Chapter Three
Crusoe’s place couldn’t have been any more different than Rosario's if it was located in a separate universe. This place was all tablecloths and light dinner music. A place for the wealthy and refined to congregate when they had to stop on Zimmora before moving on. Frankly it had me feeling a little out of place, and completely underdressed.
This was a new addition to the station, something to signal Kitra’s rise to power and the direction she was trying to move in. Sure the station would still be a hub for illegal activity of all kinds, but a hub that was controlled in a way that made the wealthy comfortable. No one got into this life looking for a tiny payday.
The maître d’ tried to step in front of me but I already had eyes on Kitra. She rose from the table at my approach. Her dark purple dress was low cut in the front and cut high on her legs. Every time she moved it exposed just enough flesh to make you forget why we ever learned to speak in the first place. It was a calculated move, one aimed directly at me. That meant she wanted something more than dinner. Somehow I found the strength to close my mouth before I embraced her.
As we broke apart, she motioned for me to sit. “Captain Drake, thank you for meeting with me.”
“You know I would never turn you down Lu, not after that night we shared on Meridian Five.” Her eyes widened at my use of the nickname I used to call her, and just the barest hint of a flush crossed her cheeks at the mention of our time together. Things had been simpler back then. I only had a crew of three and Lulu only had her ambition. We had spent the night together before her first and only trip to Zimmora.
She motioned over her shoulder at the waitress, and she appeared moments later with a glass of whiskey for me. Depending on what she wanted I expected it to be top shelf.
“You look good Drake, as dashing as ever.” A small pout creased her lips. Every move she made drew me in further. The temptation to fall into those bright green eyes was almost overwhelming.
“I would say the same thing to you, but I think it might be possible that you are even more radiant than the last time I saw you. It appears life on Zimmora has been good to you.”
“Oh, it has.” She said with a laugh. “It could be good to you too if you ever decided to work for me.”
“You know me, Lu.” I paused to take a sip of my whiskey. “As long as I can fly, I intend to be out among the stars.”
This time, her voice was cold and sharp. “It is Kitra now, and you would do well to remember that.”
I took another sip of my whiskey downing what remained in the glass. I signaled to the waitress to bring me another. I shrugged off Kitra’s cold stare, preferring to enjoy the warmth in my belly from the whiskey. “Forgive me for my lapse. It’s just I prefer to think of you as the woman I knew back then. Sometimes I forget myself.”
Her eyes softened for a moment, but then her mask of indifference slid back into place. “I’ll try and make it easy for you to remember, and we will get straight to business. I have a job for you to do.”
“Kitra, I can’t do anything without clearing it with the mercenary guild first. Those are the rules.”
“Screw the rules.” Anger and a hint of desperation came out in her tone. She waved one hand around in a gesture of impatience. “I need you to do this for me.”
“Let me take a look at the job and I’ll let you know if my team can handle it.”
“You’re going to handle alright. That is if you ever want to fly off this station again.”
“Have we really grown so far apart that you have to threaten me? You know that I would always help you if it was within my power to do so.”
“I tried to ask you in a civilized manner, but it didn’t seem to sink in, so a more aggressive tactic was needed. Time isn’t on my side here, Drake. I need your help.”
I caught the barest hint of desperation in her voice again. This time, it had me worried. “Send the job and the payment info to Ice, whatever it is I’ll figure out a way to get it done, but after this, you owe me one.”
“I knew I could count on you.” A genuine smile flashed briefly across her face before it disappeared behind her seductive pout.
She stood up again and my eyes followed the slit in her dress as her leg peeked through. Damn it. This woman had just played me, again. Now that I had accepted the job there wasn’t a damn thing that I could do about it. My eyes followed the bare skin on her leg until it reached her perfectly toned stomach. Then I found myself entranced by her firm breasts before becoming fully overwhelmed by her bright purple eyes. I could see the laughter there and just a hint of desire. I’d have to worry about that after I figured out just what kind of trouble I had gotten us into.
We hugged again and this time, she planted a kiss on my cheek. I walked out of the restaurant, rubbing the stubble on my cheek absently. Women, they always confused things for me. There wasn’t enough time to worry about what I had gotten us into now. I just had to find a way to get us out of it.
The crew was waiting for me in the common room of the ship. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn’t like the job. Well, they would have to learn to deal with it. Sometimes we had to do things we didn’t want to so we could keep flying. Keeping our ship in the air wasn’t exactly cheap and neither were the connections it took to run our type of business.
“I take it from all the long faces you’ve already reviewed the data.”
“No offense Captain, but when did we decide to become drug runners and murderers?” Ice asked while moving the data to the large view screen.
“We’ve had to kill before. There isn’t anything different about it if we have to do it again.”
“But this is different. This job is killing someone for money. We aren’t assassins.” Ice said hands on her hips.
“We are whatever we need to be to survive.”
