CAPTURED: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys(180)

Riley's nose turned up in disgust as she shoved the last of the dead  bodies outside the door. There were some things she could handle; being  in a room with dead guys was not one of them. She cursed again when she  couldn't figure out how to close the door to the room, so she stood back  and shot the panel out. Her loud moans filled the air when instead of  closing, it remained frozen opened.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" she groaned in frustration. "It worked in the  movies, damn it all to hell!" There was nothing she could do about the  door except shoot anything that tried to come through it now.

She turned and looked at all the lights flashing on the console with a  confused frown. Glancing out the huge section of windows that overlooked  two separate landing bays divided by a huge wall of rock, she figured  she could at least watch as her guys took off. Since she couldn't see  them down there yet she figured they might need a little help. She had  absolutely no idea what to do but figured if she started pushing enough  buttons something was bound to work sooner or later.

"Well, I told them I was great at causing a distraction," she muttered  darkly as she began pushing as many buttons as fast as she could. "Oops,  maybe I shouldn't have pushed that one," she whispered under her breath  when the lights flashed on and off in the landing bay.

Riley pushed another button and realized she could hear herself  breathing over the PA system. She could warn the guys they needed to get  their asses up here toot sweet if they wanted a spaceship. At the rate  the other prisoners were leaving, they were going fast.

"Hello. Can everyone hear me? Hell-lo! Vox, Tor, Lodar?" she called out,  hoping they could hear her over the stupid alarms that had gone off  when she was pushing buttons. Unfortunately, she couldn't figure out how  to turn them off. "Damn it! How do you turn the alarms off? The damn  things are giving me a headache," she muttered before she turned to see  one of the Antrox guards trying to sneak up behind her. "Oh no, you  don't, you nasty little insect!"

Riley let loose with several shots, adding to the growing pile of dead  bodies. "Take that, you son of a bitch! Who's your momma now, asshole?"  Riley crowed before she realized she still had the communication system  open. "Fred, Bob honey, if you can hear me I have all the doors open. I  have to tell you. You'd better hurry. Those spaceship thingies are  really flying out of here fast. I don't know if there are going to be  any left if you don't get your asses up here now. Uh-oh, I don't think  those two know how to drive one. Oops, nope. They didn't," she croaked  out as she watched the dark night of space light up when two departing  ships exploded.



Several Antrox guards turned, startled, and looked up at the control  room as the lights in the landing bay flashed on and off. Antrox 785  looked up in disbelief when he saw the strange female standing at the  controls instead of his men. Riley glanced down at him at the same time  as he turned all the way around to stare in disbelief. Antrox 785  watched as if in slow motion as she gave him a huge smile and raised her  hand, her middle finger pointing straight up, before blowing him a  kiss. He could feel the deep flush of shock and outrage that his mining  operation was no longer under his control.         

     



 

"Get me the guards on Level Five," he growled out at the same time the  alarms sounded, stating all systems had been deactivated. "Wait!" he  ordered sharply. "On second thought, get my personal ship ready  immediately. It is time I retired," he muttered to his personal guards.

"Antrox 785, what of the others?" his guard asked stiffly.

"The prisoners have been released," Antrox 785 stated coolly, looking at the guard. "Do you wish to search for the others?"

The guard looked back up at the female in the control room who was  currently firing a laser pistol at someone. He looked back at Antrox 785  and bowed his head. Turning, the small group hurried to one of the  tubes leading up to Antrox 785's personal space craft.

Antrox 785 turned before he walked up to the tube to look one last time  at the strange female who had brought an end to his sixty years of  profit. Luckily, he had always known that something like this could  happen and had prepared for it. He shook his head as he turned to follow  his guards. Before he retired, he first would have liked to have killed  the trader who brought her here. A small smile curved his thin lips as  he thought about how much Antrox 157 wanted to be promoted. He hoped he  enjoyed his new position.



