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  Lettie Jones

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  Mudden Men Book 1

  First published by Lettie Jones 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by Lettie Jones

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  First edition

  This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

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  Contents

  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 One

  Bright light burned her eyes, and she squeezed them shut. Ow. Laying flat on her back, Kay moved her hand to her pounding head. What had she drunk last night?

  “Mwa…”

  Kay froze. Someone was in the room with her.

  “Who’s there?” she asked, her voice a hoarse croak.

  No answer.

  Her heart beat faster. Had she spent the night with someone? Was he in the bed with her? She pushed herself up to sit, feeling cold hard floor under her palm. That wasn’t her bed. Her heart pounding so hard it threatened to jump out of her ribcage, she placed one hand over her brow, shielding her from the light, and slowly opened her burning eyes.

  She sat on a floor made of some gray rubbery surface. Not her apartment. Where was she? Kay was not a big drinker. She’d only woken up with missing memories once in university after a night of too much partying. She hadn’t liked the experience and had never repeated it. She tried to remember last night but came up blank. She wouldn’t have gone drinking when she was supposed to be starting a new job in the morning.

  She heard someone moving around again. A shiver ran down her back.

  A voice, young and female, spoke, “Where am I?”

  Kay’s stomach relaxed—a little. She hadn’t gone home with some strange man after all; that, at least, was a relief.

  She opened her eyes further, fighting through the pain. Gray walls surrounded her. A woman lay a foot away from her. She was the one moaning. Another stood against the wall looking back at her with panic in her wide eyes. The girl didn’t look a day over twenty. The terror in her eyes sent Kay into protector mode.

  “It’s alright,” Kay said. “Everything is going to be fine.” The girl nodded but the fear didn’t leave her face.

  Kay pushed herself up to stand, slowly to give her legs time to adjust, and put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from throwing up as a wave of nausea hit her. Something unfamiliar moved on her arm when she lifted her hand. She brought her wrist close to her face for inspection. A hard metal bracelet circled it. It was too tight to remove over her hand, and the closure was impossible to undo. On the flat part, it read Glaerus 1. She had no idea what that could mean.

  She looked around the room. It was smaller than the bathroom in her apartment. It had no furniture in it, no windows, and no doors. Her stomach reeled again but this time from her rising panic as thoughts of kidnapping, rape, and forced prostitution entered her head. There weren’t a hundred different reasons to lock women up in a room against their will.

  Kay tried to control her imagination. Unfortunately, after years of studying women’s rights law, her brain didn’t lack inspiration as horror stories flooded her mind. She’d finally graduated, and her first experience as a newly minted attorney was becoming a victim herself.

  She quickly wiped away the tear that escaped her eye as she heard the girl crying. Someone had to be strong. But she had no comforting words, so she continued her inspection of the room instead.

  One of the walls of their cell had to contain a door. As she made her way around the room feeling the walls for any signs of an escape route, she tried once more to remember the night before.

  She remembered getting ready for a doctor’s appointment in the morning, but the rest was a complete blank. Her finger felt a bump in the wall. Leaning back she saw the outline of an opening, but no handle or any visible controls to open it.

  “Where are we?” The woman who’d been moaning on the floor had gotten up and was inspecting the door by rubbing her hand on the side of it.

  “I don’t know,” Kay answered.

  “We’re on a spaceship,” the third girl said, her voice quivering between light sobs.

  Kay bounced lightly on her toes and then had to bend over to fight off another wave of nausea. She was right. Most of her discomfort was probably caused by whatever drug they’d given her, but a part was also from the change in her weight from the artificial gravity. Plus, it explained the gray walls and lack of windows, as well as the industrial light that still stung her eyes.

  “Why?” said the one who was now inspecting the wall as if looking for something.

  “Probably to transport us somewhere far from our world,” Kay said, once again remembering the worst cases she’d read on human trafficking.

  “It doesn’t look like there ever was a wall control on this side. We would need to cut through the wall to get to any electrical wiring.”

  “You know about electrical stuff?” asked Kay.

  “I’m an electrical engineer. I work for Fartech.”

  Kay took a closer look at her. Dressed in a casual jumpsuit and hair cut short in the latest style, she did not look dirty, or underfed, or poor like the majority of human trafficking victims. But then again, neither did Kay.

  “I’m Kay,” she said, extending out her hand. “I’m a women’s rights attorney.”

  “I’m Jane,” She answered, firmly shaking Kay’s hand. “I guess I’ll know who to call when I want to sue whoever is holding us here.” Jane laughed nervously at her own joke.

  “It’s strange though,” Kay said. “Human traffickers usually target poor, vulnerable women. Orphans or runaways.”

  “I’m an orphan,” Jane said.

  “I ran away.” The girl had come to join them near the door. “I never knew my dad and left my mom five years ago.”

