“You no-good bit—” Misha began.
“She stays.” Sabra was cool. “You’re being monitored by Raznin. He’ll suspect something if you’re stopped, and he’ll know if one of his slaves is transferred to another ship.”
“He wouldn’t know,” Gabie argued. “He’ll know we’ve been stopped, but hell, a friend could visit us in space. He wouldn’t know if one of his slaves left with them!”
“He’ll know because Raznin has started implanting tracking devices in his slaves,” Sabra stated. “One goes AWOL, he’ll know.”
Gabie stared at her.
“Aye, Raznin is a canny bastard.” Sabra nodded. “We need to stop him, and ’tis the only way. We can save hundreds, but not if we start going soft now.”
“But—”
Sabra pinned Gabie with a hard look. “Every slave now has a tracking device. That device stays in the slave. We can track all those with the device and save them, and we will, but we need to stop Raznin and this is part of the plan.”
Frustrated, Gabie glared at her. “Well, maybe if you told us the whole plan, we won’t worry so much!”
One fine brow arched ironically. “Tell you the whole plan? You?”
“Hey, we work for you now,” Misha pointed out. “You should be able to trust us.”
Sabra laughed outright.
Swearing, Misha pushed upright and paced the cabin.
“You get told only what you need to know.” Sabra informed Gabie after she’d controlled her laughter. “Now stop your whining and go to bed.”
“I really want to hit someone right now,” Gabie said from between clenched teeth.
“Save it for when you come face to face with an illegal slaver some day. Now, if ’tis all...?”
“Oh, please, don’t lose anymore sleep over our concerns.”
“I won’t.” The screen went blank.
Swivelling the chair around, Gabie looked at Misha.
“Can things get any worse?” Misha growled.
Gabie sighed.
~ * ~
The first stop-over was the next morning. Paz and Olin dealt with the refuelling and restocking of stores, while Misha kept guard on the two cabins holding the slaves.
The Larceny wasn’t approached by anyone, but Gabie knew they were being watched. Somewhere, a security officer was observing them. She wasn’t happy until the Larceny lifted back into space.
She was even less happy about reporting in to Raznin every day.
“On track and on time.” Raznin nodded approvingly.
“Just checking in,” Gabie said, and flicked the switch.
The screen went blank and she was more than happy to glimpse the fury on the bastard’s face when he realized she’d cut him off.
Well hell, he’d only asked her to check in daily, not pass the time of the day with him.
Checking that the coordinates were set correctly for the second stop, which would be the day after tomorrow, Gabie smiled. She’d be seeing Shamon then and she couldn’t wait. Having to put off his concern that morning hadn’t been easy, but he’d no choice but to subside when she wouldn’t reveal the problem.
She just had to ensure that they met away from the Larceny. Maybe a cozy hotel room for a couple of hours... Gabie grinned in anticipation.
“What are you so happy about?” Paz asked gloomily as she passed the dining cabin.
“Have to smile when I can,” she informed him.
“We could all die.”
“Now Paz, we’re in a sticky spot but we’re also under the protection of the security. What more could we ask for?”
His face had the expression of a mournful hound. “Things could go bad.”
“And I have a plan if it does.”
If Paz had of been a hound, his ears would have pricked.
“So don’t fret,” Gabie said, and walked off.
Sticking her head around the door of the cabin where Emet was holed up, she saw that he and Misha were chatting quietly. The patient looked a bit better. He nodded and smiled weakly when he saw Gabie.
Entering the cabin, Gabie slid her hands into her pockets and rocked back and forth on her heels. “You’re looking better.”
“I’m recovering.” He smiled at Misha. “I have a great nurse.”
Misha’s blush against her white skin was startling.
Gabie grinned. “Oh yes, nursie takes good care of you.”
Misha shot her a rude gesture that had Emet chuckling.
“So, no ill effects from your injuries?” Gabie wandered over to the bunk and looked down at the big patch on his side.