Maze shook her head and walked from where she was leaning on the wall to sit at the table with the rest of us. “You called her Lulu, didn’t you?”
“She had this job picked out long before we got here.”
“So that’s a yes.”
“Damn it Maze, whether or not I called her Lulu doesn’t change the fact that she’s needed this job done for a long time. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Do the job or never get to leave the station.”
Maze nodded her head in acceptance. “I’m with you Captain, whatever you decide to do.”
“Me too,” Gabe said.
Ice just glared at me. “I could knock out the station’s weapon systems and release us from the airlock. Then we could just leave.”
“Ice, if we did that it would cost us too much. We can’t burn Kitra as a contact, or this station as a place to complete jobs. We need it to survive.”
“I still don’t like it, killing for money. What’s next, running slaves?” She said with disgust.
“Damn it, this isn’t the same thing, and you know it.”
“Maze and I will take care of it. You just worry about getting us out of here when the time comes.”
Ice stormed out of the room. “Gabe, can you go check on her? Make sure to take Kyra with you.”
“You got it, Captain.”
“She’s right you know.” Maze whispered.
“Damn it all to hell. Of course, she’s right! I only see one way forward here. I wish things were different, and if you have another suggestion, I’m all ears.” She stayed silent, and then the smallest of smiles crossed her lips when she noticed the look on my face. Maybe there was another way.
“You have a plan. I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Captain.” Her smile now spread across her entire face. It was warm and inviting.
“God damn right I do,” I said looking over the data. A lot of things would have to go right for it to work, but all we could do is try. If the guy preferred to die instead of going along with it, there was nothing we could do to make him.
“Your plan better be a step up from your last effort,” Maze said laughing.
<
br /> “What, that plan worked to perfection. We got the cargo onboard and delivered.” I said with just the right hint of indignation.
“Not without us having to blow sparty.”
“True, but we did just get a bonus.” She just shook her head. “How much was it by the way?”
“Double the original fee.”
“You’re kidding.” She just passed me the data pad to show me the numbers. Damn, maybe we should be running drugs. That one job just put us in the black for months to come. “I’ll tell Kyra we have the credits to pick up another Spartacus. Maybe we can let her pick up a few things from her wishlist as well. She’ll have to hurry on repairs. As much as I love our time on the station, I’m already ready to get the hell off this rust bucket.” Maze nodded once and headed down to the airlock.
The job was simple enough. A low-level thug named Bruno was making a push into Kitra’s newly expanded empire. She didn’t want him there. The problem was he had become extremely popular with the locals in that sector so sending her own men wasn’t an option. Any direct action by Kitra wouldn’t be worth it. She needed him dealt with and quickly.
To me, that didn’t mean dead. That was just the lazy way of doing things. I had a plan, but it all hinged on Bruno listening to reason. The truth of the matter was I didn’t expect him to listen to reason, but I had to at least try. If for no other reason than the fact that Ice was right, we weren’t assassins. If I offered him the chance to live and he didn’t take it, that wasn’t my fault.
We moved into the lower sections of the station. Most of this area was reserved for sanitation and the workers that took care of the equipment. A few small bars had been set up down here to keep the workers happy. Bruno worked out of one called the Purple Rhino, and that is where we were headed now.
“Non-lethal weapons only, unless they take that option off the table.”
Maze just nodded as we approached the bar. I knew her cybernetic implant was already running calculations on how successful we would be. She tilted her head just before we walked into the bar. That was never good.
The Purple Rhino wasn’t much to look at from the outside. The inside wasn’t much better. The entire place was bathed in a hideous purple light. It almost made me feel like we got stuck on a ship after the FTL drive lost containment. A few workers sat at the bar, the rest of the place was almost deserted.
It looked like we picked a great time to get the job done. Bruno had to be seated in the back corner of the bar. Two men stood in front of the last booth, and the sound of a woman’s laughter came from behind them. I gave Maze the signal to fall in behind me, and we started to head in that direction.
“One of Bruno’s bodyguards stepped forward. “The boss isn’t seeing anyone right now.”
“He’ll make time for me.”
“Piss off.” He put a hand on my chest and shoved me back a step.
Maze darted around me shockstick in her hand. She jammed it into the man’s neck, and he fell to the floor. She sent another blast through his temple ensuring he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. The second goon pulled out his gun and trained it on us.
I held out my hands palms up. “Listen, all we want to do is talk to your boss.”
There was no hesitation when he fired the gun at me. The bullet lodged in one of the hidden plates in my jacket’s lining, leaving me alive. It still stung like a bitch, though. The guard’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. He had to be wondering why I wasn’t dead. I shook my head at his lack of skill; he had forgotten that I wasn’t alone. The look of confusion was wiped off of his face as the shockstick took him in the throat, and he fell to the ground. He twitched once before Maze hit him with the stick again. His body went still, and the bar around us became completely silent.
Sliding into the booth across from Bruno I motioned to his female companionship. “You should go.” She slid out of the booth and took off running for the door. I waited until she was gone and then I turned back to the man in front of me.
