The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5)

by Valerie J Mikles

  “The news showed you scurrying around port all flustered, begging the port authorities for help,” she taunted. “Why the sudden burst of confidence? For all your rushing—your brutes hijacking an ambulance—Zenzele still got there first.”

  Sikorsky nodded, giving a half-shrug as if he’d planned the failure. “They left with Matthews, but the ship is coming here. Which means my cargo is coming here.”

  “Your cargo?” Mikayla scoffed. “Tray left all his assets to Hero. Under the legal terms of the trust, that ship and everything on it is his.”

  She’d lived in Tray’s house less than a day before Jerron Zenzele, the master of the neighboring estate, challenged her presence. Zenzele leveraged his control over the Clover council and had her arrested, hauling her from the house. Her last memory of her son was him screaming and crying out for her.

  “Too bad the crew didn’t survive,” Sikorsky smirked.

  “But the ambulance… Tray’s dead?” Mikalya gasped.

  “Sorry. I’m sure you were hoping for different news,” he jeered.

  “Don’t be callous,” Mikayla snapped, smacking him. She caught movement from the corner of her eye and Sikorsky raised his hand, signaling his bodyguard not to react to the physical assault.

  “He’s in the hands of Zenzele,” Sikorsky shrugged. “They’ll save his life if they can, but if you’re waiting for Tray to exonerate you…”

  “He will,” Mikayla whispered, looking at the carrots in her hand. Tray was the only one who could explain to Zenzele and the Clover Council that she hadn’t moved into the estate as a power play on behalf of Sikorsky.

  “Why?” Sikorsky asked, touching her arm. “When he realizes he has the boy, he won’t care about you.”

  “You don’t know him as well as you think,” Mikayla said, jerking away.

  “I know I can help you, if you’d just let me,” he said, hinting at a vulnerability that she’d only seen surface when he watched Hero from a distance. He knew to keep his distance from Hero, and she wished he’d keep his distance from her.

  “I’d rather die than raise my son in the shadow of the Valentino,” Mikayla said. He’d saved her from jail, but he hadn’t saved her life. Not yet. Not while she was separated from Hero. But if she took the boy back by force, they’d spend the rest of their lives hiding. “I don’t want him growing up the way I did—hyper aware of the underworld, always worried mommy might get shot for dealing in shady goods.”

  Sikorsky nodded, as though conceding to a harmless revelation.

  “Look,” Mikayla said, pointing into the crowd. “Bounty hunter, bounty hunter, mercenary, mercenary, thief.”

  “How does the thief fit in?” he chuckled.

  “She’s armed,” Mikayla said, hating that she knew so much about her father’s world.

  “Tray was a better man before he started seeing himself as Vimbai, and it was because he left all that behind to fly with his brother that I even considered letting him know Hero,” Mikayla said. She still didn’t know how Tray had found out about the boy.

  “His brother wasn’t on the ship when they landed.”

  Mikayla swore under her breath. She’d fought to separate Tray from his narcissistic, abusive father, and her greatest fear was that Tray would become just like his old man and shut her out of her son’s life. Without Danny to draw Tray’s focus, the chance that he’d obsessively cling to Hero went up ten-fold.

  “The ship’s in tow,” Sikorsky said, checking his Virp. “They’ll be here in another two hours.” He frowned, sending a message on his Virp that caused another one of his goons to flash past them and into action.

  “Tray’s in Clover,” she said, backing away form the gate.

  “You are not going to Clover,” Sikorsky said, grabbing her elbow.

  “Not yet,” she agreed. She wasn’t about to go now with Tray unconscious and unable to help her.

  Sikorsky checked his Virp again. The device was slender and projected information in a line across his fingers. He’d flick things between his fingers to organize and said it helped him memorize and prioritize information when it was mapped to a place on his hand. What was strange to her was that his language was set to Terranan, not either of the local Aquian languages.

  “You don’t want Hero growing up like Tray did, either,” Sikorsky said. “Completely unaware of the underworld that consistently threatened his mother’s life, never knowing the truth of why she died.”

  “Sometimes I think you love my ex-husband more than me,” Mikayla frowned.

