Free Gray Card by Cassandra Chandler Page A

picked her way through the trees as quietly as she could, approaching the ship from a direction that wasn’t easily visible from within. Reaching the ship wouldn’t be hard. Getting up the ramp without Todd seeing her—that was the challenge.
    She paused under the ramp and listened. Todd was still talking, taunting Adam. She let out a shaky breath. That meant Adam was still alive.
    The ship was small and low to the ground. Evelyn could shimmy up onto the ramp at its midpoint, minimizing how long she’d be visible from inside. Branch in hand, she practically crawled on her belly till she could see into the ship.
    Todd was focused on Adam. Even better, with her gone, Todd had moved so that he was standing near the ramp with his back to her. Evelyn had a clear shot.
    She took a deep breath and held it, rising to her feet and noiselessly crossing the short distance between them. All the while, internally she chanted, Please, please, please ...
    When she brought the branch down on the back of Todd’s head, hard enough that the wood made a loud cracking sound, she could barely believe it had worked. But Todd fell to the floor, the gun skittering out of his hand.
    Evelyn kicked the silver disk out of Todd’s other hand, then ran to get the gun. She shifted her club to her non-dominant hand, and wheeled around with the gun in the other.
    “Take that, you… Oh.”
    Adam was standing with the small silver disk held out toward Todd, who was still face-down on the floor. From the looks of things, Todd wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.
    The look on Adam’s face was priceless. His eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open. He just kept staring at her.
    Evelyn couldn’t believe her plan had worked. She was still shaking with adrenaline and felt like she might burst into tears or maniacal laughter at any moment. Or maybe throw up.
    Instead, she pointed her branch at Todd and said, “Take that, asshat! Nobody messes with my planet or my man!”
    A broad smile spread across Adam’s face, though the wonder remained. “I will make sure everyone gets the message.”

Chapter Fourteen
    Securing the liaison more permanently was a simple matter once Adam made a few adjustments to the suspension disk they commandeered. Figuring out what to do with him after was more troublesome.
    Adam was just glad Todd couldn’t talk while in stasis. Evelyn would probably hit him with her branch again. She’d kept it close by and was even talking about turning it into some sort of memento.
    Thanks to her, the biggest problem Adam faced at the moment was dealing with her proximity and not being able to do anything about it. Once she had learned that his crew was on the way to take Todd into custody, she insisted that they not take their eyes off their prisoner, referencing half a dozen movies where the villain managed to slip away when the protagonists let down their guard.
    Making out with Evelyn in front of Todd would just be awkward for everyone. Not that Adam really gave a damn what Todd thought.
    Adam was saved when his second-in-command walked up the ramp. A fellow glitch, Khel was as tall as Adam and even more muscular. Khel’s features were heavy compared to most men’s. Well, most non-Earth men’s.
    His skin would probably turn bronze after only a few days in the sun, but at the moment, Khel sported the pallor that many space-faring people wore. It matched his pale blond hair and light blue eyes.
    “You got here fast,” Adam said.
    They aligned their forearms and clasped each other’s elbows in the customary greeting among the military ranks.
    “We were already en route, after the skeelbat’s nest you roused with your communication yesterday.”
    Two other crewmates, a man and woman, entered the ship and saluted Adam. He acknowledged the gesture with a nod, and handed over the suspension disk to the woman. She put the disk in a portable artificial gravity control unit and adjusted the settings till Todd’s stasis field became an