With Guns Blazing (Aeon 14: Machete System Bounty Hunter Book 3)

by M. D. Cooper

  Worst of all, she’d caught herself wishing Raya hadn’t interrupted them.

  She started slicing onions with a vengeance.

  PICKING FRUIT

  DATE: 06.01.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Schramm’s Farm, Agriculture Sector 43, Akonwara

  REGION: Machete System, PED 4B, Orion Freedom Alliance

  After lunch, everyone played King Sweep. Not surprisingly, with Marky around, somehow they started betting. Reece bowed out when real money became involved, but with Trey being such a good player, Schramm turning out to be remarkably good at it, and Marky being Marky, the game heated up fast.

  Kippy stayed in the game but tended to fold early before the pot got too big. He didn’t seem to mind that the stakes were too high for his comfort. He’d never been much of a gambler, though he did enjoy games.

  Apolla remained in the game for several hands, but after losing big in a particularly tense round, she threw in her cards and opted for watching the others play.

  “I’m going to go sit on the porch,” Reece said. “Anyone want to join me?”

  Apolla shrugged. “Some fresh air might be nice.”

  Raya looked at Reece, then looked at her cards. “I fold. I’ll come too.”

  Outside, Reece and Raya sat on the porch swing while Apolla settled into a heavy rocking chair.

  Raya took a long, deep breath. “It’s nice out here. Makes me think of growing fruit trees.”

  “I had the same thought,” Reece admitted. “Though living out here would have its drawbacks. No nightlife, and having groceries delivered would get expensive fast. But if you went to get them in person, you’d spend all day doing it.”

  “I guess that’s why Schramm has the autovan,” Apolla said.

  “Not that he’s out here much,” Reece pointed out. “Doesn’t that seem like a waste?”

  “Yeah.” Raya shook her head. “Having something really great and never using it.” A mischievous expression shifted her mouth into a tiny grin. “Kind of like you and Kippy.”

  Reece gasped theatrically. At least, it was mostly for theatrical effect. “What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded lightly.

  “I know what I saw earlier. And I know what I’ve been seeing with you two. Sneaking glances at each other, all those soft expressions. What’s with you two?”

  “It’s complicated,” Reece said.

  “People always say that.” Apolla tilted her head to the side, looking thoughtful. “But you know what, it almost never is. Be together or don’t be together. It’s pretty simple.”

  “But we’ve been friends almost all our lives. What if being together messes that up?” Reece wasn’t accustomed to talking about such a highly personal subject, but it was apparently no secret anyway.

  “What if it doesn’t?” Raya countered. “And what if you don’t go for it, and all the tension ruins your friendship anyway? I mean, how would you feel if he started dating someone else? Would you want to hang out like always?”

  Reece tried to imagine it and had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t love that idea,” she admitted.

  “So there you go,” Raya said, swiped her hands together as if brushing dust off them. “Problem solved.”

  Apolla sat upright from her sprawled position, her eyes wide. “You know what I just thought of?”

  “What?” Reece had a feeling she wouldn’t like it.

  “If Raya goes in there and whispers something in Trey’s ear, the game would probably fall apart, and then Kippy would need something to do.”

  “And?” Reece asked.

  Apolla said, “I could mention that you’d gone for a walk in the orchard. If he came and joined you, wouldn’t that be romantic?”

  “Probably, if it weren’t like a thousand degrees out,” Reece said.

  Apolla deflated. “Oh. Right. I guess bees and excessive sweating aren’t very romantic. Damn.”

  Reece laughed. “Plus, walking isn’t fun right now. Thanks for the thought, though.”

  Raya slid off the swing and gave them a wink. “I like the idea of getting Trey’s attention, though. I’ll see you two later.”

  Apolla rocked slowly back and forth. “It would seem we’re short on guys. The two I’d consider are already taken.”

  “What about Schramm?” Reece asked.

