The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) by G.L. Twynham Page A

questioning the Collector, but she needed an answer. “So what exactly happens to them? After all, they could have families. These women could be mums, wives or sisters.”
    Zac now looked as uncomfortable as she was feeling. The Collector pivoted in her direction, still holding the women with what seemed like no effort at least three feet off the ground.
    “Yes, they are humans and our key objective is to never harm a human, taken by a prisoner’s spirit or otherwise. I take it you want to know exactly what is about to happen to these women?” The Collector raised just one eyebrow.
    “Yes and the men yesterday,” Val said, ignoring Zac who was looking at her with a pleading expression.
    “That’s ok, Zac, Val wants answers. We take them back to the prison. Firstly they go for an extraction to make sure our prisoners are safely removed and put back where they belong. Then they are wiped clean of their memories and returned to their point of origin. Anything else I can help you with?” The Collector looked steadily at her but Val could see that she was uneasy with the line of questioning. Neither Val nor Zac spoke. “Good.” She turned, leaving them once again, alone in the flat.
    They both took a deep breath and exhaled at the same time, the tension released. “Ok Zac, I need more answers. Who brings them back? Is it the judges?” Val pleaded unable to let it go that easily.
    Zac looked to the portal to make sure the Collector had completely gone. “No, they have a special group who return prisoners to their places of origin when they are in their new bodies ready for release, and they can also return the humans,” he said uneasily, looking every so often towards the portal as if someone might jump through at any second. “Some call them ‘the Returners’ others call them ‘the Darks’. We don’t get to see them as it would put us at risk. The humans go to the extractors, as the Collector said, then the Returners clean any memories they have of their experience and place them back here. We don’t interfere with them. They are a group apart from the rest.”
    “So up until the point they are returned, the humans will know exactly what’s happening to them?” Val felt disturbed that those poor women today had been high jacked, then electrocuted. Now they would be extracted, then they would have their memories wiped, all because of Excariot’s emotional issues.
    “Yes, but you cannot get involved. They are alive and so we have done our job.”
    “Ok. Next, why is it those women trusted your word like that?”
    Zac made his way over to the bed and sat down, his expression visibly emotional.
    Val joined him. “What’s wrong? We’re a team, if you can’t tell me then how can I trust you?”
    “Everyone knows, even criminals, that hunters don’t lie. The bracelet would open portals all over the galaxy, that’s true.”
    “So, where did you get it from?”
    “It belonged to my guard and this is the thing I didn’t tell the Chellemi: it will only work for someone with the same strand of DNA.” He held the bracelet pensively in his hand. Val placed her hand gently on his. He flinched momentarily then relaxed again. “We were connected at birth. We worked together as one for two hundred and thirty-six of your earth years. We were as close as a hunter and a guard could be.” Zac moved the bracelet between his fingers. “Then it happened. It was a dark night and we were just out checking a local hot spot for a little action when I found a nest of Tucklets, level six. We were far too confident; we walked straight into a trap. He fought bravely and I tried to get some back up for him, but they were too late. He received a fatal wound and within minutes he was gone. I took his bracelet as I didn’t want anyone else to have it. The Collectors just assumed the Tucklets had stolen it. It’s all I had left, Val. Please don’t tell them; they will take it from me.” Zac’s voice was beseeching.
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