Stowaway (28 page)

“Well?” she demanded when the cop came back out empty-handed.

“Nobody in there.”

“What?” Raine said. “But I saw him go in there myself. He hasn’t come out.”

“There’s a window in there,” the cop said. “Must have slipped out.”

“I’ll put out an APB on him,” Ramsey said. “We’ll soon pick him up.”

“Wait! What about the tracker?” Sullivan grinned triumphantly. “He has a tracking device. Can you find him using that?”

Dryden frowned, and when she began to speak, Raine feared the worst. Until he heard what she had to say.

“Yes. He wears a tracking device. As a stowaway and a fugitive, we needed to keep tabs on him.”

“
Wears
.” Raine wanted to cheer at her use of the present tense. He hadn’t told the captain the plan, but when it came to uptake speed, he’d rarely met anyone faster.

“That makes it easy,” Ramsey said. “What’s its frequency?”

“I have it right here.” Raine took out his Link. Sullivan looked dubious, clearly suspicious of them being so helpful, but she could hardly protest at cooperation. Raine sent the frequency to the cops’ Links.

“Great, got it. Okay, we’ll go get him. Thanks.”

“Do let me know when you find him,” Dryden said as they left.

Sullivan glared at Raine and Sim. “Aren’t you two going to help?”

“Ms. Sullivan.” Dryden sounded shocked. “Surely you know my security people have no jurisdiction to pursue or detain anyone on this station.” She smiled, matching Sullivan’s earlier smugness easily. “I think you’ll find Mr. Miller is no longer our problem.”

“You’ll pay for this, Dryden. Whatever scheme you’re cooking up, you’ll pay.” Sullivan turned on her heel and rushed off.

“Charming woman,” Dryden said. “Reminds me of a dog I used to own. We had to have it put down in the end. Now, I need to get back to the ship.”

“I have some errands to run, ma’am,” Raine said. “Mr. Sim will accompany you.”

“Thank you, Chief.”

She knew, he thought, as she offered her hand. She knew she’d never see him again.

“Been an honor, Captain.” He turned to Sim and held out his hand. “And you, Sim. All the team.”

Sim didn’t look surprised, but he never did. He shook Raine’s hand. “Boss.”

With Dryden preceding Sim, the two of them walked away. Raine watched them until they turned a corner. He’d miss them and the
Dawn
. Just a haulage company it might be, but in the end, even Kit had started to understand the bond between shipmates.

But Raine’s time on the
Light of Dawn
ended today.

* * *

Kit whirled around when the hatch into the ship opened. He reached for something to defend himself with but sagged with relief when Raine walked in and closed the hatch behind him.

“The damn controls are locked out!”

“I didn’t want you flying off without me,” Raine said. “So if you’ll strap in and try to shut the hell up for two minutes, we’ll get out of here.”

Shock took care of the shutting the hell up part, and Raine sitting down at the controls and starting the engines took care of the strapping in. Kit scrambled into the copilot’s seat and fastened the straps as the ship’s engines powered up. Okay, he’d shut up until they were safely away from the station. But then Raine better have answers.

“Departure permission granted,” Raine reported. “Space doors opening.”

Point of no return, Kit thought, seeing the doors ahead of them split and part, revealing the star-studded blackness beyond. A few moving lights were other ships on their way in and out of Saira’s docking facilities. Their ship lifted slowly from the deck, hovering on force fields, while Raine used the thrusters to maneuver them out of the door.

Raine powered the ship away from the station’s hull. Kit gasped when the darkness swallowed them up as if they’d plunged into the sea. A deep ocean of blackness.

“You okay?” Raine said, sparing him a quick glance.

“I’ve never been on such a little ship before.” Different even from standing so close to the observation deck window. So much more exposed. He fancied he could feel the cold of space seeping through the hull. A much thinner hull than the one on the
Dawn.

“Clearing station’s gravity well,” Raine said. “Course laid in. Engaging autopilot. Engaging main drive.”

The ship’s vibration lessened as the thrusters cut off and the smoother, quieter main drive kicked in. The reassuring hum of the air system continued, but otherwise the ship fell silent. Kit turned from the stars to Raine.

“Okay, pal, start talking. What the fuck is going on?”

“Right this minute, the Saira police are searching for you. They’re following your tracker data.”

“But I’m not wearing the tracker.” Kit glanced at his wrist as if he had to check it wasn’t there.

“I know. Gracie had it.”

“What?” Kit tried to jump to his feet, forgetting he had his seat belt on. “Fuck,” he muttered, undoing the belt and standing up, the gesture drained of its dramatic effect. “You shouldn’t have involved Gracie. If she gets in trouble—”

“Calm down.” Raine loosened his seat belt and stood. “All she did was shove it under the seat cushion of one of the station cabs.” He glanced at his watch. “About now she’s starting her exam, and the cops are chasing a taxi around the station.”

“Oh. Well. Okay then.” He folded his arms when Raine took a step toward him, and the gesture made Raine divert to the two duffel bags sitting on the deck.

“I brought you some clothes.”

“I know.” Kit had searched both bags already. “You also brought Jeff’s money.”

“It’s your money. Let’s unpack and get something to eat. I’m starved.”

