Lovers of the Galaxy, Book Two: Bounty Hunters of the Heart (11 page)

He’d injected some of the kids with the Bone Eater
virus. But why?

His gaze landed on a door behind Randle. There had to
be another way into the building without coming through the front
entrance. He scouted the structure’s perimeter. There, on the left
corner, was a wooden staircase that reached a door he guessed stood
behind Randle’s table, and then ascended up to another door at the
second floor as well as the third.

An idea formed, and if he was lucky, it just might
work.

Turning, he motioned for Melinda to join him. She
hurried across the small dirt yard in a bent-over position and
knelt next to him.

“Take these weapons,” he said quietly and handed her
his two revolvers. “Stand over by that little structure.”

“The outhouse?”

“Do you shoot well?”

“Yes, my father and then my brother taught me and my
sister.”

He nodded. “If you see Randle come out of this door,
shoot him. It doesn’t matter if you kill him, but you do need to
wound him badly enough it stops him from escaping.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I will take him by surprise.” Pointing, he indicated
the next door above them. “Go hide.”

She walked over to the outhouse and pressed herself
against the one side where she couldn’t be seen.

This situation wasn’t much different from the time
they found the military base of a renegade Azutuan tribe who had
been stealing food. As he climbed the stairs, stepping quietly so
not to make any loud noises, he recalled how Oshki had distracted
the leader by bursting through the front door of the hideout while
he was positioned in the loft. Miln had taken their commander out
with one clean shot to the back of his head.

His thoughts shifted to his companion’s
disappearance. As he gripped the wooden door handle, he realized he
was more relieved the relationship was over than devastated by it.
Yes, the abandonment hurt and his conscience prickled sharply at
the fact he’d mistaken lust for love. However, he also knew Oshki
was testing him, attempting to make him feel what he’d felt every
time Miln had to put his duties first. However, he wasn’t running
after his ex-mate. The young warrior needed to grow up, and Miln
had people who depended on him to keep them alive.

With resolve, he put his feelings aside and thought
only of the victims who needed him.

Cautiously, he tugged on the knob and discovered it
hadn’t yet been locked for the night. He poked his head inside and
found himself at the end of a long hall lined with more doors. An
oil lantern glowed at either end. Careful not to bang the door, he
slipped inside and shut it behind him. Each step down the hall
sounded like thunder in his ears. The boards creaked and groaned
beneath his weight, but as he traversed the corridor, no doors
opened and no one appeared to investigate. Randle must have all the
children and the staff downstairs where he could keep an eye on
them. He paused, listening, and heard the structure settling. The
ceiling above cracked, and somewhere higher he detected the pop of
the roof releasing the day’s heat.

Reassured, he pushed on until he reached the end of
the hall where the illumination seemed brighter. There, he found
what he hoped for. A small railed balcony led to another staircase
and looked out over the ground floor. Miln edged to the end of the
hall and peered out. The fiend still sat at the table playing
cards.

Faced with the choice of either killing the criminal
or capturing him, Miln glanced over at the three youngsters
groaning and twisting on the floor. For whatever insane reason, the
fiend was determined to infect people here with the Bone Eater
virus.

A sudden thought struck him. The man didn’t want to
take over the past. Instead, he planned to train the newly
transformed Bone Eaters and take them into the future to attack the
brothers and their mate.

Furious, Miln narrowed his eyes. It was time to rid
the world of this fiend.

He lowered himself to the floor and crept across the
boards to the railing, where he peered between the slender
balusters.

“It’s your turn!” Randle said as if he didn’t have a
care in the world.

With a shaking hand, the older woman sitting next to
him placed a card on the tabletop.

Randle backhanded her out of the chair. She landed in
a heap against the hearthstone. A cry of pain ripped free of
her.

“You stupid, bitch! It’s spades, not hearts!”

“How do you expect her to remember anything when
she’s frightened silly?” Charlotte snapped from where she sat.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” the scientist said, his
attention moving to Melinda’s sister. “You’re lucky I find you
attractive, or I would’ve killed you out on the plains. I have a
use for you, if you don’t piss me off.”

