Cut and Run: From the Athena Lee Universe (Smuggle Life Book 3)

  Cut and Run

  by TS Paul and Nathan Howe

  BOOK III IN THE SMUGGLE LIFE SERIES

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Legal Stuff

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Author Notes - Nathan Howe

  Author - Nathan Howe

  Author Notes - TS Paul

  Author - T S Paul

  Legal Stuff

  Copyright ©2018 Nathan Howe, T.S. Paul, All Rights Reserved.

  Reproduction of any kind is strictly prohibited unless written permission granted by the individual authors.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Editing by Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, and Kat Lind

  Prologue

  Taylor squirmed on the floor in pain. He wasn’t even sure what day it was any more or the time. The food arrived at broken intervals that didn’t help Taylor orientate himself and left him hungry.

  His body ached from his head down to his toenails. All he wanted was to get free of this hell hole and back to the Rossi. Back to his old life if that had ever been real. The man wasn’t even sure anymore. The dreams of Steve, Rea, Aldis, and Lindsey were getting distant and foreign. He never dreamed of the young girl anymore.

  The door to Taylor’s prison cell creaked open. It wasn’t really a prison, not in the real sense. Taylor had been kidnapped and tortured by some mysterious people. At first, Taylor thought it was pirates, but now he wasn’t so sure. In his experience, pirates didn’t have this much patience or the wherewithal to play the long game like these people did.

  The light was blinding to Taylor. A man walked in. It had been a while since the woman had been here and talked to him. Taylor almost missed her. She was shockingly friendly, unlike the others who visited him and asked questions.

  A tray of mush was dropped in front of Taylor. “Here you go, pig. Eat up.”

  Taylor indeed ate like a pig. No utensils and not even his hands. He just lapped it up like an animal. His captures had turned him into one, and they appeared to enjoy it.

  “Oink. Oink.”

  The man kicked Taylor as he ate the tasteless food. Who knew what it was, but at least it was better than nothing.

  When Taylor was done eating, the man bent down. “You going to talk?”

  This was different. They had never feed him and then interrogated him.

  “I’ll tell you whatever you want,” Taylor said. His voice slurred and sounded foreign to him. It was never good that one’s own voice sounded like another person’s.

  “Good.”

  The man asked him questions that Taylor didn’t know the answers to, but that didn’t stop the broken man from saying whatever he thought of. The man ate it up, and Taylor continued to talk. If he could say just the right thing, he might just get out of here. He would do anything to get out of this hell.

  Chapter One

  Rea stood in her quarters alone as the Rossi sped across space toward their current destination. It was her dream, one place she had always wanted to go to. It wasn’t that ships never went there. They did, but it was a tough one.

  Mars had been the first planet Earth colonized. It was the most advanced planet outside of Earth. At least, if the long-held belief that Earth was the top was accurate. Rea had her suspicions about that and how powerful it really was.

  The war was an ongoing one with the clones, but it wasn’t like Earth was dominating. Either way, going to Mars wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, but it still was a good job. Plus, it might help to locate Drake and Taylor, along with a chance to identify the mystery woman she had encountered on their last assignment.

  That really troubled Rea, not knowing who was really after them. Seeing the woman for the first time on New Philly didn’t help matters. She had been too far away to recognize, but she raised a bone-deep sense of familiarity. The captain had to have crossed paths with her at some point in the past.

  Rea shook her head. Instead of focusing on the past, she needed to think about the future and what she could expect from Mars. It had been the first of the colonies, the one that started it all and one so powerful that it wasn’t part of the Empire. It was a power unto itself.

  It wasn’t like Rea was going to see much of it, but still, viewing any of it was better than none. It was currently the safest place in the Empire even being so close to battling Earth. That was a positive in Rea’s mind, but it would be tough getting cargo off it. Didn’t matter what the package was.

  Rea exited her room and walked to the bridge of the Rossi to check on Aldis and Cody. The two have turned into best buddies. Rea was pleased that Aldis had a friend on the ship, more than he had before. Since Nicole, the CATT had joined their crew, Aldis had felt out of place. Cody’s presence fixed much of that.

  The passageways of the Rossi were silent as usual, just the way Rea liked it. Steve was most likely spending some time with Lindsey. There had been a time when Rea would have frowned on fraternizing on her ship. That had changed a while ago, and the two were good together. They complemented each other.

  Parker would be trying to find her place again. She just couldn’t make up her mind about what she was going to be good at. Her history of no education left her adrift, and Rea hoped she figured it out before it was too late.

  The captain entered the bridge, and Aldis looked up at her. “Captain,” the lanky man said.

  “Aldis,” Captain Dodge replied. “ETA on Mars?”

  “Prepping for the next jump,” Aldis said. Hearing that made Rea happy. This really was a mission she was excited about.

  Cody nodded in agreement. He was hard at work on the console next to Aldis.

