He kept his hands up.
“Lord on high, what a tantalizing man you are, Captain Lawless.” His face, sweet and deceptively young, balanced his eyes, which were wise and old. He had a rugged body worn in all the right places… She shook off the distraction.
“Lock it down, Shar.”
A booming crash shook the derelict ship like a dog with a chew toy. Jace and his crew jumped as every door and hatch in the whole ship sealed off all at once.
“Open the hold, Shar.”
The circular cover twisted. Tan and Bavin rushed forward and pulled it away.
“Clear?” Kraft kept her gaze pinned to Jace.
“Clear,” Shar said over the derelict ship’s com.
“Time?”
“Forty.”
Her captive stood, hands up, shaking his head and glaring at her, mumbling how just once a job could have gone easy. She felt for him. She knew exactly the fit of his boots. His crew, his ship, his life—she could take it all.
And they both knew it.
Chapter Three
“I hate to be so forward, Captain Lawless, but I insist you be bare.” Kraft nodded to his hips.
“Of what?” Jace asked. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind of what this woman could do to him. Not all of them wholly unpleasant.
“Weapons. Not clothes.” She considered. “Unless you’d like to take them off.” She dropped him a saucy wink. “I’m a bit short of time at the moment, but I wouldn’t mind a quick dance in your trousers.”
Gritting his teeth, he dropped his pistols, a dagger, and put his hands back to level with his shoulders. If she had taken an interest in him, perhaps he could distract her long enough—Kraft dropped her blade tip to his heart.
“You have a chance to live to fight another day, Captain Lawless.” Her voice rolled soft and seductive. “Foolish to spoil it now.”
Could she read his damn mind? He looked at the blade to his heart, and then up to his captured crew. “Let them go.”
Fathomless black eyes pinned him. “You’d give me the hold and yourself in exchange for your crew?”
“If you’d honor such a trade,” Jace said.
“They say there is no honor among thieves.”
“Is that what they say?”
She considered him, her gaze seeming to delve right into his soul. “Let us suppose there is honor among thieves. What would that make you? Honorable, or a thief?”
“Both?” He shrugged.
Her eyes lit up. “An honorable thief?” She pondered the idea. “Tell me, Captain Lawless, would your crew hold to your word when you are in mind not to?”
“They stood down,” Jace pointed out. “What more do you want?”
“You itch to grab my blade and turn it on me.” Her dark eyes stripped him.
“There’s an idea,” Heller snarled.
Jace wished Heller would shut the hell up for once.
The gigantic armor-clad woman behind Heller gave his bonds a yank, and he yelped like a pup.
“Don’t hurt him, Danna. Not yet.” Kraft considered Jace with a speculative gaze that disturbed and aroused him all at once. She flipped three feet of black, linen-bound hair over her shoulder with a toss of her head.
“Can’t we just kill ’em?” Danna asked.
“Wouldn’t be neighborly,” Kraft said. “They haven’t given us a reason to. Isn’t likely they will. I think I found more than a smart man. I think I found an honorable one.”
The women of her crew laughed, but Kraft seemed genuinely perplexed. She examined him like one would an exotic pet of dubious origin. As she did, Jace studied her face. High, sharp cheekbones set off a wide, sensuous mouth. No make-up, but her highly creamed, coffee-colored skin didn’t need enhancement. He’d never seen such stark, powerful beauty in his life.
Heller struggled against Danna, who edged a blade out of her hip holster. Still looking directly at Jace, Kraft said with soft menace, “Move your blade another inch, Danna, and this time I won’t let any doctor reattach what I hack off.”
After a momentary consideration of her right arm, Danna shoved the blade back into her hip holster.
“Got eyes in the back of your head?” Jace asked Kraft. How did she know what he was thinking and what her crew was doing?
“Could be.” Kraft nodded. “Or maybe I just know my crew.”
“Maybe her crew would be happier on our side,” Heller said.
“Fetch!” Danna tightened the rope around Heller’s hands a notch, and when he grunted she smiled, obviously enjoying her work, maybe a little too much.
