Talon growled at her. “You are not a problem. You are not a burden and if I hear you talk about yourself like that again then there will be trouble. Do not think about leaving again like that. You want to leave the ship then you tell me and we’ll work something about. I do not want to worry about you being out there hurt or scared or worse, got me?”
She nodded her head. “I’m sorry, I really am. I promise that you’re stuck with me.”
He gave her a small smile then stood and kissed her on the forehead. “Get some sleep, you look tired.”
Talon stepped out of Kalia’s room and saw Garret striding down the passage, a deep scowl on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
“She in there?” He nodded at Kalia’s room.
“Yeah.”
Garret knocked on her door. “Kalia? It’s Garret.”
The door opened and she stood there, looking pale. “What is it?”
“I just spoke to Johnny,” Garret told her gruffly. “Roxan was looking for you.”
She took a deep breath and Talon reached for her, worried she was going to faint. He sent Garret a chiding look. Garret looked uncomfortable. Talon knew Garret hadn’t meant to upset her, he was blunt, it was the only way he knew how to be.
Talon helped her back into her room, sitting her on the bed. Garret followed them in.
“Great, just great,” she said weakly. “I’d kind of hoped he’d given up.”
“They haven’t found you yet,” Garret told her. “And if you’re smart and don’t run off by yourself then you can outsmart them. Don’t be stupid. Keep yourself safe and they won’t get to you. I think you can handle that, don’t you?”
Kalia looked at them both, she looked so lost. Then she firmed her shoulders. “I can. Do you want me to leave?”
Talon stared at her. “Didn’t we just have this conversation? Of course we don’t.”
She looked at Garret.
Garret shrugged. “I hate Roxan. He kidnapped Talon. If I hadn’t had you with me, and been in the middle of a busy market, I’d have taken him on today. If he wants to come after you, let him. I’ll be ready.”
“You’ll use me as bait.”
“He didn’t mean that,” Talon soothed.
“Yes, I did,” Garret said. “You got a problem with that?”
“No,” she replied. “I don’t suppose I do.”
“Oh, and the next time you decide to sneak off you won’t sit comfortably for a week, got me?”
Talon nearly groaned as he followed Garret out of her room.
“You won’t really use her as bait, will you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Garret said as he strode down the corridor.
“Garret—” He reached out and grabbed the other man’s arm.
Garret swung around. “What?”
Talon just stared at him for a long moment.
“I’ll take care of her.” Garret sighed. “I’m starting to like her, all right? I kissed her today. There, are you happy? I’m not going to let anything happen to her. Now, if you’re finished I have things to do.”
Talon wasn’t offended by Garret’s abruptness—Garret didn’t like caring about people.
He waited until Garret had turned his back before doing his victory dance.
***
As Garret raced around the corner of the building, blaster rays smashed the ground around him. Fuck! That was close. Luckily for him, whoever was firing didn’t have very good aim.
He took cover behind a crate and using it as cover, returned fire.
Surprisingly, they didn’t fire back. He ducked his head around, wondering what the hell was going on.
He fired again in their direction.
Nothing.
Were they gone? Or were they trying to lure him out of his hiding place?
“Griz, are you inside?” he asked through his com. He, Tripp and Siren were taking care of the guards outside the warehouse while Griz and Lucan snuck inside to find the firestones. Tripp was on the other side of the building while Siren had taken a higher vantage point.
“Yep, and you’re not going to believe it.”
“There’s nothing there, is there?” He’d known it. He didn’t want to believe that Mikael had lied to him. He’d worked for him for years. Although he didn’t trust him, the other man was a good source of income. It would hurt to lose his business. But either Mikael was lying or his contact was.
“You guessed it.”
“Uhh, Cap,” Siren said uneasily.
“Yeah?” Garret asked grumpily.
“Some of the guards just ran out of here. What the hell is going on here?”
“A set-up,” Garret replied.
“Weird set-up,” Griz said. “What the hell did they hope to gain?”
“I don’t know. But we know the person to ask.”
Chapter Seven
Two days later, Garret grabbed Mikael as he exited a gambling house in the seedier part of Twilin. He’d been following him for hours, waiting for the right moment to grab him.
As Tripp and Griz took care of his guards, Garret dragged him down the alley and pushed him into the hovercraft that Ace was driving. Tripp and Griz climbed in and Ace took off.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mikael asked.
“I’d think that was obvious. We’re kidnapping you.”
“You’re dead men,” he snarled.
“Possibly,” Garret said. “Although if we die, we’ll take you down with us.”
“This is my city, you fuck me off and you pay.”
“This isn’t your city, it’s your father’s and he owes me a favor.”
Mikael’s old man ran a huge empire. He had his fingers in everything, both legal and criminal.
“My father is old and ill,” Mikael said. “Soon as he’s gone, I take over. What the hell is this? I thought we had a good relationship, St Jonas.”
“So did I. Until you tried to fuck me over.”
Mikael looked nervous before his usual arrogance took over.
