Fawks (Dragons of Kratak Book 4)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  “Goodnight, Sam,” I said, not bothering to wave as I walked out of the cafe and wanting nothing more than to be out of there and away from him.

  I rushed to my car, just wanting to get home. I needed to get home. I wasn't lying about having homework and an early class in the morning – that was the norm these days. Class all morning, work all evening, homework until the early morning hours. That was my life, such as it was.

  It wasn't easy. In fact, it was as hard as hell. But it was what it was. Like I said, sitting around bitching and moaning about it wasn't going to get me anywhere. The only way I was going to get anywhere was by picking myself up and pushing myself forward.

  But guys like Sam would never even be able to comprehend the shit I'd had to go through in order to survive. They'd never understand how hard I had to work just to get by. Just to tread water. And that was because they had mommy and daddy there to pick them up when they fell.

  All I had in this whole, wide world was myself.

  ooo000ooo

  As I rushed out of the restaurant and toward my car, I was surprised to see another car sitting in the parking lot at that hour. It wasn't Sam's car and I was the only other person working that night – it had been pretty slow. All the customers had left about half an hour before closing, giving us plenty of time to clean up and do our side work.

  As I looked at the car in the lot, I let my paranoia get the best of me. I felt my heart racing and my hands trembling, but I tried to push it out of my mind. After all, it was a public parking lot. It could be anyone.

  A homeless person. A driver stopping to making a call. Somebody who'd broken down. It could have been anybody.

  It didn't mean anything at all.

  I climbed into the car and tried to stop my anxiety from getting any worse than it already was. But this time, I was having some trouble talking myself down. Despite my best efforts, the fear was still there. Heavy and oppressive, it was still there. It felt like someone was watching me from the darkness of the interior of that car, and I couldn't get rid of the feeling. I shivered, even though I wasn't cold. Keeping an eye on the vehicle, I started my car.

  “Please don't die on me,” I pleaded with my car, watching the vehicle in my rear view mirror.

  Sam hadn't come out of the diner just yet – but part of me was actually hoping he would. Just so I didn't have to be alone out there with the stranger in the strange car. But there was no sign of Sam.

  I squinted my eyes and was able to make out a person sitting behind the wheel on the driver's side of the car. They were facing my direction, but were they watching me? Or was I simply being a paranoid freak? It was hard to tell. But given my history, it was understandable.

  “Calm down, Riley,” I said, putting my car into reverse once it had warmed up. “It's not Mike. This car is unfamiliar.”

  I kept trying to talk myself down, tried to stave off the panic attack that sometimes utterly crippled me. My ex-boyfriend, Mike, was always in the back of my mind. Lurking. He was a sinister and malicious presence in my brain – one I wished I could banish forever. But one I had never yet been able to.

  Mike still scared the living daylights out of me – even though I hadn't seen him in months. The impact of our relationship – especially our parting – would forever be etched into my brain. There was no way I could ever not live in fear of him coming after me, not after the threats he'd made.

  But it had been months – he had probably moved on by now, right? He had to have moved on. Besides, Mike didn't drive a black sedan – which was what was sitting in the lot behind me. That car was nicer than anything my ex could have afforded. By far. It wasn't him. Couldn't have been.

  As I pulled out onto the main street in Sapphire Bay, I kept looking behind me, half expecting to see the black sedan pulling out onto the street behind me. When it didn't come out of the parking lot with me though, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned the radio on, allowing myself to relax as I drove the short distance to my apartment.

  But my relief didn't last long.

  As I prepared to turn the corner onto Oak Tree Road, I noticed that there was a car on the road behind me.

  And it was the one that had been lurking in the parking lot.

  “Shit,” I thought to myself, wondering if I should stay on the main street opposed to the small residential street I lived on.

  This late at night, there was hardly anyone around. I quickly turned my blinker off, deciding to go straight instead. I didn't want to lead them back to my place and needed to lose them. When the light turned green, the black sedan behind me continued following close behind. I decided I had no other choice but to drive somewhere public, somewhere where there'd be people around this late at night.

  A public place would be my sanctuary.

  The Mahogany Tavern was up on the left and if Sam was right, there would be crowds of people there. But right before I pulled into the lot and parked before making a run into the public space, the sedan turned left onto a side street. It hadn't been following me after all. I let out a sigh of relief and a small nervous chuckle as I realized just how silly and unfocused I'd been.

  That sedan might have been going this way all along, I thought to myself. It didn't have a blinker on to turn before, like I had. I just assumed it was behind me, assumed that it was following me. And for making that assumption, I was an idiot. A big, fat, paranoid idiot.

  Still, my nerves were wrecked. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by people – at least to make sure I was safe, not because I particularly wanted the company. But my English paper wasn't going to write itself.

  I made a quick U-turn and headed back toward Oak Tree Road, turning onto my street when I got there. I checked my mirrors and saw no sign of any cars behind me, which was a relief. I parked in my assigned spot, and even though I still saw no sign of the strange car, I hurried into my apartment, slamming and locking the door behind me.

