Cut and Run: From the Athena Lee Universe (Smuggle Life Book 3)

by T S Paul

  This was so tough. Sure, Steve had a vague idea after talking with the kid. He didn’t want to let her go off alone, but he also had to show her some trust. That he believed in her, and that she was growing up. It had taken a lot of strength on her part to tell him about the nightmares. If he had refused her right away after sharing, that would have set her back.

  Parker needed some independence. It would help her learn to trust as well. Steve knew that sounded counterintuitive, but it was the case in his experience. One must learn to be on their own and realize they can’t do it all. That it was acceptable to ask for help and it was okay for others to help.

  He hoped this helped her resolve some of the bad dreams. It had been clear since they left New Philly she had been having issues. Steve figured she would tell him in time, but it had been infuriating waiting for her to open up.

  Not that he was much better. The two were alike in some ways. She reminded him of himself at that age. She had been through more than anyone should have with almost being sold into slavery, and whatever it was that had occurred on New Detroit.

  She still didn’t speak of that, and Steve wasn’t going to force her. If she wanted to, she would tell him. Steve was sure she would, sooner or later.

  Steve shook his head and went down the street. It was lined with several types of shops. There were so many stores to choose from that it was somewhat overwhelming. Steve didn’t know where to go first.

  The Marine bit his lower lip and took them in. Lindsey was an amazing woman and super smart. He truly enjoyed his time with her. Parker had suggested that she was a romantic, but Steve worried that getting jewelry or flowers might be too campy or over the top.

  What were Lindsey’s other passions? In truth, Steve didn’t know a whole lot about her, outside of what she did on the ship and the time they spent together on New Philly. She was a tech person. That much was clear. She was an engineer.

  With that in mind, Steve read the signs of all the shops on the street. Two stood out as possibilities for having what might work as a gift for Lindsey. One was called ‘Tech of the Future’ and the other ‘Terrific Buy.’

  Neither screamed honest or modest pricing to Steve, but they were tech and electronic stores. Steve settled on the first one and walked in. It wasn’t a huge store by any stretch, but both Aldis and Lindsey would be at home in it. It held products that ranged from high-end computers to little gadgets for ships.

  The latter was what Steve wanted, and he made his way over to the display. Many of them were more than he could afford, but that wasn’t going to stop him. Lindsey was worth it.

  Checking out all the gadgets took the Marine longer than he hoped, but eventually, he settled on one that would help with diagnostics of the ship. Part of Steve worried it wasn’t personal enough, but he didn’t want to get too personal. He didn’t want to rush the relationship.

  Once settled on his choice, he purchased it and he made his way back to the ship. With his gift in hand, he went searching for the engineer, first checking her quarters and then the engine room. She was hard at work on the ship, even though it was in great condition. She was always trying to make it better.

  She looked up as he entered. “Hey.” She saw that he was carrying something. “What’s that?”

  Steve blushed. This was the first time he had given a woman a gift. His heart raced, and his body sweated. Great. Now he worried that he smelled terrible. “Uh-Uh,” he stammered. “A gift for you.”

  “Me?”

  Steve nodded. “Yeah, uh, for helping me out and to show my appreciation for our date.”

  Did he really just say that? Ugh. He was stumbling around like a buffoon and making himself look like a child. Steve would rather be facing a group of ten men with swords than doing this. There he knew what to do, his training would take over. Here, he was lost and jumbled up.

  “Aw. You’re sweet.” Lindsey appeared to mean it. Her attitude helped Steve relax just a bit.

  The Marine walked over to her and handed her the gift. “It’s not much. I didn’t know what to get.”

  “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  Steve shrugged. “I wanted to.”

  The engineer smiled. “Thank you.”

  She opened it, and her smile grew. “Nice. This is some advanced stuff. Can’t get this back home.”

