Nisrine wrinkled her nose. “Exactly.”
“Then you’ve learned something from me after all. See you soon, love. My navigator shall send you coordinates tomorrow for a safe meeting spot.”
Upon ending the call, Nisrine moved into the living space to find Kaiden beside the ship’s main viewport. The large pane of reinforced glass revealed the distant shape of the UNE’s home system, pinpricks of color floating in the midnight abyss.
“Have you made the plans with your acquaintance?” Kaiden asked.
“I did. She’ll contact us tomorrow with further instructions.”
“What are we getting into, Nissie?”
Crossing the distance, Nisrine pressed against Kaiden’s back and rested her cheek against the back of his shoulder. “Nothing illegal. She’s a mercenary with a reputation for getting the job done, is all.”
“You trust her?”
“I’d trust her with my life.”
Traveling at light speed, they eventually reached the edges of the UNE and landed on the planet Seth, one of two habitable worlds occupied by cutthroats and thieves. By then, they’d packed up everything of importance from their ship and scrubbed it clean of their presence. Kaiden had spent hours going through the systems to ensure no files or communications remained in the buffers.
“I’ll actually miss this ship,” Nisrine mused. “I hate to see it go.”
“So will I. I feel like I had an understanding with the Robo-Bartender, but it’ll be safer to sell the ship for scrap.” Kaiden fiddled with his hair color while watching his reflection in the mirror. Behind him, Nisrine donned a chestnut brown wig of face-framing ringlets, the longest curls reaching her shoulders. In less than two hours, she’d transformed from a bronzed Astreyan to a busty saloon girl with fair skin and a porcelain complexion. When he looked at her on the surface without tapping into his facial reconstruction software, he saw a young woman of Japanese ancestry, early twenties at the most.
“Better to abandon it. As high as the bounty is on our heads, I wouldn’t trust anyone not to make good on turning us in for the reward.”
“Then we’ve got a distance to travel before we reach Ra-el. Keep the two-seater. Your mercenary friend ought to have the space to accommodate it,” he muttered.
She aided him with applying false facial hair to the scruff he’d already developed. Since all photographs of him were of a smooth, baby-faced man of Asian bloodline, a little makeup magic altered everything. A prosthesis gave him an aquiline nose then played up the features he’d inherited from the Scots-Irish ancestors of his father’s family until he no longer appeared to have any Japanese blood at all.
“How do you do it?” Kaiden asked. He twisted on the chair and studied Nisrine’s face.
“Do what?”
“Become an entirely different person,” he said.
“It’s what I was trained for. I look at it as playing a role, like a character in a book.”
“You play it well. Were we on Xiao, you’d fit in well among the rest of us.”
“And you could be related to the commodore, looking as you do now. Try blond hair, by the way.”
He adjusted his hair color again and chose ash blond. “Which means our enemies shall fail to recognize us and no one will collect their bounty this day,” he said, dropping his Scottish accent in lieu of Ethan’s proper New London pronunciation and tone.
“Perfect.”
He smiled and hefted her heaviest bag. They left the ship behind in a narrow ravine and took the stealth craft into the city, where they parked among the other spacefaring vehicles. Situated on the dark side of Seth, Ra-el existed in a perpetual state of night. Neon lights shone from every building in the chaotic layout.
It didn’t take more than thirty seconds for Kaiden to regret choosing the Amun System. Of course, there was no place better to disappear. Nova Force cruisers didn’t visit it, having lost too many encounters with bands of pirates who knew every rock and asteroid floating through space.
To make things worse, Amun was situated in a literal No Man’s Land, the unsavory in-between separating the colonies protected by the Nova Force from the nations that had fled to Zaecadian space to take refuge under the Lexar’s sworn enemy.
The UNE would have had to assemble for war if they wanted to take Amun, and the queen had decided some time ago it wouldn’t be worth the casualties to the Royal Navy. As the planet was located on the distant side of the universe from their colonies, the Lexar saw policing it as a waste of time.
