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

  Parker nodded. She knew some of Steve and Rea’s past, how they served, but she’d never asked much about it. Aldis, she knew even less about.

  “If they are willing, I guess I shouldn’t be scared.”

  “Nope. It will be fine,” Lindsey said. “You want to help me prep?”

  “Sure.”

  They went to the engineering bay and readied the ship to make a long trip to the coordinates that the pirate would be giving Rea.

  Chapter Three

  Rea stared at the coordinates over and over. She couldn’t believe where they were supposed to go. It was the last place she ever wanted to visit in her life. Celtica. The home of the pirates. Rea had never been there before. None of her crew had.

  Not many people who weren’t from Celtica visited it. Not even the Empire’s Navy. While everyone knew it was home to pirates, they were left to govern themselves. The Empire only cared about what they did outside of their own system.

  “I told you,” Aldis said. He stood with his arms crossed and his body stiff. “We should have never taken this.”

  “The credits,” Steve said, “make it worth it.” He was relaxed and calm. He was the one who could go either way.

  As much as Rea wanted to be sure they had made the right choice, she wasn’t. No matter how many credits it was for, going to a place run by ruffians was never a good idea. She had been to plenty of planets and the bad parts on them but not this one. The whole world was the dangerous part.

  The one good thing was at least it was far away from the war and the clones if the rumors were true. Rea saw reports about the capital planet, and it terrified her. She hadn’t informed the rest of the crew outside of Steve.

  The rest of the crew still was on the bridge. They hadn’t left yet. There wasn’t much time to get the ship ready to jump to Celtica.

  Lindsey had said before she left, “It won’t be that bad. I’ll get the ship ready. It will only take a few minutes.”

  Rea was glad to have Lindsey on board. She really wasn’t into the bad parts of being a smuggler, but she was a damn good engineer. If she had been in the Empire Navy, she would have gone far.

  “We’ll be okay,” Steve said. He folded his arms over his chest. “It can’t be that bad.”

  The others didn’t have his confidence. Not everyone could defend themselves like he did. Rea worried most about Parker and Aldis. They had no real combat experience. What they had on the ship didn’t really count. Not to Rea. It was run and hide.

  That most likely wouldn’t be the case at Cletica. From the stories Rea heard in the Navy, it would be a tough go. But the credits…

  “Lindsey will get us ready. Aldis set the coordinates. Prep for the trip. We are doing this. We said we would, so we will. At the first sign of a double cross, we bail.”

  “Agreed,” Steve said.

  The crew went to work. They had been mostly ready to make a trip as it was. Rea just hadn’t decided on where to go. Everyone was still reeling from the loss of Taylor. Many of the crew figured he was dead.

  He had been a crucial member of the crew, the man who brought them together. Losing him was a blow, one that Rea didn’t want to happen again. She would make certain they didn’t get separated on Celtica.

  Nicole purred next to Rea. The CATT was an odd addition to the crew. It had taken Rea by surprise that they had laws and rules about paying them, but she made sure to follow them. She didn’t want to get into trouble.

  “Nicole,” Rea said, “what can you tell me about Celtica?”

  “One second,” Nicole said. She tilted her head as if talking to someone. The CATT did that from time to time. Every time Rea asked about it, Nicole acted like she hadn’t done it. “Boss says that Kate O’Malley is the Taoiseach. She is a fair leader.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Nothing that will help us,” Nicole said. She meowed and walked away.

  One day, Rea hoped to learn who this boss was. Nicole would never say, but Rea wanted to figure it out. Rea enjoyed having Nicole on the ship. She was invaluable, though Aldis hated her. She could do many of the things that he could and much faster. It made him feel insecure. Rea had a heck of a time getting him to accept Nicole, and it was still a work in progress.

  Chapter Four

  It was going to take two days to reach Celtica. Steve was going to take advantage of the trip. He needed to get ready for anything. The Marine was the ship’s muscle and needed to protect his team. With the failure on New Reno, Steve vowed to make it right.