  “That’s Mars for you.” Steve had hoped since they were here on Mars it would make the electronics better. Turned out his guess was right. “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I do.” She set it down and hugged him. “Thank you, Steve.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter Six

  That night, Rea stood on the bridge planning for the mission when Nicole entered. Rea had been expecting Steve and Aldis to join her soon, but Nicole was welcomed any time she wanted to appear.

  “Captain,” the CATT said, her voice flat and natural. “I have some new information.”

  Rea didn’t like the sound of that since any time the CATT said that phrase, things tended to go badly for them.

  “Do tell.”

  “I don’t know a lot,” Nicole said. She paused as if thinking or talking to an invisible person. “But both a pirate and an officer in the Navy are interested in the cargo too.”

  Rea groaned. “You mean we might have to avoid both? We’ve dealt with that before. But I don’t like it.”

  The CATT made what Rea figured was a shrug. It was tough to tell since she was a robotic cat. The gestures weren’t all the same. “Take it for what it is. A few people want this and will do whatever they can to get it.”

  It was part of the smuggling life. People always wanted what you had and were generally willing to cross lines to get it. Rea thrived on making sure they escaped unscathed, but it troubled her that Nicole felt the need to point it out. Nicole speaking at all meant something in and of itself.

  “You can’t or don’t know the pirate?”

  Nicole went into what Rea called her ‘switch to cat mode.’ She licked her tail and paused to look up at Rea.

  “Don’t know what pirate. Just that it isn’t Drake. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was involved somehow.”

  Rea did not doubt Drake was behind this latest threat. Her brother was involved in every job they took recently, and that frustrated her to no end. Being one step behind and not being able to predict his next move infuriated her. Drake really wasn’t her brother. That boy had died years ago and turned into this man.

  “I’ll keep an eye out.”

  “Good.”

  The bridge door opened, and both Steve and Aldis walked it. It was time to plan for tomorrow. Rea knew planning would make the Marine happy and they worked well together.

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, Rea and most of the crew left to get the cargo they would be transporting. In the contract, the person specifically asked for them not to look. Before, that wouldn’t have bothered Rea at all, but after the Stone of Detroit incident, she was a little paranoid.

  The captain turned to Parker as they walked to the meeting place. “You going to not look at this one?”

  It was a low blow to the young girl, but Parker had disobeyed a direct order to not look once before. Rea wanted to make sure that she listened this time.

  “I won’t look,” Parker answered. “This is different.”

  It was, and it wasn’t. According to Nicole, this was related to Taylor and Drake if only tangentially. They were not on New Detroit, and that had been the main reason Parker had looked at the cargo before.

  At the meeting place, the crew stood outside, on a loading dock area as a truck was being loaded up with what Rea assumed was the cargo. This time, they hadn’t brought along the whole crew. Aldis and Cody remained at the Rossi with Nicole and B113. Rea wasn’t sure if they were the best combo to leave behind, but Steve had insisted on it. The crew had agreed to never leave the ship empty again. They had all learned a hard lesson on the last smuggling run.

 
; At least Aldis could fight, and Cody was still too new to trust alone. Even Aldis had said it would be okay. Rea tried to believe it and agreed to leave them there. But no matter how much Aldis’ working relationship with Nicole had improved, Rea feared they would never truly like each other.

  A stocky man approached them. “Dodge?”

  Rea nodded. “I am.”

  He crinkled his nose in irritation, he had been looking at Steve and not her when he spoke. This guy clearly thought the captain of a ship should be a man. He was ‘old school,’ and it must have confused the guy. Apparently, not everything on Mars was progressive.

  “The truck is all yours.”

  A minute later, the cargo was sealed up and ready for them to drive away. Steve took the helm and drove with Parker next to him. Rea and Lindsey rode in the back of the truck with the cargo sealed inside of boxes.

  Riding in the back was not the best place to be, but they wanted to take every precaution they could. Both Rea and Lindsey had weapons to defend the cargo if someone tried to steal the truck and cargo.

  The ride in the rear of the truck was bumpy. It threw both the women around like rag dolls.

