Chapter Eleven
“ T his is Abigail, everyone. Kaylie, our other guest, woke up and spoke for a few minutes today,” Marcus said proudly, sitting a blonde woman with some fair silvery streaks in her hair down beside him.
“Well done, Doc!” Ardol cheered.
“Welcome, Abigail!” Kamau smacked Ardol’s head lightly as he passed. “Citrine custard?”
“That should work,” Marcus said. “Nessa, how are you feeling?”
Kamau tried not to stare at the gorgeous, glowing woman sitting and nibbling sausages in her cleaned and mended coveralls. She looks so sexy in that uniform.
Could we play naughty shuttle captain and inspector? What if I fail to declare my stock of illegal Leopardine confections, and she pats me down?
That’s not a chocolate and cinnamon creams swirl, Inspector...
“Kamau! Kamau, that’s good!” Marcus thundered.
Kamau jerked the custard pitcher up with a hiss of surprise, realizing he’d almost overflowed Abigail’s bowl. “I thought she would be hungry. Never let it be said that I’m a stingy cook,” he said with icy dignity.
I have to stop looking at Nessa.
But wait—every time I look at her—she’s looking at me!
“I’m feeling stronger every day. Abigail, I don’t know about where you lived, but the food on the MWIP was all pre-packaged and rehydrated crap. I’m eating the best food in my life on this ship. It’s all fresh and wholesome and delicious .”
Abigail smiled and lifted her spoonful of custard to her lips with a slightly shaky hand. “I’d never met Felids or Canids before—I’d never even been off-world. It’s funny, but what should have been the worst thing in my life has been one of the very nicest.”
“You can say that again,” Jade agreed, nuzzling Ardol’s arm with a sigh.
“Did you say you worked at the MWIP? The Milky Way Intergalactic Port?” Abigail turned her soft gray-blue eyes towards Nessa.
“I did! I have for a long, long time, first as a clerk at the ticket window for mass transport shuttles, and I finally made my way up to shuttle inspector and tech. I put in for a promotion months ago for Inspection Coordinator.”
Inspection Coordinator, Kamau thought, as he eased into a seat at the end of the tables they’d pushed together—and at this rate might as well leave as one long “family style” setup. My love is so skillful. Such honors await her back home.
Where her aging father is.
His conscience pricked him. I want her to travel the galaxy with me. I know I could give her a better life than the one she has—one of ease and excitement. Am I selfish for wanting her to give up everything she’s toiled for like it means nothing?
Surely there is a position with Jaxson’s crew that she could hold?
“It’s funny we ended up here together,” Abigail said with a weary smile. “For years, I said I was going to do the MWIP Observer Tour—”
“Oh, the tourist trap weekend,” Nessa chuckled. “You really didn’t miss much.”
“Well, I was saying it’s funny because my branch was the Milky Way Point branch—you know, the planet-side shuttle point to the Milky Way Intergalactic Port. We usually handle all the credit payments and transfers for the port agents.”
“Small galaxy,” Nessa smiled—but her smile became a frown. “You said you had some problem at the credit exchange office, and then you woke up here?”
“Well, I know now that what I realized is probably what led to my being here.” Abigail studied her bowl as if it were supremely fascinating. “I see what the traffickers prefer—young, healthy, beautiful women in their twenties and thirties. I’m not that.”
Marcus growled, startling everyone. “Sorry. You’re a perfect physical specimen, Abigail. Go on, what were you saying?”
“There are so many hundreds of workers at my particular credit exchange. I’m sure it would take a miracle for anyone to keep track of individual credits and names on accounts, which is what crooks count on. But that day I put in a payment for a member of the Milky Way Intergalactic Port staff from the official System of Ports Payroll. Then, less than an hour later, I got the exact same amount from a company simply called Payroll. Same employee, same amount of credits, same account. It would look like he was paid twice—and that wouldn’t raise any concerns if it was several weeks or months apart. I went back, and sure enough, there were some older transactions labeled payroll and some labeled System of Ports Payroll. No one thought that was odd, I guess, but then again, it hadn’t happened on the same day before. When I went to speak to the person making the deposit—well. I guess they figured I knew too much and that I could be more useful as ‘product’ than dead. No body to cover up that way.”