“Don’t waste your breath,” Kraft said to Heller as she kept her attention on Jace. “Danna hates men. She likes to carve them up like pumpkins.”
“I take it you don’t feel the same.” Jace delved into the blackest eyes he’d ever seen. Huge and dark, but wide and open, staring into her eyes was like looking into the Void and discovering light.
“I got all manner of use for a man like you.” She appraised him as if he were expensive goods she could well afford. “Don’t think you’d be too terribly unwilling.” Her husky voice enticed and mocked all at once.
“Really,” Jace said with terse regard. “You might be surprised. I don’t much fancy a woman with bigger balls than mine.”
Garrett gasped.
Heller barked laughter.
Kraft’s eyebrow drew up.
“If you’re taking notes, sugar-britches, I tend to like my women a touch less deadly as well.”
To his astonishment, Kraft uttered a rolling chuckle that enveloped his whole body. “You surprise me more and more, Captain Lawless.”
Over the com, a female voice said, “We’re locked, Captain Kraft, but his crew can hear us.”
“Good,” Kraft said. “I hope they’re having as much fun as I am. Time?”
“Clear for thirty. Time enough to dance, Captain Kraft.”
Jace didn’t want to unpack that. What could dancing with Kraft mean?
“Well, isn’t this cozy.” Jace leaned against the wall, his hands still up. If Kraft literally wanted to dance with him, she’d have to make him do it at blade point.
“Having a good time?” Kraft asked with a bright smile. “I know I am. Too bad I can’t offer refreshments and have a proper little sit-down chat, but I’m rather in a hurry.”
“Seems to me you’re wasting all kinds of time,” Danna said from behind her.
Kraft silenced Danna with a glare over her shoulder and turned to Jace.
“How’d you find out about this haul?” Kraft asked. “And before you even think about it, don’t lie to me. I’m not in the best mood.” Blade tip to his heart, she asked, “Sugar-britches?” She shook her head. “As compelling as you are, Captain Lawless, I’m apt to kill you where you stand.”
“Glad you cleared that up,” he said, deadpan. “Here I stood thinking you’d come a-courting.”
She did it again. She laughed. Not maliciously, but with abandoned delight. Her blade held as steady as her eyes.
“What a package you are. Clever, funny, honorable, and like icing on the cake, you’re real pretty too.”
Jace thought again of grabbing her blade.
With a raised eyebrow and a light tap that slashed a hole in his shirt without drawing blood, Kraft said, “You’re not that pretty.” She dropped her smile like a bad habit. “Who sent you here?”
Figuring the truth didn’t matter, Jace said, “Feller by the name of Trickster.”
Kraft swore in what sounded like German.
“I’ve got no idea what you’re saying, but it sounds awful bad.” Jace kept his hands up, wondering what the hell was going on now. This woman changed moods quicker than water went through sand.
She pulled her blade back, and he lowered his hands.
She lifted her blade, and he lifted his hands.
Kraft swore up a streak of German, English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Universal—a cornucopia of international foul words. He u
nderstood about half of what she said, but he grasped enough to know how she felt about Trickster. She liked the little weasel about as much as he did. Not much.
“Dammit, Kraft, just do it,” Danna said. “We could take the hold, his ship, all of it!”
“I can’t.” Kraft shook her head.
“Then I’ll do it.” Danna reached for her dagger.
“No.” Kraft lowered her blade and stepped back. “I won’t let Trickster set the tune for my dance. Let them go.”
“What!” Danna exploded. “We’re a heartbeat from scoring—”
“You knew my code when you signed up with me, Danna. I’m not twirling you anywhere you didn’t consider going.” Kraft kept her voice low and calm, but filled with quiet authority.
“Your stupid code’s your own damn problem,” Danna argued. “We got nothing. If we don’t get this, we’re dead in the Void.”
“I know,” Kraft said. “Likely, so are they.”
Behind Kraft’s back, a snarl darted across Danna’s face, and Jace knew his survival hinged on how well Kraft could control her crew. When Heller opened his mouth to speak, Jace shook his head sharply. Mercifully, Heller closed his mouth.
