“Yea, pard?”
“If he fires … shoot Amber in the head.”
Before he could react, Frost could only watch helplessly as the old man moved faster than an old man should, suddenly producing a rifle and aiming it at the vixen’s face. The end of the barrel hovered only inches from her eyes. He felt his face grow red.
“You really expect me to believe you’re gonna shoot her?” he scoffed. “You’re the good guy. The nice guy, the boy scout … I know your type. Seen it too many times before.”
“I am the good guy, motherfucker.” Tiger taunted the bounty hunter. “And before I let you get your hands on her and deliver her to whatever sick bastards you’re planning on taking her to … before I let you hand her over to be prodded poked, experimented on … dissected … whatever those fuckers at GenetX … oh yeah, I know things too, motherfucker … before I do that, yeah, I’ll end her. I’m sure it’ll be a far more merciful fate than what awaits her if you take her. And maybe I might not be able to pull the trigger, I admit. I have grown quite fond of her. But my friend here, he’s got some tough hide. Let’s just say he’ll do what needs to be done.”
“Your bluffing!” Frost sneered, although doubt crept into his head like poison slowly tainting fresh water. “And it’s not even a good bluff!”
“Maybe,” Tiger admitted. “But I’m of the opinion you’re the one running a bluff. Y’see, I think this ain’t one of those ‘dead or alive’ deals. If it was, you’d done killed all three of us by now. You could care less about us ol’ boys. We’re just collateral damage to killers like you. You wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep over blowin’ us away.”
Frost only stood there, his teeth clenched so tightly his jaw was beginning to ache. Damned spacer! Have to give the sonofabitch credit. I been wanting a formidable opponent and I got one. Unfortunately, the side deal he’d just made had changed everything. He stood to make a lot of money off this venture. And this fucking Dudley-Do-Right was gumming up the works.
But the man wasn’t stupid. He knew enough to know that Frost couldn’t chance firing off his spingun in their direction. The cannon was not a weapon used for surgical precision. It was made to kill everything in a one hundred-square meter area for every second the trigger was pressed. As much as he wanted to take out Thomas, he was too close to the vixen. He couldn’t take the very real chance that he might kill her too.
“I know you think you’re saving her from some sadistic evil scientists and their evil minions,” said Frost as he began unstrapping himself from the operator’s stand. “That being me, of course …”
“Of course,” Tiger was quick to agree.
“You don’t know what you have in that car there,” warned Frost. He saw Thomas stiffen as he powered the Batt-L-Bonz down, stepping off the footpads. “You think it’s just a cute and cuddly piece of ass. There’s more there than you realize. I’ve seen what that thing can do. And I’m not talking about the perfect blowjob. She took out four of my men just thirty minutes ago. Single-handedly.”
He saw the uncertainty flit across Tiger’s face now as he turned to glance back into the car at Amber. She simply looked at him impassively, no emotion showing through on that beautiful, unique face. He knew at that moment Thomas realized he was telling the truth. What he would do with that information now … that would decide the fate of all three.
“The people I work for want her back for a reason. I think it’s because she’s a danger to us all.” Frost stepped out of the skeleton frame, hands raised cautiously. He needed to exploit that doubt that was festering inside the man he faced. At the same time, he knew he needed to tread lightly.
“So, by defending herself, she has suddenly become a danger to everyone?” Tiger countered.
“This wasn’t like the inn. She purposely sought them out. She stalked them. Launched a pre-emptive strike and took them out. Now, you tell me … is that the actions of a being created simply for pleasure?”
Tiger said nothing. The fact that she had disappeared and allowed Tex to get the drop on him in the hangar and then returned, mysteriously armed with a pulse rifle, had gnawed at his gut. Now that the merc was filling in the blanks, the uncertainty turned to a sick feeling. What if everything he’d thought he’d known about her was wrong. What exactly did he know about her? That she was a bushy-tailed nympho? That the corporation that had created her wanted her back bad enough that they would kill to achieve that end. That she herself was willing to resort to violence to ensure that didn’t happen … and was obviously well capable of doing so. He thought back to the inn, and how adept she was with a pistol. It didn’t really register then, but now …
He looked back inside to Amber. Again, she sat impassive. If only she would smile, give him some kind of encouragement, push him in the right direction, let him know he was doing the right thing. For, at the very moment, he hadn’t a clue. Was he saving a lamb from slaughter? Or was he allowing a copperhead to escape into the woodpile?
He could see it in her eyes. Eyes that were by far more human now than at any other time before. The message was clear. It was a choice he would have to make himself. She was not going to slant it for him. There would be no batting of the eyes, no come-hither look. Either he still believed she was
