"Death Row 03 - The Avenger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Black Jaid)

An ice-cold chill coursed down Nellie’s spine as she watched a female sub-human moan and groan while…giving birth. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Sweet Cyrus, she’d had no idea the species was capable of breeding! What could that mean to the two races of earth? she wondered. As it was, sub-humans were biologically superior to normal humans in terms of physical strength. If they became overpopulated and somehow managed to break into the biospheres…

Extinction. The two races of Federated Earth, male and female, would be erased from existence as though they’d never been.

Nellie took a deep breath and blew it out. She wouldn’t pretend that she understood why sub-humans had been brought into existence by the Hierarchy to begin with, but clearly their little scientific “experiment” had taken on a life of its own. One would have hoped the Hierarchy had learned what the dire consequences of interfering with the order of nature would be when the drought of female offspring had occurred. Apparently, sadly, they had not. Her gaze flicked toward the armed scientists.

Weapons Nellie couldn’t name decorated their bodies. Most of the women possessed well-honed bodies that were tight with muscle and impeccably cut. They looked almost superior to biosphere females in terms of strength and agility…

Her eyes widened. She glanced first toward the droid laboratory, then back to the armed women.

Holy Cyrus. No—no that wasn’t possible…was it? Nobody could manufacture human skin…could they?

“Drop your weapons,” one of the warriors repeated. “Now.”

Nellie watched Kerick’s jaw clench. She could tell he was unhappy about the command, but he begrudgingly complied and slowly lowered his flash-sticks to the silver floor beneath them. Xavier followed suit, warily giving up his weapons and placing his hands above his head. Nellie had no weapons to speak of, so she placed her hands above her head and awaited further instruction.

The next events happened so quickly, it took her brain a long moment to register what had happened. Kerick and Xavier, fugitives on the run from Federated Earth, were chained and shackled again, this time by fugitive females. Nellie was left unchained, then forcibly separated from her party. She turned desperate eyes toward her husband, afraid to be gone from him. Would they kill him? she wondered, her heart dramatically thumping in her chest. Sweet Kalast, she just didn’t know!

Kerick’s nostrils flared. “Give her back to me,” he murmured. “She is my wife. She stays with me.”

“That is not possible,” a warrior spat back, her smile humorless. “We are under direct orders to—”

“I said give her back,” Kerick growled. Every muscle in his body corded like an animal preparing to pounce. “Now.”

“She’ll be fine,” a lilting female voice murmured. “As will you. Do as you’re told and no harm will come to anyone.”

Nellie watched her husband still. Slowly, ever so slowly, his steel-gray gaze lifted, turning to the short, dark-haired woman who had spoken. His eyes widened, which alarmed Nellie, for he wasn’t the type to betray his emotions, not even a seemingly harmless emotion like surprise. Or shock.

“I don’t believe it,” Xavier muttered, snagging Nellie’s attention. “I don’t fucking believe it.”

Nellie’s stomach muscles clenched. Jealousy permeated her soul as she wondered to herself if this woman was a former lover of Kerick’s. Would he want her back? she asked herself, the knot of worry in her belly growing. Would he—

“Mother?” Kerick rasped out, replacing Nellie’s jealousy with a shock to rival her husband’s with one simple word. Nellie gasped, unable to believe it.

Kerick swallowed roughly, his Adam’s apple bobbing once as he did so. His eyes were wide, his expression surreal. “Is that you?”

* * * * *

Abdul Kan impatiently strode toward the hovering land conveyance, every muscle in his body tense. A missing daughter had been enough of a mission to undertake. Now he also had to find his runaway wife. Preferably before a sub-human or outlaw did.

“Nica,” he murmured, the heart he’d thought long dead painfully twisting.

Always he had loved her. Never had she loved him back.

It didn’t matter, he told himself, his jaw tightening as he took his place within the black tank-like conveyance, a craft that could hover at fast speeds above the Outside terrain. Whether or not she loved him didn’t matter. She still belonged to him, had always belonged to him.

He’d be damned if he didn’t get her back.