“Olin says I’m healing well. I’ve been out of bed and tried a few steps.” Emet shifted in the bunk. “After the midday meal, I’m going to try a little walk around.”
Gabie raised her brows. “Oh?”
“Yes. Olin says I need to start exercising.”
“Misha can take you down to the cargo hold. Plenty of room there.” And less chance of discovering the slaves.
“Great. I can’t wait to get out of here.” Emet hesitated, then grimaced. “I’m starting to imagine things.”
“Oh?”
“Late last night I thought I heard someone yelling the name ‘Rose’.”
Gabie didn’t bat an eyelash but she cursed herself, remembering yelling Rose’s name at Sabra the previous night.
“I’m sure it was just your imagination,” Misha said soothingly. “You might have still been a bit delirious.”
“You’re right.” Emet’s eyes held a haunted sadness. “Why I would be hearing my sister’s name, I don’t know.”
Good God. Gabie’s heart almost stopped.
Misha was struck dumb, a first for her.
“You’re sister’s name is Rose?” Gabie queried. No, no, no. It has to be a coincidence, it has to be!
“Yes. Rose...”
Oh no. The resemblance was suddenly there. Black hair, pale skin, blue eyes... oh no.
“The last time I saw her, she was happy. Pregnant with her first baby.” Emet smiled sadly. “I hope she’s all right.”
Oh no. Oh God. Not all right at all.
Misha looked sick. Her eyes were huge.
“I’m tired now.” Emet squeezed her hand. “I think I’ll sleep for a little.”
Yeah, and so he could cry in silence. Gabie didn’t miss the sheen of sudden tears in his eyes when he turned his head away.
Neither did Misha. She looked stricken.
“We’ll check on you later,” Gabie said.
Emet nodded.
Grabbing Misha’s arm, Gabie yanked her from the cabin and dragged her into the control cabin, a safe distance from the other cabins.
Unless one was yelling, of course, then one revealed things that made trouble for all.
“Oh no,” Misha groaned. “Gabie!”
“Cripes, can it get any bloody worse?” Gabie glared at her. “Wait a minute, that’s what you said last night. Yes, Misha, it can and has got worse!”
“Oh thanks. I wouldn’t have realized it if you hadn’t pointed it out to me.”
“Argh!” Raking her hand through her hair, Gabie threw herself into a chair at the table. “Now what?”
“I was kind of hoping that as you’re the captain, you’d know.”
Gabie glared at her. “My first instinct is to run.”
“Good plan, but not do-able.”
“Want to bet?”
“Yeah, we’re too far away from the Outlaw Sector just yet. Someone is going to catch us, especially in this bucket of broken-down bolts.”
“Hey, the traders fixed it. The Larceny will take us anywhere.”
“Yeah, but for how long?”
“We can run when we get closer to the Outlaw Sector.”
“Great. But meanwhile we have a pregnant illegal slave on board who seems to be the sister of our claimed, wanted outlaw.”
“How can we be sure she’s his sister?”
“Oh, God, Gabie! How much of a coincide
nce can it be to have an illegal pregnant slave named Rose with a resemblance to Emet?” Dropping her face into her hands, Misha shook her head. “And Emet has a sister named Rose who is pregnant.”
Olin and Paz walked in and sat down at the table.
“Problem?” Olin asked.
“Oh, just a little one,” Gabie replied. “One of the slaves appears to be Emet’s pregnant sister. That’s all. Not much to worry about. Just a little problem. Just a bit of a bump on the meteor-strewn flight of my life right now!”
“Oh.” Olin rubbed his eyes and yawned.
“Oh? That’s it? Just ‘oh’?”
“I thought there was a resemblance—”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Misha glared at him from between her fingers.
“Hey, I’m old. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I thought if no one else noticed it, it was my eyesight failing me.” Olin pointed at her. “I thought you younger ones would have been more observant.”
