He started to strip off his coat. I rushed forward drilling him in the stomach. The large man doubled over. I was tempted to bring my knee up into his face, but instead I just gave him a little tap on the back of the head while dodging to the side. He hit the ground hard, and I kicked him once. I heard a rib break, and then the sound of guns moving up. Stepping away slowly, I kept my hands up.
“I’d prefer to not have to kill all of your men before I get my package, but that’s open to negotiation.”
The big man struggled back to his feet, he swayed for a moment and then seemed to steady himself. He motioned for his men to put down their weapons and one of them went to fetch my package. “I hate to say it boys, but I think I’m in love.” All of his men laughed, and it broke the tension. “That’s a hell of punch you pack for such a little thing.”
“You should have remembered what I did to your door.”
“You’re right about that,” he said rubbing his belly. He held out his hand, and the man came back with a large duffle and placed it in his hand. “I have your word this will make it to Ragnus?”
“You do. He has something that I need.”
He put the duffel down on the ground and motioned for his men to follow him. He turned in one of the interior doorways. “Hope to see you again soon.”
“Don’t count on it.”
His laughter filled the room as I scooped up the duffle and headed out the door. A quick walk across town and I’d be done with this shit. I couldn’t wait to get off of this planet and back where I needed to be. My connection to Drake was weak this far away, but even from here I knew he was tense about something. It was time to go.
On my way back to the hangar, I made a quick detour to the alley I had left Ragnus’s man in. A quick scan confirmed that he was gone. Well, at least I hadn’t killed him. I wondered what Ragnus would do to him if he had the guts to show his face again after he failed at his mission. Whatever it was wouldn’t be pleasant. Smart money said he never went back, sometimes it was better to run and stay alive. Pride could get you into all kinds of unwanted trouble. Ragnus didn’t exactly strike me as the most forgiving sort. And I’m sure his men knew it.
Ragnus marched down the walkway from his ship. I almost couldn’t believe it when he didn’t sway at all. The man sobered up quicker than any drunk I’d ever seen, it had to be a miracle or earlier had been some kind of trick to try and make me feel safer than I was. Whatever the reason was, I didn’t really care. That just meant we could get the hell out of here.
“Thank you for bringing the cargo. Do I need to ask what happened to my man?”
“He flew a little too close to a black hole, and when you do that you never come back.” Thankfully it looked like the kid was smart enough to stay away. I didn’t know if that meant he would be safe for long, but at least he had a head start. It wasn’t my job to tell Ragnus if he was dead or not, so I just left him wondering about my vague metaphor.
Ragnus waved the thought away as if it hardly concerned him. “The boy wasn’t cut out for this line of work anyways. I only took him in because he was my sister’s cousin’s kid twice removed.”
“Your generosity knows no bounds.”
“Of that you can be sure. Now get on the damn ship, we’ve got to drop you off before we can finish our run.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
CHAPTER 26
CAPTAIN DRAKE
It was easy enough to get seen on Serenity. While they didn’t have cameras everywhere, they did have them in the casinos, and we had fresh credits to burn. I reached deep into the ship’s reserves to give everyone five thousand credits to blow. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that deep into the reserves after we had received our payment for delivering Samantha, but I didn’t like parting with credits any more than the next person. I had to tell myself it was just the cost of doing business.
Since the whole point was to get on some of the vid feeds, everyone had to participate. This wouldn’t work if Dr. Marcom thought we had anything to do with Samantha’s breakout. So I made everyone cash in their own credits for chips, and I told them to spend them all, or at least spend a few hours at the tables. As long as there was proof we were here and not back on Mars, everything would be fine. Who knows, they might even have a little fun while doing it.
Personally, I loved gambling other people’s money. In this case it was my own, but I decided to cut loose and pretend like it wasn’t. I ordered a bottle of champagne for Maze and I as we played. She liked the bubbly and I had fond memories of the last time we were together with the drink. Sure we had been in a mad rush to save Kyra’s life, but I still remembered the taste of her mixed with the velvety smooth liquid.
Maze wasn’t much of a gambler. She was just too damned practical. I could almost imagine her grimacing at the thought of throwing credits away to create an alibi. Maybe if she thought of it more like a bribe then everything would be ok. We’d had to spend more money bribing people for favors than I could count in a lifetime. I’d promised her after a few hours, we could go and see a show or just return to the ship.
It took me about an hour to clock him, which was probably an hour longer than it had taken Maze. I wondered why she hadn’t said anything to me about the bald bastard sitting a few tables away. He was easy enough to spot once I knew what to look for. Those tattoos on his head were a dead giveaway even out of the white robe. I had to give him credit for the change of clothes though. Dude looked like a real badass now. That had the advantage of keeping people a little further back, helping him to keep an eye on us.
Maze caught my eye, and she gave me a little nod and a smirk. That smirk said I’m glad you finally caught up with what was happening. Yeah, I was glad to. A quick look around while taking a drink didn’t reveal the other man in the robe. So either he wasn’t here, or he had found a way to blend in better than his brother. It wasn’t in my nature to sit back, so I played out the hand we were in the middle of and then collected my remaining chips.