“This is the place.” Nisrine led them down a crooked alleyway to a door painted with garish viridian paint. Two crossed sabers hung above it.
Kaiden held the door for her. She swept past, long skirts swishing around her ankles. They’d been hiked in the front to expose her thighs and pinned with elegant gold clips to the bottom of her under-bust corset.
Murder and larceny were the milder crimes of the bar’s patrons, the least among them being indecent acts with animals and children. He felt sick to his stomach as semi-translucent boxes zipped into the corners of his vision. Thirteen counts of kidnapping. Aggravated assault. The list continued in an endless stream of terrible acts.
“Don’t stare,” she whispered.
“That man is wanted in three systems.”
“I know.” Nisrine leaned in close, hiding her words by kissing his jawline. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. We have no authority out here.”
No matter which way he looked, alerts flooded his vision, popping up in small, glowing windows. He staggered back a step, overwhelmed by the absurd number of criminals surrounding him.
He had to turn it off. Had to master it. He’d promised to have it well in hand before he met with Nisrine’s contact, and he was no closer now to gaining control over his abilities than he’d been two years ago when the nightmare began.
“Are you going to be all right?” Nisrine asked. She laid a hand on his shoulder.
Kaiden shook it off. He had to overcome it. Looking into her concerned eyes, he managed a weak smile and nod of his head. “Yeah. I’m fine,” he said.
They ordered drinks at the bar that they didn’t touch and idled, wasting time until Nisrine’s contact arrived. At first, he avoided looking around, only to realize he’d never get a handle on his information readout if he ignored people. He drew in a breath then let his gaze wander, lingering every so often on a face.
A few meters from the bar, a group of men and women made wagers over a game of darts, using knives as their chosen projectiles. The current player took his mark, aimed, and threw a trio of blades with varying distances from the red target.
“What are you looking at, dandy boy?” A hulking man with tattoos scrawled across his bald scalp stepped over and blocked Kaiden’s view. “Think you can do better?”
Randall Owens, wanted for drug trafficking in Albion and Paradiso. The information came up on his internal network, but Kaiden managed to shut it off before he received anything more than a scrolling list of aliases. A blonde woman in a fitted, low-cut bodice and frilly lace skirts giggled. Her dossier appeared in a flash and vanished before he got more than a name.
He’d deactivated it twice. Sweet anonymity and mental silence fell over his mind. He sighed in relief then uncrossed his arms and stood. “Yeah, I can.”
“Put your money where your talk is.”
Randall slapped a dagger against Kaiden’s chest and gestured to the target. As he stepped over, the blonde passed him two more while the others moved back. Nisrine remained at the bar, but she twisted around in her seat to watch. Unlike the others, Kaiden detected the way she slipped her hand into her skirts where she’d holstered her weapons to her thigh.
“Well? Whatcha waiting for?”
One by one, he launched the daggers at the target, landing with precision and accuracy less than an inch apart. All in the center. With a smirk on his face, he turned to appraise his spectators.
Randall growled. “No one has that so
rt of aim.”
“I say he’s cheating,” a scarred man at the table drawled.
Kaiden channeled his inner Ethan Bishop, drawing his inspiration from a side of the man his crewmates never saw—only the people who gamed alongside him in Spellbound. “Can you prove that, wankstain, or do you only plan to run your mouth from that chair?” Kaiden asked.
The instigator—Mika Jones, age forty-eight, wanted in eleven systems for—flipped the table as he leapt to his feet, slinging his steel tankard at Kaiden’s face. Joining the brawl, Owens yanked the knives from the board and hurled them at Kaiden. The first two missed and the third bounced harmlessly off his ribs.
Kaiden grinned. Suddenly, he didn’t mind being a cyborg so much.
“Trish, don’t just stand there!” Jones bellowed, his shout kicking their skinny blonde companion into action. “Do something!”
The blonde in the low-cut blouse bashed a bottle against the counter and lurched toward them.
Nisrine intervened, spinning Trish around and using her momentum against her. She shoved the blonde against the bar, twisted her arm up behind her back, and slammed her head to the counter. Kaiden ducked another swing and lost sight of them when a fist crashed into his jaw.