There was a horrified silence for a moment.
“Human Queens are very brave,” Kamau said in a strained voice.
“You have to be,” Layla said in a harsh tone. “The Sapien System doesn’t let any other kind survive. Abigail, I never even went into a credit exchange office in my entire life—well, other than the day I turned eighteen and was placed in charge of my ‘Ward of the State’ account. I didn’t think people even bothered to handle their banking in person anymore. Everything can be done over personal and database computers, right?”
“Right, although there are some things like opening an account, transferring an account, and buying a home that require you to go to a branch. However, if someone suddenly had computer issues, and they needed to make a payment at once, going to a branch would work. That’s what I imagine happened. This thug wanted to make a payment so the deal wouldn’t fall through, and he didn’t want to borrow someone else’s computer and put his information into it. He didn’t want to go to a public computing center, either, for the same reasons.”
“Do you remember the person’s name?” Nessa asked suddenly.
“No, I... The account was called Payroll.” Abigail gave an apologetic shake of her head.
“Someone on staff at the MWIP is a trafficker, or at least helping them get their people off-world,” Nessa looked at Kamau. “I had just figured it out when you stopped by yesterday, and I never got around to telling you guys. Talos, maybe this is your thing to follow up since you’re the Security Officer.”
Talos shifted Wendy from his lap and placed his flat, thin tablet on the table, paws hovering over it. “Continue.”
“I disappeared in the middle of a shift. If that happened, everyone would go looking for me because I never miss a shift, and in all the time I’ve worked there, I’ve rarely called off sick. Someone with the power over the schedule would have to alter it to make it look like I’d never worked that day and also be able to provide coverage so that there was no backup in my section! That means it’s someone in the upper level. Management. Coordinators. If Abigail knew the name of the person receiving the credits—”
“Oh, I do... At least the last name. I’m sorry, I just can’t remember the first name at the moment. But the last name...Barry.”
Kamau watched Nessa’s serious face twist, full lips thinning, then trembling. “My Queen?” he murmured, hurrying to her side, not caring who saw.
“I gotta make a call. Excuse me.”
Talos rose, too, blocking her with a nimble leap. “Wait.”
Kamau bared his teeth at the Tigerite blocking Nessa’s path. “Talos! Your manners!”
“Do you know that person? Do you recognize the name?” Talos demanded, ignoring the smaller Felid.
“There are probably a dozen people with that last name,” Nessa said in a shaking voice. “It couldn’t...”
“It couldn’t what?”
“It couldn’t be him.”
“Who?”
“Merton.”
MERTON. THEY WERE FRIENDS . He’d slept in her bed. Slept with her. Kissed her and promised they’d “do this again sometime.”
But he has access to schedules. Security clearances. I bet he could get to the drone footage and erase just a couple minutes of it.
But why? He’s already making more money than ninety percent of the people on Sapien-Three! He has a job that I’d kill for!
No, not literally...
Nessa was in her room, pacing. Kamau paced behind her, silent, a silky, spotted shadow that mirrored her pain and confusion.
“Ah. Mr. Manxwell. I was wondering if you had any news, particularly regarding the camera footage,” Talos asked in a grim voice.
“Oddly enough, cooperation has been unusually swift. The MIWP allowed us to speak to Nessa Kinney’s supervisor, who was relieved she was well and unharmed. He mentioned that they had to scramble to cover her shift, but that it was not uncommon for a member of the shuttle inspection staff or techs to suddenly call out sick mid-shift, and that he simply covered for Miss Kinney himself.”
“Which supervisor?” Nessa shouted, hands clasped to keep them from shaking. “Did you see the schedule? Did you see the footage from the security drones?”
“Ah, Miss Kinney!” Mr. Manxwell broke into a broad smile showing deadly-looking teeth set in his sparkling white fur with inky black splotches. “You sound much better than you did yesterday! Are the crew looking after you?”
