“I don’t know.” She tilted her head in puzzlement. “Maybe. I know how he speaks. Short sentences. Impatient.”
“True. So, you’ve received a message that Barty and I have found Trip on Dock Five and all’s well, ostensibly. You want to tell us you’re sending the Prosperity to Port Chalo and we’re to meet it there. How would you phrase it?”
Makaiden had picked up a slice of pale fruit. She took a small bite, then pointed it at him. “Apple. Your nephew’s a genius! But, no, that’s not what I’d say. Okay, it would be an informal note. Brother to brother. Maybe …” She took another bite of the apple slice, then chewed a moment. She sat up straighter. “Great news, Devin. Father’s pleased. We’re sending the Prosperity to Port Chalo. You need to set a meet point with it in four days.” She paused. “Something like that.”
Devin shook his head. “That’s the public Ethan. Not my brother Ethan. The dynamics between us …” And he pulled in a short breath, not knowing how much he should say. “Ethan and I don’t get along as well as we should. Yes, we’re brothers, but there’s a tension between us and, whenever Ethan talks to me or writes to me, I can hear it in his tone. Plus, he doesn’t call me Devin—at least, not when we’re alone. In public—at GGS—it’s always Devin. But in private, he insists on calling me D.J.”
“D.J.?” Makaiden’s eyebrows went up. “Why?”
“Because he knows I hate it.”
“Why do you hate it?”
“Because that’s what Ethan calls me.” He half-sighed, half-laughed. “That, you see, is the gist of the problem.”
“And in the message you got, he calls you D.J.?”
“Exactly.”
“Who else knows this?”
“My immediate family. I’m sure Trip’s heard him. Thana and Max too. But none of them has a reason to impersonate Ethan. And I’m not his only victim. He calls Philip ‘Scruffy.’” He stirred the casserole. “Still, I can’t unequivocally verify the message is from Ethan just because he calls me D.J. It simply increases the probability that it came from him.”
“Is that probability high enough that you feel comfortable with the meet point at Port Chalo?”
There was something unsettled in Makaiden’s voice and posture. Devin studied her for a moment, remembering her unflappable calm in the cockpit of GGS ships. But here she was, hands clenched a little too tightly, her gaze on him in almost the same manner that his was on her.
Studying me?
“Makaiden, what is it?”
She started to speak, stopped, then: “Since, lately, people are either trying to shoot at Trip or blow up your office, I thought you might want to consider some optional landing sites.”
“Optional …?”
She was quiet for a moment. “Smugglers’ ports. If Ethan’s message isn’t legit, then whoever did send that message won’t be able to shoot the Rider out of the skies on approach to the spaceport.”
He knew Port Chalo had a reputation and a large black market. It would never occur to him that Makaiden was part of that—GGS was known for their thorough background checks on all their employees. But she wouldn’t have entry to those “optional landing sites” if she wasn’t. “Sounds like you’ve had an interesting past two years.” He said it lightly but had a hard time keeping the surprise out of his voice. She must have heard it, because she dropped her gaze, her fingers tightening. He flinched. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—”
She looked up at him, her eyes hard. “I’ve had an interesting life, Mr. Devin. And I knew about systems hacks and smugglers’ ports long before Kiler Griggs screwed me over, got himself killed, and left me with a shitload of debt. Okay? And, no, it’s not in my personal records and no one at GGS knew. You wouldn’t even know, except that, because I’ve had an interesting life, I can smell something really wrong here. And it’s spelled A-M-B-U-S-H.” She flattened her hands on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “I’m just trying to save your respectable Guthrie asses.”
She was halfway to the door by the time he got to his feet and called after her. “Wait!”
She stopped, shoulders tensed, but she didn’t turn.
“I know you had a different upbringing than I did,” he said quietly. “That doesn’t change how I feel … that I value you. Respect you.” That I’ve fallen in love with you, he wanted to say but couldn’t. He was dancing dangerously close to “emotions Guthrie men don’t discuss” as it was.
Her shoulders dipped slightly. She glanced over her shoulder to where he stood, then turned. “Ever hear of Nathaniel Milo?”
