Double Cross: From the Athena Lee Universe (Smuggle Life Book 1) Read online

  Double Cross

  by TS Paul and Nathan Howe

  BOOK I IN THE SMUGGLE LIFE SERIES

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Legal Stuff

  Prolog

  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

  Author Notes - Nathan Howe

  Author - Nathan Howe

  Author Notes - TS Paul

  Author - TS Paul

  Legal Stuff

  Copyright © 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

  Prolog

  Taylor sat in his usual spot when he was here. Not that he was home often. Working on a ship meant he was frequently away from home. His home planet, New Reno, wasn’t one his crew visited frequently. Not that he was on a regular ship. He was a smuggler, a good one at that.

  The beer in his hand was cool and refreshing. The familiar sounds of the bar relaxed Taylor. He needed this break from it all. The rest of the crew were off exploring the city. They weren’t in the best town on the planet, but that didn’t matter. At least it was here and relatively safe.

  This part of the town was nothing compared to where Taylor grew up. It was no surprise he ended up as a smuggler since he grew up with nothing but dangerous people around committing crimes left and right. All Taylor wanted to do was get off the planet, but all he knew was breaking the rules, so he did. The Navy wasn’t for him. Neither was working on regular cargo ships. The best option was smuggling.

  Taylor took a large gulp of the beer. It went down smooth. Even cheap beer was better than no beer, something Taylor was thankful to have. It made his day, and actually, his week.

  Taylor’s father was a drunk and a thief, and his mother died when he was young. As much as it pained Taylor, he barely remembered her. Just her smile, it was all he had. Taylor looked down at his beverage. It was empty, again.

  Getting the bartender’s attention, he ordered another one. This was needed. Taylor wanted to clear his head. Thinking about his family was never a good sign. The past was the past. Time to focus on the future. Taylor was ready to forget about the past. He owed some people some serious money. Lots of money.

  Taylor had what many said was a gambling problem. He did his best to hide it, but a few people knew. Taylor feared that it would come back to bite him in the butt.

  The bartender set the new drink in front of him. Taking a sip of his drink, Taylor took in his surroundings. There were a few men doing business in the corner. The rest were like him, alone and drinking. That was the type of place this was, one that Taylor liked, where serious drinking was done.

  It wasn’t that Taylor didn’t like the company, he did, but at times a man just needed to be alone. He talked all day for his job. Most people knew that he loved to talk, and he did. At times, though, he needed to be alone and think. Now was one of those times.

  The door to the bar opened, and a group of men filed in. They fit right in here, the type of men who screamed, “I’m trouble.” At least all but one, a young guy who walked right over to Taylor.

  “You Taylor?” he asked.

  “I am.”

  The younger man pulled out a taser and zapped Taylor before he could react. The last thing he saw was the bar bursting out into a big brawl.

  Chapter One

  The ships alarms blared as Steve rinsed his face in his quarters. “Just one morning of peace and quiet is all I want,” he grumbled to himself.

  The alarms continued to blare as Steve did his best to ignore them. He knew that made him a bad Marine. Not that he was one anymore and hadn’t for a while. But, still, it pained him just a little to ignore them. For the most part, on the Rossi, alarms meant little. Not like his days as a Marine. He was a smuggler now, and warnings were an everyday occurrence.

  Doing his best to ignore them, Steve went about his regular routine. Even though he wasn’t a Marine, he kept to the standards. The man was in great shape and had just completed his morning workout. Now, he was just finishing up his shave, his face smooth and fresh.

  The one good thing about being a smuggler versus a Marine was that he got to pick his own uniform. Not that he didn’t like the one that was chosen for him, but it got old wearing the same thing over and over. On the Rossi, Steve’s uniform consisted of cargo pants that let him move easily and a t-shirt. It allowed for ease of movement.

  “Kane,” sounded through his room. Steve didn’t like it when the captain of the crew used his last name. She did it to annoy him.

  Steve hit his own communications in the room. “Yes, Rea.”

  That was her first name, and she hated it when Steve used that. Like him, she was the only other member of the crew who had served. She had been in the Navy for several years but didn’t get the shaft like Steve.

  “Kane, you know I don’t like that.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Steve continued to dress. “What do you want, Dodge?”

  “We have a ship inbound, and it’s flagging us.”

  Steve groaned. This wasn’t something they needed him for. It wasn’t like they didn’t have ships inbound all the time. That was the life on this vessel, always running scared and avoiding both pirates and the Navy.

  “You don’t need me.” Steve ran his fingers through his short hair. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with a ship, though it might be a nice break from the boredom on the ship recently. Steve missed the last real action. That angered him, and it had cost them a shipmate. It had only been a month, but it was a long month since Taylor went missing, since the kidnapping.

  “Get up here,” Captain Dodge said.

  “Fine. In five.” Steve shut off the communications. He would make it up to the bridge in no time but didn’t see the need. She and the others could handle it.

