“Pudrete en el infierno,” she spat. Spanish. Great. Another one.
I frowned, about to demand that she translate that, but then Fran spat out a single word: “Bruja.”
“Puta!” Ade then spouted off a string of Spanish without taking a breath.
“Okay!” I barked. “You two can sling insults all fuckin’ night, but first, Fran, get Starscream off this iron-soaked rock.”
“On it, Captain.”
“And Ade, you’ve now been kidnapped. Don’t do anything stupid, and we won’t purge you to the black like we intend to do with your sensitive cargo.” I’d already had my hands all over her and knew she was unarmed, but she’d fight; the sting in my jaw from her earlier punch testified to that. “Do I need to tie you up?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
“Welcome to Starscream.” As I headed for the personnel doors I called back, “Don’t fuck with the fixer and we’ll get along just fine.”
* * *
“We should commandeer the freighter,” Fran said.
I nearly fell out of my seat. “Are you fucking high?”
She leaned back in her flight chair, kicked her boots onto the dash, and started to file her nails with a tool designed for shaving metal off repair panels.
“We could do it,” she replied, artfully avoiding my reference to her habit.
“Why would we?”
“For those people back on that rock. They don’t deserve to starve just because Chitec fixes the price of iron.”
I kept a straight face, wondering when my didn’t-give-a-fuck second-in-command had turned into a righteous do-gooder. Oh yeah, fleet.
That rock—KP-92—loomed low in our obs window, sitting like a red marble inside an ocean of black.
“Starscream’s not a fuckin’ charity.”
I should put that on a plaque and hang it in the hold.
I checked the proximity sensors. We were drifting just beyond the pull of KP’s atmosphere. There’d been little activity to suggest that the Cande family were missing Ade. Before the alarm was raised, I needed to figure out what to do with the pirate in the cargo hold, and do that whilst not entirely sober. Fran and me had already agreed to jettison the cargo and pin it with a steer-clear warning flag. The Candes could clean up their own crap. Ade, I could use, especially if keeping her sweet meant keeping the family off my back. Though I’d have to offer her something pretty sweet to stop her from scratching my eyes out.
Fran scraped her nails with the file, back and forth, back and forth. “It wouldn’t be difficult. I can pilot a fleet freighter. I know fleet’s comm’s codes. We could sneak right up on them without them ever knowing we’re there. A freighter has a dozen airlocks and hardly any security. They rely on their proximity sensors and early warning systems to defend themselves. We have the codes and Starscream has a don’t-look-here device, so we won’t show up as much more than a bit of rock. We latch on, get in, and take the bridge. Easy.”
“You know the codes, huh?” Thanks for reminding me you’re fleet. “Why not call on ahead? Ask your fleet buddies if they’d like to hand over their goods for the poor folk on some unnamed rock, and we’ll all get pissed ‘round the campfire, hold hands, and sing songs?”
Finally, she flicked her emerald glare to me. “Are you going to consider it or keep sulking because you didn’t get to dip your dick in some Cande pussy?”
My balls stirred just thinking about Ade clutching at my junk. I shifted in my seat, knowing Fran would see me squirming and get pissed off with me for getting hard while she was talking business.
“She’s a riot in the sack. Do you think she’d be up for it?”
“You mean the pity fuck you tried for?”
I leaned back in my chair and turned it toward Fran. “The plan was to get her back to the ship, by any means necessary. She jumped me. I tried real hard to fend her off … real fuckin’ hard.”
“Uh-huh. I can see it now, the Shepperd hard-done-by eyes.” She dropped her voice and mimicked my tone, “I’m just a messed up smuggler lookin’ for some fuckin’ company,” and went back to filing her nails, but this time with sharper strokes.
I scratched at my cheek, slightly disturbed and curiously aroused by her accurate impression.
“I tell you what I think, Captain, since you asked. I think out here on the fringes of the nine, you hear things about some of the women pirates.”
“What things?”
“Like maybe they aren’t all human. Like maybe they have teeth in places where it matters most.”
