Knight, Dee S. - Bride of the Pryde (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (14 page)

“Jackal.” Erik met disdain with hatred that resonated with the one word.

“Thank you for bringing my friend.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I brought her of my own free will. She used a drug on us before we took off, and by the time we came to, we were out of Earth’s orbit. She did promise us money.”

“So sorry,” Jackal said, sounding anything but. “I’m afraid dear Susan tricked you.”

“Well, shit.” Erik faced Susan, looking very much as he had when she met him. “You’ve been nothing but trouble since I first laid eyes on you. It’s a relief to get you off my ship.”

“Fuck you, too,” she said as she sauntered past. “It’s good to be back,” she said to Jackal.

“It’s good to have you back. I hope whatever trouble happened on Earth straightens itself out.”

Susan snorted. “Things have been hell.” She yawned. “I can’t wait to find out what I’ve missed, but first I need some sleep. The last few days on that ship have been one fucking thing after another.”

Erik’s Pryde’s
engines cranked up. Susan fought the impulse to turn around and watch it pull away. For one thing, it would show an interest, a spark of emotion Jackal wouldn’t expect of her. And for another, she wasn’t at all sure she could keep tears from filling her eyes.

* * * *

“What’s been happening since I left?” she asked.

“Nothing too much,” he said, a smirk sounding in his voice. “Oh, yeah. We did find a vein of querpher so rich it should keep us in production for fifty years or more.”

Dismayed but trying not to show it, she looked up. “You’re kidding. That’s good news, huh?”

“Great for us,” Jackal answered. “Not so good for the DAT or Intergalactic Police, but who gives a shit how hard they have to work to stop us.”

“They don’t work hard enough, evidently. Know what that shows?” She playfully punched his arm and smiled. “They don’t want to stop us as much as we want to make money.”

“No one wants to do anything as much as I want to make money. I’m glad you’re back, Susan. We do have some serious business to discuss.”

“Yeah? Like what?” She climbed the steps to the wraparound porch that bordered the house that served as Jackal’s private residence and office.

“Go on into the office. I’ll be right in.”

As Susan entered the back room Jackal called his office, the reality of being back on Heron hit her foursquare between the eyes. The smell of querpher hung everywhere in the room, for though it was a mineral, it carried the distinctive, decayed odor of the deep soil from which it was mined.

The room also held the acrid smell of cigars, which struck her as strange. In all the years she’d known Jackal, he rarely smoked, except when he had company. Who had been visiting? Few dared come to Heron, so it must have been a business associate. Could it have been the traitor from Earth? Her heart quickened. The very person she sought might have left this room a short time ago. He might even still be on the planet.

A door opened and closed on the second floor and someone came down the stairs. Susan cracked open the door but saw nothing of the new person.

“Take him where he wants,” Jackal said to one of his men.

“The others won’t like it.”

“If they know what’s good for them, they’ll do what they’re told,” Jackal responded angrily.

His man raised his hand in resignation. “Okay. I’ll tell them.” He walked away. The outer door closed, leaving the house silent.

Susan closed the door seconds before Jackal entered. He shut the office door behind him and locked it. What was that about? Wary, she called forth every acting technique she knew to appear calm.

“Have you had company?” Susan sat in the brown-leather visitor chair and propped her booted feet on the corner of his desk. “Usually you have a cigar with me when I come back from a trip. Today you started without me.” She wrinkled her nose to indicate the odor still hung in the air.

“Our friend from Earth stopped by.”

She snorted a laugh. “Stopped by? From
Earth?
I wish I’d known he was coming. I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of confiscating that piece of shit John Erik calls a cargo ship.”

“I’d love to have seen Erik’s face when he lost control of his ship, and to a woman, no less.” Instead of settling in the oversized chair behind his desk, Jackal paced between the desk and door.

“Sit down, for God’s sake. What’s wrong?”

“The reason for the visit from Earth is what’s wrong. We’ve got a mole,” Jackal ground out, facing her.

“What?” Susan launched from her chair. “Who?”

“You.” Jackal reared back his right arm as he took two quick steps and slugged her across the jaw.

She crumbled to the floor, pain radiating through her head. She tried to crawl away, tried to gather her scattered thoughts to protest, but Jackal’s foot slamming into her stomach robbed her of breath and all rational thought.

“You’re a huge disappointment, Susan. But you won’t be for long. Soon you’ll be dead, and so will Erik and his crew. This time I’ll do the job right.”

Run, Erik, run. Forget the money and get away.

Darkness closed over her.

Chapter Twelve

“I don’t like this, Captain,” Charlie said. “I don’t trust Jackal.”

It took everything in Erik to keep his worry behind a composed expression, but showing Charlie his concern would only make things worse. The plan had been to wait until the following day to meet, but Erik had a feeling he couldn’t shake that something had gone very wrong. He didn’t know what to do, burst in on Jackal and ruin whatever Susan had planned or stay put, waiting for the hammer to drop.