“Dare I ask how many bedrooms this ship has?” He already knew the answer. The tiny ship had only this control room, an engineering space, a combined kitchen and living space and
one
bedroom. A hatch in the floor of the control room led to a hold full of supplies and several spare fuel cells. Raine must have been sending messages to arrange all this as soon as they’d come into communications range of Saira a week before they arrived.

Raine stopped. He lost the air of triumph he’d displayed since coming onboard. “Kit, if this isn’t what you want—”

“I never asked for it.”

“You didn’t have to. I love you.”

“So you decided you knew what’s best?”

Raine’s face grew afraid then. Afraid Kit truly didn’t want him to come. Didn’t want
him.

“Do you want to go back?”

“What?”

“There’s still time.” He put the bag down. “Nobody even has to know I left. You could take me back, leave me, and go alone. The ship is yours.”

“You’d do that? You’d let me take the ship? It must have cost you everything you have.” Raine shrugged. Shrugged about the idea of giving up all his money. “Fuck it, Raine, you drive me crazy. Who the hell are you? What kind of man?”

Raine shrugged again. “I’m just me. I want you to be safe, Kit. I think I can keep you safe, if you’ll let me come with you.”

“But this solves nothing. It makes it worse. We’re both on the run.”

“Together. Whatever we face, we face it together. If you want that.”

Did he? Or did he want to go out there into the darkness alone?

“The fact I have no clue how to fly this ship is kind of an issue,” Kit admitted.

Raine grinned. “Consider me your pilot.”

“Mmm, role-playing. Sexy.” Kit sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Dan, you won’t ever forget I didn’t ask you to do this, will you?”

“No, Kit, I won’t. As long as you never do either.”

Kit smiled weakly. “A volunteer.”

“I’ve always been one.” He picked up the bag again. “You ready to eat?”

“I’m not hungry. But my question about the sleeping arrangements still stands.”

Raine grinned. “Let’s go figure it out.”

* * *

Raine woke, definitely hungry and rather cold, alone in the bed. Wrapping one of the blankets around himself, he left the bedroom and stepped into the control room.

“Kit?”

Kit waved from the pilot’s seat, only his hand visible over the high back. Raine walked over there, the deck chilling his bare feet. He found Kit lounging in the seat, naked. Raine chuckled at the sight.

“Bare-assed among the stars, huh?”

“It’s strangely liberating. I might be naked the whole time on here. It’s not as if anyone is going to peek in the window.”

“I’m trying to come up with reasonable objections to your plan, and I can’t find a single one.”

“You, meanwhile, will walk about in a fur coat, I suppose.”

“I brought my thermal underwear.” Raine sat in the other seat, and Kit at once came and straddled his knees. Raine wrapped his arms and the blanket around Kit, cocooning them both in its warmth.

“Sharing body heat might be enough to keep me warm.”

“I got lots of ways to keep you warm.” He took Raine’s face in his hands, bent down to kiss him. When he came up for air, his face was flushed, eyes bright. But he made some effort to control himself, pushed back, hands on Raine’s shoulders, holding himself away from Raine’s body.

“Okay, I have to ask,” Kit said. “Do you have a plan? I mean beyond ‘run!’ No complaints, it’s worked fine so far. But is there more?”

“Did you have a plan?”

“I barely got as far as ‘run.’ You know I’m not the master planner.”

Raine grinned. “I’ve noticed.”

“Watch it, pal. You have to sleep sometimes.”

“I do have a plan. I’m going to take you home. My home,” he added quickly when he saw some alarm in Kit’s eyes. “Ryesh. My home planet.”

“It won’t take the authorities long to figure out your home planet is a likely place.”

“True. But even if they find us, they can’t just grab you. There’d have to be extradition proceedings, which can take years. If they get too close, I’ll take you out to hide in the desert.”

“Oh, lovely. Licking the dew off rocks and eating bugs, huh?”

“No. I’d teach you how to live out there. In fact the first thing we’ll do is prepare a bolt hole, in case we need it one day.”

He pulled Kit closer again, and Kit yielded against him, his cock hardening between them. Raine’s was trapped under Kit and would be painful in a moment as it filled too. Damn, he wouldn’t get lunch until dinner time if they kept this up.

“I know it won’t be the kind of life you’re used to, Kit.”

“But we’d be together.” Kit’s arms went around Raine’s neck. He leaned in, kissing his neck, ears, face. “That’s what counts.” He moved against Raine’s stiffening cock, provoking a moan, then pulled back to look down at him, smiling, cheeky. “How long until we reach Ryesh?”

“Fastest estimate is fifty-five days.” Raine grasped Kit’s thighs in his hands, pulling him closer, rubbing against him. “But we have food and fuel for six months.”

Kit stood, making Raine groan in protest and reach for him. But Kit held out a hand, an invitation.

“In that case, Dan, my man, let’s take the long way home.”

Loose Id Titles by Becky Black

Liar’s Waltz

Stowaway

Becky Black

A longtime science fiction fan, Becky thinks there are few story ideas that can’t be improved by the addition of the words “in space.” If the story also includes two gorgeous men unable to keep their hands off each other then so much the better. She’d happily go into space herself, but being English, would insist on there being a reliable supply of tea available.

She likes nothing more than trapping her characters in tricky, no-win situations and watching them figure a way out. When not chasing her characters up trees and throwing rocks at them Becky can be found working in an office—where she’s usually thinking about the next rock to throw.

Find out more about Becky at
http://www.beckyblack.wordpress.com
.