Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Aiden had barely listened to the rest of the briefing.
Evelyn had finally relaxed a fraction. She’d been curling in on herself, an imploding ball of tension for days.
She had looked much better after a few solid hours of sleep, and even more so after the news that they were not going to abandon her at the drop.
But as soon as she’d heard the drop location, all that progress was destroyed.
He hadn’t liked watching Evelyn’s reaction to that piece of information one bit. If she wasn’t so determined to see the damn thing through, he’d have called it, payday be damned. Tariel wouldn’t die if he didn’t get out of his alimony payments.
Aiden had wanted to climb up after Evelyn when she went to the observation deck, but Lillian had caught his eye and given him a subtle head shake. He knew his mom was right. Evelyn needed her space to decompress.
What the fuck is Vinnie playing at?
He had been determined to deliver Evelyn to Vinnie safely before the briefing, but now nothing would prevent him from the task.
He headed back to his office to give his board one more thorough looking over. Each point had made its way into his mental filing system days ago, but it never hurt to look things over one more time. New context sometimes helped slide a connection into place.
He was still clueless.
At the very least, we’ll have some answers in a few hours.
Answers. For what good they’d do.
Since looking at the board was proving pointless, Aiden decided to wander into the kitchen.
He found Nannette sharpening up the last knife against a leather strap.
Razor sharp blades were safer blades, as such things went.
He watched her hold the knife up at an angle to assess her progress.
Satisfied, she flipped the strop and ran the blade across the smooth side to polish the edge further.
Veselko shoved past him into the kitchen and pulled out a chair across from Nannette. He plopped down, his bulky body doing a decent imitation of a boneless sack of muscles as he sat down. He used a foot to shove a chair out for Aiden to join them.
“I know I whine a lot about how boring it is to smuggle fuzzballs and baubles for rich idiots, but it’s a lot less stressful than this shit,” he said.
“At least you’re aware you’re a whiner,” Nannette said. She tucked the knife into the sheath at her hip and started to organize her cleaning supplies, neatly stacking everything in a storage tote while they watched. Aiden knew she wouldn’t let them help her clean up.
“Don’t they say that’s the first step to change? Admitting you have a problem?” Aiden asked.
“I think you have to want to change. I’m a top-level whiner. I can’t pack it in now.” Veselko fiddled with the top of the box.
“Suck it up, buttercup. A little uncertainty is good for you. Elevates the heart rate,” Nannette said. She gave the table a once over to make sure she got all her tools out of the way.
“I do enough cardio,” he said.
Nannette reached out for the box top. Veselko stopped fiddling with it and handed it to her, but he didn’t let go. His joking manner evaporated as he made eye contact with her.
“Seriously. Are you okay with this?”
Nannette took a deep inhale and tugged the box top from Veselko’s hand and sealed the lid of the box, letting out an exasperated huff that made the wisps of hair that had escaped her braided crown fly around her head.
Aiden felt like a complete moron. Even if he was quietly planning his departure from the Dawn, that wasn’t an excuse to drop the ball on his captaining duties.
He should be the one making sure Nannette was fine, but he’d spent the last few days focused on his own various guilt-inducing desires. Planning an exit strategy for himself.
Obsessing over a woman who I may never see again after this evening.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Oh yeah, you’re screaming out ‘fine,’ Nannette,” Veselko said, rolling his eyes. Aiden had to agree Nannette seemed tense. “The knives really sell it.”
“Am I thinking about my father? Ask what you mean,” she said.
Direct as a laser blaster.
“Are you?” Aiden asked.
“Of course I am. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do my job and focus on the task at hand. Are there some creepy parallels at hand? Sure. But I have a lock on things.” She grabbed Veselko’s hand and squeezed. “I appreciate you looking out. Both of you. Meddlers.”
“Meddling and whining are my top specialities,” Veselko said.
“We should update the pamphlets,” Aiden added. “Really promote the whole full-service aspect of the ship.”
Maybe the crew wouldn’t fall apart when he left, after all.
Aiden strapped into the copiloting chair. He had his special glasses tucked into the pocket of his shirt. Cairn leaned over and gave him a sniff.
“Are you wearing cologne?”
The tips of Aiden’s ears reddened. He sniffed and attempted an air of dignity. He had, in fact, taken the time to freshen up. Trimmed his beard, smashed on some scent. “It never hurts to bathe.”
“Aye. But you’re tarted up for a drop.”
“Tarted up? Did you borrow one of Lillian’s historicals again?”
“Aye. Stop evading.”
“Yes. I’m wearing cologne. Can we drop this?”
“Sure. In about ten minutes,” Cairn said with a smirk. “Is that a new shirt?”
Aiden sighed and studied the control panel.
Cairn turned and saw that everyone was buckled into their seats.
He moved to change the information stream to a more focused set of data points and paused.
Aiden glanced at the information panel. A warning originating from one of Cairn’s custom screening protocols scrolled across the screen:
Increased patrols of ships in GPC-affiliated territories with hull designations assigned to the Bauder Planetary Collective. Proceed with caution.
Cairn caught his eye and Aiden shrugged. They were about to descend to the planet, no point in worrying about patrolling ships until they were about to depart. Cairn nodded.
“Okay, folks. Should be a smooth descent, but I see a bit of forecasted turbulence. Stay seated. We’ll be on the ground in Vegas in about thirty.”
Tariel waved at Aiden’s pocket. “Hand those over. I need to sync the glasses with this tablet so we can have eyes in the cover vehicle as well as on the ship.”
Aiden did as requested, and Tariel started syncing the visual data streams while Cairn focused on the descent. The autopilot would do most of the work for him, but he preferred to land manually whenever he could. The test stream of the glasses popped up on a screen.
