The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5)

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The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5) Page 21

by Valerie J Mikles


  “Hah!” Wanda crowed, her grip on his arm tightening. “Look what you did!”

  “I did nothing,” Hawk said.

  “That’s not what they think,” she hummed, pointing to a band of men breaking from the line, zeroing in on him. They wore waygee clothes, like Chase. They also carried something in their palms that look like a ball but that they wielded like a weapon.

  “Come with me. I can’t let Ketlin have you,” Wanda whispered, dragging Hawk down to the docks.

  “If you help me, they might hurt you,” Hawk said, looking over his shoulder. The men followed them.

  “Douglas, I did not run into you by accident,” she said, quickening her pace.

  Hawk looked at her again, but he didn’t know how to read her clothing. He’d never seen anyone in Quin who dressed like her. “Who are you?”

  “Wanda,” she smiled, finding a mid-sized cruiser and hustling up the ramp. Unlike Sikorsky’s, this one looked naturally run down, with no fancy projections. “Wanda Genova. And you’re coming with me.”

  Hawk shifted foot-to-foot on the dock, but he was cornered between her boat and the Ketlin men that she insisted would do him harm. “But, Oriana…”

  “Who is left for you there?” she challenged, waiting for him on deck.

  “Ah-uh-” Hawk stammered, but couldn’t even muster Chase’s name. Chase was afraid of him and would be relieved to be rid of him. Wanda knew he’d shut down the Ferris wheel, and she wasn’t afraid.

  “Who else will save you?” she said, holding out her hand. “Come with me.”

  Hawk liked this boat better than Sikorsky’s because he could see it. He could reach for any surface and trust that he’d feel the cool, fabricated surface against his fingers. He couldn’t tell what it was made of.

  “Unloop the rope and toss it on the dock,” Wanda ordered, stepping around a transparent wall and into a cockpit. It was raised slightly from the outer deck, but there weren’t two levels on the boat.

  “I thought you were… like Sikorsky. Swank,” Hawk said, leaning over the front of the boat, jiggling the rope until it came loose. “Don’t you have waygees who operate the boat for you?”

  “I like the freedom,” Wanda smiled, shimmying her shoulders, her glittering dress catching the light. “Besides, you’re too big a secret to bring an entourage.”

  Hawk went to the rear of the boat and unhooked the rope at that end. When he tossed it to the deck, he missed and it went in the water. “Who were those people at the fair? Why were they after us? Is it because I broke the Ferris wheel?”

  “Oh, absolutely,” she grinned, starting up the engine. The roar of the engine caught Hawk off guard, and he retreated into the cockpit, which acted as a partial windshield, but didn’t dull the noise. “Ketlin’s starting a collection of your kind.”

  “Does Ketlin know who you are?” he asked.

  “Most of them would recognize me. Can’t really hide in this dress,” she said. A soft breeze circulated as she steered through the maze of boats parked at the dock. There seemed to be dozens more than there were the other day, of all sizes.

  “And now they know what I am?” Hawk asked, crossing his arms, leaning against the side of the enclosure.

  “Not necessarily. They were already there looking for you when you shut down the wheel,” she allowed, spinning the wheel, twisting the rudder. Hawk liked the feel of the single engine. “They know you’re connected to Tray Matthews, and since they can’t get to him, they’re coming after people he’s worked with. Ketlin has some kind of a grudge, but it never really reared its head until recently. After what happened the other day, I’m surprised you don’t know.”

  “What happened?” Hawk asked. She gave him a surprised look, then gave her Virp a few taps, transmitting a story to his. He didn’t need to wait for the translator; the picture of Tray flattened and Saskia smattered with gray slime told him plenty. Feeling sick, he sank to the floor, but the rumble of the motor made the feeling worse.

  “Will they go after Chase?” Hawk asked, scratching his chest.

  “He works for Sikorsky, not Matthews,” Wanda replied.

  “But he’s on Oriana,” Hawk said. He could send a message saying he was okay without saying where he was or who he was with. That would probably be safe.

  “Want to drive?” Wanda smiled.

  Hawk brightened at the prospect and eagerly pulled himself up.

  “As soon as we get to open waters,” Wanda promised. She weaved past two buoys, then opened the throttle, jetting into the bay. Hawk laughed with delight, loving the wind on his face and the speed. The other boats he’d been on were slow and plodding, but this felt more like flying.

