In the Black (24 page)

It only took a few minutes to scan the appointment screens on her monitor, the red bars showing the clients who didn’t want to pay for gravity and green for those who did.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see who’d been in zero-g the most.

“Shoot this information to the marshal.”

“I cannot—” The AI’s frustrated tone increased.

“I know, I know.” Sam forced herself to calm down. “Belle, I understand the potential problems. I appreciate you warning me but this is important, life and death. My call, my consequences.”

“Yes, Captain.” Belle sounded sad. “Data sent and acknowledged as received by his AI.”

She pulled herself over to the hammock that served as her sleeping bag. The fine mesh tangled in her fingers. “Call Marshal LeClair, please. Feed it through my earpiece. I don’t want it on the speakers.”

She hadn’t taken the earpiece out when sitting in the cockpit. Now it was her best way of keeping her chat quiet.

Sam grabbed hold of a handle set into the wall. The locker opened easily, displaying her dress uniform and a handful of clothing—including the leather jumpsuit she’d worn for the recent presentation.

Jenny once again had been efficient.

Her hand brushed against the front of her dark blue uniform jacket, still in the transparent plastic travel bag.

The shiny medals shone under the plastic wrapping. Every day she looked at them, looked at the eighty silver pieces she’d gotten for surviving the Hub.

“Sam? You okay?” The concern in Daniel’s voice made her pulse race. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine but I know who the killer is.” She grabbed her sidearm for the second time in six months. “It’s Dane Morris. He snuck off the ship somehow. I’m betting through the laundry chute—if we search his room we’ll probably find a rope or something that let him crawl down and back up into his room. He came to see the presentation and then came back up.”

“But—”

She continued strapping the sidearm on, going through the familiar motions. “He ripped his leg up. I saw the bandage when we were all hanging in the galley after my presentation. I didn’t think anything of it. He said he’d cut himself shaving or something stupid like that.”

“How did he—”

“I can’t talk right now. He needs to be secured before he can hurt anyone else. Belle, lock Dane Morris’s cabin. If we’re lucky he’s in there. If not we’re going to have to find him and secure him.”

The pain arrived, a tight band across her chest. Her hand tightened around her gun belt. The worn leather felt warm to her touch, almost alive.

“Sam, listen to me. You can’t go off half-cocked on this. What’s his motive for killing Halley Comet? He might have gotten off the ship and gotten the token but that doesn’t prove anything other than that he’s a cheap bastard who took advantage of Kowalski’s bad temper.”

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted. “But it’s a hell of an injury if he’s been avoiding full gravity since it happened.” She pressed on. “I’ve risked a lot to get this information. We need to talk to him right away.”

“Affirmative on that. At least we’d be able to confront him about the token. I’m on my way to the
Belle
right now. We’ll figure this out together.” Daniel let out a string of curses, probably aimed at some unfortunate in his way. “Don’t do anything until I get there. I’m the lawman here, not you.” His voice rose. “Don’t do anything risky, Sam.”

Sam imagined him taking long strides just short of breaking into a run, trying to seem calm to the mining crew around him.

“I’m the captain of the
Bonnie Belle
. I take care of my crew,” she snapped back.

“And your authority goes only so far. I won’t let you get killed to prove how tough you are.”

“You want to see tough? You just try to stop me,” Sam said. “You’re not the first man I’ve laid out—” She mentally rolled her eyes at the phrasing.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Let’s take him on together. You can’t do this on your own,” he snarled. “You’re tough but you don’t have to do this alone. Let me be there for you. Let me guard your back.”

Sam automatically checked to make sure her weapon was loaded. Rubber bullets, the most she was allowed to carry on the
Bonnie Belle
. Good for crowd control and safe enough to fire without damaging the walls enough to risk an atmospheric leak.

It’d still be more than enough to knock someone down and out.

“I’m the captain,” Sam repeated as she headed for the door. “This is still my ship and you’re not dragging anyone off without me there.”

“I’ll meet you at the landing bay in two minutes. Get Belle to lock the ship down again, keep Dane in his quarters and get the customers to safety.” Daniel’s voice held a note of exhaustion. “Dang, woman. You’ll be the death of me.”

“Promises, promises. I’ll call you back when I get to the bay. Belle, end communications” Sam opened the hatch. “Okay, Belle, now—”

She stopped short.

