Stealing Coal (16 page)

“Granted. I’ll slow to a stop when we meet up.”

“Glad to hear your voice.”

“Yours as well.” Coal turned off communications.

Jill blinked back tears, not wanting Coal to see how upset it made her that he’d

found his friends. She’d been sure they had more time together. She knew they had

mere minutes left before the fast-approaching ships reached them. Her gaze shifted to

find Coal silently watching her.

“There’s no need for fear. You are safe and my people will not harm you. I am

keeping my word to return the shuttle and droids back to your control.”

She nodded, her throat too choked with emotion to dare speak for fear of revealing

her feelings. It would be better if he assumed she worried about her fate.

Coal rose to his feet, hovering over her, and then he pulled her into his arms. “It

will be fine. Don’t worry.”

The feel of his arms holding her, his wonderful masculine scent and hot skin

pressed against her cheek would be sorely missed. She hugged him back, hoping she

didn’t cling too tightly. She nodded rather than speak.

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Stealing Coal

His hands gently rubbed her lower back through her shirt. “They may seem

frightening but know I’d never allow anyone to hurt you.”

She nodded again.

“Let me dock to them and then we’ll greet them in the cargo hold.”

“Okay,” she said softly, making her arms release him although she regretted doing

it. She stepped away to give him room to move.

Coal dropped back into the pilot seat, his full focus on the controls. She took the

time to compose her unstable emotions. She would drink some of the strong booze her

father’s crew had kept aboard. She’d never touched it but after Coal left
,
she’d need it.

Getting drunk would be the only thing that might keep her from attempting to follow

him to whatever system he lived in just for a chance of a not-so-accidental meeting with

him in the near future.

“We’re slowing and turning for a soft dock,” he informed her minutes later.

“Their ships must really move fast to reach us so quickly.”
Lame response
, she

berated silently.
But it beats me begging him to open fire on his friends, disabling their ships

long enough for us to full burn so we can run away from them
.

The shuttle bumped into something softly, the deck of the floor vibrating slightly,

and she knew they’d docked. Coal grinned when he shut down the engines. He stood

and turned to address Fray.

“Stand down and inform the other droids that guests are boarding. They pose no

danger to anything on the shuttle. I want the three of you to shut down until I give

further orders.”

Fray nodded. “I will relay the order.” He claimed the pilot seat.

Coal held out his hand to Jill. “Come with me. Until they realize you are a friend do

not make any sudden movements. Just stay at my side.”

“Okay.” She tried to push down the fear that had her heart racing slightly.
Coal

happened to be a sweetheart but what if the other cyborgs weren’t?
That silent question left

her definitely disturbed. She repeated it aloud.

His squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I gave you my word to free you without

harm and they will have to honor it.”

That didn’t set her at ease by much but, despite her misgivings, she followed

alongside him when he moved toward the door. Her dread rose with each step until she

fought the urge to flee to her quarters to hide there until after Coal left. His firm hold on

her hand kept her at his side though. He walked to exterior loading door and released

the lock. The door slid open.

Four tall cyborgs stood waiting on the other side in the docking sleeve attached to

the
Jenny
. All of them wore tight, black leather uniforms that covered their bodies from

their gray-colored throats to their kickass, military-style, matching black boots. The man

in the lead had jet-black hair that fell to his wide, gigantic shoulders but his bright,

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Laurann Dohner

piercing blue eyes captured Jill’s attention the most. His gaze pinned her where she

stood.

“This is Jill,” Coal’s voice deepened. “She rescued me. She’s our friend.”

The big, scary cyborg shifted his intense gaze from hers to stare calmly at Coal. “She

located and took the pod aboard?” He glanced around the cargo hold. “What happened

to Councilman Zorus then?” He frowned at Coal after visually searching the area.

“The life pod is on a damaged cargo freighter. The crew picked us up from space

and separated him from me.” Anger tightened Coal’s voice. “The humans who found

us weren’t friendly. Jill is a trader who came aboard their freighter where they held me

captive and stole me away from them. When they came after us I made certain not to

blow them up for fear Zorus remained onboard. I didn’t want to accidentally kill him

along with the human crew. I have memorized the coordinates of their last location to

give you to search their ship for him. I doubt they’ve traveled far, taking into

consideration the damage I caused their engines.” He paused. “I wasn’t able to go after

him myself. Jill’s ship is severely outdated, slow, and I needed more men for the odds

of a successful rescue to be favorable.”

“Um…” Jill whispered and she cleared her throat, trying to speak louder. Five pairs

of cyborg eyes turned on her. She looked up at Coal since he didn’t scare her. “That

captain of the freighter mentioned another cyborg but I forgot about it until this

moment. He said Earth Government sent a ship and they took him. The crew hid you to

keep them from taking you as well. Your friend is probably either on his way to Earth

or already there. I have no idea how long you were with them and the captain didn’t

say how long ago it happened.”

Coal winced, his thumb stroking the back of her hand while he gazed at her.

“You’re sure?”

“Captain Raul told me he decided to keep you because you looked meaner for

fighting on Arris. He said the other one looked kind of pretty and didn’t look as though

he’d fought much. It really pissed him off that Earth Government had taken your friend

without even paying him for finding a cyborg. He seemed sure a reward should have

been paid.”

“Damn,” one of the cyborgs muttered. “Well, we tried. If he’s reached Earth, he’s

lost to us forever. What a shame that is.” He chuckled. “Poor them. Imagine his

temperament after being around what he hates most.”

