Clenching his jaw, Steel shook his head. “I won’t let her die that way. I was held in their detention centers and she won’t survive long. I’m going after her.”

“You’re being irrational,” Gene said softly. “You realize this, correct?”

Steel turned his head and met the other cyborg’s calm stare. “I’m in charge right now and I gave you an order. Tell the programming crew to start the engines on the Bridden and to clear out the males who don’t want to go on this mission.” He headed for the door at almost a run.

“Steel!”

Steel came to a halt, turned, and glared at Blackie. “What?”

“If you do this I’ll have to file a report and the cyborg council we answer to could punish you. The Bridden isn’t your property to take, nor are any cyborg lives you’ll put at risk if any of our men go with you. Is your human worth losing your status and possibly your freedom if they deem your actions criminal?”

Steel spun around, moving fast for the lift that would take him down to where the Bridden was docked, no hesitation in his actions. The cyborg council wouldn’t agree with what he was doing but he didn’t give a damn. Rena was in trouble, she needed to be rescued, and he was going to try his best to reach her before the Gordon Lee did.

Dread assailed him as he entered the Bridden. He faced off against four cyborg males, all looking at him grimly. One of them opened his mouth. Steel tensed, waiting for them to deny him access to the helm, considering the possibility that Blackie had ordered them to stop him. He glanced at each man, knowing a fight it would be a close call with those odds, but he would fight if that’s what it took.

“Commander Steel,” Bricon addressed him. “The engines are warmed, we are fueled, and I would be honored to pilot.”

The cyborg next to him smiled. “We’re going to open her up all the way and get to see what she can do. I’m very excited.”

The third one smiled slowly. “This will be the ultimate test of our new programming and to see what the shielding is capable of. I request to go with you.”

The fourth cyborg shrugged. “I’m bored and this should be fun. I’ll man the ammunitions system in case we come under fire.”

Relief washed through Steel. “Let’s go.”

* * * * * Rena stood, paced, and tried to think. She could fight but she didn’t have a weapon.

She turned and eyed the interior, a shudder running down her spine at the concept of being captured. The pod couldn’t outrun a class-B ship.

“Pod 3? Time before the Gordon Lee reaches us?”

“Calculating their rate of speed.” It paused. “Thirty-seven minutes, nineteen seconds.”

Surprised, she asked, “That soon?”

“They are traveling at their highest estimated rate of speed to reach our current location.”

I can make a run for it but where will I go? The only thing out there was Outpost Five and they would easily be able to search it to find her, even if the officials at the outpost didn’t arrest her on sight at the orders of the general. “I’m so screwed.”

“Order not understood.”

“Shut up,” Rena ordered the pod.

“Confirmed. Going silent.”

What am I going to do? Demco wasn’t going to help her, she knew that, not after failing in her mission to recover the Star. Chuck would be embarrassed so he wouldn’t lift a finger, her father-in-law made Chuck seem warm, and her boss would probably testify against her if there were a trial. Rena walked to the pilot’s chair. “Pod 3, respond.”

“Orders?”

“Give me a five-minute warning before the Gordon Lee reaches us.”

“Confirmed. Five minute warning to be issued.”

Sighing loudly, Rena sat down and stared out into space. Space was beautiful in a chilling kind of lonely way and this is where she’d die if she didn’t think of a plan.

They’d torture her, force her to talk, lock her up because she’d be considered a traitor to the government and what was left of her life would be a living hell until they executed her.

Her thoughts went to Steel. He’d try to find out how her mother died and he’d send word to Earth for her. That was one message she’d never get. She hoped that he never found out that she’d died after leaving him, not wanting him to think he was in any way responsible. Closing her eyes to the view, she leaned back and let her shoulders sag.

Her entire life, she’d never known the kind of happiness that she’d had in the days she’d spent with Steel in his quarters. She took comfort in that. Opening her eyes, she stared into space again, wondering if a moon was nearby. She kicked off her shoes, wiggling her toes against the smooth, cool metal surface of the floor. Swallowing hard, she straightened.

“Pod 3, respond. Are we near a moon we could hide on?”

“Negative.”

Damn. There went that plan.

“Orders?”

“How much time in minutes is left before the Gordon Lee reaches us?”

“Fourteen minutes, fifty-one seconds.”

She was stunned that she’d stared out the window that long. Time was running out.

“Fuck, this sucks.”

“Order not understood.”

“I know, you clueless computer. Be silent, Pod 3. I’m talking to myself.”

“Pod 3 going silent.”

“You’re a shitty conversationalist.”

Rena realized what she faced. They were going to capture her. She’d fight to the end, refuse to break, and maybe they wouldn’t be able to torture the information out of her.

She was tough, damn it, she reminded herself. She let the image of Steel fill her thoughts.

He was smiling at her, his eyes alight with amusement. That’s the way she wanted to remember him and that would be her motivation.

