“He did mention that,” Ankari said, “and also this…” She tapped a button and a video displayed in the air over the console.
Sergei watched with horror as Fergusson’s “office” coalesced in front of them, complete with Jamie and himself in their scanty clothing. The hot tub and sofas full of intertwined lovers were off-camera, and he hoped they stayed that way. Fortunately, the video was short. It played back the couple of minutes where Jamie had been pretending they wanted to double-cross Mandrake and Microbacteriotherapy, Inc. and collect that bounty. Then it snapped off.
“Oh,” Jamie said.
Hazel’s eyebrows rose. Ankari was smirking. Sergei hoped that meant she didn’t believe that Jamie had honestly meant to betray her. He was less certain that was Hazel’s belief. She kept glaring at Sergei. Not that Sergei had even said anything during that snippet of video. He had been standing behind Jamie and trying to look fierce. That might have worked better if that damned tight swimming suit hadn’t been showing off his erection. If he had known where the vid pickup was, he would have stood behind Jamie’s other shoulder. He hoped Ankari and Hazel hadn’t noticed. This whole night had been nothing but demeaning.
“We thought he might have been the one who set the bounty, and we were trying to trick him into confirming it,” Jamie said.
Sergei was glad she was the one doing the talking, because her innocence came through. He could have told the truth and still managed to sound guilty.
“And did he?” Ankari asked curiously.
“No. I’m fairly sure it wasn’t him. The fact that he sent this over makes me more sure of it. He was interested in working with you and probably wanted to win your favor. If he had put the bounty on the captain’s head, he wouldn’t have bothered, would he?”
“What I want to know,” Sergei said, “is when he found time to send messages. He was still engrossed in his staff when we left.”
Jamie snorted. “No doubt. A very efficient man, it seems.”
“No doubt,” Hazel murmured. She was watching Ankari. Waiting to see if Ankari believed Jamie? Maybe she thought Sergei, with his insidious evilness, had somehow convinced Jamie to work against Ankari and Mandrake Company.
He sighed, wondering if there was any possible path to having all of the suspicion removed from his name. To think, all this had started with him wanting to do a favor.
“Fergusson gave us a lead,” Jamie said, “as to who actually did put a bounty on the captain’s head.”
“Oh?” Ankari asked.
“He implied it was someone who loved Felgard, and from my earlier research, I believe there’s only one woman on this planet who might qualify, because she traveled in the same stratosphere as he did and has had business dealings with him.”
“Anyone it would be easy to visit?” Ankari’s earlier humor had faded, and her eyes were hard now. Her hand dropped to her waist, where she sometimes carried a laser pistol.
“Not… exactly. She has her own private cloud island in the southern hemisphere.”
“Islands,” Lauren said. “What is it with these people and their islands?”
“Islands are easy to defend and difficult to infiltrate,” Sergei said. “Especially islands in the air. There’s no way we would be able to sneak up without her people being aware of it.” He was glad they were talking about the woman now and that Ankari seemed to believe Jamie’s treacherous talk had been a ploy.
“Fergusson might warn her about us too,” Jamie said. “I don’t think the fact that he gave me a tip means that he wouldn’t turn around and give someone else a tip.” She waved at the spot where the video had played. “I suppose I should research their relationship, see if they’re allies or enemies.”
“We’ll mull it over during the next couple of days,” Ankari said. “We have appointments here and on Inis Mardun before we can pay anyone else a visit. And Viktor…” Her gaze lifted toward the ceiling. “His distance should mean he’s safe, at least for the next week.”
“So long as Zharkov doesn’t have a buddy hiding on the ship,” Hazel muttered.
Sergei frowned at her. “I hope you’re simply implying that there might be another assassin, not that I truly have some ally I intend to sic at Mandrake.”
“Of course,” Hazel said, though her eyes said, I’ll be watching you.
Just what he needed.
