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“Aye aye, captain,” Bran replied without missing a beat. “We’ll be there in about four flicks.”
Dante paled. Four flicks was a long time to leave Tinsley down there, and who knew what would happen until the crew arrived? They might take her comm, might move her somewhere else, might… Well, he didn’t want to think of what else might happen.
In any case, he didn’t have much of a choice but to wait. The crew would be there as soon as they could. He trusted that. Now he just had to trust that Tinsley would be okay in the meantime.
He leaned forward, staring at the little dot on the screen again when Buzz spoke, startling him.
“A second tracker has been detected,” the AI told him.
“What?”
“Tinsley’s comm tracker and implant tracker are both online,” came the reply.
Dante almost laughed with relief. That eliminated one risk at least—even if the Jorvlens took her comm, there was no way they’d think to check for an implant tracker. They were new on the market and so few people had them that it didn’t even cross anyone’s mind to check for that kind of technology yet.
Not that that guaranteed Tinsley’s safety, but it at least guaranteed he could find her. He looked at his comm. Only four slakes—about a quarter of a flick—had passed since the call with Bran. If he was going to be there for four flicks, Dante couldn’t just stare at Tinsley’s tracker. He’d have to find something else to keep him busy.
Luckily, he knew exactly what that was.
He tapped his comm to the Thunder Bolt’s control panel, letting the holoscreen shift to the contents of his comm. Flicking through the files, he found what he was looking for. He switched on the ship’s long-distance radio communication and typed a message.
This is Dante Lorr, son of King Vrondo of Lorr, and private investigator with Probe and Pursue Services. I have information pertaining to the kidnapping, illegal detention, and sedation of at least thirty women from a host of different planets, perpetrated by Jorvlen pirates. This appears to be an ongoing operation, and I have reason to believe many, many more women have been victimized. The facility holding the women is on Seisi. Please find attached evidence of these crimes.
Dante attached the image of the logs they’d found on the pirate ship plus a few photos he’d taken of the holding cells just before they left. Then he typed in the code of the Galactic Authority.
With a sense of hope, he pressed the relay button, sending the message out across the vastness of space in the hopes that something might be done to help those women left inside.
He looked at the screen again, flicking back to the map of Seisi. Somewhere down there, a group of women he’d never met—and who he might never meet—were unknowingly relying on his help. Except for one, who knew he was coming for her.
Chapter 31
“Hey, you! No comms!” came the gruff voice through the cell bars.
Tinsley, hunched over her comm, looked up to see a huge Jorvlen guard pushing open the door and striding over to her.
He made it across the room in only two steps and wrapped his calloused hand around her wrist before she even had time to think.
“Ow! You’re hurting me!” she cried, wincing as the guard yanked at her comm with thick, clumsy fingers.
“This isn’t the half of it,” the guard replied with a cruel grin. “But you won’t be my problem for much longer. You’re in the next batch.”
The next batch? thought Tinsley as the guard finally released her wrist. What does that mean?
It became clear she was about to find out.
“Come on,” the guard told her.
When Tinsley didn’t move, he grabbed her by the wrist again and pulled her behind him, shoving her into one of the empty rooms that she and Dante had explored together. Only now it wasn’t entirely empty. A single hook on the wall held a plain white slip.
“Put that on,” the guard demanded before slamming the door.
Tinsley was shaken. She was beginning to fear that Dante might not make it back in time, and now that she’d lost her comm, she had no way of keeping in touch with him. She only hoped he’d locked on to her implant tracker, too.
Reluctantly she took off her clothes and put on the slip. It barely covered her ass and left little to the imagination when it came to her breasts. She didn’t like what was happening and got the feeling it was about to get worse.
When she emerged from the room, clutching her discarded clothes in front of her chest like a shield, the same guard was there waiting for her.
Wordlessly, he yanked the pile of clothes away from her and then pointed at her feet.
