“More goddamn mysteries, oh well. Let’s have fun, shall we?” said Elijah, as both men laughed. Elijah ordered one of his sexy girls to turn down the lights, and then snapped his fingers at Pong, calling her over. Pong gave Elijah a forced smile, knowing where this was going. Elijah caught the look, and squeezed her arm, making sure she knew who was in charge. She felt the pain, and gave a hurt smile, then nodded in acknowledgment.
“What was the meaning of the teardrop tattooed under the eye?” Alexander asked.
“I really don’t know; she’s a mute. She doesn’t speak, maybe that is why I like her so much,” Elijah joked.
“Nice,” responded Alexander with a grin.
“Pong, I want you to take care of my friend, Alexander here,” Elijah put his hand on Alexander’s shoulder, and gently pushed her toward Alexander. Alexander took her by the hand, and took her to one of the circular beds in the back of the room. He swung her around, throwing her onto the bed, and jumped on her, like an alley cat onto a mouse. He drew the curtains, which gave him a little privacy. Within minutes, Alexander was done, and then pushed Pong Ling out of the bed. Alexander didn’t even bother to clean himself off, and walked over to grab his glass of Everclear. Pong Ling walked away in the dark and looked back at Alexander. He was unaware of the cold-blooded look she gave him.
“You’re finished already? Damn, you white boys have to learn to take your time,” Elijah laughed.
“Hey, it’s been a couple of weeks, what do you expect,” Alexander smiled. The two men continued to drink and make love to women for the remainder of the night, just like old times.
The next morning, Luis was summoned to Elijah’s Grand Hall. The guards opened the diamond doors for him as he approached. They were already expecting him. Luis entered cautiously, curious as to why he was summoned so early in the morning. Elijah was sitting on one of the round beds, leaning his back against a group of pillows. Four women were lying on his bed, including Pong Ling. The women were fast asleep, except Pong, who was eavesdropping. The other beds were occupied by more naked sleeping woman. Luis missed his men. He was a little sickened to see a bunch of naked women.
“Thank you for coming so early in the morning. I was going to invite you to dinner later this evening but something important has come up,” explained Elijah. Elijah noticed that his eyes were almost completely black. He knew of Luis’ condition.
“Yes, sir?” Luis asked, intensely curious.
“I need you to contact your friend, the White Skull, and get a specific date on when he will deliver the obelisk to the Trading Post. Try to see if everything is going all right with him. Try to sense if anything may be wrong. This delivery is extremely important to my relationship with the UPG. If everything goes according to plan, then it could be very profitable for us. We will have the UPG as permanent clientele. Not to the mention the dirt we can obtain on them. You know what I mean?” he asked Luis, smiling.
“Yes, sir, I do. That would be nice,” Luis smiled. He knew that having the UPG on their side was a very good thing.
“I need you to contact him right now,” ordered Elijah.
“I will contract him right this second,”
“How are your headaches?”
“They’re getting worse. I’ve been to several doctors and no one can find a diagnosis. The only conclusion the specialist can come up with is that I was prematurely born near a toxic waste dump on Earth’s moon…and that was only after I told them those facts. The cocaine you’ve been supplying me with is the only thing that has helped dull the pain. You know what…” the uninterested Elijah cut him off mid-sentence.
“Well, that’s nice Luis, I need you to do a side job for me,” Luis knew that Elijah’s concerns were too good to be true, and gave Elijah a forced smile, the subtext of which really meant, “fuck off, you heterosexual prick.” Elijah was so uninterested in Luis’ feelings to even notice.
“What’s the job?” Luis asked.
“I need you to fly the Root to these coordinates…” this time, Luis cut Elijah off.
“The Rose, my ship is called the Rose,” Luis stated.
“Whatever, I need you to fly your ship to these coordinates,” Elijah handed Luis a thick piece of black plastic. Luis took and cracked the plastic at the seam, causing it to make a loud snapping noise.
“Once you’ve reached the area, you must wait for your contact and hand off a package. Here is the package. I want you to guard it with your life. It’s small, but priceless. It will take you one week to get there. Don’t fail me, this is extremely important, all right,” Elijah stated with a stern voice.
