“You socked your father with quite a bill.”
“I don’t care if he makes me pay it back. I will,” he says grimly.
“You know how to use those?” I ask.
“I do. You?”
“Of course. How do you think I hunt?”
“I thought I saw you lay traps.”
“I use traps sometimes. I also use my gun to kill, and then I know my way around a dagger too.”
“Yeah, I have my shuricutter and my krislasher, but those are for close-quarter combat.”
“You did mention throwing,” I remind him.
“Yeah, but I don’t do that all that often.”
By the time we reach the plane, I’m so nervous I’m ready to puke.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask.
“If you don’t want to—”
“I do.”
“If you would rather stay behind and talk to the police—”
“I don’t.”
“Then good idea or not, I’m ready. Are you?”
I nod. “Let’s go save Nina.”
15
Strol
I grin at Isabella. She’s every bit as much of a fighter as that weapons guy said Nina is. We’re going to save her. I just know we are.
The plane flew here well enough, and I think I’ll be able to get her to listen and do what I want, which is to hover in place for us while we both descend to take over the boat. We have no idea how many will be on the vessel, and we’ll have to be careful, but I think our best bet to save Nina is to attack first and ask questions later.
Risk? Yes. Reckless? Debatable. Necessary? Without a doubt.
It’s do or die time, daredevil style with a life on the line.
The clouds are drifting away, though, and I grimace. We have to fly up much higher than I would like to try to remain out of sight, but there’s nothing much I can do about the weather. The sea comes into view off the western side of the town, beautiful blue-gray clear waters. There aren’t many boats out on the waves, but there she is. The white boat has to be Frankie’s. It’s massive all right, even from this high up.
As we get closer, Isabella holds her guns. She has one in each hand, and she looks like a total badass. I want her so badly, but now is not the time. Later. Later I will have her, and it will be glorious.
But only after Nina is returned to her family.
“Are you ready?” I ask her.
“You need to stop asking me that. Aren’t we ready?”
“Yes.”
I drop the plane and stop just above the boat. Everything not tied down on the boat begins to blow around from the plane.
Quickly, I double-check the controls. Everything seems to be in place, and the plane should hold still even if the wind starts to pick up. We should be safe.
Then again, they can move their boat out of range at any time, which would make us sitting ducks. They could angle to use their cannons on us.
And they do have cannons. The other boats I spied on sitting at the docks don’t have cannons, but this boat isn’t like them. This one is rigged for war with cannons on either side.
Whoever this Frankie fucker is, he has a shitload of money somehow.
I nod to Isabella. “You stay here and watch over the controls.”
“I don’t think so,” she says stubbornly. “We’re in this together.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” I protest.
“And I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she fires back.
“But they’re going after women who have a thing for blue cocks, remember? They see you up here with me, and they’re going to know that we’ve been… that we’re together.”
“I don’t care if the whole world knows,” she retorts.
Fuck me. That’s the sexiest thing she’s ever said.
“I don’t know if I can keep you safe and save Nina at the same time.”
“You don’t need to keep me safe. That’s my job.”
“But—”
“Shh.” She places a finger against my lips. “No buts.”
I sigh. “You’re impossible.”
“Maybe now you understand your father a little more, hmm?” she teases as she moves to walk around me.
I follow her to the cargo hold and the landing platform. I lower the ramp. The wind is fierce, but it slowly dies down, and I stare down at the ship, grateful that Isabella is back a bit and might not be easily visible to those beneath us.
“You down there,” I shout, eyeing the five men on the deck. “You will give us Nina now, or we will start to fire on your ship.”
"Go ahead," the tallest one says. Even from afar, I can see the smirk on his face. There's a line down the side of his face. I can't tell if it's a scar or if it's paint or a tattoo. "You do that, and there will be a war between the humans and the Novans."
I grit my teeth. “Novans, Kurians, and Earthlings are all humans.”
“Fuck you!” another one shouts.
I grimace and aim at him. “If you don’t bring out Nina—”
“You think you can just come here and make demands of us? You have no jurisdiction here, blue fucker. Go back to your planet now, or else you’ll be sent back in pieces!” the tall one shouts.
“You’re Frankie, aren’t you?” I ask.
He lifts his chin. “Who’s asking?”
“Strol,” I spit out.
“Never heard of you. Go back—”
"My father is Nestrol as in Overlord Nestrol. You want a war? You'll have it," I hiss.
“Strol,” Isabella murmurs. She grabs my arms.
I shake my head and pull myself free. “If you don’t bring Nina where I can see her, I’m going to start shooting.”
“Go ahead.” He holds his arms out wide and puffs out his chest.
I grimace. “Ovian,” I mumble.
“He knows you can’t shoot him because it will start a war."
“He’s calling my bluff.” I rub my chin, still holding two guns, one in each hand. “Should I go down?”
Isabella leans over to check.
“You got yourself