That wasn’t what he expected her to say. The question caught him by surprise, and he was shaking his head before something about the name seemed familiar. But nothing he could immediately place.
“How about a ship called the Diligent Keeper?” Her tone was still cautious.
Milo. Diligent Keeper. “Vaguely,” he admitted. “I think Philip may have mentioned it when the Loviti was assigned to break up some piracy syndicate out in Baris or Calth.” His brother had been captain of the Imperial ship the Morgan Loviti back then. Not an admiral, and not with the Alliance.
Makaiden locked her hands in front of her. “It was both. Six to eight ships operating under Captain Milo’s command, with the Keeper as flagship, going in and out of Baris and Calth, docking at Dock Five and Talgarrath, because that’s where the buyers were. Arms trafficking, mostly, but if Imperial supply ships were carrying something else, they’d take that too. We’d take that too,” she amended. She lifted her chin. “I’m Nathaniel Milo’s daughter.”
It took a moment for the impact of her words to hit him. His first thought was that GGS security was obviously flawed in its background-checking methods. His second was that he was glad they were. He’d never have met Makaiden otherwise.
That’s irrational. She’s part of a smuggling syndicate family. He could hear a clear warning tone in what he imagined—quite accurately, he had to admit—his father would say. But it didn’t matter. He knew Makaiden. It bothered him that she’d lied, or that she’d been forced to lie. But certain actions of hers, and her skittishness, now made sense.
He tried to address what he thought might be her fear—one she might not even admit to. “To the best of my knowledge, a GGS ship has never been boarded by any of your father’s people.” That’s why the name Nathaniel Milo didn’t have that much meaning for him.
“You don’t deal in military munitions.”
“Were you part of your father’s operations?”
“I was on his ships growing up, but he didn’t want that life for me. In the end, he didn’t even want that life for himself.” She shook her head sadly. “So I’d stay with an aunt or an uncle on Dock Five or on Corsau. But even that didn’t work out.” Her mouth twisted in a grim smile. “My family attracts trouble. So I’d end up back on the Keeper again, until I was old enough to be sent away to the academy at Ferrin’s for flight training. That’s when I went from being Kaidee Milo to Makaiden Malloy.”
And then to Makaiden Malloy Griggs. He now understood why she didn’t answer easily to Makaiden.
“And the only reason you need to know all this,” she said, “is because in order to gain entry to those optional landing sites, Kaidee Milo has to surface again.”
Kaidee wasn’t exactly sure what she anticipated as Devin’s reaction to the fact she was Nathaniel Milo’s daughter, but she would have bet a pitcher of Trouble’s Brewing’s best ale that it would be something between disdain and disappointment.
Instead, he stepped closer to her. “Will that put you in any danger? Using your father’s name after all this time?”
That wasn’t what she expected. Nor was the gentle concern on his face.
“There are some in Port Chalo who didn’t like him,” she answered cautiously. Was Devin holding back his anger until it could most hurt her? Toward the end of their marriage, Kiler had excelled at that. “But there are also many who owed him favors. I’m counting on the latter.”
&
nbsp; Devin was silent for a moment, and Kaidee tensed slightly.
“Owed,” he said. “Your father’s no longer alive?”
“No.” That answered his question. She didn’t want to get into details. They had nothing to do with their current problems.
“Let’s get some tea, coffee. You can tell me more about these optional landing sites. I’m not sure we’ll need them. But I do know I want all the facts and the options I can get.”
——————
Talking to Devin about how smugglers and pirates operated was easier than she thought. Though as she explained the details of covert contact routines and approach patterns, she knew why. The man loved facts, data. She was simply expanding his knowledge base. Still, his lack of reaction to who her father was puzzled her.
Except, she reminded herself, I’m no longer a GGS employee. It’s not like he can fire me for lying on my personnel application. Though it hadn’t been a lie. Legally, she was Makaiden Malloy. Her father had paid a lot of money to ensure that.
