Safe Passage, page 24
part #1 of Black Flag Series
“Me too.”
“When you pushed me, I…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. It had felt like a knife through the ribs, straight to my heart.
“I’m so sorry, Kay.” She pulled back, her cheeks glistening with tears, and looked me in the eye. “I needed you to go, so I could follow. It was the only thing I could think of that would protect you, without getting everyone else killed in the process. Can you forgive me?”
I nodded. “Of course I do, babe. You saved my life. There’s nothing to forgive.”
“I wish,” she said, her tone raw, “there’d been a better way. I’m sorry.”
I smiled through my tears, tracing my fingers up her chin to her cheek and brushing her tears away as I went. “Forgive me for doubting you?”
“I needed you to doubt me, in the moment. Your fear is what sold Henderson.”
“Still…I should have had more faith in you.”
She smiled. “After my track record, I’d question your judgement if you had, babe.” Then, she grew more serious. “But I’ll never let anyone hurt you, Kay. Not while I’m still drawing breath.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Red-eyed and puffy-cheeked, but wrapped in Maggie’s arm, I walked into medbay. I damned near fainted at the sight that waited.
Frank was there, a scowl on his face as his feet dangled over the bed.
“Frank,” I said. “You’re alive.”
He glanced up, his expression brightening. “Kay. You’re alright.”
“I told you she was,” Fredricks sighed. “Hey! What are you doing? Get back here.”
But Frank wasn’t in a listening mood. He’d pushed to his feet, and stumbled across the space between us. I went to meet him, wrapping him a fierce hug. He returned it with an equal fierceness.
“Frank,” I said when I released him, “I thought you were dead.”
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” he grinned.
Fredricks sighed. “Unfortunately, the sense of humor is as strong as ever.”
“But what are you doing here? You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“She was pretty shaken,” Maggie explained. “I wanted her to see Fredricks. I didn’t realize…well, when we didn’t hear anything, I thought…”
He nodded. “That was my fault. I’m afraid I kept the doc busy.”
Fredricks rolled his eyes. “I almost sedated his dumb ass. He kept insisting that he had to get back on duty.”
The Kudarian shrugged. “What’s a little minor singeing when the ship’s under attack?”
“It wasn’t minor. That second blast was meant to kill you.”
“Yeah, but Henderson forgot he was dealing with a Kudarian. Not a puny human.”
“You listen to the doctor, Frank,” Maggie said. “You’ve got to take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“And the first doctor’s order is, get back on that damned table,” Fredricks put in.
Frank rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright.” Then, to me, he said, “I’m glad you’re okay. Doc tells me we owe that to the robot.”
“And Maggie,” I said.
He nodded. “Well, whoever. I’m just glad.”
“Thanks, Frank. And thanks for – well, getting yourself shot for me.”
“Course.”
“Back on the table,” Fredricks demanded. “And you two get the hell out of here, so he’ll cooperate.”
I didn’t end up needing to go back to medbay. Once I’d had a chance to catch my breath, I was okay. Shaken, scared, and jumpy now and then; but okay.
Maggie seemed to have developed a kind of sense for when I needed her touch most. I’d find an arm wrapped around me, a hand on my shoulder, a kiss on the cheek. She was sweeter, more open, more sensitive than I’d ever known her to be. And though I didn’t tell her – she wasn’t ready to hear it, I knew – I was falling in love with her, one tender moment after another.
I wasn’t the only one on the crew who had been shaken, though. We’d all been through hell. I was shocked enough by Sage’s betrayal, but the rest of the team had spent years working with him. My surprise was nothing compared to theirs.
Pulling the brig security logs only worsened matters. Drake had been talking to Henderson since the beginning. It wasn’t until we actually pulled the Deltaseal job off, though, that his conversations took on a more sinister bent.
He’d resented my larger share. His eyes, once fixed on those dollar signs, seemed blind to everything else. And, little by little, the video showed him succumbing to Henderson’s persuasions.