  She put a hand on his back, guiding him to the pilot’s side of the boat. There was a chair, but she wasn’t sitting in it, so he didn’t either. The boat had a wheel and a projected console showing the speed. There was a map, too, but Hawk couldn’t get a good look while he had the wheel. Wanda pointed into the distance, where there was a tall, orange buoy.

  “Head right into those waves. If we speed up, we can plane on top,” she said, putting a hand on the wheel, making small corrections. At first, he felt the beating of each wave against the bow, but as they built speed, the bump morphed into a light brush. “If you like this, I should take you skiing. Do you swim?”

  Hawk shook his head, barely processing the question. He was smiling so wide the wind dried his teeth and lips. His hair whipped around his face. They reached the buoy and Wanda slowed their speed, pointing him in a new direction. The waves rocked the boat side-to-side and Hawk turned the rudder to maximize the ups and downs.

  “Silly,” Wanda laughed, slowing the engine to an idle.

  The engine cut off, and the only sound was the water smacking against the side of the boat.

  “Did I do that?” Hawk asked, concerned that he’d just stranded them.

  “No, that was me,” Wanda said, sliding her hands around his waist. Hawk twisted uncomfortably, retreating from the cockpit, but she followed, a voracious look in her eyes. “Have you ever been with an older woman?”

  “Is it required?” Hawk asked, circling to the front of the boat. He’d never tried swimming before. He didn’t know if he could make it back to that buoy and call for help.

  “Relax, Douglas,” she crooned, sitting on a storage bench, peaking her legs so that he could see up her skirt. “What type of woman do you go for?”

  “I don’t,” Hawk stammered, averting his eyes.

  “So I was right. You do like men,” she said, jumping to her feet, her manner shifting. “Did you not like Tony? I figured when he didn’t stay the night that I’d misjudged.”

  “I did like him,” Hawk said, rubbing his stomach, remembering Tony’s rock-hard abs. “But he wanted my money, not me.”

  “Oh, that little weasel,” she squeaked, wrinkling her nose. It was a spritely rant—the kind Tray went into when he was pretending to be annoyed by something, but wasn’t at all surprised that it happened. “He got greedy and didn’t finish the job. I need to talk to him.”

  “You sent him?” Hawk asked.

  “Well, if I don’t need to wear this, I’m going to put on something more comfortable,” she said, reaching under her arm and unzipping the dress. The fabric fell to the ground revealing minimal undergarments, but she rooted in the bench and pulled on a polka-dotted romper that fit loosely on her body, and covered her easily. She added a canvas jacket, and Hawk did a double take. He’d seen her in Olcott in the warehouse, and assumed she was a waygee.

  “You have that shop in Olcott with the engines, right?” Hawk asked.

  “That’s mine,” she confirmed. “Mine and my brother’s technically. Why? Do engines turn you on?”

  “Well, I—Rocan, that’s where I’m from, we need engines,” Hawk said, breaking into a sweat. “Ours are failing so fast. We need… I need to help them.”

  “Yeah?” she smiled, lying back on the bench, looking up at the stars. “You travel
ed all this way to get a few engines?”

  “And medicine. Or some kind of cure,” Hawk said. “There’s this malady, it only affects babies in the womb, but my people are dying.”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” she grinned, rubbing her palms together. “I take it you don’t have a healer among the hybrids in Rocan.”

  Hawk glanced around, checking for eavesdroppers, but they were alone in the middle of the bay. No one could hear them talk about spirit things, and she’d brought it up.

  “I didn’t even know I was hybrid until after I left,” he said, sitting on the bench opposite hers. “I don’t know if I’ll stay one.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbow. “You’re not a natural?”

  Hawk opened his mouth, then closed it. She seemed so trustworthy. Sky had left him and Chase was afraid of him, but Wanda had sought him out and she already knew what he was.

  “I used to have eyes, but this other hybrid ripped them out,” Hawk said, gripping the side of the boat, the rocking motion making him queasy again. “I can’t see what I used to, but I feel like I affect things more, and I don’t have any control.”

  “Strange,” she said, crossing to him, studying him as though she could see the mutilation he spoke of. “So there are actual features that can be transplanted? I had no idea.”

  “You don’t have eyes?” Hawk asked.