  “I’m concerned for the power he may wield,” Sikorsky pouted.

  “Concerned he might steal yours, you mean.”

  “Or yours. Let me help you,” he repeated, making it sound like a casual offer, not a desperate plea.

  “You’re keeping me out of prison. That’s all I want from you,” she said, sucking her cheeks in.

  “Tarelli, what’s the status on the tow?” he asked, touching his ear. He turned on his heels, and seemed to disappear before ever reaching the crowd. She remembered that from her childhood—the ghostlike quality of his existence that kept him from ever fully being a part of hers.

  We thought you’d detoured to Alea on an archaeological expedition.

  The Bobsled reeked of Tray’s blood, but after Alex’s warning, it was the only way Amanda could escape Oriana. Hiding on the ship didn’t make sense considering her urgent need to find medicine to treat her schizophrenia.

  “I shouldn’t have come,” Danny whispered, bowing his head over the controls of the Bobsled. When Amanda had made her run, she’d tried to tell him as much, but he wasn’t thinking straight, and rather than just show her how to start up the ‘sled, he’d taken the controls.

  They flew to a narrow strip of land in the middle of Olcott Bay, protected from the larger boats by a sandbar, and protected from tourists by the fact that it could barely hold two people. The shadow of the Dome fell over the land, putting most of it in shade at this time of day. The three palm bushes on the island were short and wide, competing with each other for light.

  “Wow. The air just hugs you, doesn’t it?” Amanda said, taking a deep breath as the Bobsled’s hatch opened. The stifling humidity was a welcome relief from the stench of blood. Shouldering the small sack containing what little gear they had, she hopped down the ladder on the side of the Bobsled, her feet splashing in the water when she reached the ground. The ‘sled balanced haphazardly on the rocky beach, and water lapped against the underbelly, threatening to rust the landing gear. Amanda touched the water, then put her finger to her tongue.

  “Oh. Salty,” she said, rubbing her fingers on her clothes. They hadn’t had time to change, and she was coated with grime. “We can’t stay here unless there’s a fresh water source. And since I can see one end of this rock to the other, I’m guessing not.”

  Having grown up in the lunar settlement on Terrana, Amanda had never seen the ocean. Even during their journey back from Rocan, she’d been exposed mostly to rivers and lakes. From the air, it had looked like a turquoise jewel, but now, having only a small scrap of land and a large expanse of ocean, she felt trapped. All her life, she’d dreamed of coming to Quin, but this wasn’t the new life she’d envisioned.

  Danny hadn’t moved from the cockpit. “Danny, why did you come here?” she called.

  “Fish. We can fish. Then inland for water. Cook,” he said, lifting his head, then dropping it again. He’d given at least a pint of blood to save his brother’s life during the harrowing journey back to Quin, and he’d been physically exhausted before that.

  “Fish,” Amanda repeated, setting her gear on the dry ground and then wading into the blue water, seeing only small minnows veering away from her feet. The salt water stung the scrapes on her legs. “Don’t we need nets or something?”

  The soft blue light of a Virp illuminated Danny’s face and his body relaxed as his eyes scanned the words and pictures.

  “What’s the news?” Amanda asked, peelin
g off her shirt, dunking it in the salty water to rinse it.

  “Tray’s in Clover,” he said, climbing out of the Bobsled, but keeping his eyes on his Virp. His dark hair was knotted and corkscrewed, his beard all but full. “It doesn’t even say whether he’s getting help, just that he’s returned to the estate.”

  “At least they’re not saying he’s dead,” Amanda said, wringing out her shirt, wincing as the salt found every nick and cut on her hands. “I’m glad Alex was able to warn us about Kemah.”

  Danny’s feet hit the ground and he gazed sadly at the domes across the water. Olcott was closest, but they could see Kemah from here, too.

  “Am I supposed to catch fish with my bare hands?” Amanda asked, splashing some water toward him.

  “Shock-dart,” he said, finding a flatter boulder and squatting at the water’s edge. He drew the water up to his elbows, skimming his brother’s blood off his skin. “Do we have one?”