  The two couldn’t be any more opposite each other in appearance. Aldis was tall and lanky with long blond hair. He was fit, not like the Marine, Steve but healthy and strong. Cody was short and pudgy with deep black hair that did nothing to hide his round face.

  Both men were hackers and belonged to a fraternity of a sort. They got along famously, and they had adopted Parker to the group and continued to show her how to hack. It was nice to see the three of them work together.

  “How many more jumps?” Rea asked.

  Aldis punched some numbers into the console. “Two, boss.”

  Rea nodded. Two more wasn’t bad, and it allowed her some time to relax before the next one. New Detroit and New Philly had been rough jobs, and they all needed a rest. The last one had been dicey between being trapped on New Philly with no way off and having both a corrupt Governor and Drake on the planet.

  Yet, they managed to free the slaves and get away. They even helped get a new group in charge of the planet. And here they were, hurdling to a new job with only a
few days’ rest. It seemed only a day or two had passed since they left New Philly.

  There was a lot to do before they arrived. Rea hoped that Nicole would help out and let her know more than she had last time. Not that the CATT withheld critical information for fun. It just felt like that at times.

  Aldis turned to Rea. “Ready to jump in one minute.”

  “Roger.” Rea went to the captain’s chair that she rarely used and sat. It wasn’t the most comfortable place on the ship. That was by design since Rea liked to be busy. Unfortunately, for now, she didn’t have a lot of actual work to perform.

  Planning wasn’t the same, at least not to the captain. There were days like today when she missed being little more than a grunt. On the ground so to speak getting work done. Like Steve did or like Lindsey working in the engine room.

  “Ready,” Aldis said.

  “Jump,” Rea replied. Only one more after this. They were so close to Mars.

  Chapter Two

  Steve walked along the corridor of the Rossi alone, thinking to himself. He was happier than he had been in a while. Though, it was tough to stop thinking about the last mission and the toll it had taken on his body and mind.

  Even though he loathed to admit it, the job had taken more out of him that he would let the others know. Rea suspected, as did Lindsey. The engineer had been a huge help since they left New Philly. The date they had gone on was one of the best days of his life. Now, Steve wanted to make sure she knew that.

  Before they had left, Steve had wanted to buy Lindsey a gift, but he didn’t know what to get. Searching a few shops in his limited time just hadn’t been enough. He hoped to be able to get her something when they arrived at Mars. There had to be a truly unique gift for this special woman, but what? He just didn’t know what to get a woman. Really, Steve didn’t know what to get anyone.

  In all his years, he never had to buy stuff for others, especially as a gift to say thanks for a great time. That had been a foreign idea to the warrior until recently. He was changing in so many ways, some good, others Steve wasn’t so sure about. But it was part of life, that much he knew.

  Without realizing it, Steve ended up in front of his second favorite person’s room on the ship. He wouldn’t tell anyone that he had favorites. It wasn’t what a person should do, but the Marine did. He was sure the rest of the crew did as well. Not to say he didn’t like everyone. He did.

  Well, he wasn’t sure yet what he thought of the new guy. Steve hadn’t talked to Cody much, but Aldis and Parker trusted him. That meant Steve would give him the benefit of believing in him. Yet, the Marine would keep a watchful eye on him until he was absolutely certain the man could be trusted.

  After knocking on Parker's door, Steve fidgeted on his feet. That was a new nervous habit he had started after leaving New Philly. That job had changed him, and Steve hated it. He did what he did, and he would live with it. In his mind, he hadn’t crossed any lines, just made people think he would. That was enough to have people view him differently, and that was what had caused the shift in him.

  The young girl answered with bags under her eyes. She hadn’t opened up since the first night about what happened. Steve hoped she would soon. It was affecting her sleep, and that had to stop.

  “Hey, kid.” Steve smiled.

  Parker returned it. She at least was smiling again. That was a good sign.

  “Old man,” Parker teased. “What you want?”

  Steve pursed his lips for a moment. He wasn’t sure what he wanted considering he had just randomly arrived here. “Walk with me.”

  “One second.” She shut the door and thudded around for a minute before exiting dressed like she was ready for a fight. Much like Steve was and it was to be expected. Half of the time when he talked with the kid, he was teaching her how to defend herself.

  She wanted to fight, at least enough to make sure no one got the drop on her. It was admirable and one of the many things about the kid that Steve liked. With her ready for training, he decided that was an excellent place to head.

  The two walked in silence a bit before Steve decided that she might be the only one on the ship who might be able to help him with Lindsey’s gift. Asking her was a little weird, because of her age and inexperience. But Steve wasn’t going to ask Rea or Aldis. And he didn’t trust the new guy yet. He could ask the CATT but feared that Nicole would give him bad advice intentionally.

