Hunter Raze, page 1
Hunter Raze
Veslor Mates – Book Six
By Laurann Dohner
Hunter Raze
by Laurann Dohner
When her parents died in her youth, Anabel Brick—along with her sister, Jessa—was raised as an orphan of United Earth. While her sister became an Alien Research Specialist, Anabel’s skills were put to a different use. She’s a tool for U.E. and its military fleet…a spy…a killer. Her current mission also turns out to be her last. If she succeeds, if the criminals don’t take her out first, she’ll remain marooned on the deep-space planet. Any rescue effort too dangerous to attempt for a single operative. Anabel always knew her life wasn’t going to have a happy ending.
Little does Anabel know, the hunter is about to become the hunted.
Raze and his hunter grouping have suffered too much loss. All they have left is each other and the anticipation of hunting prey for the rest of their lives. It does give them a sense of peace to track, capture, and sometimes kill vile beings who harm others. Now his grouping has been commissioned by other Veslors to find Anabel and return her to her family safely. Finding the female is easy; Raze and his grouping brothers are the best at what they do. Subduing a woman who’s more than human is another matter.
Little does Raze know, rescuing Anabel could have dire consequences for everyone…Veslors included.
Veslor Mates Series List
The Gorison Traveler Incident
Mission: Guardian Angel
The Breeding Experiment
Mission: Planet Biter
The Torid Affair
Hunter Raze
Hunter Raze by Laurann Dohner
Copyright © November 2021
Editor: Kelli Collins
Cover Art: Dar Albert
eBook ISBN: 978-1-950597-20-8
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal, except for the case of brief quotations in reviews and articles.
Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is coincidental.
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
Hunter Raze
Veslor Mates – Book Six
By Laurann Dohner
Prologue
The alarms blared as smoke filled the air from the circulation vents. Anabel made it to her private crew cabin and sealed the door. She yanked open the emergency cabinet located to her immediate left and put on a breathing mask, sucking in fresh oxygen to stop coughing.
The deck under her vibrated and for a split second, gravity becoming unstable on the massive space freighter. It went back to normal before she began to float. It was a warning that she was nearly out of time.
She ran to her bunk and dropped to her knees, pulling out the heavy locker located underneath. Conveniently, her arm bled a little where she’d hit it while fleeing, and she reached up, ran her fingers over the cut, then carefully inserted two of her bloodstained fingertips into the locking mechanism. It clicked, the lid opening.
The hidden compartment at the top fell open, since she’d used her DNA to verify ownership instead of her fingerprints, revealing a slim data pad and two modified weapons w. She shoved the weapons into her deep jumpsuit pockets and turned on the pad. It instantly connected to the network.
She tapped in new orders, sending her message to both hidden rockets. The information was too important to risk sending just one. The rockets were equipped with obstacle avoidance navigation systems, but by using both, she could be certain her handler would receive at least one of them.
“Kurt, it’s way worse than we suspected. Gemini isn’t just sneaking in survey crews to scope out planets before they bid. The crew of the Soapa Six are on their way to kill the existing indigenous aliens, so they can classify a planet as unclaimed. I have proof. There’re over ninety thousand defenseless inhabitants on their next targeted planet.”
She reached down and yanked up her jumpsuit leg, exposing her ankle. She pressed three fingers in the right spots and flinched from the slight pain as the skin split apart, ejecting the small data chip. She used her sleeve to clean the chip of blood.
The small injury tingled as it automatically began to heal. It was one feature of her synthetic legs that she appreciated. She slapped the data chip onto the pad, a small corner of the screen displaying the information she’d stolen as it began to upload to the rockets.
“Read the logs I copied from the captain’s quarters. This freighter was sent to a planet called Biter eleven months before New Worlds company stationed a survey team there. I think Gemini was responsible for sabotaging that survey team after they were outbid, because they were afraid the team would find proof that aliens had recently been slaughtered on the planet. And it wasn’t the work of one person, or payback by some corporate exec that Gemini threw under the bus. It’s how these assholes always operate. The owners of Gemini are regularly murdering aliens on their home worlds to gain unclaimed planet rights.”
Another explosion went off and the deck under her vibrated again. She knew exactly where it had originated from—since she’d set the bombs herself. The emergency pods near the shuttle bay were no more.
“I couldn’t let them kill off another entire planet of aliens.” She stared at the data pad screen through the clear glass of her breathing mask. “I did some sabotaging of my own.”
Anabel saw that the data chip had completely uploaded and confirmed the information had been accepted by both rockets’ onboard computers. She quickly detached the chip and opened the secret compartment on her lower leg again, inserting the chip into the same hiding spot.