Then the promised turbulence hit. Cairn took over control of the ship as they bounced in the cabin.
“Hold on! Just a few minutes of this.”
Aiden’s knuckles whitened as they bounced through the atmosphere.
He never had grown accustomed to the in between moments necessary for space travel and doubted he ever would.
Getting a break from the constant jaunts between on and off planet living would be the thing he was most looking forward to.
To take his mind off the descent, he thought about the increased presence of Bauder’s scouting ships.
They wouldn’t have scattered their presence throughout the entirety of the GPC territory if they had any idea where Evelyn could be.
Sounded like Bellica was trying to keep her extraction quiet for the time being.
A missing princess had to be bad for business, especially when your whole regime was counting on her contributions to keep their experimental military operations up and running.
Maybe he’ll grab one of her other relatives out of deep freeze and shove them into that stupid pod now.
The ride smoothed out. Aiden breathed easier.
“There now. All done,” Carin announced. “Touching down in a few.”
The lights and colors of Las Vegas filled the view screen, a vibrant neon rainbow against the red of the surrounding desert.
Sprawling housing communities emanating from the long stretch of the Strip filled the valley.
The sun was setting behind the Spring Mountains, giving them a spectacular show.
Midnight blue skies faded into baby pink in a stunning stellar ombre as Cairn docked the ship at the airspace port.
That’s Vegas for you. Drama around every corner.
Aiden slid the glasses onto his nose and remembered to unbuckle his seatbelt before standing.
Smooth. So smooth.
He, Evelyn, Nannette, and his moms were going to be in the first car. Veronique, Tariel, and Veselko would be following in the cover vehicle. Cairn was staying with the ship, readying it to take back off at a moment’s notice.
While Nannette and Veselko retrieved the cars, Aiden sat down next to Evelyn to wait, determined to squeeze every last minute he could out of their time together.
He was now nearly expert at silencing the small nagging voice in the pit of his stomach, reminding him that she would soon be ripped away from him.
Traitorous bastard could shut its mouth.
“It’s weird how little has changed. I mean, the names of the casinos are different. I’m sure the shows and restaurants are new. But the feeling of this place . . . It’s got its own unique energy,” Evelyn said.
“Often imitated, never duplicated. None of the satellite Vegas planets have been anywhere near as successful,” he told her.
“Don’t mess with success,” she said. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand. “Thank you. For everything.”
He squeezed her hand. “My pleasure, dollface.”
The cars arrived. Aiden walked Evelyn to the back seat of the one Nannette was driving, helped her into the car, and slid into the passenger seat.
The drive was largely made in silence. Every so often Evelyn would comment on a change in the scenery, and Elenor or Lillian would ask a follow-up question, but they were all too nervous about the drop to make much idle conversation.
Finally, Nannette rolled to a stop in the driveway of the house.
The cover vehicle passed the driveway entirely, looping the block.
The ranch-style home had a neatly manicured front lawn, the path lined with the red rocks that were synonymous with this desert.
Aiden exited the car and then helped Evelyn get out, inordinately pleased at the little shiver she gave when his thumb swiped the back of her hand.
She squeezed his before letting him go. She tilted her head and looked at the front path, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“I have a hunch about something,” she said. “Nannette, that large rock by the front door. It’s to hide a key. I want to see if it fits.”
“I’ll check it,” Nannette said. “Stay behind me and Aiden.”
Evelyn nodded and rubbed her hands together rapidly to ward off the chill. “It’s frickin’ freezing out here, Mr. Bigglesworth,” she said, huffing hot breath into her cupped hands. “I forgot how cold it can get after sunset.”
Aiden’s brows drew together. Damn turbulence.“Did you hit your head before we landed?”
Evelyn gasped in shock. “You have no appreciation for the classics. None. I have a list of movies for you now. Immediate homework. Ladies, you should be ashamed.”
Lillian laughed. “He got stuck on The Princess Bride. I couldn’t make him watch anything else.”
“Not true,” Elenor added, “Don’t forget the Clue phase.”
“Tim Curry is a god. I won’t apologize for that. We can embarrass me later,” Aiden said.
Evelyn had relaxed a little while they were teasing him, and Aiden was pleased the tension in her shoulders had lessened. Relaxed and focused was better than stressed and hyper-fixated.
Aiden watched Nannette approach the rock. She nudged it with her toe before picking it up. She plucked the hidden key from the camouflaged container and replaced it on the path.
They all followed Nannette to the door and watched as she tried the key in the lock.
The door swung open, and at Nannette’s signal, they followed her inside.
Stepping into the foyer, Aiden saw a house that he knew in his gut hadn’t changed in all the time it had stood empty.
The walls of the main space were painted that same calm purple shade that Evelyn’s chamber in the medivessel had been.
A squishy-looking charcoal-colored sofa took up most of the living room, and Aiden could picture how Evelyn would have sprawled on it while devouring her latest read.
A matching loveseat draped with a mustard yellow throw blanket and a green armchair framed the coffee table, scattered with trinkets.
Framed movie posters and shadowboxes full of concert memorabilia battled the walls for space against overstuffed bookshelves.
Standing in the middle of the living room was the very same short, formidable woman Aiden had grown to mistrust over the past few days.
She was dressed in one of her signature sensible silver pantsuits.
A violet silk shirt buttoned to the throat was accented with a plum necktie secured in a complicated knot.
Her graying auburn hair was slicked back in a chignon.
Evelyn took one look at her and screamed, launching herself forward. His blaster was out and aimed by the time she had wrapped herself around Vinnie in a crushing hug.
“Corrie!”