  Nicole was still out to get him for the comment he made on New Philly during the last mission. Steve threw her under the bus for not contacting Rea. The CATT could be brutal when she wanted to be, and Steve was sure at some point he was going to feel her wrath. Best not to let her do it with a bad gift to Lindsey.

  “Kid.” Steve eyed her not sure if he should ask or not. Then, he figured it wouldn’t hurt. “What do you think would make a good gift for Lindsey?”

  Parker stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Steve. “You are asking me?”

  “I am, kid.” It couldn’t hurt. Parker was a smart girl and full of useful information. “Better you than anyone else.”

  “You know. I am the best choice.” She grinned having gone through the options herself and realized he had no one else to ask. “She is a romantic.”

  They started to walk again and headed to the gym.

  Steve tilted his head and rubbed his chin. “Okay. A romantic. Flowers. Jewelry. Something like that?”

  “You definitely could do that route or a romantic gift that is from Lindsey’s home planet or Mars. You know, something that speaks to her heart. You could get something that makes her inner engineer happy.”

  The kid gave him a lot to think about and several options. That was good. Once at Mars, Steve would be able to hit up a few shops to get her just the right thing. “Thanks, kid.”

  “You’re welcome, old fart.”

  Both laughed.

  <<<>>>

  Parker’s body was covered in sweat after the session with Steve. Following the talk about Lindsey and the gift, they worked hard in the gym. Krav Maga was an interesting fighting style, and the young girl was learning it well. She enjoyed it and felt stronger and more confident after each lesson with Steve.

  Back in her room, she went to her shower to wash away not only the filth of the workout but from her life. She just couldn’t get over all that happened. Being kidnapped by the slaver on New Philly had been another crushing blow in a lifetime of pain.

  After the shower, Parker laid down to sleep. Her dreams quickly turned into a nightmare of her past. Not just the last kidnapping but her time on New Detroit, before she joined the crew. Back to the time she worked for food scraps from Victor, his abuse and then selling her into slavery. Twice in her life, she had almost been forced into that.

  It wasn’t fair that she had to endure so much, while so many had such perfect lives. Parker tried not to feel bad for herself, but it was tough. Her nightmare was terrible, forcing her to relive all the awful moments. She felt bitter toward all the privileged people around her.

  In her distress, she even hated Steve and what he stood for. The kindest and gentlest giant of a man who only wanted to help her. She was cruel to him for not having been kidnapped. For not being close to becoming a slave for his whole life and not protecting her.

  In part of the nightmare, Taylor was there, haunting her. He didn’t look well. Parker dreamed he was dying and in pain. She couldn’t help it. He was gone, and they had failed him. In the nightmare, she was happy that he wasn’t in pain anymore.

  That wasn’t Parker, and she woke with a start. It was morning. They had to be close to Mars. One jump away. She got up and left to head to the bridge. Parker hoped to spend some time with Aldis and Cody.

  Each day, she worked and trained with a different member. Soon, she would figure out exactly where she belonged. It was just a matter of time. Until then, Parker was going to enjoy learning as much as she could from them all.

  On the bridge, Parker walked over to Aldis. He was the only
one here. It was early, and many of the people on the ship weren’t known for being early birds. Cody had shown that he liked to sleep as much as possible as often as possible. Cody survived on nothing but caffeine, the pudgy guy practically mainlined the soda.

  Parker plopped her butt down next to Aldis.

  The hacker turned to her and smiled. “Morning. Here to pick my brain?”

  Parker shrugged. “I guess.”

  Aldis crinkled his nose. “You okay?”

  Parker tried her best to act fine. She didn’t want to talk about the nightmares. Talking about her dreams was never fun, especially the nightmares. So far, she had been able to avoid it. Both Aldis and Steve tried to get her to open up about what happened to her, but she did her best to refuse and pretend like it didn’t happen.

  Unfortunately, her subconscious clearly won’t stop focusing on it. This was the third night in a row she had a similar nightmare. It put her in a foul mood.

  “I’m fine,” she snapped.

  Aldis’s eyes shot up in shock. “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  Aldis shrugged. “Sure thing, bucko.”

  Parker was glad he didn’t press her further and just went into showing her more about programming and the differences between the styles. It drove her crazy that there were so many types.

  If they had been smart, they all would use the same type, so a person didn’t have to learn a hundred different programming languages. It made no sense at all. Why make it harder for people to work on different styles?

  “It does provide a layer of security,” Aldis stated.

  Parker, rolling her eyes, didn’t realize she had spoken aloud. It didn’t seem to do very much since both Aldis and Cody appeared to get into a lot of different programs. And that didn’t even mention Nicole who, for all intents and purposes, had no barriers. It was just a matter if she wanted to or not.

  The superior knowledge was a CATT thing. Something Parker would never understand. But she was part of the Rossi, both the CATT and the drone. They were way more advanced than anything else on the ship. No one could explain it nor tried.