  Out in the hallway, the alarms continued. It wasn’t like every person on the ship didn’t already know. The crew wasn’t large. Including Steve and Rea, there were seven, and that was including the CATT and droid.

  Speaking of the CATT, the robotic cat walked down the hall. Steve turned to it. “Nicole.”

  The CATT stopped. “Yes?”

  “Can you tell me what is going on?”

  Nicole stopped and started to lick her tail. Steve gave up trying to understand Nicole a long time ago. She never could tell him why she did that. It was just so strange to see a robotic cat doing things a real one would do. Nicole reminded Steve of a Turkish Angora.

  Once done, she looked back up at him. “I know but can’t tell you.”

  Steve groaned. She was loyal to the captain and someone or something else. Steve was sure about it. He’d tried once to get it out
of her. That ended badly for him. The alarm in his room had gone off at all hours of the night for a month. Cats and CATTS were sneaky like that.

  Making his way through the ship, Steve ran into another of the crew members. She barely noticed him and his hulking frame. Parker was the youngest member. At first, it troubled Steve that she was here because she was so young, just seventeen, but he had grown used to her presence. She kept her blonde hair short and subject to daily whims. She was petite and able to fit into small paces. And that alone made her extremely useful. Today, the kid wore jeans and a sweatshirt. Her wardrobe constantly shifted, never the same for long.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said as she nearly ran into him.

  “No worries.”

  She continued on. Now, Steve was intrigued. What could be going on?

  Chapter Two

  On the bridge, Rea waited impatiently for Steve. She wanted his presence here to help with the talk. The pirate ship kept trying to communicate with them. That was the last thing she wanted to do, but with how persistent they were, it was going to happen.

  Rea hated pirates. When she had been in the Navy, she had served on an anti-pirate ship, patrolling space in an attempt to rid the Empire of pirates. It was a fruitless battle but one she enjoyed. Part of Rea missed being in the Navy, but she’d served her time and decided to try something different, something more in line with the family business.

  After several minutes, Steve entered the bridge, his arms rippling in his skin-tight shirt. Perfect, Rea thought. He’d intimidate the pirates.

  “Took you long enough,” Rea said. She was just a little shorter than Steve but taller than most women. In her youth, that height just made her feel awkward. As an adult, she used it to her advantage, but it didn’t work well with video calls. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her face was stern and fierce.

  “Still don’t know what is going on or why I need to be here,” Steve said. He had that look of annoyance he got when he didn’t have all the information.

  Rea smiled. “Just stand next to me and look imposing.”

  “Ugh.” Steve glared at Rea. That was another thing that Steve didn’t like. He knew he was imposing, but he didn’t like being told to act like it.

  Aldis laughed at his console. He was the ship’s computer guy, well, when Nicole let him do the job. The CATT, Nicole, when she wanted to, was able to hack or find the information that Aldis needed ten times faster than he could.

  Aldis did other things too. They all did. Currently, he was at the helm. Aldis was lanky with long, blond hair that hung loosely around his angular face. He wore what most thought people on ships did, a jumpsuit. It looked terrible, but Rea didn’t tell him that. He was such a goofball at times but serious when he wanted to be.

  “Ready, Captain?” Aldis asked.

  “Ready.”

  The screen lit up, and the gnarliest looking pirate appeared. With pirates, it was tough to tell the age of any of them. This one could easily be older than Rea or half her age. The captain tried not to think about her own age. Each year, she was getting older, though she wasn’t old, being in her forties.

  “I’ve been sent to make contact with you,” the pirate said.

  Rea didn’t like that one bit. Pirates were some of their competitors, ones who tried to rob them blind. “Okay,” she said. “What is it you want?”

  “One of my own would like to arrange a job for you.”

  Steve snorted behind her.

  Rea ignored him. “Go on.”

  “I can’t go into details,” he said. The pirate shifted his feet anxiously. To Rea, he appeared too nervous and ready to run. “But I can send you coordinates to the meet.”

  Rea rolled her eyes. “Like I’m just going to go to someplace without more information.”

  The pirate smiled. “Half a million credits.”

  Rea jaw dropped. “Just to go?”

  The pirate nodded. “If you show up, you will get it.”

  Rea couldn’t believe her ears. That was a lot of credits. She looked at Aldis and Steve. Both appeared to be as shocked as she was.

  “I need to talk to my crew first.”

  The pirate nodded. “Very well. I need to know within the hour.”

  “You will.”

  They cut the connection.

  “Get the rest of the crew,” Rea said.

  It wasn’t long before they arrived, even Nicole, who Rea made sure to pay well, along with droid B113, who didn’t show up.

  Standing on the bridge was a wide assortment of people and robots. Parker, at seventeen and an orphan, was the youngest. Right now, she wore her hair in short spikes. Next to her was Lindsey, the engineer of the ship. The engineer wore her pitch-black hair pulled back. The few times she let it hang, it rested on her shoulders. She was fit, and Rea knew she was deceptively strong.

