22. Ozadus

“Okay, Theon. Talk to you tomorrow.” I say, getting ready to leave for the night. I hang up my comm pad and set it on my desk.

The back lot space I rented near Lisa’s mechanic shop has become a new kind of home for me. In the life of a criminal, you rarely have a place to hang your hat. But this is a decent set-up in a small warehouse behind a frozen food store.

Mismatched boxes lay around, each waiting to be sorted for delivery over the next few days, and my shiny new DC-56 rests near a panel of large metal doors, still partly open as I prepare to leave for the day. It”s a small, lightweight rocket ship, perfect for speedy deliveries that can evade anything from pirates to patrol.

With another few checks on my clipboard, I throw my materials down, satisfied with myself and my easy, crime-free life. I used to think Kaleidians who lived like this were saps, whipped by some old lady in a bathrobe. No one ever told me your ‘old lady’ could be a vivacious, curvy mechanic with eyes that kill.

As I make to shut off the lights in the warehouse, I find myself shaking my head at my stupidity. If this is whipped, then it’s fucking great. I am so lucky. Lisa is brilliant, and our daughter takes after her. I can’t wait to teach her to be the youngest pilot this side of the galaxy.

Suddenly, there’s a knock on the panel door.

“We’re closed!” I call out to the darkness on the other side.

No answer.

Grumbling, I shuffle my way towards the doors. That’s when I feel it. A massive kick to the head sends my body thumping against the DC-56.

“Fuck! What the–!” I call out to the Kaleidian standing over me. He doesn’t answer, and I can’t see his face. Next thing I know, kicks to the gut pull water from my eyes as two men take their turns against my insides.

“Now listen up, Ozadus.” A voice finally emerges, now that I can’t talk and can barely see. Through my confusion I finally clock Andross Kev and Wrex, standing over me.

“Ozadus.” Wrex leans over me, smiling. “Long time no see.”

“What the fuck do you want?” I demand, sitting up against the DC-56 and holding my gut. They kicked the wind out of me, and every word strains to exit my lips. Fuck. If they found me here, it can’t be good.

“Just a little message from Zaraq.” Andross adjusts the sleeves of his suit, looking askew at the door beyond me. “Don’t even think about it.”

Wrex grabs my phone off the table and throws it across the room before placing himself between me and the door. My comm pad sits helplessly, too far for me to call for help.

“What does he want?” I ask, getting to my feet. “I told him I’m done.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Ozadus. You’re not done until Zaraq says you are, and it looks like he’s in no mood to let you go.” Andross’s holier-than-thou face tells me he’s been onto me since I stalled the delivery of the Emery.

“Nice little shop you’ve got around here,” Wrex says, picking up a crowbar and walking around my ship. “Would be a shame if something happened to it.”

Andross gives a nod, and the next thing I see, Wrex is swinging at my ride.

I make to stop him, but Andross steps in with a sucker punch in my already mangled gut.

“I don’t think so, Ozadus.” He grins as his henchman wrenches a panel free from the hull of my ship and starts wrecking the wires inside. When O2 starts leaking, he seems satisfied. Watching the pale mist fill the room, he steps away.

“Consider that a warning,” he says, throwing the bar across the room.

“Fuck off,” I holler as they turn to leave. “You can tell Zaraq from me!”

“Is that right?” Andross says. “Maybe we should stop by your house. Pay a little visit to the baby while we’re at it. What do you think, Wrex?”

“Sounds nice. I bet Zaraq would love to have a little one around the compound.”

“Stay the fuck away from my family, you dipshits. That goes double for Zaraq.”

“Then remember your loyalties,” Andross warns as they go to leave. “Next time he calls, you answer. Or else we’ll finish the job. We’ve always enjoyed this sector, haven’t we, Wrex?”

“Oh, yeah.” He grins menacingly, gripping the door with his massive hands. “Might even bring back a souvenir for the boss.”

The slamming door is the last thing I see. Fuck. They caught me off guard. If I have one regret about my so-called easy life, it’s that I had the stupidity to let my guard down.

