Jerred’s Price (Saurellian Federation #3)(33)
Author: Joanna Wylde

With that, he raised his blaster and shot at several small boxes mounted on the walls. She assumed they were sensors, although she hadn’t noticed them before to check.

Jerred turned to her, a smile spreading across his face. “Thank you,” he said, eyes softening. “Giselle, you constantly surprise me. I didn’t think we’d get out of this one.”

“You’re not out yet,” Josiah said dryly. “I think you may want to hold the celebration until after you escape. I wish to survive this little escapade of yours, so we should probably begin negotiations.”

“You have nothing to negotiate with,” Giselle said harshly, poking him with the blaster. “You do what we tell you.”

“No, that’s not quite good enough,” Josiah said. “If I believe there’s no way for me to get out of this situation alive, I have no motivation to work with you. Give me a reason to believe I’ll live.”

“We’ll let you go when we get to our ship,” Giselle said quickly. “I promise.”

“No,” Jerred said, leaning back against the wall. “We need to take him with us, at least for a while.

Otherwise they’ll just shoot us as soon as we leave.”

“Bring an escape pod,” Josiah said softly. “You can put me in it and jettison it as soon as you’re out of our weapons range. They’ll come and get me.”

“Are you sure?” Giselle asked, snorting. “If it were me, I think I’d leave you to die.”

“It isn’t you,” Josiah said coolly. “These people need me and they know it. They’ll come and rescue me.”

“It’s a good plan,” Jerred said. “Of course, you have to trust me to let you go.”

“I do trust you,” Josiah said softly. “You need me and we both know it. You won’t kill me.”

“Maybe he won’t kill you, but I will,” Giselle said in a menacing voice. “This isn’t just about him, you know. You messed with me, too, and I’d like a little revenge.”

“We’ll spare your life,” Jerred said, holding up one hand to calm her. “We all have something to gain from making this work. Are you with us?”

Josiah nodded his head. “We’ll need to go back to the main corridor so I can give them orders,” he said. “You’ve taken care of all my spy sensors in here.”

“Lead on,” Jerred replied.

* * * * *

Their escape went smoothly. True to Josiah’s promise, his people cooperated. Nobody met them in the hallways and corridors as they made their way to the hangar. A shuttle, complete with escape pod, waited for them in one of the cargo holds. In less than half an hour they were headed away from the station as fast as Jerred’s ship could move.

It wasn’t fast enough for Giselle.

She sat in the living room with her blaster trained on Josiah. He watched her with a strange expression on his face, as if amused by her diligence. After all, he was tied up. Jerred had seen to that immediately.

Still, she didn’t trust him not to have some sort of trick up his sleeve.

He didn’t try anything, though, and as soon as they were out of range, Jerred came down from the cockpit and freed him. He marched the man at blaster-point to the cargo hold, where he locked him into the survival pod. Seconds later it had been jettisoned, and they watched as Josiah fired the small navigational jets to turn back toward the station.

Jerred came to her and pulled her into his arms. For the first time in since they’d arrived, she let herself relax. Finally, she was safe again. She drew close to him, wrapping her arms around his back and simply leaning against him. There was a tingle of desire, of course. It seemed impossible to be around him without feeling something. There was something more, though, something deeper. Being with him felt right. Maybe it was only temporary, but as long as she had him, she planned to enjoy every minute of it.

Jenna made a chiming noise and announced an incoming message. Giselle looked to Jerred, confused, and he shook his head.

Holding hands, they made their way up to the bridge to listen to the message.

It was from Josiah.

“I’m hoping you get this, Jerred,” the man said. “I’m in this blasted pod now, and I’m not sure what kind of range the radio has. I just wanted to tell you to jettison those two blasters you took from my station.

They’re no good, and I’d hate to have you die in a real fight because they don’t work. I’m assuming I won’t be seeing you for a while, so take care. Give my best to Nicolai, and remind him he owes me twice as much now. Oh, you might also want to tell him to find a new spy on my station. The old one is…

indisposed, and I don’t think she’ll be feeding either of you any more information. Take care.”

Giselle looked at Jerred, puzzled. “What did he mean, the blasters aren’t any good?”

Jerred seemed amused, and started shaking his head. “The fraud,” he muttered. “He wanted to let us go—he just didn’t want his people to think he was going easy on us. The whole thing was a setup.”

“You mean he never needed any information from you?”

“I think he did at first,” Jerred said, looking thoughtful. “But not anymore, apparently. He found the spy on his own.”

“I didn’t tell him anything,” she said softly. He smiled at her, and cupped one hand along her chin.

“Well, among other things, you didn’t know anything to tell him,” he said. “But even if you had known, I wouldn’t doubt you. There’s not one woman in a thousand who would have had the courage to do what you did for me.”

She shrugged, feeling her face grow warm.

“Well, seeing as Josiah orchestrated the whole thing, I hardly think I have anything to be proud of. I did exactly what he planned.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” Jerred said softly. “He probably had several other plans in mind. I doubt he expected you to attack him. I would imagine that I’d have been given the chance later on. You definitely took him off guard.”

She smiled, feeling some pleasure at the thought. “He certainly wasn’t faking it when he lost consciousness,” she said slowly. “I nearly choked him to death, I was so mad.”

“I thought his voice sounded a little raspy,” Jerred replied. “I can’t say that I’m unhappy about that. He plays with people, and I have no doubt that if he hadn’t found his traitor, he would have killed us. Just because he let us go doesn’t mean that he’s a nice man.”