STORM SLAVE: THE STORM PLANET SERIES: VOLUME THREE Page 9

  The noise of his boots slamming behind her, she had the door open before she felt the sharp pain from a stab of a sharp item into her arm.

  In the jungles, if a predator sunk its teeth into you, you learned not to pull. Pulling let the animal sink its teeth deeper, so it could reach out with claws to hold you. Joo leaned into whatever was causing the razor-edged pain, learning which direction the bite came from. Next, she brought a foot up against the other solid door and lifted off the floor, doing a twist in the same direction as the fierce pain and leapt over the arm holding the weapon.

  This wild spring pushed the killer back into the hall. As he stumbled back, the long sharp weapon was pulled from her arm. Still recovering fast and shoving the door, Joo kept running.

  Joo had not wasted time trying to close the door, she just ran again in the direction of the bedroom that would lead to the washroom. She circled around the bed and moved past the large pool. Here he caught her again, as she felt the agony as the weapon pierced her body, back to front into one lung and maybe other important body parts.

  Not moving or giving into the torture would be death for sure at this moment. Reaching out for anything, her hand found something tall and hard on the cabinet next to the washroom door. Without thought to what additional damage she was doing to her body, she swung the item. She heard it make contact with the killer’s head.

  Joo couldn’t take the time to see if he went down, she was loosing blood down her outside ribs. She also knew her lung was filling on the inside, as the long weapon still did more damage while she moved.

  There was very little time left in her body, but her will was strong, as she made it past the bathroom door. She wasn’t sure how she got the lock in place, but she did hear him pounding. She turned, hardly able to see. There was only one spot that might let her see the Commander before she moved onward to the next world.

  With her fading strength she moved to the covered hole where all the dirty clothing was sent below. She didn’t bother to push the cover open, just leaned inward to allow herself to fall down to wherever this deposit would dump her with all the unclean items.

  Before she allowed herself to completely tip, she struggled to get the contact unit out of her pocket and clutched into her hand. Joo remembered nothing of the fall. She just kept clicking the little unit, unable to speak in it when she heard his voice. Hearing his voice meant he had heard her clicks. He would be able to find the communicator, so all she had to do was keep it and she closed her grip around it tightly.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Fate and War….

  There were over twenty armed troopers in the upper hallway and as many in her apartment when the Commander arrived. The troopers in the hallway were restraining several civilians along with two workers.

  Every door, every cover and every exit was open. The Commander stomped down to enter the apartment. He looked first at where a trooper pointed behind the door. Someone had thrown the wooden entry open so fast and hard that the inside handle had dug a hole in the wall behind.

  Here was where it was hard for Baloko to breath. There was blood. There was a footprint high on the second door. One of the troopers held a light on it to draw his Commander’s attention.

  The rest of the troopers were packed together, careful not to compromise any clues. Two lab techs entered out of breath and being hustled by a couple of the Commander’s own elite troopers.

  Baloko nodded to allow the techs to first use a scanner to make sure no one was hiding in this apartment. A noise, not heard by the ears of those present, went out from the box operated by one of the techs.

  “There is no one within these quarters, my Lord.”

  Baloko frowned. “Turn loose a snifter.” The small floating machine would follow the traces of scents, footsteps and the blood. It could find traces of anything a body would leave, dust and minute threads as well as unseen skin and hair flakes. It would even pick up traces of DNA, as sweat drifted in the air or hot breaths were gasped out, as a person crossed a room. Nothing escaped a snifter machine.

  “Tell me.” Ordered the Commander.

  Reading from a small hand held screen, the tech beside the tall Commander launched into a speech. “Two people, one male and one female. The female is bleeding. Her clothing leaves very little traces. His is the yellow of cart delivery workers. Neither is large. She has no shoes, sweating through her socks. He has boots, heavier than usually worn by delivery cart workers.”

  He urged the floating machine into the bedroom, out of their sight. Still they all waited, knowing to get all the information, The machine did not need to have their bodies in the mix.

  “Heavier blood loss. He must have injured her deeper in some way. There is a locked door so the machine can go no further. He leaves a lot of debris on the door. Wait, she must have hit him with a statue.”

  Baloko took a breath. Did she get away and still live? He wanted to shake the small tech, but he let the specialist work on the screen. “There is strong DNA on the statue. We have identifiers. He didn’t get through the door. He laid out full length on the floor. He fought the door. Then he left, coming back out this way.”

  Baloko took a step forward with his tight held tall body. “Are you sure she is still not in the washroom?”

  The other tech pointed to his read out. No warm bodies showed anywhere, except for all of his troopers behind the search. Even if she had died in that room, there would still be warmth in her body.

  He pointed to four of his elite. “Get that washroom door open. As for the rest of my elite guard, get samples of everyone on this floor and the one below. Check to make sure no one moves without your knowledge. Report to me of anything important.”

  Baloko trusted his special troops and didn’t care if they insulted a few beings. He heard a crash in the bedroom and followed his four trusted to find the door to the washroom ripped from its tracks.