“We have a day and a half yet to decide what we’ll do,” Devin said finally. “I still think the message from Ethan was genuine. He did say he’d update me. He might have a message pack waiting on the Prosperity. Plus, he knew we’d be in transit in jumpspace, and maybe, for once, he didn’t want to worry me overmuch. In his own way, he might have felt he was saving me grief by leaving out details.”
“Or he didn’t trust the security of the Rider’s comm pack and just sent the basics to you via your Rada,” she pointed out.
Devin picked up his mug of tea but didn’t sip it. “He doesn’t know we’re on your ship. Last message Barty and I sent to my father was that we were bumped off a Compass Spacelines flight to Marker and had found alternative transport. I didn’t know he was sending a ship at that point. And neither Barty nor I mentioned that we met you.”
She wondered why but thought it better not to ask. “So he’s expecting you to arrive …?”
“Probably on a commercial passenger flight, or maybe even a private one.”
“Then he won’t have people waiting for us at the freighter docks.”
Devin shook his head. “You really think that Ethan didn’t send that message, don’t you?”
“You know your brother’s messages. But, remember, I was one of those pilots who would be handling a pickup like this. And I can’t see why someone would choose Port Chalo for you and Trippy. Why not Marker or Garno or, hell, assuming they heard about the problems on Dock Five, Calfedar? Come to think of it, since you told them you were having problems booking transport, why not send their ship to Dock Five?” She leaned forward, arms on the table. “Why Port Chalo?”
“I can only assume the Prosperity was already headed there. Or maybe to Starport Six—you know we have clients there. Diverting it to Port Chalo might have seemed the easiest thing to do.”
“Then why not—” Noise in the corridor outside the mess area halted her words. She recognized the timbre of Trip’s voice and Barty’s deeper one. Footsteps followed. Devin turned toward the sounds just as Barty, leaning one hand on Trip’s shoulder, shuffled around the corner.
“Should you be up and around?” Devin asked before Kaidee could.
“Trip’s bragging he invented some new food and it’s almost dinner. I’m tired of eating in sick bay. Actually, I’m tired of sick bay altogether. No offense, Captain Griggs,” Barty added with a smile.
“We now have apples. Excellent ones,” Kaidee confirmed, amused when Trip blushed at her compliment.
“There are honey-grapes too. At least, there should be,” Trip said, helping Barty into the chair next to Devin. Kaidee leaned back, waiting for Trip to sit, too, but he remained standing. He glanced at Barty, then looked at Devin. “I heard about what some slag-heads did to your offices, Uncle Devin. I feel—”
“It’s not your fault, Trip,” Devin said.
“It’s like every bad thing has happened because I left.” Trip flopped down into the chair, then ran one hand through his hair in a move reminiscent of Devin’s own habit.
“You’ll be home soon. We’ll get it all straightened out.”
They would. Where would she be then? Once again, the feeling of loss washed over her. Her ship belonged to Devin, but it hardly fit with GGS or Devin’s personal investments. Plus there was the not-so-small matter of her being Kaidee Milo. It might not mean anything to Devin, but she was sure Petra Frederick would be furious. And Barty …
She glanced at the man, who looked paler and thinner than he had three days ago outside Trouble’s Brewing. He would know the Milo name. He also deserved to know the truth. She turned to Devin. “Do you want to go over my optional landing sites with Barty now or wait until later?”
Barty deserved the truth, but Devin had been circumspect in what he said around his nephew. She wanted to open that door, though, so that at some point Barty would be told.
Devin put his Rada on the table and tapped up the holographic screen, angling it toward Barty. “Makaiden’s concerned that the message from Ethan might have been forged. Or forced. Here’s the code breakdown. It looks like our genuine house code and Ethan’s personal code to me. But Makaiden is worried someone might be drawing us into a trap.”
“I also thought they knew you were coming in on my ship.” She caught herself after she said it. Technically, it was Devin’s ship. But damn it, it was her ship. She shoved the problem to the back of her mind. “If it is a trap, it’s possible they’d have someone at the Compass Spacelines terminal. If not there, then at the private docks at Terminal D, which is where the Prosperity would normally berth. Either way, I’d rather have us, not them, in control of the situation. Which means not landing at Port Chalo Spaceport at all.”