“Fuck!” the scarred man roared out in pain, shaking out his fist. Punching Kaiden in the face had to have broken his hand, the knuckles appearing misshapen and deformed from the blow.
Serves him right, Kaiden thought viciously without pity, taking on a boxer’s stance. He liked a fair fight, and he considered his cybernetics an advantage against his brawny competition. Using his martial arts prowess against them would have been cruel and unusual punishment, because he’d truly wipe the floor with them then.
Too bad their friends didn’t join in to create a real challenge.
Various cheers and jeers came from the crowd, though no one interfered or assisted.
As Owens lunged at him, Kaiden ducked low and caught the man around the hips to launch him over one shoulder. The fellow landed hard on a rickety wooden table, and the legs snapped beneath his weight. Beer sloshed in every direction.
The idiot didn’t give up. Within seconds of leaping to his feet, he threw himself at Kaiden again, feinting for the face then striking Kaiden’s abdomen with a hard left and a right. He must have been prepared for the plasteel muscleweave, unlike his pal, because he barely paused to shake out his bruised fist.
Damn, he’d missed bar brawls, and he didn’t even need his modifications to win, positive he’d have cleaned the floor with them prior to his abduction.
A low buzz filled the air followed by a sharp crack. Kaiden snapped his head toward the sound in time to see a projectile hurtling toward Jones’s ankles. The asshole toppled over and spasmed, a dazzling light web binding both legs together. All his muscles tensed, and his jaw clenched as electricity coursed through his body, but after a few seconds of shimmering in white-violet, the effect fizzled away.
“Now, now children, is this any way to behave in an adult establishment?”
“Aw shit, Abbott, mind your own business,” Randall grunted. Around them, the crowd dispersed.
An attractive redhead stood near the door, flanked by two men with immense, broad shoulders. Their dusters failed to conceal they were armed to the teeth, one with a sawed-off military-grade shotgun, the other with a carbine and a bandolier of explosives. In his head, Kaiden dubbed them the Roid Twins, but felt minutely thankful for their arrival. Criminals or not, he didn’t want blood on his hands.
Even if the fight had been fucking awesome.
The woman and her crew moved further inside. Eyeing Randall, she brushed her thumb over the grip of the old-fashioned handcannon on her hip. “I’ve already kicked your ass once, Owens. Don’t make me do it again in front of your crew this time.”
“What’re they to you, Abbott?”
“Clients,” she replied matter-of-factly. “So I suggest you take your hands off the goods if you want to keep all your fingers.”
Randall lowered his raised fist and took a single step back.
“Good timing, Evie,” Nisrine muttered. She released Trish from the stranglehold she’d held her in and stepped away.
“You always do know how to have fun.” A big grin spread over Evie’s face. “Shall we go? Or did you two want another round?”
“No, I think we’re good.” Kaiden turned his back on Randall and crossed to Nisrine.
“Excellent. This way.”
Their contact led the way through the streets, keeping up a brisk pace. Her tall, purposeful stride brought to mind military training and the hours of drills back in his boot camp days.
“Your fascinating transport is being transferred from the docking bay to my ship. We’ll be good to go in under an hour,” Evie informed them. She activated a heavy security door and then continued through into a personal hangar.
“Thanks, Evie.”
Kaiden whistled when he saw the ship’s specs, a cut above the standard mercenary model but not an uncommon choice for people in Evie’s line of work. The bounty hunters who cared about their business made their career an investment, purchasing only the best equipment, the strongest men, the fastest cruisers.
Although he didn’t know the woman yet, he liked her and his first impressions were of a captain who ran a tight ship.
With a strict handle on his cybernetic vision, Kaiden boarded the Silver Gryphon and avoided eye contact. His shoulders were tense, his spine rigid as he walked. Most people who joined a roving mercenary band weren’t the staunchest, most upright citizens. They were the galaxy’s rejects, licensed headhunters authorized by the crown to hunt criminals in UNE space.
