Sergei clenched his jaw. That wouldn’t happen.
The bigger man jerked his head at his buddy, a watch-my-back gesture, then took another step toward the woman, his hand outstretched. “We’ll change your mind. I promise you.”
Sergei jumped to the ledge, then leaped to the ground, the silencers in his boots ensuring he didn’t make a sound as he ran toward the trio, not that he would have, anyway. He had been taught well. His favorite serrated knife was already in hand, a weapon that didn’t set off alarms on bases, not the way laser pistols often did. The bladed weapon was far more than he needed to deal with these two.
But the situation had changed in the second he had been leaping and running. The woman had tossed her tool into the big puddle at the men’s feet. Sparks of electricity flew up from it, and Sergei had the opportunity—the utter pleasure—to witness two idiots being electrocuted.
Oh, they staggered back out of the puddle, their hair sticking out in all directions, before being fried into crisps, but the big one had taken enough of a hit that he tumbled to the ground, his hands clutched to his chest, like he was afraid his heart would leap out if he didn’t hold it in tightly.
The woman turned and ran, her eyes wide with fear, as if she worried she would be punished for her audacity, or maybe she worried they would recover and come after her. No, they wouldn’t be attacking anyone else any time soon.
Sergei had slowed to a trot as the scene played out, but he now found himself in the woman’s escape path. He hadn’t intended to block her or impede her, but she must have seen him as another potential threat; she grabbed another tool out of her pocket, this one a simple pair of pliers, nothing with electrical wiring.
Sergei halted. He had no wish to have anything twisted or pulled. Not wanting to appear threatening, he dropped his head into a bow. A graceful bow, he thought. Maybe he could apply for the position of chivalrous knight, after all. “My apologies, miss. I had intended to come assist you with the removal of the trash that someone left on your dock, but I see you’re quite capable of dealing with refuse disposal on your own.”
She glanced warily toward the men. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the plier handles. She must not electrocute people often. “I just didn’t want anything to do with them.”
“I thought not.” Sergei found it remarkable that she had so easily resolved the situation when she clearly wasn’t a trained combatant. And damned if she wasn’t even more alluring down here, up close. He hadn’t been able to see the freckles from his distant perch. They were delightful, sprinkled across her nose and cheeks.
She turned her wary eyes on him, and he realized that he had been staring at her and also that he was… aroused. How embarrassing. And inappropriate. Some knight. It was a foregone conclusion that she didn’t want anything to do with him, either. She must be wondering if she could trust his words, or if she would need to find a way to electrocute him too. Having observed the other men’s faux pas, he was not foolish enough to stand in a puddle—just in case she could do more with those pliers than he thought.
“Just one quick question if I may,” Sergei said, hoping to distract her with his words before she thought about looking down, not that she looked like the sort of girl who ran around checking out men’s crotches. “I’m looking for a mercenary shuttle that was supposed to be docked here—at least that’s the message I received. You wouldn’t have seen it, by chance? Mandrake Company.”
“Oh.” The woman blinked and lowered her pliers. “Are you Sergei Zharkov?”
It was his turn to blink in surprise. “Yes… And you are?”
“Me? Jamie Flipkens. We’re with Mandrake Company.” She waved toward the shuttle. “Sergeant Hazel is expecting you.”
Sergei gazed at the pink hull a few feet away from him. “Sergeant Hazel rode down in this… this?” He held back a more derogatory word; for all he knew, this Jamie Flipkens had picked the color. No, probably not. She had said her employer was inside. That was likely the person responsible.
Jamie smirked. “Not happily. We’re not actually a part of Mandrake Company—Ankari, Lauren, and I—but we had some clients down here, and when the captain said he needed someone picked up, we volunteered. Well, Ankari volunteered. She still dotes on him.” Her smirk broadened.
Sergei stepped back, more shocked by the idea of a woman doting on Mandrake than by the idea of a pink shuttle docking in the mercenary ship’s bay. “Does he… dote back?” he asked, morbidly curious.
