by Aaron Hubble
“It’s better this way. I’ll find another way to get the girls back and you can find another sucker to lie to. Have a good life, Luana or Claire. Whatever your name is.”
He turned away from her, but she gripped his arm and spun him around. He found himself eye to eye with her. The broken woman of a moment ago had been replaced by the one he’d seen fight the pirates. The one who’d come through every time when things had gotten tough on this trip. Fire raged in her green eyes. He tried to back away from their intensity, but her grip held him and then pulled him closer. Their noses almost touched. He held his breath, unsure what her next move was going to be.
“You listen to me you spineless SOB. There is no way in all of creation that you’re going to drop me off on some rock while our girls are being turned into some disgusting pig’s sex toy. I will not let that happen. As far as finding another way, I don’t know what you had in mind, but you’re not going to find it with Abram. All you will find is another whiskey bottle to get lost in.”
She released his arm and saw her hands curl into trembling fists.
“Let me tell you something. There isn’t enough alcohol in the world to make you forget them. When you sober up, their faces will be the first thing you see and you’ll hate yourself because here, in this cargo hold, you made the decision to walk away from your best chance of getting them back. That best chance is us working together. You accused me of abandoning our marriage, but what are you doing? The exact same thing, only the consequences are a hundred times worse. If you turn your back on us, you turn your back on them. Our little girls will have their innocence taken away from them. They’ve already lost their real parents.”
She jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m moving forward with or without you. I won’t give up. Not on our daughters. Not on our marriage. I’m going after them. I would rather die trying then spend the rest of my life convincing myself I did everything I could when in my heart I know it’s a lie. That’s what you’ll be doing if you turn your back. Go ahead and be a coward, but I’m going after them.”
Luana stepped toward the door. Her eyes locked on his. “I thought you were a better man than that, Malone Kay.”
She left him standing in the middle of the half empty cargo hold with only his fear, anger, and sadness for company.
The door slid shut behind her and Malone let out a roar of rage. He punched a cargo container next to him.
Pain radiated up his arm.
He stormed around the cargo hold pushing over anything that wasn’t fastened down and letting his emotions fly out in a fit of rage.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Malone slammed his hand into the control panel. He took deep breaths trying to regain some semblance of composure. Behind him, a mess of overturned containers and scattered tools lay on the floor like the remnants of a hurricane.
The door of the engine room slid open. He strode in and looked for something to throw. A toolbox sat on the floor and he decided kicking something would be just as satisfying. The toe of his boot connected with the metal box and it tumbled end over end across the floor and slammed the far wall. The heavy duty latches had stayed fastened and the tools stayed inside.
Much less satisfying than he’d wanted.
He needed to fix something. Needed to get his hands dirty and wrench on some broken piece of machinery. That was the one thing he’d always been able to do. Even when there was a tough problem that took a while to figure out, he always knew if he took off another part, went a little deeper, he would find the problem and know what to do.
It made sense. Machines had a specific purpose and were designed to do that one thing. If they didn’t, you knew where to start looking to fix it.
This…situation. This life. He had no idea how to fix it. It was beyond him and he was a man lost. He felt like he’d been tossed into an ion storm. There were raging clouds of gas and dust spawning new bits of information like stars at every turn and he didn’t know what to do with any of it or with the situation he’d been thrust into.
There seemed to be no way out and he was losing everything he knew to be true and good.
The girls were gone.
He picked up a socket wrench and snapped on the half inch socket.
Luana was leaving.
He crawled under the drive converter where he’d heard a noise earlier. Something was loose.
Carrefour wasn’t an option anymore. Neither was the business he’d worked hard to build.
He placed the socket over a bolt that was indeed a little loose, allowing a metal cover to rattle and tightened it down. Malone wiggled out from under the drive converter and looked around the engine room. He was sure the pump lift could use its oil changed. They were always overlooked when maintenance was done on these little freighters. It wasn’t a huge thing, but it could mean the difference between it lasting a couple years or the life of the ship.
He opened several supply lockers and saw spare parts. On the bottom shelf he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the jug of oil and went back to the lift and took out the drain plug. Black oil spilled into the oil pan.
After a minute, the stream of oil slowed to a trickle. His thoughts turned back to Luana and the girls.
His hands tightened around the wrench as he replayed her words in his head. He wasn’t giving up and he hated her words, accusing him of turning his back on the girls. It was Luana he couldn’t trust. She was the one who had turned her back on them.
Oil dribbled out of the drain in a thin black line. He stared at it. It was like his hope. It had started out strong, but as everything had piled up against him, it had begun to dwindle.
He realized he’d done an exceptional job of convincing himself that he could do this without her. That he could walk away from her and get the girls himself. Then they could start a new life.
Without Luana.
The oil dripped into the pan now.
Malone stared at the ceiling. A little laugh escaped his lips. Luana was right. It was the coward’s way out.
