Taurus (The Zodiac Brides #1)

Chapter 1 A Hefty Bonus

A Hefty Bonus

Melanie

Iwasn’t sure what awaited me out there. This damn cell and stupid vessel became quite familiar these last few weeks. Even the guards—as stern and mean as they could be—kinda grew on me during the long trip.

But now that I could see the large station slowly rotating around the monstrous red star?

No, I didn’t feel so comfy anymore. The safety of the white padded room felt like what it actually was—a fucking prison.

And I guess it was my fault, really. First for being too naive, then for not running fast enough and getting caught.

“Hey!” I said through the small opening of my door to the guard I knew was stationed just outside of it. “Will you finally tell me where we’re going?”

A muffled grunt was my only answer.

“You can’t kidnap people and bring them out to space, you know? There are perfectly good prisons on Earth!”

“So you keep saying.”

“Don’t talk to the prisoner, agent seventy-eight.”

Said agent mumbled a reluctant apology as footsteps echoed, growing closer. Shit. If it was the commander of this moving prison, I could kiss my dinner goodbye. Again.

“Well, well, well. It’s always you, isn’t it? If your test results didn’t assure me a hefty bonus, I’d have thrown you out already.”

The little mailbox-like opening lifted and the commander's cold and narrowed gaze gave me a once-over.

“Local prisons gave you a shot,” he continued, “and you blew it by escaping. Five times.” Not my brightest ideas, but quite the achievements nonetheless. “No matter the choice you make once you’re there, if you escape either of those, you won’t be able to cause trouble.”

A choice? What choice? Was it one of these places where they put the prisoners to either work or isolation? I’ve heard there were a few orbiting around our good old Earth…No. We’ve been traveling far too long for that. We had to be outside of the Solar System.

“You treat me like I’m a murderer! Why do you care about a few unpaid debts and a couple theft charges?”

He gave a small shrug. “I don’t. But the people you stole from sold your information to me to get the money you took back. And now, I’m selling you to the Zodiac Program to get my own.” He paused. “And the previously mentioned hefty bonus.”

The little door clinked shut and he left, chuckling under his breath while his footsteps retreated.

What the fuck was the Zodiac Program?