  The story was short and clear. She had found time enough to throw the lock as that part of the frame also was torn away. But the blood told the rest of the story. One wet footprint led to the clothes dispenser with blood dripping down from the edge. Clever warrior.

  He looked at one of his men. “Get people we trust into that laundry room, wherever it is located. Seal it off and see if they find her. Don’t let anyone in or out. The killer is still after her, so if she lives he will need to check on her. Get healers to her now.”

  He didn’t wait to see the men talking on their units. With the interruptions of power, the units were all they had for contact, but the Commander’s Elite had special contact units.

  Baloko was running. He tried to think how many floors it was for her body to fall. Would she be lucky and have a pile of laundry, a deep pile to catch her injured body. He didn’t care how dirty the mess might be, just that it was deep enough to hold her until someone could save her.

  He wondered how long it took him to get to the bottom floor as he jumped, skipped and knocked workers, civilians and even troops, aside.

  Out of breath and with pain under one rib, Baloko found he was at last at the bottom, as he pushed through swinging doors. He looked around in a panic, not only unsure where he was at, but having no idea where the laundry rooms were located.

  There was one thing he notice and was grateful about. Troops were surrounding anyone dressed in yellow. He walked over to the first group of soldiers holding a worker in a yellow uniform.

  “Where is the laundry room?” Commander Baloko Sachim’s voice was the one that would order his whole army.

  Even shaking, the male pointed in a direction away from the stairwell.

  “Lead me there. Now. Fast.”

  With the worker leading, Commander Sachim urged him to hurry and the group of shoulders held their weapons out and ready. They weren’t sure of the urgency, but they did feel something was not as it should be in this large hanger. These guards were not any of his Elite, but they were alert and were trained, including watching the worker in the yellow unifo
rm.

  At last they were stopped by a congestion of carts, groups of yellow clad workers and many troops, holding everyone with weapons pointing. Baloko wasn’t sure if he was proud at how quick the troops had reacted to the orders or irritated that this chaos was in his way.

  A couple of his Elite Guard, in their special uniforms moved forward and started yelling. “Make way for the Commander, make way fools.”

  These tall guards swung and pushed, not bothering to check to see if they did damage to any one.

  “Which direction, sir?” One of the guards inquired without stopping.

  Baloko growled. “The back of the laundry rooms. I think it will be there, where the dirty clothes come down shafts. Hurry.”

  As they worked their way back through the large rooms filled with tall machines, floating carts and the smell of clean, he cursed. Where was his clever female? Where was that killer that he was going to take the life from in a very slow manner?

  They were fighting against the crowds, as troops were removing all workers, gathering them to move them outside to wait. These troops had no idea what the problem was, but the alert had been High Green. Other than the first day of the war, the alert of High Green had not ever been issued.

  There was the word coming down from the top officers of the Elite Guard that no one was to leave the city under any circumstances. Next the word was that all workers wearing yellow must be restrained, but not harmed. Set all weapons on Tranquilize.

  Still there was confusion and questions. This wasn’t an outside problem like the attacks from the war. This seemed to be something inside the city. There would soon be organization, but it had not happened yet, especially with the Commander’s attention on something else.

  Finally everyone was behind the Commander and his group, as they pushed two light swinging doors open. Here on all sides of the high room were large hanging tubes where laundry dropped down through the ceiling. Under each tube were piles of multi colored clothes of all descriptions. In some places the piles overflowed and ran into others, covering the floor with the overflow from screen type holding frames.

  Baloko stopped and finally drew in a deep breath. “Quiet everyone.”

  Still there was a lot of noise in this room. Air swirling, automatic machinery moving, small alarm bells ringing. Baloko’s voice was a quiet command not to be questions.

  “Someone turn off the alarms and stop all the machinery.”

  It was done as he ordered and the room got quieter. He listened, as his men stood without moving.

  “Joo, answer me.” Now he yelled, needing her to hear him in all this bedding and clothing. Nothing.

  Now he spoke to his guards. “There is an injured female in here. Someone get the best healers here immediately. Start looking for her as she came down in one of the pipes. Don’t touch her just call me. Go, go.” He led the way, charging into material and tossing it aside.

  He let his frustration show as he tore sheets, tossed pillowcases and men’s pants over his shoulder. Someone called out to him.

  “Sir, there is a lot of blood over here. Should I continue.”

  “Stop there.” Baloko was quickly by his guard who had frozen as the guard knelt on a high pile. The guard’s weight let him sink into the soft goods almost to his waist and he had part of something that was still buried. It had streaks of fresh blood.

  Even before Baloko touched it, he caught her scent. “You have my gratitude. Now lets see if we can uncover her.”

  Not letting anyone else near, the two embarked on throwing away each piece of cloth as they found her body. The rest of the Elite were busy pulling away and making a path on the floor.

