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My hands are damp with sweat. I have waited six long years for this moment. I had hoped and dreamed to have my hands-on John Wild, but never did I think it would come true. I thought my life would be spent staying one step ahead of him, always running and looking over my shoulder.
I look at Fynn and Roberd, then over my shoulder to where Jax and Sawyr and Tobis watch us. They have given so much up, the bloody mess behind them a testament to that. “We can’t all go. Someone has to stay here in case something happens.”
“Then you stay! Let us get him.” Sawyr says jaw clenched. I think he lost the most today, finding a dark side to himself that he didn’t know existed.
Shaking my head, I reply “You said yourself that you can’t use a gun. And I can guarantee he has one. I have to go.” Turning to Tobis, I say “Tiri can do most things on the ship, but he can’t authorize landings. Tobis, I made you third in command. If Fynn or I aren’t on board, then you're in control.”
I turn to Sawyr and Jax, “Trust me.” Sawyr nods his head in response, his jaw set tightly. I hate that my past has changed him. Someday I hope he will tell me his story.
“Fynn, Roberd, don’t trust anything John says. He will twist words, lie, do anything he can to make you think he is complying, and then he will do whatever it takes to escape.” I take a deep breath before revealing the next part. It is a long-buried secret that I have never revealed. “John is a thief, a master thief. But more than that he is a liar. He collects the unwanted, the down on their luck and makes them into his personal army of thieves. If you go against him or your worth as a thief has gone down, he sells you out to the authorities, collecting whatever reward there is. No one has been able to catch him in the act, he appears squeaky clean. But also no one has escaped once caught in his net.”
Fynn looks at me, “Except you. That is why he is so intent on finding you. You have something that proves who he is.”
I nod my head. “Yes. I stole his book, the one place he kept track of everything. Everything he stole, every person he used, everything they stole. . .”
“Why? Why keep it? Why not turn him in long ago?” Jax asked, his voice confused.
But it is Sawyr who responds, “Insurance. She didn’t know who to trust and on her own, it would be her word against his, with no one to support her.”
I nod at him, “Yes. I ran and have spent the past six years running across the galaxy, building a name for myself as an honest shipping company. Didn’t hurt that I had a pretty penny from his safe to buy this.” I pat the wall of my ship.
“Well, now you know of my sordid past, let’s board his ship and show him who not to mess with!” I smile, baring my teeth a bit, imagining myself as a ursalynx, it’s large body surprisingly fast and graceful as it rips out the throat of its prey.
The three of us walk through the short tunnel that connects the two ships. “Akiyra, if he knows we are coming, why didn’t he just disconnect the tunnel and leave?” Fynn asks.
“Two reasons. The first is the mechanics of the tunnel. It is designed to disconnect ONLY if both doors are shut. If one is not shut, then the only way to disconnect it is by pulling the ship away from the other, which would rip a hole in both ships and be a death sentence.”
I stop speaking, thinking about the other reason. The one that is harder to explain, that is more complicated.
“Akiyra? You said there were two reasons.” Fynn prods me.
“Pride,” Roberd says. “He doesn’t think Akiyra will hurt him. He thinks that he still holds all the cards.”
I nod, though that is not all of it. But the time for explanations is gone as we step over the threshold and onto his ship.
He hasn’t changed in six years. His tall, muscular frame still making him appear larger than life, barely contained by his trademark black shirt. Long legs and trim waist are encased in the traditional leathers of his home planet. But it is his gray eyes and dark hair that have you taking a second and third glance.
“Akiyra, Daughter. You have been very naughty. Taking things that don’t belong to you.” His voice still has that mesmerizing quality, smooth like a finely aged McSilver whiskey. Of course, he would only drink the finest.
“I’m not your daughter,” I spit out through clenched teeth.
“But aren’t you? Did I not raise you? Teach you everything you know?” His smile and voice set me on edge, the opposite of what he hopes for. But still, the part of me that grew up in his house from the age of twelve onwards, feels that it must fall into the role he had assigned me.
“That does not make me your daughter. You stole me into your house, forced me into a life I hated.” I can feel myself shattering inside, and I grab hold of what I have fought to build for the past six years. A hand on my shoulder reminds me that I am not alone.
“Don’t touch my daughter!” John screams, shooting the gun that he had held behind his back. I can almost feel the bullet whizz past me as Fynn’s hand falls off my shoulder. “She is mine!”
I look back to see Fynn holding his hand to his shoulder, through clenched teeth he says, “I’m fine. Nothing permanent. Finish this.”
Hatred burning in my heart, I raise the gun that Tiri had convinced me to buy and learn to use. Pressing my finger against the trigger, I jump at the hissing sound as the barbs fly out. No, a bullet wouldn’t be safe in space, Tiri had convinced me to buy an electro gun. Once pointed at an object with a heartbeat, it would trace that particular heartbeat and shoot out two small barbs. One filled with a sedative that would incapacitate the person from the waist down, the other would give him a small jolt of electricity. Either way, it was guaranteed to embarrass the person with a pair of wet drawers.
I watch as John falls to the ground, his legs unable to support him. I wish he didn’t have leathers on, it would be so much more satisfying to see the pool of urine forming under him.
“You shot me! You shot me!”
“You ass!” I run towards him, madder than a wet hen left in a Polzian storm. Shooting bullets in a tin can, in space!” I kick his leg. “you could have hit me in the head” I kick a little higher, purposefully missing his family husks (yes, husks as there is nothing in there that any sane woman would want) that he attempts to protect.
“You shot me!” He sounds like a broken record player.
“What did you think I would do? Cower in fear at you? I am not that young naive girl anymore. You made sure of that.” I look around the small space. This ship is designed for speed and stealth, so does not have many hiding spots. It is all one level with the bridge opening into the living area. In the back is a door that I know from experience leads to John’s bedroom. The far wall has fold-down cots for anyone he has with him.
“Where is your pilot? You never travel without at least one person to stay here with you,”
“Things change.”
I glare at him, “Things do change. Your reign is over.”
“Do you think this will end with me? That I will stay gone? You don’t know who you are dealing with. I am just one of many.”
“It doesn’t matter who you think you are,” I spit as I yank the raven skull from around his neck. I have five of these odd necklaces now. “They won’t know who you are. You are nothing.”
He looks at me and an involuntary shiver comes over me. “Little girl, you know nothing. He is everywhere, on every planet.” He nods at the chain in my hand, the raven skull with its topaz eyes twirling, “He will come for that.”
“He can come. As you see, I am not alone anymore, nor am I weak.” I turn to Roberd, “Will you please bring him to our ship? I need to see about Fynn’s shoulder.
Roberd looks at John, “How long until he can walk?”
I smile, “the darts last for about two hours.”
The look he gives me makes me laugh for the first time since hearing John had found me. “You know I will smell like piss now? And not my own?”
“Better his than yours,” I grin.