Riley screamed as two more guards fell. This time not from her but from  one of the escaped prisoners who decided he wanted to take her with him.  She raised her arm and fired on the huge orange man again. He grunted  but continued to creep toward her even though he was bleeding from  several places including where she had just shot him in the shoulder.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Riley snarled as she aimed the pistol between  his eyes. "Will you just fucking die already!" she snapped out as she  fired again. The huge orange figure flew backward landing on the growing  pile of bodies outside the door. This time, he didn't get back up.

Who the hell needs a door when I can just make one out of dead bodies, she thought in disgust.

Riley turned to slam her hand down on the last button in frustration and  anger. This one had been hidden under a huge clear lid. The little  nagging thought in her head that maybe it was covered for a reason  didn't go off until the voice of the automated system announced that the  self-destruct had been activated.

"Well, shit a brick!" Riley groaned in despair.

Tears filled her eyes as she watched another spaceship depart. There was  only one left, and it looked like it had been left behind for a reason.  She wasn't even sure if it could fly. Her hand pressed against the  glass, her fingers spread as she watched Cross, Banu, Bob, and Fred  hurrying across the landing bay toward the last spaceship. A moment  later, she saw Adur and Titus making their way up the tube as well. She  must have missed Vox, Tor, and Lodar. She was sure they had already  escaped in all the confusion.

"Good luck, my strange friends," Riley whispered sadly as she watched them disappear. "I'm glad you are getting away."

She pulled away from the glass. The sounds in the background of the  countdown seemed to match her heartbeat. Riley stepped away, pulling her  purse and big, pink suitcase with her as she moved over to the wall,  where she slid down until she was sitting on the floor. She pulled her  knees up to her chest and smoothed her huge purse down against her side.

Riley rolled the laser pistol in her hands absently before taking a deep  breath. She wasn't going to wait until the place exploded around her.  If she was going to die, it wasn't going to be by having her head  explode from decompressing in space. No, she would take her own life in  the last few seconds. A quick blast to the heart and she wouldn't feel  the dark emptiness that would become her tomb.

"Hell, Riley girl," she whispered as tears coursed down her cheeks. "You  are really getting morbid. At least it is better than being buried in  concrete under the shed in Righteous, New Mexico." She giggled, on the  verge of hysteria. "Here floats the body of Riley St. Claire from  Denver, Colorado. She forgot that the self-destruct button is always  covered. The idiot! So much for twenty-four years of good B-rated  movies. This totally sucks!" Riley groaned as she pulled the pistol so  it was pressed tightly against her chest. "I can't believe with my  family history that I am probably the only female in the history of the  St. Claires to die a frigging virgin!" She sniffled sadly.

She closed her eyes and drew in a shuddering sob. She could do this.  Just don't think about it. Instead, she thought about the things that  brought a warmth to her heart and calmed her. Images shimmered into her  mind as she thought back to the things that really mattered to her. A  wobbly smile curved her lips as she remembered her Grandma Pearl  laughing and wiping down the counter at the bar as she listened to Riley  telling her about her latest retorts to the bullies at school. She  thought about her sainted sister Tina rolling her big blue eyes at her  when their Grandma got called to school again because of Riley fighting  or mouthing off. She thought of Vox's beautiful tawny eyes glaring at  her with hot desire as he tried to get her to rest instead of working  alongside them down in the mines. Her body began to shake uncontrollably  as her finger tightened on the trigger; then she jerked in shock as  pain exploded through her.

I didn't think dying would hurt so much, she thought as the breath exploded out of her.



Vox let out another loud snarl as he slashed at anything in his way. Tor  and Lodar were right beside him clearing a path. He didn't care who it  was. If they were in the way, they were dead. His only thought was to  get to Riley, his mate, his everything. How he ever thought he could  kill her if he had to made him realize just how stupid he really was.  The thought of her being in danger was enough to drive him insane. He  would never have been able to kill her. He would have had to lock her up  somewhere if she had been a spy. Hell, he might do that anyway after  this crazy stunt of hers. He was damn sure going to whip her delicious  ass for scaring him so badly.