Whatever it was, it obviously worked. One of the men turned toward her and Derek, saying, “Hope you don’t mind us butting in. It looked like you were doing okay there, but we figured you could use a hand.”
“It’s no problem,” Derek said, sounding a little breathless. He flicked a glance at Cassidy, frowning when he saw the tear in her shirt. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she replied, noting that she sounded out of breath herself. “Just caught the shirt, not me.” She turned her attention to their rescuer. “Who are you?”
He grinned. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve said he was fairly nondescript-looking — sandy hair, brown eyes, features regular but not particularly handsome. But something about the way he carried himself told her he was a pretty tough customer. “A friend.”
“A friend, huh?”
“Thanks for the rescue,” Derek put in, obviously less than thrilled by her skeptical tone.
“It’s no problem. You can continue to Hangar 19G now.”
So these guys were in league with whomever had sent that message? “What’s in Hangar 19G?”
His brown eyes crinkled a bit at the corners as he shot her a grin. “Just what the message said. A ship. Or do you not want it anymore?”
“Oh, we want it,” Derek said. “Don’t we, Cassidy?”
She knew when to keep her mouth shut. “Absolutely. Thanks again.”
The man’s grin only widened, but she ignored it and went to Derek, looped her arm through his, and went on through the tunnel as if absolutely nothing untoward had happened. Once they were a few yards away from the scene of the attack, she murmured, “How the hell did you learn to fight like that?”
Derek didn’t look at her, just kept walking. After a long pause, he said, “My father would never allow his son to bring dishonor on the Tagawa name by not knowing how to defend himself. I started training in martial arts when I was five years old.”
Holy crap. And she thought her father had expected a lot of her. “Well, it sure came in handy.”
No reply, only a grim nod. She got the hint that he really didn’t want to talk about it, so she kept her mouth shut as they left the tunnel, then paused to inspect the holo-map of the hangar complex conveniently displayed on the wall opposite the tunnel’s exit. From there they had to walk down a long corridor, then another, until at last they found the hangar bay designated as 19G. It was sealed with a biometric lock, and she looked over at Derek, perplexed.
“What now?”
His expression was unreadable. “Try it.”
“What do you mean, ‘try it’? I’ve never been before, so how can it be keyed to my print already?”
“Just try it.”
Fine. She lifted her right hand and jabbed her thumb against the glass plate. To her surprise, the light above the lock glowed blue, and a second later the door slid smoothly open. “How did you know it would do that?”
“I didn’t, but I’m guessing, considering that whoever is helping us got the code to my handheld even though no one in the galaxy should have it, and that they also knew to send those guys to bail us out, they probably lifted your prints from the hotel room and used them to key the lock here.”
None of that was outside the bounds of possibility, but even so, the thought that someone had been watching them so closely made a chill creep up her neck. She didn’t like it, even though so far their intentions seemed to have been completely beneficent.
All those misgivings were forgotten, though, as she stepped inside the hangar and saw the ship their unknown benefactors had left there for her and Derek. No, it wasn’t a Sirocco, but the next best thing — a Zephyr-class personal transport, sleek and fast, capable of sublight travel, even if it didn’t have the Sirocco’s Gupta drive.
“Someone must really like you,” she remarked, moving closer to the ship, seeing that the hatch was open, its steps descended.
“Or you,” he returned, but Cassidy shook her head.
“I doubt that. The captain of a fifth-rate freighter doesn’t warrant this kind of attention.”
He seemed to consider her words, looking doubtful, but then said, “Either way, it’s a good ship, right?”
“It’s a great ship.” In fact, she couldn’t wait to take a peek inside. Trying to sound casual, she added, “I think I’d better go in and check things out.”
The grim look evaporated from his face, and he even smiled slightly. “You do that.”
This was the sort of ship she’d always dreamed of owning, the sort of vessel that could take her anywhere she wanted…especially if it was far, far away from that unholy route between the Moon and Titan.
Where their benefactor had gotten it from, Cassidy couldn’t begin to guess. Technically, she knew even the newest Zephyr would now be a couple of years old, but this ship looked as if it had just been taken out of mothballs for their use. No signs of previous occupants, no scratches, no stains on the upholstery in the little dinette area. All the controls in the cockpit gleamed new and fresh, not smudged with fingerprints, and both the pilot’s and copilot’s chairs didn’t appear to have ever been sat in.
She could hear Derek’s footsteps behind her on the metal floor. “Everything up to spec?”
“And then some.” She moved closer to the console, flipped a few switches. “Fully fueled for in-system flight, and the subspace drive has a complete charge as well. We’re ready to go.”
“Sounds good.” He was holding both their bags of supplies in one hand. Cassidy didn’t even remember him retrieving them from the scene of the fight. Then again, she’d been a little befuddled during the wrap-up. She supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised that she’d missed that one small detail.
“There should be three cabins,” she told him. “Pick whichever one you like.”
He brought one hand up to his brow in a mock salute. “I’ll leave the largest one for you, Captain.”
