Free Stripper: The Fringe, Book 4 by Anitra Lynn McLeod Page A

ain’t here for no whores, Gary. We need script, stuff we can sell. Damn Randoms stripped our ship to the bone.”
    “Maybe we should just take this one,” another male voice said.
    “Hey, yeah! We could sell it! Most of this shit is way better than what we got.”
    They argued amongst themselves. Loudly. There was no clear leader. Duster rolled his eyes. Amateurs. Four desperate idiots. Apparently, they just survived an attack by Randoms. The space pirates were so dubbed due to their unpredictable nature. As Duster listened to them, he realized talking wouldn’t get him anything but trouble. He had to act, and he would only have the element of surprise once.
    Assessing them in the muted light that came from their own flashlights, Duster realized only one of them had a gun, and it looked like an ancient Sod Buster. He didn’t think any of those museum pieces were in actual use anymore. In fact, the only one he’d ever seen had been on the hip of Jace Lawless. Poor bastards really must be in dire straits.
    Gary held the gun out in a trembling hand. Good, that crummy gun made it a little more even. After plucking one of his blades out of his back pocket, Duster waited until they started forward again, then threw his blade right into Gary’s head.
    The blade thunked through his eye and into his brain so fast, Gary didn’t even scream. He just toppled back, dead on impact. The other idiots clustered around him in confusion, shining their lights on his body and each other.
    Duster readied another blade. When they looked up, he thunked his second blade into the one called Danny. It hit the front of his throat. Danny uttered a squealing gurgle out of the hole as he fell to his knees. Not dead on impact, but damn close.
    One of the other two idiots swung his flashlight around, caught Duster in the beam and charged like a bull. Duster threw his one left-draw blade but only hit the guy in the leg. The guy kept coming. When he got close enough, he launched himself, knocking Duster to the floor. As Duster grappled with the man, he lost sight of the other one.
    Pushing back on his attacker’s neck, Duster realized he wasn’t a man but a freaking kid. Twenty at best. Duster wanted to just subdue him, but the kid was stronger than he appeared and definitely looking to kill him. Having no choice, Duster got his big hands around the kid’s neck, did a sharp lift and twist, broke his neck, then dumped him to the floor.
    Panting hard, Duster darted his gaze frantically for the last. The lights came on, and Duster jumped back, taking cover in the main hallway.
    “Looky what I got.” The last man standing held Diane in front of him like a shield. He was no kid but a crafty man who hid behind the one person he’d correctly assessed Duster wouldn’t harm in any way.
    Diane’s robe was open as the belt still hung in tatters around her wrists. Burgundy silk skimmed down her beautiful, trembling body and he shot his gaze right to that patch of tawny hair in an enticing V. Duster forced his gaze to her face.
    Diane’s eyes were huge and her chin was queenly high. Not from pride but from a long, sweeping blade held there. Terror transfixed her. All at once, she looked compellingly beautiful and terrifyingly vulnerable. Diane must have come out of her room to see what was happening, perhaps to check on his well-being, and now this bastard had her.
    And in that instant, Duster realized he still loved her. He could rage at her and hide behind a wall of justifiable anger, but the love was still there, just as intense as it ever was. If that man holding her harmed her, Duster was going to make his death a slow and painful one. No one but no one was going to mess with his wife.
    “Guess I came in the middle of you coming.” The last interloper standing spoke with a grunting sneer to his voice. Placing one blade-filled hand to her neck, he lifted the other hand and cupped Diane’s generous breast. Duster did a slow burn when the man pinched