“This ain’t the first time I’ve been with Ade. I reckon I’d remember shit like that.”
“Things change.”
Well that thought threw cold water all over my hot fantasy. “You’re a twisted bitch.”
She smirked. “And you’re delusional if you think she’s going to get within two feet of you without trying to cut your balls off.”
I pressed my lips together and watched Fran file her fucking nails. Even though she looked the part—hair a tussled mess, smudge of grease on her cheek, flight suit hanging open to reveal a plain white top—she still had that holier than thou attitude. I should have seen it from day one. My own goddamn brother had the same stuck-up fleet airs and graces. Now I saw the truth in Fran; it stared me right in the face. I’d known she was better than me, better than this fucked-up smuggler’s life, and I’d ignored it, mostly to get inside her panties—at least to begin with. After I’d seen what she could do, I’d come to respect her as a pilot. I‘d known then, deep down, and had ignored my instincts.
“You really think you’re better than me, huh?”
She didn’t miss a beat. “I know I am.”
“Is that why you wouldn’t fuck me?”
She stopped filing and arched an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”
“This sexual tension—” I shrugged. “It’s an unhealthy working environment.”
“Captain, I assure you, what’s between us, it’s not sexual tension. It’s your dominance issues. I’m better than you. Better pilot, better mechanic, better in every way, and you’re fragile male ego can’t handle it.”
She was probably right.
“Yeah, but I beat you at poker. Every. Time.” She’d also be dead if I hadn’t saved her ass from the bounty hunter on Mimir, but I wasn’t aiming to win this fight.
She fluttered her lashes and smiled. “I let you win at poker, at everything.”
“Two years.” I leaned forward. “If you’re better in every way, why not fuck me and get your kicks that way. I know your standards. They’re pretty low.”
She tossed her file onto the dash and raked a hand through her hair and down the back of her neck. “The second you got your way, you’d have ditched me at the next port. I had to string you along.”
Her gaze didn’t quite meet mine.
I remembered her words on Mimir, when she’d come around from her phencyl trip and had realized I hadn’t left her when we both knew I should have.
“A better undercover fleet officer would have gotten the goods in six months. You dragged it out for two years before Mimir, when I’m guessing your commander had enough of your stalling.”
She smiled brightly. “You’re a surprisingly suspicious bastard.”
I smiled right back. “You want to know what I think, honey? I think you like it here. You like this ship, the freedom in the black, and you maybe even like me.”
I dropped back in my seat. She snorted and muttered something in Spanish. I was right.
I continued. “And my grubby life, my dirty little ship, me? I don’t fit with your clean fleet rules and organized regulations. I know, I’ve been there, Fleet Captain, remember? You wouldn’t fuck me because you were getting too close and you knew it. You kept on the right side of that line and told yourself everything would be fine if you didn’t cross it.”
She blinked lazily and stood. “I’m going to check on the crazy pirate roaming the ship. Tell yourself whatever you have to in or
der to get it up, Shepperd.”
“So what happened after Ganymede, Fran?” I called out after her. “Fleet crawling all over that moon? It frightened you. You came face to face with the truth of what you are and didn’t want to go back.…”
I faced the controls and smiled. “Reckon that’s why you crossed your line and finally got down and dirty with me.”
Fran slammed the hatch behind her.
I could spend hours riling her. I’d make it my new favorite hobby. She was right though, about a lot of things, with the freighter being one of them. We could board it and steal it. I was way ahead of her on that one. That fleet freighter would have enough sellable supplies to keep Starscream flying in the black for over a year. I certainly wasn’t about to hand it over to the Candes or their little mining community. I was many things—dubious captain, asshole smuggler, bastard thief, first-rate fixer—but even I had my limits. A pirate? Never that. But I had my reasons for breaking my rules. Nine reasons, in fact. The Fenrir Nine could use a fleet freighter. They had the tech to disguise its signature and make it look like an insignificant tug, and they could sure use a ship that size to hide sizable weapons caches. If I wanted back in their good books, a gift-wrapped freighter would be a surefire way of getting in. Plus, they paid well and didn’t try to fuck me over like every other bastard in the nine systems.
