My Hero (Starship for Sale Book 8) by M.R. Forbes

Author:M.R. Forbes [Forbes, M.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2022-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Quasar and I emerged from cover, the gunfight with Legrond and his lackeys over. Shaq crouched a few feet away from Lorai, glaring up at Legrond. The merc leader was the last of the Niflin standing, the muzzle of his blaster pressed against Lorai's temple. “Please,” she begged. “Let me go.”

He ignored her plea, his attention completely on Zar and me. Did that mean the archon had killed whoever had attacked them from the adjoining corridor ? Did that mean Emerald had…?

“Heya, Boo,” Emerald said, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin when she came up behind me. She raised her blaster, adding it to our total firepower directed at the Niflin.

“Geez, Em. Maybe you need a bell like Ixy.”

“If you’re here, Emerald," Quasar asked, "who’s—?”

“Our buddies from the elevator,” Emerald said. “I had to shake them and maybe kick them in the head a few times, but I got them up and told them you two had taken an employee hostage.”

“We took her hostage?” I said.

She shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it? They went that way while I circled back around to you.”

I smiled at her, shaking my head, before returning my attention to Legrond. “You might as well let the nurse go, asshole. It’s the only way you might get out of this alive. And I know saving your own miserable hide is your top priority.”

He glared at me, pressing the gun harder to Lorai’s temple, making her grimace. “Or I keep her hostage and walk right past you to the elevator.”

“I guess you could try that,” I replied. “But I wonder if you could pull that trigger before Shaq can get his teeth into you. Or before I wrap her head with reflect and send the round back into your hand. Maybe both.”

Legrond’s face twisted while he considered how eager he was to take the risk. Finally, he dropped his blaster and pushed Lorai away. She looked down the adjacent hallway, her face paling at whatever she saw there before she rushed toward me. I wrapped my free arm around her as she slammed almost hard enough into me to knock me off balance. Under better circumstances, it might have been a dream come true. Not so much here and now.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” she cried, clutching two fistfuls of my jacket. “I won’t tell anyone you were here.”

Hearing her words, Legrond started laughing. “You try so hard to play the hero, Murdock. And yet the whole Spiral believes you’re a villain. How does that feel?”

“I just think about how satisfying it’ll be when I out the Empress for the fraud she is,” I replied. “That’s enough to keep it from bothering me in the slightest.” I lowered my head close to Lorai’s, the sweet smell of her hair filling my nostrils. I wouldn’t admit it, but it killed me that she was afraid of me. “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe now,” I whispered, gently pushing her behind me while not taking my eyes off Legrond.

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