The last person I expected to see, when I stepped into the restaurant with the first meals of the night, was Mack—yet there he was, large as life, and twice as mean. When I caught sight of his seven-foot-something figure leaning against the wall just inside the entrance, it was all I could do not to drop what I was carrying, and bolt for the alley out back.

  He was waiting for something, and somehow, I didn’t think it was for the concierge to check the bookings in case there was a free table. The way his eyes moved over the patrons enjoying their meals, he was looking for something else. Given I’d jumped ship three months back, and he’d have been trying to find me, ever since, it wasn’t hard to work out what.

  Despite the sudden spike of adrenaline that sent a tremor running through my hands, I kept it all together, making my head think thoughts of who was getting what meal, and how fast, as I went through my implant looking for intruders.

  Not that I relaxed when I didn’t find any. Mack might have discovered some new tricks since the last time. Him or Tens. It was hard not to search the room for the communications engineer, but I managed it. I even kept my pace to the level of efficient waitress and not the equivalent of scared rabbit, until I was back through the door to the kitchen.

  “Chief,” I called, as soon as the door had swung shut behind me. “Chief!”

  I’d stripped off my apron and the cute little wait-cap we all wore and headed for the door, dropping by the small office connecting to the kitchen, before I left.

  “I’m sorry, but something’s come up. I’ve got to—”

  Can’t say the sudden grip around my bicep, or the blaster muzzle pressed hard into my temple came as a complete surprise, but I’d been hopeful.

  Chief looked up from where he was counting out my wages. He started stuffing them into an envelope as he rose from his seat, and I wondered how he expected to give them to me. Instead, he offered them to someone standing just out of sight around a filing cabinet. Man, I hated his office.

  I always had, right from when he took me on to now. Next time, I was going to walk if I didn’t like the boss’s office. If there was a next time…

  I hated the office a lot more when Delight stepped into view, taking the envelope from Chief’s fingers as she came.

  “Thanks, Chief. Odyssey appreciates your understanding in this matter.”

  Odyssey…which meant…

  I shifted my gaze as best I could without turning my head. I really needed to see who had hold of my arm. It was both a relief and not when Pritchard came through the door behind me, the look on his face melting into relief when he saw me.

  “Nice work,” he said, although I thought it was anything but.

  Tens slid into my head, like he’d never left it. Boy had learned new tricks.

  “Watch who you’re calling a ‘boy’,” he said, his grip tightening on my arm, and I was tempted to try kicking his ass right then and there.

  “Go ahead, and make my day,” he challenged, but Delight was closing, and the blaster was still pressed against my skull, and I didn’t dare move an inch.

  At least Chief didn’t look like he was enjoying the show. He watched us, his eyes wide with horror, and even I could see the wheels of speculation starting to turn inside his head. Tens and Delight were treating me like the dangerous piece of work I could be, and there were reasons he never looked too deep into his employees’ CVs.

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  “Thanks for the chance, Chief. Some other time, maybe.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he sat back down, his ass landing heavily enough to make his chair creak in protest.

  “Maybe…” he managed, but, from the dry croak in his voice, I figured that was a ‘maybe not.’

  Well, damn. Mack and Delight had just ruined my day…again. I wondered what they wanted, this time.

  I’d skipped off the Shady Marie about three worlds back, leaving Mack and Tens another one of my fuck-you-very-much-it’s-been-nice-knowing-you notes on the ship’s system, and I’d wrapped it in just a tiny bit of a virus to stop them following me as soon as they’d found it. I’d still had to skip out on Mack, cos the man was just that fast.

  Three worlds and three months. It was the longest I’d managed, yet, and I figured I’d done pretty well

  “Yeah, laugh it up, short stuff,” Delight said, and I realized I wasn’t alone with my thoughts—that the other three were back inside my implant with Tens, and I hadn’t noticed a single one of them arrive.

  Pritchard looped his arm through mine and Tens shifted the blaster away from my head, and down to my ribs—like that was any better—but, together, we wound our way out back, leaving through the kitchen like nothing was wrong. I wondered if any of the chefs would begrudge me the nearest meat cleaver, and Delight poked me in the back.

  “Not a chance, kiddo.”

  Kiddo? Like I was anywhere near a child! I tensed up as we got close to the door, and felt both Tens and Pritchard tighten their respective holds. Pritchard startled me, by speaking.

  “You know what?” he said, as Tens opened the door. He continued before I could reply. “Let’s not play this game.”

  And he slammed an auto-injector into my ribs, and kept it there, until we’d moved into the alley behind the restaurant, by which time the injector had off-loaded its contents. Cold lanced up over my skin, and my knees gave. I fought the dark long enough to see Mack come round the restaurant’s rear corner.

  “Truly?” he asked, taking one look at me, and turning to Pritchard, but Pritchard’s reply was lost to me.

  I could imagine what it was, though. It was probably along the lines of “I decided I was too old for this shit, so I decided to get it over and done with,” or something like that. What did I care? I was out for the count.

  Mack was sitting beside the bed, when I came round. He was always sitting beside the bed when I came round…or in front of the tank. The Stars knew why, but he’d made a habit of it, and I didn’t see it stopping any time soon—more’s the pity.

  “You’re just lucky Tens grabbed you first,” he said, as the world swam into focus around me.

  “Real lucky,” he added, grabbing me and holding a bucket in front of my face, as I sat up and threw up in one unceremonious movement. “Why can’t you just apply for leave like everyone else?”

  “Don’t…wanta…come back,” I told him, in between heaves. “Wouldn’t…be…very honest.”

  He sighed.

  “Well, seein’ as you an’ me have an agreement about that, it doesn’t matter.”

  I sighed. By ‘agreement’ he meant he’d come and get me whenever I snuck off the ship and he needed me…at least, I think that’s what he meant.

  “Somethin’ like that,” he muttered, and handed me a glass of water. “You done?”

  I didn’t know, so I didn’t bother answering, just took the glass and took a cautious sip. When that didn’t come back up, I took a bigger sip, and then a swallow. It was nice when everything stayed down.

  “So. What d’you need me for?”

  “Little girl didn’t make it home from school, and her mommy’s running a mining conglomerate on a world Bluebirds thinks it should have.”

  “Bluebirds?”

  “Company that makes a habit of hostile take-overs and slave labor… Delight hates it with a passion. Your help is required.”

  “I don’t know anything about little kids,” I protested, but he had a reply all set to go.

  “But you do know how to get things back from folk that shouldn’t have them. The fact it’s a kid shouldn’t matter.”

  “Why can’t Delight do it herself?” I asked, and even to me, I sounded whiny.

  “Delight and Pritchard have bigger fish to fry. The girl is kind of a distraction, but one that needs to be dealt with.”

  “And it has to be me…”

  “I need you to deal with it. I made the dad a promise.”

  I felt a spike of interest. He had? And just who was the dad for Mack to be making promises to, because a promise didn’t sound like we were getting paid. He made a sound of disgust.

  “Odyssey’s paying us, and I put the price up just a bit so we could yank Delight’s chain.” His voice took on a wheedling note. “There’s an early completion bonus…”

  Okay, so now he had my attention.

  We were yanking Delight’s chain and there was an early completion bonus? I could use the extra cash—especially since Delight hadn’t handed over my pay packet yet.