“Sky,” Flint turned his head to shoot an irritated look at a gray-haired cyborg with

really scary, unusually pale-blue eyes that had an odd look to them. “We still have to

attempt to retrieve him. I’m not fond of the councilman either but he’s one of our

brothers. He also knows everything about us. They could torture him until his mind

snaps and then he might give them all the information they wish to gain about us.”

“Or,” Sky grinned widely. “They’ll believe he’s an example of what we’ve become

and decide we’re too damn sadistic to fuck with. If anyone could make Earth decide to

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Stealing Coal

avoid cyborgs at any cost, it would be Zorus. I know, after spending time with him, that

I would do nearly anything to avoid further contact.”

A dark-haired cyborg laughed. “He makes a valid point, Flint.”

Annoyance flashed on Flint’s face. “Don’t encourage him, Onyx.” He turned to face

Sky. “You know more about humans than anyone. How would we obtain him from

Earth Government? I need solutions instead of snide comments. Shut off your

personality traits this instant and answer me. That’s a direct order.”

The cyborg sobered, his pale, strange eyes locking with Flint’s. “First we’d have to

locate where they sent him. They could be keeping him prisoner on one of their war

vessels but my estimation would be that they wouldn’t wish him contained near all that

technology with his active implants. On a ship they couldn’t effectively shield all the

access points to the main computers. If it were me, I’d keep him drugged while

transporting him to a secure location on Earth where they could restrict his abilities.

Their smartest move would be to hold him in one of the detention centers where they

kept us once if any of them are still operational. We know the locations of them if that’s

what they’ve done. It’s also logical they wouldn’t believe we’d willingly risk returning

to Earth under any circumstances to retrieve him. It means surprise would be in our

favor.”

“If he’s there, what is next? Hacking into their security systems to find him

shouldn’t be too difficult. Humans were always too dependent on them to store all their

information.” Flint took a deep breath. “It’s getting on and off Earth to break him out

that will provide a challenge.”

“We can’t take the
Star
or the
Rally
within range of Earth. They obviously know we

didn’t legally obtain them after that insurance company tried to retrieve one of them

once. They’d send a warship to intercept us as soon as we entered the system.”

Flint’s blue gaze locked on Jill. “Coal did say she’s in the trading business. We

could use this shuttle to reach Earth without triggering alarm. They allow Earth ships to

land on the planet.”

Jill’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. An instant protest formed but she never

got the words out. Coal released her hand and stepped in front of her to block the stare

of the other cyborg.

“No. She believes Earth Government has a warrant issued for her arrest. She once

had a run-in with a few of them. I won’t put her at risk in any way. Think of something

else, Flint. She saved my life and I gave her my word no harm would come to her.”

“Belief and fact are not the same.” Flint’s voice grew cold. “Rescuing Councilman

Zorus is paramount.”

“Not to me.” Coal’s body tensed, his arms tightening until the ridges of muscle

seemed to strain. “Her safety and well-being are my priority.”

Jill inched to the left a little to peer at the four cyborgs facing off against Coal. Flint

had an angry frown fixed on his features and his eyes seemed to darken. He held Coal’s

gaze, never even glancing her way, and then crossed his arms.

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Laurann Dohner

“I sympathize. I don’t wish any harm to come to the female but we must go after

Zorus.”

“Find another way.” Coal’s deep voice sounded his anger. “She’s done enough

already to risk her life for a cyborg. That freighter came after this shuttle intent on

killing her for taking me away from them. She had no reason to do what she did yet she

still stole me from them. I’m sure they reported my theft to Earth Government.”

“That wouldn’t be logical,” Onyx spoke. “She stated the captain of the freighter

didn’t hand you over to the authorities and hid your existence. It would be detrimental

for them to admit they’d done that. They can’t report a theft of something they refused

to state they were in possession of in the first place.”

Chilly dark-blue eyes shifted to Jill. “Why do you believe you’re wanted by Earth

Government?”

She hesitated. “About ten months ago I did a trade with a small government

outpost. They realized I didn’t have a crew and decided they could force me to return

the payment they’d made, figuring they could pocket it themselves, and wanted to sell

me into one of the nearby whorehouse ships to gain some extra profit. I wasn’t stupid

enough not to go in armed and managed to get to my shuttle but they followed me

straight into an asteroid field. I couldn’t outrun them, they were gaining on me, and I’d

grown desperate enough to fly into it, thinking they wouldn’t follow. They did. Their

newer shuttle didn’t have as much shielding as these older models, which have it to

make up for the sluggish navigational controls. They blew up after a few direct hits

from the asteroids while I just suffered a lot of dents to the hull. I’m sure they reported

it before they came after me.”

Onyx shook his head. “It sounds as if they were attempting to steal money from the

government and ruin a trade contact. They wouldn’t have reported any illegal actions

they took to their superiors. It would be foolish. We know enough about Earth

Government to be certain they would have taken swift action to make an example out

of their men for disobeying their code of conduct.”

“They search all incoming and outgoing vessels that want to land on Earth,” she

warned them. “Even if I’m not wanted, there’s no way to get you to the surface

undetected. They’d board the
Jenny
and find you when they scan it for illegal

contraband. It’s protocol to do that to anything incoming.”

“I’m not risking her life.” Coal shook his head and directed a furious glare at Flint.

“Your argument isn’t valid, considering humans are not known for being logical. She

could very well be wanted by Earth Government and therefore, that is putting her at

risk of arrest or death.”

Flint took a deep breath and said, “I see. She means something to you.”

Coal jerked his head. “She does.”

Jill’s heart soared when he said the words but his next ones left her feeling cold.

“I gave her my word that I’d release her shuttle as soon as I found you. I swore on