  “Oh. I mean, he’s nice, and not bad-looking, but he’s a little clean-cut for me.” Apolla shrugged. “I prefer highly exciting, very short-lived whirlwind relationships.”

  Reece grinned. “I see.”

  “I think my expectations are too high,” Apolla confided. “I want all the exciting stuff from the beginning, without all the boring stuff that it all settles into. I’ll probably get over that eventually.”

  “You haven’t found any guys worth keeping around long term?” Reece asked.

  “Nah. The sad truth is that I’m attracted to assholes, and they can only hide their stink for a very limited amount of time.”

  Reece blinked, too startled for a moment to react. Then she burst out laughing. “Wow, what a way to put it! Very succinct. It’s good you know yourself, though.”

  Apolla grinned. “I’ve never been accused of not having a strong opinion. And on that note, I think I’ll take a shower and get to bed.”

  “Is it that late?” Reece checked her chronometer and found that it had become late evening. That game of King Sweep had occupied them all for quite some time.

  The persimmons that had been almost ripe two days ago were ready to eat. Since she wasn’t tired, she might as well go check. On her way off the porch, she grabbed a bushel basket just in case she found some fruit to bring back.

  Walking slowly and carefully, she passed through the garden and its fresh, fragrant smells. She took in long lungfuls as she strolled by. When she got to the trees, their shade eased some of the heat pounding down on her.

  Reece found a few apples that were ready to pick, so she grabbed them before they could drop to the ground and get bruised. She could see more ripe ones hanging heavy higher up, but they were too far out of her reach.

  Carrying the basket with the apples, she kept going until she got to the persimmon trees. The fruit were ripe, all right. Brown in color, they looked more like tomatoes, but she knew how ripe and sweet these would be.

  She plucked them off the tree, two by two, gently placing them in the basket. When she’d covered the bottom of the basket, she lifted it to test its weight. She had no intention of struggling to carry back an overly heavy basket. Not only would she sweat like crazy, it would be tough on her leg, which still twinged with every step.

  As she was stretching to reach a particularly large fruit, she heard someone coming. She pulled the persimmon free and turned.

  Kippy watched her curiously. “It’s kind of funny to see you out in the country, doing country things.” He pointed to her cut-off shorts and tank top. “Wearing country things.”

  She looked down at the shorts, which had recently been pants. She hadn’t had much selection in clothing, and the pants she’d worn to Trumark had gotten damaged anyway, so cutting them had been a no-brainer.

  “I’ve worn a lot worse,” she said. “Remember when we used to get hand-me-downs from wherever we could get them?”

  He laughed. “I remember wearing girls’ shirts during the winter when I was twelve. I was not pleased.”

  She giggled. “You always made anything look cool. Some of the other boys started wearing girl sweaters that year, as I recall.”

  “I know how to work it.” He posed like a fashion model.

  He was trying to be goofy, but in fact, he looked awfully good. Reece’s amusement dried up. She took a bite of the persimmon in her hand to cover up her sudden shift in emotions.

  “Is that a tomato?” He stepped closer. “That’s a weird way to eat that.”

  “Persimmon,” she said around a mouthful of fruit. “Here.” She held it out to him.

  Kippy took it, but then mo
ved closer again. “You have juice on your mouth.” He brushed it away with his thumb but came closer still.

  Why did she feel frozen? The heat seemed to have glued Reece in place.

  Kippy leaned down and gave her a long kiss that was even sweeter than the fruit. Reece heard the persimmon drop to the ground as he put his arms around her.

  If she’d had any doubts before, she didn’t now. She’d somehow fallen completely, helplessly in love with her best friend. When had that happened, exactly? Why was she only finding out now?

  Kippy lifted his head slightly, cupping her face in his hands.

  “What are we doing?” she whispered.

  “You already know,” he answered softly.

  “Well…why now?”

  “Because you were too dumb to figure it out a year ago when I figured it out.” He smiled. “So I had to wait.”

  “Wait, a year ago?” She leaned back slightly to get a better look at his face.