“Oh, yes. Every time they cross paths, they’re either giving each other puppy eyes or dragging each other off into closets. Or shuttles. You have to be careful to knock if you don’t want to walk in on something. Even on closet doors.” Her smirk faded, her eyes growing self-conscious. “Gosh, I shouldn’t be babbling on about this, should I? I don’t even know who you are. I mean I know your name, but not if you’re old friends or old enemies. Or, uhm.”
He had been quite enjoying her babbling—her defenses had gone down, and she’d had the most lively and tickled eyes as she shared this insider knowledge. “Old friends,” Sergei decided on, even if their relationship had been more complicated than that. She probably wanted the simple version. “We served together in the Fleet. If he’s found a woman who makes him happy, I’m pleased.”
Sergei wondered if he would ever find a woman who would make him happy. If only he could successfully retire and find a second career that was less likely to appall the opposite sex. Oh sure, there were those rare women who were employed in the same field, who had the jaded and cynical outlook on humanity that went with it, but he’d never had much luck making those relationships work. Probably because he was more drawn to innocence. And freckles.
Hearing someone’s approach, Sergei shifted to face the newcomer before she spoke. He should have noticed the approach much earlier, but he had been enjoying making Jamie’s acquaintance.
“Zharkov,” Sergeant Hazel said. “Kill anyone yet today?”
Jamie’s eyes widened at this greeting. Sergei sighed. Hazel respected his abilities, but not the way he used them. She didn’t look like she had changed much in the two years since they had last met. Sturdy and strong with her dark hair pulled back in a bun so tight it wouldn’t dare frizz, she could match most of the mercenaries in the company on the judo mat, and she was an expert marksman with numerous weapons, including throwing knives.
“Not since Thursday,” Sergei said.
Hazel grunted, probably not knowing whether it was a joke or the truth. It was the truth. He had been out of retirement for the last couple of months, hating that the work called to him, but unable to settle for anything less exhilarating.
“Joining the company again?” Hazel didn’t sound thrilled about the idea, but she wouldn’t openly denigrate him; there were few who would.
“It crossed my mind, but for now, I’m just here to warn the captain.”
“About what?”
“The guild sends out a weekly bulletin with new jobs listed on it. Someone is offering fifty thousand aurums for Viktor Mandrake’s head.”
* * *
Jamie glanced at Ankari, amazed her friend, employer, and business partner appeared so calm. “Aren’t you worried?” she whispered, her hands resting lightly on the pilot’s controls.
They had left the dock, with Jamie plotting a course back into orbit, to where the Albatross waited. There wasn’t much on the console that demanded her attention, but it worried her to think of the captain in danger. Sure, he had thrown Jamie and the others into the brig when they had first met, but he had turned out to be a decent man beneath the gruff exterior, and he certainly treated Ankari well.
“I’m worried,” Ankari said from the co-pilot’s seat. She couldn’t fly, but nobody else aboard could, either, so it didn’t matter much who sat up there. “But I assume it’s not the first time someone has ordered his death.”
“It’s not,” Sergeant Hazel said from the row of passenger seats against the wall. The other comba
t shuttles in the company had a couple of rows of seats like that, and room in the back for battle armor and racks of guns, but Jamie had helped Ankari remodel this one into more of a medical clinic with thrusters. There was a curtained-off space for procedures to be performed, along with counters full of equipment for Lauren’s research. Lauren was back there now, as usual, ignoring the safety regulations in order to work. Their new passenger preferred to stand, too, and had claimed a corner where he could observe everyone. “He’s had assassins after him numerous times. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the warning though.” Hazel lowered her voice to a mutter, and Jamie almost missed the added, “Assuming Zharkov isn’t here to claim the prize.”
Jamie thought to point out that Sergei had said he and Captain Mandrake were friends, not enemies, but it would be naive to trust his word on that. Hazel obviously knew the man, and Jamie liked and trusted Hazel, even if she was as taciturn and gruff as the captain. Jamie might be wise to take her cues from the sergeant and steer clear of their visitor.