In a sense, I pitied Drake. He reminded me of myself, not so long ago. Henderson’s flattery, his friendliness, his charm: I’d fallen for them all too, hadn’t I? I’d been motivated by desperation, while Drake was drawn by greed and envy. But the tactics he’d employed were all the same.
David, though, of all of us seemed the most aggrieved. “That fucker. Now no one gets anything. And you know what that means, don’t you? It means I’m stuck in the galley. Instead of hiring a cook of my own.”
“No call girls, either,” Frank smirked.
He just nodded, though. “If he wasn’t dead already, I’d kill him myself.”
We were left with a lot of what-ifs and very few good answers. What if I’d split my share after all? What if we’d reached out to Drake, when we knew he was angry? What if…?
Would any of it made a difference, or would Henderson’s promise of two hundred and fifty billion credits have turned Drake’s head in the end anyway?
“It’s water under the bridge,” Maggie said. “We’ll never know, and it doesn’t pay to guess.”
There was one area, though, where we were allowed some small measure of satisfaction. That was the data trove we’d copied from the safe deposit boxes. The contents of those boxes had been destroyed, along with all the gold and credit chips. And Drake had erased my copies of the data.
But he’d missed my redundant drive. He’d missed my backup.
“Send it to the Union military and police,” Maggie decided. “We can let them sort it out.”
“That should keep the Conglomerate busy for a long time,” Frank agreed, “with all the dirt they kept on each other.”
It was true. Their ‘insurance policies’ against one another would prove their undoing. There was enough in those files to put most of their high-ranking and mid-level operatives behind bars for the rest of their lives. And that was without the inevitable plea bargains, before people started turning evidence.
I sent the files, and then we washed our hands of the matter. “It’s out of our hands now.”
Once that was done, once the ship’s diagnostics proved that she was clean and clear of sabotage, once the dead bodies had been disposed, and once I’d checked Sydney for any damage, we met in the mess hall.
We were drinking top shelf again, but the mood was very different this time. “Well,” David sighed into his whiskey, “we’re poor again.”
“So much for my ship,” Ginny agreed.
Fredricks squeezed her to him. “At least we all made it out alive.”
She smiled. “That’s true.”
“And it was nice seeing someone shoot Frank,” David agreed. “Silver lining, and all that.”
The Kudarian frowned at him. “It wasn’t nearly as painful, believe me, as the idea of choking down your cooking for the rest of my working life is.”
“Sorry that we didn’t end up with anything out of it,” Maggie said.
“It was a risk from the beginning, Captain,” Corano offered. “We all knew that when we signed on.”
“And we didn’t lose anything,” Kereli agreed.
“A little pride, getting played by a member of my own crew like that,” Mags admitted.
“A lesson in humility benefits us all now and again,” the Esselian declared sagely. “And I do believe Drake Sage gave us all one.”
“And on the bright side,” Corano added, “we took care of Slater’s crew. That was long overdue.”
“Yes,” she agreed, squeezing me to her. “It was.”
“And,” I added airily, as much for Maggie’s sake as my own, “now there’ll be no more talk about getting rid of Syd. Not after he saved the day like that.”
A few groans met this declaration. “I suppose not,” Corano said. “It is useful to keep a battle bot onboard.”
“Can you at least train it some manners?” David sighed. “Like, to keep his big, dumb frame out of hallways?”
“How else is he going to get around, Dave? He can’t teleport…”
“I don’t know. I’m just tired of running into him.”
Frank had been ignoring this exchange, and now he glanced up, as if breaking from his thoughts. “So what’s next, Captain?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, now that we didn’t strike it rich…what’s our next mission?”
She laughed dryly. “Well, there’s always passenger runs. Cargo runs. We can see if Union command has any bounties out. What are you all in the mood for?” The question was answered only in grumbles. “I don’t know, Frank. We’ll figure it out tomorrow,” she decided.
