The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) by Vaughn Heppner Read Free Book Online Page A

pain slow her down, Meta crouched, scooping up the shock rod with her left hand. The right wouldn’t work for a few minutes, at least.
    Heavy boots thudded on the hallway flooring. Another black-clad man appeared in the doorway.
    Meta lunged, striking with the tip of the rod as if she was a fencer. The end sizzled against his face. He cried out, jerking away, stumbling from the door. Meta followed, swatting the side of his head, knowing such a blow could induce brain damage. The jolt rocked him. In his effort to escape, the man flew against a wall, catapulting off it. A third time, Meta stroked him with the rod. The device must have overheated, discharging a thin ribbon of smoke. The man thudded onto the floor, as unconscious as the first invader in her bedroom.
    At least one more man was in the house. Meta heard him. She knew that in these instances taking the fight to the enemy often made the best sense. That’s exactly what she did now.
    Fast and barefoot, in her shimmering sequined gown, with Captain Maddox’s locket against her throat, Meta burst into the living room.
    Two men waited. One held a stubby, shotgun-like weapon in his hands. She recognized it as a tangler. Neither of the men wore black jackets. The gunman was medium-sized with pale hair and paler features. The other was big.
    A retired wrestler , Meta thought.
    The man had gray hair, and it seemed as if a bleak sculptor had chiseled his body out of flat slabs of muscle. What’s more, his gray clothes were so conservative they might have been a uniform. The only flashy thing about him was a big black ring that glittered with a circle of diamonds.
    The tangler discharged. A small black capsule popped out of the weapon and struck Meta. It exploded, shooting clinging strands around her thighs, arms and torso. Immediately, the sticky strands contracted. Meta was strong, and she fought back, struggling, but she tripped for the second time tonight.
    Remorselessly, the tangle web tightened until she could barely breathe on the floor.
    The gunman glanced at the big man. “Should I check on the others, Mr. Kane?”
    With the seeming force of a glacier, the big man turned his head to stare at the speaker. The gunman nodded in acknowledgment of the silent order, hurrying into the hallway.
    Mr. Kane advanced on Meta, causing the floorboards to creak. How much did he weigh? He tugged at his trousers, pulling up the fabric. It almost seemed impossible that such a blocky man could bend. Yet he did, crouching before her.
    Arching her neck, Meta looked up at him. If the first invader had hard eyes, Mr. Kane’s were like chips of granite. He had wide features with a stone-chiseled quality. The lips managed to frown thoughtfully.
    Meta said nothing, just studied him, trying to figure out why they had done this to her. His eyes were cold. He was a killer, a dangerous man.
    Kane stood, treading his way into the hallway, maybe to hurry the others.
    With him gone, Meta began to test her bonds. That proved to be a bad idea. The more she struggled, the tighter the tangle strands constricted. The trick was to relax.
    She tried that, willing herself to go slack. Captain Maddox was coming. Should she play for time? No. If she couldn’t handle them, Maddox wouldn’t be able to either. What had happened to Dempsey Tower security or the Star Watch teams providing backup?
    Shortly, the two men in black leather jackets stumbled into the room. They looked dazed and confused. The tangler-man followed, with his weapon broken open in half. He slid another capsule into the firing chamber. Lastly, Kane appeared.
    The big man in the gray suit approached Meta from behind, crouching again. With his thick fingers, he tugged the dress down over her naked butt, covering it.
    “The note,” he said from her back. “Maddox is coming over. We thought he was finished with you.”
    Kane didn’t phrase his statement as a question, yet she had the feeling he wanted confirmation. She would not