“Your worries are noted, Charlie, for the tenth time.”

“Sorry,” the young crewman mumbled.

“No need,” Erik replied, slapping Charlie on the back. “I don’t like it, either.”

Adam loaded the final cashbox onto the hover craft. They’d sent Dilly out of orbit with
Erik’s Pryde
while escaping with the hover vehicle in the only blind spot along their exit path—information Susan had given them. Following her directions, they found the hidden vault house near the mine opening. The empty vault house, now.

“All loaded,” Adam said to Erik. To Charlie he added, “We have to trust that Susan knows what she’s doing. She’s been living a far more dangerous life than we could imagine for a good many years, and she’s skilled.”

“I know, but—”

Erik jerked up his hand, signaling silence. At least three men crashed through the wooded area to the right of where they’d hidden their craft. Susan had indicated that no one but Jackal and a few chosen men ever went near the vault house. And the mine closed during the day. Due to the depths and the heat generated in the work of removing the querpher, men worked only at night, with fans blowing the near-freezing nighttime temperatures down the shafts.

With the stealth of earth-cats, the
Pryde’s
crew melted into the brush.

“What exactly do you hope to see up here in the middle of the day?” asked someone using a petulant tone.

“I want to see how the work’s progressing before I head back to Earth. I understand you’ve found the mother lode,” said a second man.

“We keep telling you that no work is done during the day,” said a third voice. He spit and then continued, “Jackal knows everything about the find. I’m sure he’s told you what you need to know.”

The sound of a fist striking flesh reverberated across the space separating the men from them. “Jackal tells me what he wants me to know. There’s a difference. Now that we know that little bitch is on-planet, he can take care of her. And then I intend to be more of a hands-on partner than I was before. So if you know what’s good for you, you do what I say. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sure, yeah. I didn’t know.”

“So Susan is in trouble? I like her.” The first man spoke up again.

They started toward the mine once more. “She’s an undercover DAT agent,” the second man said roughly.

The third man spoke up. “You’re a DAT agent. How do we know
you’re
not playing us double?”

Erik shook his head. The man was an idiot, obviously. The unmistakable spit of a Succher reached his ears.

“Gods! You didn’t have to do that!” shouted man number one.

“Learn from his mistake. I don’t like being questioned.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you to the new vein. It’s deep, though. I hope you’re not claustrophobic.”

“Just get me the fuck down there. I can take care of myself.”

“Okay, Mr. Knowlton.” Their footfalls faded with no further talking.

“We have to get to Susan,” Charlie whispered frantically.

“Don’t fly off the handle, Charlie. We need a plan.” Erik set his synchronizer for Jackal’s home.

“Erik,” Adam calmly said, “when we went back for the last lockboxes, I set the explosives.” An explosion sealing the mine was the distraction that would allow them to escape the planet after Susan joined them and meet Dilly and
Erik’s Pryde
in open space.

“Can the charges be seen?”

Adam looked affronted. “Of course not. I’m just saying that, if we set them off remotely when we’re near the residence, it will give us the means of getting by Jackal and his men.”

Erik considered this. “But maybe not enough of a distraction for us to launch after we find her.”

Adam stood firmly and crossed his arms. “I vote for finding Susan and then determining a way off Heron.”

“I second,” added Charlie.

Frowning, Erik said, “I know I sometimes run the ship as a democracy, but…” He, too, crossed his arms, regarding the stubborn expressions of his crew. “Lucky for you I agree.” He held up the synchronizer. “Let’s get started.”

* * * *

Rope bound her wrists to a chair, though her ankles were free. That was a mistake Jackal would pay for if she could get her boots anywhere near his nuts.

She kept her eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness a few moments longer until she gained more knowledge of her surroundings. The scent of cigars still lingered, so he hadn’t moved her from the office. She didn’t sit in the same chair as when she arrived, though. This one was hard with solid, wooden arms. Definitely not the “guest” chair.

How long she’d been out she didn’t know. She did know pain filled her body from head to foot. Jackal must not have let up on her even after she passed out. What she needed to do now was work through the pain and concentrate on getting the hell out of there. After beating the crap out of that son of a bitch Jackal, of course.

“I can see you’re awake,” he said, far too close judging by the sound of his voice.

She didn’t answer, hoping her silence pissed him off.

“Why, Susan? Why did you have to be the traitor to our cause?”

She kept track of his walking the room by the sound of his shoes and
swoosh
of his clothing. Jackal always paced when he was frustrated or angry.
Criminy.
She’d better open her eyes and keep a bead on him. She said a silent thank-you to Adam and hoped he heard. If he was right about the Omnian knife, she might not be stuck here much longer.

“Why?” She repeated his question. “Because you sell poison to the universe.” Slowly, she maneuvered her hand to the edge of the chair arm. With her fingertips, she nudged the knife from the bottom of her jacket pocket to the top.