“Put Gemini out of business. Make sure they can’t murder more aliens or sabotage other survey teams. I’ve got enough proof to bury their asses, Kurt.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back; hopefully her handler would never notice. “I blew up every shuttle to prevent the crew from reaching the surface. That’s not happening on my watch. I’m certain the crew isn’t aware that I’m uploading all this, but they’ll probably know when I launch the rockets. Then again, maybe not. I’m betting the bridge is too busy trying to save the freighter to worry about monitoring exterior sensors. Soon, Soapa Six will no longer have life support and the lower cargo hulls are breaching as I speak. I gave myself twenty minutes before this freighter becomes a death trap.”
Her voice choked up slightly. “I’m going to try to make my way to a life pod to reach the targeted planet’s surface. If any crew members have the same idea, I’ll take out as many as I can. I tried to block all access to the pods, but I know there’re a few talented hackers onboard.”
Anabel took a deep breath. This was the last message she’d ever send. There was so much to say but so little time. The launching of the rockets would have alerted the bridge that someone onboard had likely betrayed them. They would have sealed off the ship to find the traitor and hampered her escape. That meant attacking first and sending her message last.
“I always bitched about my job…consider this my resignation, since I know you won’t be allowed to come after me. Maybe Gemini specifically chose a planet outside of fleet jurisdiction so that United Earth wouldn’t bother verifying their claim, and the other survey companies would avoid bidding on it. It’s something you might want to dig deeper into their files to seek an answer to. Are there other out-of-bounds planets that Gemini or other companies are trying to claim? That’s now your job to figure out. Or maybe pass it off to the higher-ups. These greedy idiots are going to start a war with aliens at some point if they aren’t stopped. That should light a fire under the big bosses’ asses.”
Gravity went wonky again, but still Anabel didn’t float. Though her body did feel lighter than normal. The freighter listed to the right, making her slide a few inches across the floor. “You were a great handler, for an asshole.” She smiled. Kurt would know she didn’t mean that last part, but he wouldn’t be the only one viewing what she’d sent. “I enjoyed arguing with you.” Then she sobered. “No guilt. No regrets. Just please send my sister my death notice, okay? That’s the only promise I’m holding you to. Do it for me. Tell her that I’m sorry and I love her.”
He’d understand what she couldn’t say. Kurt knew to watch out for her baby sister. He’d make certain he was the one to notify Jessa—and he’d tell her a good enough lie about how she’d died that her sister wouldn’t get herself arrested searching for answers. Jessa had to be one of the best hackers ever created by the fleet. Kurt would look out for her sister, keep tabs on her. For Anabel. Because he was a good friend.
The freighter deck leaned farther. “I have to go. It’s been real.” She ended the transmission and ordered both rockets to launch, verifying they’d successfully gotten away before she smashed the data pad on the hard corner of the open trunk. She couldn’t risk losi
Like pleading with Kurt to send help…or making him feel even more guilt when they both knew he wouldn’t be allowed to do so. The big bosses wouldn’t take the risk. The freighter had flown into hostile space. The risks were too great.
Kurt’s job sucked as much as hers did. They were both puppets being controlled by arrogant masters sitting safely behind desks on Earth. People like her didn’t get rescued if shit hit the fan. Fleet and United Earth just covered up how they’d really died.
Anabel got to her feet, bent to grab the go-bag she kept packed inside the locker, and straightened. The door chimed as she approached it, and she paused, glancing at the corridor monitor.
Two security officers stood outside her door with their blasters drawn.
“You figured out who set those bombs, huh?” she murmured to herself. “That was fast.” Part of her was impressed. She hadn’t believed they could be so competent.
She withdrew one of the small but powerful modified weapons, aimed it at the ceiling, and shot out the lights. Then she threw herself against the bulkhead next to the door. The vid screen showing the hallway cut out and she saw a red light flash on the panel beside it. Security had overridden her cabin lock.
The door slid open.
The first officer entered with his gun at the ready, failing to notice her just inches away in the darkness. Anabel braced her back and kicked out hard, sending him flying across the room. The corridor light was enough to see him slamming into her open trunk hard enough to flip over it, where he landed with a loud thud.
The second officer rushed in, and she threw out her hand to knock his weapon to the side even as she fired hers. The deadly laser hit his chin, taking off most of his face.
Anabel fled the cabin, pulling her second weapon. The mask helped her breathe in the smoke-laden corridor. She ran fast, not surprised when laser fire hit the wall behind her as she passed an intersecting corridor. Every security officer on the ship would be gunning for her if they’d identified her as the saboteur.
She ran faster, tucking her head to avoid hitting the ceiling. She had surprise on her side with her synthetic lower legs. Once she got going, she could pick up inhuman speed with those babies. The downside was, if she wasn’t careful, not only could she elongate her stride with the bounce they generated, but she could gain height. That wasn’t good on a freighter. Knocking herself out by slamming her head into a ceiling would prove deadly in her current situation.
