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She shot three men coming toward her but the third man kept moving as if he was a bloody freak of nature. He should have buckled beneath her onslaught of weapon fire at least two seconds ago, but he
hadn’t!
Her eyes widened as her pistol went dry. She still held her Bo staff in her other hand and didn’t have time to reach for her other fully charged pistol.

“
Oh, shit!!!
” she cried, extending her Bo staff and catching him across the knees with it.

Her eyes widened when his legs didn’t buckle. “Why can’t you just fall down and go
boom!
”

she tried to catch him across the abdomen. He caught her Bo staff, and broke the tip off of it.

“Holy crap!!!” she exclaimed, as she discarded what was left of her Bo staff. “You know,” she remarked, as he eyed her levelly. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.” His icy blue eyes glinted with fire, and she formed her mouth in a determined line.

Samantha sized him up as best as she could and decided quite quickly that he had to be genetically engineered. No normal human being could still be ticking after the beating that she had just tried to give him. She breathed in deeply, as a giant sized paw swung toward her.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 136

“Guess we’re going to do it the hard way then,” she concluded, as time stood still.

Samantha knew he thought he was going to frighten her with his hard ass approach. She knew that he expected her to collapse beneath the fist that had yet to reach her face. But she wasn’t scared in the least. In fact he had only served to make her determination stronger and more resilient. At the last possible moment, she dropped to the floor before his hand could do its damage. She slid beneath his legs in a remarkable display of agility and speed.

In one blinding flash, she’d produced two of her mini grapplers, which she in turn twined around his big fat ankles. Then she brought her free hand up and punched him in his balls. She heard him groan. Smiling, she shot to her feet and ran with the other end of the grapplers.

The cord extended as she fought her way through another group of men that dropped where and when they were supposed to. The gigantic man hadn’t even noticed that she had grapplers twisted around his ankles until it was too late. By the time that she had reached a window, he was already trying to sucker punch Veronica.

“This will teach you to play
fair!
” Samantha muttered. Kneeling down, she reached for a grenade from her belt. She threw it at the stain glass window. Crouching down, she activated the electrical body force field that Dylan had invented just for her. The window blew with a loud crash. Shocked gasps rang out through the casino. A rain of beautiful colored glass showered around her. Fortunately, they were still located inside of the underwater city. If they hadn’t still been inside of the dome, well, everyone would be getting one hell of a surprise.

As soon as the shards of colored glass stopped falling, Samantha deactivated the force field, stood up and smiled as her eyes fell on her intended target. As long as the grapplers had enough propulsion to connect with the target, she’d be free and clear.

She extended her arms and aimed at a nearby hover transport. It was quite a long way, but she had faith that her grapplers would have enough momentum to reach it. They flew through the air and latched firmly onto the back of the transport. Grinning widely, she turned around toward the science experiment.

Veronica tried to knock him silly, for what was probably the hundredth time.

He shrieked like an annoying woman, as his feet fell out from underneath him. The whole area shook with the resulting vibration as he skidded face first across the floor. Then he sailed through the window and stared at Samantha as he let out a furious howl.

“
Adieus Amigo!
Send me a postcard,” Samantha called happily, just as someone’s hands wrapped around her neck.

* * * *

Samantha made a gurgling noise in the back of her throat, as she reached her hands out behind her. Her assailant was cutting off her air and she struggled to think clearly. No one was going to get the better of her,
damn it!
She kicked him in the shin and then freed her one hand from trying to pry his fingers off her neck, as she nailed him in the gut with her elbow.

Samantha heard him let out a loud groan of pain and she took the time that was offered to her. His hold on her lessened, she’d been hoping that he’d let go entirely, but hell she couldn’t have it all. She felt the adrenaline pump through her veins. Reaching her hands out, she flipped him over her shoulder. She heard his terrified scream, as he went hurtling through the broken window.

“
Good riddance!
” She turned around and rubbed her neck. Shit, he’d almost gotten her there. Whoever had really murdered Lady Devlin was sending a message out to her, and she was hearing it loud and clear. She watched as Veronica fought her way over to her.

