Free The Lost Starship by Vaughn Heppner Page B

quietly.
    She glanced to her left. This man also wore a black leather jacket and had a shaven scalp. The sight of him made her stomach tighten. What was going on? This wasn’t good.
    “Clancy failed,” the man said. “I assure you, I won’t.”
    Valerie saw that he had a shock wand hidden in his grip, most of it up his leather sleeve. She reached out, trying to block the hand that held the wand. The man’s other hand chopped her wrist. He obviously knew close combat techniques. Her wrist exploded with pain. She jerked her arm away. Then he brought the wand closer. If it touched her— A third man now got into the action. This one was tall and lean. From behind, he hit the thug’s elbow. The shock wand slipped out of the numbed grip and clattered onto the mall floor. The taller man kicked the shock wand away into a crowd of people.
    “What the—” Black Leather Jacket said.
    He never had the chance to finish his question. The taller man grabbed the back of the man’s belt and positioned his other hand on the man’s shoulders. The taller man strode briskly, and he must have been stronger than he looked. He drove Black Leather Jacket headfirst against a mall column. The man struck it with considerable force.
    Valerie winced at the brutal sound.
    The man simply collapsed at the base of the granite-looking column.
    Someone in the crowd screamed.
    The taller man gripped one of Valerie’s elbows. “My name is Captain Maddox,” he said in a cool voice. “I believe the Lord High Admiral spoke about me.”
    Valerie could only nod.
    Captain Maddox led her away from the brutality, quickly merging into the crowd. Behind them, people stopped and stared at the fallen man. Valerie knew enough to realize the thug had been an expert at what he did. He could have been a professional hitman.
    “Who were they?” she asked breathlessly.
    “The enemy,” Maddox said.
    “What enemy?”
    He didn’t glance down at her. He kept moving his head unobtrusively, no doubt scanning the crowd.
    “For now,” Maddox said, “we shall call the enemy them .”
    “You can’t mean the New Men ,” she said.
    Maddox winced slightly. “None of that please. Them . That’s what we’ll call the enemy in public.”
    “You can’t be serious.”
    “Ah. I didn’t know you had a sense of humor. Thank you for informing me.”
    She frowned at him. “Are you making fun of me?” She didn’t let anyone make fun of her.
    “Lieutenant Noonan, I am not making fun of you. This is simply my way when I’m nervous.”
    She gave him a more careful study. He didn’t look nervous in the slightest.
    “This way,” he said.
    She didn’t need to ask. He had powerful fingers, and his grip hurt her elbow. There was a sense of urgency to him, too. Normally, no one guided her. It began to dawn on Valerie, however, that she had stepped into a seriously dangerous assignment. The Lord High Admiral had hinted in that regard. He had tried to warn her away from doing this. Well, he had pretended to. Valerie knew enough about dares to realize he had been goading her into going.
    I’m as good as any taxpayer. I am a taxpayer now. I didn’t run away from the New Men. I followed the orders of the best officer in our fleet. The Lord High Admiral asked me to do this because this is finally my chance to shine in the line of duty. I’m going to show them. I’m going to show them all what Tank Noonan’s daughter can do .
    “Do you see any more of the black leather jacket gang?” she asked.
    “No ,” Maddox said. “They’ve dropped away. They’re watching us, though. They wonder what I’m doing here with you. They’re curious about what we’re going to do next.”
    “What are we going to do?” Valerie asked.
    Captain Maddox glanced down at her. He was handsome and maybe even younger than she was, and there a feeling of extreme competence in his bearing.
    “We’re going to do the unexpected,” he said.
    “Okay. What is that?”
    “Do you see that door