by Saxon Andrew
Victoria smiled, “I do think you’re right, Dahlin. I’m pretty good at getting a fight started over little ole me.” Desiree burst out laughing. This was going to be fun.
• • •
The Security Chief arrived home and kissed his wife. She looked at him and sighed, “Tough day?”
“You have no idea.” Suddenly, his communicator vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and saw a Warship Commander on it, “Sir, we have an issue.”
“What is that?”
“Traffic Control just told me the women you met on the planet are headed back down and have given their crew shore leave.”
“WHAT?!”
“Yes, Sir. Their first stop is the restaurant where they met you. They say they didn’t finish their meal. All of our employees have left there by now.”
The Security Chief dropped his head and said, “Check with Traffic Control and see how long that insurance policy is in force.”
He waited shaking his head and his wife sighed, “You’re going to miss dinner again?”
He heard over his communicator, “It will expire a week from today, Sir.”
The Chief closed his eyes and said, “Thanks for the heads up.” He pressed a button and saw his second-in-command appear. “I want an agent assigned to every member of the woman’s crew that is coming down to the planet. I want one of our best security teams assigned to the two women and make absolutely sure they come to no harm!! Are you clear on that!?!”
“Yes, Sir.” The display went dark and he sent a recorded message to Serge. He looked at his wife, “Let’s start dinner now. I probably don’t have long.” She hugged him and ran toward the kitchen. He was halfway through his meal when Serge ordered him to participate in following the two women. He finished his meal, hugged his wife, and left for his vehicle. The pay for his job was great but it was time for him to retire. Following that twit around for a week was going to be sheer torture. He had been working for the Romanovs for almost ten years. It was Serge that introduced him to his wife and taught him everything he knew about security. He owed Serge a lot, but this job was getting to be too much. He hoped he didn’t suffer brain damage listening to that twit all week.
His communicator vibrated again and he saw another agent appear, “Sir, that yacht has requested a cleaning crew to come on board to do a thorough cleaning of the ship.”
“I want one of our teams sent to do the cleaning. All of them will carry a DNA scanner with Ana’s profile in them.”
“What about a regular scanner, Sir?”
“No, I’m sure they’ll be detected before they could get one on board. I want to make sure Ana isn’t on that ship. I want everyone on board scanned.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Desiree arrived on the ship and picked up a communicator, “I want all of your weapon consoles rotated inside the hull. Billy, make sure the cleaning crew we requested does not come on board with standard scanning devices. I do expect them to bring DNA scanners so ignore those and make sure they see everyone still on board the ship before they leave.”
“Sir, you’re taking some real risks here.”
“No, not if you keep the consoles inside the hull.” Desiree pressed another button, “Gem, we’re going to allow a cleaning crew to come on board. If there’s anything you need to hide, better make it happen quickly.”
“I suppose you’re going to allow them to bring DNA scanners on board?”
Desiree and Victoria smiled, “Yes, Gem we are.”
“Then if you don’t mind, I’ll be hiding inside the hull in my private room.”
“Will you be alright there for a couple of days?”
“I will.”
“They’re due here in the morning.”
“I’ll have it handled by then.”
Desiree looked at Victoria, “Let’s go pretty up and head for the party.”
“I’m right behind you,” Victoria said as she left the bridge.
• • •
Three days later, the Security Chief saw Serge appear on his communicator, “What do you think about all of this mess?”
“Sir, I can unequivocally say that Ana is not on that ship. The cleaning crew was given access to every room they requested and she was not there. I imagine that’s why they requested the cleaning crew in the first place. They knew we would take the opportunity to search the ship and prove to us that we made a mistake.”
“You say they wanted to make sure we understood that they have nothing to hide.”
“That Lieutenant is pretty smart. She knew we’d still have doubts and wanted to remove them before they left to continue their party circuit. And I have to tell you that they really party hard. My security team had to break up at least twenty fights between men chasing that ditzy blonde. It was pretty clear to me that she deliberately instigated most of them. She is trouble with a capital T!”
“Have you contacted that Leonidas fellow?”
“No, I felt it would be better to wait until they left before looking into that issue. I don’t have time to chase them all over the planet and deal with contacting him.”
“I agree. How much longer will they be here?”
“Another three or four days; that’s when the insurance policy expires. I think I should tell you that the blonde saw me yesterday and asked if you were going to come out and join them.”
“Really?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Serge rolled his eyes, “Call off our ships and agents from following them.”
“Why, Sir.”
“Because if they happen to see they’re being followed, the first thing they’ll do is come right back here to complain and I’ll have to waste another week with half of my security agents forced to follow them around. Do you still have any doubts about their having anything to do with Ana’s disappearance?” Serge asked.
“No, I do believe they are what they appear to be; a rich woman doing everything possible to avoid distracting her from anything but having a party. The real connection to Ana lies with this Leonidas.”