  “Sweetie, I’m not a hybrid,” she said, ruffling his hair. “Never had a power I didn’t buy, and there’s nowhere to buy ‘em these days. Sikorsky’s line has so many years of dilution, there’s only a hint of power left. Coro married into the power, but if he has any kids, he’s hiding them from the family name, which means he’s not selling.”

  “I don’t understand,” Hawk said. “How does money make you hybrid?”

  “I can show you when we get to my place,” she said, biting her lip. “Don’t worry. I don’t have to gouge out your spirit parts to borrow a little telekinesis. That’s what you do, right? You move things with your mind.”

  “Not things,” Hawk said. “I don’t move things with my mind.”

  “You shut down the wheel,” she said.

  “I shut down its power,” he explained. “I invite energy to move. Mostly mechanical, but sometimes electric.”

  “You can’t lift that pole over there?” she asked, pointing to a pole stowed under the bench.

  Hawk shook his head.

  Wanda smiled and sat next to him. “What can you do? Show me?”

  “I can start the engine,” Hawk said, pressing his hands against the bench, reaching into the ship’s energy until he found the right piece to pump. The engine turned once, then choked, and Hawk decided it was a bad idea to experiment out here.

  “Holy Zive,” Wanda cried, running to the case that held the engine. She tipped it open, so they could see inside. “Do it again?”

  “I’m not controlling it very well,” Hawk said. “I didn’t mean to stop the Ferris wheel either. But now I see.”

  With his eyes on the engine, he imagined it sparking to life, and it did. “You might want to be ready to steer.”

  “This is awesome, Douglas,” she said, pushing the cover into place and smiling all the way back to the cockpit. “Can you move the throttle?”

  Hawk stood to follow her, but his legs buckled and the engine stopped again. His magic had drained him physically, more quickly than he’d expected.

  “Douglas!” Wanda cried, kneeling next to him. “Takes a lot out of you, doesn’t it? Or are you still tired from stopping the Ferris wheel?”

  “I didn’t mean to break it,” Hawk said.

  “I’m sure I can start it manually,” she said, pulling his head onto her lap and stroking his face. “And see? Look to the coast. They got the Ferris wheel going again. It’s so pretty from out here.”

  Hawk nodded, wanting to see, but unable to lift his head. His vision blurred, and he felt like the boat was leeching the energy from his body.

  “Tell you what. You give me a pint of your blood, and I’ll give you your engines,” she said, opening the bench, pulling a bright orange foam jacket out. She tucked the orange jacket under his head.

  “Will you help me get the engines home to Rocan?” Hawk checked.

  “Yeah. I think a place that made someone as special as you is worth finding again,” she agreed, standing and going back to the cockpit. The engine started and they took off at high speed again. Hawk stayed lying on the floor, absorbing the vibrations of the engine, letting the wind sooth his mind and body. Finally, he’d found someone to help him.

  25

  Alex’s ears stopped up as he pushed through his strength training exercises, filling the air with the musk of accomplishment. He couldn’t find Amanda, but he could do this.

  “You should join me, Danny. Burn off those nerves,” Alex encouraged.

  Danny lay on the couch, a throw blanket tucked under his chin, his Virp on his chest projecting the ever-changing news feeds over his face. Alex had seen him like this before, years ago when he was hunting for Amanda. In ten years, he never gave up hope of finding her. There was a moment, when he let himself fall in love with Corey, and Alex had hope that things would change, but then Amanda appeared again and everything went sideways. Corey was dead and Danny blamed himself.

  “Come on. Bridges,” Alex said, pushing with his heels to lift his hips off the floor while keeping his back straight. “Danny?”

  “I got it,” Danny said, rolling off the side of the couch, landing with a thud. He pushed up to his elbows and reset the Virp. “I got the hospital feed for her room.”

  “I thought we had that days ago,” Alex said, dropping his hips, and rolling next to Danny. He pushed into a plank so that he could pretend he was still exercising.

  “Look. Someone went into her room before the advocate,” Danny said. “Not a doctor. Didn’t use a thumbprint.”

  “And you think that person took Amanda?” Alex asked.

  “Neither one of them came out of that room,” Danny said. “She was kidnapped by a hybrid. They teleported out.”

  “How do you know she’s not the one who did the teleporting?” Alex asked. “She did Disappear for ten years.”