“Because our IDs would be scanned upon landing,” Barty put in. “And if Tage’s people are behind this—which that stealth pointer seems to suggest—ImpSec would have immediate access to those files.”
She nodded. “Exactly. So I discussed some, um, optional landing sites with Devin that would put us anywhere from an hour to three hours outside the spaceport. We could either contact the Prosperity and see who answers or grab a ground-flitter and take a look around for ourselves.”
“If you’re considering either Lufty’s or Uchenna’s, I’d go with Lufty’s.”
She stared at Barty, wondering if the man was some kind of human Ragkiril who could read minds. She’d heard whispers that human mind-rippers actually existed, but then she saw his lips curve into a smile. He was ex-ImpSec. But if ImpSec knew about those smugglers’ ports, why were they still operating?
She noticed Devin’s narrow-eyed glance at Barty too.
“Lufty’s was my first choice,” she said carefully. Her father always trusted the Luftowski family. “Should I even ask how you know Lufty’s?”
“You may, but the story would go better in different surroundings. One that serves saltbeer and limes.”
“I had saltbeer once,” Trip said. “Horrible stuff.”
She barely heard his comment. Saltbeer and lime was her father’s favorite drink. Barty was telling her he knew who she was, and in a way that wouldn’t incriminate her in front of Devin and Trip. She was heartened by his concern for her, but it wasn’t necessary. “Devin knows.”
“Saltbeer?” Trip asked.
“When you mentioned optional landing sites,” Barty said, “I suspected he might but wasn’t sure.”
Trip’s gaze went from Barty to his uncle to Kaidee and back to Barty again. “Would someone please tell me what we’re talking about?”
“Captain Griggs’s family had some interesting connections,” Barty told him.
“Connections?” Trip asked.
“You knew?” Devin put in, staring at Barty.
Kaidee ignored Devin and looked at Trip. “My father’s family ran a smuggling syndicate in Baris and Calth.”
“Smugglers?” Trip sat up straighter. “For real?”
Devin pointed at Barty. “You knew?�
�� he repeated. “And Frederick let—”
“Frederick didn’t know. And I was satisfied, based on my investigation, that Captain Griggs wasn’t applying for the position in order to further her family’s business but was simply an excellent pilot who happened to be married to another excellent pilot, who unfortunately turned out to be a very bad husband.”
“Is there anything,” Devin asked, exasperation clear in his voice, “that you don’t know?”
“Yes. I don’t know what’s for dinner. Since I’m still not too steady on my feet, Trip, would you mind making a selection for me? A cold beer as well.” Barty reached over and patted Kaidee’s hand. “And before you ask, yes, I cleared it with your sick bay med-unit. I’m allowed to have just one.”
Kaidee smiled and gave Barty’s hand an affectionate squeeze. Trust the older man to pick up on the tension floating in the air and do what he could to lighten it, as well as indicate that he didn’t hold her Milo heritage against her. That would help her get through the remaining day and a half in jump. After Port Chalo, she’d be alone again, rebuilding her life once more.
Providing whoever was waiting for them at Port Chalo didn’t decide to end her life first.
It had been almost five years since Kaidee had plotted a course to Lufty’s—the last time was when she’d used her vacation from GGS to visit her father, and she’d sat helm on the Diligent Keeper. It had been a huge risk doing that. She was a GGS employee. If someone had seen her, she could have lost her job. But things were going sour with Kiler, and when her life was a mess, talking with her father was one way she had of sorting things out.
The man might have been an arms smuggler and a pirate, but he was intelligent, fair, and wise. If situations had been different, if he’d not been part of a large and struggling family out of one of the worst sections of the Walker Colonies, he might have been able to apply to the Imperial Fleet Academy, maybe even become an officer in the Fleet. But he couldn’t, so instead he took a small pirate operation his uncle had started decades before and turned it into a profitable—if somewhat infamous—syndicate.
Rebels and Lovers Page 23