Paz looked at Gabie. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m trying to figure it out.” Gabie suddenly stood up. “I need to check out those male slaves.”
“What? What for?”
“Just in case we have his twin brother on board as well.”
“Emet has a twin brother?”
“No. I don’t know! I just want to do a double check. I should have done it before, instead of...”
“Sticking your head in the sand?” Misha growled.
Gabie glared at her.
“I’ll come with you,” Olin offered, standing and pulling his laser from the holster at his side.
When Gabie flung the door back, the two men were sitting on the bunk. Reading. A pot of steaming tea on the table. A plate of cake beside the pot.
“Good gravy.” Gabie arched one brow. “What is this, afternoon tea?”
“You didn’t say to keep them on bread and water,” Olin replied, unfazed.
The men jumped to their feet, the older one stepping in front of the younger one. The older man Gabie guessed was in his late twenties, the younger barely in his late teens, sitting around sixteen. But they both looked a little desperate now, and desperation was never a good thing to have in two young men.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Gabie growled. “I’m just checking out the merchandise.” Stepping back, she crowded Olin out of the cabin and slammed the door shut.
“Merchandise?” Olin looked at her reprovingly.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She hissed at him as they walked back to the dining cabin. “I was trying to sound tough.”
“Tough?”
“I’m not cut out for this, all right? None of us are,” she said fiercely, throwing herself back down on the chair.
“So,” Misha said, “was his twin there? Did he say hello?”
Gabie glared at her.
“Everyone is so mad,” Paz said.
“Oh, you think?”
Paz looked hurt, and Paz looking hurt was devastating. Normally he just looked mournful and sad, expecting something terrible to happen any minute, and now it was happening... well, he looked hurt. Misha looked like she wanted to cry and shoot someone all at the same time. Olin didn’t even yawn or blink sleepily.
None of them were rough and tough. That was why being small-time smugglers had suited them all just fine. They weren’t true outlaws. They weren’t slavers. They weren’t a thorn in anyone’s side, except a small prick of annoyance with the law. And even then they were a very tiny prick in the big, bad world of smugglers. They had bluffed their way out of a lot of situations, because no one really knew the Larceny crew that well.
So how the hell they’d ended up being such prime targets was beyond Gabie’s imagination. The wrong people at the wrong time in the wrong place.
Gabie shook her head. It just went to show that even being successful as a small-time smuggler could get you caught in sticky patches, and hell, this just had to be one of the stickiest. And it just got a whole lot stickier.
Gabie gave herself a mental slap. Straightening up, she looked around the table. Misha, Paz and Olin looked back at her. This was her family. She was captain. She had to do better by them all. Shame filled her.
Only for a few seconds, though, because none of it was totally her fault, and she didn’t have time to be feeling sorry for herself. Besides which, her self-preservation and confidence in who she was and what she believed in came right to the fore.
“Right,” she said. “This is crunch time and we need to make a decision.”
Right away she saw relief take the hurt from Paz’s eyes, and Olin smiled a little. Misha lost that look of angry despair. And hey, even Gabie herself felt better.
They always worked better when planning and doing something.
“What are the decisions?” Misha lowered her hands to the table.
“Well, what we know first. On this side,” Gabie waggled her fingers, “we have big, bad security supposedly supporting us, which is just a nice term for saying they blackmailed our panties off.”
“Nice analogy,” Olin approved.
“And on this side,” Gabie waggled the fingers of her other hand, “We have big, bad smugglers who will shoot our panties off if we don’t knuckle under.”
Paz looked mournful. Good sign.
“We could have gotten rid of the big, bad smugglers if the big, bad security hadn’t screwed us over,” Misha said.
“This is true.” Gabie waggled both hands. “Now clamped in-between these two forces is guess who?”
“Us?” Paz offered.
“Yes, and who else?”
“The slaves.”
“Right. Us and the slaves.”
“And Emet,” Misha added.
“Hey, the more in the mix the merrier.”
