Mary and the Minotaur by Honey Phillips
Chapter Twelve
Miri!His female’s name echoed through Sendat’s mind as he slowly regained consciousness. His head throbbed as if someone was pounding a spike into it, and when he forced himself to his feet, the garage blurred around him, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding Miri.
He looked around frantically, but the vehicle had disappeared. No one had come to investigate the sound of their altercation, and he cursed Arulo’s name. The traitorous bastard had been as efficient as ever.
Think, he urged himself. The last thing he remembered was seeing Chinit slapping Miri aside as she tried to grab his weapon. His brave, foolish female. Although, since he was still alive, either Chinit was a terrible shot or she had managed to throw off his aim. But his life was unimportant. She was the one who mattered. He strained his memory, the event still hazy, but he was almost sure he had seen her moving as Chinit closed the door—which meant that she was alive.
Alive, and at the mercy of Chinit.
He had to find her, but how?
His thoughts chased each other in a panicked circle. Jabbwa! If there was any way to find her, Jabbwa would know. The question was if he would help Sendat. He would have to tell him the entire truth, he decided, and accept whatever fate Jabbwa decreed. As long as he was able to free Miri from that madman’s sadistic clutches first, he would accept it gladly.
There was no time to return to Jabbwa’s residence on foot, and he headed for the nearest flyer. He caught a brief glimpse of his reflection in the window—blood streaming down his face, his eyes as wide and crazy as Chinit’s had been—but he ignored it and used his hoof to shatter the window.
Among the other talents he had learned while undercover was the ability to start a vehicle without the use of a key. Seconds later, he was ricocheting out of the garage, raking a door against one of the walls as another wave of dizziness swept over him. He ignored the harsh scrape and kept going. Air travel through the Warrens was difficult at the best of times—and this was not the best of times—but he darted over and through the narrow passages with frantic haste, adding more scrapes and dents as he went.
By the time he spotted Jabbwa’s residence, he had managed to activate the vehicle’s communicator and he sent a quick message.
“This is Sendat, coming to see Jabbwa. Don’t even think of trying to make me fucking wait. It’s a matter of life and death.”
His chest ached as he shut off the communicator. He had to find Miri. Even if he wasn’t in time to prevent Chinit from hurting her, as long as she was alive, they could overcome anything else.
His message must have worked because no one tried to stop him as he brought the flyer to a screeching halt on the small rooftop landing area. Ordal was waiting for him.
“Jabbwa is in his office.” His eyes swept over Sendat’s wound. “What the hell happened to you? You shouldn’t be driving with an injury like that.”
“I know,” he snapped, heading for the stairs at the fastest pace he could manage. After almost tumbling down the first flight, he had to force himself to slow down despite the urgency beating a constant refrain in his head. Find Miri! Find Miri!
“What happened?” Jabbwa demanded as Sendat burst into his office.
“He took Miri. That bastard took my female. I have to find her.”
“Who took her?”
“Mokuu’s murderer. Chinit va Situni.”
Jabbwa’s eyes narrowed. “You knew all along who he was.”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“And you assured me he was going to be punished.” Jabbwa’s voice was ice cold.
“I truly thought he was going to be arrested and imprisoned. But I was betrayed.”
“Who betrayed you?”
Sendat wanted to roar with frustration. He didn’t have time for this. But he also knew that Jabbwa would never agree to help him without the full truth.
“Captain Arulo of the Imperial Fleet. I have been working undercover with the Fleet for the past year, trying to find the source of the illegal slave trade.”
Jabbwa’s face turned to stone. “You’re an Imperial spy.”
“Yes. I don’t expect it will make any difference, but none of your activities were ever part of my reports. I was here simply in regards to the slave trade. You can do anything you want to me, but you have to help me find Miri first. She’s an innocent in all this. She doesn’t deserve what he is going to do to her.”
Jabbwa stared at him in silence for an interminable moment while Sendat dug his nails into his palms and prayed as he had never done before that the other male would help him.
“I suspect that the knowledge that you failed to rescue your female would be the worst punishment you could suffer,” Jabbwa said finally, and Sendat’s heart sank, but then he added, “However, I do not think that she should suffer on your behalf. And my Renla likes her. I will help you.”
A dizzying wave of relief swept over Sendat, and he swayed where he stood.
“Sit down before you fall down,” Jabbwa snapped. “I don’t want any more blood on my rug.”
Sendat wanted to protest, but his knees did feel remarkably uncertain. He collapsed into the nearest chair, watching intently as Jabbwa pressed a button on his communicator.