Now there’s only one thing I can do. Searching the room, I find the comm pad Wrex scattered and go to call Lisa. She’s the only one who can help me now.

I need your help, Lisa. Come to my shop. Bring your tools and a sunlamp.

My gut is still reeling with the force of Wrex’s kicks. I fall into my desk chair, still gripping my middle, and wait.

Fuck, what have I got her into? I remember a brazen Kaleidian who was proud of his criminal status. What am I now? Just another worry on her plate. She doesn”t know it yet, but she’s coming to help me, and I’m the last thing she wants in her and Zhara’s life.

Maybe I should just go. I could chase after Wrex and Andross Kev and tell them I’m in. How else can I protest them both? I used to feel like relationships made you weak, but now I see. They just make you vulnerable. Every choice I’ve made haunts me now, wondering if she’ll want anything to do with me when she learns the truth.

A knock at my panel doors gives me no more time to consider. I have no choice but to show her, and let her be the judge.

“Ozadus, I’m worried. What’s going on?” her voice calls from the other side.

When I wrench the door open, she gasps. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Just give me the sunlamp,” I ask, leading her inside towards my desk. “And I’ll tell you everything.”

An hour later, the light from the lamp has me nearly restored, but the loud, rhythmic clanging from Lisa’s tools tells another story. The story of an angry woman.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,”

“You did,” she answers quickly, whacking against the ship panel to refit it to the ship”s hull.

Her face says it all. Not just ‘let’s talk about this later’ but the other obvious truth. If she wants nothing more to do with me, I get it. If she feels like she needs to take Zhara and run, I understand. But it kills me to think that she’s only fixing my ship so she can get me the fuck out of here.

“I’m sorry,” I say again while she fits a UV helmet over her head to start welding the ship’s side back together.

“Close your eyes,” she answers. It’s as good as a fuck off as ever I’ve heard.

Closing my lids at her advice, with the sunlamp beaming overhead, I feel like a perp in a detective movie. You got me, chief. I did it. It was me.

Fuck, I have to fix this. I don’t know where I can begin, but I have to make this right for her.

“You can open,” she says, taking off her helmet and setting down her tools. She takes her gloves off and gives a long sigh as she sits next to me.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

I’m taken aback. She can’t possibly be serious. There’s no way she wants to help me after all I’ve put her through.

“We?”

”You”ve got us into a mess,” she says matter-of-factly. “So, how do we get out of it?”

“No, Lisa. I can’t let you get involved. I’ve gotten you into enough danger.”

“You can say that again,” she says, sitting back and crossing her arms. It’s clear she’s mad, but if she wants to help me, then it”s a spark of hope that maybe she cares about me after all.

“I can’t let you get involved.”

“You already have.”

“If you want to leave, I understand. You could take my ship with Zhara and go.”

“Go where? If they found us here, they can find us anywhere. No. We have to finish this.”

She’s right. This little machine shop is as out of the way as anywhere we could hide in the galaxy. Zaraq has business in every settled planetary system. There’s nowhere we can run, unless to the edge of space itself, and I can’t imagine raising Zhara there.

“I’ll take care of it, Lisa, as soon as I’m all healed up.”

“And what about the next time? You may need me, you know.”

“I know I don”t want to put you in any more danger,” I say with a growl, turning off the lamp and standing as my full strength returns.

“And there won’t be a next time,” I say, giving my words as a promise. “I’ll end this so we can be a family.”

She doesn’t look as sure about it as I feel. But the pain in my gut has turned to rage. How dare Zaraq come this far to threaten me and my family?

“I want to check on Zhara before I go back to the hotel,” I say, gripping the panel door to try to contain my fury.

“Don’t go there tonight,” she says, gripping my free hand with hers. Instantly, my fated mate”s touch calms me. “Stay with us tonight. I’d feel so much safer if you were there.”

It is hope. I know that now. She wouldn”t still be here if she didn’t at least hope that I’m the Kaleidian she needs. I nod, taking her closer and feeling the anger drain away.

Tonight I’ll stay with them, but until Zaraq is off the table, I won’t sleep a wink.