Resolution
Deuces Wild™ Book Five
Ell Leigh Clarke
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2019 Ell Leigh Clarke and Michael Anderle
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
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LMBPN Publishing
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First US edition, June 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-331-2
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2019 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
Chapter 1 Tabitha
Chapter 2 Nickie
Chapter 3 Tabitha and Nickie
Chapter 4 Nickie and Tabitha
Chapter 5 Tabitha and Nickie
Chapter 6 Nickie and Tabitha
Chapter 7 Tabitha and Merry
Chapter 8 Tabitha and Merry
Chapter 9 Tabitha and Merry
Chapter 10 Tabitha and Merry
Chapter 11 Nickie
Chapter 12 Nickie
Chapter 13 Nickie
Chapter 14 Tabitha and Nickie
Chapter 15 Nickie
Chapter 16 Nickie
Chapter 17 Nickie
Chapter 18 Nickie
Chapter 19 Nickie
Chapter 20 Nickie
Epilogue
Author Notes - Ell Leigh Clarke
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Books written by Ell Leigh Clarke
Books written by Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
Resolution Team
Thank you to our Beta Readers
James Caplan, Mary Morris , Kelly O’Donnell, Daniel Weigert, Larry Omans, John Ashmore
Thanks to our JIT Readers
Micky Cocker
Dave Hicks
Peter Manis
Diane L. Smith
Jeff Eaton
Misty Roa
Shari Regan
Jeff Goode
Dorothy Lloyd
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Skyhunter Editing Team
Chapter 1 Tabitha
Devon, In Orbit, QSD Baba Yaga
Tabitha had that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She knew exactly why Bethany Anne had summoned her to the floating fortress. Even if she hadn’t been a smart enough cookie to work it out, the presence of Lillian in the small meeting room when she arrived confirmed for Tabitha that it was time to face the music.
Lillian shuffled nervously in her seat when the impatient cadence of heels on metal announced Bethany Anne’s arrival. “Why is she walking here instead of just…” She flourished her hands. “You know? This is killing me.”
“It’s killing you?” Tabitha retorted. “You’re going to get off lightly.”
Bethany Anne spoke into Tabitha’s ear. “None of you are going to get off lightly.”
Dios. Tabitha whirled, finding Bethany Anne standing directly behind her. She took one look at Bethany Anne and scooted her chair back to give herself some room. “Hey.”
Bethany Anne’s face gave nothing away, which told Tabitha everything. She walked around the table and took a seat across from Tabitha and Lillian. “That’s all you have to say? ‘Hey?’” However fixed Bethany Anne’s expression was, her tone made her hurt perfectly clear. “How about, ‘I’m sorry for lying to you for the last seven years?’ Hmm?”
Tabitha did her best not to snap and make it worse. She folded her arms, resigned to whatever punishment Bethany Anne decided on. “You should already know I’m sorry for hiding it from you. But I couldn’t see Nickie staying out there alone.”
Bethany Anne snorted. “Alone? She hasn’t been alone since she reactivated Meredith. Who do you think gave King Harold the location of the plant he needed to recover from his sickness? Who informed my father that the Six were having issues? I spent many nights awake coming up with a solution to her energy limitations once she had used up her power packs.”
Tabitha sucked in a breath through her teeth. “I had no idea.”
“Me either,” Lillian admitted.
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes. “You were so focused on getting Nickie home, you missed that I was molding her into someone who could handle being here.”
Lillian gave a brittle laugh. “This is ridiculous. What was the point of sending my Nickie away when neither of you let her be the whole time she’s been gone? It looks like Barnabas stepped in at the right time.” She held up a hand to Bethany Anne in apology. “I’m sorry, I can’t get around your logic. I had no idea about any of this.”
Tabitha wanted to know the same. “I’m with Lillian. Why exile Nickie if you were going to keep pulling her strings the whole time? And why keep it such a secret?”
Bethany Anne pointed at Tabitha. “It was a secret because you decided to make it into one. Besides, would she have listened if she had heard it from me? From any of us? Nickie’s exile was a kindness to us all. Beating some damn sense into her wasn’t going to work. She would have continued on the path she was on until it was too late.” She sighed, grateful that she didn’t have any of these issues with Alexis and Gabriel. “I wanted better for Nickie, just like you. But she had to find it for herself. That child has entirely too much ‘fuck you’ in her to be told a thing. It’s a Grimes trait.”
Lillian looked like she was going to argue with that for a moment. “I can’t disagree that her time alone hasn’t straightened her out,” she conceded. “I just… I wish I could have done more to keep her on the straight and narrow in the first place. I can’t help think that if I’d put more effort into finding time for her instead of letting my dad put his foot down so hard she couldn’t breathe…” Her voice trailed off, regret stealing her train of thought.