  “This is terrible,” Lindsey said bouncing against the truck wall. “Why am I back here and not up front again?”

  “You know how to use the weapon.”

  “Oh, yeah. I need to forget how to next time.”

  Both laughed, neither wanted to be here, but Rea and Lindsey would do their job. Rea prayed it went smoothly. Just once, she would like a job to go well with no pirates, no Navy, and most of all no Drake.

  But Nicole had warned her. That meant it was bound to go bad and most likely sooner rather than later. That was the part that enraged Rea.

  The truck bounced them along for several minutes until they suddenly stopped. Both were thrown to the side. Rea landed on the floor of the truck, with Lindsey on top of her. That wasn’t good.

  Muffled screams sounded for the outside. Both quickly stood and got ready for the rear to be opened. Time slowed for Rea as she waited, hoping that Steve and Parker were okay. The Marine could protect them both, but whoever attacked them could have struck him first.

  If they did, they would be in some serious trouble.

  The rear door slid up, and Rea tensed. As did Lindsey, ready to fire.

  The first person they saw was a young man dressed poorly. Rea fired at him. She didn’t want to kill him, but she knew he wouldn’t be as friendly to her.

  She hit him on the shoulder, and he screamed.

  Rea and Lindsey edged their way to the opening of the truck. No one else was in sight, but screams rang around them.

  “Wait here,” Rea said.

  “Roger.”

  Lindsey remained in the rear while Rea jumped down to investigate. The young kid she shot lay on the ground moaning. He couldn’t be much older than Parker. His hand still clutched the gun he had. Rea kicked it away and left him. He wouldn’t be a problem.

  Peeking around the ship, she spied Parker in hand-to-hand combat with a pirate. Somehow, pirates had gotten onto Mars and had attacked them. Rea’s face crinkled in disgust. So much for the difficulty of getting through Mars security layers.

  Not far from Parker, Steve battled a half-dozen men. Just as many lay on the ground, already knocked out from his attack. Rea was amazed at his ability to fight so well against overwhelming odds. If superheroes were real, Steve was one of them.

  Off to the side, watching it all was a familiar face, one who shouldn’t be here. Kate O’Malley had promised to take care of him and to make him pay for his crimes, though what that really meant Rea wasn’t sure. Pirate justice didn’t necessarily mean the same as it did for the rest of the Empire.

  Previously, the young pirate Roberts had been with paid by Drake to attack them and steal their cargo as they transported it to New Detroit. He had a fleet of small space fighters then. The young pirate nearly overwhelmed them.

  Roberts smirked at Rea when he saw her. In truth, Rea couldn’t be to mad at the young man. They had kidnapped him and then turned him into Kate O’Malley. It really shouldn’t be a surprise that he was out to get them.

  But how he and Kate knew they were here baffled the captain. It wasn’t like she or anyone on the ship told a single person. Rea made a mental note to ask Nicole and Aldis if they had been hacked.

  Rea got on her comms. “Aldis. Under fire.”

  It was a few minutes later that he replied, “Roger.”

  <<<>>>

  Hearing that the rest of the crew was under fire wasn’t good. Aldis went to work prepping the Rossi for their return. They would need to be ready for the cargo. Leaving as fast as possible was the key. They would have to be ready to take off. At least, Lindsey had the engine and jump drive ready for the most part.

  “Check the systems,” Aldis said.

  “Roger,” Cody said. He was typing furiously over the console when the ship power went out.

  “What the…”

  In all Aldis’ time on the ship, this had never happened before. The backup power turned on.

  Nicole walked into the bridge. “My fault. You’ll need to restart the ship.”

  Aldis rolled his eyes. Of course, it was her fault. The hacker didn’t want to know what she did, but it was still a pain in his butt. “Okay.”

  Then it dawned on him, Aldis had never rebooted the Rossi. This would be a pain in the butt, and they might need to get out of here fast.