I felt Maze’s gaze on my back as I moved over to the table our stalker was sitting at. I had to give him credit, he did a great job of pretending not to notice me. In fact, I’d say he acted a little too nonchalant, making it a dead giveaway that he really was here watching us. He wouldn’t be able to do that now. I took the seat right next to him and waited to buy into the next hand.
“I didn’t expect to run into you again so soon. Are you D’avin or the other one?”
He looked over at me as if everything was right as rain. “I’m D’avin, the other one is named Dal.”
“So D’avin what brings you so close to me and mine? There are a hundred casinos on Serenity, and yet here you are.”
His face scrunched up as if he was deciding how much to share with me. “How much do you know about the Brotherhood of the Light?”
“Next to nothing.” Which was really the understatement of the year. I knew absolutely nothing about them and what they stood for. They had to be some kind of sanctimonious pricks with a name like that though. There also hadn’t been time to put Ice on research duty. We had bigger lifesaving plans to attend to. Smile for the camera team. I tossed my cards on the table and placed a bet for the next hand. “I grew up in Alliance space and spent most of my time in the rim.”
“A hundred or even two hundred years ago, we had outposts out that far. Now we’ve consolidated into several sanctuaries inside of Earth Republic space. Our mission was…” He trailed off for a moment as if wondering how much he should share, “and still is, to protect humanity from the nosferatu.”
What in the hell was this guy talking about? It almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself they were doing the right thing. Or maybe he believed that he was but that hesitation told me that all was not well inside the Brotherhood of the Light. “Come again?”
“Vampires.”
So they were priests cleansing the world of what they thought of as evil. I hadn’t known Samantha long, but was she inherently evil? Not a chanc
e. I couldn’t give anything away but he probably knew that I wasn’t sharing everything with him. The fact I hadn’t flinched when he said vampires was a dead giveaway. “So you’re vampire hunters?”
“In a manner of speaking. There hasn’t been a true sighting of a vampire in over a hundred years, and yet we now feel the pull of one to this place.”
“And what does that have to do with us?” He had to know about Samantha already, but that didn’t mean I needed to play his game.
“Captain, we both know you’ve been in contact with the abomination. I can smell it on you even now. Our best bet of finding and killing it rests with you.”
Well, that was one way to do things. Putting all your cards on the table upfront. Personally, I liked to go in a different direction. Always keep them guessing was my motto. If your opponent was off balance, you had a better chance to win. That was just the way of things out in the black.
His little speech might have been his way of trying to get me to reveal something. The last thing I was going to do was lead this prick to Samantha. The problem was she was coming here and had no idea what kind of shit she was about to step into. I didn’t have a way to warn her so when she showed up, this was going to get real interesting real quick.
If they could really sense her energy, then they would know the second she hit the station. Maybe she had a way to cloak herself that I didn’t know about. You would think if she was some kind of beacon that they wouldn’t need us.
The hard part was going to be sneaking her onto the ship and slipping away with these two on our tail. I had a life of semi-legal crime to get back to. A smuggler couldn’t do his job with everyone in the verse trying to track him down. I didn’t see a way to get rid of him so I sat back and enjoyed the game for a bit.
Tossing my cards back to the dealer, I picked up my remaining chips. I’d lost my taste for gambling, knowing one of my crew might be in danger. Maybe if we went to the show, it would calm me down enough to come back and play a few more hands. For now, I needed this guy to keep following me, it was the only chance we had to get out of this whole. That and we needed to find some way to get in touch with Samantha. We took away the comm we had given her because we didn’t want it traced back to us if she failed in her mission. Now that choice was really putting us in a bind.
It was possible that I might be able to get more information from him but probably not too likely. Maybe it was time I got to issue my own threat. “I appreciate that you have a job to do, but I think you’ve overestimated the danger here. Now I’m going to go and catch a show with my lady over there.” I pointed at Maze. “I promise you if you lay one finger on any of my crew, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Don’t make the risk of assuming we are all as weak as the man we sent to deal with the nosferatu the first time, Captain. If you stand in the way of what we have to do, I can’t guarantee the safety of you or your crew, from us or the creature.”
“I don’t need you to.” I tapped the blaster on my hip. “This seems to work just fine for solving those kind of problems.”
D’avin’s face tightened. “I’m going to let that go since Erendall was a first class asshole, but if you come after me or my brother, I’ll show you how strong one of the Brotherhood can truly be.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “It seems like we understand each other, I guess we will have to let the chips fall where they may.”
I walked back towards Maze, and she dumped her cards and collected her chips. After we cashed out, a show and a few more drinks might just take the edge off. This was supposed to be the easy part of the plan. The alibi was never the complicated part. How had everything ended up so screwed up? From the second Connor suckered us into that job, we’d been screwed. Next time I saw that fucker I was bound to knock out one of his teeth. If nothing else, the punch would wipe the smug smile off his face.
