“A delivery transport?” Lilah frowned thoughtfully. “I know one of the guys who makes deliveries to the Marquee. I’ll see if he’ll be willing to help us out.”
Jenna eyed their heavy dining table and couch. “I hope he’ll help us carry the stuff out too.”
Jimmy raised his hand. “What, am I just a toadstool or something? I can get your furniture loaded up!”
“Single-handedly?” Jenna doubted.
“You doubt my strength?” he challenged lightheartedly. “I am Jimmy the Strong! I moonlight as a furniture mover!”
Jenna laughed, and even Lilah smiled tiredly. “You can’t moonlight as anything if you don’t even have a day job, playboy,” she reminded in a mock-stern voice.
“You both should be grateful I don’t have a day job,” Jimmy said. “Otherwise how could I have spent all day here helping you?”
“Good point,” Lilah allowed. “But seriously, I don’t know why you came all the way to Zenith just to hang out.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Terra got old. The QE’s got a good reputation, and I’ve got an in through my old man. Why not come hang out here?” Lilah snorted in disgust, but Jenna studied Jimmy thoughtfully. She would have bet money that he was lying. He hadn’t come to Zenith just to party, but what was he doing here? He really didn’t seem to have anything pressing to do. Or anything pressing to do yet.
She wondered if he had anything to do with the mysterious “transportation problem” of the QE West project. Mr. Quintan had specifically stated that the project would not need a welcoming area or a transport landing area since guests would not be arriving by land or by transport. But they weren’t being asked to design a port for sea arrivals either. It was puzzling, and the subject of endless debate among the architect team. How was Quintan planning to get all his guests or his supplies to Marah?
Maybe Jimmy knew the answer to that mystery.
*
The next morning, Jenna and Lilah dragged themselves up early. They had one final day to get out of their apartment. Lilah had gotten another comm from her ex reminding her cheerfully of that fact. Lilah hadn’t bothered to respond. It was probably a good thing, because her profanity-laced response about it to Jenna almost certainly would have made the guy angry. The last thing they needed was for him to call them out now.
“That’s the last time I ever believe anyone is helping me without a cold, hard contract in my hand,” Lilah griped as they struggled to take apart the frame of her bed. “Lousy, unfaithful, selfish, despicable man. Tells us we’ve got a place to live and then turns on us! As if we were squatters! We could have put ourselves on a waiting list ages ago if he’d just said something! The imbecile! The bastard!” Lilah’s language degraded into stronger swearing, and Jenna bore it patiently. Lilah could toss nasty words out with the best of the streetborn, and it was her way of letting off steam. Jenna knew eventually she’d get it out of her system.
By the time they got a chime from the security desk, Lilah had finally settled down and was silently stacking the bed pieces into a pile. Assuming it was their angel-with-a-transport, Jenna went to answer. The door holo sprung to life, showing her a whole crowd of clean-cut young men and women that Jenna didn’t recognize.
“Who are they?” asked Lilah wonderingly, coming up behind her. Jenna spotted the Academy logo on the T-shirt of one of the guys in front.
“Hi there, we were sent by Captain Donnell to help with your move!” a girl next to him chirped in explanation.
“Welcome!” Jenna greeted gratefully. “I’ll clear you right away!”
“Uncle Mark, you are a lifesaver!” she breathed, pressing the button to clear their entry. They were followed soon after by Lilah’s friend with the transport, so by the time the Academy cadets made their way up to the apartment, Jenna had something for them to help with.
The cadets were a loud and cheerful group of three women and six men. Jenna introduced herself and explained their situation. The visitors got right to work, the young man with the Academy shirt organizing their group and determining the order to move everything down through the freight lift to the transport. They talked and laughed and made a lot of wisecracks, but they worked hard, and by the time Jimmy arrived, he was too late to put on his one-man moving show. All the boxes and furniture had been loaded into the delivery transport.
