Muse Paisley

Holbrook turned to Mason. "Thanks for being a sweetheart."

The siren sniffed the air and tried to ignore her. She grasped Mason's wrist. "I bet if I pull up your sleeve, I'll prove you desire me."

"Nope, you'd be wrong." Mason pulled away and examined Holbrook to make sure she wasn't injured.

"Why aren't you examining my injuries?" The siren's wings beat faster, trying to attract Mason's attention.

"You're fine. Have one of the other prisoners check you out," Mason said.

The siren pouted. "Aren't you infected with my hormones? Only mated forest fairy wolves are immune to the full effects of sirens. I'm special. Ten of forty-thousand sirens are born with hormone power. Do you realize how rare I am?" the siren asked.

"You aren't that special." Mason rolled his sleeve up and glanced at his wrist before yanking it down.

One of the men who didn't attack Holbrook approached the siren. "You're lucky that the goblin woman didn't kill you. I'm infected, but it is up to the man to control himself. Sadly, you use your power to hurt other women like that."

The siren snorted, glared at Holbrook, and lunged at her again.

"Stop bothering me." Holbrook held the woman back with one hand.

Zander rushed to the cell. He and the guards removed the siren and the other prisoners. "Take her out! Our protected agents aren't permitted to be in contact with the general population."

"I had my orders," an unmasked guard said. His face mirrored a tiger.

"Not from me," Zander said.

General Allen raised his hand. "Zander, you were ordered to protect my daughter!" He slumped and appeared defeated and broken. "You haven't discovered who murdered Quin Salamander or who Deb-Dagger is." General Allen's eyes narrowed. He mimicked Shanna's voice. "I'm Shanna Salamander, and I sound like Deb-Dagger, yet everyone thinks since I'm on a kid's show that I'm not a psycho. I killed my mom for the money because I'm an entitled princess, and she didn't buy me a rainbow puppy doll."

"Your buddy Mason cleared her." Zander tapped his foot, and it started thumping.

"You shouldn't call this protective custody," Mason said.

Zander spoke to Mason. "I'd never place Holbrook in a cell with that pickpocket because I know that idiot siren would be humiliated and possibly injured, and I don't need the extra paperwork. I'm protecting the other prisoners from Holbrook and her father because of the riot the last time they were in protective custody." Zander slipped a device around Holbrook's waist.

"I won't hit that stupid Rag-And-Bone Merchant again if you take my chains off." General Kitten Allen struggled with the chains. "He struck me first."

Holbrook nodded. "Doctor Henry was told to keep his hands to himself."

"Just stop talking to him," Zander said. "He is a blowhard."

Mason glanced at Holbrook's laser gun. "The living spaceship digested the salamander women in its engine tank except for Vash's blood. Quin Salamander's murder stopped the investigation into her thefts."

Masked guards moved their prisoners from the cells to the prisoner seating area. They shoved Mason and the others into their jump seats and latched their heavy, cell-like harnesses.

Most didn't speak.

A sheep guard yanked Mason. "We tried to take you four times in the last month for this investigation without the spies on your old crew ship getting word. This isn't a dinky operation. You're on the top Agency-14 penal ship."

General Allen struggled with his harness. "I'm related to that criminal, but we didn't grow up together. He's nine years older than me and tricked us into thinking he was someone else."

A guard shoved Mason into the seat between General Allen and Holbrook.

His fangs extended as he opened his mouth.

Prisoners were dragged in and forced into seats.

One man seemed vaguely familiar, but maybe that was because he looked like he could be Zander's father. I stared at his uniform. His name tag was embroidered with the name Doctor Henry.

Somehow, he had gotten hold of rhinestones and glitter. None of the other uniforms matched his audacity.

The Rag-And-Bone Merchant tried to undo his harness. "I hate that you're always grinning at the worst times."

"But I don't know you," Mason said.

"We met. I was the ship's physician and vibe expert when you first arrived." Doctor Henry belched.

After remembering the real Henry, I'd prefer if Mason lived and that annoying man was shot. He was an irritating and pathetic con man. His uniform reminded me of a man who longed to be Harold Hill from the music man or Elvis. I examined the hologram of the fake doctor more closely. Cosmetics covered a bruise on his cheek.

"Young man, you're so clever, disarming me and almost breaking my face. That shank wasn't meant for you." Doctor Henry smirked to himself. "I was about to perform surgery."

"Sir, you aren't a licensed doctor," General Allen said.

"Neither is the agent who replaced me." He grinned at General Allen. "Why does your wife avoid you? Oh, wait, she left you for a reality TV star." Henry stuck his tongue out.

Masked guards grunted and shoved his arm to force him to stop.

Henry spoke to the other prisoners or two himself. "The Glass-Hills government is culling its rolls. Fourteen planets are ruled by an immature teenage king who inherited a caste system he doesn't believe in but can't fix without the court's approval."

"It doesn't matter how inept the new king is. We have a mission to save the boy's family," Zander said.

Doctor Henry giggled to himself. "What can Holbrook do other than beat people up or shoot them? As a junior agent, she is chained forever to the king." He stared at her. "Holbrook, why is your left ear deformed? Is it from being half-human, or were you from a cloning experiment gone wrong?"

"I think she is pretty." Mason felt the chain and harness, but he found the restraints were unlocked.

Holbrook slipped the key back into her pocket.

"Henry, don't be a toad. Her scar is fresh, and it's not genetic," General Allen said. "She is lovely and has been with me since she was eight."

"Don't lie. Both you and Holbrook have the stink of a corporate orphanage on you." Doctor Henry laughed. "How old are you? I heard you were nineteen when you received custody."

"Why are you asking?" The general scrunched his face.

"Do you dye your hair gray to get respect? I try to make myself look younger. What is wrong with you?" Henry asked.

"No, I have been graying since I was seven, but yes, the hearsay is partially true; I'm thirty-seven, not fifty-three," the general said. "But I don't dye it to stop the questions about my adult daughter."

"Your brother Tolbert is my business because he is why I am a prisoner." Henry rattled his chains. "Sir, your chains are as thick as mine. You can't strike me." He chuckled to himself.

"Shut up," General Allen said. "You're a spy for that deranged group, Deb's Light."

"No, Dad, he is a moron," Holbrook said.

Doctor Henry sniffed the air. "What, and you believe the cultists are smarter than little old me?"

"Most of them," Holbrook said.

Henry scrunched his lips, and I realized his skin was dusted with glitter. "Oh, come on. They believe that only work, lack of sleep, and processed food with intermittent fasting give them enlightenment. Deb only requires her daily dinner fast to feed her bright lights less. Well, unless they meet their idiotic work quota."

"The cult made sense because I was a lost child." Zander's foot thumped nervously.

Doctor Henry snorted. "Okay, maybe I'm oversimplifying their ideas and hatred for wind power. No, that is dumb too. I went to their classes, and they believe that harvesting the wind lowers your magnetic frequency and interrupts workflow. No one should care if wind power stops the manifestation of job-related opportunities if you have to pay the company to receive your checks, and that is if you get paid at all. My cosmetics are expensive, and I'm worth it."

"Your profession kills and maims people," Zander said.

"No, I followed the old king's laws, but I never treated people with life-threatening conditions because, while I am annoying, I'm not stupid."

Zander stopped talking and turned to Holbrook. "Doctor Henry isn't the spy, but your father is."

"No, he isn't," Holbrook said.

"I'm sorry, but General Kitten Allen is being arrested on Agent Rock-Heart's orders."

"Aren't you talking about yourself?" Allen asked.

"No, I admitted my mistakes, and I lost everything for opening my mouth." "General Allen! Confess your crimes or die," another guard said.