With that he turned and went back down the corridor, leaving Cassidy to take her seat in the pilot’s chair, to flick her fingers over the controls, going through the routine, which was somehow exciting in this new and shiny ship. Artificial gravity generators…check. Oxygen supplies just as topped off as the fuel. The only thing she didn’t know was where they were going. She found she really didn’t want to ask. Odds were that Derek would make the case for heading to Gaia, and she was feeling just giddy enough at the prospect of flying this ship that she really didn’t feel like getting into that argument right now.
Unfortunately, she knew that confrontation would come sooner rather than later.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Derek went into one of the two smaller cabins, which were identical in size, and set the bags of their belongings down on the bed. He’d have to transfer Cassidy’s things to her stateroom, but for now he wanted a chance to catch his breath, to try to figure out what was going on.
The cabin where he now stood had a single narrow bed, a low dresser with four drawers, and a half-moon-shaped table bolted to one wall, two small side chairs seeming to await a cozy breakfast or other meal. No industrial grays and beiges here; the covering on the bed was a deep, deep blue, the upholstery on the chairs blue and red and a soft wheat color. The ship clearly had been designed and outfitted for someone a hell of a lot higher up the food chain than Derek Tagawa.
Frowning, he wondered where the ship had come from, whether it had been obtained through legal means or whether the previous owner had been conveniently gotten rid of. That didn’t feel right, if for no other reason than the vessel seemed the next thing to new, with no obvious signs of wear.
His handheld beeped, and he pulled it from his pocket. Good thing it hadn’t gotten kicked or fallen on during the tussle with those two toughs. A new message glowed in pale blue on the screen.
How do you like the ship?
“It’s…nice,” he said, letting the handheld translate his speech to text.
Just nice?
“Okay, it’s great. Cassidy seems thri
lled with it.” He paused, then decided he would ask the question anyway, even if he wasn’t sure how it would be received. “Where did you get it?”
Through completely legal means. Its registry is clean. In the larger cabin, you’ll find a small case with new identities for both of you, completely sanitized and untraceable.
What the hell was he supposed to say to that? This whole thing was so outside his experience that he wasn’t sure how to deal with it. “Um…thank you.”
You’re welcome.
There was so much he wanted to know, but he didn’t know the parameters of their relationship with whoever was managing things at the other end of these transactions. “Who are you?”
A friend.
“A friend? I don’t know anyone who can pull the kinds of strings you’ve been pulling lately.”
We’ve never met. Your case caught my attention. That’s all you need to know for now.
More like, all this mysterious person wanted him to know. Pressing the issue might get him in trouble, but his whole life he’d been asking questions, and he didn’t plan to stop now. “And what if we take this ship back to Gaia?”
You want to clear your name. That’s understandable. Not particularly wise, but understandable.
“So you think I should run?”
You’ve been given a second chance, Dr. Tagawa, which isn’t something that should be taken lightly. On the other hand, I can understand why you would want to restore your reputation. Only you can decide if that’s worth taking on the entire government at this time.
He hated to ask the question, but he did so anyway. “And if we run into difficulty…can we count on any further help?”
No answer. The screen on his handheld remained blank and gray. It seemed clear enough that their benefactor was only willing to go so far.
He huffed out a breath and shoved the handheld back into his pocket. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t grateful for all the assistance he and Cassidy had received so far. They’d be dead if it weren’t for the intervention of their mysterious sponsor. On the other hand, he doubted the person who’d been helping them understood what it meant for him to simply walk away…to give up everything he’d fought so hard to achieve. To never clear things up with his father.
Derek’s mouth compressed, and he forced himself to back away from that particular line of thought. It wouldn’t do him any good now, and besides, they had some hard decisions to make. Going to the bed, where he’d set down both his and Cassidy’s meager belongings, he gathered up the bag with her things and left the cabin. He didn’t want to have this discussion with her, but he knew he had to do it now.
* * *
Since she didn’t want to wait in the hangar, just in case more thugs showed up, possibly with some kind of contraband armament that could do serious damage to the ship, Cassidy got lift-off permission from the control center and brought the vessel up into a long elliptical orbit that would take them away from Triton. At least that way they’d be clear of the moon, but not so far off that they couldn’t slingshot back if necessary. Not that she wanted to go back. No, she wanted to be far, far from here…and as quickly as possible.
A soft tread behind her indicated that Derek was done with whatever had been occupying him for the past few minutes. She hadn’t heard any protests about their taking off, but that could have meant he was okay with it, or that he’d been so busy he hadn’t been paying any attention.
“Where are we headed?” he asked, settling himself into the copilot’s seat.
“Nowhere in particular. I just figured it was better to put some distance between us and Triton in case any reinforcements decided to show up.”
A slight nod, his gaze fixed on the twinkling starfield outside the forward windows. “Aren’t you worried about wasting fuel?”
“Not particularly. With what we’re carrying right now, we could criss-cross the system about five times before we’d need a refill. We’re fine.” Cassidy swiveled her chair so she was pointed toward him; now that the orbit had been set, she really didn’t need to keep that close an eye on things. Their proximity alarms, much more finely tuned than those on the Avalon, would alert them to any ships that might cross their path. “But this does bring us to the point where we have to decide what we’re going to do next.”