“Trickster tricked us again,” Danna said. “Big surprise! I don’t see how it can violate your precious code to take our due.”
“If I do this, I lose one of the only two things I have left.” Kraft spoke to Danna yet pinned him with hungry eyes.
“Is this about your honor again?” Danna yanked Heller’s bonds hard. Heller’s face went white with pain, but he didn’t utter a peep.
“Stop hurting him, Danna,” Kraft said, keeping her gaze pinned to Jace.
“But that’s our job!”
“No, it’s not. Our job isn’t about hurting or killing anyone. Our job is to keep flying. And we can do that. So can they.” She nodded to Jace. “There is honor among thieves.”
Jace felt a surge of hope that he could get his crew out of this alive.
“Honor, thieves, dancing—half the time I got no idea what you’re talking about.” Danna loosened her grip on Heller, but Jace could see she had no intention of actually letting him go.
Kraft turned to face Danna head-on. Jace noticed that her linen-bound hair fell to where her fanny met her legs. Clad in faded black dextex, her backside turned out to be just as pleasant to look at as her face.
“Must I dance with you again, Danna?” Kraft asked with soft menace.
Even though Danna stood almost as big as Heller, with full body armor and fifty pounds of weapons, she backed off with a snarled, “No.”
Danna untied Heller.
Heller immediately attacked Danna.
Kraft sheathed her blade and turned to Jace. “I’ll get mine, you get yours.”
Jace and Kraft pulled Heller and Danna apart.
“He started it!” Danna kicked at Heller.
“What are you, five? There’s no reason for us to fight.” Kraft moved Danna back with a glare. “Fair is fair.”
“Yeah, and fair is it’s ours.” Heller lunged at Danna.
“That’s enough.” Jace placed a hand to Heller’s chest. Kraft had him, his back to the proverbial wall, and then let him go. Something about her honor and dancing that he didn’t grasp, but thanked his lucky stars for all the same.
After corralling Danna, Kraft turned to him, lifted her hands, palm open and out. “I’ve got no quarrel with you, Captain Lawless, but Trickster is getting a mite too big for his boots.”
In sudden understanding, Jace said, “Trickster sent you along as well.” He retrieved his weapons, and Kraft made no move to stop him. The intensity of the moment went from Gunfight at the O.K. Corral to tea with his Aunt Bessie.
“Fetch likes to tweak me. Trickster doesn’t take kindly to me being a woman in a man’s world.” Kraft rolled her eyes. “Boy’s got serious issues with his momma, I imagine. He probably figured I’d find the hold empty. Another funny on me. Isn’t the first time he’s done it. Hell, knowing Trickster? We might both find the hold empty.”
Before Jace could answer, Danna said, “You let them have this haul, it’ll be the last time that fetch tweaks you! You know we don’t have the—”
With a glare, Kraft silenced Danna.
Jace wished he had that power over Heller.
Casually, Kraft turned to him. “Way I see it, Captain Lawless, who got here first is up for debate. You want to argue salvage rights until the cold comes?”
“We’re all here for the same thing,” he diplomatically offered.
“I think so.” Kraft nodded. “Me, my crew, we’re not looking to kill or rob you and yours. We just want our fair share off this salvage.”
“As do we,” Jace said.
“Let’s take a look-see at what we got then,” Kraft said.
“Yeah, and if it’s good, you’ll be looking—”
“Shut it, Heller.” Jace seriously considered getting a muzzle for Heller’s big mouth, or a cattle prod. If he couldn’t learn Kraft’s stare-down technique, a zap to Heller’s crotch might suffice.
Jace followed Kraft to the hole in the floor. Once down the short ladder, she turned on the light, and gasped. So did he.
“I hate to be so bold again, but pinch me.” Kraft shook her head. “I think I’m dreaming.” She turned and appraised him. “Hell, let me pinch you.”
For a moment, he was lost in her eyes. “We hit the mother lode.” Cardboard, wooden and metal boxes filled the hold from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.
