Wings of Retribution (89 page)

There were no guards lurking in the shadows, no firing squad training their guns on them.  Athenais sucked in a breath at the four pale-faced prisoners that looked up at them, shielding their eyes from the sudden light.

“Took long enough, Captain,” Goat muttered.  “We was beginnin’ to think you forgot ‘bout us.”

“And I was just starting to get comfortable,” Dune complained, getting off a cot.

“Speak for yourself,” Squirrel said.  “No offense, Goat, but I think I lost my sense of smell.”

Athenais let out the breath she was holding.

“What happened to your arm, Captain?” Pete asked, staring at the fingers jutting from her shoulder.  “That’s downright creepy.”

“Long story,” Athenais said, slumping against the bars.  “
Really
long story.”  She gestured at the cell door.  “Let ‘em out, Governor.  I just got word they all just received government pardons.”

Governor Black frowned, looking around them in bafflement, obviously trying to find the source of her information.  “They…did?”  Then, at Athenais’s raised eyebrow, he blinked and babbled, “Oh, of
course
they did!  Such upstanding citizens…  What a huge misunderstanding!”  He gave a nervous laugh and reached for his personal passcard, which he swiped at the door entrance.

As the Governor hurried to enter the cell release codes, Rabbit sidled closer, watching His Excellency with a befuddled frown.  “Did he just say, ‘upstanding citizens?’”

“I think he did,” Athenais said.

“Okay,” Rabbit said, shaking his head.  “That cinches it.  I’m taking a vacation.”  He pulled out his personal comm and started talking to someone about goats and masonry crews.

“Come on,” Athenais said, as her bedraggled crew filed out of the cell in front of Governor Black, “Let’s go get us a drink.”  She turned and led them from the building, following Rabbit.

“I know you just saved my ass,” Goat said, as they walked out, “but you think you could throw something over that thing in your shoulder?”  He licked his lips, grimacing at the inflamed and puffy fingers jutting from her shoulder socket.  “Yeah.  Uh.  It’s really grossing me out, Cap’in.”

Athenais licked her lips, remembering her promise to the airheaded little ditz.  In the silence that followed, she caught Rabbit pausing in the hall in front of her, giving her a raised eyebrow.  Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she muttered, “It’s Carrot until we get off T-9.”

Everyone in the hall stopped and looked at her.

Athenais ducked her head, her throat burning as she cleared it again.  “Captain York said so.  Until I get a new Beetle retrofitted and get us the hell outta here, I owe her for saving my life.”

“Carrot,” Dune said, at the same time Squirrel blurted, “Did you just call her
Captain York
?”

“Yeah,” Goat said, “you
feelin’
all right, Cap’in?”

Rabbit, who had stalwartly insisted that Athenais hold up her end of the bargain, once he’d learned of it, cleared his throat pointedly.

“I mean
Carrot
,” Goat corrected, his crooked teeth showing in a huge grin.  “You know,” he said, sounding almost thoughtful, “that’s got a real ring to it.”

Face burning, Athenais shoved through them and went to wring the little twit’s neck.