Daniel ground his teeth together. “The killer is Dane Morris. I’m going in to arrest him but I need to get the civilians clear. Clear your men out and clear them now. I don’t care how you do it but I want them out of the landing bay quietly and without setting off any alarms. I don’t want this bastard to know I’m coming.”
“Roger that,” Huckness said without protest. “Trainer, I need your approval for a stage-one recall.”
Daniel heard keys being hammered, computer equipment groaning in annoyance.
Trainer grunted. “You’ve got it.”
“Got what?” Daniel asked.
Huckness spoke first. “I’ve issued a silent priority-one order. It’s for emergency situations like a mining accident where there’s a chance of base evacuation and we don’t want to set off the main alarm for some reason. Quiet call to their evac stations, no chance of being misunderstood and definitely not going to be ignored.” He paused. “I’ve got a riot team on standby. It’s the closest I have to a SWAT team to back you up. Say the word and they’ll pour onto the Belle like molten iron.”
“Station them by the Belle’s hatch. In case things go wrong and we need to retake the Belle with force.”
Huckness grunted. “They’ll be ready.” He paused. “Keller put it together first?”
“Yes.” Daniel wasn’t going to mince words to try to make himself look good. “She figured it out. Told me and Morris jumped her when she moved to get to him first.”
“Woman’s got the heart of a warrior,” Huckness said. He chuckled. “I’d expect no less from First Corps.”
“Brave and tough. I get it. But she should have waited for me. Damn it,” he cursed, rage blazing a path through his mind. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”
“Don’t think you can control a woman like that,” Huckness said. “Besides, the Bonnie Belle is her ship after all. She’s got the right to move first.”
“But—” Daniel caught himself before saying what he felt for Sam. There was a time and a place and this sure as hell wasn’t it. “I’ve got to get in there and assess the situation before we do anything.” Daniel rubbed his palm again. “He’s got Sam and he’s going to start making demands.”
“Marshal?” Belle broke in. “I can tell you from the onboard cameras that Dane Morris is alone with the captain. He just left the cockpit and entered the galley.”
“Is she—” Daniel felt his throat close up, just for a second. “Is she alive?”
“Affirmative.” Belle sounded relieved. “I am registering her breathing from her chest movements. However, there is blood on her face obstructing my view.” The restrained anger in her voice was apparent. “She is injured.”
“Trainer, Huckness, get those men out of there,” Daniel snapped.
“Already issued the recall order. Riot team is being dispatched to stand by the front hatch. Say the word and they’re yours,” Huckness said. “The guys inside should be going by you any minute.”
A rumbling started on the other side of the hatch.
Daniel took a few steps back. Etts let out a warning beep.
The hatch swung open to allow a steady stream of disgruntled miners, cursing and swearing in a multitude of languages. A few glanced at Daniel as they trotted by but none questioned the marshal’s appearance.
“Huckness, I need the sector locked down as soon as you get those men to safety and your team deploys here by the front door. Nobody goes in or out of this area without my express permission.”
“And if you’re dead?” There was no humor in the statement, just a question.
“Then that’ll be a problem, won’t it?” Daniel didn’t feel like mincing words.
“Roger that, Marshal. Locked down as soon as you enter the Belle. No one in or out, no ships launching or arriving except on your say-so,” Huckness said. “Go get her.”
* * *
She was drifting in space, bodies splayed out around her in a horrible spiral. Bill Hatfield floated by, his faceplate shot out along with most of his face.
She’d owed him ten credits from a bad poker hand. Give it to me next paycheck, he’d said. He’d add it to the stash he was sending home for his kid’s graduation.
Her breathing became harsher, the hissing in her ear rising in intensity. There was a leak of some sort and she was venting oxygen; somewhere on her suit there was a tear letting her life escape.
Sam scrabbled to get a grip on her helmet and try to find the leak. She had a seal packet in her pocket; she could fix this.
She hadn’t survived all this to die from lack of air. She had too many blood debts to pay.
She drew a shallow breath and blinked herself awake.
“Don’t move, bitch. I’ll snap your neck like a chicken if you do,” Dane growled into her right ear.
The arm pressing across her windpipe was like an iron bar. She swallowed again and felt the muscle twitch against her skin. Dane’s palm pressed against the back of her neck, not far from her ear in a grip she knew well from her unarmed combat training. His left hand pressed against her left cheekbone, in perfect position to snap her neck.
She knew exactly where she was.
She was on the Belle, in the galley.
She was in the hands of a murderer.
Her feet floated free and she felt her heels bounce off Dane’s shins.
“Don’t move,” he repeated. “I’ll know before you do if you decide to attack me.”
Sam licked her lips. She was still wearing her mag-boots but she’d have to reach down and hit the switch on one to activate the pair. Her hands were at her sides, drifting upward and out.
Her earpiece was gone.
She felt the tie on her thigh keeping her holster tight—but she couldn’t see her sidearm.
“Okay,” she rasped. “What do you want?”
Dane’s heated whisper burned her ears. “You’re going to get me a ship and clearance off this rock. Simple as that.”