My only real problem came from the fact that I trusted the Cande pirate in my hold more than my second-in-command.
* * *
Ade hung up the call to KP’s surface. “It’s done. I’m officially on your crew until the job is complete.”
She tossed the comms unit back to me with a scowl that could strip paint.
“The Candes won’t retaliate as long as you deliver the freighter.”
“This is just business, Ade. Don’t take it personally.” I tucked the comms in my flight suit pocket and leaned back against the hold’s bulkhead.
She gave her short red bangs a flick out of her eyes. “I got you out of Asgard.”
By the time this was over, I’d have made an enemy of her and the Candes. I already had an ocean of assholes after me—the CEO of Chitec, a drug lord on Ganymede, and all of fleet, to name a few. Now I could add a pirate and her family to the list, although I’d have preferred to keep the Candes sweet. They definitely wouldn’t be happy when I turned their freighter over to the Fenrir Nine.
“And I’m getting you a freighter,” I said. “Seems like we’re even.”
Some of the fire faded from her eyes. She stalked to the crates and leaned a hip against their edges. “What did you do to get yourself in Asgard in the first place?”
I dropped my gaze and scuffed my shoe against the grated floor. “Wrong place, wrong time.”
What had happened with Haley—with the synth—was off limits to Ade Cande, and to anyone.
“Rumor is Chitec finally caught up with you smuggling their guns.”
I huffed a small laugh. “Rumor is you’ve got teeth between your legs.”
One fine auburn eyebrow arched high.
“It’d be useful for bastards like you if I did.” She held my gaze while her own turned inquisitive. “I heard some other things too … about Fran.”
I didn’t reply but didn’t hide the truth from my face either. “The nine systems love to gossip.”
“But it ain’t all gossip, is it?”
I should have laughed her off and left the conversation at that. Maybe it was the remnants of the alcohol loosening my tongue, or maybe I just wanted to talk to someone who hated fleet as much as I did.
“There are some issues between Fran and me.” I shoved away from the bulkhead and joined Ade by the crates. “But if it weren’t for her reaching out to you, I’d still be in Asgard.”
I rested my forearms on the crates and drew in a deep breath.
“Maybe if it weren’t for her, you never would have been in Asgard?”
I smiled and bowed my head. Ade was crazy-sharp, as well as crazy-beautiful.
“Maybes are about as fucking useful as what ifs.”
“Then why keep her around?”
I glanced at the closed personnel door. Fran was likely on the bridge. She couldn’t hear us. “I almost didn’t. I shouldn’t …”
“If she’s fleet, you should leave her on the next rock and be done with her.”
I still might. I might have thought Ade was trying to badmouth my second to get between us, if she weren’t right about all of it.
“Do pirates have any loyalty?” I asked.
She thought about it, then propped an elbow on the top crate and smiled. “No.”
“Fran might be fleet, but she loves Starscream almost as much as I do. As long as she’s behind the controls, her loyalty is with this ship. And this ship”—I flicked my fingers, encompassing the hold—“is mine. I know Fran.”
“Are you sure about that, Captain?”
“Fuck no.” But it had sounded good.
Ade sent her gaze around Starscream’s hold. Folks who lived in the black knew what it meant to survive on the edge and how ships like Starscream meant more than credit or status.
When she faced me again, fresh admiration brightened her eyes. “And what about the freighter? You think she’s going to let you steal a fleet freighter full of cargo and hand it over to the family?”
“No. That’s why you’ll be boarding with me, and she’ll be staying behind.”
Ade lips quirked into a genuine smile. “Now that plan, I like.”
I’d known she would.
“You’re an ex-pirate. I couldn’t think of anyone better to help me take a freighter, and there’s the fact that my choices for backup are pretty fucking limited.” I’d guessed she’d want nothing more than to be back doing what she loved most. She missed the black, just like I did when grounded. We weren’t so different. “What are you doing as an iron guard, Ade? Guarding some mine tailings and a bunch of miners when you could be raiding luxury cruisers in the black?”
