“Be good, Bit,” he ordered, throwing a wink up to Oden at the same time.
“Yes, sir,” Bit growled, not bothering to mask her anger.
Jack glared back and turned into the airlock.
Vance didn’t hesitated to head back down the staircase into his normal territory. Bit glanced up at Oden, unsure what she should do. He gave her a one-shoulder shrug and went back to the bridge. Lacking anything better to do, she went back to her borrowed bunk. Within a few minutes of angry silence, Bit was fast asleep.
Chapter Two
Jack peered out the window of the transport ship. He had been the lucky one to get the window, and he enjoyed the unique opportunity. The transport ship skimmed over the unusual city, heading for Olympic Island. He had seen maps and pictures of when the city had been mostly dry, with a few small inlets and channels making it a rather soggy environment compared to most other places on the planet. Now, though, it was more water than land.
During the late twenty-first-century, a series of earthquakes up in what had once been known as Canna—or something like that, Jack could quite remember his history lesson. The earthquakes had sent tsunami after tsunami slamming down into the growing city that surrounded Puget Sound. Initially, the waters had receded and the city repaired, but as more earthquakes struck over the decades, the high grounds shifted and the sea level sections became permanently flooded.
Now, the expansive city stretched for miles, over land and sea alike. Even from the altitude of transport ship skimming over the city, Jack could see the enormous “house boats.” A few of the taller buildings from the original Seattle still stood, their top halves being used as high-end apartments.
The transport bucked against the changing air temperatures and Jack heard his brother curse. Jack could only imagine what a pilot felt when flown by someone else. A little smile spread across his lips. It grew as he thought of Bit, safely tucked away on the ship. It was a relief not to worry about her after four long days of panic.
They bounced against the short tarmac, coming to an abrupt halt. Taking the enormous elevator down, they reached the surface. Misting rain slapped them in the face as they stepped out onto solid ground.
“Not much like Johannesburg,” Reese said, squinting up at the gray clouds that looked as though it was descending on city.
“About as opposite as you can get,” Randal agreed. “Where to, Boss?”
Jack glanced down at the scrap of paper. “That’s odd. The address Zandri gave us is for Issaquah, but last time I was here Issaquah was a rather low-end neighborhood. Kinda got the impression he had placed the baby with a stable family.”
“Maybe there’s more to the story than we know,” offered Calen.
Jack’s brother had been the one and only crewmember to fight for Bit’s right to be on the trip. Thankfully, he had done it privately. All the same, Jack had stuck to his original plan. He was done being the pushover. No longer would he treat Bit any differently just because he had feelings for her. His XO had been right. He was too easily swayed by her charms.
“Could be,” he replied, realizing the crew was waiting for a response. “We’ll grab a ferry over to Issaquah.”
The crew took off slowly, weaving through the crowds. Like Johannesburg, Seattle was bursting at the seams. In fact, Jack didn’t think there was a city on the planet that didn’t have a population issue.
“C’mon, Stray,” someone said.
Jack glanced back, but couldn’t identify the name-caller. Jack knew what the slur meant. A headache began to form behind his eyes. He glanced at Randal, who had clearly heard it too. A quick examination of Sying—their new and interesting security team member—showed Jack that he had heard it, but wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Jack wanted to intervene, but Randal shook his head. After so long, Jack could read Randal’s thoughts. He wanted Sying to stand up for himself.
They continued down the steep street toward the waterfront. It was a long, tiring walk, but they made it. Jack paid for the tickets, grimacing as yet more of his precious funds were spent on finding Bit’s niece. He suspected he was going to spend more than Bit had earned while working for him. But Bit was now family, and the crew took care of their family.
The ferry hovered over the dark water, streaming forward at breakneck speeds through what apparently were streets dividing various docks filled with house boats—come large enough to house numerous people. Though Jack wasn’t sure, he suspected the floating suburbs were the more expensive neighborhoods.
Jack leaned back, trying to imagine what it would be like living on a house boat. Probably a lot like living on an old spaceship.
They reached the far side of the enormous bay—some ___ miles wide—and docked. On the other side, the land rose in what appeared to be a man-made cliff. Various staircases made of stone led up to the suburb. They filed up to the main level—at least forty feet above the sea—and began weaving through the suburb.