“You all right?” Veronica asked, as she lambasted the man in front of her.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 137

“
Just fabulous!
” Samantha whispered back, wincing at the scratchiness of her voice.

Now she knew how Johanna felt. Bastards. They still needed some more payback.

“Thanks for the save from the eight foot giant back there,” Veronica muttered. Her brown eyes bulged, and she looked as if she were going to choke on her words.

“No prob, Big V, it was the least I could do. Seeing as you were ready to do some ass kicking on behalf of my sister.” Samantha put another charge into her depleted pistol. She pulled out both pistols, and began to work at taking out the rest of the enemy. Her hands worked in a fast forward motion. By now, Veronica and she were back to back as space was limited.

“What the hell are you doing?” Veronica asked glancing back. Veronica shook her head and whistled. “You look like you’re being put into overdrive!”

Samantha took a moment to study her own actions and wetted her lips. They had suddenly gone dry. The Liana Juice--
bloody wonderful
. Coupled with her abilities she was starting to look like a freak and gaining a lot of unwanted attention. If someone discovered her secret from this, she was done for.

“Let’s just say that something definitely juiced me up!!!” she shouted back. “Ross, look out!”

“What’s going on?” Veronica turned, and let out a shocked gasp. “Oh, no!”

There was a mini bomb sitting at Ross’s feet and Samantha’s blood ran cold. “Bad, very bad.” She rummaged in her pouch for something to save the day.

They were going to be blown from here to kingdom come, if she didn’t do something.

She and Veronica might survive the blast but Ross would be a goner if it went off.

Samantha holstered her pistols, realizing that she only had seconds to spare. “Follow me!” she yelled, as Devlin turned around at the urgent strain in her voice. His jaw dropped when he saw the mini bomb and Ross was rooted to the spot as if he was in shock. “Not going to happen, I’m not going to die, nobody’s going to die!” Samantha muttered, scrambling for the ticking time bomb. She enclosed her hand around it, and threw it as hard as she could toward the open window. It sailed through it, but she knew that it wouldn’t be far enough away from them when it exploded. Mysteriously, everyone except for the bad guys and her team had left the casino. So she didn’t have to worry about anyone dying on her watch.

“Guys, get down behind me!” Samantha ordered quickly, as she opened up her personal electrical shield and programmed it to spread in diameter around them. It fizzled out right before the bomb went off. “Shit.” She glanced at Devlin; he’d seen the device lose power. Closing her eyes, she realized what she had to do. Drawing on her abilities, she strained herself to the limits to erect a telekinetic shield around them. Devlin let out a gasp. If he told anyone.... She couldn’t think about that. She fell to the floor, right when the bomb exploded. “Well, that didn’t sound so
shit hot!!!
” Samantha gasped, moving her jaw, as her ears began ringing. “Every which way I turn someone puts the screws to me, and I’ve just about had it!” She pushed herself off of the floor and turned to help the stunned Ross to his feet.

He could handle himself quite nicely in tough situations, but by the shocked expression he wore, she realized that he wasn’t accustomed to the kind of life that she and Veronica lived as bounty hunters.

“Don’t worry about it, big guy,” she began, as Veronica held him up from the other side.

“This is only your third or is it, fourth bomb? You’ll be much better once you reach a dozen.

After that, it all becomes old!” Samantha encouraged brightly, dismayed when his mouth only opened further.

“Do me a favor, Samantha, and
SHUT UP!
” Veronica said, her tone rising as she finished RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 138

her sentence.

“I was only trying to help,” Samantha grumbled. Devlin snorted and stared at her in amazement.

“Like I said before, Samantha, don’t try to help by giving advice. It always seems to come out
ass backwards!
” he muttered, resting his weapon against his shoulder.