“You killed Halley.” It took most of her energy to get the words out.
The arm across her throat flexed. “Am I supposed to confess all my sins now?” He chuckled. “You want me to start with the first time I jacked off?”
“I thought we’d make small talk until we figure things out.” She drew a staggered breath. “Belle, are you there?”
The AI’s voice was neutral and low. “Yes, Captain.”
The pressure on her windpipe built. “Shut up.” Dane looked up at the invisible speakers. “Belle, you tell the marshal, the security chief and everyone who’ll listen that these are my demands. One fast ship with a month’s worth of supplies and food, no tracking devices. That’s what I want for the captain’s safe return. Anyone comes in here to try and save her and I’ll break her neck.” The muscle flexed again. “And don’t even think about putting any gas in the air. If I feel sleepy the last thing I’m going to do before passing out is twist her head back around like a doll.” He gave her a shake. “You know I can do it, you know my file. Don’t make me kill her.”
“You heard him, Belle. No aggressive action on your part.” Sam drew another shallow breath. “Dane, it doesn’t help if you keep choking me out.”
The iron bar of his arm eased a fraction of an inch.
He chuckled. “Good point.”
“Dane Morris?” Daniel’s voice boomed through the speakers. “I understand we need to talk.”
Sam strained to see either of the galley doors. Dane had put her in the center of the room, not far from where she’d been eating fruit salad not so long ago. The table Bianca stood on was still there, bolted to the floor.
An empty coffee tube floated nearby. Despite the situation she made a note to berate the crew for not keeping their dining area clean. She coughed, fighting the urge to laugh.
Dane laughed. “Not really much to talk about. I want a ship, supplies and exit from the base. You get your girl back when I get out of range.”
Sam felt his body heat, smelled the faint cologne mixed in with sweat. Something nudged the base of her spine and she realized the bastard had an erection.
She tamped down the instinctive urge to push away from him in disgust. She knew what he could do; she’d bragged about it earlier to the miners. Boxer, wrestler.
Murderer.
Not so sure about how well he fought in low or zero gravity. Or with an injured leg.
The coppery taste in her mouth increased, reminding her she wasn’t in any condition to brawl. Her face ached and she suspected a broken nose based on the throbbing around her eyes.
“That’ll take some time to arrange.” Daniel’s disembodied voice echoed around them. “Mind telling me why you killed Halley Comet?”
“You’re a cop. You do the deducting,” Dane snarled at the ceiling.
“I don’t have to. The Guild let me into your financial records. I know the truth but I wanted to give you a chance to tell me your side.”
Dane’s arm tightened a fraction. “So what? Looking at my account doesn’t prove anything.”
“It proves a lot. Given your sudden poverty I can make a pretty good guess at why you killed her.”
Something nudged Sam’s left hand. She resisted the urge to pull away and kept her fingers still.
Daniel kept talking as she waited for the object to move closer. “You made landfall here on Branson Prime and checked your bank account like you’ve done every other time you hit a stop, your biweekly routine for as long as you’ve been on the Belle. But this time instead of finding a growing fat nest egg you found a big change. Your savings are practically gone, lost in a series of bad investments while you were traveling from one base to the other. Wiped out.”
Dane swallowed hard, the loud sound echoing in Sam’s ears.
Daniel continued. “Let me tell you what I think happened. You hooked up with Halley when she transferred onto the ship. All nice and friendly like, chatting her up when you got the chance. You asked her for financial advice and she turned you down, same as with anyone else on this ship. Nothing personal on her part—she was keeping to the rules.”
Sam drew a ragged breath and swallowed.
“But you kept bugging her and bugging her until she tossed you a bone. Just not one with any meat on it.” Daniel laughed. “She gave you investment advice she knew would lead you toward financial ruin. I’ve seen your account. You’ll end up working for the Guild until you’re too old for anything but the Charity ships, bent over a chair for the young kids who don’t care to stare at your old, wrinkled face.”
Dane’s grip tightened.
“Not. Helping,” Sam whispered, unsure if Daniel could hear her.
A sharp edge poked her palm. She wrapped her fingers around it, mentally drawing a picture of the item.
A plastic knife. Ridged edges, flexible blade. Left over from some meal and never properly disposed of. Floating free in the galley and bumping into her hand by some fortunate trick of fate.
Hardly the killing weapon she needed.
But better than nothing. She ran her finger along the serrated edge.
Dane chuckled in her ear. “Damned marshal’s not as dumb as he looks. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s going to let me walk out of here or there’s going to be one more dead woman.” The muscle flexed and loosened. “Figures the Guild would sell me out. Bastards don’t care about anything but the bottom line. As soon as I got that message saying someone was poking into my financials, I knew it was time to move.”
Sam held back a curse. Daniel’s investigation had inadvertently tipped Dane off and triggered the entire situation.
She’d have a few words with Grendel about the Guild’s automated systems when this was all over.
None of them for public consumption.
She felt Dane’s legs moving behind her and they drifted toward the far end of the galley.
He didn’t dare release his grip on her neck to grab the straps; he was limited to pushing off the floor with his toes. It made for an awkward trip, a slow bouncing trail to the door.