“Has any of our agents questioned the crew?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They love their lives and who wouldn’t? They party just as hard as the two women. A couple of them have been involved in fights but they handled themselves well. The ones stupid enough to start a fight with them were dispatched quickly and by the end of the evening were drinking with the crew. I have to admit that they’re very likable and appear to get along with just about everyone they encounter.”
“Maybe we should look into hiring some of the human mercenaries to work for us.”
“I think that is a great idea, Sir.”
“Look into it after you contact Leonidas. You can take a break now if you want.”
“Thank you, Sir. I need it.”
“I depend on you. Thank you for all you do. You handle issues that would really take a lot of my time and I genuinely appreciate the job you do for me.”
The Security Chief smiled, “Thank you, Sir. That means a lot.” The display went dark and the Chief sighed. He had made up his mind to retire after the two bimbos left and then this. Serge never complimented him. He went home and later that evening saw his pay had been doubled. He told his wife and she suggested that now was not the time to leave. He was forced to agree with her.
Chapter Fifteen
Leonidas was thankful that Desiree and Victoria had gone back to the planet and forced Romanov to delay contacting him. The Thermopylae was located at the intersection close to Romania and he needed to put some distance between his ship and the planet before he answered any calls from Romanov which would pinpoint his location if he answered it. The extra six days allowed him to move halfway across the galaxy close to the Tortuga intersection before the call came in.
• • •
He was sitting on the bridge and Barney looked at him, “That was pretty good thinking the women did, Captain. They removed any
suspicions the Romanovs had about Ana being on their ship.”
“Desiree is the best I’ve ever seen at strategic thinking, Barney. It also allowed us to put some distance between us and Romanov before he attempted to contact me.”
Carl looked up, “Captain, we have a call coming in from Romania. Looks like this is the call you’ve been expecting.”
“Put it on my console.” Leonidas leaned back in his chair and forced his face to show anger. A distinguished looking middle-aged man appeared on his display screen and Leonidas’ scowl was clear, “How did you get my contact frequency?!”
“A lady by the name of Victoria gave it to me.”
Leonidas’ scowl disappeared as he tried to stifle a grin but failed, “I understand she was rather upset that you were looking for her. I told her to ignore it but she can be stubborn.”
“You are so right about that! However, Mr. Romanov is attempting to find his daughter and knows that she was with you after the two of you landed on Kellinger some months back. He was looking for her to find out how to contact you.”
“Ana is not with me.”
“Do you know where she might be?”
“No, she approached me after we landed on Kellinger and asked if she could pay me to go to Tortuga and kill the pirate that came onboard the Starliner and killed two members of her party.”
“Why did she approach you?”
“She saw me disable two of the crew who were attempting to put me in a cell. She thought I might have the skills to possibly do it.”
“I hate to be so inquisitive but why did you disable two crewmen?”
“I had a conversation with the Pirate who boarded the Starliner and reminded him that killing the passengers and crew was bad for business. I think the Captain of the ship felt I had some connection with the pirates and decided to arrest me.”
“Did you?”
“No, I had no connection with the pirates but I was planning to take the ship myself but Blakely beat me to it.”
“Really?”
“My ship was going to attack the liner a few more light years away but he arrived first with more ships than I could handle.”
“Was there a reason you were going to attack that particular Starliner?” the Chief asked as his eyes narrowed.
“Not really. I was sitting in the Spaceport at its first stop on Frenau looking at a list of ships leaving and I saw that it was arriving from Romania; I thought it had to be carrying important people that could possibly be ransomed. I boarded it at Frenau and planned to take control of the ship when my ship arrived. However, it took a completely different course from the one it normally followed and my ship had to scramble to keep track of it and catch up. By not following its normal route, Blakely arrived ahead of me. He had to know in advance where that ship was headed to beat me to it. I was forced to go to Kellinger after the attack and wait for the heat to blow over before my ship could pick me up there. But I thought this call was about Ana?”
“It is.”
“Well, I told her that she was incredibly dumb to even consider hiring anyone to go to Tortuga to kill Blakely. I explained to her in detail why it was insane but she didn’t want to hear it.”
“What did she do after you told her that?”
“She had a call come in while we were discussing it and she told me she had to go back to the Starliner to meet someone from her father’s business. She said it had something to do with what was in the Starliner’s safe. I left the spaceport to find lodging and that’s the last I saw of her. I would assume that whomever she went to meet would know where she is.”
“She did not meet anyone from her father’s business.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed, “I’m pretty good at seeing if someone is lying and I believe she thought she was telling the truth. She genuinely thought she was meeting someone she knew in her father’s business.”
“And you ran into this Victoria immediately afterwards?”
