain in the ass,” he said, jumping down to land beside me. Before I could react, he cracked me over the head with the handle of the gun.

Chapter 19

My head hurt. It was the first thought that came to mind as I tried to open my eyes. And my tongue felt like I’d been licking sand. I’d been on a ship, I remembered, waking once and a while, only to be knocked out again. The dolt had used something other than the butt of his gun though—a tranquilizer injected in my arm—which I groggily remembered. I wiggled my arms and legs a bit and was relieved to find I wasn’t tied. There was a soft mattress beneath my body I realized.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said a voice from across the room in the shadows.

I struggled to rise, forcing my poor aching body into motion. The room spun and I had to steady myself by gripping the bed sheets in my fists.

The phantom-like figure came closer and finally focused into a familiar form. Clay. “Where’s my egg?” I demanded.

“All in good time,” he assured me.

“That guy who brought me here said it was sick.” Perhaps it was a lie? But he’d told the truth about being sent by Clay.

My nemesis sat down on the bed and I scooted away until my back was against the wall. It was the furthest I could get from him in my incapacitated state. He reached out a hand to push the hair from my eyes and I turned my head away.

“My favorite redhead,” he said. I detected lust in his voice making me cringe.

“I just gave birth,” I reminded him in case he was entertaining any vile ideas. “And I asked you about my baby.”

“It’s fine,” he said.

“How can it be fine when you’ve stolen it from me? I’m its mother.”

He laughed cruelly. “You don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

I glared at him defiantly. “I don’t care. Now, give it to me.” I wanted to rip into him, tear the laughter from his lips and jump on his bones.

“I want to make a deal with you,” he said.

“I gave you a chance to take me instead of my baby. You turned me down.”

“I was in Malenea’s kingdom. You are Ventillian—at least half of you. The king consented to give me the egg in exchange for information. He kept his word. You weren’t part of the deal. Wretch that he is, he never would have agreed to hand you over. But the baby is half Tigg’s. King Ranox has no loyalty to Lizords, only to his own kind.”

“Some loyalty,” I scoffed.

“If I’d agreed to take you instead, the king wouldn’t have allowed it. Then he could say I reneged on the deal and I’d get nothing.”

Twisted as Clay’s logic was, it made sense. “So now you’re ready to deal?” Somehow, I couldn’t quite believe him.