“Ordal, bring me a list of all the House Situni properties. Highlight the ones that are most isolated.”
Sendat bit back a protest. While it was an excellent idea, the Situni holdings were vast and it would take far too long to search all of them.
“And send Kaiyo to me,” Jabbwa added.
Kaiyo? Sendat had never met the male, but he had a reputation as a fixer—someone who was called in to solve other people’s problems. Could he solve this problem?
The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness as visions of Miri in Chinit’s hands haunted him. Unable to sit still, he shoved himself to his feet and paced back and forth until the door finally opened and Kaiyo entered.
“You want to see me again so soon? People will begin to speculate about our relationship.”
The cool, sardonic voice instantly irritated Sendat, but he forced himself to keep his mouth shut.
Jabbwa ignored Kaiyo’s flippancy. “Before you disposed of the body yesterday, did you go through his belongings?”
“You make me sound so self-serving.”
“Kaiyo,” Jabbwa snapped. “This is important. Did you? And did you find any kind of tracking device?”
Sendat’s heart started to beat faster. When Jabbwa had told him that the Ithyian slaver had tracked Miri here, he had assumed it was because someone had seen her enter and spread the word. It hadn’t occurred to him that he might literally have tracked her.
“It’s possible that I did find such a device,” Kaiyo said coolly. “What’s it worth to you?”
“Anything you want,” Sendat said immediately.
“An interesting offer. It raises so many possibilities.”
“Stop tormenting him,” Jabbwa interrupted. “His female has been taken, and the device may be the only way to find her in time.”
“You lost her? How careless.” Then Kaiyo’s casual mockery disappeared, and he frowned at Jabbwa. “Was she one of those sweet little treats hiding in your observation room?”
“Yes. She is an innocent.”
Still frowning, Kaiyo reached into a pouch on the belt around his waist and pulled out a small metal device.
“Innocence is something to be treasured. Here.” He tossed the device to Sendat. “I don’t know how far the range extends.”
Sendat clutched the device desperately but when he turned it on, no signal appeared. He gave Jabbwa a desperate look just as Ordal hurried in.
“This is the list of properties that you requested, Master Jabbwa.”
As soon as Ordal left, the three males gathered around the tablet, but Sendat’s despair only increased. The list was far too long.
“You can eliminate any of the primary family holdings,” Kaiyo said.
“Why?” Jabbwa asked.
“You haven’t heard? Chinit has been disinherited, all of his family assets stripped away. Some type of scandal over one of his business ventures,” he added, raising an eyebrow at Sendat.
A brief spike of satisfaction hit Sendat. So the male had not gone entirely unpunished after all. Perhaps that explained why he had been so wild-eyed and enraged. But Miri was the one who would pay for that fury, he reminded himself.
“Does he have property of his own?” he asked.
Kaiyo shook his head. “I don’t believe so. He always took full advantage of the family tit. My guess is that he is headed for one of the properties that’s never used.” He tapped a long sharp tipped finger on the screen. “I think these three are your best bets. All of them are small and isolated.”
Three? How long would it take for him to search all three of them? And they were all in different directions. One was far to the east, on the edge of the great ocean. Another was located in the mountains near an old mining town that was now deserted. The third was in a small farming community to the south.
“I’ll take this one,” Kaiyo volunteered, pointing to the one in the mountains.
“You’re going to help me search?” Sendat asked, shocked.
The other male shrugged a massive shoulder. “I never did like Chinit. And I’m ready to leave the city for a while.”
“I’ll head for the ocean property,” he decided, his choice driven by little more than the memory of Miri laughing in the sunlit waters of the pool.
Jabbwa sighed. “I will send someone to the third location. You take the tracker. If it starts to relay a signal, let us know.”
“I will.” He started to head for the door, then turned and looked at both males. “Thank you. I am in your debt.”
“You can repay me by finding and eliminating Chinit. I want to see his actual body this time,” Jabbwa demanded. Then his face softened a fraction, and he added, “I hope your female is safe.”
“I too hope that your female is safe,” Kaiyo said. “But I am not quite so easily satisfied. I may request your assistance at some point in the future.”
“You will have it,” he promised, heading for the door once more.
Kaiyo followed him as Jabbwa began issuing orders into his communicator.
“May the winds of fortune be in your favor,” Kaiyo said, then disappeared in the direction of the gardens, his tail propelling him with shocking speed.
May they indeed, Sendat prayed as he raced for the stairs.