  An orphan and a runaway definitely fit the kidnap victim profile better, but Kay had a loving family. She had parents that loved her. And she had a younger sister, Thalia, who was also her best friend, despite all of their differences.

  But since she and Jane were both working professionals, maybe this had nothing to do with prostitution, maybe these kidnappers needed specialists for something.

  “What’s your job?” she asked, turning toward the younger girl.

  “I’m looking for work right now, but I worked in the kitchens on a cruise ship after I ran away,” she said.

  Well, that blew her second theory out of the water. If she worked in the kitchen, she had no special skills that would make her worth kidnapping. Though honestly, nor could she think of any reason why anyone would kidnap an attorney fresh out of law school either.

  “I’m Sarah,” the girl said.

  Kay and Jane introduced themselves again.

  “I guess there is nothing to do but wait,” Jane said. “They’ve got to feed us some time.”

  Kay did not like waiting, nor doing nothing. Instead she began brainstorming ways to get them out of there.

  * * *

  They decided to jump on the first person to walk into their room. They could be up against someone with a weapon, but at least they would have the element of surprise on their side. Kay had liked Jane’s idea of electronically jigging the door, but unfortunately the room was devoid of anything that could be used as tools or weapons. So, instead, they sat on each side of the door waiting to pounce the instant someone came through. If they aimed for the legs, they could trip the person and overpower even someone bigger and stronger than them.

  Kay had no idea how long they waited. The kidnappers had stripped them of everything but their clothes. They’d even removed the comms from behind their ears. Kay could feel the outside of the implant that had been surgically inserted into the back of her head as a child, but the attachment that allowed her to access the Interplanetary Net had been removed. Not only were they cut off from the outside world, they had no method of telling time. Whoever had taken them had also placed bracelets on the other two girls’ wrists. They read Glaerus 2 and Glaerus 3.

  Kay had assumed it was morning because she had woken up feeling hungover. But if she’d been drugged instead, it could have been evening or a week later for all she knew. The others had no better recollection of what had happened to them. Jane remembered being at work, and Sarah only remembered going to bed the night before. Also, it turned out they weren’t even from the same planet. Jane had lived her whole life on Harcan, which explained the jumpsuit she wore. That planet had very harsh winds that made any other types of clothing impractical. Sarah was originally from New Terra. She’d run away from home an
d had been residing on one of the vacation moons of Minas—Kay’s home planet—when she was taken.

  Kay leaned her head against the wall, trying not to fall asleep, when she heard a sound on the other side of the door. She jumped to alertness and made eye contact with the others, mouthing “ready?” They nodded.

  “MOVE AWAY FROM THE DOOR AND SIT BY THE BACK WALL.”

  The female voice wasn’t coming through the walls but from an intercom somewhere on the ceiling. Kay looked up at the light fixtures. They were huge and could easily be hiding an intercom, as well as a microphone and camera.

  “They’re watching us!”

  Reluctantly, they got up and went to sit by the far wall.

  The door opened and a man stepped through. Kay immediately realized their plan wouldn’t have worked anyway. There was no way they could have overpowered him. Not only was he a head taller than them, but he also had arms larger than Kay’s legs. He looked to be in his fifties with a nasty scar over one eye, and not an inch of fat on his body. He fixed the three girls with a look that sent chills down Kay’s back.

  “Stay where you are and don’t move,” he said, his voice as icy as his stare.

  It took all her willpower not to let her brain go into full panic mode. Behind him a woman entered the room carrying a large bag.

  “Dr. Wells,” Kay said, with sudden relief.

  Unthinking, she stood up and took a step forward. The man’s eyes narrowed and fixed on her, he didn’t move any other muscles but Kay immediately sat back down, disgusted with herself for being so easily manipulated.

  Dr. Wells placed a hand on the man’s arm as if to reassure him. Kay’s excitement at seeing her died instantly as she realized that she was probably the one who’d sedated her when she’d gone for her appointment. Was it yesterday?

  “What are we doing here?” Kay asked, surprised by the coldness in her voice.

  “How are you feeling, Kay?” Dr. Wells asked, completely ignoring her question.

  “I’ve been better,” Kay said. “I’ve got a splitting headache from whatever drug you gave me.”

  Dr. Wells nodded sympathetically but did not deny Kay’s accusations. “The headache will go away in a few hours.” She took out a medical device and approached Sarah. Sarah shied away from her, squeezing herself further into Kay’s side.

  Kay moved in front of Sarah, blocking Dr. Wells’ access. “What are we doing here?” she repeated.

  “I need to check your vital signs,” Dr. Wells said as if it was a valid answer to Kay’s question. “I need to make sure you are not suffering any side effects from the drug.”

  Kay recoiled at the idea of letting Dr. Wells near her with that device, she glanced at the goon still standing by the door, watching like a hawk ready to attack if they made a wrong move. She didn’t have much choice.

