Free Aries Revealed by Mina Carter Page B

off compared to the station ones, the blue a shade too dark.
    His breath caught as one of them disappeared out of frame for a second, then returned, dragging a smaller figure with him by the scruff of the neck. As he approached the other one, he shoved his captive forward so she sprawled over the deck. She rolled and came back to her feet with her fists up, but Johnny could already see the darkening bruise over one side of her face where she’d been hit.
    His heart lurched, all but stopped for a second before it kicked up a notch, adrenaline and murderous rage flooding his body. The screech of metal drew his attention away from the screen and he looked down at his hands. Blood welled across the ruined desk, his fingers wrapped around the sheet metal, crumpling it as though it were paper. His gaze flicked back up to the screen in time to see one of the men backhand Milly again.
    He stood. They were going to pay.
    In blood.
     
    She was going to die.
    The instant the lift started to move again, adrenaline poured through Milly’s system. Someone had control of the lift from the bridge, the same someone who was piloting her ship out of dock and into space. Whichever way she cut a situation like this, one thing was for sure, it wasn’t going to end up well for her. She didn’t know many hijackers who looked after the crews of the ships they took or put them off at the nearest planet, moon or asteroid with thanks and a nice little survival basket. No, most hijackers just herded them into an airlock and vented it to space. No crew, no bodies to stink the place up, no problem.
    “Shitshitshitshit.”
    The muttered refrain rolled around the small enclosure as she looked around in the vain hope she might have missed something she could use as a weapon the fifty other times she’d scanned it. The blank walls and empty floor mocked her. She was screwed, six ways to Sunday and back again.
    The lift pulled level with the doors. Her heart pounded, fit to burst from her chest as she eyed them with something near panic. Her only hope was to burst through them as soon as they opened and take whoever was on the other side by surprise, a course of action that would have one of three possible outcomes. She would manage to escape, slipping past whoever was there to the bridge proper and beyond into the corridors of the command level…she could wrest some kind of weapon from them—although, knowing her luck, they’d be carrying nothing more dangerous than a breakfast pastry and the morning news-flexi…more likely was that she’d be caught, marched down to the airlock and introduced to cold, hard space.
    She gathered herself, crouched low with her legs bunched under her. Her body ached, buzzing with the energy pouring through her as she watched the doors like a Quolaxian hawk.
    They opened. With a wordless bellow, she launched herself through them.
    “Frigging ‘ell!”
    She collided with the person on the other side. Armed and male, he was taller than she was by at least a foot. Face grim with determination, she wrapped her hands around the pulse shotgun he carried and tried to twist it from his hands.
    “What the f— Oh no, you don’t, you little bitch,” he muttered, fighting her for possession of the weapon. The struggle was short lived, her strength no match for his. With a grunt, he jerked the gun from her grasp and lashed out.
    The butt of the gun crashed into her cheek. Pain flared across her face as her head was slammed back and stars to rival the most beautiful space scene exploded across her vision. The coppery, metallic tang of blood filled her mouth as hard hands grabbed her. Even though she couldn’t see properly, her attackers face hidden behind starburst nebulas in green and purple, she fought like a wildcat. Kicking and screaming she lashed out with her nails and fists and tried everything she had to get loose.
    “Oh, you’re a wild little thing, aren’t you? Fucking well hold still .”
    “For god’s sake,