* * *
As her face was smashed into the mat for the eighty-third time that morning, Jamie reminded herself that she had asked for this torture. She reviewed her options, but couldn’t imagine a way she might escape the hold. So far, she could only manage three escapes well, and none of them seemed to apply to having someone lying on her back with her legs twisted into a pretzel behind her.
She finally tapped the mat for surrender. “When Spartak had me in this position, it was a lot more pleasurable.”
Sergei released her, kneeling back on the mat. He didn’t respond, and she grimaced. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. For the last four days, they had shared an unspoken agreement not to discuss what had happened in Fergusson’s office/orgy chamber. She hoped she hadn’t offended him.
“You remember his name?” Sergei asked.
Ah, maybe she hadn’t offended him; maybe he had simply needed to think about it to remember who she was talking about.
“Sure, don’t you?” Jamie pushed herself into a sitting position and faced Sergei. A freighter was docking behind him, coming in with the first light of dawn. They had already been up and practicing for over an hour, since Ankari had an early appointment, and Sergei would accompany her. The team was in Tirith Sun now, the third cloud city they had visited and the last where the business had meetings scheduled.
“No. My brain wasn’t working very well in there,” Sergei said. “I don’t remember much.”
Jamie hoped he didn’t remember her licking his belly, but she doubted she was that lucky.
“Massages aren’t usually a part of self-defense classes,” he added.
“Not even after them?” Jamie rubbed a sore shoulder. She had thought she did enough physical activity that she was in decent shape, but nothing prepared one’s body for being hurled across mats and contorted into unnatural positions.
“Uhm.” Sergei watched her rubbing her shoulder for a moment, then looked away. “Probably not. Unless you want to look for one of those spas in this city. I understand it’s a chain.”
“No, thank you.”
“Are you ready for another round?” Sergei shifted to get up.
“No,” Jamie blurted. She winced at her outburst, which had been louder than she meant, but she needed more of a break. Sure, she had been the one to purchase the wrestling mat, and she had asked for this. She just had expected more of a one-hour-a-day-and-two-days-a-week training regimen. Sergei had turned out to be a dedicated instructor. “I mean, I have some news for you. You know I’ve been busy trying to track down that fuel line leak, but I finally got some time to research last night.”
“Oh?” Sergei settled back on the mat and leaned on his palms. A relaxed pose, though he never went long without eyeing their surroundings. The dock wasn’t busy this early in the morning, and it wasn’t the carnival the one at MountSky Central had been, but a few yawning workers wandered past, heading into town or carrying bags of take-out back to their ships.
“It was on the woman. Lord or Lady Cyrille Laframboise. Her public entry says Lord, but judging by the picture, she’s definitely a woman. Maybe there’s no such title as finance lady. GalCon has its share of chauvinistic policies.”
Sergei’s brows rose. Right, he probably wasn’t terribly concerned about chauvinism. He just wanted to take down the person with the bounty on the captain’s head.
“Anyway, as I said before, she lives on a private island. There is a community there of just under a thousand people. Her servants and workers account for some, but she runs a couple of her businesses there also. There’s no tourism, though, and she doesn’t entertain many
guests. Only company shuttles are allowed onto the island. Others may be shot for attempting to land. Or for flying within three miles of her airspace.”
“Shot?”
“It seems that, while there’s an overarching planetary government, each individual city has a lot of leeway in establishing its own laws and policies.”
“So it’s unlikely that we can fly the pink shuttle down for a visit,” Sergei said.
“Not unless invited, no. And I don’t think we better try the ruse of wanting to sell her gut specimens. If she is the one who issued the bounty, she’ll know all about Mandrake Company and likely our affiliation with it. She may know we had something to do with Felgard’s death too.” Or Ankari did, at least. Jamie didn’t particularly want to get blamed for that. That whole mess had been above her head, and she hadn’t known what was going on or why they were being imprisoned most of the time. It was only in the last month or so that she had gotten more of a grasp on what the business actually did. Admittedly, maintaining the shuttle and building things were more her passion. “I don’t think we should approach openly at all. I was thinking of disguises.”
