Shane had taken forty-five seconds to do all this. If Halder had glanced out, Shane would have been safe in the crate maze, but now he was in the gap. The fire escape walkways above him were open mesh affairs and may or may not hide him depending upon the observer’s angle. Delacruz preferred not to take a chance. The pirate captain hurried down the gap to the rear of the hotel, stepped around the corner and peered back up the gap. He could see half of Emily’s Legrand’s face watching him from around the corner’s edge at the front of the hotel. The four-man front door party should have entered the main entrance. Anytime now ...
As if on cue, the sound of a window flying open with a bang came from the front of the building. Shane peered around the corner with only part of his face and one eye exposed. He glanced up but could not see through the fire escape catwalks to the ladder at the front corner. He could clearly hear someone moving quickly. The entire fire escape shook as that someone pounded down the ladder. A man came into view as he descended below the second story catwalk while speeding down the ladder. Shane ducked back behind the corner and listened to mark the man’s progress. Halder reached the last rung of the ladder and dropped to the ground. In his haste, he did not land well and briefly sprawled on the dirt. He was only two meters from the hotel’s front corner and Emily Legrand. He would have been an easy kill then but she had ducked back as soon as the commotion had started and was also going on sound alone to track her prey. He leaped up and moved toward the rear of the hotel. As soon as his receding footsteps marked his movement away from her, Emily Legrand peeked around the corner with her shooter raised and resting against her cheek.
Halder moved quickly to his crate entrance. He tried to enter but ran headlong into the crate slightly recessed into the opening. He stepped back and froze in momentary confusion as he eyed the crate in wonder. Emily Legrand had the best view and she didn’t waste it.
“Hey!” She said loudly.
As Halder instinctively turned toward her voice, Legrand straightened her arm, aimed quickly, and took one shot at the stationary target. Delacruz peeked around his corner as he heard the shot and was sure the fire bolt hit its intended target. A scream came from Halder as he folded to the ground. Shane and the other men posted around the outside perimeter rushed forward from their positions to take advantage of the momentary confusion. He ran up the narrow gap as men rounded the line of crates from either end with guns ready. They needn’t have hurried. They found Fred Halder lying on his back in the slim corridor. The shot had caught him in the groin. The men stared down at their quarry as Legrand ambled up from her position. She had aimed well and knew the target was down for good. Consequently, she had been in no hurry to get to Halder. A few seconds later they were joined by the four men sent in the front door and the inside lookout. The entire party crowded around the downed man in the narrow passage.
Delacruz looked down at his prey. Halder wasn’t dead and looked up at him with a dazed steady stare. He lay flat on his back with his hands by his side. He had a shooter in his belt but did not try to reach for it. He needed a shower and a shave. The smell of whiskey surrounded him. His bloodshot eyes looked briefly around the remainder of the group and then back at Delacruz. All the men knew the shot had not been a random hit. Legrand had aimed quickly but carefully. She wanted the death to be as painful as possible while depriving Halder of all his dignity. None of the men were fazed by this, they had seen worse. They had done worse. Besides, he had it coming.
Nobody spoke as they stared down at the man. He did not try to stop the flow of blood from his groin. His mouth opened and closed several times before he got out any words. He scanned the group again in mild wonderment. Despite the days of running and hiding from retribution, the fact that it had caught up to him seemed to be a surprise. “I’m dying,” he whispered in short gasps.
“I know,” Delacruz responded conversationally.
He would have finished him but found he wanted Halder to say something, anything which would show remorse. A statement to show the man was human enough to regret his part in the killing of women and children for money. Shane Delacruz wouldn’t end his pain until he heard that. Apparently, nobody else was in a hurry to put Halder out of his misery as they stared down at him without saying a word. Halder stared back at Delacruz and never attempted to speak again. His breathing became steadily shallower and slower. His eyes started to glaze over. Then they focused on eternity as his body shuddered and then relaxed.