  “No, I brought a pulse rifle. It’s charged with Hawk-juice, but I’m assuming it’ll work for me,” Amanda frowned, going to her bag. She’d pulled the weapon, a single canteen, and a large squash-like vegetable that Tray had collected from the Boone jungle. “I’m sure somewhere in the great network of Quin information, someone has tried it. Ask.”

  Danny’s hand ghosted over the glove-mounted device. For weeks, he’d been looking to it for comfort only to be disappointed by their separation from Quin. “How to fish with a pulse rifle,” he said, a wistful smile creeping over his tear-streaked cheeks. The results projected around his hand and Danny’s smile widened.

  “What does it say?” Amanda asked.

  “Use shock-dart for better results,” he said, tilting the display toward her.

  “We’ll have to deal with substandard,” Amanda said, firing her weapon at the surface of the water.

  “Amanda!” Danny cried, grabbing her wrist. It was too late. A giant creature floated to the surface of the water.

  “Oh. Turtle,” Amanda pouted, wading in to retrieve the creature. It had to be twenty pounds with its giant, brown-pearl shell. “I’ve never seen a turtle. How do we eat it?”

  “It looks old. I’m not sure we should,” Danny said, turning the creature over, so that the flat side was on the ground.

  “Well, if I fried its brain with the pulse rifle, we’d be remiss not to,” Amanda said, tracing the spiral pattern on the creature’s shell. “We can use the shell as a wash basin.”

  “Amanda,” Danny said.

  “If it wakes up and crawls away, it can go,” Amanda frowned. “How do we get the fish?”

  Slouching on the beach, Danny checked his Virp again.

  “I have a pulse rifle and a ‘sled. I could go pirate and steal something from a fishing boat,” she suggested.

  “Yeah.” She could tell by his tone that he hadn’t heard what she said.

  “Why don’t you sit there and… process,” she said gently. “I can handle this.”

  “Can’t quit now. So close,” he murmured, his eyes welling with tears.

  “Danny, we’re not close; we’re here,” Amanda insisted, putting a hand on his shoulder, digging her thumb into the knots upon knots that she felt. “Alex will come for us. He got that message to us, so he must believe we’re alive. Maybe you should lie down. Saskia took a lot of blood out of you to save Tray.”

  “We’re dead,” he said, his brow crinkling. He gave her a look, then stared at his Virp.

  “Now what?” Amanda groaned.

  “Why am I dead?” he cried.

  Taking his wrist, Amanda skimmed the article. According to the news, he hadn’t survived the journey home. “I’m guessing it was the only way to explain your absence without sounding the alarm that you were off concealing me somewhere,” Amanda said.

  “I can’t see Tray like this,” he said, tugging at his ratted hair, as if he believed he was no longer among the living.

  “You’re going to see Tray. Give me that,” she said, clicking the release and stealing the Virp from his glove. “This thing drives you crazy.”

  “No! I—” He swiped for the device, but fell forward, nearly busting his chin on a rock. “I need to read about the fishing.”

  “I hate being the sane one in the relationship,” Amanda muttered, reluctantly returning the device. “Danny, what’s Alex going to do when he gets the news that we’re dead?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you think he’ll do something symbolic? Like the burial ritual we did for Corey?” Amanda probed. Corey was their pilot, and when she died, they’d buried her body in the earth. Danny hated that they’d left her behind. “Maybe if there’s a place he’ll be, we can go to him. Quietly.”

  “Jen,” Danny sniffled, scratching his beard. “Jennifer will go to Sanshin—it’s a temple in the mountains. There’s food and water there. Not much. Just ceremonial things. Maybe even clean clothes.”

  “Will she run there right away or do we have time to fish?” Amanda asked.

  “We have time,” Danny shuddered. “She may not go at all. It’s just… something we used to talk about.”

  “It sounds better than sleeping here,” Amanda agreed.

  5

  Alex was on the Observation Deck of the Cadence when Oriana rolled in to port. Despite Nattie’s warning, he wanted to stay nearby, and he couldn’t think of any place safer than his own ship. The ship wasn’t fueled, but it was temperate, just like Kemah. He’d plugged a fan in, drawing the residual internal electric energy toward creating a breeze. The Obs Deck was small for a man of his size, but he lay on his side, watching the movement through port, flexing his joints to keep the circulation going.