Her bright smile faltered.
“We got boarded by fleet.” She picked at the crate wrappings with a fingernail. “They said we were smuggling refugees. We weren’t. But it didn’t matter. They were looking for a fight. We gave them one.”
I hadn’t imagined the tiny fracture in her voice. “And lost?”
“Yeah. I got away in a stinger, but my crew—my ship. I watched from the shuttle as fleet fired two missiles.” She swallowed. “Killed all on board in seconds. They let me go so I could report back to the family.”
I’d done the same as fleet captain. Pirates were routinely executed on sight, and with good reason. They were known for butchering crews and stripping their catches bare. Pirates were about the only thing I ran from in the black—them and my past. Desperate people, in desperate times, did desperate things.
She hissed in air through her teeth, held her breath, and then sighed. “The family demanded I stay on KP as an iron guard. No more pirating, just red rock and red skies and red dust. The food tastes like metal, the air smells like metal. I’m sick of iron, Cale. I need to do more to get back at fleet.”
She wanted to escape. I’d figured as much and knew I had her on my side. In fact, I was counting on it, at least while we both wanted the same thing.
“But I don’t trust your second-in-command.” Ade leaned close and whispered, “She’s fleet, and they’re all the same.”
I nodded. “There’s no quicker way to get yourself killed than trusting someone in the black. You’ll do right to remember that.”
“I reckon a smuggler taught me the same when he screwed me, cleared out my credit account, and left me adrift.”
“Sounds like a decent guy.”
She laughed lightly and easily. “Reckon he tells himself that so he can sleep at night.”
I found myself more relaxed with her than I had with my own fucking second-in-command. Something was very wrong with this picture.
I offered Ade my hand. “Truce, ‘til the job i
s done.”
She took my hand in hers and shook. “Truce. I’ll get the ship schematics sent up and confirm she’s on schedule. I’m looking forward to doing business with you, Captain.”
She wouldn’t be smiling when I stole her freighter right out from under her.
* * *
We went over the boarding operation. The plan was simple enough, and while there were only three of us and a dozen freighter crew, we had the element of surprise and knowledge on our side, as well as a few tricks up Starscream’s sleeves, and mine.
I knew I was in trouble when Fran followed me off the bridge. She’d stewed in silence after I’d told her she was staying on the ship. Silence from her meant she was thinking of ways to make me pay.
She entered my cabin behind me, closed the door, and stood, blocking it, with her arms crossed and lips clamped tight. This wasn’t going to go well. I tugged a few ragged items of clothing from a rack, including a hood to cover my face when we boarded the freighter, and dumped it on my bunk. I didn’t want the crew recognizing me; I was supposed to be in Asgard, not raiding freighters.
Fran’s gaze burned a hole into my back. If she was expecting me to explain why I’d chosen to leave her behind, she’d be waiting a long fuckin’ time.
“You’re going in with a Cande over me?”
And there it was. “She’s a pirate. We’re doing pirating. Do the math.”
In the quiet of my cabin, I heard her teeth grinding. Drawing in a deep breath, I braced an arm over my bunk and turned my head. Anger pinched her eyes and had set her lips in a firm snarl. A better captain would have told her to go cool her jets before she said, or did, something she’d regret.
“You lied to me for two years,” I said. “You called fleet in on Mimir. You’re the reason I’ve just spent a cycle in that Asgard hell, wondering if I was done for, or if I had to live like an animal to survive.” I pushed off the bunk and faced her straight on. “I’d have to be fucking insane to take you with me to steal a fleet freighter.”
Her lips turned down. She blinked slowly and looked away. “You’re not an idiot, Cale. The things we’ve done, the runs we’ve made, the drugs, the guns … I could have dragged your ass in to fleet at any time. Even now, if I was fleet to the core, I’d be reporting this job back to command.”
Girl From Above Escape (The 1000 Revolution Book 2) Page 11