  “Oh, crap,” Aldis muttered. He checked his comm device. Dead. He was supposed to contact the police to distract and scare away any attack. “I can’t get the police.”

  Nicole looked up. “No worries. I took care of it.”

  Aldis groaned. She hadn’t bothered asking or telling him. He would have gone into a panic if she hadn’t told him. “Good.”

  The ship’s manual was a dry read. This was one time that Taylor being gone really slowed Aldis down. Taylor would be able to do this without even thinking about it. It would’ve been second nature to the man. He had shown Aldis once over a year ago, but the hacker hadn’t pay that much attention. Now he was paying the price.

  To restart the ship, there was a series of button and levers to push in the proper order. Luckily, it wasn’t too much. The two men worked with a fervor to get it going.

  Panicked sweat poured down Aldis. He looked out of the ship and saw the others arriving. They were driving in at breakneck pace, but they wouldn’t be able to get on the ship with no power to open the hatch.

  Just as the truck pulled to a stop, the Rossi flickered and went back to full power.

  The CATT walked over to Aldis. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell them about this.”

  Aldis laughed. For once, he had something on the CATT. This might be something to have for future benefits.

  Chapter Eight

  Steve fought the men around him. It had been a sudden attack and a decent one. They had rammed them off the road and surrounded them fast with dozens of men and vehicles.

  The Marine leaped out of the truck with Parker on his tail. The closest attackers fell quickly with a series of swift kicks to their knees and legs from Steve. Parker used a knee to the groin. Rapidly a swarm of men surrounded the pair. Steve went into his offensive attack mode. He never carried any weapons, save for a knife, but that wasn’t for fighting. The Marine closed the gap between him and another. The warrior easily avoided a telegraphed punch and landed an elbow to the face of the man.

  On the other side of the circle Parker continued holding her own, Steve couldn’t watch too closely. The kid fought dirty, just the way Steve trained her. With her size and strength, she needed to get close and hit fast. It worked best if she hit the men in vulnerable spots. She aimed for the groin, kidneys, and knees. Her small size and speed caused the attackers to underestimate the danger.

  Steve moved to the next man. As they fought the men around them, their lack of advanced training became obvious. These were definitely local
hires. They had little of the formal training or experience many Martian employers preferred. It was no wonder that Steve was making quick work of tearing through them.

  Scanning the area, the men were spreading out, wising up and seeing they were outclassed, by both Steve and Parker. The warrior knew that soon they would start using the weapons they carried. Rea had better get here and help. Steve was good, but even he couldn’t take out a platoon of men firing guns. Not alone at least.

  Roberts stood off to the side. Steve was going to have Rea’s hide for that one. He was supposed to be locked up in prison. They should have taken him to a different planet and not back to Celtica.

  Clearly, they hadn’t punished him for long enough. If Steve had his way, the kid pirate would not see the light until he was so old that his skin sagged. Now, the Marine wanted to kill him. Twice, Roberts attacked them with a large force, and he never played fair.

  Rea appeared from behind the truck. She stood there for a moment taking it all in. Eventually, Rea opened fire on the thugs who weren’t close to Steve or Parker.

  Roberts smile faded as Rea made quick work of his men. Sirens sounded in the distance. Local interference didn’t bode well for either Roberts or them. They didn’t want the authorities involved in this at all.

  “Time to go,” Roberts said. “I’ll be back.”

  The thugs who were still standing ran to him. Those on the ground would be rounded up and investigated by the locals, but they most likely wouldn’t be able to talk. They would just know that they were hired to attack a truck, not the why and hopefully not the who.

  Rea sprinted over as the thugs left. “Aldis knows.”

  “Good.” Steve scanned the area. “Tell him we’re coming in hot.”

  The captain nodded and contacted Aldis. Steve and Parker climbed back to the truck. Luckily, it started back up. After the sudden stop and the fight, there was a chance a stray bullet might have damaged it. The team loaded back up. Then they sped through the city back to the Rossi and the waiting crew.