despite her hopes, she wondered if he would be susceptible to bribes or blackmail. His silence, and the Draycon woman's promise that her new owner would kill her, increased her anxiety. The Draycon woman, however, had no way of knowing who would buy her, and a chance existed that this man was not the sort the woman had hoped for. Rayne's stomach rumbled and she cursed it. Now was not the time to think of food.
Rayne jumped when the door opened to admit her captor and a black-uniformed man carrying a tray, which he set down on the table before leaving. She watched the Shrike, wondering if he was going to speak this time.
'Eat something,' he said in fluent, slightly accented Atlantean, his voice deep and attractive. 'You must be hungry.'
She glanced at the steaming food, which looked like nutri-paste, and shook her head.
He sat in the chair opposite. 'What are you afraid of?'
'You.' She struggled to keep her voice from quivering. He radiated strength and confidence as if it oozed from his pores.
'Why?'
'I don't know you, but the woman who sold me said you would kill me.'
'Really? Drevina doesn't know me that well, I assure you. And I'm hardly likely to do that when I just paid a hundred thousand regals for you. Of course, you were too drugged to know anything.'
Not quite, she mused. 'So now I'm a slave?' She wished he would take off the mask, it bothered her.
'Legally, yes.'
'I see.' She strived to remain calm. It sounded like someone else spoke.
'Do you?'
'Probably not, but I expect I'm going to find out. So, you're not a violent pervert who enjoys killing slaves?'
'I flatter myself that I'm not a pervert, and I'm not going to kill you.'
'Then what do you intend to do with me?'
'You'll find out soon. How were you captured?' His husky voice sent shivers down her spine.
'The Draycons kidnapped me on Atlan. They must have used gas. I woke up on their ship. They might have killed my brother. I don't know what happened to him.'
'So, the Atlanteans took you from your home world before it died. I wondered what happened to you.'
She frowned. 'How do you know my world is dead? You don’t know where I’m from.'
'I do. We’ve met before, in a manner of speaking, although you might not remember such a brief encounter.'
Rayne searched her reeling mind for an explanation, finding a dim memory of a black-clad man in a blind alley, blue laser humming over her as she lay huddled on a dirty road. 'You were there, on Earth. You shot the store guards.'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
He shrugged. 'You needed help. I was there. Why not?'
'Will you help me again? Take me back to Atlan? The council will reimburse you.'
The Shrike paused, and she hoped that he was considering her request. His rescue on Earth did not mean he was a good person, she reflected. If he was a slaver, he might have been planning to capture her then, but the Atlanteans had chased him away. He stood up, and she leapt to her feet, backing away.
His head turned to follow her retreat. 'There's no need to fear me. I'm not going to hurt you.'
Rayne wanted to believe him, but her instincts clamoured for caution. She could sense neither friendliness nor hostility from him. He appeared to have no emotions at all. He seemed taller than Rawn, but perhaps it was the coat and mask.
'How can I trust a man who hides his face?'
'Is that what's worrying you?'
'Partly.' She moved closer to the wall and leant against it, feigning confidence.
'I'm afraid I can't take it off.'
'Then I won't trust you.'
The Shrike shook his head, the mask's flat planes gleaming. Most of it was dull, but shiny, tinted plasglass covered his eyes, reflecting the light.
'Suit yourself.' He turned and left.
Rayne closed her eyes and slumped, then returned to the couch and ate the meat-flavoured nutri-paste. Considering her situation again, she found no good in it. Her only hope was the fact that he had not refused to return her to Atlan, and perhaps considered it. Common sense howled against this naive fantasy, reminding her that a slaver who had just paid a small fortune for her would not be keen on returning her to Atlan for the sake of getting his money back. She should have offered him a reward to sweeten the deal. Then again, it would be dangerous for him to go near Atlan, since they imprisoned slavers. So she would have to guarantee his safety, too, which she was not sure she could do. There was no reason for him to trust her any more than she trusted him, either. As her thoughts whirled in useless circles, her eyes grew leaden as her full stomach compounded her fatigue, and the room was so quiet that she fell asleep.
Rayne woke to find her captor standing over her, and leapt off the couch like a startled cat. Lacking feline reactions, she tripped over her feet and landed with a thud on her rump. She grimaced, then tried to scramble away in alarm when he stepped towards her. He gripped her wrist before she could evade him and hauled her to her feet, and as soon as she was upright she tried to pry his fingers loose. After a futile struggle with his iron grip, she became aware that he was merely watching her efforts, and glared up at the horrible mask.
'Are you going to just stand there and hold my arm all day?'
She sensed his reluctant smile, and he said, 'You should be more careful. I don't want you to hurt yourself.'
'Well your wishes aren't exactly high on my list of priorities, you know.'
'You're very brave all of a sudden.'
'This isn't bravery, it's called desperation. Something you wouldn't know anything about.'
'I understand better than you know,' he replied.
'I'll bet you get your kicks from terrorising helpless slaves, but I won't give you the satisfaction again.' She drew a shaking breath. 'Look, if you take me to Atlan, I'll see to it that you're rewarded as well as reimbursed.'
'Really. You must be an important person, then.'
'I have some important friends. The council will pay for my return.'
He shook his head. 'As much as I would like to oblige, I'm afraid it's out of the question. You see, there's a price on my head on Atlantean worlds. A very large one. If they catch me, they'll kill me, so I'm not going anywhere near Atlan.'
'Well, just let me go then. I'll call my friends, and they'll come and get me. I'll make sure you still get the reward.'
'The Atlanteans, come here?' He gave a soft, mirthless bark of laughter. 'That would be risky. Besides, you have no money, and, unlike on Atlan, a space line costs money here.'
'Oh. Perhaps you could…'
'Lend you some?' He chuckled again. 'Why don't I just take you to a law-abiding world, then you can call on a free space line?'
She glared at him. 'You're not going to help me, are you?'
'No. I have plans for you. I didn't buy you just to give you back to your Atlantean masters.'
'Damn you!' She tried to wrench free, but only succeeded in jerking herself closer to him, something that, oddly, seemed to discomfit him, for he stepped back. For a moment she was close enough to sense his warmth and strange, powerful charisma. Startled, she stepped back, then realised that his laser was within reach, grabbed it and tried to yank it out. It seemed to be stuck, and his grip on her wrist tightened painfully as he pushed her away, releasing her.
'That was a really stupid thing to do,' he said.
'If you think I'm not going to fight, or try to escape, you've got another think coming.'
He gestured to her wrist. 'Did I hurt you?'
