Chapter 4

Like Suva Cam’s tidy little basement room, lots of cities on Jeppsit 5 had underground bunkers and secret rooms. The Ciliak Wars had driven the entire planet’s population underground when the battles drew closer to this star system. It was a safe bet that many of the gang’s bolt holes would be similarly located.

Knife had found a small list of known Jepps gang hideouts and messaged that he would try to find more from Compliance Patrol’s database. Though I hadn’t told him, I thought he suspected I hadn’t wanted to go through the normal channels and subject Janessa to the youth care centers. His message meant that he was going to flex his unique systems skills to access the database.

Shaking my head at his expertise, I made my way down Mineral Boulevard, having memorized the route to the first possible place.

Hostile Recovery Corps didn’t have a lot of moral high ground, to be honest. Originally organized by IGMC, the corps was intended to do IGMC’s dirty work. If they found a planet with resources they wanted, HRC was sent to “negotiate” with any Indigenous populations, protect Advance Resource Assessment teams as they scoped out a planet, recover said teams if they stumbled across hostiles, or any number of other ethically ambiguous jobs.

Knife, Boy Scout and I had all been handpicked by an unknown entity that we assumed was working for a shadow organization that had its sights set on IGMC. We were tasked with taking down the HRC’s current corrupt leadership, specifically our “commander” Frank Sorenson, but we’d hit roadblock after roadblock, and most recently, Frank had ordered our small team to hang back on Jeppsit 5 while he took the most violent and sadistic operatives on a long mission named Kerberos 90.

Stuck in limbo, we’d been training or shuttling recruits, doing bodyguard or security assignments, handling small civilian criminal cases, and rifling through Sorenson’s office.

Tracking down Janessa wasn’t completely out of the scope of my responsibilities, though my intentions of returning her to Suva Cam would be frowned upon if anyone found out.

Which is why I would owe Knife a favor once I got her back.

Crossing the street, I turned north on Kiko Avenue and scanned my surroundings. The Jepps would have lookouts posted in discreet positions, but I doubted Janessa would be in the first place I looked. It was closest to where she was snatched, hence the most obvious choice. But I was one man; I wasn’t planning on storming the hideouts full of aggressive disenfranchised Shinterran thugs. I only needed one.

Striding toward a hole-in-the-wall tech shop, I would appear to have a reason to be on this street. As luck would have it, I saw the lookout perched on the roof catty-corner to my destination by virtue of the reflection in an upper story window. I noticed his shoulders relax when I turned toward the shop.

Once inside, I paused behind the one-way glass and watched him to see if he called in the presence of an HRC operative on Jepps turf, but he leaned against the roof’s venting pipe and looked bored.

The shopkeeper cleared his throat. “May I help you? Wrist comm acting up? I get a lot of HRC guys in here,” he said with a chuckle.

“Thank you, Suva,” I said, bowing my head for a second. “As a matter of fact, it does seem to glitch right around ….”

“10 pm when the rains come?” he finished my sentence, and I laughed. “I’ll take a look right now.”

Removing my comm, I gave it to him. “Is there a back way out?” I asked.

Giving me a sly smile, he nodded toward the door behind the front counter, and I strode through it. The shopkeeper could be affiliated with the Jepps, but I doubted it. If they wanted to keep their bolt holes secret, the less people who knew about them, the better.

And it sounded like the tech shop saw a lot of HRC operatives. Another good cover for a secret gang hideaway.

Exiting the back of the shop, I sprinted down the trash-strewn back alley behind all the shops and businesses until I came to the weather station.

Unlike human weather stations, the Shinterrans had employed an elaborate tech system to monitor the weather patterns on Jeppsit 5. The squat black building housed robotic and computer systems and never had live visitors.

According to my info, the bolt hole was in a bunker under the station.

Stopping ten meters out, I hid behind one of the auto-dumps and spied on the rear of the station through the slim opening between the auto-dump and the building.

A shimmer caught my eye, and an auto-dump appeared.

