Page 13

CHAPTER TEN

Maddix surveyed the spaceport with a cool gaze, taking in the number of ships, models, range, and a rough passenger count based on the cargo being loaded and lines to board in a single glance. He was a pro. A hunter. A tracker. And he was one of the best in the sector.

Of course, tracking down a single escaped prisoner was way below his pay grade, and in his former life he’d have scoffed at being tasked with such a menial job.

After all, how hard could it be, and how far could she have run?

But appearances were important, and while the public statement released after one of the other trackers made an ill-advised comment in another city was that she’d been abducted, stolen from under the chancellor’s nose, Maddix knew at a glance that the truth was something quite different.

Within barely a minute in the holding cell area he’d already sussed out the beginnings of the real story, though he kept it to himself.

There were other trackers working the job, after all.

Rivals. And he wasn’t about to help them.

But he could see at once that the cell had been opened from the outside, yet there were no signs of struggle.

In fact, if anything, it seemed like a collaborative escape effort, and that made for a much more interesting situation.

He wasn’t even supposed to visit the holding cells. The others had all taken off like bats out of hell tracking the ships that had departed, thanks to the comprehensive log handed to each of them by Frakkus.

Fucking Frakkus. He never did like that guy, but like had little to do with his situation, nor did it in any way diminish his duties. And so here Maddix was, standing in the seventh spaceport and transit hub on his list, and yet again coming up short.

The others had reported the same lack of success.

Maddix looked as grim and serious as ever.

He wasn’t one known to crack a smile. But on the inside, he was all but rolling with laughter.

Somehow this woman had not only escaped, which humiliated the chancellor to no end, but she had also then managed to avoid not just recapture but had even evaded detection or notice pretty much anywhere.

It was magnificently unexpected, and the jaded hunter found himself quite impressed with what the woman and whoever was helping her had managed to pull off.

Few, if any, would ever hope to be as successful as they had for this long, and he secretly found himself wishing them luck.

He was once like her. Not a woman, though he had nothing against them and found most to be far more capable than their XY chromosome brethren, but a competitor in the games.

Someone whom destiny or just bad luck had put in harm’s way, binding them to a competition they wanted nothing to do with and a set of rules and outcomes they had little to no control over.

He’d lost, despite being far better than the other competitors. So good, in fact, that his partner, a woman named Illia, had found her leg shattered in an “accident” that saw them plummet from the rankings. He had nearly humiliated the elites in their own games, and that would not be allowed.

And so it was he became an indentured servant of Chancellor Vinchi.

Really, he was a glorified slave, but indentured servant just sounded so much more civilized.

And now he was serving out his long indenture doing what he had been so skilled at before he found himself in this miserable situation.

He’d been a respected and even feared tracker-hunter, known across the systems.

And look at me now, he groused to himself. I almost hope I never find them . But he knew the odds of that were slim to none. He was just that good at this job. As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t a question of if, but rather of when . Given his track record, it was only a matter of time.

He gave the transit hub one final sweep, but he already knew what he would find.

Nothing, and a whole lot of it. They weren’t here.

They weren’t at this or any of the transit hubs.

He’d bet his freedom on it, ha-ha. Maddix had been in this game a long time.

Long enough to know when someone had changed the playing field.

But he’d go about his task as expected, visiting several more similar locations where he would surely find the same results.

It wouldn’t raise any suspicions. After all, the others were doing the same thing.

And it would give the escapee a little more time to enjoy her freedom.

He’d catch her, no doubt, along with whoever was helping her.

But given the nature of the job he would prefer that to happen later rather than sooner.

Maddix decided to stop for a meal before heading off to the next location. It was on the chancellor’s dime, after all, and who knew when he’d eat this well again. He was one to make the most of a bad situation, that much had always been true. Just like his quarry, apparently.

They have to be on foot, the crazy bastards, he thought with an appreciative chuckle.

Damn. I’ve gotta hand it to them. That was an inspired, if not outright crazy, way to escape.

I mean, fleeing from Chancellor Vinchi and all the combined forces of the elites on foot?

Who would have guessed it? Well, good luck to you, wherever you are, and enjoy your respite while you can. I’ll be seeing you soon enough.