Chapter 10

"Well look at what we have here gentlemen," the ringleader of the group told them. "The lady has someone to protect her."

"He's not my protector, asshole," she cursed at him. "He's a friend."

"Who's your friend baby?" the other man asked her.

"None of your business," she snapped at him.

"Alright, now let's be reasonable," Archer intervened. "Let's all be civilized here. Why did you accost her in the first place?"

"She looked appealing," the one man told him. "Mighty appealing." He licked his lips.

The Captain of Challenger was close to giving the guy an obscene gesture.

"Don't push it, jerk," she told him. "I've had a rough day already. Don't make it worse by having to beat you into a pulp."

"Oooh, I'm scared," one of the other men taunted. "What are ya gonna do?"

"That's enough!" Archer yelled. "Would you gentlemen kindly leave us be, please? We are in kind of a hurry."

"There's no hurry," the ringleader told him. The Captain noticed that this was the same guy she punched in the stomach just the day before. "If it takes us all night to get what we want, then so be it."

"Me thinketh he is looking for sexual favors," the Captain of Challenger told Archer. "Don't you?"

"I agree," Archer said. "Move!"

With that, Archer and the Captain ran. The men followed close behind in pursuit.

"Aren't we near the coordinates D'Mar gave us?" the Captain asked Archer, breathing heavily.

"Just about," Archer told her, his breathing heavy as well.

They reached a darkened alleyway, but there was no way out.

"Great," the Captain muttered. "Dead end."

"There has to be a passageway out of here," Archer surmised. "Let me find it."

"No," she told him. "Let us find it."

In their frantic search, they did not realize that the mob had reached them.

"Well, looks like you're trapped," the ringleader told them. "So are you giving up the dame or what?"

Just then, the Captain of Challenger found the passageway.

"I think not," Archer replied.

With that, both of them escaped through the passageway.

The only thing that the mob heard as they disappeared was "So long suckers!"

End of Chapter 10