Galaxy's Way

by E. R. Paskey

  Footsteps and a rustle of clothing were all the warning she had before the mattress dipped beside her as Colin took a seat. They were almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Part of her wanted to lean her head against his shoulder; the rest of her froze, unwilling to show Thabati any other scraps of information he could use against them.

  If Colin noticed the way she had suddenly turned into an icy statue, he chose to ignore it. Instead, he leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees, and contemplated his clasped hands. “Threatened to kill me, eh?”

  Anna shrugged, her throat dry and scratchy. She had to swallow twice before she could reply. “I don’t quite fathom the reasoning behind it, personally.” She darted a sideways glance at him as he chuckled humorlessly.

  “Oh, I understand it.”

  She waited a moment, but he did not elaborate. Stilted silence fell over them again, broken only by the faint thrum of the ship’s engine and the sound of their breathing.

  Anna set her jaw, intending to stay strong and refuse to ask, but the seconds trickled by with agonizing slowness and her curiosity mounted. She shouldn’t ask, she knew that, but she had to know. “Well?”

  Colin did not so much as twitch. “Well, what, lass?”

  She could have slugged him. With her prosthetic hand, so it’d hurt more. Tamping down on her frustration, she tried to keep her voice level‌—‌as though she was just slightly curious and they had nothing better to talk about. “You said you understand what Thabati is thinking.”

  That same humorless chuckle escaping him, Colin turned his head toward her. He waited until she looked at him to say, “He’s figuring you’re a nice enough lass that you won’t let either of us die, if you can help it.”

  Her breath caught in her throat; her eyes widened in surprise. Before she could say anything, however, Colin deliberately looked away to cast a sardonic look up at the overhead. “Isn’t that right?”

  He hasn’t forgotten. Anna didn’t know whether to smile or cry.

  Colin turned back to her with a rakish grin that didn’t touch his eyes. “You might be a pirate, lass, but you’ve got a surprisingly soft heart. You may want to work on that.”

  Only the fact that she knew he knew they were being observed kept those words from stinging. He’s trying to downplay our‌…‌ She frowned slightly. Their what? Friendship? A pang of sadness shot through her; she ruthlessly squashed it. It’s not a romance.

  Abruptly, she remembered that she probably ought to respond, and cast about for something to say. “You might be surprised.”

  Colin shifted on the bunk to sprawl out in a more comfortable position at the other end. “How are you feeling?” His voice was a little gruff, but she doubted anybody else would have noticed.

  “Better.” Anna twitched a shoulder in a shrug before letting her elbows drop and lying flat across the opposite end of the bunk. She clasped her hands over her stomach. “He gave me this peach elixir that helped.”

  There was a sudden, strangled silence. “What was it?”

  She smothered a grin. “Just peach elixir. Quite good, actually. I’ll have to ask where it came from and track some down when this is over.”

  Her words fell like stones and rippled through the cabin. When this is over.

  Colin cleared his throat. “I’d like to try some.” He did not say, You mean, if we live.

  “They have to have noticed we’re gone by now.” Anna frowned at the underside of the bunk above them, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

  “Not that it makes much of a difference.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Anna turned her head to look at him in time to meet his eyes. “You’d be surprised how far a reach that bunch of pirates, smugglers, and general reprobates at the Polygon have across the galaxy.” She lifted her voice. “You’d better hope your new boss pays you fast, Thabati, because I don’t think you’re going to have time to wait around.”

  No response.

  Not that she’d expected anything, but the fact that they were being watched still made her skin prickle uncomfortably.

  She tilted an eyebrow at Colin before she could think the better of it; he was still watching her and he looked like he wanted to say something. “What?”

  He just stared at her for another second before shaking his head and looking away.

  Anna knew that was for the best too, but part of her still screamed to know what he had intended to say. To distract herself, she closed her eyes. “Deek’s going to have an engine when he finds out what’s happened. I can see him now.”

  That earned her a snort of genuine laughter. “Not just an engine. He’ll have a whole ship.”

  “How’d you end up with him as your first mate, anyway?”