Blinking, I peered at it until a tall, dark Shinterran with a blue kerchief tied around his head slinked out from behind it, checking the area. He sauntered in my direction, and my veins flooded with satisfaction.

I jumped him from behind, my min-blade at his red neck cloth, and he stopped fighting.

“Where did they take the little girl, and I won’t get your neck cloth wet,” I said.

“Not telling you jat shit,” he whispered. I felt his muscles strain beneath my arm, his anger threatening to break free and pick a fight.

“I know where your bolt hole is,” I whispered back. “I can leak it and tell them the Shinterran with a blue head was sloppy.”

Silence for a beat.

“She’s not at this one,” he said. “I swear on my mother’s hill.”

It wasn’t a casual promise from a Shinterran; it referred to sacred burial rites, but I needed more info. Shortening the distance between the min-blade and his skin, I waited.

“She’s not here!” he said.

I waited.

Trembling erupted in his body at the same time I heard the whine of a nearby spinner. The two-person vehicle was pulling up to the cloaked auto-dump, so I dragged my hostage closer to the building and out of sight, keeping my eyes on the action through the narrow space like before.

Two Shinterrans got off the spinner and disappeared behind the shimmering auto-dump.

“Looks like Suva Sepp and Suva Lan Zee just showed up,” I said, naming two of the gang’s more ruthless members.

The Shinterran’s trembling worsened.

“She’s not here,” he said, and I heard him swallow. “They already left. They’re taking her to Suva P’Lak.”

Loosening my hold, I waited a beat.

“Under JeppC Bits,” he said. “In Jeppur.”

Pressing on the tender spot between the Shinterran’s neck and shoulder with my thumb, he collapsed. Unique Shinterran physiology gave them a tiny pressure point that would cause temporary paralysis, but he would live.

“I won’t tell anyone about this if you don’t,” I said in his ear and stood up, racing back to the tech shop.

The shopkeeper held out my comm when I returned to the front, and I paid him.

“Always a pleasure to serve HRC,” he said with a nod and a wink, and I exited with a wave, spying the lookout from the corner of my eye. He watched me when I turned to jog down the street and far away from his bolt hole, clueless.

Pinging Knife, I heard him answer on the second chime.

“Yes,” he said without preamble.

“I’m taking the ship to Jeppur,” I said. “I know where they took the girl.”

“She’s ready for you,” he answered. “And so is Suva Cam.”

I almost tripped over my own feet at his words. “The fuck?”

“She called the hangar to verify who you were, then demanded I pick her up so she could wait here,” he said. “I complied.”

Snorting, I choked back a laugh. No one laughed at Knife. And typically, no one told Knife what to do.

“Send me the coordinates,” Knife said.

“Very well,” I said and signed off.

What in the actual hell was Suva Cam thinking? If I felt a little excitement at the prospect of admiring her beautiful face again, I smashed it to oblivion.

Suva P’Lak was the worst of the worst when it came to the gang ruling class. One of the ruling five, he liked to recruit members when they were very young and groom them to become vicious. He would admire Janessa’s spunk, but then he would delight in breaking her spirit, and I would not let that happen. Something told me Suva Cam wouldn’t either, though I wondered what kept her bedridden, and how she managed to bring Knife to heel with a comm call.

I rounded the corner of Mineral and raced south on P’mavik, the broad street which the hangar fronted, and jumped over the security gates where the Radio Frequency Identifier read my encoded signature.

Once inside the enclosure, I headed to the office where I presumed Knife kept Suva Cam company.

Stepping inside, I saw Knife sitting on the edge of the desk and smiling at something she’d just said, and I stopped short. Knife never smiled.

He resumed his sober countenance as soon as he greeted me, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“The ship is ready,” he said with a slight bow of the head toward Suva Cam, and then he walked through the rear door.

Turning to Cam, I saw grim determination in her dark eyes, and her tight smile illuminated her face. She’d changed into a colorful long dress and sat with her hands clasped in her lap.

“You’ll have to carry me to the ship, Roderick,” she said with that same stubborn tilt of the chin that defied protest. Knife had told her my actual name instead of my call sign. I liked that. I liked hearing her say it. But that stubborn chin …

As if I’d have a problem lifting her—or holding her close.