Something about that thought gave her a twinge of chagrin. It was strange, especially given the implications of what he might do for a living, but he had struck her as a man who needed a friend. She had noticed his surface features, of course: curly brown hair that would be a wild tangle if it weren’t cut short; intent, dark brown eyes that seemed to miss nothing; and a few days’ growth of a mustache and goatee. The facial hair accented his strong jaw rather than coming across as the afterthought of someone who couldn’t be bothered with shaving regularly. But it was more the suggestion of what lay beneath the surface that Jamie remembered, a saturnine moroseness that hung about him like a cloak. He needed a friend… and a reason to smile. She imagined he would be quite appealing if he smiled.
“He’ll know how to handle it,” Ankari said firmly.
Jamie nibbled on her lip. She had wanted to discuss something with Ankari during this excursion, but this might not be the time to bring it up. But if not now, when? She kept putting it off, and she was running out of time if she wanted to apply. She had hoped to bring it up while Lauren had been working with the patients and Sergeant Hazel had been off on her errand, but the shield generator had been on the fritz, and then those two louts had distracted her, leering at her every time she bent over, then finally coming over to harass her. She ought to be used to the leers by now; it wasn’t as if the mercenaries were any better, most of them, anyway.
Jamie blew out a breath. Yes, that was one of the reasons she needed to bring this up. If not, she would be stuck on the ship forever.
“Ankari…”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been thinking about… well, I’m not really qualified to be your engineer and pilot, as you’ve doubtlessly noticed.” Jamie flushed to think of all the times she had pulled up technical manuals and instruction guides on her tablet while she was piloting.
Ankari’s mouth drooped open. In surprise? Dismay? Jamie didn’t want her request to cause any hard feelings. Ankari and Lauren were her only real friends outside of her own planet, and the way she had left home… she wasn’t eager to return anytime soon. Her father wouldn’t understand.
“Jamie, you’re doing great,” Ankari said. “You’re barely twenty, and the fact that you already are an engineer and a pilot, that’s amazing. Most people go to school for years for each of those occupations.”
Yes, school, exactly what Jamie wanted to do. “I know. And then they’re prepared for things that come up. They don’t have to look everything up in the middle of an emergency.”
“You’re doing fine. You’ve more than earned your share of the company.” Ankari smiled. “Which is turning profitable now, shockingly enough.”
“Yes, I’d heard that. That’s why—well, I’ve been wondering. I don’t really fit in on the ship.” Jamie scowled at her hands. She was doing a horrible job of this.
“Not many women do.” Ankari smiled again, glancing back at Sergeant Hazel. Fortunately, Hazel was watching or reading something on her tablet and didn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation. “But I didn’t realize—are you unhappy there? I know I didn’t take a vote before negotiating for the shuttle and our current lab space on the Albatross, but that was born out of desperation.”
“I know.” When Jamie, Ankari, and Lauren had first crossed paths with Mandrake Company, they’d had a bounty on their heads. The captain had meant to turn them in until Ankari had convinced him that the real criminal was the finance lord who had placed the bounty. At some point, she had also managed to hire the mercenaries in a sense, garnering protection and space to work in exchange for a share of the company. Jamie thought it had been smart. It was just her own situation that made things uncomfortable. She didn’t know how to deal with all the male attention she received on board, and she spent a lot of time hiding in the shuttle or in the tiny cabin she shared with Lauren. “The ship is fine. And for you, I’m sure the crew is really nice and, uhm, polite.” Nobody would dare cross the captain, or his girlfriend.
Ankari’s smile shifted to a scowl. “Is someone bothering you?”