  “Boss, they’re here,” Nattie’s voice came over the Vring. She was watching from the bridge, having run here with the same thought as him.

  The tow vehicles hauled Oriana into port and were nearly plowed over by the momentum of the ship, which wasn’t prepared to brake. And there they were, Oriana and the Cadence, two sister ships, side-by-side again. Up close, he could understand the copper glitter that the monitors had picked up in landing. The ship’s hull looked like it had been patched over with clay and mud, but the mid-deck hatch was hanging on by a single hinge.

  Hurrying down the stairs, Alex rushed outside to meet the people who had taken over his home. A truck emerged with two medics and one man in a quarantine bag. The truck veered across the port toward the medical station where the quarantine units were. A moment later, a tall, gorgeous woman stepped out of Oriana’s bay and greeted an Enforcer. This had to be Sky. She wore white clothes that seemed to glow in the Dome light, and when she scanned the crowd, Alex swore she met his eye.

  “I wonder how long ago she took the ship,” Nattie commented, her elbow brushing Alex’s, knocking him from his trance. When he looked again, Sky’s attention was on her Virp. She closed the bay doors, sealed the ship, then linked arms with the Enn, who seemed just as enamored with her as Alex had felt a moment ago. The remaining Enn were setting up crowd barriers around the ship.

  “Tray was still there,” Alex pointed out. “And she brought him home. That’s the behavior of an ally.”

  “That hatch looks like it’ll fall off if we jiggle it hard enough,” Nattie said, nodding toward the wing. “Better hurry, though. It’s only a matter of time before the Enn realize we’re inside their crowd barrier.”

  “So’s that whole mechanic shop over there,” Alex pointed out, striding purposefully toward the back hatch. “I’m hoping the ship will recognize me as crew and let me in. Keep an eye on things out here.”

  “Okay, but if it comes down to it, would you rather be caught by Enn or Sikorsky?” she joked, her lips pursing.

  Alex rolled his eyes, though he did take her warning seriously. He touched the handle and waited until he heard a click, then pulled open the back door. Sealing the door behind him, he shivered and gagged at the stench of Oriana’s bay. The room smelled like a salt mine, with dirt layered over every inch, and a lin
gering stench of sweat above that. A small airplane was tethered to the right, but the left side looked empty, save for the cargo boxes that had shaken loose. The logical arrangement would have been to centralize the load of the airplane, unless they were toting two. He didn’t see a second set of tethers.

  “Danny!” he called, going toward the holds. Alex knew most of the ship’s hiding spots, and he prayed he’d find Danny, Corey, and Amanda squirreled away, waiting for the all clear. Although, if Corey wasn’t flying, she was injured or worse, and maybe had gotten carried away in the same ambulance that took Tray. The vehicle had been covered, so there was no way to know how many passengers were on board. “Nolwazi, is Danny on board?”

  “Nolwazi has detected high levels of particulates in the air. Masks are recommended,” the ship’s AI responded.

  “Nolwazi, are there any crew members on board?” Alex tried.

  “There are no crew members on board,” Nolwazi replied.

  Alex nodded. He hadn’t expected a yes, but the fact that Nolwazi hadn’t pointed out his presence on the ship was both a relief and an indicator that it wasn’t giving up any information about the ship’s inhabitants.

  “Danny, if you can hear me, make a noise!” Alex called. The putrid air made his eyes and nose sting, but he gave a moment to listen before trotting up the stairs. Danny’s quarters, while messy, appeared unused. Alex headed for the engine room, because he knew Danny often fell asleep there, but that room looked like a fire hazard. Wires leaked out of every panel, linking engine control to the grav-room in a way that Alex had never seen before.

  The screech of steel blades sheering metal startled Alex, and he tripped over the wires, landing hard on his aching knees. The hull reverberated as the middeck hatch fell free, landing hard on the wing, and then voices floated up from middeck.

  “Nattie, did the mechanic shop send a repair crew already?” Alex hissed, hurrying to the forward section, knowing there was nowhere to hide on the upper deck.