Lilah was thanking the Academy crowd profusely when Jimmy poked his head in through the door. She promised them all free drinks at the Marquee, earning a round of loud cheers from them before they left. Jimmy stood aside and let the joking, chatting crowd pass him in the hall before sauntering into their apartment. Jenna stood behind Lilah and watched him come in. She got chills of pleasure thinking that he had come back again to help. The Academy guys had been nice, some of them had even been really good-looking, but none of them had the same effect on her. What was it about Jimmy?
What was wrong with her?
She shoved away anything other than pure appreciation for all the help they were getting from so many angles. She was not going to get more emotionally involved than that. That way lay extreme danger, she knew.
Jimmy didn’t seem the least disappointed that all the work was done, and he said so. “Guess we can just go out to breakfast, right?” he said hopefully. “I bet you guys haven’t eaten.”
Lilah snorted. “We’ve still got to clean this place, wise guy. Plus the stuff has to be delivered and unloaded at the storage place. You’ve still got a chance to show off, if you want it. Tino can’t do it all.” Tino was Lilah’s friend with the delivery transport.
In the end, Jimmy persuaded them both to have some breakfast after their belongings were delivered to the storage unit. Delivery was easier than Jenna thought it would be. The storage building had portable mag lifts that made removing the boxes easy. Stick one to the side of the box, and the magnets did the rest, lifting the boxes and carrying them directly into the large storage container that would be their temporary home. Jimmy and Tino had to manually move some of the awkwardly shaped furniture, but that didn’t take too long. Then Jenna sealed the pod with her thumbprint, and they watched the massive mag lifts raise it up through the cavernous building and slide it into a storage slot. Jenna sighed, watching almost all her worldly goods locked away in a cube of metal seven stories off the ground. How long was she going to be living out of a suitcase?
Tino declined joining them for breakfast since he had to get going on his regular route, but Jenna promised earnestly to help him with anything she could when he needed a favor of his own. He gave her a silly grin, his cheeks red, and stammered that it was the least he could do. As he drove away, Jimmy gave her a sideways smirk.
“Tino’s smitten with you,” he said. Jenna waved it away, but she knew it wasn’t the first time a guy had acted like an awkward adolescent in her presence. It embarrassed her that Jimmy had noticed.
“He’s just flustered because I thanked him,” Jenna rationalized.
“Aw, come on Jenna. You’re probably the most beautiful woman he’s ever met. He’s going to be dreaming about you tonight,” Jimmy teased. Jenna rolled her eyes, but she wondered. Did Jimmy find her attractive? Would she be the kind of girl he dreamed about? She didn’t know. He made plenty of comments about her beauty, yes, but he never seemed to be affected by her the way other guys were. It was refreshing in some ways.
In others, it made her insecure about her looks for the first time in her life.
At breakfast in a local diner (which Jimmy generously treated them to), Jenna studied him covertly as he wolfed down his omelet. Jimmy was such a puzzle. On the one hand, she was already more comfortable with him than she was with Zane after months of dating him. On the other hand, Jimmy unnerved her more than any man she had ever met. What did he think of her? Did he find her attractive? Did he really enjoy being around her as much as he seemed to? Or was he bored and just amusing himself? Or did he se
e her kind of like a sister, since he was part of Zane’s business family?
She wasn’t sure she liked that idea.
4. Close Call
“Well, now what?” Lilah asked at last. They had finished their breakfast and were now standing on the street in front of the café. “I guess we can find a place to stay tonight, but as for the long term . . . I swore I’d never be homeless again, yet here we are.”
“Well, ladies, it’s not a great solution, but if you need a place to sleep, you can stay in my apartment for a few days,” Jimmy offered hesitantly. “It’s small—I only have one bedroom, but you can share it while I take the couch. It’s better than paying for a hotel while you look for a place to live.” He didn’t think they would accept—they barely knew him, after all. He had first met Jenna only a week ago (had it only been a week? He felt like he’d already been stuck with Jenna swirling in his head for months), and he’d known Lilah only since yesterday. Not to mention that the thought of inviting a couple of girls to invade his personal space was more anxiety-inducing than pleasurable.