He’d never considered himself to be one. When he was a little boy, he’d had to stand up to his stepfather. He’d walked out the door of their house one day when he was twelve and never looked back. Finding his own way, making a future for himself and those he’d loved had just been the way things were done. He’d done it before. Why couldn’t he do it again?
To have any chance of success, he needed Luana. It hit him all at once. Rushing at him like a torrent of fresh water. What she’d kept from him, what she’d hidden; it was the blessing that would help get their girls back.
He put the drain plug back into the pan and poured the new clear fluid into the lift.
All of these pieces and parts of an engine worked together to make a whole. Each part had its own job, but on their own they were worthless. Just scrap metal that could be bought and sold for a fraction of the cost of the whole machine. But when the parts were placed where they needed to be, where they were meant to be, they worked harmoniously. A cohesive unit.
That’s what he wanted. That’s what he needed. Yes, he could start over again. It wouldn’t be hard to get a business up and running. There were enough little moons and settlements out there that needed mechanics who could take something apart and fix it. But would it be worth it without Luana and the girls?
No.
It would just be an existence and that was something he was tired of. He’d just existed as a child. He’d just existed and survived before he met Luana and then the girls. When they’d come along, they’d given his life meaning and purpose beyond anything he’d known before. Existing had morphed into something greater. They’d become one of the strongest things the galaxy had to offer.
They’d become a family who’d bonded through love.
Each of them was a reject, someone else’s refuse or orphan. They’d latched onto each other and turned the trash into a treasure.
That was worth fighting for. Malone dropped the socket wrench into the tool box a
nd latched the lid.
It wasn’t just worth fighting for. It was worth dying for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Malone found Luana at the little table in the ship’s kitchen, her head bent over the tablet, and her back to him. Yago’s device sat next to her. She had on a set of headphones and was furiously tapping at the screen where lines of code scrolled. He stood behind her and cleared his throat.
Luana continued to stare at the screen. She didn’t move to acknowledge him.
He reached out and gently removed her headphones. She swiveled in her seat and looked up at him. There was still anger in her eyes.
“I can’t do this without you.”
She remained silent, staring at him. Her eyes seemed to soften a bit, the fire subsiding.
“What you can do, will help us rescue Galila and Safiya. I’m just a mechanic, but you’re something special. I’d be a fool not to let you lead this nearly impossible rescue mission.”
He felt a spark of warmth and affection flare to life within him.
“They’re worth it,” he said.
Malone reached down and pulled her from her seat. He held her hands and looked into her eyes.
“You’re worth it.”
Her mouth opened, but she remained silent. She was so beautiful.
It wasn’t hard to see why he’d first been attracted to her. She was everything he could have wanted in a wife; he’d just let so many other things obscure this vision of her. Now, in this little ship, when they were grasping at the last bit of hope they had, he saw her for who she really was.
It didn’t matter that she’d hidden things. That didn’t change how he felt about her. They could work through those things later.
Right now, all he saw was his wife. His partner in life and they needed each other. They fit together like those pieces in the ship’s engine. Worth so much more when they worked together.
He reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. He half expected her to pull away, but she didn’t move. She just stared at him and waited silently.
“The girls. Us. It’s all worth whatever price we have to pay to put it back together. I love you, and I love them more than I can express.” Malone searched his brain for more words, but her face was making it hard to remember the speech he’d prepared on the walk here. He leaned in and kissed her.
Yes. This was what he wanted. This was what he needed. He pulled back and squeezed her hands.
“Let’s go get them.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dust billowed around the sleek silver craft as it settled below the crest of the dune and disappeared from Malone’s sight. He took his hand away from his eyes and blinked away grains of sand that had managed to find a way past his lashes. Luana took several steps forward before Malone grabbed her arm.
“Is this a good idea?” he asked her.
“Absolutely not,” she said, a small smile playing across her lips. “I don’t trust Jonah any farther than I can throw him, but Deep Luna has resources we can’t even begin to imagine. It’s the best chance we have left.”
“How long has it been since you last talked to anyone you used to work with?”
“Fifteen years. After I walked away, I spent a lot of time covering my tracks and disappearing.”
Luana waved him forward and they trudged up the sand dune, leaving Abram and the Olibert with instructions to leave in a hurry if he felt like things were going south.
After five minutes, they crested the dune and stared down at the wedge shaped ship sitting between two hills of sand. The side door of the craft opened and a large man in a white suit walked down the ramp and planted his feet in the sand. Malone watched him cross his arms over his rather ample midsection.
“Apparently, your friend wants us to come to him,” Malone said.
“Jonah likes to play on his own turf and by his own rules.” She fixed him with a stare. “And if you ever call that overweight space cow my friend again, I’ll catch you when you least expect it and use some of my more advanced training to make you sorry.”
Malone held up his hands. “Yes, ma’am.”