  A rustle of clothing told her Colin was shifting position. “It’s a long story, lass.”

  Without opening her eyes, she waved an airy hand. “I think we have time.”

  A pause. “You tell me how you met Thabati and I’ll tell you about Deek.”

  “Deal. You first.” Anna cracked one eye open to fix him with a mock-glare. “And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me ‘lass’?”

  She got a ghost of a smile before he inclined his head. “I’ll take it under consideration. Now, as for Deek, I actually met him through Mina.”

  To her credit, Anna managed to restrain an automatic wince at this mention of his late wife.

  “We’d just met, but she knew I was looking for new crewmates. He was working at a shipyard at the time, and they happened to be on the same bus route.”

  “You came from the same world?” Anna interjected, before she could stop herself.

  “Hardly. It was her world; Deek and I were just passing through.” A smile colored his voice. “Deek’s a cantankerous sort, but I rather like that about him.”

  “He’s loyal, too.” Anna swallowed, and then added, “That’s what I like about him.”

  “That‌…‌does not surprise me.”

  After a contemplative pause, Colin cleared his throat. “Your turn, lass.”

  “Ah, yes. The story of how we met Thabati.” Anna blew out a breath, searching back through her memory banks for anything pertaining to their new captor. She sifted through a handful of memories before selecting the one she thought was the oldest. “We needed a new part for the engine, and we couldn’t risk landing on Orda. The engine kept cutting out,” she explained off-handedly, “and our mechanic couldn’t help it limp along anymore.”

  “Orda … ” Colin said thoughtfully. “That is not a particularly good place for a ship-full of pirates to be stranded. If I recall, there’s a Federation outpost not far from there.”

  “Exactly.” The corners of Anna’s mouth turned up. “At any rate, Vik and I managed to sneak down to one of the larger spaceports and somebody pointed us in Thabati’s direction. He’s usually an honest businessman,” she made air quotes with her fingers before linking them on her stomach again, “but he moonlights as a smuggler when it suits his wallet.”

  “Like now.”

  “Like now,” she echoed. “At any rate, long story short, he was able to get us the part and didn’t charge us a fortune for it.” Her smile widened, before abruptly flattening out. “Which was good, because about two weeks later, we came across him after he’d run into a spot of trouble with a couple of other smugglers over a goods dispute.”

  The door to the cabin abruptly slid open. “It helped that the Iliana was twice the size of the others and well armed,” Thabati commented, leaning against the doorframe.

  Anna’s eyes flew open; she jolted upright, nearly hitting her head on the underside of the bunk.

  At the other end of the bunk, Colin did not budge, though his entire body had tensed.

  “Well,” Thabati arched an eyebrow at them. “Isn’t this cozy?” Behind him stood Palmer and two others, all armed.

  Anna merely rolled her eyes; it wasn’t worth responding to. “That was fast,” she said caustically. “Bear tell you everythin
g you wanted to know?”

  “And then some.” Thabati’s dark eyes slid to Colin; for the first time, he looked genuinely remorseful. “Sucks about being wanted for a couple of murders you didn’t commit, Captain Dupree. Too bad you’re not going to get the chance to clear your name.”

  “Haven’t abandoned hope yet.” Colin twitched one shoulder in a shrug. His blue eyes were hooded; his expression as smooth as glass.

  “You should. Only way out of this is feet-first.”

  A fine tremor worked its way down Anna’s spine at this; she forced herself not to react.

  Making a disgusted sound in the back of his throat, Colin finally sat up. “You’ll not be getting rid of us that quickly.” He held up a hand. “We’d already be dead, if it was that simple.”

  Anna shot him a disbelieving look‌—‌she couldn’t believe he was actually antagonizing Thabati now‌—‌but their captor merely pursed his lips and looked sympathetic.

  “You’re right about one thing. We still need you alive for the moment.” He gave Anna a significant look as he said this.

  Her blood turned to ice in her veins. That can’t mean what I think it means‌…‌

  Thabati suddenly sighed loudly and pulled a comlink from his pocket. He held it up to his ear, but his eyes darted to Anna as he began speaking in a different language.