  The one good thing about going here was that it was away from the war that raged in the Empire. Steve was glad he was out and not part of that. The Cabal and Earth had attacked, making the Empire look weak. Rea had told Steve about it but only because Steve had contacts still in the Marines. They would have informed him when or if they got the chance.

  Steve put out feelers to learn more, but so far, he’d heard nothing back. That worried Steve. Most of the men he served with had been good Marines, loyal to the Corp and not to their politically-motivated superiors.

  That was what got Steve kicked out. His Captain was a bad Marine, only looking out for himself. Steve called him on it, and the man made sure Steve paid the price. He had used crap charges and false evidence against Steve to force him out. One day, Steve would have his chance for payback.

  For now, Steve had a theory that began forming when he learned of the activities in the Empire. The Cabal and the captain both had to be part of it. They had infiltrated every level of the Empire, every part of it. It sent a chill down Steve’s spine. He was definitely glad to be out now.

  Not that going to Celtica would be a walk in the park, it wouldn’t, but better than dealing with traitors, spies, and clones. It was all too much.

  Steve went through the forms for his hand to hand training. It wasn’t the same without a sparring partner, but the crew proved to be unable to handle it. Steve lost track of the times he’d sent Aldis to the infirmary. After the last time, Rea put a stop to it. Steve tried to talk her into sparring with him. She was an imposing captain. She would be able to hold her own, but she’d refused.

  For now, Steve went through the motions so he wouldn’t be rusty. He had a feeling he was going to be in for a lot of work. Steve settled into the neutral stance and went through the many defense punches and strikes. It wasn’t easy without Aldis. Steve’s primary fighting style was Krav Maga. He practiced defenses against headbutts and uppercuts, his two weaknesses.

  <<<>>>

  They arrived in the Celtica system with time to spare. The Rossi was a fast ship. No shocker there. The first thing a successful smuggler needed was a quick ship. No point even trying unless the vessel could outrun everyone else.

  Steve stared out at the planet as it came into view. It didn’t look all that dangerous from here, but that meant little. None of them ever did look bad. Almost nothing appeared hazardous until it was too late. The moment you realized it was, they already had you. Best to expect everything and everyone to be dangerous and act accordingly.

  Steve made his way to the bridge. The crew would all leave together. The ship had a state of the art system to make sure no one boarded it or stole it. Even Nicole was impressed. B113 kept it up-to-date. The two would remain here but not to guard it. They’d never dream of it, but they weren’t known to this part of the Empire, and the crew wanted it kept that way.

  On the Bridge, Steve realized he was the last to arrive.

  “About time,” Rea said.

  That was her typical response to him. Steve had grown accustomed to it. It wasn’t like Steve was late. He was actually a few minutes early from the time Rea asked the crew to get here. It wasn’t his fault that everyone was super early.

  “I’m here,” Steve said.

  “Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” Aldis said.

  Steve rubbed his chin with a slip of his middle finger. “What’s the plan?”

  Rea sighed. “You know the plan.”

 
Steve shrugged. He did, but he liked to go over it as many times as possible. It made it so everyone would remember. If experience with this team told him anything, they would eventually forget and go off the plan. That made it difficult for him.

  “Humor me,” he said.

  The crew went over it to appease Steve. It was simple: to make contact and stay close. They didn’t have a choice about where they were allowed to land. That was the only thing that would put a wrench in the plan.

  The alert of an incoming message sounded on the bridge. Aldis, who had taken over for Taylor, went to get it out. This was the one thing that was good about their missing crew member. Aldis felt like he was more useful. He was no longer the man without a primary job since Nicole often did his. The CATT was just faster than a human at hacking and the like. Aldis had trouble adjusting to different jobs. This one, he was excelling at.

  “It’s from Celtica,” Aldis said. He stared at the screen. “Appears to be a from Taoiseach O’Malley.”