Bethany Anne shrugged, thinking of her recent reaction to how her own children were straining for more autonomy. “You did what you thought was best. What more can you do as a parent?”
Lillian shrugged. “Maybe I should have married after she was born. Given her a father figure to make up for the time I had to spend at work. Dad was always so tough with her, and Mom was too soft. I don’t know. I don’t think any of us got it right with her.”
Both Bethany Anne and Tabitha reached out to comfort Lillian.
“I was at fault, too,” Tabitha admitted. “I undermined you all way too much. I wasn’t ‘Fun Aunt Tabitha,’ I was just immature and reckless.”
“What’s done is done,” Bethany Anne told them gently. “ The important thing is looking forward.
“It’s like she’s become the woman I always knew she could be.”
Tabitha banged her hand on the table. “I told you. What did I say? She just needed time to work out who she is.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “She’s not completely back in the fold yet.”
Lillian bristled. “Just because you have two perfect kids who never put a foot
wrong. My Nickie was never going to fit inside the lines. All I ever wanted was for her to find her place and be happy.”
Bethany Anne held up a finger. “Nickie is where she needs to be right now. I’m happy she looks to be finding her way at last, but don’t try to compare your experiences of parenthood to what you imagine mine are. It’s not realistic. Alexis and Gabriel come with a whole list of challenges of their own, regardless of their mostly appropriate behavior.”
Tabitha held her hands up between them. “Can we just agree that Nickie has seen the light and we’re all happy?”
Bethany Anne arched an eyebrow. “I suppose your interference with her EI had nothing to do with her epiphany?”
Tabitha shrugged. “I did what I thought was necessary. That EI was stuffy enough to drive anyone over the edge.”
Lillian bristled. “What’s wrong with the personality I chose for Nickie’s EI?”
Tabitha shook her head, folding her arms on the table defensively. “Nothing. I just added a few extras to help Nickie along the way. Like the ability to take a joke.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “That’s not all you’ve done. Is it? Truth time, Tabitha.”
Tabitha dropped her head onto her arms. “Okay, okay. I hacked Meredith and rewrote her personality, and I’ve been helping Nickie as much as I could the whole time.” She hid her smirk. “It hasn’t been easy. You know how many people I sent before she accepted Grim?”
Bethany Anne’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Something tells me we’re about to find out.”
“She won’t be happy when she finds out,” Lillian warned.
Tabitha snorted. “You don’t think I know that? I’m pretty sure she’s close to the truth. She’ll get over it as soon as she figures out I did it to protect her.” She sat up, scrutinizing Bethany Anne for any sign she was still angry and finding none. “Until then, I’m saying nothing. I can’t even believe I got any of this past you. I’m sorry for lying.”
Bethany Anne waved a finger in a circle. “We’ll get to how you can make it up to me later. I want to hear your story.”
“You want a good laugh at my expense, is what,” Tabitha bitched, her smirk returning. “Fine. Laugh away.”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “I’m laughing at us all for being such dumbasses. We’ll just do better in the future, okay?” She sat up straight. “Hold that thought. There’s something missing.” She vanished, reappearing less than a minute later in the chair next to Lillian with a massive bowl of popcorn. “Now we’re ready.”
Lillian grinned. “Good call.”
Bethany Anne plucked a handful and pushed the bowl toward Lillian. “I know, right? Go ahead, Tabitha. We’re listening.”
Lillian helped herself and put the bowl back on the table. “This takes me back to being a child. I used to beg Dad for the story about you walking off a building.”
Bethany Anne snickered, crossing one high-heeled boot over the other. “I don’t know, I kind of like the other one where she walked off a building better.”
Tabitha narrowed her eyes at them and reached for the bowl. “I hate you both. Okay, so around the time Pete and I moved into the guardhouse, I got tired of waiting for her to reactivate Meredith. I decided she needed a push in the right direction.”
“You’re lucky your push didn’t backfire,” Lillian cut in.
Tabitha inclined her head. “You haven’t heard the story yet. It almost did. Twice.” She placed a piece of popcorn in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “First person I sent, she made straight away. Which was what I got for listening to Pete and sending one of his Guardians.”
Lillian snorted. “Did she at least send your Guardian back intact?”
Tabitha made a face. “Physically, sure. It can’t do much for male pride to get a beatdown from a tiny unenhanced woman. Joe took it fine, and it wasn’t the worst fuckup I made. Remember that girl she hung with for a while? Alicia?”
Lillian put a hand over her eyes. “The girl she got into a fight with over a boy?”
Bethany Anne’s eyes widened. “You didn’t send her old love rival after her.”
Tabitha winced, remembering the scathing note from Nickie that the woman had attached when she returned Tabitha’s finder’s fee—most likely under duress. “Mmhmm. Not my finest moment, I’ll admit.”