“What are you talking about?” Mikael asked.
“I’m talking about the fact that you lied. There was no robbery, there were never any firestones. The only thing at that warehouse was a number of armed guards.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mikael protested. Garret couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. Mikael had an excellent poker face. “I told you that I got this job from a contact. He was the one who insisted the job be given to you.”
“Someone insisted the job be given to us?” Garret said, thinking furiously. “Who is your client?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
Griz snorted. “You’d sell your own father for a few credits. Who is it?”
Mikael glared at them all. “You kidnap me, threaten me, and expect me to just tell you who my contact is? If word got out that I told you who it was, my business would suffer.”
“If word gets out that you set us up then you’ll no longer be in business,” Garret threatened. “You forget that I know a lot of people. Don’t mistake me for weak because I’ve always played by your rules.”
“You don’t scare me. Like I said, my father is dying. I’ll soon be in charge around here. No one will get in the way of what’s rightfully mine.”
“Who was it?” Griz growled, moving into Mikael’s space. Mikael slumped back in his seat in fear.
“Keep him away from me,” he cried out, looking over at Garret. “You have no right to threaten me like this. How was I supposed to know the client wasn’t being truthful?”
“Tell us who it was.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. If you let me go and don’t ever come back here.”
“Who?”
Mikael stared at him for a long moment. “Preston James.”
Well, fuck.
***
“Ace, put her on autopilot. I want everyone in the dining room in ten minutes. Including Kalia,” Garret ordered as he stalked off the bridge.<
br />
They’d left Mikael in a deserted area of the city. He’d have a long walk before he could find someone to help him, which had given them plenty of time to get off planet.
Garret walked down toward the dining room, nearly bowling Kalia over as she turned the corner. He quickly grabbed her arms to steady her.
“Whoa, princess, where are you headed?”
“To the dining room, I just got your summons through the com,” she explained.
He shook his head. “You’re going the wrong way.” He turned her around, keeping hold of one arm. For some reason he liked touching her.
“Oh, sorry,” she muttered.
He glanced down at her, noticing how pale she was. There were dark circles under her eyes. “Are you feeling all right?”
She looked up at him in surprise. “Oh yes, I’m fine.”
He grunted. “I don’t like being lied to. You want to try that again? Is it the baby? Do you need Doc to look you over?” Might be best to get her checked out whether she agreed or not.
Kalia shook her head then held her hand up to her head as though that movement had made her dizzy. “I’m fine. I just haven’t slept well lately.”
He slipped his arm around her waist, worried she was going to faint on him. They reached the dining room and he pushed her into a chair, quickly grabbing a glass of water. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“Umm.” She rested her elbow on the table, placing her forehead on her upturned hand. “I’m not sure.”
“That’s not good enough,” he growled. “You need to keep up your strength. For the baby as well as you.”
“I know,” she said tiredly. “It’s just that Talon…”
“Talon what?” he asked, putting together a sandwich for her.
“Talon and I usually eat together. I think he’s still upset with me for trying to leave.”
“He’ll get over it. Just give him a bit more time.”
Before Garret could say anything more, the others all entered the dining room, grabbing some food before sitting around the large table.
Garret looked around at them all. “So, I had a little chat with Mikael. He says that he thought the job was on the up and up. That it was his contact who insisted the job be given to us.”
“So who is this contact?” Siren asked, leaning back in his chair. He looked unconcerned, but Garret knew that behind Siren’s grin he held a lot of secrets. His emotions were something he kept buried deep.
“Preston James.”
“Preston James?” Lucan repeated. “He’s tried to contact us a few times. You told me to ignore them.”
Garret hadn’t wanted to talk to him, now he wished he’d taken one of those calls.
“Do you think he wanted to harm us?” Ace asked. “Why?”
Garret looked over at Griz and Doc. They’d all grown up with Preston and while they no longer got on, Preston had no reason to harm him. Garret also knew that Preston had a very good reason to stay away from Mikael. He couldn’t see him using Mikael to get to Garret. No, something was very off about all of this.
“I have no idea,” he said.
“So what do we do?” Siren asked.
“First thing we do is find a new job. We need credits. There’s something odd about all of this and before we make a move, I want some more time to think.”
***
Kalia sat beside the Orion on a chair she’d dragged outside, watching everyone bustling around the busy port. Siren was in the engine room, making some repairs. The ship had done some hard work over the last month. They’d taken what jobs they could, working pretty much nonstop. This was the first time they’d landed for a break.
They’d arrived on Maturus late last night. Maturus was a pleasure planet. A place to come for some rest and recreation. Anything you wanted, Maturus could supply. She blushed at the thought of what the others were up to right now. Sex, booze, gambling, Maturus had it all. She wondered where Talon and Garret were. Were they taking advantage of one of the pleasure houses right now?
She pushed away her jealousy. She had no right to feel jealous or hurt. Talon and Garret were free to do whatever they liked.