  One he knew she spoke‌—‌after all, he’d been the one to teach her.

  [He doesn’t speak this, does he?]

  It took her a split-second longer to comprehend than it should have. Anna gave him a minute shake of her head.

  [Good, because I’m prepared to make you a deal.] Thabati continued to pretend to hold a conversation, while Anna waited with baited breath. A quick sideways glance out of the corner of her eye at Colin told her that he was watching Thabati carefully, but he did not appear to understand what he was saying.

  [I’ve been thinking about what you said about Viktor, and you’re right‌—‌no matter how much money I’ve got, I don’t want your brother on my trail. He’d hunt me down out of principle if something happens to you, and that’s just not my idea of retirement.] He waved a hand. [So we’ll cut a deal.]

  Anna narrowed her eyes at him. I’m listening.

  [You help me and Berenger make contact with Lobai, do what we have to do, and I’ll let your captain here live.] Thabati glanced at Colin as he said this, before switching back to Basic. “I’ll be a moment.”

  “Oh, take your time.” Sarcasm laced Colin’s deep voice. “We’re not going anywhere.”

  “Yeah,” Anna wet dry lips. “By all means, keep talking.”

  Thabati flashed her a grin, before shifting the comlink to his other ear. [He’s dead if you don’t agree. Boss doesn’t want any loose ends, which is what he is if he’s still aboard my ship when we get to Ydris.]

  Anna’s heart had begun pounding in her chest, reverberating like a drum in her ears. What is he saying?

  [You help me, I’ll drop him off in an escape pod somewhere your brother will find him.] Thabati met her eyes briefly. [I swear it, on all the money I’m about to get paid.]

  A thousand questions flooded Anna’s mind‌—‌chiefly, how in the galaxy he actually intended to pull this off‌—‌but one word rose above the rest, drowning everything else out. Yes.

  Colin wouldn’t like it‌—‌she knew he wouldn’t like it‌—‌but if it meant saving his life, she’d do it.

  Thabati abruptly ended the call and slid his comlink back into his pocket. Turning an affable smile on Colin and Anna in turn, he asked, “Well, are you ready for the next stage of our adventure?”

  Colin shook his head. “Is that what we’re calling this now?”

  “Yes.” Anna’s hands shook, but her voice did not waver as she met and held Thabati’s eyes. “Let’s get this over with. I want to go home.”

  Something shifted in the dark-skinned man’s expression. “Excellent. Follow me.”

  Her stomach attempting to tie itself into knots, Anna rose to her feet. She couldn’t look at Colin; she was afraid he would see her impending betrayal written all over her face. You’re doing this for him, she told herself. He’ll understand that, when it’s all said and done.

  He wouldn’t like it, but he would have to see that she’d done it for him.

  Thabati turned to the doorway, nodding to the pale man. He came forward to take up position at Anna’s elbow; she nearly jumped out of her skin when he discreetly slipped something into her hand.

  It felt like a tiny syringe.

  The knots in her stomach turned into miniature black holes. Oh, no‌…‌ She had a sudden, horrible feeling that she had made a terrible mistake.

  Thabati stepped out into the corridor, but suddenly snapped his fingers and whirled around to point at Anna. “I have a confession to make. Mostly because I don’t want your brother to kill me later.”

  At this, Colin snorted. “Good luck with that.”

  Thabati ignored him. “I didn’t actually poison you, Anna.” He gave a semi-apologetic shrug. “It was a very powerful tranquilizer, which hit you harder than I anticipated.” His gaze flicked to Colin, before setting on Anna knowingly. “But, it served its purpose.”

  Anna did risk a sideways glance at Colin, to find he had clenched his bearded jaw. Her mouth had gone impossibly dry, as dry as the desert hiding the Whirlwind. Her fingers tightened on the syringe; she knew exactly what it was.

  With an effort, she swallowed and nodded. “That’s‌…‌good to know.”

  “You still could have killed her,” Colin bit out.

  “Ah, but I didn’t.” Thabati shrugged and turned away. “Come along. We’re on a tight schedule.”

