Her Cyborg Champion (The Drift Haven Colony #2) - Susan Hayes Page 0,53

had it in his hand. He twirled it, thinking about the damage he’d do once he found the bastards who’d taken Maggie.

She’d fought back. That was clear. The only energy weapon she had was the kes’tarv he’d given her. Had she taken down any of her attackers? He couldn’t tell. But three against one were impossible odds for someone like her, even if she was armed.

Armed. With a weapon he’d given her. And it had a tracking beacon.

It took him a few seconds to activate the link. Belatedly he realized Maggie didn’t know about it. He’d intended to show her this afternoon during their training session. She wouldn’t be happy he’d forgotten to tell her, but he could add that to the list of things he needed to apologize for—right after he killed everyone involved in her abduction.

The tracker pinged. The simple system didn’t rely on satellite support. All it gave him was a direction and relative distance to target.

Whoever had her was fleeing toward the ocean. He turned and followed, but within a minute he knew it was hopeless. The beacon pulsed every thirty seconds, and by the time the third ping came, it was clear they were traveling too fast for him to catch them. That confirmed it. They weren’t Vardarians or cyborgs. Neither species could sustain that kind of speed for so long.

Strangers were on his planet, and they’d taken Maggie. Now, he was going to get her back.

He pulled out his comm unit and sent a message to the only beings he knew would come help without running afoul of the council—Wreckage and Ruin. He couldn’t ask Edge or any of the others. They needed to stay and protect Haven in case he was wrong.

He had no idea how many they’d be up against, though, so he sent another message. He didn’t know if Damos and Tra’var would help or not, but he didn’t know who else to ask.

Then he contacted Skye. “Someone took her. I’m going to get her back. Keep the others safe. Don’t tell Edge or Shadow what’s going on. They’d have to tell the council, and I don’t want anyone telling me I can’t go after Maggie.”

He snorted to himself. Granted, once they did know, the council would probably want to have a meeting to discuss their options. By the time they’d decided, Maggie would be safely at home. It was clear to him now that she was going to need a bodyguard… probably for the rest of her life. He was just going to have to convince her that he was the one for the job.

Once she’d forgiven him for letting his anger and biases blind him to the truth.

“Ow.” Maggie’s head felt like someone had used it for batting practice, and when she tried to open her eyes, only one of them did. The light made her wince. Where was she and what the hell had happened to her?

“Too bright,” she mumbled and then raised a hand to touch her face. At least, that was what she wanted to do. That’s when she discovered her hands were bound together in front of her. She cracked open her good eye again and took a proper look around. Metal floor. Metal walls. The hum of a fan. The familiar taste of recycled air. Haven had an atmosphere, so there was no need to recycle it. She must be on a ship. But whose? And how had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was…

It took her still-scrambled brain a while to dredge up her memories and string them together in the right order. Once she did, she groaned and closed her eye again.

So much for being a badass. She’d done more damage to the trees than her attackers. Not that she’d had much of a chance to fight back. The transports they drove had been almost silent, and they’d surrounded her before she even realized she wasn’t alone.

She’d done her best, but too much adrenaline and not enough time learning how to wield her new weapon had resulted in a short, ugly fight that had ended when something hit her in the head. There’d been a flash of red and white light and then she was falling. She’d been out before she hit the ground, and judging by how much she ached, no one had caught her on the way down. Assholes.

No one appeared to be around, so she eased herself slowly to a sitting position, discovering new bruises as she