  “Check me first,” she said, offering her arm.

  The doctor placed the device on Kay’s finger. She felt the small familiar pinch as the machine drew a small drop of blood. Kay had gone through this process every time she’d gone to the doctor’s office. The device filled up with a bunch of numbers that meant nothing to Kay. Dr. Wells nodded her head with satisfaction and approached Jane who had her hand outstretched and ready. Sarah was still reluctant, but Kay patted her on the back and told her everything would be alright.

  When the doctor was satisfied with their results, she packed her machine back in its case.

  “Where are you taking us?” Kay asked.

  Dr. Wells stood up. “You didn’t like your old life, Kay. None of you did. You always complained that you didn’t feel like you belonged.”

  “So you’re kidnapping us for our own good?” Kay looked at her in shock. She might have mentioned to her once that she didn’t get along well with her classmates in law school, who tended to care more about money and prestige than helping people, but she certainly hadn’t meant it as a complaint about her life in general.

  “All will be explained to you,” Dr. Wells said. “Just be patient.”

  Kay could almost convince herself that she heard sympathy in her voice, but she put it off as residual feelings from when Dr. Wells had been her doctor. She’d been a nice and compassionate doctor, which was not something Kay was accustomed to. Her past doctors had usually been too busy to even learn her name. But Dr. Wells had been curious and taken an interest in her. Evidently, it’d been some sort of ploy. But, for what purpose?

  The doctor left the room without so much as a goodbye. Her goon left behind her, grabbed something from the other side of the door, and came back in. He carried three bottles of water and three nutrition bars in his hands. The bars had no wrappers and no containers.

  He handed one bottle and one bar to each girl.

  “No utensils?” Kay asked. “Afraid we’d stab you with them?”

  For a brief instant, she thought she actually saw amusement in his eyes. He didn’t answer her and left the room.

  * * *

  The nutrition bars were adequate. The water was heaven. Kay had been absolutely parched. She drank her water in one go.

  “More please!” She said, looking up at the light fixtures and waving her empty bottle.

  “I guess it’s going to be hard coming up with an escape plan,” Jane said, looking up uneasily at the ceiling. “If they’re constantly listening.”

  “Who was that woman?” Sarah asked Kay. “You know her?”

  “She’s…was my doctor,” Kay answered. “You two didn’t know her?”

  Both women shook their heads. Kay asked them about their doctors, but there was no connection there. At least none that they could figure out.

  Suddenly, the overhead lights turned to red and a loud mechanical voice came from the comm system.

  “PREPARE FOR DOCKING,” the voice said. “I REPEAT, PREPARE FOR DOCKING.”

  “We’ve arrived,” Sarah whispered, her voice laden with fear.

  Kay stood up. They heard movement out in the hallway, but waited a long time before their door opened. Kay expected Dr. Wells and her goon to come in, but no one did. She went to the door and peeked out. A guard, dressed in the same manner as Dr. Wells’ goon—though not as big and not as scary—stood in the hallway. He barely looked at her and pointed down the hall.

  “I guess we’re supposed to go that way,” Kay said.

  She stepped out in the direction the guard indicated. All down the hall, doors opened and women poured out looking around like they were lost. One guard stood in front of each door, but none of them moved. Five women came out of the door directly in front of Kay. One of them raised her eyebrow at Kay. She shrugged back. Wordlessly, they all made their way down the hallway.

  A few times she tried to ask a guard questions, but they completely ignored her, and she kept walking down the hall with the other women, Jane and Sarah staying close to her.

  Finally, they arrived at an open airlock. It had already been depressurized and attached to what appeared to be a shuttle on the other side.

  No space station?

  All the major planets had space stations built in orbit where spaceships, which never touched the ground, could dock. Passengers could then travel down to the planet in smaller shuttles. Dr. Wells apparently hoped to avoid arousing suspicion by bypassing the intermediary of a space station altogether.

  The women crowded in front of the airlock causing a bottleneck. Someone pushed Kay from the back, and she wondered what they were in such a hurry for. Finally stepping into the shuttle, she found a row of seats where the three of them could sit together.

  “Strap yourselves in and prepare for landing,” a male voice said behind them. Kay turned around and saw Dr. Wells’ goon standing in the back with his arms crossed, while another guard closed the door to the airlock.

  “Better do as he says,” Sarah said. “Landings can be rough.”

  She grabbed the straps attached to her seat and pulled them over her arms, clicking the ends together, and Jane followed her example.

  Kay looked around and counted twenty-five women in the shuttle. Some of the women talked in hushed voices, and she could hear someone crying quietly.

  One woman in the back refused to sit down. “Where are you taking us?” She yelled at the goon. That was going to be Kay’s line. The goon ignored her, staring straight ahead. “You can’t do this! I won’t sit down.”