“Bastard got off too easy.” The vitriol in Legrand’s voice surprised Delacruz. He had never heard her so bitter. He had the sinking feeling this small victory would do nothing to ease her feelings of guilt over recent events.
“Time to go.” Delacruz turned while sliding his weapon under his shirt and tucking it in his belt. The others mimicked his actions, all except Legrand. She stared at the body, her knuckles white as she gripped the pistol at her side. Shane glanced at her and thought she was going to shoot the body in a fit of rage. But then she slowly raised her pistol, clicked on the safety, and put the weapon under her shirt at the small of her back. She took a deep breath, one last look, and turned away.
The party moved out of the gap and into the alley behind the hotel. They kept between the many warehouses until taking a street several hundred meters away from the hotel. Law enforcement might take an interest, and the pirates needed to move in a hurry without seeming to be in a rush. An old trick for these veterans of several street fights, they soon disappeared from the scene.
After several turns and many streets, the man who had drove them to the area pointed ahead and simply stated, “Turn right at the second intersection and go one block. There is a brown van with a female driver. She will take you back.” With that, the three men who had been hired to track Halder nodded at Delacruz and silently peeled off from the group. They had completed the job and had already been paid. No need to hang around and draw attention to themselves by remaining in a large gathering. Shane watched them fade away. He knew they wouldn’t talk to the authorities or to anybody else about the job. These men were professionals who did this type of work for a living. One of the top requirements for such employment was the ability to keep one’s mouth shut. Shane had no idea where they had come from or where they would go. Raferty Hawkins had hired them, and he did not share his list of contacts with any other Flot 1 captains with the possible exception of Killian O’Hare. Delacruz briefly reflected on how much the flotilla depended on Hawkins. He mentally shrugged. If you had to depend on someone in this life, Hawkins was as good as any, and better than most.
Delacruz glanced to his left at Emily Legrand. She stalked along beside him step for step, but was not scanning her surroundings as the others were doing. She stared straight ahead and was obviously somewhere else. Shane suspected she was reviewing her patrol which had selected Ulatar as the site for the new house. He knew Emily Legrand would be on that particular patrol for a long time to come. Shane sighed inwardly. Legrand was a good captain and had a fine ship. He hoped this episode would not alter her command style or the way she conducted business. The last thing he, Hawkins, or the crew of Bandit needed was a captain who felt the need to prove herself all over again. This would invariably lead to rash decisions, unnecessary risks, and an inevitably bad conclusion. Rank had its privileges but “Do overs” were not one of them. They were luxuries that nobody in the upper reaches of the chain of command ever had. Shane had lived through enough military debacles to know this. Unfortunately, his family and the majority of his friends and comrades had not. Shane did not dwell on these losses and he hoped Legrand would do the same. It was best to restrict such events to your nightmares. The simple fact was, nobody could alter the past. A simple fact but a difficult task. He would talk to her. He knew it would not help, but he had to try.
The group came upon the van and wordlessly climbed in. The young woman behind the wheel looked at Shane in the passenger seat in a silent inquiry. He nodded at her, and she started the vehicle and move
d out. The trip back to the shuttle was uneventful. The pirates left the air car as soon as it stopped. Delacruz nodded his thanks to the driver, and she returned the gesture. Not a word was spoken the entire time. The death squad boarded their shuttles and departed to their ships.
As soon as the shuttles landed in their respective ship bays, both pirate ships moved to establish orbits over Sonoma. Shane moved quickly from the shuttle bay to the bridge.
“We hear from Kit?” he asked as soon as he stepped onto the bridge.
“Affirm,” came the quick response from the XO. “Firestorm is scheduled to come out of the yards in three weeks. Also, the overhaul is paid except for a final payment due at the completion of the work and the acceptance of the ship by its captain. Final payment is ten thousand in Goth glitter.”