I wanted to tell her there was no way in hell she was coming with me, but I knew it was an argument I’d lose. Why waste the time?

Clearing my throat, I approached. “What’s most comfortable for you? Under your shoulders and knees?”

She nodded and lifted her arm so I could slide mine under and behind.

On our way out to the ships, her long dress trailed and rippled in a gust of wind, and that same breeze carried the scent of blooming kiko flowers to my nose. I suppressed the desire to bury my face in her hair or neck … wherever the source of the fragrance came from.

“If I may ask, what keeps you bedridden?” I said, walking up the ramp to our designated drop ship. It was a short flight to Jeppur, and there was no way in Shinterran’s Deep I was bringing her with me to Suva P’Lak’s lair, but I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

“A chronic illness,” she said, avoiding my eyes.

She was leaving something major out, I was sure of it. But I wouldn’t push. Instead, I sat her in the copilot’s chair and showed her how to strap in, then I took the pilot’s seat.

She remained quiet while I ran the pre-flight checks, and then I radioed Vanzee City’s control tower. HRC had a designated and encrypted channel; our flights were private from the general public and anyone else.

“Knife told me you’re going to Jeppur,” she said to my quiet nod as I initiated the take-off sequence. “How could she possibly be there already?”

“It’s likely that she’s on her way now with the abductors,” I said and looked at Cam. “Hold on.”

The drop ship launched into cleared air space, and we reached cruising altitude in one minute standard.

Cam laughed on a huff when the G forces ebbed, and I smiled when I met her gaze.

“First time flying?” I asked. A strange expression crossed her face, but she shook her head no, her smile fading.

“I was born on Jeppsit 5, but in my teens, I ended up on Dispatch 9,” she said.

Nodding, I pretended to monitor the flight console while I held my breath. Was she going to share more with me? I was a stranger. And HRC had a certain reputation among Shinterrans and others; she had very little reason to trust me. That was why she was here, in fact. She didn’t trust me with Janessa. I admired her courage to put herself in such a vulnerable position for the sake of a child that was very possibly not her own.

When I didn’t speak, she shifted in her seat and adjusted the harness straps on her shoulders. She cleared her throat.

“You said you were Janessa,” she said at last. “I assume you mean you lived on the streets. Stole to survive.”

“Yes,” I said, clearing my own throat and casting her a glance. “But also, I took care of my older brother. He was with me, but he couldn’t take care of himself … for reasons. So, I stole, committed petty crimes, delivered messages for the Qhudretian mafia, scavenged food behind restaurants. Whatever I could. I had two mouths to feed.”

“Janessa told you about me?” she asked, her voice quiet but melodic as it overlaid the hum of the ship’s systems.

“No,” I said with a chuckle. “She told me very little. I recognized some of myself in her and made some logical guesses. Pretty sure I surprised her, actually.”

When I looked at Cam, her mouth had thinned to a firm line. “So, you studied and followed her and managed to find our home.”

The thin line of her mouth had deepened to a frown.

“Suva Cam,” I said, gentling my voice and turning my seat to face her. “I followed a hunch. After she and I interacted,” I said with a raised brow.

“You caught her,” she interjected with a pointed stare.

I flashed her a smile.

“I was with Knife in the restaurant across the street. I saw her come out of your alley. She looked back once, and her expression was just enough of a tell that I could make an educated guess.”

When Cam’s shoulders relaxed, I felt mine drop, too. Shaking my head, I leaned back in my chair and exhaled. I couldn’t believe I was going to bring up more of my past. “My brother had traumatic brain injury from a beating our dad gave him,” I said, meeting Cam’s liquid brown gaze. “Mom was already gone by then. The only reason I didn’t kill my father when I could was because he was hit by a hov-shuttle stumbling home drunk.

“He worked in the mines on Titan, so IGMC came to take everything after he died,” I said. “Company store.”