He restrained himself from acting rashly. One wrong
move on his part and the degenerate could bolt, and Miln had no
idea how well Melinda could shoot.

He slowly positioned his hand between two of the
spindles. Poised to shoot an energy pulse at Randle’s head, he
halted as the door behind the man opened a few inches.

Schizma! He clenched his teeth together, his fangs
pressing hard against his inner lips. Why did females always have
to be so impulsive?

One of the young boys noticed Melinda slipping slowly
through the partially open door. His eyes widened. Quickly, Melinda
placed her index finger against her lips, and the youngster ducked
is head as if he was suddenly interested in the cards he held.

Miln realized he was holding his breath. He released
it and watched things play out, every muscle and tendon in his body
tense. If she could shoot the fiend in the back of the head, it
would be over. He’d bring the corpse back to Volund and Jaxxon as
proof, securing his position as head of security of the first Earth
Base. Venus and her unborn would be safe, and Randle wouldn’t hurt
anyone ever again.

One step, two steps, three. Melinda moved across the
short space separating her from Randle. The older woman glanced up
and then quickly looked back at the tabletop. The other young man
did the same, tossing a card down on the pile. Randle sighed,
pulled one from his hand, and threw it down, too.

Another foot forward took Melinda closer. She kept
her arm outstretched, hand gripping the revolver, hammer
cocked.

Tension brimmed in Miln. If she missed, she’d have to
shoot again, so she better be lightning-quick. Without any noise,
he slid his thumb over the sensor on his Slicer, so the energy ball
it released would react faster, should she fail.

Feeling as though he would explode from the stress,
he watched her approach Randle until only a few inches separated
the end of the gun’s barrel and the back of his head. The cluster
of children stared in their direction, and Charlotte tugged two
toddlers to her bosom, hiding their faces against her
nightgown.

Just as the shot should’ve cracked through the
building, Randle whirled and slapped the revolver from Melinda’s
hands. She cried out, her face a mask of shock. He grabbed her
wrist and jerked her into his lap.

“What do we have here? A vengeful little minx,
eh?”

“Let go!” she snarled.

He gathered a handful of her hair into his free hand
and pulled, hard. A grimace settled over her features.

Seeing his chance, Miln knew shooting Randle with the
Slicer would scare Melinda senseless, but it was worth it if he
could kill this monster.

The fiend forced her head back until she was braced
against his chest, her legs splayed to the side of his chair.

“Let her go!” Charlotte yelled.

He didn’t even look her way. Slowly, he licked up the
side of her sister’s cheek. The look on Melinda’s face spoke
volumes.

“Now I have two toys to play with,” he said.

Miln placed his thumb on the firing mechanism. A
brilliant ball of energy zipped from the Slicer, clearing the heads
of everyone huddled on the floor. The orb flatted out, spinning as
it moved so fast the eye could barely see it, but Randle had heard
the soft sizzling noise. He ducked, bashing Melinda’s forehead
against the table edge. The Slicer pulse missed his head, but it
connected lower. Blood spurted from the rounded part of his
shoulder, now gone. Charred bones, severed arteries and muscles
prompted gasps and sickened cries from around the room. Shrieking
profanities, Randle leaped to his feet. In a rage, he snatched up
the revolver with his good hand and fired two shots into Melinda’s
back.

“No!” The scream burst from Charlotte. She surged out
of the huddled children, but halted the instant he whirled on her
with the weapon.

Blood coursed down his useless arm and spurted from
the wound in arcs of crimson. Although he was mortally wounded,
Miln still had to finish him off.

Scrambling to his feet, he knew he had to distract
Randle so he wouldn’t inadvertently kill Charlotte when Miln shot
him again. He sighted the Slicer on him a second time.

“You,” he snapped. “Up here!”

Wobbling as if drunk, Randle jerked his head in his
direction. The shock of both the wound and the anger of having been
found turned his eyes dark. “Son of a bitch!”