She’d die before she gave Earth Government enough information to hunt the cyborgs. She knew about Garden and which ships they had stolen. It was too damn much, Earth would put bounties on every one of those ships and if they so much as went near anything civilized they’d be captured. It would be all her fault. She had to do something, damn it, rather than just sit waiting for those bastards.

“Pod 3, get ready to fire up your thrusters. We’re going to run, damn it. I want you to scan for a livable planet. I’ll even take a moon with craters. We’re looking for anything that will hide us or something that would be difficult for a class B to follow us through.

Do you understand?”

“Scanning.”

“Awesome. Also check for other ships too, preferably pirates. Maybe if we run into a group of them it will distract the Gordon Lee enough to buy us some more time.”

She reached up and grabbed for the seatbelt. “Pod 3, respond. Give me the arrival time in minutes of the Gordon Lee.”

“Nine minutes, twelve seconds. Pod 3 has scanned and found nothing you requested in immediate range.”

“Thank you. Now you can be silent.”

“Pod 3 going silent.”

“This sucks monkey butt,” she sighed, trying to remain calm and think clearly. She’d just have to run and hope the scanners picked up something soon. “I can do this. I can totally do this,” she coached softly. “For Steel.”

”Pod 3? On my mark I want you to full burn us away from that ship. Do not let up even if we use enough fuel for it to become dangerous. Stay ahead of them. Do you understand my orders?”

“Affirmative.”

Closing her eyes, she fixed on the memory of Steel, na**d and sexy, walking toward her while she waited for him on his bed. She’d keep running until she was caught or the damn pod blew up from full burning on empty tanks before she’d put his life in danger.

She twisted a little in her seat to hook her seatbelt.

“I fell in love with you,” she whispered. “Bye, babe. Have a good li—”

Something hit the pod hard, tearing her hand from the belt and sending Rena flying away from the seat to sprawl on the floor.

“Collision,” the pod computer announced as an alarm started beeping.

She lay there. “With what? An asteroid? If there’s a field close, I’m ordering you to steer us into the path of it.” She pushed up with her hands. “The Gordon Lee can’t follow us through one of those without getting serious damage but we’re small enough to avoid getting creamed with our autopilot skills.”

“Negative. Source unknown.” It paused. “Docking clamps have been activated.”

“Is it the Gordon Lee?” she asked, alarmed.

“Negative. Source unknown. My sensors detect nothing.”

She turned her head, staring at the hatch, her mouth opening as her mind spun. The pod couldn’t see cyborg ships and something had just bumped into them, docked to them, that the pod couldn’t identify. Hope soared so hard inside her that it caused actual pain in her chest.

The hatch was yanked open and a large silver-haired cyborg ducked and stormed inside the pod. A grin spread on Rena’s face as she stared up at the best damn sight she’d ever seen in her life—wearing a black, kick-ass uniform.

“Steel.”

He moved toward her fast, just bending and grabbing her. He swung her up in his arms and spun on his heel, almost running for the hatch, ducking down and then they were in a short sleeve docking them to another shuttle.

She stared up at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You came for me.”

He didn’t look at her, instead giving his attention to a cyborg man she’d never seen before who waited in the cargo area. “Seal the door and blow the pod so they don’t know what happened to her. Make it look as though it was an accidental explosion. Let’s get the hell out of here.” He leaned against a wall, releasing her legs so they slid down his length but he kept one arm firmly around her waist to keep her tight against his body. He grabbed hold of one of the beams.

Steel finally looked at her. He slowly smiled. “Hi, siren. Did you miss me?”

“You have no damn idea how much.”

He chuckled. “Hold on. We’re going to have to blast the hell out of here. The Gordon Lee is almost on top of us.”

She locked her arms tighter around his neck seconds before the engines roared loudly and then she was almost torn from Steel’s arms as the shuttle executed a full burn, launching them rapidly away from the pod.

Rena buried her face in the leather of Steel’s shirt. He’d come for her.

Chapter Twelve

Rena snuggled on Steel’s lap in the same seat she’d used for weeks when she’d been aboard the Bridden. Four other cyborgs were in the piloting area with them. The one in the copilot seat expelled air loudly.

“They aren’t following us and they haven’t tried to raise us. I don’t think they can see us on their sensors.”

The cyborg sitting at one of the side stations chuckled. “Three, two, one…firing.” He paused for seconds, watching a screen in front of him. “The pod is destroyed.”

Steel nodded. “That should confuse them and the debris field should keep them back until they can slow enough to edge closer without fear of puncturing their hull.”

“You came for me,” Rena said softly.

Steel turned his head and looked into her eyes. “We heard when the Gordon Lee opened transmissions with you.”

Some of her joy faded. “Oh.” No one could ever accuse Rena of being slow witted.

“So you came for me just because I needed to be saved?”

“You know too much,” one of the cyborgs offered. “If you were captured by our enemy you could have given them vital information.”

Pain lanced through her as she looked away from Steel, suddenly moving to get off his lap. So much for coming after me because he changed his damn mind and figured out he didn’t want to be without me.