  He looked sheepish. “Janice and I didn’t break up because we had different goals. It was because as great as she was, I always wanted to be with you instead. When I really thought about what that meant, it started to fall into place.”

  “Wow.” She flexed her fingers on his back, just because she could. “This is weird.”

  “But a nice kind, right?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she agreed quickly. “Really…good.”

  He laughed and picked her up to spin her around.

  She squeaked. “Ow! Dammit! My leg.”

  “Oh! Right.” He froze in place and adjusted his hold on her to relieve the pressure on her leg. “Sorry.”

  “That was really stupid,” she said, her leg aching.

  He stared at her with guilt and concern, looking so stricken that she laughed.

  “What, you’re joking?” he asked, perplexed.

  “No. You totally mashed my bad leg. But the look on your face…. You’re too cute.”

  He grimaced. “Cute? That is not what I’ve spent the last year hoping you’d see in me.”

  “Handsome,” she corrected herself quickly. “No, gorgeous.”

  He didn’t seem entirely convinced, so she added, “Hot.”

  Kippy grinned. “There you go. That’s the one.” He kissed her again, still holding her close.

  Reece heard something moving in the trees and quickly pulled away, looking.

  “What?” Kippy looked to his left and right, searching.

  “Nothing. Just the breeze. I thought someone was coming this way, probably to kick our asses. That’s just kind of been how my luck has been going lately.”

  Kippy set her back on her feet, taking care to balance her until her sore leg was securely positioned. “A guy might take offense at that, present circumstances considered.”

  She grinned. “I mean outside of right this moment, my luck hasn’t been running all that great.”

  “Eh. Take what you can get.” He grinned and elbowed her.

  She faked an offended huff, bent to pick up the fallen persimmon and tossed it at him. She pantomimed a forceful throw, but then lobbed it so that it barely bumped him before falling on the ground.

  He stared at her in mock outrage. “How dare you? I’m going to have to wash these pants now.”

  “Aw, that’s too bad,” she teased. “I know how you hate wearing clean clothes.”

  “Oh, that is it!” he declared, lunging for a fallen, mushy persimmon.

  Reece shrieked and dashed for a tree as fast as her leg would let her without aching too much. She hid behind the trunk then peeked around.

  The persimmon hit the tree just below her chin with a sharp thwack.

  “You really threw that!” she objected. “I just pretended.”

  “You started it.”

  Another persimmon hit the tree.

  “Oh. Now you’ve done it. It is on. No one throws overripe fruit at me and gets away with it.” Reece bent and gathered up two persimmons that lay at her feet.

  A fruity projectile hit her in the butt.

  “Bring it,” he taunted. “It’ll end the same way the great battle of the uneaten sandwiches did when we were twelve.”

  “Aunt Ruth grounded me for that, you know,” she said, peeking around the tree and tossing a persimmon in his direction.

  “I remember.”

  Two more fruits hit the tree.

  He added, “You’ll be grounded this time, too.”

  She laughed at his trash talk. “Automatic disqualification for a bad pun. And you know what else? Your aim sucks.”

  She stood and threw three fruits at him in quick succession. One of them glanced off his arm and another hit him square in the chest.

  She felt a hit on her left leg and she bent to grasp it. “My leg!”

  “Oh crap! Sorry!” He started toward her.

  “Sucker!” She grabbed two fruits and threw them as she straightened.

  He yelled in surprise, then, laughing, ran at her.

  Reece ran as fast as her leg would let her, trying to put a big oak tree between them. Then she changed her mind and slowed down to let Kippy catch her.

  It was about time she did that. Especially since she now felt like, whatever happened with them, they’d still be best friends.

  * * * * *

  Two days later, Reece’s leg was almost back to normal, and Marky and Apolla had gotten together what they needed.

  It was time to make their stand.