“Better than the finest resort on Sapien-Three,” Nessa said, eyes stealing over to Kamau. “The food... I’ll be dreaming about the food here for years.”
“Excellent! Yes, the drone footage— Mr. Barry did send it to us, but unfortunately, the drone seems to have had a short. It skips every few minutes. One minute, you’re there; the next minute, you’re not.”
“And the supervisor is? He covered my shift, right?”
“Ah, yes, one would assume so. Here. I can show you...”
Nessa took the seat Talos offered her, holding it out with a courtly little bow. She almost smiled as she heard Kamau muttering, “You have a Queen! Stop flirting!”
“Any Tigerite would bow when offering a Queen his seat! What is the matter with you?” Talos hissed back.
Nessa leaned forward and peered at the footage the Leopardine began to show on the screen.
“Those are the two men!” she yelped as a segment of footage showed them walking past her station along the platform line.
“We’ll have to see if we can request footage from another sector. We can’t see their faces at this angle,” Mr. Manxwell muttered, and Nessa could hear his paws tapping as he took a note on his device.
The footage showed her moving from one shuttle to the next, speaking into her comm. Then things skipped. She was further down the line, and the crafts in her line were different—and then another skip. This time, when the footage reappeared, she was nowhere to be found.
“The position of the shuttles is different. And look at the side of the shuttle that’s advancing down the track, disappearing at the edge of the frame!” She pointed, half rising from her chair. “There’s new marks on the side that weren’t there before! Hot-beam lasers raked over it. And look at the platform. Usually, the only people up on the platform where shuttles are preparing to be launched are MIWP staff and the owners and passengers of their shuttles. There’s no one else on the platform in my section now. That means everyone else is inside their shuttles or the capsules and shuttles next in line were unmanned.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”
“Someone in scheduling approved a loading list that would clear the platform for an hour or so—in case something went wrong when I inspected that shuttle.” Bile came soaring up her throat.
He planned the schedule. He erased the footage here and there to make it look like that surveillance drone was glitching.
“An inspector needs to be on the platform. Where’s this supervisor?” Talos peered over her shoulder.
“You never said which one,” Nessa pointed out.
“Right, a Merton Barry. He said he’d been your supervisor for a long time.”
“Two years.”
Beside her, Talos stiffened.
“What?”
“About two years ago is when the Queen Fever quarantine lifted and intergalactic trade was allowed to resume in a limited fashion. And around two years ago is when Jade and eleven other women were sent to Lynx-Nineteen.”
“You can check my personnel records. I never left in the middle of a shift—but if he can erase the footage and make the schedules, I’m willing to bet he can change my records and show that I left all the time,” Nessa spat.
“Wait, are you saying this Merton Barry person is actually in league with the traffickers?” Mr. Manxwell asked, hunching forward in his chair as if he could spring through the screen.
“Abigail’s story about the banking records sure makes it look that way! I guess we’ll know in a minute. Where’s this inspector?” Nessa sat down again, her hands clamped on the edge of the desk. She wiped her sweating palms on the legs of her restored uniform, digging her fingers into the loose fabric at the knees.
I want to tear this off. Burn it. Has Merton been using me? Did I send other victims across the galaxy somehow? Did he think he could use me, pin this on me if he had to, because I’m a newer inspector who would make mistakes?
“Nessa, is that him?” Kamau whispered, kneeling beside her, his strong arm bracing her back.
An older, skinny man with a sour, pouchy face strolled across the platform now. He walked briskly to each shuttle, stuck his head inside, pulled it back out, and tapped his tablet.
“Th-that’s illegal! That’s not how inspections work! He didn’t even enter the craft!” Nessa hollered at the screen.
“That’s Merton Barry?” Mr. Manxwell clarified.
“Actually... No. No, it isn’t.” Nessa looked into the Leopardine’s eyes. “That’s Joe—and he’s not even an inspector. He’s up in the launch command. Merton lied to you. He lied to all of us.”