  “We have an offer,” Rea said. “Half a million credits to go meet a pirate.”

  Stunned silence greeted her. Rea figured that would happen. She waited for the others to recover.

  Steve spoke first. “I don’t trust it.”

  Aldis nodded in agreement. “He looked untrustworthy.”

  The group laughed.

  “Name one person you know who looks trustworthy,” Lindsey said.

  Aldis shrugged. “Fine, but still. I mean, can that be legit?”

  Rea looked at Parker. Even though she was the youngest one in the group, she had a clear head and made sound choices. “Parker?”

  The teenager bit her lower lip and crossed her arms. “I think we should do it.”

  Lindsey nodded. She was relaxed in her usual “take in the group” mode. “I do as well.”

  Aldis threw up his arms. He had his “I’m annoyed and fearful” posture. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “I take that as a no,” Rea said.

  “Uh. Yeah.” Aldis appeared dejected. He didn’t trust people no matter how carefree he could be at times.

  Only Kane and were Nicole left.

  “Last two. Say something, or we are doing this.”

  While Rea wasn’t in desperate need of the credits, the funds would help the rest of the crew. She wanted her crew able to take care of themselves, but Rea was concerned about a possible set up. Many different scenarios were running through her head as she waited.

  The CATT sat on her butt, licking her paw. She tilted her head as if speaking to someone before responding, “I say do it.”

  Rea turned to the former Marine.

  “Doesn’t seem to matter what I say, so go for it.”

  Aldis crinkled his nose. “Of course, Nicole voted that way.”

  It was bound to happen. The two had more than one disagreement since Nicole had joined. She was indifferent about many things, but when she did voice her opinion, it was almost always the opposite of what Aldis wanted.

  “It makes the most sense,” Nicole said. “I thought humans cared about the credits.”

  “But it’s pirates,” Aldis said. “Freaking pirates. We have no idea what they will do.”

  Nicole snorted. It was one of the funniest things Rea had seen, a robotic cat snorting. Nicole was a feisty one at times too.

  “Grow a pair,” the CATT said. “You need to man up.”

  The computer tech had a few run-ins with pirates in his life that Rea knew of. None of them had been good. She did feel bad for him. There was a reason he hated him. Forcing him to work with them wouldn’t be easy, but he would do what he was ordered to do.

  “Listen, you little CATT,” Aldis said, “I have a pair. I’m just trying to make sure I don’t lose them.”

  Nicole laughed. “Funny human. I don’t have many records of that happening.”

  Steve chuckled. “Look. Let’s just get the job done.”

  “Agreed,” Lindsey said. “Time to move on. Let’s make some money.”

  It was settled they’d go to wherever this pirate was going to send them. Rea couldn’t believe what was going to happe
n. It was mind-boggling. She eyed Aldis, who was still steaming.

  He nodded. “So be it, but I’m voicing my concern.”

  “So noted,” Rea said. “Aldis, get the pirate back on the comms.”

  A few minutes later, the grisly pirate smiled out at them. “You made a choice?”

  “We have,” Rea said. “Send the location. We will go.”

  “Very good.”

  Not knowing what was going to happen always unsettled Rea. Even though that was nothing new, this time it felt different. Perhaps it was dealing with a pirate. They couldn’t be trusted.

  <<<>>>

  Parker left the bridge right behind Lindsey. She rushed to catch up with the engineer. The engineer was a pretty woman, one that Parker wouldn’t mind looking like in the future. It wasn’t that Parker was a child anymore. She might be young, but in own her eyes, an adult. Just not fully matured. She was a later bloomer as Steve would put it.

  “Lindsey,” Parker said.

  “Hey, girly.”

  They continued to walk down the corridors. Lindsey probably had work to do. Most of the crew did, but Parker was more of a deckhand. “Clean here.” “Do this.” She didn’t mind. Someday, she would find her place on the ship, what she was meant to do. It was a just a matter of time.

  “What do you think? About working for a pirate?” Parker asked.

  Lindsey shrugged. “While I said we should, it does worry me.”

  It worried Parker too since Aldis was so against it. That was the troublesome part. “I’ve never really worked with pirates. I mean, we run from them all the time, but to do business with one…”

  Parker’s body shivered, and she was covered with goosebumps. It was such a foreign idea, working with what was typically considered their biggest enemy. Being smugglers meant they had lots of enemies between pirates, the Navy, and other smugglers.

  But it was always pirates who were at the top of the list. Ever since Parker joined the Rossi a year and a half ago, Rea had done her best to avoid pirates. Not that it was possible. For as big as the Empire was, space was smaller than you would think. They seemed to always cross paths with them.

  “They aren’t fun,” Lindsay agreed. “Aldis has had several run-ins. Same with Dodge and Kane, back when they were in the military.”