  I'm safe, I told myself. I'm alone. All alone.

  The exhaustion of the day took hold of me quickly, and the siren song of my bed was beckoning me. But I had a paper to write. It was due at eight the next morning, first class of the day, and it was a large part of my grade. I had to get it done, no questions asked.

  But the exhaustion and stress of my life took its toll on me, and I just wanted to curl up in my bed and sleep the days away. Heck, curling up in bed and never waking up didn't sound too bad either. Especially since there was very little worth waking up for. Besides my boring English class, anyway. A class I should be passing with flying colors – but a class I was barely scraping by with a C in.

  But it was a basic class, I needed to pass it to move on to my other classes – classes that might land me a job somewhere other than the Lazy Hen Cafe working for douchebags like Sam. And I was aspiring to something a little higher than that.

  I glanced over at my bed, which wasn't hard to do in my studio apartment, but settled in at my desk instead. My ancient computer took forever and a day to load up, so I walked into the kitchen to get a drink while it loaded everything up.

  Grabbing a soda, I stared into my otherwise empty fridge. I'd been able to snag some freebies from work, so I wasn't starving, but the pickings were incredibly slim. And I was still slightly hungry. But I didn't have the extra income to get things like snacks. My paycheck had to go to rent this week, so my food budget was limited. Really, really limited. At the moment, I had two slices of cheap, processed cheese product, but no bread. I also had a box with a slice of apple pie from last night's shift – and that was it.

  My stomach growled in protest as I stared into the empty refrigerator. I sighed as I grabbed the pie and my knockoff brand of Diet Dr. Pepper before sitting down at my desk and settling into my essay on The Great Gatsby. It was a book I hadn't had time to read, but I'd watched the movie and had internet to help with the rest.

  It was going to be a long ass night, but hey – at least I had pie.

  Some days, that wa
s all I had going for me.

  Chapter Three

  Tarkonil

  My job at the Ministry of Technology came with a lot of perks – including the fact that I had more freedom than others might have in a traditional job. I had the freedom to take long lunch breaks if I'd wanted to, for instance. I didn't typically abuse the rules and freedoms I had been given – but today, I'd decided to take a little trip down to the docks to see what I could see.

  I knew a few guys who worked down there and thought maybe I could ask about any unusual ships coming in with cargo that maybe appeared human in nature. Or at least, not Optorion.

  Dibic “Dibs” was an old friend of mine, someone who had worked with me long ago – long before I'd become an important government official. He was one of Optorio's port managers and was sitting to the side of a hangar, at a table filled with entirely too much clutter, honestly speaking. I wasn't sure how he managed to function in such a mess. But there he was, sitting amongst the scattered debris, eating a sandwich while he was watching a ship come in. It was lunch time for him too, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

  “Hey, man,” he said, the moment he saw me walking toward him. “Long time, no see. What brings an important person like you all the way down here to the dirty old docks? Feeling the need to slum around a little?”

  I cringed, hating how my new title seemed to have changed people's perceptions of me. I hated that the fancy sounding words seemed to bring more weight and prestige to it than there actually was. And honestly, I wasn't any different than I had been before. I was just the same old guy. I just happened to be working for the government now, trying to get things back on track and in order.

  “Not much,” I said. “I was just curious to see how things were going down here.”

  “Is this an inspection?” Dibs asked, looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

  “No, not at all. Just a friendly visit for my own edification,” I said. “Though I do have some questions for you.”

  “Figured,” he said, putting his sandwich away with a sigh. “Government types like you don't just come down to this part of town to chit-chat unless it's for a reason. You always want something.”

  “Well, my questions are of a more personal nature. Off-the-record, if you will.”

  Dibs cocked his head and looked intrigued. “Okay, ask away,” he said. “I can't promise I'll have the answers, but I'll do what I can.”

  “That's all I ask, my friend,” I said. “That's all I ask.”

  I looked around and realized that we were right out in the open where anybody and everybody could see us. Too many prying eyes and ears. I saw a couple of men look our way as they walked on, perhaps heading out on a break. But the fact that they'd seen me there made my stomach clench and a bolt of adrenaline shoot through my body. What I was doing – and what I was after – was incredibly delicate, not to mention dangerous. I needed discretion more than anything at this point and being so exposed made me nervous.

  “Can we go inside somewhere?” I asked. “An office, perhaps?”

  Dibs looked at me curiously for a moment before he nodded and motioned for me to follow him. A ship had just landed and a bunch of uniformed men were unloading boxes from it and stacking them on a small hovercraft. There was nothing unusual looking about the shipment being offloaded. And it certainly wasn't what I was looking for. From where I was, it looked like it was probably just some textiles from Xaradu, a nearby planet that was known to have some of the softest fabrics around. Only the richest of the rich could afford them, of course. Especially now. Which made the size of the shipment I was seeing curious to me.

  With poverty and deprivation running rampant among the people of Optorio, who was buying all that material? It was a question that had to be answered later though. At the moment, it was low on the list of my priorities. There were larger things in play right then and I couldn't afford to take my eyes off the bigger picture.