  It was now or never. I’m sorry, Colin, Anna thought, before she thumbed the cap off the syringe and shifted closer to her accidental husband.

  Colin slung a protective arm around her shoulder without even thinking about it, shielding her from Thabati’s men, and her heart broke. This is why you have to do this.

  Before he could realize what she was doing, Anna slid an arm around him and jabbed the syringe into his side, beneath his leather jacket.

  Chapter 32

  STARTLED, COLIN JERKED, HIS ARM tightening around her reflexively. It took him only a second to realize what had happened‌…‌and he looked down at her in shock, his blue eyes going impossibly wide. “Anna — ”

  Grief knotted in her throat, but she forced herself to swallow it and go cold. Ice cold. “It’s for your own good, Colin.” She saw the second the tranquilizer hit; his eyes grew dilated and suddenly seemed to lose focus. She tightened her grip on him for just an instant‌—‌the last semblance of a hug they’d probably ever have‌—‌and then nodded to Thabati.

  His men stepped forward to grab Colin as he swayed on his feet; she ducked out from under his arm, still clutching the spent syringe.

  The betrayal in his blue eyes would haunt her for the rest of her life. Anna forced herself to turn away, to break eye contact and address Thabati. “That better not be poison, or you won’t have just Viktor to deal with.”

  “It wasn’t.” Thabati looked back and forth between her and Colin, who had now lost consciousness. One corner of his mouth quirked in a smile. “To be honest, wasn’t sure you’d do it.”

  Her eyes burned, but Anna made herself shrug. “He’s a gentleman, and he took me in after Bear screwed me over, when he could have left me on Plimus. He may not beat the murder rap now, but at least he’s got a shot at life.”

  “Which he will have.” Thabati stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “I’m a man of my word, Anna.”

  She threw him a look, and he had the grace to grin sheepishly. “Usually. But in this, I swear, he’ll make it back to your brother alive.”

  “Good.” Anna flicked her brown braid over her shoulder. “Now, let’s get on with it. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to go home.”

  She stopped short in the middle of the corridor, nearly causing Thabati to plow
into her. “Actually … ” she turned to him with a smile like sunshine on a winter day‌—‌bright, but frigid — ”I think I’d better supervise you dropping him off first.” She tipped her head toward Colin’s unconscious body.

  Thabati regarded her with amusement. “Trust, but verify, eh?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Fine.” Shrugging, he waved for his men to precede him down the corridor with Colin. “You want to leave him a note too, while you’re at it?”

  Yes, actually, Anna wanted to say, but she only waved a hand. “That won’t be necessary.”

  Thabati sent her an odd sideways glance. “You’re a funny one, Anna, you know that? He’s going to be pissed when he wakes up.”

  Anna gave a prosaic shrug. Better pissed than dead. “He only got tangled up in this mess because he took a perfectly legal contract for Lobai and got screwed over.”

  “In other words, he’s not a pirate.”

  “Isn’t that obvious?” Anna grinned, despite herself, but her mirth died a quick death as they reached a bank of escape pods. “Where are you going to drop him?”

  Shrugging, Thabati leaned a shoulder up against the bulkhead while Palmer keyed in the code to open the hatch to an escape pod. “We’re still in hyperspace at the moment, so not until we drop back to realspace.”

  “That’d be nice,” Anna said dryly, watching as the men strapped Colin into an emergency flight seat inside the small pod.

  “Probably outside of Calamia.”

  Calamia? Anna’s forehead creased in a frown. “There’s nothing in that system except a few uninhabited rocks.”

  “And a comm relay.” Thabati’s dark eyes slid to her, growing serious. “That’s why when we arrive, you’re going to send a message to your brother informing him that Captain Dupree is waiting for him there.”

  There it is. She had known there had to be a catch coming‌—‌known that this simply couldn’t be as cut and dried as it looked. She raised her eyebrows at him in an expression of polite surprise. “And I suppose you’d like me to also reassure Viktor that he doesn’t need to hunt you down and cut you into little pieces?”