  At last more Elite came in, surrounding a med unit with two healers. But Baloko was not aware of anything, as he saw a foot covered in a blood soaked sock. Now he was the one taking away the material, handing it to the other male by his side. Slowly he had her uncovered.

  He never thought he would be grateful for dirty laundry. Joo was nestled like a baby in discarded shirts and uniforms, used sheets and things he could not identify. Whatever they were, they had softened her fall and cradled her, as she lay on her back with her eyes closed and pain scorching her face.

  There was a sharp point sticking up from the chest of her jacket. Here was where the damage was done, the blood leaking steadily and the pain intense. He also saw the torn marks on one arm with blood also leaving this injury down past her hand.

  He wanted to lift that hand and lick and kiss it. He wanted to take away this pain that was wrong and evil. He would gladly accept it into his own body to know she felt nothing.

  The healer had been helped by one of the Elite Guards up to be next to her body. The healer didn’t touch her, as he placed a floating reader over her and scanned, translating the information on the small screen in his hand.

  Baloko was impatient. “Should I pull this weapon out of her back? It seems to go straight though her.”

  The healer didn’t take his eyes from his screen. “No sir. We need to leave it. It’s stopping some of the blood and damage. We will remove it in a better situation. I will give her something for the pain and then we will bring in a protective cot. I will need help getting her onto the unit.”

  Baloko snorted. “I will move her. You do your job.”

  With the noise of the shuffling feet and the health equipment, he still heard her voice. It was only a small whisper. He leaned down to place his ear next to her mouth.

  “No drugs, promise. I will go to my ancestors…” she gasped for a small breath. “without drugs in my body.”

  He looked at the female he was in love with and saw almost no light in the half closed eyes. Then he leaned down to speak to her only.

  “You submitted to me, but I have not felt that beautiful mouth on my cock. I must refuse you the release of death. You will live female, do you hear me?”

  At this the healer did look up in shock, staring at the large man who wanted to hold this female so close to death. Feeling the eyes of the healer on him, Baloko nodded. “No drugs.”

  “But sir, she is in so much pain. It elevates her body’s system making things worse.”

  “No drugs.” Baloko stayed with her, so close but not touching.

  “Perhaps I can be of help.” There was a lot of feet shuffling as room was made for the Heir to come forward and climb the shifting pile of dirty laundry.

  Baloko could hardly take his eyes off his female, but at last he saw the hand in the air above her forehead. He followed the arm up to the gem faceted green eyes of the male he served.

  “I will not harm her, I will go into her and take away the pain. I will also see the one who did this. Give me permission, tell me you trust me.” The tall young male, the future ruler of this entire world, knelt on this pile of smelly, dirty laundry, asking for permission to be allowed to help.

  “I beg you Sire, please help her. My life will always be deeply yours, if you direct me to the one who did this to her.” Baloko looked directly into the strange green eyes, as he said these words.

  Quill waited until the healer had withdrawn with the reader, then he lowered his palm to the forehead of the dying female.

  Not this time little one. You will not go to be with your ancestors on this day, as you are my gift to my Commander. Let me take your pain and see your killer.

  Everyone saw his body jerk as he kept his hand on the female’s forehead. Baloko reached over to steady Quill as the Heir knelt on the strange hill of colors of dirty material. The assumption by those watching was that he was jerking from the pain of the female. Actually he was reliving the battle as she ran, took the damage in her arm, did the flip and ended up as she ran with the weapon in her body.

  He was amazed that she was such a strong mental warrior, as she swung the small stone statue at the killer. Here was where she saw her attacker, dark black eyes, black hair and a dark skin tone. He had a narrow face with a sharp chin, but no wrinkles. This male had spent a great deal of time keep
ing emotions from showing on his face.

  The killer was not tall, hardly taller than this small female, but he had strength that showed he worked hard to make his body designed to inflict harm.

  With what he needed, he put the little warrior into a deep restful sleep so that the healers could work on her body.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Negotiation and losing….

  The Slave/Queen sat on a raised chair at the head of a very long table. Often at her back was the dark figure of a feared Assassin, but always on the chair at the right side of the table, lower like the rest who sat in this room, was the Advisor Dee Con DeArmond.

  She was totally exhausted from these talks and the charade she had to put on, as she sat through the time periods of these negotiations. She needed contact with her husbands and they weren’t near.

  Loralei knew she had to call on her old police training from Earth. Before Bleak had taken her, she had lived a full life very different from the one on this world. Her parents were decent and both worked hard.

  She had done well in high school and gotten a couple of small scholarships that helped with what her parents could add, to get her into Bowling Green University. This was a very reputable college that many traveled to attend, but she was lucky that is was close to her home, in a small town on Earth.

  In her second year, she got interested in crime TV and started picking out special criminal studies. She finished with glowing marks in just three years instead of four. She went back to her small town to enroll in the local police training process.

  Loralei had found just the place she needed to be. She continued to study with an eye on the FBI entry courses. The small, but up to date police department had room for her to move up. There was no discrimination due to sex or race, and she was treated with the respect she earned.