Sergei’s brows drifted upward again. “You already have a plan?”
“Not a plan. It’s your mission. I just wanted to share some ideas that came to me while I was doing my research.”
“All right. Go on.”
“First off, you should know that I also researched Fergusson’s relationship to her, and they don’t seem to have much of one. She’s actually something of a rival, and it looks like she’s won out in some deals they’ve both gone after. And, of course, he’s still aspiring to the position of finance lord, and she’s already had it for the last five years. In short, I doubt Fergusson sent her a note describing us—or a video of us blathering in his office.”
Sergei grimaced. Yeah, he hadn’t been a fan of seeing that video, either. Jamie was just thankful it hadn’t shown more. Even if she had later described to Ankari some of what had happened —if only to warn her what she might expect if she was ever invited to a spa for an appointment—she hadn’t gone into the lurid details. Certainly no mention of stomach licking.
“Still, we may want to get some of those fake faces and fast-dyes for our hair,” Jamie said. “Just in case she has an eye out for us. Or anyone from the Albatross for that matter.”
“We?”
“Well, I assume I’ll be going along.”
“Why?” Sergei gave her a puzzled look, one she tried not to find offensive. Had their last adventure been so horrible that he loathed the idea of going off alone with her again? Granted, it had been uncomfortable, embarrassing, humiliating, and quite a few other words, but… the cringe-causing aspect of it was already fading, at least for Jamie. Maybe his experience had been different.
“Because you’ll need me?” She smiled. It was actually true. The position she had in mind was more suited for her than for him.
“Jamie, I… the last time we went out together… I don’t want to subject you to trouble again. That wasn’t the sort of place I’d ever want to take you, and having you along to watch me kill someone isn’t at the top of the list, either. I appreciate you helping me—you’re very good at research. But I should go alone to this woman’s island. There’s no need for you to put yourself in danger.”
It was a very logical argument, and she wasn’t quite sure why it stung. Nor was she quite sure why she wanted to go with him. She was turning into Ankari, volunteering for crazy adventures. But in this case…
“Ah, actually there is a reason. The job openings, they’re for mechanics. Domestic repairs specialists,” she quoted. “In short, people who can fix robots.”
“Job openings?”
“Maybe I jumped ahead.” She patted her side, wanting to pull out her tablet, but she had forgotten she was wearing Sergeant Hazel’s exercise togs, and her computer was inside the shuttle. “Here’s her island.” She poked a dot into the air between them. “The next closest island is called Salt Cloud, and it’s here—” she poked another dot, “—and is mostly government buildings, but has some shops and industry too. I figured the shuttle could park there, make some appointments, whatever Ankari wants, and then we could amble down to the job fair that’ll be going on there this coming weekend. Among the positions on the list are domestic repair specialists for Laframboise’s island. I thought you could strut around, looking tough and scaring off the other applicants, and that we would then, by default, be the ideal candidates for the job. I can assemble a robot, or whatever they have in mind, and you can assist.”
She watched his eyebrows for a reaction. She hadn’t met a lot of men who were into assisting women with repairs, but he hadn’t mentioned a mechanical aptitude or background. Maybe he wouldn’t be offended by her presumptions. If he was, he could always mash her face into the mat again.
At the moment, he was rubbing the back of his neck instead of responding. Maybe he thought her plan was too nuts to respond to.
“Once we’re there, you can of course go off to do the maiming and killing on your own,” Jamie said, hoping that would mollify him. “I don’t feel a need to be a part of that. I just want the captain to be safe. For Ankari. And because he’s been decent to me, as well. Despite all the growling and grunting.”
That elicited a faint smile. “He grunts at you? That means he likes you.”
“Oh? I know Ankari gets a whole range of grunts from him that apparently mean different things. The ones he gives to me… I think they mean get out of my way, you’re blocking the door, or get your robot off my foot.”