Dane Morris glared at her, blocking her exit. He was breathing heavily, his mouth slightly open and eyes wide. He only wore a pair of olive-colored shorts, the bandage around his right ankle standing out against his well-tanned skin.

“Damned nosy bitch.”

He grabbed her shoulder, anchoring the two of them in the zero gravity.

His fist smashed into her nose before she could reach for her pistol. Sam tried to speak, to say anything, to alert Belle to her situation but the pain was overwhelming, the blood clogging her mouth and throat. She coughed once, seeing the red droplets float in front of her eyes, and then there was nothing.

Chapter Ten

“Marshal LeClair.” The voice held a trace of fear, something he’d never heard before from an AI. “Marshal?”

Daniel paused at the entrance to the
Belle
and bent over, trying to catch his breath. His lungs ached and his pulse pounded in his ears. “Yes?”

“The captain—” The AI fell silent as if trying to control her emotions. “She has been taken hostage by Dane Morris. Her earpiece has been deactivated.”

“How the hell did he know?” Daniel pulled his weapon, checking to make sure it had a full complement of tranqs. “We just figured it out. What or who tipped him off?”

“Morris received a private message a few minutes ago from the Guild. I picked him up on the camera in the cockpit as he attempted to enter the captain’s quarters.”

Daniel’s stomach lurched. Intentionally or not, the Guild had started this ball rolling right at him and Sam.

“Tell me what the message was.” He spat out the code again. “Belle, don’t make me—”

“It was a notification of an investigation into his financial records.” The AI spoke quickly. “The Guild is obligated to inform anyone who is under investigation to allow him or her to seek legal advice and representation.”

“Or to kidnap the captain to try and get away. Damn it.” Daniel’s fingers itched, compelling him to rub his right hand on his jeans. He needed to get inside the ship, but dashing into the middle of a bunch of clients waiting for their pleasure time could warn the killer of his approach and that’d make the situation worse.

The last thing he needed was a mass hostage situation. The courtesans could be locked away with their clients; the landing bay stuffed with eager men needed another option. They’d already been recently asked to clear out. Another call over the
Belle’s
system to leave could cause a riot. There was only so far you could push these men and explaining the situation wouldn’t make things better—he’d be swamped with offers of help to save the sexy Mercy captain.

A worse scenario was some of them blundering around to try to save her on their own. Major disaster didn’t even begin to describe the possible results.

“Belle, what’s the standard plan for evacuating the ship in case of emergency?”

There was a pause. “I can sound a general alarm. That will empty the cabins and the landing bay of customers. It would be loud, however, and certainly alert Morris that we are aware of the current situation.”

“Hmm.” Daniel weighed the option.

“It’s supposed to be,” Belle added by way of explanation. “Enough to interrupt the courtesans’ business.”

He shook his head. “Not an option. I don’t want to hand Dane Morris a ship of hostages. He’s already got the damned captain.” He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Can’t make this worse.”

Etts beeped for attention from his hip. The series of clicks and chirps were short and harried, as if the computer was about to have a seizure.

“Thank Grendel for me. Better late than never.” He resisted the urge to turn and spit, clean out the name of the Guild rep from his mouth. “Just got Morris’s financial info. Would have been nice to get that information before they alerted Morris and let him know we were on to him.”

Etts gave an affirming trill.

“Belle, alert all of the remaining courtesans to lock themselves in their quarters, keep the clients there. Don’t freak them out, just tell them we’ve got a situation.” His lips turned up in a wry smile. “Again.”

“Understood,” Belle responded in a flat tone.

“Belle, how many customers are in the landing bay?” Daniel glanced down at Etts. “Etts, get me Huckness and Trainer on a conference line. I want them in on this.”

Trainer wasn’t his favorite person at the moment but he couldn’t afford to leave the foreman out of this. Not when lives were at stake. And with Trainer being in the Guild’s pocket he wanted the bastard where he could see him, so to speak. Keeping him in the loop was necessary.

“We have a dozen men waiting their turn,” Belle replied. “Bianca is still asleep. April and Kendra are entertaining at the moment. There are no planned appointments for Dane Morris and Sean Harrison at this time.”

Huckness and Trainer burst onto the line simultaneously, tearing at Daniel’s eardrums with a mixture of curses pointed at each other.