  Dibs closed his office door behind me before moving across the office to his desk and sitting down with a loud sigh. The expression on his face was one of irritation – whether it was because I was taking up his time, or because he believed I was one of those types who only came around when I wanted something, I couldn't be sure. But I needed his help and had to make sure to not alienate him.

  I sat across from him and cleared my throat as I looked around, not sure where or how to begin. His office was tiny, but at least he had an office – and a job. Which was a whole lot more than some people – a lot of people, really – could say. Most of those guys out there working the docks weren't regular employees. Most of them weren't even from Optorio. They were day laborers brought in from off world, meaning not only did they not have an office – they might not even have a job come tomorrow morning. They were brought in because they were cheap labor and they didn't complain about much of anything.

  It was a disgusting practice on par with slavery, in my opinion. But that wasn't why I was there either. That would have to be just one more item on my agenda – but one I'd get to when I had the time. Which I didn't at the moment. But that time would come. I would make sure of it.

  “So what's going on?” Dibs asked me, taking a sip from his cup. “If this isn't an inspection or official government business, why are you here? What can I help you with?”

  I could see another ship coming in through the window. I watched it descending from the sky, its thrusters gently lowering it to the ground. As I watched it dock gracefully, I found myself remembering a time when I used to work on ships like that. I used to be able to take an entire engine apart – and then put it back together again – with my eyes closed. Once upon a time, I knew the ins and outs of most engines and machinery. It was one of my gifts, one of my talents, I supposed.

  But ever since joining the Council, I hadn't used those gifts and talents all that much. I was feeling a little rusty and wasn't sure I'd remember how to get around an engine anymore. But then, part of me figured that it was second nature to me and once I rolled up my sleeves and got my hands dirty again, I'd fall right back into it with ease.

  There was part of me that longed for those days. Everything had seemed – simpler – back then. I hadn't been saddled with reports and debate and oversight and everything else that being a part of Optorio's governing body entailed. And I certainly had never had to deal with the intrigues and subterfuge I was currently engaged in. No, back then all I had to do was fix what was broken and send it on its way. I missed those days.

  Dibs cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present. He looked at me, eyes narrowed and an inscrutable expression on his face. I gave him a small smile and cleared my own throat before speaking.

  “You monitor all shipments that come in and out of the port, don't you?” I asked. “You log the ships that come in and out and their cargo?”

  “That I do,” Dibs said. “That, I do. That's my job.”

  “And you keep records on them all?”

  “Of course. As mandated by law,” he said, sounding offended that I would even dare suggest he was somehow derelict in his duty. “Would you like to see 'em?”

  “Maybe. But first things first – I need to see what you might know,” I said. “Do you keep track of every item that gets shipped?”

  Dibs narrowed his gaze. “Do I inspect every box that comes and goes out of here you mean?”

  “Yes, just to make sure everything inside is exactly what's supposed to be there.”

  Dibs let out a long breath, running a hand through his short-cropped hair. “You know we're too understaffed to open every container that comes through here. There's only so much time in the day. And given the volume of goods that come through this port, it's impossible to check every single box on every single shipment,” he said.

  I cocked my head and looked at him. “Then how do you keep accurate records?”

  “Well, we do spot checks. It's always worked before,” he said. “And for the most part, we trust the
vendors we work with. They have to have the appropriate licenses and bonds, and prove to us that they are a legitimate operation before anybody on Optorio is allowed to do business with them. That's how it works.”

  “Do you think any of them could be lying about what they're carrying?” I asked. “Or forging the necessary paperwork to offload their cargo?”

  Dibs was quiet for a few moments and looked at me evenly. “I'm sure some of them are,” he said. “Especially these days.”

  I sat back in my seat. “What do you mean, especially these days?”

  He shrugged. “Never mind. Not really my business to dip into.”

  “It very well could be,” I said. “Or I can make it your business by making it my business. What did you mean by that?”

  He sighed and when he spoke, it was with tremendous hesitation. “I just mean that I've heard rumors...”

  “What kind of rumors, Dibs?”

  He looked at me, his eyes wide and pleading. “Look, I don't like passing on rumors. I don't know if they're true or not.”

  I knew what he was afraid of and it wasn't passing on rumors. “Do not worry, Dibs,” I reassured him. “I will keep your name out of any official documentation. And whether or not there is any truth to these rumors will be for me to determine.”

  He didn't look the slightest bit relieved, but I saw the look of resignation in his eyes. I believed that he was a good man and that whatever was going on, upset him. I knew Dibs well enough to know that he didn't like thieves and he didn't like liars.

  “Look, Tarkonil,” he said. “You have to believe that we try to do things the right way here. I do my best to keep everyone on their toes. We have a zero tolerance policy for illegal contraband. And if any of my guys are caught transporting those things to or from Optorio, not only would they have to answer to you fine folks, of course. But first, they'd have to answer to me.”

  “I understand,” I said. “And it's not your integrity that I am questioning. Believe me about that. But I need to know what these rumors you are hearing are.”