  Danny shrugged and bit his fingertips, replaying the footage. Alex dropped from his plank and shifted to a different exercise. His body was starting to give out on him, but he wasn’t ready to quit.

  “Danny?” Jennifer called, trundling groggily down the stairs. She’d been riddled with guilt since Amanda’s disappearance, and drugged herself to sleep whenever she wasn’t pulling a double shift.

  “He’s in here,” Alex called, lying on the ground for a moment, pressing the heels of his hands to his forehead, feeling an argument come on before he even saw her. She didn’t want Danny spending his days buried in new feeds, alternately freaking out about Tray and Amanda.

  “Danny, shut that off,” she ordered, sitting huffily on the couch. Danny climbed next to her, never getting upright, never acknowledging her. He laid his head on her lap, and his eyes half-opened as he scrolled through news feeds on his Virp.

  “Listen,” Jennifer ordered, covering the device with a pillow, blocking the projected light. “Danny—”

  “I need to see Tray,” Danny said, shuddering with grief. “I need his help. He’ll help me find her.”

  “Danny, I’m doing all I can,” Jennifer said. “There are only so many questions I can ask at the hospital without—”

  “Did you ask Ezekiel what happened?” Danny asked.

  “We did,” Alex supplied. Jennifer had confessed her fear of the man, and Alex had offered to go with her to confront him. “We did that yesterday. We told you last night.”

  Danny grunted and tugged at the pillow covering his Virp, but Jennifer held it firmly.

  “Ezekiel gave the Enn my Yorich name, so that we could claim her. Just a baseline identity. But the Enn never followed up, and someone else came,” Jennifer reminded him.
“He thinks it was this family named Ketlin. I looked them up. They live in Clover. They’ve been slowly buying up all of Tray’s wayward assets since the crash.”

  “They’re the ones who attacked Tray when he came home from the hospital,” Danny said, his breath getting short. Alex could see the panic rising, and he grabbed his water, forcing the straw between Danny’s lips. Jennifer angled Danny’s chin to help.

  “Drink,” Alex coached. “Deep breath.”

  “Why would they want her?” Danny asked. “Why should she have to die for me?”

  “She’s not dead,” Alex said. “If she were dead, there’d be a body. Right now, we just have two people disappearing from a hospital room, and that’s kind of what Amanda is known for doing.”

  “Who is Ketlin?” Danny asked again, bringing his Virp on top of the pillow. “Ketlin. Who is Ketlin?”

  The Virp projected some basic search results, and Danny’s eyes glazed as he scanned. Jennifer’s fingers danced lightly over his shoulder, though her touch failed to relax him.

  “What now?” Alex mouthed to Jennifer. Normally, he’d call the Enn and say he suspected the Ketlin family was involved in Amanda’s kidnapping, but Ketlin had attacked Tray in broad daylight with no Enn intervention. Amanda had been missing from the hospital for days, and aside from a missing person’s report, there was no evidence of a crime to warrant further investigation.

  “Do you know what Tray would tell you to do right now?” Alex asked, crawling over to the couch, getting nose to nose with Danny.

  Danny frowned and rubbed his beard. “Wash my face?”

  Alex chuckled. “Not a bad idea.”

  “We can get to Clover if we go to a temple there,” Jennifer reasoned. “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll tell Tray to meet us at the temple.”

  “And have Ketlin attack him the moment he leaves the estate?” Danny shook his head. “We need to find out who they are first. What they want. What do they want?”

  “They have what they want, I think,” Alex said. “Amanda.”

  Under normal circumstances, Amanda would have loved to spend four days on a boat with the wind in her hair and a healthy supply of anti-psychotics keeping her lucid. Sikorsky’s boat would not have been her first choice. He questioned her about Galen and the half-breeds, but her knowledge was jumbled in a maze of false memories and paranoid fantasies. For all she knew, she could have been staring at pictures for ten years creating a fantasy of half-breeds from that. She wouldn’t get any answers trapped on this boat. Sitting on the outside of the projected mansion, she leaned on the rusted railing of the old yacht. She rubbed her brow, wishing for her Occ, missing the power of magnification and the warning of danger. They were far from land, but with Terrana in the sky for reference, Amanda felt like she could judge the distance to shore more accurately.

 

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