“So when did you start sneaking off the ship?” Sam rasped. “Last trip? This your first one?”
“I’ve been going at every landfall, Keller. Each and every time we landed I was going down.” He chuckled at his own joke.
“Why?”
The angry snort in her ear made her wince. “It’s all about the money, Keller. While you’re up there hawking our portfolios, I’m making my way through the crowd offering discounts if they come and see me instead of the others. Pass out a card here, give a little tug and chuckle there. Get a jumpstart on the rest of the girls by snagging and tagging potential clients in person. Putting that personal touch out there.”
She imagined the grin behind her.
“And no one ratted you out? A Guild courtesan in the middle of a crowd?”
“Hell, yeah. I’m not walking around with a neon sign, I’m picking and choosing and telling them to keep it quiet or they’ll lose the chance to be with me. I spin my web and then I get back on board when you finish your spiel. Everyone’s in their rooms making themselves look pretty and getting ready for their clients. No one’s calling me or noticing I’m gone.” He rolled his shoulders. “I clean up and then get ready for work along with the rest of those bitches.”
“The laundry chute,” Sam whispered. The lightheadedness had some benefits like allowing her mind to wander and start making connections. “You jackhole, you’re going up and down the laundry chute in your quarters. Scoot down the shaft, do your business and then climb back up against the air jets using a rope. Bet if we searched your suite we’d find rope and a damned jumpsuit like what the miners wear. Makes it easy for you to sneak around. You pay off the laundry workers to let you out of the area and then come back and shimmy up that tube again.”
“Gotta spend money to make money.” Dane laughed. “I climb back up into my quarters, clean up, kick back and watch my appointment book fill up.”
“Except this time you hurt yourself on something. What was it, a jagged edge somewhere catching your leg? Explains why you came into the galley fresh from a shower with a bandaged ankle. Couldn’t go to Sean for medical help. He’d ask questions about how you got it and you knew he wouldn’t buy your bullshit.” She felt faint. “But why did you take the damned token out of the garbage? Did you know Kowal—” She coughed, the effort of speaking for so long draining her.
“Two hundred creds, sister. I wasn’t going to leave that behind.” The hoarse chuckle sent a shiver down her spine. “Idiot dumps it in the garbage right in front of me, muttering a prayer. Everyone’s watching you and the portfolios flashing on the screen, no one’s looking at anything else. Damned fool walks away and leaves me there.”
He shook his head, his nose brushing against her hair. “I wasn’t going to pass up a chance for some easy creds. Every one’s precious to me right now. Free and clear without having to give up an hour, and who the hell was going to ask where I got it from?” Dane gave her a none-too-gentle shake. “Damned bitch took everything from me. I’m fucking broke.”
A single word from her and Belle could put the gravity on full. It’d send them both crashing to the ground, not hard enough to break an ankle, but she might be able to surprise Dane.
But there was no guarantee it’d be enough to stop him from snapping her neck or at least delivering one hell of a chiropractic adjustment to her spine. She sniffled and a pair of blood drops floated by, barely within eyesight.
Her nose throbbed along with her head and she thought for a horrible second she was about to throw up.
Serve the bastard right. Barf on his arm.
A mental image flashed in front of her eyes. Vomit floating in front of her face, the zero gravity keeping it from falling to the ground.
Ugh.
She swallowed hard.
“Belle, unlock the hatch to the hallway.” Dane waited for a second, listening for the familiar sound. “I’m not kidding. I’ll rip her head right off.”
“Kill her and you have no leverage.” Daniel’s voice came from the speaker set above the hatch. “Kill her and you’re a dead man.”
“You won’t kill me,” Dane sneered. “You can’t shoot an unarmed man. Worst that happens is you tranq me and we all ride off into the sunset.”
“Watch me.” The steely response sent a shiver down Sam’s spine—whether it was pride or excitement she couldn’t tell. “Kill her and you die. No one’ll give a damn if I beat your head in, toss your body out the airlock and tell them you committed suicide. You think anyone on this base or on that ship is going to contest my story on what happened?”
A shudder went through the tense body pressed against hers.
Time to take the offensive. She wasn’t going to play the victim forever.
“He’ll do it. You know he will. Huckness’ll go along with it and you’ll be nothing more than a smear on the ship’s hull. Let me go and we’ll work things out,” Sam rasped. “I’ll call Grendel, get Sean to sign off on a mental breakdown—we’ll keep it in the Guild. Keep it in the family.”
As dysfunctional a family as you could get, that was the crew of the Bonnie Belle.
There was no way in hell she was going to let this guy walk with an insanity plea but he didn’t need to know that.
Dane scoffed. “You think I’m stupid? There’s no way in hell Grendel is going to let that happen. They’ll need a fall guy, someone to go down for this. There’s no easy out here.” The arm against her throat flexed. “But I’ll let you go as soon as we get away. Put you in a suit, shove you outside and your boyfriend can pick you up later.”
She couldn’t stop shivering at the mental image of floating in space, waiting to be saved.
In the Black Page 24