Bethany Anne snickered. “I’ll say. And Grim’zee? Who appears, by the way, to have lost a century or so in age since we left him on Yoll.”
Tabitha hesitated. “I can’t see you liking it.”
Bethany Anne waved a hand. “Just tell me. I’ll try not to lose my shit.”
Tabitha shrugged. “Okay, then. A century and a half, and that part was easy. I gave him some of my blood and snuck him into one of the Vid-docs to bake.”
“Without my permission?” Bethany Anne caught herself. She held up a hand. “Go on.”
Lillian’s head went back and forth as she followed the conversation.
“Grim came out of the ‘doc feeling like a kid,” Tabitha continued, falling into the memory. “Sofia dug out his old exosuit and gave it a few tweaks, and off he shot to the outer edges of the Federation to pick up her trail. He found her in some skeezy bar playing poker with a bunch of lowlifes.”
“This was near the Torcellan quadrant, right?” Bethany Anne asked. “That was when ADAM got a lock on her location.”
Tabitha nodded. “Yeah, that was the fight where she ran out of options and reactivated her enhancements. Complete coincidence. Grim just about shit himself when everyone started shooting the place up.” She snorted. “He dove under a table. You’ll like this bit: her first thought after she got to her feet was for her shoes.”
Bethany Anne almost choked on her popcorn. “You’re kidding?”
Lillian snickered. “That’s my Nickie, all right.”
Tabitha nodded. “Oh, hell no. What is it with skinny women and shoes? You only care about what you look like from the ankles down?”
Lillian rolled her eyes. “And the waist up. It’s okay for you, with all those curves. It’s all I can do to fill a bra, thanks to my nanocytes being less than helpful in that department. Don’t mock my love of fine footwear.”
Bethany Anne glanced at the five-and-a-half-inch stiletto heel on her armored boots with love. “I remember Nickie trying to walk in my heels when she was a child.” She smiled at the recollection of eight-year-old Nickie wobbling around like a newborn gazelle. “Maybe the way to tempt her in is with shopping?”
Lillian laughed brightly. “Sure! We’ll whisk her off to Larkratia and drop the price of a planet on a single item.” She paused, realizing everyone in the room could actually do that if the fancy struck. She waved her daydreaming off. “The story. What happened when Grim found Nickie?”
Tabitha waved her hands, falling into the narrative. “The craziest thing I ever did. So, Grim was there hiding under the table, totally out of his depth and frozen up. Nickie had just gone down, although he missed.”
“Didn’t he spend time in the Guardian Marines?” Bethany Anne asked. “I remember John taking a shine to him after the business on Yoll way back.”
Tabitha grinned, remembering the out-of-shape, overweight, ungracefully-aging Yollin who had turned up on their doorstep. “He’d been working as a cook since the Federation was formed. He hadn’t thrown so much as a punch in over a decade. I kinda yelled at him and made him get up. This was while Nickie was out on the floor.”
She paused to clamp down on her rising laughter. “I swear, I didn’t expect what happened next. I was yelling, right? All of a sudden, Nickie gets up, and Grim just clicked into gear. Begged me to tell him what to say to make the scary Grimes not kill him.”
Lillian spilled her popcorn. “Fuck my life. Did it work? Well, obviously, it did.”
Tabitha nodded, straight-faced. “Uh-huh. She told him her friends call her ‘Nickie,’ and I told him to say he’d have to earn that. It worked just fine; she took him with her. They beat
the crap out of a company of Skaine mercenaries like a good pair of Rangers-in-training and stole that ship she has.”
Lillian gaped. “Damn, she’s resourceful, that girl of mine. What did she do next?”
Bethany Anne continued for Tabitha. “That was just before she came across the colony,” she told Lillian. “Did she tell you she saved hundreds of lives there? Or that she spent months there helping them rebuild after the Skaines attacked?”
Lillian shook her head. “She said she worked for her keep at a colony for a while. She didn’t tell me she’d saved it.”
Tabitha smiled. “I didn’t teach her modesty. That’s got to have come from somewhere else.”
Bethany Anne shifted in her seat and began tapping her nails on the table. “We need to get serious. Hiding things, even to protect each other, hasn’t gotten us anywhere. From here on out, there are no more secrets. We work together.” She turned to Lillian. “If Nickie can be mature enough to put aside her emotions for the good of everyone, so can you. Make it up with your mom, or don’t. But find a way to work with her. You’re going to QT2.”
Lillian nodded. “Whatever you need. It will give me the opportunity to see Nickie face to face.”
Tabitha pouted. “Everyone gets to see her except for me.”
Bethany Anne lifted a shoulder. “All good things, and all that. You are going to be far too busy working your ass off to make it up to me for lying.”
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