His expression was blank. She didn’t pretend to know him very well, but she thought he was doing that on purpose, trying to look as impassive as he could. Which probably meant he was about to say the one thing she really didn’t want to hear.
“I know it’s a lot to ask of you — ”
She didn’t need to hear any more. “But you want to go to Gaia,” she cut in.
“Yes.”
Although the temperature inside the cabin was pleasant, a perfect 22 degrees C, Cassidy felt a chill go over her body. Just because she’d known that was what he planned to say, that didn’t make it any easier to hear. She pressed her lips together, then let out a gust of breath. “Then I need you to tell me why.”
A hint of annoyance, quickly erased, passed over his features. “You know why.”
Irritation flared in her as well. She clenched her hands on her knees and said, “No, I want to know the real reason why. I don’t think you’ve told me everything.”
“Because wanting to clear my name of a false murder charge isn’t enough?”
His tone was mild enough as he spoke, but she could see the flash of anger in those dark, dark eyes. What, was she not entitled to pry? Just supposed to point the ship wherever he asked? True, she wasn’t the one who’d saved him this last time — he looked like he was doing just fine without anyone’s help, frankly — but she’d saved his ass twice already…and she had a feeling she’d only add to that tally if they ended up going to Gaia.
“No,” she said slowly. “I don’t think it is. This feels…personal…to me. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I have my head up my ass.” Flinging that particular challenge at him seemed safe enough to her, as she knew Derek was not the type to say that sort of thing to anyone, let alone the woman he needed to shuttle him from planet to planet. She wasn’t going to allow herself to think that he regarded her as anything more than that.
His gaze flickered away from hers, seeming to settle on the shimmering blackness that surrounded the ship. Mouth tightening, he replied, “No, you’re not wrong.”
“So what is it?”
She got the impression that he wanted to get up and pace around the cabin, that he often did that when he was attempting to sort through his thoughts. If asked, she couldn’t have said exactly why, except all of him feel tensed, as if he wanted to launch himself from the copilot’s seat. But since there wasn’t enough room for that, he appeared to settle for leaning forward slightly, hands tight on the chair’s armrests.
A second ticked by, then another, and another. At last he said, “I told you how the authorities put it out there that Theo’s death was the result of a lover’s quarrel, some love triangle gone wrong?”
Cassidy nodded but didn’t say anything. Again she had the impression that this was very difficult for him, and she didn’t want to interrupt or do anything that would keep him from speaking, from explaining to her why he was willing to head to the very last planet in the galaxy where he would be safe.
He smoothed his hands over the knees of his pants, a nervous gesture, probably the first she’d seen from him. “I’d had a falling out with my father anyway. He didn’t see the point in my working on GARP when I could’ve had a cushy teaching position at the university in Tucson.”
That didn’t make much sense to her. Clearly, Derek had some Asian blood in him, judging by his features and his last name, so why would his father would be opposed to his son helping with the rehabilitation of the continent? “But you’re….” she ventured, then broke off, since she didn’t know the best way of putting it.
“Half Japanese?” he finished for her, his expression almost wry, as if he’d been asked that question more than once before.
> “Well, yes.”
“If GARP was focusing on Japan, it might’ve been different. But that’s last on the list, you know? Not much usable land…at least not compared to China. It’s ancient history to most people, but the Japanese and Chinese were never the best of friends, and my father still carries those…prejudices…with him.” Derek’s gaze had been focused on her through most of that speech, but once again it shifted to the dark, star-studded skies outside the window. “Of course he was born in Normerica, but his family retained as much of as its traditions as it could after the Relocation.”
Cassidy nodded. The Cloud had wiped out countless billions, but there were survivors, of course, most of whom had relocated to the southwest region of the former United States. Although she wasn’t sure how he’d respond to the question, she found herself compelled to ask, “But if he was such a traditionalist, then why…?”
The question seemed to trail off on its own, but Derek appeared to understand what she was asking. A grim smile on his lips, he said, “Then why would he marry someone who wasn’t Japanese? I never had the guts to ask him. My mother is an extraordinary woman, a surgeon, who also teaches at the university. How it happened, I don’t know for sure.” Was it her imagination, or did Derek’s gaze shift to her for a telling second or two before he added, “Trying to explain what happens between two people isn’t always easy.”
That was for sure. Cassidy was still trying to figure out what was going on between her and Derek…if anything. Leaving that aside for the moment, she said, “So were you speaking at all?”
“Not much.” A shrug, but she could see some of the pain he was trying to hide. It showed in the narrowing of his eyes, the tightening of his fingers on the armrests of his chair. “Mostly messages passed through my mother. The whole situation bothered her, but she knew that trying to force my father to do something he didn’t want to was like trying to shoot a rocket into orbit without any fuel. So she mostly let it go, probably telling herself that my contract was only for three years anyway, and at the end of my stint in Hunan Province, I’d come home and all would be forgiven.”
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