Cam tilted her head but listened. A tear spilled over her lower lid and raced down her cheek, but she left it alone, and I stared at the glistening track while I continued my tale.

“The back streets on Titan weren’t any better than those in Vanzee City,” I said. “But with a little help from a couple of people, Steve and I managed.”

My throat clogged, and my jaw muscles clenched. I stared at my hands gripping my uniform pants. I hadn’t said Steve’s name in a long fucking time.

Cam said nothing, her steady breaths comforting in their predictability. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent quiet moments with a woman. Hell, I hadn’t even been with a woman in more years than I cared to count.

When I looked back up at her, she nodded slowly at me, the tear track on her cheek catching the overhead light. The Shinterrans believed tears were sacred unspoken truths, and to wipe them away was to disrespect their message. In this moment, I could appreciate the cultural tradition. It meant something to me that Suva Cam, Cam , as she’d told me to call her, shared my pain.

Composed, I took a cleansing breath. “Steve died about a year after I started taking care of him. Pneumonia, of all things. If I’d known he needed the vaccine, I could have taken him to one of the free clinics in Titania,” I said, unable to erase the incredulity from my voice. After all these years, I still couldn’t forgive my own ignorance.

“How old were you?” she asked.

Pausing for a beat, I sat back and stared at her. “Eight.”

She nodded, and a fresh tear followed in the trail of the first one.

Heat flared in my face and chest, and I realized an ocean of tangled emotions was about to drown me. I hadn’t dwelt on the events of my childhood in a long time. I hadn’t faced my guilt and shame—ever. But I’d also never considered my story from an outsider’s perspective. Would any eight-year-old know about the necessity of a vaccine on Titan for an illness that had been all but wiped out on Earth?

“My parents were good people,” Cam said. “They never raised their voices. Kept us clothed and fed. Whenever I think about what happened on Dispatch 9, I ask myself why I ran away.”

Giving her the same respect she’d shown me, I kept quiet, but I did pull out two bottled waters from under the console, offering her one.

She gave a humorless laugh and shook her head. “But I do know why,” she said, eyes glazing over as she fiddled with the bottle’s cap. “They couldn’t be bothered to listen to me about anything. Not about school. Not about the bullies. Not about my perverted language teacher who fondled me. And not about being raped two blocks from home when I was sixteen years old.”

The heat I’d felt in my chest earlier expanded and transformed into a quiet rage. But there was no one to direct it at. My nostrils flared as I gave her a slow nod, willing the volcanic fury inside me to ebb. For now.

“By that age, I’d already learned to keep hard things to myself. And with my culture’s thoughts about the worth of virginal women, I decided to leave. My life would only get worse under my father’s roof. An acquaintance got me a spot on one of IGMC’s cargo ships headed to Dispatch 9.”

The tear she’d shed for me was gone, her cheek dry. Her eyes now held a glint of metal, something stronger than steel, stronger than Galvanite. She took a deep breath and grabbed her water bottle with both hands.

“I decided on sex work before the ship even landed,” she said. A muscle in her jaw twitched beneath the sepia skin, and I fantasized about cupping her cheek. “Asking around, I found the name of what I thought would be the wisest choice in organizations. I figured the most “successful” one—“she used the human gesture for air quotes—“would somehow be the safest. You know how it is when you’re sixteen. You know it all.”

We shared knowing looks, and she continued. “Within a month I realized none of the choices would have been the right choice because sex work wasn’t for me. But like most of IGMC’s professions, once you choose, that’s it. It’s virtually impossible to get out.” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, maintaining eye contact. “They make it impossible to get out.”

Something in her eyes died, and she sat back up, rubbing the back of her neck then shaking her head.

“I had been with Lucretia’s Ladies longer than I lived at home,” she said. “I’d made peace with my life, such as it was. One year ago, Dispatch 9’s version of the Jepps stole Janessa from the scene of a transport accident.” She sighed and massaged her temple with a thumb. “A mining transport and a hov-shuttle of orphans, if you can believe it. My handler brought Janessa to me and told me to get her ready for work.” Cam looked me dead in the eye. “I’m no Shinterran Messenger,” she said, referring to the beings of the Shinterran religion that could be compared to angels or saints in human cultures. “I’d prepared plenty of sixteen-year-olds. But one look at tiny Janessa, and I knew I could never live with myself again if I … if I didn’t do something.”