Beside him, Nisrine was the picture of calm, her relaxed posture at odds with his tight frame.
“We can talk in my cabin.”
Evie led them through the bridge, where a large holodisplay of the Amun System floated in the center of the room. Battle-hardened—and sometimes battle-scarred—faces glanced at them in passing. A young woman watched Kaiden curiously with apparent interest in her eyes, then she returned her attention to her terminal display.
“Zinna, take us into orbit as soon as our cargo is loaded.”
“You got it, boss.”
They continued up a narrow set of spiral stairs to the captain’s quarters. Thick rugs covered the floor and paintings decorated the walls, alluding to a love of art. Van Gogh’s original Starry Night stood out among a mix of replicas and original pieces, its worth valued as priceless. Several weapons hung on a rack near a bed, ranging from guns to blades. Evie gestured for them to have a seat on a long, low sofa then sat opposite them in an oversized chair.
“All right. I suppose a full introduction is overdue. I’m Evangeline Abbott, captain of the Silver Gryphon, and since I’ve had the convenience of reading the media’s accounting of your crimes, I’d guess you to be Kaiden Lockhart.”
“That I am. Nisrine says you two are old friends?”
“We’ve enjoyed an adventure or two.” She smiled. “Now, why don’t you two explain to me how you ended up on the most wanted list?”
They told her everything while she listened with exemplary patience.
“There was so much blood and I don’t even know if she’s safe—if she’s actually alive. For all we know the queen is dead and they’re feeding false news until they apprehend us,” Nisrine said in a rush. She had a tendency to babble when she was shaken, and while those moments were infrequent, Kaiden picked up on it and took over.
“Our current ship of assignment was dry docked before we embarked on our mission. Now all members of the Jemison have been detained.”
Evangeline leaned back in her seat. “This is one hell of a mess, Nisrine.”
“I know. We need to gather proof against Agent Estrada. Until we can expose what was done, our families are in danger. They already have my parents in custody.”
“Then we of the Silver Gryphon will do what we must to assist you.”
&nbs
p; But how much would it cost them? Kaiden didn’t know any charitable mercenaries willing to perform pro bono work. “Our accounts have been frozen,” he said. “We’re penniless. Haven’t even a quid to pay you.”
“We’ll settle accounts at the end once your names have been cleared.”
Nisrine’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank you. Though you should also know that I stashed a witness at your old place on Albion.”
The intimidating redhead arched a sculpted brow. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Sorry, desperate times.”
“No, it’s fine, and as much yours as it is mine, considering you set it up.” Evie gave her a reassuring smile before getting back to business. “There isn’t much space aboard Gryph, but I’ve got a spare stateroom that I rent out at times to passengers requiring safe escort. You’re welcome to it, Nisrine. As for you, Mr. Lockhart, there are a couple newly opened bunks in the crew quarters. Will that be satisfactory?”
“Better than,” Kaiden replied. “But a console would serve me better than a bed at the moment. May I use yours, Captain?”
“Of course. Where did you plan on starting?”
“Information. An update on Queen Catherine and some idea of her current security, if at all possible. They went after her once, I wouldn’t put it past them to do so again before she’s able to recover and speak the truth. She’ll have an accident, if she hasn’t already. Her medical care won’t be enough. Something will happen. Nisrine is right to worry about that.”
“Well, my men and I are at your disposal, and if it’s within our ability, we’ll see it done.”
It didn’t take long to remove the disguise and unravel Nisrine’s work. A hot shower and change of clothing followed a brief, albeit tense, tour of the Gryphon from Evie’s stern second-in-command. He was given a bunk, told when to expect meals served in the mess, and then swiftly forgotten.
Once he’d learned every inch of his new surroundings, Kaiden sought Nisrine in her stateroom and rapped on the cold steel door. Everything about the ship was steel and pristine metal, a surprise when his general experiences as a marine with merc bands had been filthy vessels crawling with disease and murderers.
Kaiden (The Nova Force Book 2) Page 19