  Rea nodded. She didn’t appear pleased.

  This wasn’t part of the plan. It shouldn’t have surprised Steve. The plan was never going to work. Damn this place.

  On the monitor that was big enough to make the person life-sized, the pirate Kate O’Malley appeared. She didn’t seem pleased to see Rea. “Rea,” she hissed.

  Steve thought there was something there, but he wasn’t going to ask. Rea had been doing this for a while. There was a good chance the two had crossed paths before.

  <<<>>>

  “Taoiseach,” Rea said. The Captain did her best not to be imposing or instill any fear. Not that that was much of a worry with a person like Kate O’Malley. That didn’t mean Rea didn’t want to make this go as smooth as possible. “What can I do for you?”

  “To land, you need my permission,” Kate said. The Taoiseach appeared to be in a peaceful mood. Not up for a fight. That was good. “Right now, you do not have it.”

  Rea groaned. Not so good after all. This was to be expected from Kate. Not that Rea wanted to deal with her, but once she learned that Kate was in charge and if Kate realized who was the captain of the Rossi, Rea knew they might have an issue landing. Rea had kept this tidbit from the crew.

  “What can I do to get permission?”

  “You want to land? Then we need a face-to-face.”

  That was the last thing Rea wanted to do. It wasn’t because she didn’t trust Kate. But it might bring back memories and emotions that Rea didn’t want to relive. It was the first time she realized she might be more like her family. Several of them had a shady background in businesses that Rea wanted to distance herself from. In the end, she had failed, but she hoped she would have a better reputation. So far, she did.

  Rea rolled her eyes. “Very well. Not like the last time went well.”

  “You can land at the coordinates I send,” Kate said.

  A moment later, the screen was black, and a message was sent with the location to land. At least it wasn’t too far from where they would need to go after this distraction.

  Steve walked over, looked at the message, and turned to Rea. “You want to tell us what that was about?”

  “No.”

  Chapter Five

  Rea sat in the captain’s chair of the Rossi. Usually, she avoided using the chair, but she was lost deep in thought and trying to avoid thinking about her last encounter with Kate O’Malley. It had been back when Rea was still in the Navy. Kate had several run-ins with the Navy. That was the life of a pirate.

  Rea had a chance to apprehend Kate and failed. It pained her. Rea was sure this was going to be a talk about how she now was on the other side of the coin.

  As she looked out of the front of the ship, the city came into view. It wasn’t much, just as Rea had expected, chaotic and messy.

  Steve stood next to her, guarding her like a good Marine. “That looks dangerous,” he said.

  Rea agreed with his assessment. They figured a planet that was home to nothing, but pirates wouldn’t be safe. Thinking that was one thing, but seeing it made that expectation very real. Rea’s imagination hadn’t done it justice. Her words couldn’t either.

  This was the last place she wanted to be. The upcoming talk weighed heavy on her. Everything about this mission pressed on her. If she hadn’t known the location, she might not have agreed to go, but half a million credits were a lot to pass up.

  Once the ship landed, Rea stood and readied herself to de-board and go see the leader of the planet. Rea wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought this would happen, but now that she was here, she was going to talk.

  <<<>>>

  It didn’t take long for the crew to get off the ship. Once they were, they were greeted by what Rea figured counted at militia on the planet. It wasn’t very impressive looking, but Rea knew better than to underestimate them. They were pirates, and that meant they could handle their own when push came to shove. The clothes they wore had holes and stains on them. The men had beards, which would never be allowed by the Empire. And no covers. On planets, hats were required. They looked unprofessional.

  They led the crew to a building that was guarded well. While it didn’t appear to be in the best condition, Rea was confident it wouldn’t be easy to assault. If anything, most pirates were the best at fortifying their ships. That would hold true for the place they called home.

  Rea didn’t know much about the code, but she was sure they had one. That didn’t mean all stuck to it. Best to be safe and expect them to break the rules.