CHAPTER 27
SAMANTHA RIPLEY
Ragnus was true to his word about taking me to Serenity. It wasn’t as if I trusted him, I stayed on the bridge the entire flight reading the star charts to make sure we were headed in the right direction. He smirked at me a couple of times, so I knew that if I hadn’t been as vigilant, he probably wouldn’t have gone straight there.
We were in the middle of docking now, and I felt a swell of anticipation. There was nothing I wanted more than to see Drake. Something about us being together just felt right. I didn’t want to call it destiny, but there was something there stronger than just my own feelings. It was like we had something we needed to do together. Whatever it was, I couldn’t quite place my finger on it but would know it when it happened.
If nothing else, the man had saved my life. That put me in his debt. Sure I could have said the same about him, but as far as I could tell, his life had only ever been in danger because of me. Where would I be now without the constant violence that seemed to surround us? I wasn’t sure. My gut told me I’d still be in the box. A shudder rippled through my body at the thought of what would have happened to me on Mars if I had been defenseless. The only good news was that wouldn’t be happening to anyone else in that facility any time soon.
Ragnus leaned back as the auto-pilot finished steering the ship into the airlock. He looked up at me with a smile on his face. It was the kind of smile that spoke of longing. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay? All the boys are in love with ya, already.”
“You couldn’t keep me on this ship with a set of steel chains.”
Ragnus laughed. It was deep and full of mirth. “Aye, of that I have no doubt. But on a more serious note, if you ever find yourself floating around the verse in need of work, let me know. I’ll always have a spot on my crew ready for an operator like you. Fat Tony is still pissing in his pants. He goes on and on about how you destroyed his door and hit him so hard, he saw stars. That’s the kind of muscle we need around here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Make sure that you do, love. I’d give my left testicle to keep you around.”
“Then maybe we can make a deal.” I pulled my knife from its sheath and twirled it around in my hand.
Ragnus took one look at the knife and then his hand moved down to cover his groin. “It was just a figure of speech.”
Slipping the knife back into its sheath I headed towards the door. “I know, but sometimes a girl has to make you squirm.” His laughter followed me out of the room.
One of the men was waiting for me by the airlock. He opened the door for me and gave me a big smile as I left. “Don’t stay away too long.”
“Not you too.”
“It’s not often we get to enjoy the company of a lady that kicks as much ass as you do. Plus you’re hot.”
“Don’t you have some drugs to deliver?”
“Not until I finish watching you walk away,”
“Watch it, or I’ll take your left nut, just like I did to your boss.”
The man looked worriedly back at the bridge. Suckers, one was born every day. I made sure to throw a little extra wiggle in my step as I walked down the airlock. It never hurt to leave them wanting more, even when they were disgusting pigs. I made it out of the door on the other side, then I sealed it. Almost as soon as the door locked, the ship started to pull away. Ragnus wasn’t wasting any time getting to his drop off. I hated to say it, but I might actually miss a few of those guys. They lived a simple life, something I hadn’t known since I was in flight school.
It felt good to be on the station. Recycled air had a certain taste to it that I was comfortable with. It probably had to do with all that time I spent in the lab. They never pumped in fresh air from outside so it had the same slightly bitter metallic taste to it that you found in space. Something about it felt like home. Not that those labs were ever my home. More like a prison I couldn’t escape until now, until I met Drake.
The station was huge, it might take me a while to track him down. It might actually be easier to try and track down the Star Talon. There had to
be some kind of database to search for docked ships. Now all I had to do was find it, or someone that could point me in the right direction.
Most of the people walking by me had smiles plastered to their faces. This was, after all, a vacation spot. Most of the people here came to shed their worries and have a little fun. It didn’t matter what you were into, there was something on Serenity for everyone. What was Captain Drake into? Hummm, best not to dwell on that for too long, a girl might just get excited.
It didn’t take me too long to track down a terminal and to find the listing for the Star Talon. Of course they were docked on the other side of the station, so I’d have to cross the entire damn place. There weren’t many shadows to hide in here. Everything was brightly lit, trying to draw your eye towards something you could spend money on. I pulled up my hood, hoping to keep my face off of any cameras. Not a lot of people were wearing hoods, but I didn’t care if I stood out. The risk was worth it not to be seen. I put my head down and started trudging forward.
It felt good that I was close to reuniting with Drake, not only him but the rest of the crew as well. The doctor had shown me nothing but kindness, and even Maze showed me a begrudging respect. Was the Star Talon really a place I could call home? It sure felt like it was right, like it was where I was supposed to be. Maybe there I would finally feel like myself again, and not the killing machine I had been turned into.
There didn’t seem to be anything left to worry about. If we actually pulled this off then life might have a chance to get back to normal, whatever that meant out here. Running jobs in the black with Drake wasn’t exactly what I had in mind growing up, but it sure sounded good now. It had been so long since I did anything most people would consider normal, I wasn’t even sure what normal felt or looked like anymore. That and I guess Drake and his crew didn’t actually live a low-risk lifestyle, so I’d always have something exciting on the horizon. A little danger kept you honest and sharp. A girl didn’t want to lose her edge by sitting in a chair all day reading books.
Genetic Purge (The Galactic Outlaws Book 2) Page 19