Sergei’s smile broadened, and his eyes crinkled. Good. She liked to see him smile. Her first impression of him had been that he needed a friend, and that hadn’t changed much. He always seemed so morose, so glum.
He lowered his hand from his neck. “Listen, Jamie, I do appreciate you thinking up these plans. And I understand that you want to help the captain. I’m just confused by… Do you really want to go somewhere with me? After last time? I feel like I failed you and, uhm…”
“None of that was your fault. I failed myself. I was naive and drugged. I should have realized that and gotten out of there sooner. I have you to thank for taking me out of there, before something I really regretted happened.” It disturbed her now to think that she had found some of that night… arousing. That whole situation should have disgusted her, but she had woken up the last couple of nights after dreaming of being back in that room, with Sergei in his swimming suit, sweat glistening on his hard abdomen as he took the masseur’s place behind her. Her subconscious had a naughty streak.
Sergei grunted. He didn’t sound convinced by her words. And it didn’t sound like any of the three grunts the captain made that she knew how to interpret.
“It could be a good plan,” he said, “though we’d have to get some local IDs made. I would be concerned about going off and leaving Ankari and Lauren on another cloud city. I know they have Hazel, but as much as I want to blast this threat to Mandrake from the sky, I have to remember that Ankari is the mission he gave me. Protecting her has to be the priority.”
“I think Ankari would prioritize protecting the captain, but wait—” Jamie snapped her fingers. “That job fair isn’t until the weekend. The Albatross should be back with their cargo by then. Maybe Ankari doesn’t need to be down here at all. She and Lauren can stay on the ship, and we can take the shuttle down to Salt Cloud, so nobody is in danger except for us.”
“That’s… more appealing, but I’d rather you not be in danger, either.”
“I appreciate you adopting all of us as your charges, but I want to help. And I’m the ideal person for this robot-repair job. Besides, there’s something else you should know. About Laframboise.” Jamie hesitated. She hadn’t been certain whether she should mention this, but in the event that it came up during his mission for some reason, he should know.
“What?”
“She’s sixty now, but she originally paid her way through
school by serving a tour in the Fleet. As… a counselor.”
His jaw clenched, and his eyes… He looked away quickly, but not before a hint of old pain flashed through them.
“I thought…” Jamie cleared her throat. “Maybe it’s none of my business, but I thought you could use a friend there, just in case things got awkward.”
“A friend,” he murmured, gazing out toward the cloud-filled sky beyond their aerial dock.
Had she presumed too much again? Maybe they hadn’t known each other long enough for him to consider her a friend.
“Yes, one can’t have too many friends,” he said more loudly, then smiled again, though it didn’t come across as sincerely as before. “I certainly don’t have too many.” He rose to his feet without using his hands, then lowered one to her. “Are you rested? Shall we resume your training?”
Jamie groaned, but she did accept his hand. “I thought I’d distracted you enough that you would forget about it.”
“Forget? Of course not. I’m looking forward to the moment when you hurl Striker over your shoulder, then stand on his chest.”
“That would be nice.”
“Do something like that and the rest of the crew will think twice about harassing you. In case I’m not around to be thorny for you.”
Jamie didn’t want to think about him not being around. She hoped he was simply speaking of the hypothetical and that he didn’t have plans to leave. They would take care of the Laframboise woman, remove the threat to the captain, and then nobody would have a reason to doubt his trustworthiness.
Instead of responding, she wriggled her fingers, inviting an attack. He started with one of the grabs they had already gone over, one that she doubtlessly needed to practice ten thousand more times before she would be competent. His hand latched onto her wrist. She twisted her arm, stomping on his foot to loosen his grip, then grabbed his arm as she stepped in, turning her back toward him.
She started to attempt the throw, but he stopped her with a warning of, “Closer. You have to get closer to your enemy for this one.”
Mandrake Company- The Complete Series Page 62