Leo stared at the Security Chief and smiled, “That was probably the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me. I met her in the bar at the hotel I was staying and she invited me over to join in her party. My old ship was really a rust bucket and she purchased me a new vessel. I can just never get over how the really wealthy people in this universe don’t care how much things really cost. They spend credits like there’s no limit and don’t appear to give it a second thought.” Leo stared at the Chief, “But I’m pretty sure you’ve seen that as well working for the Romanovs.” The Chief rolled his eyes and nodded as Leo continued. “Anyway, I agreed to assist her in having an extravagant ship built for her and to help her find some good people to crew it. She shocked me by saying she would also have a ship built for me if I did what I said. I will tell you that the crew on her ship were in a bad way after the Unity disbanded the Legion and really needed the work when she hired them. They will do all they can to make sure the Lady comes to no harm.” Leo paused, “Why are you looking to find Ana?”
“She appropriated a rather large sum from her father before she disappeared.”
Leo’s head straightened up, “Why would she do that? She told me she really loved her father.”
The Chief shrugged, “It really doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“I would guess that someone forced her to do it against her will and is holding her prisoner or killed her. I do hope you find her; she was a nice lady.”
“What are you currently doing?”
“Just getting by doing my usual, why do you ask?”
“Mr. Romanov has mentioned hiring you to go to Tortuga and keeping an eye on this Blakely fellow in the event Ana does try to take him down.”
“She isn’t that stupid!” Leo paused, gazed off to the side, and then sighed, “Well, maybe she is.”
“She’s really quite naïve in the ways of the world. She might try to find someone to do it for her.”
“You’re still assuming she deliberately took those funds you mentioned. You’re reaching on that idea. If she was forced to do it, then no one will be going after Blakely.”
“When you only have limited leads, you follow all of them. Are you open to a contract?”
“Just what would you have me do?”
“Go to Tortuga and keep an eye on Blakely. If someone goes after him, try to capture them and bring them to us to be questioned.”
“I’d be wasting a lot my time if no one shows up and losing credits by the minute sitting on my backside on Tortuga.”
“Allow me to speak with Mr. Romanov and I’ll see if we can’t make an offer acceptable to both of us.”
“You have my frequency,” Leonidas said while smiling.
“However, if we find her, then the contract will end,” the Security Chief added.
Leo nodded “That goes without saying. I honestly don’t think you can afford me.”
“Then why are you considering doing this?”
Leo smiled, “Because the wealthy just don’t have any sense about how to waste their money. You may just surprise me and make an offer I can’t refuse.”
The Chief shrugged, “I’ll get back to you.”
The display went dark and Leo’s eyes narrowed. Barney saw him and said, “What are you thinking?”
“I suspect the man is going to change the target on Tortuga.”
“What?”
“I suspect if they’re half as smart as I think they are that they’ll see that waiting around for someone to kill Blakely will be a waste of time and credits. Especially if they give credence to my suggestion that Ana was forced to help someone against her will.”
Embree said from his console, “They’ll have to know that Blakely was hired by someone inside their organization to attack that Starliner and they’ll want to question him. It’s pretty obvious someone inside their organization fed him the Starliner’s new route.”
Barney stared at Embree and smiled as he turned back to Leo, “So, they are going to pay you to do what you were going to do anyway; go after Blake
ly.”
Leo tipped an imaginary hat, “Something like that.”
“Sir, are we ready to go to Tortuga?”
“I think we are, Carl. I think we’ve built a good cover that will stand up to inspection.”
“There’s a few pirates there that aren’t very happy with us, Captain. We may not receive a warm reception.”
“But they can do nothing about it on Tortuga, Embree. All disputes end at the Tortuga intersection.” Leonidas pressed a button on his panel, “Gold, I need to see you on the bridge.”
“On my way, Captain.” Gold might have some ideas about what was coming. But first, the Romanovs needed to contact him again.
• • •
Two days later, Leonidas looked at his display and saw the Security Chief, “I didn’t expect you to contact me this quickly.”
The Chief smiled, “I’ve discussed the situation with Mr. Romanov and he agrees that we can use your assistance.”
Leo lowered his eyebrows, “That will depend on what you’re willing to pay. This could take a while to happen.”
“Mr. Romanov feels that waiting to track Ana by waiting for an attack on Mr. Blakely is not a good use of his money.”
“Duh, I could have told you that.”
“He is more interested in discovering who inside his organization is working against him. He wants you to go to Tortuga and attempt to capture this Pirate John Blakely and bring him to us for questioning.”
“Are you aware of all the structures on Tortuga designed to prevent anything like that from happening?” Leo asked.
“We are and know it will not be easily accomplished. However, Mr. Romanov is willing to pay you five million credits to make the effort and will triple that if you’re able to do it.”
Leo managed to look surprised and said, “Now that is an offer that’s hard to turn down.”
“The question is whether or not you’ll make a genuine effort to do it.”
Leo smiled, “Instead of just taking the five million and calling it a day.”
The Chief smiled, “Exactly.”
Leo sat back in his chair, “I’ve done a little research on Blakely since our last conversation and I understand that he has forty warships in his personal fleet. If I were to by some miracle manage to get him on board my ship, there would be quite a few warships pursuing me to take him back. Further, I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to just walk on board my ship without being fully protected.”