Hero by Cheryl Brooks Read Free Book Online Page B

follow. "We've got to keep moving. This is where we were headed to start with, so maybe we'll be safe. Lots of people here."
    "What about trying to find a guard?"
    "Against those two? You don't know who we're up against, do you?"
    Micayla shook her head.
    "That was Rutger Grekkor," Windura said. "He's the head of the Commerce Consortium--has an interest in all sorts of things: jewelry, building materials,
    pharmaceuticals, food processing, you name it. His official record is clean, but rumor has it that he heads up the biggest ring of drug smugglers in the galaxy."
    "Oh, great," Micayla groaned. "He's probably got henchmen all over this station.
And did you hear what he said?"
    "Yeah, I heard. You are in deep shit, my friend."
    "Well, what about you? You heard what he said too. You're a witness. He said he had 'killed all those cats.' You realize what that means, don't you? He killed off everyone on my planet!"
    "Looks like I'm in deep, deep shit right along with you."
    Micayla took a hasty breath. "I know next to no one on this station and certainly nobody who works down here. Is there anyone you can trust?"
    Windura looked uncomfortable. "Well, there's you... and the, um, hookers."
    "Well, that's just great," Micayla said with disgust. "You know practically everyone and the hookers are the only ones you trust?"
    "And you," Windura reminded her. "I trust you. You're too new here to be corrupted."
    "And you, who knows everyone, aren't corrupt?"
    Windura shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a computer geek. I can't be corrupted because I don't have any vices."
    "No addiction to drugs, sex, or gambling?"
    Windura shook her head.
    "Not even food or alcohol?"
    "Well, I do have to eat, but--"
    "Never been bribed to fix a computer with expensive jewelry or sexual favors?"
    "Sexual favors? Come on, Micayla! Who on this entire station would anyone want to have sex with? The Norludians? I'm the only Vessonian that I know of, and even if there were others... well, maybe I'm just too choosy--I mean, the Terrans aren't bad looking as a species, but most of the single ones on the station seem kinda skuzzy, except maybe that one guy you work with, but--"
    "Oh, crap!"
    "What?"
    "Look," Micayla said, pointing.
    Shouldering his way through the crowd ahead of them was Rutger Grekkor, his
    shining blond hair in sharp contrast with the unkempt locks of those surrounding him.
    "How the hell did he do that?" Micayla demanded as the two women turned tail and started running again, which was difficult because the place was crowded with some of the most disreputable-looking creatures Micayla had ever seen in her life. Windura hadn't been kidding about it being a good place to avoid.
    "God only knows," Windura replied as she pushed past a smelly Cylopean.
    "Did you see that gorilla with him?"
    "You mean the Herpatronian?"
    "Yeah, I guess." Micayla had never heard of the planet or the species and was beginning to wish she didn't know about them now.
    "Didn't see him."
    Micayla stopped short. "I do. There he is. Ahead of us."
    "No, wait, there's a guard," Windura said. "Maybe--"
    "Yes, I see him," Micayla said with a sinking feeling, "but something tells me he's not on our side." The tall, muscular Terran looked, if anything, even more forbidding than the gorilla. "Commander Beontal really has his work cut out for him, doesn't he?"
"You could say that," Grekkor said in Micayla's ear as she felt his arm grip her around the waist. The guard and the gorilla began to close in on them from the only other way out. "Don't make a sound or your friend dies." Chapter 4
    "What are you doing?" Micayla demanded as the two women were wrestled back toward the docking ring. "Where are you taking us?"
    "I should have thought that was perfectly obvious," Grekkor said smoothly. "The slavers will soon be banned from this station--at least temporarily--but one of their ships is still docked here. You, my dears, are about to become their passengers."
    "You'll never get away with