you deserve a helluva lot worse than that.”
Pelarus licked his lips before drawing in a ragged breath. “What if I tell you where I hid the money?”
Moe shrugged. “I don’t believe we’ll need any help finding it. At least, not from you.” He nodded toward the navigation panel. “You laid in a course; I know because I watched you do it, and I have some experience with navigation systems. We’ll just go wherever it is you were headed and have a friend of ours hack into the local web so we can recover all of your ill-gotten gains.” With an assessing gaze at his adversary’s drooping wings, he added, “Unlike you, Val has some truly awesome wings.”
“Val?” Pelarus nearly choked on the word. “Do you mean Valkyrie? The Avian clone?”
Moe chuckled. “Yeah. Kinda figured you’d know him. I’m guessing he was cloned by the same guy as you.”
“He was part of an–an experiment.”
“While you and your forebears were paying customers,” Moe said with a nod. He’d heard bits and pieces of Val’s shocking history—enough to know he had no love for his “creator.” “Val’s still kinda pissed about all that. He’s gonna love helping to bring you down. Now, all I have to do is call him.”
“No need for that,” a tall, dark-haired woman said as she stepped from the ladder. “He’s already here.” She glared at Pelarus. “And so am I, bucko.”
Chapter 26
Moe couldn’t help but laugh. “Hey, Mom. Should’ve known you’d show up sooner or later.”
“You can thank your pilot—Nevid whatever-his-name-is,” Jack replied. Drawing her trusty pulse pistol, Tex, from its holster, she aimed it at Pelarus in a move as smooth as it was automatic. “He summoned the troops as soon as he lost contact with you.”
“Took off with my ship and left me stranded here, you mean,” Moe said with a snort.
“Claims he was under attack and that the ship was about to be boarded.”
“All he had to do was close the damn hatch,” Moe grumbled. “Nobody could’ve gotten past that palm lock.”
Jack shrugged. “Apparently, there were some big guns involved. Anyway, Cat and I are here, along with Larry and Althea and their three kittens—and Nevid, of course. Leroy is on his way, just in case we needed more firepower, although we could probably call him off now.”
“Damn,” Moe exclaimed. “Nevid must’ve panicked big-time to get all of you here. Too bad you didn’t arrive a day or two sooner. Could’ve saved me some dungeon time.”
Jack gave him the same withering look he’d often received as a boy. “You don’t really think I could get a message like that and not strain the engines getting here, do you?”
“Not really. I know how much you love to save the day.”
“Looks like I’m too late for that this time,” she said with a sigh. “You appear to have everything under control.” She eyed Pelarus with mild interest. “So this is the dude causing all the trouble?”
“That’s the one,” Moe replied. “Claims he knows Val.”
Jack let out a low whistle. “Is that so? Although I’m not surprised, considering the, um, wings. Interestingly enough, Val just happened to be aboard Larry’s ship when they got the call. Convenient, huh?”
A whisper of wings heralded the Avian clone’s arrival. Landing lightly on the deck, Val fixed his unsettling gaze on Pelarus. “He does indeed know me. He was aware of our desperate situation and made no attempt to help us escape.”
Not surprisingly, Pelarus didn’t say a word, but his wings began to quiver.
Moe waved a hand. “Hey, Val. Long time no see.” He glanced toward the ladder. “Where’s Klara?”
Jack stomped a foot. “Are you kidding me? Do you really think I’d let a pregnant Zetithian woman—especially one who’s carrying my grandchildren—climb that rickety ladder when we weren’t sure whether you’d gotten the drop on this punk yet?”
Moe grinned. “I, um, take it you’ve met her.”
“Yep. Nice girl. Filled me in on the pertinent details with no muss or fuss.”
“That’s Klara, all right,” Moe said with a nod. “Although I’m kinda surprised you were able to keep her from coming aboard.”
“Yeah, well, I promised I’d take good care of you until she—”
“Get out of my way, Harlex!” Klara shouted from below. “I’m going up there and you aren’t going to stop me!”
Moments later, Klara clambered onto the bridge with a rifle slung across her back. After a sweeping glance, presumably to assess the situation, she ran toward Moe. “Thank the gods!” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. “I thought