While the others were all out having fun, she was stuck here with Siren. For a guy who didn’t seem to take much seriously, he was lacking in the fun department. He would barely even speak to her. The others had grown friendlier since Twilin, but not Siren. He always looked at her suspiciously, like she was going to betray him at any moment.
Kalia sighed. Wasn’t much she could do about it. Although she really wished he would let her go for a walk through the shopping malls. Not only would it be good to get away from the ship for a while, but the shopping malls had air-conditioning. Orion’s systems were shut down while Siren worked on it so there was no air-con. She wasn’t huge, but the sweltering heat inside had been more than she could take.
That was why she’d carried a chair out here, placing it in the shade of the ship, hoping for a breeze. She continued to watch everyone moving around her. After a while, her back started to ache. She stood and walked around the Orion.
She could really use one of Talon’s back rubs right now. He hadn’t given her a massage since they’d been on Twilin. She sighed and wandered around, deep in thought. Things had been right between them since she’d tried to leave and she wasn’t sure what to do. She’d said she was sorry, what more did he want?
Eventually, she noticed that she’d wandered a bit too far from the Orion. Trying not to panic when she couldn’t immediately see the ship, Kalia headed in the direction she thought she’d come from.
If she couldn’t find the ship then she’d just ask someone. Someone around here had to have seen it.
As she was walking around a large ship, she saw some port workers and headed in their direction. Their conversation drifted toward her and she froze and stepped back behind a large crate waiting to be loaded, hiding herself.
“…just been inside Preston James’s new ship. It’s top of the line. He has some serious money.”
“If you worked for him, you’d finally be able to afford a night at Lady Pleasure.”
The other man snorted. “I wish.”
“I’m surprised he’s back here so soon.”
“Apparently he’s looking for someone.”
“I pity that poor bastard. He has no mercy…”
Their voices died out as they moved out of earshot. Alarm filled her. Preston James was here and she didn’t have a clue where Garret and the others were.
She saw another man in a port uniform and walked over to him. Grabbing his arm, she gave him a huge smile while rubbing her belly.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for a ship called the Orion. My brother is the mechanic on it and he doesn’t give very good directions. Are you able to locate it for me?”
The slightly overweight man smiled at her and consulted his tablet. “Sure, it’s in the back left quadrant. Would you like me to show you?”
“Oh, would you? I’d be so grateful. It’s so tiring walking around in this heat.” She rubbed her stomach again.
As the man led her away, she resisted the urge to hurry him along, instead smiling patiently each time he looked her way. The last thing she wanted was to make him suspicious. She needed to get back to the Orion.
When she saw the ship, she breathed a sigh of relief. Turning to the man she thanked him before making her way over and into the cargo bay. Looking back, she saw the man had gone. As quick as she could move, she made her way to the engine room.
“Siren! Siren!” she yelled.
“Go away, I’m busy,” he snarled.
“I need to tell you what I just heard. It’s about—”
“I don’t care what you heard,” Siren told her, turning her around and shoving her out of the room. “I don’t want to hear it. I might have to babysit you, doesn’t mean I have to talk to you. Go away.”
He slid the door shut before she could reply. She tried to open it again, bu
t he must have locked it from the inside. She banged on the door for nearly five minutes, finally giving in with a groan.
Moving back to her room, she searched around for something to write on. Finally, she remembered seeing some paper in Garret’s office. She’d only been in there once. She could try comming Siren but knew it wouldn’t do any good.
She quickly scrawled him a message and went back to the engine room, placing it on the floor outside. Hopefully he would see it.
Before she could start second-guessing her plan, Kalia left the Orion and headed in the direction she’d seen Garret and Talon go. She just hoped that she would be able to find someone to help her; otherwise she’d be lucky to find Garret before Preston James did.
Half an hour later, Kalia was near tears. Her feet hurt, she had a headache and she had no idea where she was. She took a deep breath, plastering a fake smile on her face as she walked up to another pleasure house. This was the fourth one she’d visited. Well, tried to visit. None of them had been willing to let her in the door, let alone tell her whether Garret was inside or not.
“Hello,” she said to the man guarding the door. She attempted to give him a flirtatious glance. He glanced down at her sceptically. “Can I come in?”
“Entrance fee is a hundred credits.”
Her stomach plummeted. “Well, actually, I’m just looking for someone. Maybe you could find out if he’s inside.”
The man just grunted.
Kalia persevered. “His name’s Garret St. Jonas, he’s about 6 foot—hey what are you—”
His hand slammed down on her mouth as he spun her around, her back against his front. Before she could fight him, he placed his other arm around her neck, restricting her breathing. She struggled for breath, her stomach rolling before everything went black.
***
Siren swore as he hit his head. Gods, he was clumsier than a puppy learning to walk today. And he knew the reason why. Because he couldn’t get his mind off the look of fear and urgency on Kalia’s face. He shouldn’t have pushed her out of the engine room without listening to what she had to say first.
Worlds Apart (Men of Orion Book 1) Page 8