“I won’t fail you,” Luis simply said. He wasn’t sure what to make of his new task. Something didn’t feel right to him.
“Don’t worry, Luis, I see the look on your face. I only trust you with this assignment because you have proven your loyalty to me time and time again. When you come back, I have something special planned for you. So, hurry back. You do trust me, don’t you?” Elijah asked, smiling.
“Of course I do, sir,” Luis said, lying. He didn’t trust him at all, but he didn’t have any choice.
“I know you do. Now go, get a hold of Kincaid, and let me know, so you can deliver my package,” instructed Elijah.
“Yes, sir,” Luis said, as he took the small brown box from Elijah. The size of the box was only a little bigger than Luis’ hand, and very light.
Luis boarded his ship and had his crew prepare to leave, as he attempted to contact Jesse. He went into a private room and sealed the hatch. He tapped in Jesse’s frequency, and waited for a reply. After five minutes, Jesse answered the call.
“Hey Luis, what’s going on. Did you miss me that bad? You know I don’t swing that way,” Jesse said, joking with him. He was actually nervous, and didn’t want him to suspect anything. Luis had never called him while doing a job for him. Something was up and he knew it.
“Of course I miss you, but that is not why I’m calling you. Elijah wanted me to find out an exact date you will be arriving at the Trading Post. The client is apparently anxious to get the merchandise. Is everything all right?” Luis asked in a strange tone
“Don’t worry, Luis, everything is okay and on schedule. You can tell your dark prince that I will be there on the fifth. Is that satisfactory?” Jesse asked. Jesse knew that Luis had a crush on Elijah, and usually jokingly called him his dark prince. Jaime entered the flight room. As soon as Jesse saw her, he put his finger to his lips so she wouldn’t say anything. Her heart began to race with fear.
“Excelente, I have a job I have to do for Elijah, so I must hurry. We really should get together, Jesse, like old times. I could really use a friend. I have plenty of people I can talk to, but you know how it is. You can never trust anyone. Everyone is afraid of me anyhow. None of my men, except Frank, can look me straight in the eye. You are the only one who looks at me normal,”
“I would like that, Luis. I know exactly how you feel. It’s been awhile since I really had a good talk with someone. Just let me know, and I’ll be there,”
“Thanks Jesse, I appreciate it. Luis out.” Jesse cut communications.
Jesse looked over at Jaime, who was holding her hand over her mouth. He let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t think Luis had any idea what was going on.
“That was close. That was my friend. He wanted to know what day I would be dropping you…the obelisk off,” said Jesse.
“Do you think he knows that you let me out?” she asked, almost in a panic.
“No, I don’t think he knows anything. But, apparently you are very important to someone,”
“Please, don’t let them get me,” she pleaded with him. She was scared. “Please, Jesse, don’t let them get me,” she repeated.
“I promise, that as long as I am alive, I won’t let them get you,” he said, as he lifted her head. They stared into each other’s eyes, and for a brief moment, they felt a connection. Jesse looked at her appetizing lips, but held himself back from kissing
her. He felt he would be taking advantage of her in her weakened state. Jesse stepped back.
“Don’t worry. I have to make a quick stop at Nemtox 8. Then, after that, I’ll drop off the obelisk at the Trading Post, and then I can drop you off wherever you want. I have a few hideouts you can choose from,”
“Can I come with you? You say you were going to explore the universe. I wouldn’t mind tagging along. Maybe we could follow the path of the Horizon, and maybe they would let us join them,” she asked. He thought for a second. Jesse wouldn’t mind Jaime tagging along. He could use the company, not to mention the fact that she was extremely beautiful.
“That’s not a bad idea. The only thing is the Horizon is two years ahead of us. My ship is fast, but, at maximum speed, it would still take a little over a year to catch up. You may want to kill me long before then. You should really think about it before you make up your mind,” he advised.
