Heart Of A Smuggler

by

Angela Verdenius

Coming down the ramp, Gabie caught the sound of laughter coming from the Daamen’s trading spaceship, and she glanced curiously across to see Mikal, Heddam, Torkra and Simon looking at something in Torkra’s hands.

They saw her and laughed harder.

Men and their small minds. Gabie shrugged and strode through the docking bay to the settlement beyond.

Paz walked beside her, his steps big and ungainly. Olin meandered not far behind. Misha she’d left behind to guard Emet.

She had a couple of last cargo loads to pick up and then it was time to leave for the next destination, which just happened to be near the Outlaw Sector. She had merchants waiting, merchants who weren’t too fussy from where their goods came.

Entering the settlement, she elbowed her way through the throng of people that were already crowding the streets. Paz used his own sharp elbows to the accompaniment of curses from the unfortunate recipients. Olin ambled along behind, yawning.

Coming to a stop at one of the warehouses, Gabie looked up at the number. It was the right place. These merchants were solely into honest trade. Nothing like a challenge.

“Olin?”

“Yes?”

“How about you go and order some fresh stores for the Larceny. Paz, you might as well go and organize the fuel tankers and fresh water. If my deals go well this day, we may be able to head out the day after tomorrow. We need to get our orders in soon or we could leave it too late.”

“No worries.” They both left and went their separate ways.

Going inside, the glare of the sun was replaced by the cool shadows of the building. Two men waited to see her. Otherwise the warehouse was empty.

“Gabie.” A lean man with a moustache nodded at her.

“Tason?”

“Yes.” He nodded to someone behind her and the door clicked shut.

Surprised, Gabie glanced around. Two men stood in front of the closed door, watching her closely.

“We wanted a little bit of privacy,” Tason said easily. “To discuss business.”

“Oh?” Cripes, this doesn’t sound good.

Tason crossed over to her, the other man following and stopping to the side but still just behind him.

Oh shit, this doesn’t look good at all.

“I’m told that Link has approached you to carry cargo for him.”

“Yeah.” She eyed him closely, shifting her stance a little so that her fingers brushed the laser holstered at her thigh. “I told him no.”

“That’s what I was told, too.” Tason looked at the floor for several seconds then angled his head and looked up at her, a disconcerting look. “Now I’m here to tell you that Link works for us.”

“Us?”

“Raznin and me.”

Uh-oh. She knew of Raznin, and he was bad news. He was also high up on the smugglers’ food chain, and if what she suddenly feared was true, he was about to snack on Gabie and her crew.

She kept her expression blank. “I see.”

“You refuse Link, you refuse Raznin. Now see, Raznin would like to talk to you himself.”

“Oh really?” With a sinking heart Gabie knew she had to make a stand of some kind. If she let the big sharks snack on her now, they’d never let her go. And why the hell pick on her now? She was small fry.

“So, if you’ll kindly accompany us...” He gestured to the loading door at the back of the warehouse.

Oh yeah, that would be asking to be fried up and served with garnish. Not happening.

“I’d really like to,” Gabie said. “But I have people waiting—”

“This isn’t really just an invitation you can refuse.” Tason smiled, but there was no humour in his cold eyes. “If you know what I mean.”

“I think I do.” Oh crap

“So step right this way.”

“Now really isn’t a good time—” She reached for the laser.

Two big hands clamped onto her arms, one each side, and she was shoved forward.

“No need to be hasty!” Heart thumping, she started to struggle. “I just want to organize another time!”

No one was listening. The cargo loading doors loomed closer, and as one of the men slid it open she sucked in a deep breath. A hand clamped over her mouth before she could shout and she was bundled straight into the planet shuttle and forced down onto the floor, a heavy weight pinning her there as the shuttle lifted and soared away from the warehouse.

This was not how she’d planned her day. In fact, this was one of the things she’d avoided. Gabie’s heart pounded in her chest. Sometimes life just sucked.

~ * ~

Mellar studied the data sheets but his mind was only half on the information. No one had caught Emet yet, but the planet cruiser he’d escaped in had been found abandoned near a settlement on Moutern. Blood had been on the seat. Emet was injured, and someone was going to find him soon.

Lips pursed, Mellar pushed back from the viscomm and tapped the fingers of one hand idly on the desktop. He would be found, and then what? An outlaw, branded, claimed. If Mellar didn’t register him as missing, then questions might be asked.

Questions were going to be asked anyway if Emet had that information and it was discovered by the wrong people.

Swivelling the chair around, Mellar stared out the window. Should he register Emet as missing? Should he wait a bit longer, see if Cheran found him? Yes, he would wait another day. No one would blame him for not noticing a missing claimed outlaw. He was meant to be mourning his stupid wife’s death, after all.

Blowing out a deep breath, Mellar swung the chair back around, intending to recommence studying the data sheet, but instead he simply stared unseeingly at the screen.

He’d worked so hard, covered his tracks, done everything the best way. Hired the best people. Now it could all come crashing down if Emet wasn’t found before he parted with his information.

“You stupid bitch,” he breathed, looking at the photo image of his wife.

Picking it up, he made to hurl it across the room but remembered just in time that that kind of thing would be wrong. A mourning, loving husband didn’t trash his wife’s photo image.

Placing it down carefully onto the desktop again, he stared broodingly at it for several seconds, then gave a sigh of disgust and turned back to the data sheet on the viscomm screen.

~ * ~

Walking back from another meeting with a couple of merchants, Shamon, Simon and Aamun were discussing the favourable outcome when Shamon noticed Paz and Olin standing outside one of the warehouses, a frown on their faces. Or rather, Olin was frowning, Paz looked like he was going to cry.

Curious, Shamon looked again at the warehouse. The big door was open but inside was dark and empty. Was Gabie in there somewhere, working on another illegal smuggling deal? It wouldn’t surprise him, the wench just never stopped. Though it didn’t explain why Olin was frowning, unless the agreement was becoming heated.

“I’ll catch up with you,” Shamon told Simon before stepping down into the street and crossing to the other side. Coming to a stop beside Olin, he glanced into the shadowed depths of the warehouse. “Trouble, friend?”

“Huh?” Olin jumped nervously. “Uh... no.”

“Gabie inside doing a deal you don’t approve of?” Simon looked at Paz.

“She should be,” Paz muttered.

“Shut up, Paz,” Olin said gruffly. “No, she’s not in there.”

Something in the way he said it made Shamon glance sharply at Paz again. Now he could see the worry stamped onto the youth’s face.

That only made his own concern flare up. If two of Gabie’s crew were worried, then something had to be wrong. Without another word he strode into the warehouse, fully expecting to find Gabie in a heated argument or worse with some low life scum.

The warehouse was empty. Nothing stirred. No cargo was inside, no people. No merchants and no little smuggler.