  “Wait here,” one of the burly men that guided them said.

  Rea and the rest didn’t respond. The man entered. A few moments later, Kate appeared. She eyed the crew. “One can come in with you but not the Marine.”

  Steve crinkled his nose. “Why not?”

  “Like I’m going to trust you,” Kate said. “The others are fine but only one.”

  Rea frowned. “So be it. Lindsey, come with me.”

  The engineer had a good eye. She’d spot a trap if one were set up. Steve would have been the best choice, but it would have been impossible to get Kate to relent on that. Plus having him out here to help the rest was a good idea. Rea didn’t like leaving her crew unprotected.

  Kate led them inside. It was undoubtedly fortified inside and out. Rea saw not only cameras that let them know who was here, but also the building appeared to be made of some of the strongest material around. The windows were barred and the door solid. No way to break it open. The roof was probably booby-trapped. Not an easy place to figure out. It was no surprise that the most power pirate had the best place or at least one of them.

  They arrived in an office or a room that vaguely looked like one. It had piles of paperwork. Kate was as much a pirate these days as she was a politician. It was clear to Rea that it was draining her.

  The pirate sat at her desk, letting that be the guard between them.

  “Why am I here?” Rea asked. She again tried to remain calm and collected. She did not want to make this any worse than it had to be.

  Lindsey went to the side and observed for Rea. If needed, she’d alert her. They had practiced non-verbal signals to alert each other.

  “I wanted to see the person who let me go.” Kate leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. “You intrigue me.”

  Rea gritted her teeth. She hadn’t so much let Kate go. Well, she had, but it was because she reminded her of her sister. Thinking of her family made Rea sad. Her brother died long ago, and her sister had taken that badly. It had been years since she had seen her sibling. Rea made a note to seek her out. Last she heard, she was running an underground casino.

  “Now you have,” Rea said. “Can we go to what we need to?”

  “Why are you here? I never thought you’d be here.”

  “You know what I do now.”

  Kate nodded. “I do. That alone is shocking in some ways but also expected.”

  Rea glanced at Lindsey for a moment to just make sure things were safe and sound.
Nothing had happened, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. Lindsey gave no indication that anything was wrong.

  Rea didn’t like that the pirate had thought it was possible for her, but Kate was smart and cunning. It didn’t help that Rea did break the rules to let her escape. That was the beginning of the end for Rea’s Navy career. Not that she didn’t stay in for years after that, but Rea knew she’d never be fully committed to the Navy again.

  “Expected or not,” Rea said, “I have a job, one that you are keeping me from.”

  Kate tilted her head. “You’re working with a pirate. That is unexpected.”

  Rea smiled. “The money was right.”

  “Very well,” Kate said. The pirate smirked. Rea was sure she knew all too well what money could make a person do. “But I will be keeping an eye on you. If you get up to any trouble, I’ll make you regret it.”

  “I swear we won’t.”

  “Good.”

  Rea left along with Lindsey. It didn’t take long to rejoin the crew. Talking to Kate wasn’t bad but felt somewhat pointless. Rea didn’t think that would be the last she dealt with the pirate leader.

  Chapter Six

  “What do you think they are talking about?” Aldis asked for the hundredth time.

  “No clue,” Steve said. He was keeping an eye out for people trying to sneak up on them. So far, most of the people who passed them didn’t give them a second look.

  “Maybe they are getting it on,” Aldis said.

  “Gross,” Parker said.

  “Okay,” Aldis said. “Maybe not that. Secret meeting about smuggling diamonds. Rubies. Talking about war stories. Run-ins with the Navy? Crossing paths?”

  “No idea,” Steve said. “Let me concentrate.”

  “Fine.”

  Steve hated waiting outside for Rea. When she appeared unharmed, it was a relief. It wasn’t that she couldn’t protect herself, she could, but it was his job, his duty, one that he was going to fulfill. Not being able to do it to his best of his ability irked him.