Cam avoided my gaze, then, and I frowned. Either she wasn’t telling me everything, or she still had loyalty to her former employer, or God knew what. But I refused to push her if she wasn’t ready, and I was in no place to stand in judgment.

Cam ran her long, delicate fingers up one arm and gripped her bicep. Pain touched her features, but I didn’t get the impression it was physical pain so much as emotional. Or perhaps from a memory.

“It took me about six days standard to put everything in place,” she said, rubbing the outside of her arm absently and staring out the drop ship’s viewscreen to the stars. Her eyes flicked to me for a second before she continued. “Honestly, I can’t quite believe we did it, but I managed to call in favors, sneak out of the brothel in a food truck, and snag our secret passage tickets on another IGMC cargo ship. We didn’t know which planet we were headed to; that was intentional. If no one knew where we were going, we couldn’t be tracked. I was both relieved and horrified to recognize the smell of rain when we disembarked.” She breathed as if she’d been running, and I realized whatever her ailment was was taxing her energy.

“Forgive me, Suva Cam,” I said. “We have bunks if you need to rest before we land.”

Her entire body seemed to collapse at the suggestion, and she nodded.

“Please,” she said. “And just call me Cam.”

Chagrined, I unbuckled her harness and carried her to the sleeping quarters. Her head rested against my shoulder, and she breathed in deep, slow breaths. She’d already fallen asleep. I was used to leashing my emotions, but something about Cam had me pulling even tighter on my reins. I needed to distance myself from this woman as soon as possible. Yet I held her closer.

All of HRC’s drop ships had been retrofitted with larger beds ever since the influx of alien species being hired by IGMC. Though she was average Shinterran female height at around six feet, the bed swallowed her up. I arranged the top sheet over her and against my better judgment, caressed her cheek with my knuckles before returning to the cockpit.

I couldn’t explain the tender feelings I had for the woman with light brown skin, but I wanted to protect her, avenge her—and be with her.

None of that was possible, except for getting Janessa back. It wouldn’t be long before we landed in Jeppur, and I needed to figure out how to convince Cam to stay the fuck behind. But she was smart and wise; maybe she would be sensible about staying on the ship while I did my job.

Knife commed me several more locations where the Jepps had hangouts in Jeppur, just in case the intel I had fell through, and he reminded me of our appointment with the Enforcer tomorrow. Grimacing at my wrist unit’s screen, I had the feeling I’d be taking a rain check on that.

In the remaining time before landing, I sent comms to several of my street contacts in Jeppur, people I trusted implicitly, to keep an eye out for Jepps members and a feisty little girl with dirty blonde hair tied up into a topknot. If someone could snatch her before they arrived at the hideout, that would be ideal.

Since my operation was slightly under the HRC radar, it’s not like I could call for backup. Entering their lair was the last thing I wanted to do, but if it was the only way to rescue Janessa, I’d do it.

When the proximity alert sounded, I walked back to the sleeping quarters and found Cam sitting up with her legs resting on the floor. She massaged her thighs and calves with her dress rucked up to the tops of her legs.

“Sometimes I can manage to walk,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “If I can wake up my leg muscles enough.”

“You know you’re not coming with me, right?” I said.

She looked up at me with a frown. “I’m not an idiot.”

Heat touched my face, and I rocked back on my heels. “I’m sorry. You surprised me when you managed to arrive at the hangar. I wouldn’t put it past you to do whatever you set your mind to.”

Her gaze softened, and she allowed a small smile. “Fair point and thank you.” She pulled her dress back over her knees, and I sighed on the inside, imagining what her skin would feel like under my questing hands.

“In fact, thank you for not treating me like an invalid,” she said and held her arms out for me unironically. “You acknowledged I would go after her if I had no other choice. Luckily, I have you.”