“Shut up, both of you.” The line fell silent. “I need you two to issue a general recall for your men. Use their private links. Keep it quiet but I need them off the
Belle
right now.”

“What’s the problem?” Trainer sounded snarky. “You need a little alone time with one of the girls? Make an appointment like everyone else.”

“We’ve got a possible hostage situation. So don’t fuck with me or I’ll smash your brains into snail snot.” Daniel thought he heard an approving beep from Etts. “You can file your complaints later. I need this done now.”

“The captain?” Huckness said.

“Yes.” He wasn’t going to lie to the chief.

“Damn,” Huckness replied. “That’s gonna be tough.”

“What?” Trainer said, a note of disbelief in his voice. “The captain’s the hostage? So what do you want us to do?”

Daniel ground his teeth together. “The killer is Dane Morris. I’m going in to arrest him but I need to get the civilians clear. Clear your men out and clear them now. I don’t care how you do it but I want them out of the landing bay quietly and without setting off any alarms. I don’t want this bastard to know I’m coming.”

“Roger that,” Huckness said without protest. “Trainer, I need your approval for a stage-one recall.”

Daniel heard keys being hammered, computer equipment groaning in annoyance.

Trainer grunted. “You’ve got it.”

“Got what?” Daniel asked.

Huckness spoke first. “I’ve issued a silent priority-one order. It’s for emergency situations like a mining accident where there’s a chance of base evacuation and we don’t want to set off the main alarm for some reason. Quiet call to their evac stations, no chance of being misunderstood and definitely not going to be ignored.” He paused. “I’ve got a riot team on standby. It’s the closest I have to a SWAT team to back you up. Say the word and they’ll pour onto the
Belle
like molten iron.”

“Station them by the
Belle’s
hatch. In case things go wrong and we need to retake the
Belle
with force.”

Huckness grunted. “They’ll be ready.” He paused. “Keller put it together first?”

“Yes.” Daniel wasn’t going to mince words to try to make himself look good. “She figured it out. Told me and Morris jumped her when she moved to get to him first.”

“Woman’s got the heart of a warrior,” Huckness said. He chuckled. “I’d expect no less from First Corps.”

“Brave and tough. I get it. But she should have waited for me. Damn it,” he cursed, rage blazing a path through his mind. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“Don’t think you can control a woman like that,” Huckness said. “Besides, the
Bonnie Belle
is her ship after all. She’s got the right to move first.”

“But—” Daniel caught himself before saying what he felt for Sam. There was a time and a place and this sure as hell wasn’t it. “I’ve got to get in there and assess the situation before we do anything.” Daniel rubbed his palm again. “He’s got Sam and he’s going to start making demands.”

“Marshal?” Belle broke in. “I can tell you from the onboard cameras that Dane Morris is alone with the captain. He just left the cockpit and entered the galley.”

“Is she—” Daniel felt his throat close up, just for a second. “Is she alive?”

“Affirmative.” Belle sounded relieved. “I am registering her breathing from her chest movements. However, there is blood on her face obstructing my view.” The restrained anger in her voice was apparent. “She is injured.”

“Trainer, Huckness, get those men out of there,” Daniel snapped.

“Already issued the recall order. Riot team is being dispatched to stand by the front hatch. Say the word and they’re yours,” Huckness said. “The guys inside should be going by you any minute.”

A rumbling started on the other side of the hatch.

Daniel took a few steps back. Etts let out a warning beep.

The hatch swung open to allow a steady stream of disgruntled miners, cursing and swearing in a multitude of languages. A few glanced at Daniel as they trotted by but none questioned the marshal’s appearance.

“Huckness, I need the sector locked down as soon as you get those men to safety and your team deploys here by the front door. Nobody goes in or out of this area without my express permission.”

“And if you’re dead?” There was no humor in the statement, just a question.

“Then that’ll be a problem, won’t it?” Daniel didn’t feel like mincing words.

“Roger that, Marshal. Locked down as soon as you enter the
Belle
. No one in or out, no ships launching or arriving except on your say-so,” Huckness said. “Go get her.”

* * *

She was drifting in space
,
bodies splayed out around her in a horrible spiral.
Bill Hatfield floated by
,
his faceplate shot out along with most of his face.