Though it was a far cry from the slums of Johannesburg, Jack had been right and Issaquah was a low-rent suburb. Enormous concrete buildings rose up in perfectly symmetrical blocks, each one like the last. The first and second floor were painted by the shop owners, but the floors above were left a dull gray. Unlike Johannesburg, the residents had worked to make each unit their own. Colorful curtains were visible through the closed windows. Bright potters hung from the windows, overflowing with green produce. Jack easily spotted a few tomato plants and zucchini plants. It all reminded him of his mother’s apartment and their own little garden.
Randal nudged him, pointing down a side street. A quick glance at the sign showed him it was the street on the little slip of paper. They reached the building, which looked just like all the others, and mounted the stairs to the third floor. After a short search, they found the right unit. Jack motioned for the men to stay a few steps away from the door. He didn’t want to look threatening.
Jack pounded his fist against the plain door. A moment later a woman’s head popped out, her hair up in antique plastic curler.
“Yes?”
“Hi. I… uh…” Jack suddenly realized they had never gotten the I.D. number for Bit’s niece. “Did you… er… do you have an indentured servant?”
“No. Course not.”
“I mean, were you given one as an infant to adopt.”
“Oh, her. Yeah. Why?” demanded the woman, her eyes flicking to Jack’s crew.
“I represent the child’s family. They are seeking to reunite with her.”
The woman chuckled. Jack shifted his feet, unsure what to make of the woman’s response.
“Ain’t seen that tike since she were two. Sold her debt on to another. Not worth takin’ care of her for all those years before she could work.”
Jack frowned. “I’m sorry. I understood that you had adopted her… to be your daughter.”
The woman’s face scrunched into a look of disgust. “That thing? No.”
“Could I get the information of the person you sold her to?” Jack asked, his mind seething as the chance of an easy task slipped away.
She squinted at him. “Depends on what it’s worth to you.”
Jack sighed. A bribe. She wanted a bribe. He wanted to strangle you.
“Excuse me, miss,” an unfamiliar voice said from the crowd of men behind him.
Jack turned to see Sying pushing his way through the crew. He glanced back at the woman, but she didn’t seem surprised by his unusual appearance.
“I noticed you’re using curlers,” Sying began once he had reached jack’s side. “I’m sure your hair is going to look fantastic once it dries.”
The woman smiled, carefully touching one of the plastic rollers near her neck.
“Do you have a steamer to go with that?” Sying asked.
Jack frowned. He had no idea what a steamer was, much less why the painted boy was asking about it.
“Why?” the woman asked, suddenly looking defensive. “What’s it to you?”
�
�Well, I’m sure you know they’re illegal here in Seattle. I would just really hate to see you get fined, or even jail time, for having one.”
The expressive woman lowered her brows in a fierce glare. “Fine. I’ll get you the contact info.”
She slammed the door shut. Jack glanced at the slender man, still completely confused.
“What the hell is a steamer?”
“It’s a hat that helps set the curlers, using water.”
“Why’s that illegal?” Calen asked from the group.
“Here in Seattle, we have too much water as it is. Mold, even black mold, is a major threat to city health. Especially with the population increasing so drastically. Therefore, anything that causes steam is outlawed.”
Jack knew he wasn’t the only one frowning at the oddity of the rule. Suddenly the concrete structures made sense. Concrete was a lot less likely to rot.
After a few more minutes, Jack began to wonder what was taking her so long. Surely it didn’t take a quarter of an hour to find pen and paper.
Finally, the woman reappeared with a scrap of paper, much like the one Jack already held. He glanced at it. It was an address in Mossyrock—an island south of their location.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Jack said, nodding to her.
She was too busy glaring at Sying to notice his good bye. Finally she slammed the door shut.
Jack and the crew emerged from the apartment building.
The exterior door of the apartment building swung open into the gray light. Jack came to a halt. A group of men stood in the streets, all their eyes trained on the hostel door. By their dress, Jack assumed they were there for Sying.
Most of them wore sleek suits, their lines trim and creased. One had a suit that looked as though it was made of foil or something that belonged in the wall of a modern space ship. Another wore varying shades of white and cream. A third looked like he wore a leather vest while the rest of his suit was of a soft, fluffy fabric. In that instant, Jack felt relieved to live outside the world of fashion.
“Jack Macleef?” their spokesman asked—a man in a flashy purple number.
“Yes.” Jack wasn’t sure if he was answer his question or asking one of his own.
The rest of the crew emerged from the hostel and made a loose half circle around him.
“What do you want with the girl?”