In response to his offer, Lilah eyed him suspiciously. Jenna studied him thoughtfully, like she wondered what the catch was. They were both probably trying to ferret out his ulterior motive. “Thank you for the offer,” Jenna responded finally, exchanging a glance with Lilah, “but it would be too imposing to move into your home and make you sleep on your own couch for an indefinite length of time!”
“It’s better than seeing you stay in some flea-infested, run-down dump of a hotel,” Jimmy argued. Did they have those kinds of dives in Omphalos? Probably. They had those kinds of places everywhere. The places where the rates were cheap and the company—the vermin—was plentiful. “Or are you guys honestly able to afford to pay tourist rates?” That would surprise him. They were both young women on their own, and he’d learned enough during six hours of packing with them to know that they had to be careful with their money.
Lilah snorted. “You honestly think we’re reducing to staying in a jungle hop? That or the alley?”
Jimmy shrugged uncertainly. “You just said you were homeless again,” he pointed out.
“I didn’t mean we were homeless like that kind of homeless,” Lilah clarified. She almost seemed offended about it. Or maybe she was just feeling defensive. Thinking back on some of her comments yesterday, Jimmy had a suspicion that Lilah might actually know firsthand what it was like to stay in a “jungle hop,” as she put it. He wasn’t sure, but he imagined it wasn’t a classy kind of place to stay. Jenna put her hand reassuringly on Lilah’s arm.
“You are beyond kind, Jimmy,” Jenna said appreciatively. “But we’ll be fine in the short term. I have an uncle here in Omphalos, remember? He’ll let us stay with him. In fact, I stayed with him for much of my first year in the city. It’s the long term we’re worried about.” Her tone grew anxious. “Omphalos has a pretty serious shortage of rental housing. Since Zenith is a frontier planet, we’ve got a lot of immigrants arriving all the time. They always stay in Omphalos before moving out to new areas, and a good number of those never leave the city. The new construction can’t quite keep up with the demand. New places open up, but we need to get on a waiting list. We’ll probably be living out of our suitcases for the next half a year,” Jenna finished despairingly.
Jimmy listened to her explanation thoughtfully. He hadn’t had any problem getting an apartment. Of course, he was living in Quintan Tower, which was the employee housing for the Quintan Edge, as well as the location of the personal living quarters of the Quintan family. He whipped out his brand-new flipcom, which connected him into Zenith’s digital communications. It was a bit antiquated compared to the ubiquitous visors that were in vogue on Terra, but it had the advantage of being able to display holographic images without being directly connected into his brain. Jimmy thought he liked it better. Quickly he sent a text comm to Zane, explaining Jenna’s and Lilah’s dilemma. He was pretty sure that Zane would come to Jenna’s rescue.
Suddenly, a transport squealed around the corner and barreled toward them. Jimmy hadn’t even started to react when a figure came hurtling out of nowhere, shoving him back toward the door of the café. A horrible grinding and crashing sound of buckling steel and shattering glass assaulted his ear drums, and Jimmy covered his head, expecting to get crushed at any second. But moments passed, and the sound died down, though the dust was so thick that Jimmy started to choke.
It was another minute until he could breathe well enough to get his bearings. He couldn’t see what was going on or if Jenna and Lilah were all right because the hulking form of Grier blocked him, his wide shoulders shutting out the sight.
“Grier, give a guy some space!” He coughed, prodding at the bodyguard’s back. But Grier was firm and immovable like a giant boulder. Not to mention intentionally deaf, because nothing Jimmy said would convince him to move. Where were the girls? Were they all right? Had they been hit?
“Jimmy!” A ringing voice pierced the general confusion on the street.
Jimmy sighed in relief. It was Jenna.
“Jimmy, are you OK?” She sounded panicked.
Before Jimmy could answer, Grier barked orders at her. “Ms. Donnell, get behind me! You too, Ms. Armenta.” Jimmy could see that Grier had trained a weapon on the transport. Good stars above, were they being attacked? And was Grier cracked? Why was he intent on trapping Jimmy in this corner and leaving Jenna and Lilah unprotected?
