ago. Wendy messaged me. They raided our house, Ellis. Wendy was so scared. They put my parents in handcuffs and took them to prison and called social services for Wendy.”
“Okay, it’ll be all right,” I said. “At least she’s safe and -”
“No!” Inara clutched at me with her cold hands. “She isn’t safe. Social services called my uncle. Because I’m here, he’s the next of kin, so they called him, and he-he took her.”
“Fuck,” I said.
Inara started to cry again and I led her to the table and made her sit down before grabbing some tissue. She blew her nose and wiped at her cheeks. “He has her at his place and Wendy’s so scared. He told her that she has to do what he says and that in a few days she’s going to meet some very special friends of his and stay with them for a while.”
“Oh Jesus.” My heart kicked up a notch and the adrenaline surging through my veins made my head throb.
“He’s going to sell her for juice,” Inara said. “I know he is.”
“Okay, it’s all right,” I said. “The Draax won’t want her. She’s too young and -”
“He’s not selling her to the Draax,” Inara said. “He’s selling her to some human men who will give him juice for her.”
“How do you know that?” I said.
“Wendy saw him hologramming with the men. She’s freaking out. She hologrammed me and she was crying and so scared.” Tears dripped down Inara’s face. “I told her to call the police, but then my uncle – he showed up and he grabbed her phone and told me to mind my own fucking business. I told him I was calling the cops and he said to go ahead. That the police wouldn’t bother to even show up. Then he ended the hologram and I haven’t been able to get a hold of her since. It just keeps ringing. He probably took her PAR phone.”
“Did you contact the police?” I said.
“Yes,” she said. “They took my information and I gave them my uncle’s address. They said they’d look into it but the woman on the phone was barely interested and …”
I sighed. “You’re a lower and they don’t fucking care about us lowers.”
“They don’t,” Inara whispered before bursting into fresh sobs. “I don’t know what to do, Ellis.”
“We can talk to Sabrina,” I said. “Maybe she can talk to the king and -”
“And what?” Inara said. “They wouldn’t let Tasha leave to see her dying grandmother, remember?”
“Yeah, but your sister is in danger and, plus, there’s a temporary peace treaty happening between Emira and Cillade right now so there’s a window to get to Earth. Maybe they’ll let you go home.”
Inara laughed bitterly. “They won’t. The king won’t risk his men to take me home.”
“But if you tell them about your sister -”
“They won’t care,” Inara said. “Why would they? I’m just an employee.”
I rubbed at my forehead. I wanted to tell her she was wrong, but the truth was – I didn’t actually believe that Quill would allow her to leave. Not if it put his men at risk.
“I don’t know what to do,” Inara whispered. “They’re going to hurt her and…”
She swallowed convulsively, her face so pale that I thought she might pass out on me.
I stared at my arm before taking a deep breath. Fuck me.
“She’s going to be okay,” I said.
“She won’t be,” Inara said.
“She will. We’re going to rescue her,” I said.
Inara stared at me with her mouth open. “What? How?”
“I have access to the docking bay,” I said. “We’re gonna steal a ship at dawn and fly to Earth. Easy peasy.”
“Have you lost your mind? You have a tracking chip in your arm, and you can’t fly a Draax ship.”
“I’ve flown the vroha battle ships before,” I said.
“In a flight simulator with a ten-year-old,” Inara said.
“So? It’s basically the same thing,” I said. “Look, these things practically fly themselves. All I have to do is fly it out of the Draax atmosphere. Once we’re in space, I can program in the Earth’s coordinates and let auto pilot take over.”
“What about the tracking chip in your arm?” Inara said.
I stood and opened a kitchen drawer, taking out a sharp knife. I pressed it against my skin, and ignoring Inara’s horrified gasp, sliced the flesh open above the tracking chip. Grimacing, biting back my instinct to shout a string of curses at the sharp pain, I pulled the chip out and set it on the counter