He fired again. The instant the sizzle began, the
flattened orb had already severed Randle’s head from his shoulders.
Horrified screams rent the room.

“Melinda!” Charlotte flew across the big chamber and
rolled her sister over.

With the sounds of crying youngsters assailing his
ears, he descended to the ground floor and knelt next to Melinda.
He fished his scanner out of his pack and passed it over her.
“She’s still alive, barely.”

“Can you save her?” Tears choked Charlotte.

“I can give her time, but the only way to save her is
to take her back to my time.” He glanced around at the kids, who
ranged from toddlers to those of about sixteen Earth years. Several
of them stared back at him in horrified fascination.

“Are you a monster?” one little girl with braids
asked.

“No,” he answered as he examined Melinda’s wounds.
“That man I killed was the monster. I’m a good guy from another
world.”

“Do all good guys have pink hair and eyes?” the child
asked. “And do they all talk funny like you do?”

Miln made note that the one bullet had passed through
Melinda and into the floorboards. He smiled at the child and said,
“No, but people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and different
physical features. And there are more languages in the universe
than you can imagine.”

“Like Ansel,” one of the older children said. “He has
a disease that makes him look like a human lion, and his mouth is
twisted so that he talks different, too.”

“Hush, child,” the older woman said.

“You have a choice to make.” Miln looked up into
Charlotte’s tear-filled eyes. “You stay here with your sister and
hope she’s strong enough to survive, which I highly doubt, or you
let me take her back to the new Earth base.” He turned his
attention to the woman he guessed to be the caregiver of the
orphanage. “I have a proposition for everyone. Orphans have little
hope in such a tough era, so anyone who wants to return to the year
2300 with me is welcome. If needed, another ship can be sent here
to transport everyone.”

“I…I don’t know about this,” the headmistress
muttered. “That man gave three of the children something that has
made them sick.”

“It’s a virus,” Miln explained. “If they return to
the future with me, there is an antidote that will save them. If
they remain here, they will become monsters that will infect others
and all must be killed.”

Terrified, the woman could only stare at him with her
mouth agape.

Quiet reigned in the building, save for the crackle
and snap of the fire.

Finally, Charlotte said, “I’ll do anything to save my
sister. We’re going with you.”

As Miln administered an Azutuan drug to slow the
bleeding of Melinda’s wounds, he nodded. “What about your
brother?”

“He’ll be fine, and he’ll probably think we either
left for a town brothel to work or that Indians got us.”

“We’ll have to hurry.” He didn’t like the health
readings on the scanner. “I don’t know how long this serum will
keep her alive. Also, I have to find the ship Randle stole.”

“What?”

He glanced up at Charlotte’s incredulous expression.
“My partner ran away, taking our ship. As long as the stolen craft
is not out of my scanner’s reach, I will locate it, but
transferring your sister to it might be a problem. I cannot
trans-shift long distances with her.”

“Lord in Heaven,” Charlotte cried, “I can’t lose
her.”

“Tend to your sister.” He straightened and then
turned his attention to the headmistress. “I am serious when I say
I will take anyone with me who wants to go to the future, but you
must all know that it is a tough life there, too. My people’s
mission is to repopulate the Earth and revive the plants and
animals, so you will all have tasks and many wonderful things to
learn. However, it is a dangerous place as well.” He collected his
tools and strode to the back door. “I will return as soon as I
locate my ship. Make your decisions. Once you set foot on my ship,
there is no turning back, and if you choose to stay with the ill
children, you must prepare yourself to put them out of their
misery.”

He exited to the small stoop and walked out onto the
dirt patch behind the building. Light perspiration broke out over
his body. The scratchy shirt stuck to his skin, and sweat trickled
through his hair and past the edges of his hat. Damn Oshki! The
last thing he wanted was to be stuck in the Old West. He stood at
the edge of the woods behind the orphanage and touched a sensor on
his scanner. Immediately a transparent picture appeared in the air
above it with a detailed map of the surrounding terrain.