Countdown by John Walker (feel good fiction books txt) 📗

“Well, shit.” Rita clasped her hands behind her back. “I’d love to get to know some people. We’re going to be here for a while. I don’t know where he plans on hiding this big ass ship, but it will need to be stashed for a while. Until the ervas die down… or conquer the galaxy. Whichever comes first. Either of you have an opinion about that?”

“They… don’t talk,” Loch called out. He hurried to catch up. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s not that they physically can’t. Doctors have cleared them but for whatever reason, they choose not to. I assigned them together so they didn’t unnerve anyone else. Plus, I think they prefer it that way. They don’t have to nod and wave at people.”

Both men looked damn similar. Dark hair, about the same height. One wore a thick beard, the other went clean shaven. “Are they related?”

“Twins,” Loch said. “Decent enough guys. Been with me since they were teenagers. What is that… six years now? Seven? I don’t remember. Doesn’t really matter too much most of the time. We don’t exactly have tenure payments or anything. When a guy wants more money, he just asks… or takes it. Then he dies.”

“That’s… fairly simple math, yes.” Rita bit the inside of her lip to avoid saying more.

“You ran your crew the same way, I’m guessing.”

“No one took anything,” Rita said. “And if they did, I would’ve assumed they needed it more than me. We were a unit. Friends. Family, if that’s not too tacky to say.”

“Oh, I know how you spacers get. Especially the former military kind. Everything’s kinship, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority… whatever the hell else you call it. Bullshit, ultimately. Men take what they want. That’s just how it is out here. We have to keep our own law and order. And most people don’t respond well to anything short of death.”

“How do they respond to execution? I’m curious.”

“I take your point… but you and I both know criminal punishment has nothing to do with the criminal and everything to do with determent.”

“Works great,” Rita said. “Since the population of prisons continues to rise.”

Loch shrugged. “Deterrence is a silent statistic. You never know how well it’s working because you can’t read people’s minds. If you could, then you’d measure the success of an execution. How many guys decided not to dip their fingers into my pocket because they saw what happened to the last guy? That’s the question we’d love to answer. Here we are.”

They entered the hangar. Her shuttle was off to the side. Loch led them to a particularly large craft in the center of the bay, a luxury class vessel she’d seen online before but never in person. This one had enough room for six to be seated comfortably with a couple bedrooms and some space for servants.

“The ride on this thing is fabulous,” Loch said, “whenever I return home, I prefer to do so in a good mood. We can have a drink together on the way down.” He turned to the guards. “You ride in that one over there.” He pointed at her ship. “Get on with yourselves and hurry up. Don’t keep the pilot waiting.”

The bearded one didn’t move immediately. He stared pointedly at Rita for a long moment before Loch patted him on the shoulder. “She’s on our side now. We’ve made a deal. Don’t worry about her. We need to talk in private anyway. Nothing’s going to happen between here and the surface.” He looked at her. “Assure him?”

“You’re cool.” Rita held up her hands. “Plus, you don’t mess around on luxury ships. They’ve got security for shenanigans.”

Loch chuckled. “We’ve disabled some of the troublesome measures. You know… for proximity.” He waggled his brows. “Yes, before you say it, the damn thing went off when people got intimate. I suppose it thought the noises were some kind of… violent act. Who would have thought?”

I’m not surprised, considering what you look like, Rita thought. She smiled with him though, playing along. This is the second time some idiot thinks I’ve gone over to his side. At least I had to sell it with Loch. Whitaker assumed. Well… I don’t have to work hard for much longer.

“How long till we make it to the compound?” Rita asked as they walked up the ramp. “I’m kind of done being in space for a while.”

“Oh, no more than fifteen minutes. It’s a bumpy entry then smooth sailing directly to the pad. Piece of cake. And you can take a few days to recover if you’d like. I know it was hell on Gallik.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Anything for my new bodyguard.” Loch patted her on the ass. Rita struggled with every bit of discipline she could muster not to punch him in the face.

Play along, idiot. Don’t let him get to you. Laugh. Chuckle. Do something cute. Be cute, dammit! Rita smiled at him, hoping it didn’t look like she wanted to bite his face off. That’ll have to do… I guess.

Chapter 8

Three shuttles plunged toward the planet. Zem tied his computer into the compound’s scanners so he could watch their approach. There were four landing pads; two on either side of the main structures. Biggun suggested that once they deployed their people and cargo, they’d head back up to the ship.

Will those ships leave before the first idiots set off the traps? Zem kind of doubted it. McCully rigged the turrets to a rudimentary AI. When turned on, they’d blast the hell out of the shuttles. None of the three looked particularly maneuverable, especially the luxury version. Rita’s probably onboard or I’d kill that son of a bitch right now.

“Five minutes to landing,” Biggun’s voice echoed through the halls. “Be prepared to receive some visitors.”

Zem ran a scan of each of the ships to