“Keep that shrink ray away from me, or I’ll take it away from you and shove it up where the sun doesn’t shine,” she threatened. She looked at her force field device that was on the fritz and discreetly put it away. “Gee, Samantha, thanks for the quick save. Don’t know what we’d do without you,” she mimicked to herself, moving toward the exit. “Hey, Lord Dumbo, this place looks as if a bomb went through it. I think you’ll have to splurge and remodel.” She grinned, kicking debris out of her path. She also felt a bit off but that was to be expected after the near miss they’d all encountered. Still, she felt as if danger approached.

“Samantha, look out!” Veronica screamed. Devlin let out a bellow of anger.

“
What now?
You know, I’m tired, hungry, and bitchy.” She turned to see what Veronica was yapping about, when she felt something prick her neck. Samantha pulled out the dart that had been fired into her neck and stared out into the empty hallway.

“Oh, freaking hell! Now I’ve got to put up with invisible adversaries,” she grumbled, feeling light headed. She blinked, when she saw an image of herself over by the far window.

“What the...?”

“Not invisible, my sweet little bombshell,” Fred Crenshaw said, dropping from the line, that he had used to climb into the casino. She was definitely slipping. She should’ve seen that coming, but she hadn’t. She’d felt it and she’d dismissed it. She had to start trusting her psychic instincts, even if it did make her cringe to think about.

Fred had used the oldest trick in the book, distract and attack. While the bomb was taking out part of the casino, he’d been perched on the only part of the roof, that he knew was going to be unaffected. It had all been a setup and now she was down for the count. She swayed, as the drug in the dart began to flow into her system.

“Goodnight, Sleeping Beauty,” Crenshaw murmured. She couldn’t move. She heard Veronica’s scream of rage, and felt Devlin’s despair, just as Fred wrapped his arm around her, and retracted the line that he was hanging on. Samantha drifted into darkness. She fought to remain awake, and felt him hand her over to another man that had been waiting for them.

“You’re

so

fired
, Crenshaw!” she rasped, as the hated darkness engulfed her.

* * * *

Samantha could hear loud voices around her. She
had
to wake up. But a thick invisible blanket kept pushing her back down. She felt heavy and sluggish. But she knew that her time for escape was limited. Soon, they would be coming back for her, and she knew then that she would be screwed royally. She could feel the floor humming and guessed they were moving. She pulled her eyes open and used all of the willpower that she could muster, just to keep them open.

“Just breathe, Samantha!” she whispered, beginning to cough. She prayed that no one would hear her, because for what she was about to do, she definitely didn’t need to have an audience. She wasn’t tied up, so that was a plus right there. Crenshaw was cocky, and obviously was still thinking with his dick instead of his head. She knew the man had always been infatuated with her, but she hadn’t realized he had been obsessed, to the loony bin point.

But Crenshaw had made one gigantic error. He had underestimated her and now he was going to pay! She glanced down at her watch in the dim light, and groaned when she found that she had only been asleep for thirty minutes. She knew that her captors weren’t expecting the RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 139

drug to wear off for at least another hour.
Too bad for them and oh so good for her
. She could only attribute it to the super powered juice
Eleanor
had given her, and she decided right there and then, to kiss the shiny hover car when she got out of this jam.

She groaned with her pent up frustration when she realized Crenshaw had been smart enough to have all of her weapons removed from her person. She felt for her concealed jet pack, and sighed with relief when she realized that the asinine fools had somehow missed it. These people gave a whole new definition to having one’s head stuck up one’s ass. They certainly took the cake.

No doubt Crenshaw was at this moment bragging about capturing the infamous Samantha Cassidy and damning her husband to hang. But boy, was he going to get one hell of a big surprise! Looking for the camera in her cell, she used her abilities to deactivate it. Purple smoke engulfed it and fried the connection it had to the mainframe.

She nimbly opened her jacket and partially unbuttoned her blouse. Then, she reached inside of her protective bra and smiled with triumph when she found the two parts that she was looking for. She quickly held up her miniature pistol and then slipped the charger into it. After that, she reached for the handy little laser pen that she always carried. Crenshaw wasn’t going to know what hit him. Pointing her finger at the door, she breathed in deeply, and quickly broke the lock on the door and pulled it open.