Both of the girls moved into view, and Grier stepped forward just enough to allow them to huddle next to Jimmy.
“What is going on?” Jimmy demanded, still trying to peer around Grier. All he could see was a large twisted wreck of a transport not far from them and a growing crowd of pedestrians gawking at the mess.
Lilah was the one who finally answered him, her words coming fast and breathless. “That transport skidded up onto the curb and crashed right into the storefront next to us. I don’t know how its magnetic runners lost contact with the road, though! What happened to the driver? He ran right up where you were standing, Jimmy!”
The adrenaline finally caught up with Jimmy. His heart was racing, and his fingers were twitching. If Grier wouldn’t get out of the blasted way, he was going to shove him aside in a moment. Was someone hurt inside the transport? Why wasn’t anyone trying to find out?
Some of the other pedestrians apparently had the same idea as Jimmy. A tall man in a fancy business suit yanked the driver door open. He looked around, puzzled, and then crawled into the transport for a moment before emerging through the driver’s door again. “There’s no one in there!” he exclaimed to the surrounding crowd.
The transport was a drone? That had gone off the mag strips? Something was terribly wrong about all of this.
Grier had relaxed his stance a bit, and Jimmy pushed his way around, joining the crowd that had pulled closer to the transport. Grier stalked behind him. Jimmy looked in the windows of the transport and saw for himself that there was no one there.
“OK, that’s beyond strange,” Lilah commented from the other side of the transport. There were occasional transport accidents when humans were driving. But with AI programmed drones? It was unheard of.
When the local law enforcement arrived and started talking to witnesses, Jimmy had little to tell them. He had seen the transport take the corner way too fast and head toward them, but that was it. They inspected the wreckage, scanned the diagnostic chip, and presumably pulled up the on-file owner of the transport. At first the responders were completely unwilling to share any information, but then Jenna turned on the charm. “I’ve never seen such a thing happen!” she exclaimed to the officer who was taking her witness statement. “It came right toward us and then actually left the mag strips, coming up onto the sidewalk. I had no time to do anything but dash into the street with my roommate!”
“That was quick thinking, ma’am,” the officer complimented, his eyes
fixed on Jenna while he tapped some notes into his tablet.
“I was so worried that someone had been hurt,” Jenna said, her tone sweet yet worried at the same time. The officer looked ready to console her. How did she do that? “But when we got over to the transport, there was no one in there. Was it a registered drone?”
“No, and the diagnostics showed that it was set to auto mode only a few minutes before the crash. Are you sure you didn’t see a driver?” the officer asked again.
Jenna shook her head, her eyes wide. “What does it mean?” she asked.
“Well, the first thing we’ll do is comm the registered owners and see what they have to say. Apparently, it belongs to a business called Logistitec,” the officer explained readily. Jimmy grinned. When Jimmy had asked the same kinds of questions, he’d gotten the brush-off with responses like We don’t know anything yet or I’m sorry, but that’s confidential information. The officer speculated, “It’s possible that it was stolen from them and used in committing some kind of a crime.”
“Like trying to kill someone?” Lilah suggested darkly. The officer looked at her, shocked. “What?” she complained. “They nearly did. Could have killed any one of the three of us.”
“I’m not sure,” stammered the officer, “that’s not really . . .”
“Gibben!” barked one of the other officers. Jimmy guessed him to be the superior. “Shut your trap and just get their information. Make sure we know where to find them if we need them.”
Sometime during the investigation, Grier had melted away into the shadows. He finally reappeared and nodded to Jimmy. “If you are finished here, Mr. James, I have our transport around the corner. I should take you home.”
Jimmy agreed reluctantly. He called Jenna and Lilah, and they followed Grier around the corner. Grier seemed hypervigilant. His head constantly turned this way and that, and he scanned their surroundings relentlessly. It was clear he was taking his bodyguard duty seriously. Grudgingly Jimmy admitted to himself that maybe it was a good thing.
The Quintan Edge (Roran Curse Book 2) Page 4