Thick dark hair and a strong jawline, with a square flat nose to match. The name Bruno seemed to fit him well. He tried to stare a hole through me, but he was probably the least intimidating of the people I had already met with today. This station was full of hardened criminals, this guy barely even registered. He waited in silence, still trying to kill me with his eyes.”
“Kitra sent me.”
“That bitch, I knew she wouldn’t keep her word.”
“As much as I’d like to hear the story about what happened between you two, I really don’t care. I just want to get back to my ship and off this station. The thing is, I have to deal with you first. So we have two options.”
“The Kitra I know only offers one option.” He snarled.
“Well, then it’s good for you that she sent me. I’ve got a whole bag of tricks.”
“Whatever, just get it over with. I’m not going to beg.” Then he spit across the table at me. “People like you make me sick.”
My first thought was I should just shoot him and call it a day. No one spits on me ever. My hand was already reaching towards my gun before I caught myself. Ice wouldn’t be happy with that outcome, but she would either be able to live with it or she wouldn’t be on my crew anymore. I looked at Maze, and she shook her head. Something about her silent presence hardened my resolve. Instead of killing him I picked up a napkin from the table and wiped my face.
“As I said, you have two choices. You figured out the first one. The second option is you get off this station and never come back.”
“Kitra would never allow that to happen; I know too much.”
“I can make it happen. My hacker can get you set up and off this heap in less than two hours. She’ll have to crash your accounts to do it, but at least you’ll be alive. The choice is yours.”
I could tell that he thought it was a trap the way his face bunched up as he tried to sort out the details. The look on his face was laughable. Mostly muscle on this one, he was more of an enforcer type. Not bright enough to lead strikes at Kitra’s territories on his own. He was working for someone else.
“The last thing I’ll need is the name of who you’re working for. Give me that and I’ll add a few credits to your new Ident.”
“If I give you the name they’ll both be hunting me.”
“If you don’t give me the name you’ll never get the chance to run.” I was bluffing now, but he didn’t need to know that. The pistol on my hip found its way into my hand. I lifted it above the table and pointed it straight at his head. “Make your choice.”
“Screw this, I knew getting involved with either of these bastards was going to be the end of me. But my brother’s kid needed an operation. The name you are looking for is Felix. I don’t know anything else.”
“Give me your data pad.”
I pressed the button on the side of my ear opening up my commlink. “Ice, I need you to crash these accounts and set up a new Ident. Put ten percent of what you find in the new account for our friend.”
I could hear the delight in her voice as it came through my comm. “I’m on it, Captain.” She paused. “Thanks for this Captain, I knew you weren’t a murderer.”
“Just get it done.”
“I’ll be done in twenty.”
“Bruno, time to get to the shuttle.”
“What about my guys?”
“They’ll be fine in a couple of hours.”
He gave them a look as we stepped over their seemingly lifeless bodies. This had to be hard for him, he had thought of himself as a player, but instead ended up on the wrong side of a battle he probably didn’t understand. Bruno was a blunt instrument. Point him in a direction and watch him create devastation.
We made it out onto the walkway, a quick turbo lift and we could put this all behind us. The woman that we had seen in the booth with Bruno ran up to him. He hugged her, kissing her fiercely on the mouth. She pulled back to look in his eyes, and that’s when the gun went off. I ducked away from Bru
no's body as it hit the ground.
The woman who he had been kissing stood over him with the gun in hand. “That’s for Felix.”
She looked at me and then turned and sprinted down the corridor away from us. Maze had her gun out and trained on her.
“Just tell me when, Captain.”
I stood up brushing the dust from my clothes. “Let her go. This doesn’t involve us. Grab a scan of his body and then we should get out of here.”
“Got it.”
I opened my commlink. “Ice, we aren’t going to need that Ident package after all. Just crash the accounts.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll brief you when I get back. Maze is sending you a picture now, send it to Kitra. If Kyra is back with the parts she wanted, maybe we can put this place behind us for a while. This station is starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth.”
Chapter Four
It turned out Kyra wasn’t back with the parts yet, and even when she did return we were going to be docked for a day or so longer with repairs. That would give me enough time to get in touch with Quaid and find out why he had screwed us over. He better have a damn good job lined up for us next, or I might make it my mission to track the slimy little space weasel down.
Ice still wasn’t happy with how the job went down. Nothing we could do about it now, at least we didn’t have to pull the trigger. We tried to get him out the right way and stumbled into a pile of someone else’s shit. After everything that happened, we were all alive and in good health. Our bank account had seen the largest influx of credits since I bought this boat. Ice would pull it together and things would pretty much carry on like they always had. That was until we could get our hands on one of those level four contracts.
Sitting around and waiting for Quaid to get back to me didn’t sound all that appealing, so I punched Kitra’s number into my terminal.
Star Talon (Fortune Hunters Book 1) Page 3