Bounty Hunter

Chapter 58

"It was a good idea, hitting a patrol team," Kit said as he pulled off his shirt. The bio-wraps around each hand made him clumsy, and he couldn't lift his right arm more than halfway without doubling over in pain. Val had her boots, pants, and shirt off before he'd removed his shirt.

Val shrugged as she pulled on the pants belonging to one of the two murcs lying unconscious on the ground. Then she grabbed his shirt. "We need uniforms for our plan to work, but they'll know something's up when these two don't report in."

He kicked off his boots and slid his pants off. He grabbed the murc's pants and pulled them on. He reached for the shirt, wincing as he attempted to put it on.

Val watched him. Before buttoning her shirt, she rolled her eyes. "Here, I've got it." She helped him slip his injured arm into a sleeve.

He tried not to look at her cleavage as she assisted, but he couldn't help but notice that she had plenty of curves, nice curves.

She frowned as she buttoned his shirt. "You have a lot of scars."

He glanced down at his chest and shot her a crooked grin. "You're checking me out."

She rolled her eyes. "I was not checking you out." She stepped away before finishing his shirt and began buttoning hers.

"If you say so." Kit's grin faded as he struggled with the final buttons on his shirt. Pinching his fingers brought pain with the motion. Val groaned, and he looked up to see her struggling to button her shirt as well. But where he struggled because of his injuries, her shirt looked to be a size too small on her chest.

"You can try my shirt," he offered, his cheeks heating.

She shook her head. "I think they're the same size. I'll make it work."

As soon as they'd finished dressing, they grabbed their gear and headed to her cutter. She started handing little orbs to Kit. "Here, put these in your pockets."

He held one up in the early dawn light. "Flash bombs? I've never seen them so small before."

She smiled. "Made them myself. I call them my Baby Betties. They're pressure-sensitive, so a hard throw will set them off. Be sure not to get knocked on the ground with them in your pockets, or else you'll need more than a few painkillers to recover from that."

"Thanks for the tip." He slid them gently into his cargo pockets.

She grabbed several strips of tape with bulbous dots running down the center and slid them carefully into her chest pocket.

He eyed the explosive strips. "You came prepared."

"I've been preparing to take on the Sloans for a long time. I've had the admin building staked out for even longer." She shook her head. "But no matter how well prepared you are, something unexpected will always pop up."

She grabbed a pair of black gloves from the center console. "These should hide your bio-wraps. Someone may get suspicious when they see a soldier walking around with two hands wrapped."

"I figured I'd just tell them that I tried to cook and failed."

"I take it you're a bad cook."

"I'm certainly not a good cook."

Kit tugged them on. The pressure hurt his wounds, but once they were on, they seemed to cradle his injured hands.

Val drove them through Cavil. She cocked her head as she looked for the sun. "Red sky at morning. That's good luck, I think."

Kit chuckled wryly. "I think red skies bring the opposite of good luck. Plus, that's only for ships. We're a thousand miles from the nearest body of water."

"I'll take every bit of luck I can get," she said.

Val drove them to the MRC building. In the courtyard, they saw stands being set up and a single wall being erected. Kit grimaced. "Looks like Sloan wasn't joking about a public execution."

He turned away from the spectacle and pointed to an alley where Silver Shark was parked. "That silver cutter over there is mine. Park near it, but not too close. Cat, no doubt, has eyes on it."

She gave Silver Shark an appraising look. "Nice cutter."

Inside, he beamed. "Thanks."

They strode across the road and into the building without being noticed by the soldiers posted at the entrance. Once inside, Kit said, "We need to find where they have the brig."

"It's just above the barracks," Val said.

He shot her a questioning glance.

"I wasn't always a sheriff," she said. As they walked on, she added, "The murcs didn't have any government experience, so they based their policies and procedures on Zenith State's."

Her comment made Kit suspect that Val's experience had come from Zenith rather than from being on the other side of the law, especially since the way she moved and spoke conveyed military experience. No wonder she had a dislike for the Ravens. Val and Kit had served on opposite sides during the Revolution.

She guided them straight to the brig even though there was no sign posted until they'd traveled through two sets of secured doorways, both of which opened with the keycards the patrol team had had on them.

Two murcs stood guard at the third door.

"We're here to relieve you," Kit said.

The pair of guards looked at each other, confused. "But we just got here ten minutes ago."

Val shot them. They fell, and she stood over them. "You're relieved." She nodded at the panel on the wall. "Open the door."

Kit looked through the small window in the door before swiping his stolen keycard, prompting the door to open. Val grabbed a boot on each unconscious soldier and dragged them through the doorway. Once through, she dropped their legs. They looked at the three cells. Two stood empty. The third contained two hunters in exoshields and a young man in the blue MRC uniform. All three prisoners stood and stared.

"Did any of you call for a rescue?" Kit asked, and swiped his keycard on the panel next to the cell. The bars retracted into the floor.

"I knew it," Rex said and turned to Joe. "I told you so."

Joe ignored Rex and tilted his head toward Kit. "Good to see you're still alive." Then he realized who stood next to him. "Val?"

"I came to kick your ass for leaving me in the lurch, but I see you just got yourself into even more trouble."

Joe shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."

"We have to hurry if we're going to find Sara and Sloan," Kit said.

"You really think you can rescue us and try to save the girl? Last time didn't turn out so great," Rex said.

"You didn't have me last time," Val said.

"What do we have to do?" Reuben asked, stepping forward.

"Follow my lead," Val replied. "We're going to be up against a lot of murcs, so I need all of you shooting."

"I don't have a weapon," Reuben said.

"Don't worry. I'll get you one," Val replied crisply.

Joe noticed that Kit was holding a blaster in his left hand even though he was right-handed. He was also wearing gloves, even though murcs rarely wore gloves. He met Kit's eyes. "You're injured?"

"Nothing that a little rest and relaxation won't fix," Kit replied.

The floor rumbled beneath their feet. Reuben looked at the ground. "You feel that?"

Joe looked at Val. "What's that?"

She smiled. "That's what I call a diversion."