“No one specifically. I wouldn’t want… I mean, it’s nothing that the captain should be bothered about. Nobody’s tried to hurt me or force me to do anything. It’s just that…” She glanced back. Even if Hazel was reading, and Lauren and Sergei were too far back to hear the conversation, this wasn’t something she wanted to talk about in public. This was why she had hoped to catch Ankari alone. “What it’s really about is that I’d like to go to school, to a real university, so I could learn the things I’m just playing at now. Engineering, probably. I like piloting fine, but I like tinkering more, trying to fix things, make things sometimes.”
Ankari leaned back in her chair. “Oh. I hadn’t realized.”
“It’s nothing about you or Lauren or the captain. You’re great. I just feel like I don’t know enough, and that I should fix that, especially when people’s lives might be at stake.” It was a partial truth, but it sounded good, or at least plausible, she thought. In truth, the on-the-job training she was receiving from Lieutenant Sequoia and Lieutenant Chang was probably at least equal to what she would learn in school. They had already taught her a lot about engineering and piloting that wasn’t mentioned in the books.
“Of course,” Ankari said. “I should have realized that might be an aspiration for you. You should go to school, study whatever you like. I’ll miss you, of course, but you are young to being running around with a bunch of grumpy, middle-aged mercenaries, and you certainly don’t have a combative personality.”
No kidding. Someone had finally noticed she would rather shy away from confrontation and avoid trouble with people altogether.
“I won’t hold you back, if that’s what you were worried about,” Ankari added.
That was part of it, but there was also the matter of money. What would Ankari think about Jamie’s plan to sell her share of the company to pay for tuition and board?
“Thank you,” Jamie said. “I also wondered about—”
A bleep came from the control panel.
“Proximity detector,” Sergeant Hazel said.
Jamie bit back a grimace. She would have known that without help. “There’s a ship coming toward us, a one-person fighter. Judging by its trajectory, it originated on the planet and not on one of the cloud cities.”
“The planet?” Hazel asked. “I thought the government made sure they didn’t have spaceflight capability down there. Or even a way to get to the aerial cities. Are they going to pass by us, or is it—”
“An interception course,” Jamie said, watching the monitors. Another warning beep sounded. “His weapons are hot.” She had the presence of mind to flip on the shields, but her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest. The only other time she had been fired at, their craft had been destroyed. What little she remembered of the crash flashed through her mind. Her breaths sounded in her own ears, too fast and hard. She forced herself to slow them down. Hyper
ventilating was never good, especially when one was the pilot.
“Do your best to evade them.” Ankari didn’t sound nearly as panicked as Jamie felt. “The Albatross will see that we’re in trouble.”
Evade them. Sure. The shuttle was still in the planet’s gravitational pull, following a higher orbit than that of the new ship, but Jamie didn’t know enough to judge how different pulls would cause the respective ships to react. She turned off the autopilot and took the helm, hoping her instincts would be enough to get them through this, and promising herself that she would start working on the giant file of navigational math problems that Commander Thatcher had sent her, so long as they survived this.
A shudder ran through the shuttle. The fighter had fired its lasers. It was too far back to do any damage, but that might not be the case for long.
A shadow loomed at Jamie’s shoulder. Hazel had unstrapped her harness and stood. She gripped the back of Jamie’s seat. “This is still a combat shuttle, even if it’s pink.”
“Yeah, but I’m not a combat pilot. I’m not even licensed legally yet.”
Ankari glanced at her. “I thought you were licensed on your planet.”
And so her fibs had finally caught up with her; she would have done anything to escape her family’s restrictive rural life, especially after her mom had died. She had spoken fast and lied faster when she had promised Ankari she was qualified to be her pilot and engineer. “I am. To fly crop dusters. You want your cornfield fertilized, I’m your girl.”
“We have bigger engines, more power,” Sergeant Hazel said. “Push us to maximum. You should be able to stay ahead of him. Markovich, you didn’t have the missiles taken out did you?”
“No, all of the weapons are still there,” Ankari said.
“Good, either start shooting them or let me in there to do it.”
Mandrake Company- The Complete Series Page 51