They all grinned, except Paz, who sighed sadly. “We’re doomed,” he said.
“Probably,” Gabie conceded, “But I’m sick of being torn apart by these two savage sides.”
“And the tearing hasn’t even begun yet,” Misha pointed out.
“And we’re running scared already,” Gabie said. “How much more proof do they need that we’re not suitable?”
“They really scraped the bottom of the barrel picking us,” Olin agreed.
“Probably why they did pick us,” Paz said. “Not being rough and tough, and more likely to run than fight, they probably figure they can herd us into a corner and chew our hides off whenever they want.”
Misha, Gabie and Olin stared at him.
“What?” He flushed.
“Cripes, these flashes of intelligence are getting unnerving,” Gabie said.
“Boy, you have some brain cells under that mop of hair.” Olin slapped him heartily on the shoulder.
Paz winced.
“And he’s made a good point.” Misha slammed her hand on the table. “They think just because we’re a bunch of cowards they can do anything they want with us!”
“Hey, settle up there with the coward bit.” Gabie frowned at her.
“Sorry. That was a bit strong. We have faced down a few bad things.” Misha grinned. “Brucie for starters.”
“And we do meet with some bad smugglers,” Paz added.
“And we do know some bad people,” Olin agreed.
“And I’ve drawn my laser on some bad blokes,” Gabie put in.
“And been lucky not to shoot your foot off at the same time,” Misha said. “We all know you can’t shoot for shit.”
They looked at each other and sniggered, relaxing in the shared comaradie. Misha got up and poured everyone a hot mug of una, while Olin got out a plate of cakes. Sitting down again, they resumed the meeting.
“Right, so we’re agreed that we’re sick of being held on leashes and pulled two separate ways,” Gabie stated.
“That’s about it,” Misha replied.
“However, because we’re neither strong in might, nor hugely brave in the upfront, knock-’em-down-drag-’em-out stakes, we have a situ
ation.”
“We have that, true enough.” Olin nodded.
Paz sadly munched a piece of cake, his sigh spraying Misha with crumbs. She brushed them off her shirt without a word.
“Let’s take this one problem at a time.” Gabie looked around at them all. “The major problem right now is that Emet is onboard, and also, unbeknown to him, is his pregnant sister, Rose.”
“Major problem,” Olin agreed.
“Now, I’d be all for letting Rose take off with Emet, but we have a problem with that as well.”
“A tracking device in all the slaves,” Misha explained to Olin and Paz.
“No problem,” Olin said.
They stared at him.
“We take the tracking device out, Rose can go anywhere.” He shrugged. “Keep the tracking device on board and no one will know she’s gone.”
“How do we explain that she’s gone when we get to the other end?” Paz queried.
Gabie brightened. “We could shoot the tracker out into space somewhere, it’ll be destroyed. We tell both sides she died onboard and we couldn’t store the body.”
“Didn’t want to risk catching infection or something,” Misha added. “Say we don’t know why she died.”
“Raznin wouldn’t give a rat’s arse about her body, he’d just be annoyed that he’d lost dinnos on her.” Gabie rubbed her chin. “But I reckon we’ll get away with it.”
“What about security?” Paz sprayed more crumbs over Misha.
Flicking them off her sleeve, she glared at him.
“Yeah, well there it gets sticky.” Gabie chewed her thumb nail. “Sabra won’t like it if we shoot a corpse into space.”
“She won’t pull us out of the mission until the end, so apart from doing a lot of yelling, there’s nothing else she can do.” Misha took a sip of hot una. “By then we can say we let Rose go. What can she do about that? Bugger all.”
“And Rose will get safely away with Emet.”
A flash of sadness came and went in Misha’s eyes.
“Emet can contact you later,” Paz said calmly.
Misha stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“You like him. He likes you. Meet him later in the Outlaw Sector.” Paz shrugged. “Simple.”
“Who are you and what did you do with our Paz?” Gabie demanded.
Heart of a Smuggler Page 24