We were already on the way to the pilot seats when I grunted in agreement. I didn’t trust myself to speak. She meant she was lucky I was willing to stick my neck out for the little hellion who would probably try to steal my sidearm as soon as I had her out of harm’s way. But the phrase “Luckily, I have you” rocketed around in my brain like a metal bearing in an anti-grav chamber, and the sensation of Cam in my arms, close to my heart, and the fragrance of her hair assaulting my nose, and the memory of her tawny long legs had me breathing hard by the time I sat her in the chair.

“We’ve got about a half-hour standard before we land,” I said before draining my water bottle and clicking it into its slot where it would auto-fill and clean. “I’ve got operatives in Jeppur keeping an eye out for a little girl being escorted by one or more Jepps gang members. We know their destination, so that should help.”

Pulling a comm unit from the charging station to the left of the console, I handed it to Cam. “I’ll be in contact. You can ping me, and it won’t make noise, but I can’t comm you back unless I’m in a safe area. My team members are programmed in already. Look here. You met Knife. That’s Boy Scout. I trust them with my life; you can, too. If it comes to that.”

Solemn, she snapped the wrist unit on and nodded, then looked out the viewport as the drop ship landed in the HRC hangar of Jeppur.

“Hang tight. I’ll be back,” I said and unclipped my harness. Jogging to the sleeping quarters, I stood in front of my locker and pulled out a spare pair of pants. With no backup, I wasn’t going in with my HRC uniform.

I had my black civvy cargo pants pulled up and buttoned and was reaching for the shirt when I heard a noise. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Cam standing on the threshold between the quarters and the corridor. She looked wobbly but supported herself with a hand on the doorframe. But her face. God, her face—her dark eyes were large and fringed with dark lashes, and her generous lips parted to reveal the edge of her white teeth, but she panted as she stared. At me.

Forgetting the shirt, I strode to her, fearing she was about to fall. She held her hand up.

“Stop. I’m not going to fall,” she said. She blinked a few times, and the overhead lighting cast a shadow on her cheeks from her long eyelashes when she looked down. “I’m sorry, I was looking for the bathroom.”

“You didn’t overexert yourself?” I asked, taking her hand and leading her around the corner to the head. She shook her head no. “But you were breathing hard,” I pointed out, and she shot me a stern look.

“I know my limits, Roderick,” she said. Then her eyes twinkled, and she smirked. “Or should I call you Babysitter?”

She slid the door shut behind her, and I stepped back, hands on my hips. Looking down, I realized I was still shirtless. “Dammit.”

I pulled on the T-shirt and the leather jacket.

By the time Cam found me, I was in front of the armory panel choosing my weapons. I needed them compact but powerful. I faced her when I was kitted out, and she frowned and twirled her index finger, indicating I should turn around for her.

Bemused, I did so, and when I came back around, she pulled up her skirt until she could reach the bottom of the multicolored fabric. She tore off a long, thin strip then let the skirt fall back in place.

Handing me the red piece, I knew what it was for. It wouldn’t fool them for long, but as I tied the red fabric around my neck, I considered it was a damn clever idea.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to come with you,” she said and walked to her chair. “But I’m trusting you to bring Janessa back to me. Not because she’s my arms and legs. Or because she provides virtually everything I need. But because I love her like my own.” She sat back in the chair and sighed, looking at me. “I would die for her.”

A pained expression flitted across her face, and she turned to look out the viewport, the graceful line of her neck exposed to my view, and I had a vision of myself grasping her there, caressing her throat with my thumb, tilting her head back while I leaned in for a kiss.

Now who was panting?

“We’ll keep you in the loop,” I said and turned before I did something foolish like act on my fantasy. “Thank you for the disguise,” I tossed over my shoulder.

“Thank you , Babysitter,” she said. Damn her voice was like a slow river. I could drift on it all day.

I exited the ship and put it in lockdown. Parked in HRC’s hangar and behind privacy walls and a security gate, Cam was safe at least. I wish I could say the same for Janessa, but that’s why I was here.