Star Marque Vendetta (The Star Marque Trilogy Book 2) by Shami Stovall

Author:Shami Stovall [Stovall, Shami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Capital Station Books
Published: 2021-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Jailcell

Our holding cell smelled of cleaning chemicals.

I knew why. They had machines in the corners of the room that sprayed down the cell after the inmates were removed. The machines worked automatically. It didn’t matter how much the cell reeked of artificial scents—the damn machines would squirt down the entire cell from corner to corner.

The cell was larger than most I had seen. It was three meters by three meters—a perfect little cube. Two walls had benches. One wall had built-in cuffs. That was my wall. They had my hands cuffed above my head, and my feet cuffed near the floor. I would’ve said it excited me to be in that position, but none of our guards seemed up for some erotic disciplinary action.

I missed Capital Station. I had gotten to know one guard really well…

The military police hadn’t locked up Cai, though. He paced the cell with his hands behind his back.

“Vectin-10 is fuckin’ crazy,” he muttered, his tone heated. “I’ve never been placed in a high-security holding cell when running down a bounty. Never. Never.”

I tugged at my restraints. The duralumin was too tough to force my way out of. I could harm my hand—ripping the muscles in my thumb to dislocate it—but the one time I had done that, I had been out of commission for an entire week due to the pain. I had only gotten over it once a buddy of mine had gotten me some mother cell fluid and a doctor.

The last wall was open and consisted entirely of bars and the door. I could see into the wide corridor, but what worried me was the absence of anyone else. We had one guard to watch us. The other holding cells were empty.

The dull gray floor, steel-colored walls, and dark ceiling made for an oppressive atmosphere. The overhead lights were bright—too bright. They added to my anxiety.

Cai wheeled on me, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. “Well? What’s going on here? Is Vectin-10 so different that we aren’t given proper due process? Normally—even if I break a law—I’m let out on bail, for fuck’s sake.”

I smirked. “It’s because they want me here. They’re going to kill me.”

Every fiber of my being told me it was true.

Cai scoffed and then offered a forced laugh. “Who is they?”

“The planet governor and her goons.”

Cai mulled over my comment, then he laughed again, this time genuinely. “I didn’t take you for a conspiracy theorist quack. The planet governor isn’t going to kill some lowly starship captain. That’s insane. She’s got bigger problems to worry about.”

As if the world had a sense of humor, the lights flickered once, and then went out.

There weren’t any windows in this room. We were shrouded in a thick darkness that stank of chemicals and burned my nose. The sole guard on duty turned on a flashlight, but then he stormed out, grumbling something.

“What the hell is going on?” Cai asked as he stumbled over to a bench and sat down. “These buildings are powered by some amazing reactors.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.