“I’m sure. I’m tired of all the politics and bullshit of living back on the Rockfield Space Station. I would love to find a new home where no one knows me, and I can have a fresh start at life. I’ve always wanted to live on a planet. I was born in a foster facility on the Kobia Space Station. Then, my adopted parents moved to Rockfield Space Station, and I’ve lived there ever since. It’s easy for me to leave everything behind, since my foster parents died five years ago. I don’t have any family that I know of. I’m twenty-eight years old, and I haven’t even been to Earth. I want to be able to breathe in real air, and have the sunshine on my face. Yes, I’m sure,” she said.
“All right, I have an extra room I can fix up for you. We have an unlimited amount of food and energy, so we’ll be fine. I’ll have to make a quick stop at one of my hideouts for back-up supplies, in case of an emergency. The Solar News broadcasts the trail that the Horizon is on, so we can catch up. If they find a habitable planet, and begin colonization, you can choose to live on the planet, or on the Horizon. The trip shouldn’t be so bad. It will probably take around fifteen months at full speed. I can install a video unit in your room. I have quite a bit of movies you can watch that I’ve collected over the years. When I stop for supplies, I’ll get as many movies as I can, and a few boxes of books. I know a good place for that sort of stuff. After two months, we’ll be out of communications range from everyone, so we’ll also lose the news broadcast and cable connection. After that, I’ll have to scan for energy trails left by the Horizon’s stardrive. How does that sound?” he asked.
“Sounds very nice, I’m going to be a nervous wreck until we leave. I’m afraid they’ll find out that I’m not in the obelisk when you drop it off. Do you think they’ll look inside?”
“No, I’m sure they won’t look inside until they actually deliver it to wherever it’s going. Once they find out, they’ll be pretty pissed off, but I hardly doubt they will follow us. At least, I hope they don’t. It really depends on how desperate the person is who wants you. When I drop off the crates in my cargo hold, there isn’t supposed to be a contact. I have to drop them off at Nemtox 8. I do have a feeling that someone will be watching me, though. I suspect you are pretty valuable to someone. Luis wouldn’t have checked up on me otherwise. So I’ll have to act as natural as possible. It shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes to offload the cargo. Then, we’ll have to fly to the Trading Post to drop the obelisk off. I’m not sure who my contact will be; all I know is where to meet him. After that, we’ll stop at my favorite hideout, pick up our supplies, and then we’ll take off after the Horizon. My hideout is in a small asteroid. Everything should go according to plan,” Jesse said, as he sat in his flight chair and leaned back, letting out a sigh.
“Is it all right if I use your shower?” Jaime asked. She longed for a hot shower, to help free her of some anxiety.
“Of course. In the meantime, I’ll fix up your room. It’s a pretty big room, identical to mine. All I have to do is put some clean sheets on the bed, and take a couple of things of mine out. I’ll put video unit in it. I have a spare. After that, feel free to decorate it as you like. If you write me a list, I’ll pick up anything you need when we stop for supplies. Clothes, feminine stuff, whatever you want. It’s going to be a long trip,”
“I can’t thank you enough, Jesse. You really don’t have to go through a lot of trouble for me, really. I do appreciate it, though. No one has ever done so much for me before.” Jaime gave him a warm, almost affectionate smile.
“You’re welcome, Jaime,” he smiled back. Jesse watched her as she left to his room. His heart skipped a couple of beats. She seems to be a really sweet woman, in his opinion. Jesse wanted to kiss her. Since the trip was going to be very long, he wasn’t sure if he should make a move. If something happened, and she ended up hating him, he would still have to travel a far distance with her. He smiled for a second. Jesse thought that if she was crazy, he could always jettison her out of the airlock.
“Nah,” he said to himself, while grinning. It was just a thought; he would never do something like that, unless it was Monica. Well, he actually did kick someone out of the airlock before, but he felt the guy had it coming to him.
While Jaime was taking a shower, Jesse fixed up her room. It didn’t take too long. Once he finished, Jesse decided to take a quick trip up to his living room. He walked to his bar, reached behind it, and pulled out a small silver case. The pirate places it on the countertop, and opened it. He didn’t want to do cocaine, but felt that he could really use it. It had been awhile since he has had company. Jesse already had the cocaine finely cut. He reached in the small case, pulled out a small round mirror, and placed it on the counter. Jesse used a gold spoon to take the cocaine and tapped it onto the mirror. As a present, Haseeb had a small silver tube made with a skull and crossbones imbedded on the side.