Shane considered this new information. He was determined to take the ship and now was considering the best course of action to accomplish that. He knew he would have to handle the Halder brothers but was not overly concerned about a straight up fight with them. He didn’t believe they would seek such a battle. If they fired on any Flot 1 ship, they would have to fight all of them eventually. There was no way they wanted that. But Delacruz could easily see them trying to take the ship for themselves in the dead of the night, so to speak. Once they had the ship, the affair would be over. Shane had to ensure he took the ship first. The problem was the three-week period until the ship was ready. Leaving people to guard the ship was not practical as it would take a large contingent to provide round the clock coverage and deter any action by other interested parties. He could not afford to leave enough crewmembers to staff that force, especially considering he was committed to support Rafe Hawkins and might be in battle very soon. He decided to visit the shipyard and get a close up view of the situation.
The two ships soon entered orbit over Sonoma. Scans were conducted to ensure all was as calm as it seemed. There was no obvious threat. Shane turned to his XO, Rutledge.
“Ruts, I’m going to take a party down to the shipyard. I want reps from engineering, sensors, weapons, and ops. Throw on a couple of guards.”
The XO asked, “You going to go over Firestorm and see if you can get her out?”
“I know she can’t come out now but I want to know the earliest she can get underway. If it is too long, we take her when she is airtight and tow her out. The brothers are not going to get her. They are not going to make a profit off this by grabbing the ship for themselves. We’ll use the ship to upgrade the squadron or sell it for the squadron’s benefit.”
Rutledge nodded. “I’ll have the party at the shuttle in ten minutes.
“Good. I’ll be in my day cabin talking to Captain Legrand about the plan. Come in and interrupt me when the party is assembled.”
Rutledge nodded as his captain rose and went to his day cabin hatch at the back of the bridge. He realized Delacruz did not want a long conversation with Legrand when he informed her of his plan. She would want nothing to do with the acquisition of the ship and would make her position clear.
Ten minutes later Rutledge interrupted an intense conversation between the two captains. Shane signed off and led the party to the shipyard. Their shuttle docked at the shipyard and the party walked to the administration building. They entered and proceeded to the operations section. A couple of conversations pointed them to the office of the project manager responsible for Firestorm’s overhaul.
This manager had been in the ship repair business for decades and he could judge sailors at a glance. He had been eyeing the group via security cameras from the moment they had entered his shipyard. He knew this was not an assembly that would respond well to cute antics on his part. Besides, he had already been paid for the majority of the work, and he knew the story as to how that money had been acquired by the late Captain Fred Halder. The final payment of ten thousand units was not worth dying over. He would forgo that and be happy with trying to get Firestorm and all its potential problems out of his shipyard as soon as possible.
Shane shook hands but wasted no words. “The captain of Firestorm is dead and his crew scattered. I am taking his ship. Where is the overhaul at right this minute?”
Shane knew the answer was three weeks until completion, but he wanted to see if the manager would be straight with him.
“Three weeks of work left. We can cut some work short or work overtime but there is no way this ship leaves drydock in less than two weeks.”
Shane answered, “Under its own power it would take two weeks but how long would it take to make Firestorm air tight?”
The man considered this as he rubbed his chin. He had not foreseen that question and had to do some quick calculating. “We could seal her up in six or seven days with all the parts inside the hull although some of those would not be installed but just lying on the deck. She wouldn’t move under her own power but wouldn’t be a leaking sieve either.”
Delacruz thought for a moment. The nearest shipyard, which would do the work and keep it off the books, was two weeks away of travelling with a ship under tow. They would be easy prey along the way unless there was an escort. It would take a commitment in time and ships Shane did not want to make. He made up his mind. He would leave Firestorm here until work was complete, and he would kill the Halder brothers if they got in the way.
“Keep working on Firestorm.” Shane stared hard at the man in front of him. “I’ll be back in three weeks for MY ship. I’ll pay the ten thousand final payment, and I look forward to receiving a ship in top condition.”