Jack felt his stomach tumble into his feet. Did the woman called them? Was their target really this important? A fleet of questions whizzed through is mind. For a fleeting moment, Jack hoped the child was parented by someone important enough to have this many well-dressed minions. The hope passed quickly. He didn’t have that sort of luck.
“That depends,” he replied. “How are you associated with her?”
The spokesman brushed back his suit jacket, revealing his sidearm in a calculated move. “Answer my question.”
“My business with the I.S. is my own.” Jack threw out the child’s rank to confirm they were speaking about the same person.
“It is not only yours. It concerns her too, and others. Now, what do you want with her?”
Jack squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Try and find her again, and my men will have to make trouble for you. My boss doesn’t want bloodshed in his city, so go up to your ship or get a transport or whatever. Just leave.”
Jack hesitated, trying to look like h was considering the threat. “Fine. We’ll leave the girl be.”
The spokesman grinned. “Good. Have a wonderful day.”
They waited for the crowd of fashionable men to walk away before moving.
“We’re not actually leaving, are we?” asked Calen.
“’Course not. We’ll just have to keep our heads underground more. C’mon, let’s go get Bit.”
Bit stared down at her cards before glancing up at Oden. His tattoos gave him a look of foreboding, but Bit knew him. She wasn’t scared of him or whatever his cards might hold. She had a good hand herself, and was ready for anything he had.
Bit darkened her expression into a glare, half masked by her bruises, and waited for him to play.
“Do you have any twos?” he asked, keeping his poker face in place.
“Go fish,” she replied, trying not to look smug.
Oden let out a fierce growl as he slapped his hand down on the draw pile.
“Do you have any kings?”
“Dammit!” Oden cursed as he flung three kings at her, scattering them across ship’s console.
Bit gathered them up, added her own king, and laid them out beside her other sets. She glanced at Oden’s two measly sets and smiled. Truth was, she didn’t feel like smiling. Every fiber of her being demanded she escape the ship and race to niece. She had the address memorized. She didn’t need the scratch of paper Jack had taken.
But she refused to go against Jack’s direct order, no matter how much it pained her. He was her captain, and she had already run away once—causing him great financial and emotional strain, not to mention getting Oden shot. She wouldn’t act out like that again.
Oden smiled back, seemingly oblivious to his wound.
Oden watched as Bit’s smile faltered. She was whooping his ass at the childish game, one he had never played until she taught him. It was silly, and fun in its own way. Mostly, though, he just wanted to be with her. Oden wasn’t angry with Jack for marooning them in the ship. In fact, if all went well, he would be writing a thank you note to the captain.
Oden was tired of standing by and giving Bit space. In their crazy crew, she never got any space anyway. Therefore, he intended to go in for the kill, as it were. What he was really envisioning was a romantic night with the petit blonde, possible catered by Vance. But as she examined her cards, Oden knew she wasn’t ready for candle light.
And so they played Go Fish.
“I just can’t believe Jack left me out of this,” she said to her cards. “I mean us. He left us out of this.”
“Bit, you can’t deny he’s got fair reason.”
“Fair!” she snapped, barely keeping her cards in her hands. “What is fair about leaving me up here when they’re going to retrieve MY niece?”
Oden let out a long sigh. Usually he loved her feistiness. Now, it felt more like a burden.
“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?” Oden asked.
Bit frowned, the expression turning into a wince as she pulled at the various cuts and bruises on her face.
“You’d frighten the poor child, lookin’ like that.” Oden spotted a blush in the few areas of her face without bruises. “But you still look beautiful to me.”
The blush darkened, bringing a larger smile to Oden’s lips.
“You know, Jack almost caught me once down there.”
“Really?”
She nodded, collapsing her cards into a stack.
“Yeah… With Wic.”
“And you thought he had betrayed you?”
Bit frowned. “Well, I’d already had a run in with the police and knew he’d called the Department.”
She didn’t need to say which department. He knew she was talking about the Department of Logistical Labor, the department of planetary government that controlled her life.
“Bit, Jack didn’t call the department. Kat let it slip when we were being harassed by those Earth peace keepers.”
“Police.” Bit corrected him.
“Whatever. It wasn’t Jack. The last thing he wanted was for the government to get involved or for you to get more debt.”
He watched her closely, a play of emotions flitting across her features too fast for him to process them. Was he giving her up by tell her this? Would she fall for Jack, knowing their captain hadn’t turned on her.
Finally, she looked up at him, her eyes glowing with unshed tears. “Thank you for telling me.”
Oden nodded slowly.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapt
er Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Mayhem and Mutiny Page 21