  In spite of what she’d said to Kippy on the day of their persimmon battle, Reece felt pretty fortunate that Cooper Fields hadn’t found them in the meantime, hanging out at Schramm’s farmhouse. Clearly, he’d done very well indeed at hiding his hideout’s ownership

  Maybe their luck was changing. If so, there couldn’t be a better time for it. Even though they’d meticulously planned their assault on Rexcare, there was still a lot that could go wrong.

  She mentally slapped her brain. Nope. Nothing was going to go wrong. Everything would go as planned, they’d get the info, restore Schramm’s reputation, and life would go on as usual.

  From the window of the living room, Reece saw Kippy helping Trey load up the autovan.

  Well, life wouldn’t go on exactly as usual. Some parts, hopefully, would get a whole lot better.

  Though she’d been comfortable in her cutoff shorts and tank top, it felt good to be back in what she considered to be her work uniform—her black pants and red and black jacket. Most importantly, she wore a full complement of weaponry.

  Kippy and Trey had spent the previous day painting the van to look like a delivery vehicle from Rexcare’s preferred package delivery service. The red stripes on a gold background looked garish to Reece, but the van appeared to be the real thing. Kippy had been better at his after-school job at the paint shop than she’d ever realized.

  Reece carried out a bag with food for them to eat on the way, and Schramm closed the door to the farmhouse behind them.

  Reece had hoped she’d be able to come back one day, but not too soon. She was done with hiding.

  It took them most of the day to get to the chop shop Marky had directed them to. Once there, the team pulled out the back two rows of seating and replaced them with cargo racks. They arranged the cargo racks so that they’d conceal the people hiding away inside.

  While they got the van ready, Apolla loaded her equipment into a large backpack. After shrugging it onto her back, she came to wish the others luck.

  “It should take me twenty-five minutes to get to my colleague’s place from here,” she said. “I’ll check in with you once I’ve arrived.”

  Reece nodded. Apolla had made a deal with another surveillance specialist to use his setup. It hadn’t been cheap, and he’d likely be able to figure out what they’d done after the fact, but by then it wouldn’t matter if he knew. It was too bad Apolla couldn’t use her own place, but going there would be too risky as Trumark had likely identified her as one of the people who had hacked their system.

  “Ok
ay. Stay alert and…” Reece stopped herself. “I was going to tell you to try to avoid cameras but look at who I’m talking to.”

  Apolla smirked. “Right. And I’d tell you to be careful but look who I’m talking to.”

  Reece grinned. “I’m always careful. Making it look like I’m making things up as I go along is just part of my mystique.”

  “Yeah, right,” Apolla scoffed. “Anyway, I’ll be in touch soon. Good luck.”

  “You too.”

  Reece watched her go, then helped the others finish loading the van. She hoped Apolla got to her destination without trouble. If they didn’t have her helping them, this would never work.

  * * * * *

  Reece almost started to rethink their plan when her knees were shoved up to her chin with her arms wrapped around them, her back pressed into Trey’s side. Worse, the air in the back of the van wasn’t circulating, and it was getting way too hot.

  She doubted Trey, Schramm, and Marky were any more comfortable, so she didn’t bother complaining, even though she could have done it silently with Schramm or Trey via the Link. But Schramm had other things on his mind and Trey would probably just make fun of her.

  “Here we go,” Kippy said.

  The movement of the vehicle stopped and Reece held her breath.

  Someone said something, but it was too muffled for her to make out.

  “Delivery for the maintenance department.” Kippy’s voice was clear and sounded carefree.

  The voice said something apologetic.

  “Uh, there’s a lot here. That would take me a while. There isn’t someone who can help?” Now Kippy sounded quite put out.

  Schramm had pinpointed a time after the daytime intake department had left for the day but before the nighttime maintenance team had arrived, leaving the delivery bays unoccupied. It was that tiny window of opportunity that had spawned this entire strategy.

  “Yeah, I know, it’s not your fault.” Kippy sounded resigned. “This is going to take me a while, though.”

  After a few more muffled words, the autovan moved forward again.

  They’d cleared the first hurdle.