She’d owed him ten credits from a bad poker hand.
Give it to me next paycheck
,
he’d said.
He’d add it to the stash he was sending home for his kid’s graduation.

Her breathing became harsher
,
the hissing in her ear rising in intensity.
There was a leak of some sort and she was venting oxygen;
somewhere on her suit there was a tear letting her life escape.

Sam scrabbled to get a grip on her helmet and try to find the leak.
She had a seal packet in her pocket;
she could fix this.

She hadn’t survived all this to die from lack of air.
She had too many blood debts to pay.

She drew a shallow breath and blinked herself awake.

“Don’t move, bitch. I’ll snap your neck like a chicken if you do,” Dane growled into her right ear.

The arm pressing across her windpipe was like an iron bar. She swallowed again and felt the muscle twitch against her skin. Dane’s palm pressed against the back of her neck, not far from her ear in a grip she knew well from her unarmed combat training. His left hand pressed against her left cheekbone, in perfect position to snap her neck.

She knew exactly where she was.

She was on the
Belle
, in the galley.

She was in the hands of a murderer.

Her feet floated free and she felt her heels bounce off Dane’s shins.

“Don’t move,” he repeated. “I’ll know before you do if you decide to attack me.”

Sam licked her lips. She was still wearing her mag-boots but she’d have to reach down and hit the switch on one to activate the pair. Her hands were at her sides, drifting upward and out.

Her earpiece was gone.

She felt the tie on her thigh keeping her holster tight—but she couldn’t see her sidearm.

“Okay,” she rasped. “What do you want?”

Dane’s heated whisper burned her ears. “You’re going to get me a ship and clearance off this rock. Simple as that.”

“You killed Halley.” It took most of her energy to get the words out.

The arm across her throat flexed. “Am I supposed to confess all my sins now?” He chuckled. “You want me to start with the first time I jacked off?”

“I thought we’d make small talk until we figure things out.” She drew a staggered breath. “Belle, are you there?”

The AI’s voice was neutral and low. “Yes, Captain.”

The pressure on her windpipe built. “Shut up.” Dane looked up at the invisible speakers. “Belle, you tell the marshal, the security chief and everyone who’ll listen that these are my demands. One fast ship with a month’s worth of supplies and food, no tracking devices. That’s what I want for the captain’s safe return. Anyone comes in here to try and save her and I’ll break her neck.” The muscle flexed again. “And don’t even think about putting any gas in the air. If I feel sleepy the last thing I’m going to do before passing out is twist her head back around like a doll.” He gave her a shake. “You know I can do it, you know my file. Don’t make me kill her.”

“You heard him, Belle. No aggressive action on your part.” Sam drew another shallow breath. “Dane, it doesn’t help if you keep choking me out.”

The iron bar of his arm eased a fraction of an inch.

He chuckled. “Good point.”

“Dane Morris?” Daniel’s voice boomed through the speakers. “I understand we need to talk.”

Sam strained to see either of the galley doors. Dane had put her in the center of the room, not far from where she’d been eating fruit salad not so long ago. The table Bianca stood on was still there, bolted to the floor.

An empty coffee tube floated nearby. Despite the situation she made a note to berate the crew for not keeping their dining area clean. She coughed, fighting the urge to laugh.

Dane laughed. “Not really much to talk about. I want a ship, supplies and exit from the base. You get your girl back when I get out of range.”

Sam felt his body heat, smelled the faint cologne mixed in with sweat. Something nudged the base of her spine and she realized the bastard had an erection.

She tamped down the instinctive urge to push away from him in disgust. She knew what he could do; she’d bragged about it earlier to the miners. Boxer, wrestler.

Murderer.

Not so sure about how well he fought in low or zero gravity. Or with an injured leg.

The coppery taste in her mouth increased, reminding her she wasn’t in any condition to brawl. Her face ached and she suspected a broken nose based on the throbbing around her eyes.

“That’ll take some time to arrange.” Daniel’s disembodied voice echoed around them. “Mind telling me why you killed Halley Comet?”

“You’re a cop. You do the deducting,” Dane snarled at the ceiling.

“I don’t have to. The Guild let me into your financial records. I know the truth but I wanted to give you a chance to tell me your side.”

Dane’s arm tightened a fraction. “So what? Looking at my account doesn’t prove anything.”