She smiled. “Good. Now that we understand each other, let’s get this over with.”
They slid down the dune and stopped about twenty feet in front of the man.
“Claire Grace. My, my. What backwater rock did you crawl out from under? We’d given up looking for you a long time ago,” Jonah said oily.
“It’s not important where I’ve been, but it has been glorious not being in your little world of lies and backstabbing.”
Jonah smiled. “Ah, but you were so good at it.” He put his hands in his pockets. Jonah looked to Malone.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Luana looked at Malone and he nodded. “Jonah, this is my husband, Malone.”
Jonah looked surprised. “Husband? Well, I misjudged you. You never seemed like the kind to settle down.”
“Things change.”
“Apparently.” Jonah was quiet for a moment. Malone could tell he enjoyed being in the position of power. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Nothing too difficult. Just a ship, new identities, and to be on the guest list here.” Luana handed Yago’s hand held to Jonah. He looked at the screen. His eyes widened and he whistled.
“Not asking for much, indeed. This,” he trailed off and shook his head. “This is a tall order.” His eyes flicked up from the screen. “An expensive order. I’m not sure it’s doable.”
Luana folded her arms across her chest and cocked her head. “What’s the problem? Have you lost your touch? Gotten lazy in your old age?”
Jonah arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t say I couldn’t. What I did say was it would be difficult and therefore very expensive. I would need to go through back channels and clear it with Luna intel. Then the higher ups would need to sign off on it.” He looked toward the sky and scratched his head.
“That’s crap,” Luana said. By her tone Malone knew she wasn’t going to let Jonah pull one over on her. “Both of us know that. You’ve always had a blank check to do whatever you wanted and pursue your own pet projects. You can make this happen in an hour.”
Malone shifted and felt the sweat running down his back. The heat was brutal and he hated the way this man was playing with them.
A wry grin spread across Jonah’s face. “I do miss you, Claire. Of everyone who’s come through the program, you were always my favorite. And not because you were the best at what you did, but because you’d stand up to me. I miss that.” He shook his head. “You’re right, of course. I can. But the real question is why would I want to?”
“Because you’re a generous human being who likes helping out an old employee,” Luana countered.
“Hmm. We know that’s not true either. I need something better, my dear.”
Malone frowned. Jonah was a shark, circling them. Readying for the strike. The man made his skin crawl. He could see Jonah was going to ask for something big in return for his help. He grasped Luana’s hand.
“I don’t think this is worth it. We can find another way.”
Luana looked at him. There was a sadness in her eyes that tore at the very core of him. She turned back to Jonah. “Let’s talk alone‒”
“Don’t do it, Luana,” Malone pleaded.
She turned to him. “I need you to go back to the Olibert and wait for a message from me. When we get a deal worked out, I’ll have the information sent directly to the ship. Have the engines warm and ready to go.”
“Luana‒”
She placed a hand on his cheek and gave him that sad look again. “It will be worth it, whatever the price, remember?”
Straightening her shoulders, Luana smiled at him. “Go. We need to do this quickly.” She let go of his hand and walked toward Jonah who led her into his ship.
The protest died on his lips. There would be no changing her mind. She was making the deal and the devil would get whatever price he demande
d.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Are you sure this is going to work, or will I be pulling some crazy maneuvers in order to keep us from being turned into hot slag?” Abram swiveled away from the gleaming control panel. The shuttle they rode in had been part of Luana’s deal with Jonah. Abram hadn’t quit griping about it. Anything but the Olibert was a piece of junk as far as Abram was concerned.
“It’ll work. Jonah’s slimy and untrustworthy, but pulling one over on the EC will be a feather in his cap. He won’t screw us. I guarantee it.”
One of Abram’s hand gripped the yoke while the other accepted the slim data card from Luana. He slid it into the data port. His thick fingers hung over the ‘transmit’ command appearing on his screen. He looked up at Malone and Luana from under his bushy eyebrows.
“You want to sign our death warrants or should I?”
Malone watched Luana lay a hand on the pilot’s shoulder. “By all means. Be my guest.”
Abram closed his eyes and pushed the transmit icon on his screen.
“It’s been nice knowing you two. Exciting. Terrifying. But a lot of fun. Seems fitting that we’ll go out in a ball of flames.”
The screen turned green and then the invite code Jonah had provided them was transmitted to Vina control.
“What some people will do for their kids,” Abram said under his breath.
Malone looked at Luana and they shared a smile.
“We’ll invite you to Galila’s graduation party,” Malone said.
Abram snorted. “Graduation.”
“Shuttle Dallas, you are cleared to enter Europa Collective space and proceed to your designated destination. Do not deviate from your submitted course. Welcome to the new reality, Dallas.”
Abram gave them a questioning look. “Do I thank them?”
“Of course,” Malone said. “Didn’t your mother teach you to be polite?”