The man nodded while not quite keeping the look of disappointment off his face. Shane caught it and stared at the man for five seconds. The silent message between the two was sent and received. There would be no tricks and Firestorm would be good to go. Shane had thought to do an inspection of the ship and that was why he had the landing party with him, but now he decided to return to Vindictive without an inspection of Firestorm. No point since the work would now be completed as scheduled.
Once back on Vindictive, the two pirate ships set course for the Nomad asteroid belt. Delacruz had his XO run the bridge as he went to his day cabin and his computer. He had decided he had further use for the men who had tracked Fred Halder. Dialing the same frequency he had used to contact them before, he initiated a call. He was connected to a voice recorder. He left his contact info only. These people would know he wasn’t calling to pass the time of day and that a job offer was at hand. Having just worked together, these trackers would not be worried about some sort of trap being set for them, so the return call should come quickly.
It did. Shane made arrangements for them to watch over Firestorm for the next three weeks. They would track the overhaul by talking to workers or buying the information, and would keep Delacruz informed of all unusual visitors. If the Halder brothers showed up, they would not be able to immediately claim and move the unassembled Firestorm. The delay and a quick message from the watchers would give Delacruz time to return and deal with the two brothers. Shane made a deposit into the watcher’s account using squadron funds and returned to the bridge.
Chapter 47
The Zekes continued to run. The OrCons/Goths continued to pursue. The pirates continued to move at reduced speed to a rendezvous with the Zekes. The Rosstrappe relief convoy continued to move at the slow speed of the supply ships. All ship captains knew there would be no action any time soon so they ensured that the men and women who had manned the critical ship positions during combat were not at their stations now. The captains needed their best people to be rested and ready when circumstances demanded so these crewmembers were not on duty now. Everyone was fed. Most crewmembers tried to get some rest. Several uneventful hours passed.
Light Admiral Dietrich sat in his command chair on his flag bridge and reviewed the video records from Harper’s Reef. He watched the pirates withdraw with two ships dragging. He saw the sensor output from Admiral Kaufmann as he chased the Zeke squadron. Kaufmann had included his estimation of the situation,
basically, the same thoughts he had exchanged with Admiral Stavka. Dietrich was in agreement with the Admiral on the developing tactical situation. He also realized Kaufmann wanted to bring it to a conclusion before Dietrich’s own force could arrive on scene. Dietrich had never served with Kaufmann but knew him by reputation, at least well enough to know he was driven to succeed at the expense of his people and ships. The loss of the two OrCon supply ships under his protection would push him even harder to bring this to a successful conclusion.
If the OrCon mission failed and the Zekes escaped, the Orion government would be looking for scapegoats to explain the failures. They could easily come to the conclusion the loss of their two supply vessels while under Admiral Kaufmann’s protection was a key reason for the failure of the mission. Quite a diplomatic dust up could be created. One way for the Goldenes Tor to mitigate this snag in relations would be to promise the Orion Confederation they would punish all those Navy officers responsible for the loss of the two ships. There would be only one name on that list. For Kaufmann to avoid that oncoming career killer, he would have to destroy the gadfly pirate, Raferty Hawkins, and as much of his force as possible and enable the OrCons to get a straight shot at the Zekes. If he could do it without assistance from other naval units, so much the better. If he could do it and also put some missiles into Zeke ships, better yet. Accidents of war, but very fortuitous accidents. If Kaufmann could accomplish all that, he would emerge from this affair quite well, indeed.
Dietrich didn’t care much one way or the other about Kaufmann’s fortunes. But he could not abide the sacrifice of ships and crews to rescue a commander’s career. Kaufmann was a competent commander, but desperation might push him to see opportunities that did not exist and to ignore threats that did. Dietrich did not care who got the glory but he had to do his best to support those ships and crews. He reached up to his center floating screen and called up all his ship captains on his command net.
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 25