Chapter Fifty-Two
We didn’t drink much that night. We weren’t celebrating, and no one seemed to want to suffer the hangover for a pity party. I went back with Mags to her room, and Sydney followed us. “Katherine,” he said, “I have a request.”
“Sure, Syd. What’s up?”
“I believe I could contribute more to the ship than I am currently authorized to do. I would like permission to prepare a proposal for you, to extend my usefulness to the crew and to yourself.”
I glanced at Maggie, and she shook her head, ever so faintly. I grinned. That was her Oh God, what are we about to get ourselves into shake. Not the No way in hell head shake. “Alright,” I said. “Prepare your proposal. I’ll look at it tomorrow morning.”
“I will, Katherine. And thank you.”
I was probably nuts. But there was, I could swear, a note of real enthusiasm in his metallic voice. “Of course. And Syd?”
“Yes?”
“I never thanked you for saving my life. And the crew’s. Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure, Katherine.”
We reached her room, and bid Sydney a good night. “Good night to you both as well. As your people say, ‘sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.’”
“Thanks Syd.”
When we were inside, Maggie turned to me. “Katherine?”
I glanced up at the sudden seriousness of her tone, and the use of my full name. “Yes, Magdalene?”
She smiled at my teasing. “We’ll be near Echo Station soon. And now that the Conglomerate is going to be dealing with the fallout from Deltaseal…well, I guess what I’m saying, it’s probably safe for you now.”
I blinked. “And?”
“Well, if you want to leave, I will take you wherever you want to go. It doesn’t have to be Echo Station, of course. But…” She was fidgeting nervously.
I took her hands in mine. “But?”
“If you wanted to stay…well, the Black Flag needs a new chief engineer, if you’re interested.”
“Does she now?” I smiled.
She nodded, then sucked in a breath. “But…but that’s not really what I’m asking. I mean, if you want the job, it’s yours. But…what I’m really saying is, I want you to stay, Kay. With me. If you want to stay, of course.”
“Of course I want to stay, Maggie.” Could she doubt it? Could she doubt how much she meant to me? “Anywhere you are, babe, that’s where I want to be.”
She smiled, relief spreading on her features. “Good. Because…well, I’d sure as hell miss you, Katherine Ellis.”
I brushed my fingers through her hair, leaning in to kiss her. “I’d sure as hell miss you too, Magdalene Landon. So it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere.”
About the Author
Rachel Ford is a software engineer by day, and a writer most of the rest of the time. She is a Trekkie, a video-gamer, and a dog parent, owned by a Great Pyrenees named Elim Garak and a mutt of many kinds named Fox (for the inspired reason that he looks like a fox).
You can follow Rachel on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/rachelfordauthor/
She is also on Twitter @RachelFordWI and Instagram @RFord191
More from the Author
More from the Black Flag series:
Book 2: Lee Shores releases July 15th
Time Travelling Taxman series (humorous time travel sci-fi novels):
Book 1: T-Rexes & Tax Law (ebook, paperback and audiobook)
Book 2: UFOs & Unpaid Taxes (ebook & paperback, and audiobook)
Book 3: MarvelousCon & Tax Cons (ebook & paperback, audiobook releasing soon)
Book 4: Time Slips & Tax Thieves releases May 17th, 2019
Book 5: Mob Bosses & Tax Losses releases June 14th, 2019
Tribari Freedom Chronicles series (dystopian sci-fi):
Book 1: Catalyst (novelette – ebook and audiobook)
Book 2: Uprising (novel – ebook, paperback and audiobook)
Book 3: Liberation (novel) releases May 30th
Book 4: Absolution (novel) releases June 30th
Other works available now:
Prison Break (sci-fi space opera novelette, ebook & audiobook)
Flesh Eaters (military sci-fi novella, ebook, paperback & audiobook)
Rachel Ford, Safe Passage