She made it to a level access panel, stopped, and gave it a vicious kick. Her shoe split where the material met the sole but she ignored it, ripping off the now damaged metal plate to reveal a ladder. She pocketed her weapons, adjusted the bag on her arm so it didn’t fall to another deck, and began her climb.
She swiftly went up a level up and kicked again, this time with her undamaged shoe. The exit panel went flying. She peered out, groaning when she saw a security guard under the metal plate. The heavy panel had obviously hit him head-on. He rolled and grunted beneath it, trying to get free. She ignored him and ran to the left, toward the emergency pod station that she’d hacked hours before, ensuring it only opened for her.
The hack was successful. She gained access, the doors sealing behind her as she studied the four oval hatches. She walked to the third from her right, tapped in the new code she’d created, and unsealed it. She tossed her bag inside the dark circular pod—but not before she heard laser fire hitting the entry door to the small room.
Security had already discovered she’d blocked their access and were attempting to use lasers to damage the lock. They’d eventually succeed. The freighter was old, the doors made of lower-grade material than they should be.
She climbed into the emergency pod and the auto-lights came on, revealing space for only the six seats circling the wall. She twisted and sealed the hatch, quickly reaching into her hair bun to withdraw a data device that doubled as a harmless-looking hairclip.
Fleet always provided the neatest tools.
She inserted it into the access port and heard a series of clicks in the otherwise silent pod, the program on the hairclip doing its job to override the autopilot. She just needed a few more seconds…
“No time like now to find out if my authorization hack worked in the captain’s quarters. If not, I’m dead,” she muttered under her breath.
“Pod online,” a computerized voice stated clearly. “Hello, Captain Mase.”
Relief hit hard and fast. The onboard computer thought she was the captain. When she’d broken into his cabin, Anabel had switched his image and voice with her own, to gain access to the main computer. It would do whatever she ordered—while locking the real Mase out of secure areas, thinking he was a lowly maintenance worker.
“Prepare for launch.”
Anabel threw herself into a seat and buckled in. She hooked one of the straps of her bag with her foot, then pulled out her weapons, flipping on the safeties before stashing them inside the small storage compartment in her armrest. She removed her breathing mask and shoved it in with her weapons, before sealing the compartment.
“Launch in sixty seconds, Captain Mase.”
“Emergency override,” she stated, keeping her voice calm. “Launch now. Initiate the transfer of new landing coordinates to the autopilot after launch.”
The pod engines activated and the circular pod shook hard. The pressure of her body being shoved back into the seat and the simultaneous loss of gravity had her wanting to puke. The pod had probably launched into a rapid spin as it shot out of the side of the freighter.
She closed her eyes as the lights flickered, knowing what was coming. It wouldn’t be pleasant.
The engines cut off, the pod going instantly silent. The automated piloting system would be recalculating where she’d programmed it to go with the hack. It took only seconds before the engines kicked on again.
Her body violently lurched to the left and slightly upward. She’d have been brutally thrown around the spherical walls if she hadn’t belted in. Her heavy bag yanked on her leg where the strap snagged on her ankle, but at least it didn’t go flying. Her stomach rolled and she swallowed down bile. She had no idea how long the pod would take to reach the planet designated as M736. It could be hours or days. She hadn’t had time to do the calculations, too busy sabotaging the freighter. But she knew they’d been close to the planet. Too close. It’s why she’d had to rush her plans.
Captain Mase and the rest of his eighty-seven-man crew would hopefully be dead within hours. Life support would blow in another five minutes, if her guess was right. The rest of her explosive charges were set to go off after that, destroying critical parts of the hull on every level to buckle the entire freighter.
She’d been unable to access every pod section to blow them up like she had the shuttles. There were a few talented hackers onboard who might gain access to the remaining pods. And they might feel generous enough to take other crew along with them. Doubtful, since everyone working on the freighter had been ex-convicts, but still a possibility if they were smart enough to think ahead. Numbers were good to increase survival rates if a crew got marooned on an alien planet.
She’d browsed the employee files she’d stolen from the captain’s quarters. No one on that ship could claim anything close to innocence. The majority were long-term crew who’d helped kill alien races in the past. There had only been three new-hires, Anabel included, and all had violent criminal histories. Only her identity had been forged by United Earth and the fleet to make her look like a dangerous ex-convict. No guilt surfaced over killing the crew.
Besides, it wasn’t as if she’d asked to work undercover missions. That choice had been made for her after her parents died, when she was ten. Sometimes her job involved killing bad guys.
Anabel took deep, calming breaths. Ninety thousand. That was the number she focused on. Not eighty-seven criminals and their captain. The innocent aliens on the nearby planet were more important than a bunch of killers hired by a heartless corporation capable of ordering mass extinction. Gemini would be taken down with the proof she’d transmitted to her handler. Kurt wouldn’t let her sacrifice be for nothing.