“Only once—” Kraft grabbed the first cardboard box in front of her then dropped it as if it were full of snakes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She pulled on a pair of worn black gloves and tossed the box to him.
He chucked the box up, out the hole, to Heller.
“Back on Earth, there was a tale of El Dorado.” Kraft tossed him another box. “Man of gold, literally, but too, a mythical city of gold. I don’t know about the man, or the city, but I think we found the supply ship.”
“Looks like.” Jace tossed up another box.
“Trickster had no idea what we would find,” Kraft said. “If you got here first, and found nothing, he figured it’d be funny for me to find it empty too.”
“Even if I found it intact, Trickster wanted you to find it bare.” Jace understood why a misogynistic fetch like Trickster would go out of his way to screw with a powerful woman like Kraft. If not for the problem with Mutiny’s engine, Jace would have been here three days ago. Kraft would have found an empty hold, and he never would have laid eyes on her.
“That’s the general idea.” She tossed him another box of freeze-dried food. “If I find a bare hold, too bad. Trickster just covered his deal. If I find the cache, too bad. He knows he can tweak me on the deal.” She grimaced. “Either way, the little opportunist likes his advantage.”
“Then why do you deal with him?” Jace asked.
Kraft tossed him another box. “Why do you?”
He caught it. “Touché.”
To keep flying, a captain of a thief ship had to deal with middlemen like Trickster. Jace hated it, but didn’t have much of a choice. Captaining a crew of thieves on the Fringe pretty much dictated the bulk of his choices.
Down in the hold, separated from the others, Jace could hear Danna and Heller arguing over how to split the goods.
With an indulgent grin, Kraft asked, “Does it get any better than this?”
Above them, the fighting grew more vocal as Heller and Danna argued over the ammo and weapons.
“Danna is like an unruly child,” Kraft said.
“So’s he,” Jace said of Heller. “An unruly child with a lot of firepower.”
After a chuckle, Kraft climbed up the short ladder and popped her head out of the hatch. “Play nice, Danna. Just separate the goods. Portions and merits will be debated later.”
When the argument simmered down, she dropped off the ladder and back into the hold. Her thi
n-soled, worn black boots didn’t make a sound. Like a liquid shadow, she turned back to work and tossed him another box.
“Why do you think they amassed all of this?” Jace asked. So far they’d found freeze-dried food, electronics, fabric, guns and ammunition. A major haul easily worth 10K.
Kraft shrugged and kept working.
“Do you think they looked to start a new colony?” he asked.
“No.” Kraft removed her gloves. “That first box felt desperate, like they were gearing up for something that wasn’t even real.” Lifting her hands out to the goods, she made light contact with the tips of her fingers, and then flinched back. “Terror ran this crew.”
Jace waited until Heller walked away from the hatch. He touched her bare hand with a cautious finger. “Are you a reader?” Psychic abilities would certainly explain a lot of the questions he had, like how she knew his name, and how she seemed to be able to read his mind.
“After a fashion,” she acknowledged, hedging.
“What fashion would that be?” He stroked her hand lightly with his fingertip. Her coffee-cream skin was surprisingly soft and shockingly hot.
She broke the tentative touch by pulling her gloves on and turning back to work. After all her blatant flirting, her retreat from a simple caress surprised him.
“How did you get right behind me without Heller or Garrett seeing you?”
“It’s a secret.” She winked over her shoulder. “Can’t tell you all my super powers, now, can I?”
Without further comment, they stripped the hold and joined the others above. Danna and Heller erupted into a screaming match of epic proportions over the lone Bartlet Blaster.
“Danna, let him have it. You have one,” Kraft pointed out.
“This one’s better.” Danna inspected the weapon critically.
“Fine. Take that one and give Heller your old one,” Kraft said.
“I don’t wanna,” Danna whined.
“The drama of the gifted child,” Kraft whispered to Jace.
Raising her voice, Kraft said, “Take the new one, Danna, give Heller your old one, and then we’ll split the ammo for it.”
Thief: Fringe, Book 1 Page 2