Jesse quickly grabbed some tissue and blew his nose so that the cocaine would go straight into his nasal passages. The young pirate separated six long, thick lines with his old military ID. He used it only for cocaine, a kind of inside joke for himself. Jesse leaned in and snorted two lines, while pressing his finger against the opposite nostril. After snorting two lines, he leaned his head back so that his nose didn’t run. Jesse wanted to hold the cocaine back. After thirty seconds, Jesse continued to do two more lines, and then he repeated the same process, until all six lines were gone. Oddly, Jesse felt sleazy, but also felt good about feeling so sleazy. He loved the kind of medicated taste the cocaine had, and then used a finger to get to the rest of the white power, and rubbed it all around his gums. He enjoyed when his gums grew to be numb. Once he finished putting his stash away, he returned downstairs to see if Jaime was ready to see her new room.
While on his way down, Jesse thought of how many people he had shot, from them trying to pass off fake cocaine. It had been about five people he had either killed or wounded. The last time he had bought cocaine from someone other than Haseeb, he sat down with the guy, and placed both of his guns on the table. The dealer had been very nervous, and instantly began to sweat. Even the dealer’s large bodyguard had been nervous. Jesse explained to them that he wouldn’t shoot them unless the cocaine was shit. His comment only made them more afraid for their lives. The dealer knew about his prior sellers, and did not want to even sell to the infamous White Skull. Jesse, however, hadn’t given the guy much of a choice. He shook his head at the thought. Jesse wasn’t necessarily proud of some of the things he had done. If he needed to, Jesse could also put his regrets in the back of his mind.
Once he reached his room, he peeked in to see if she was ready, and she was. He showed her the selection of movies he had, and she took a few to her new room. Seeing her with her wet hair made her look even more attractive. Jesse was feeling a little tense, so he decided to work out for half an hour, and then took a long hot shower. Later, the space pirate went to his cargo room, wiped down the obelisk thoroughly, and sealed it up. The buttons on the bottom were green. The obelisk looked the same way as when he first took it aboard his ship. He made sure that his entir
e cargo room looked in order. Jesse wanted to make sure that just in case anything happened that nothing looked out of the ordinary. It took him two hours to finish. He went to his living room and popped a few pills, followed by some Absinthe. Staring at the wall in a daze, Jesse wondered if he was doing the right thing. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t thinking with his penis. An idea came to him. He figured that by helping this girl find a new home, he could also start off fresh, and change his life around, instead of being a notorious pirate.
“Shit, but I love being a pirate,” Jesse said out loud.
“Well, I could consider myself an adventurer, since I’ll be traveling through the unknown. Hey, maybe I could be known as Jesse the explorer,” Jesse let out a breath. He had been a thief, pirate, assassin, smuggler, scavenger, and many other horrible things, and wasn’t too sure if he could be anything else. He raised his shot of Absinthe and said, “Hey, well at least I can give it a try.” then he grinned, and soon after, passed out.
The next morning, he woke more rested than normal, feeling refreshed and vigorous. He wasn’t sure if it was his workout last night, or it was Jaime that made him feel a little more happy than usual. Jesse was happy to have a female on board. It has been a long time since he’s been with a woman, well, except for the one on the Blue Neon. He didn’t think that really counted since he couldn’t remember a thing. Jaime was sitting on one of the silver kitchen tables eating breakfast. They exchanged smiles as he got something from the food materializer. Jesse thought the food materializer was one of the best things he had ever purchased. He tried to keep his cool, as he looked over the different food selection on the front of the food materializer. He pressed a red button on the side of the digital image of a salad. He could tell she was watching him as he got his food.
“Yeah, a salad, my fucking favorite,” he said, really low so she couldn’t hear. He put on a big smile as he turned to her.
“Will you join me for breakfast?” she asked.
Voyages of the White Skull Book 1 Page 14