Chapter 50 Dax
Dax
Nighttime on Kottke was a dusky gray. There was no wind and the air smelled and tasted like dust. Their moon tonight was just a sliver and most of the businesses didn’t have external lights.
Even the spaceport appeared to have shut down for the night.
Fortuna was only a shadow behind us. It all lent credence to the cargo master’s warning to not be out at night.
Our target, the hangar, was one of the few exceptions. It wasn’t well-lit on the outside, but light snuck out of the cracks around the windows and doors, and between the metal sheets on the walls.
We’d donned gray camouflage and our body armor for this incursion. Not a perfect match, but it should help us blend into the shadows.
I led the way from the ship. Burn was directly behind me and Lacy was tucked in front of Orion and Mercer who brought up the rear. I hated having Lacy out here with us, but I’d made her as safe as possible. I could only hope that it was enough.
Moving slowly, carefully, we finally made it across town to the hangar. The air pulsed with loud, raucous music and even louder bangs of metal-on-metal.
I raised my hand to signal a stop. We were only fifty feet from the main door.
The double doors didn’t appear locked and would probably be easy to breach, but the recon from earlier indicated that there was another door, less used, to our right.
The primary entrance would likely have more eyes on it, so we’d decided to try the other door.
Keeping Lacy by my side, I used hand signals to direct my team to their positions around the secondary entrance.
Orion was responsible for the breach. Quiet was best, but he’d use brute force if needed. Mercer would provide backup for him. Burn was stationed slightly farther away, so she could take care of anyone or anything that got past Mercer. I’d protect Lacy until it was safe to enter.
Flashing my fingers, I counted down. Three. Two. One.
Orion put his hand on the doorknob.
I tensed, ready for action. All my senses were on alert and I was terrifyingly aware of Lacy behind me.
If things went to shit, the only thing I was concerned with was getting her to safety.
That single-minded focus should have concerned me, but I didn’t have time right now to consider what it meant.
When Orion turned the handle, it squeaked. A tiny sound that nevertheless held us all motionless. He pulled and metal scraped on metal. My breath nearly stopped.
He paused and we all waited.
And waited.
And waited.
When nothing happened, Orion tugged on the handle and the door pulled free.
Orion paused, one hand on the door handle, the other holding his weapon, while the team slipped into position behind him.
Mercer nodded and Orion eased the door open all the way. The light was brighter and the noise was louder, but nothing else seemed to be happening.
“Step in just enough to look around and then report back.” I didn’t want to stand here silhouetted by the open door for very long. We needed to be either in or out.
“Roger.” Orion handed the edge of the door to Mercer, then hefted his weapon. He disappeared from view.
Orion was back in the space of a few heartbeats.
“About what we expected. I counted three guys and they’re pretty heads down over whatever they’re working on.
They’ll be easy to take down. Biggest obstacles are the piles of junk and parts.
Might be people I can’t see behind them.
They could make a hell of a racket if we get tangled up in them. ”
“Thoughts?” I asked the team.
Used to making fast decisions in stressful situations, we quickly decided that it was a go.
Orion, back on point, stepped through the doorway again, with Mercer and Burn close on his heels.
“Stay behind me,” I told Lacy. “We don’t know what we’re facing.”
She nodded.
I stepped through the door with sure, steady steps. I was all that stood between the bad guys and Lacy.
Snap out of it. I couldn’t allow my concern for her to be the very thing that put her in danger.
Orion directed us to our positions with a series of hand signals. I circled to the right, angling my body between the room and Lacy. I pointed to a place for her to stand that would keep her in the shadows and out of the line of fire.
My target was crouched in front of a piece of machinery that looked like it belonged in the engine room. Lacy could probably tell me what it was and what it did, but that wasn’t why we were here.
Steps light, unhurried, I approached my target.
I raised my weapon and, with one smooth motion, brought the butt down on the back of his head.
He collapsed to the ground and hit his toolbox.
It rattled, sounding like a bomb going off.
I pivoted on the balls of my feet, checking to see if the noise had attracted any attention.
Nothing.
I turned back to the downed bad guy, intending to tie him up, but Lacy had already taken care of it. His wrists and ankles were tied with a complicated series of knots. I gave them an experimental tug. They held and seemed secure. “Nice work,” I said with a nod of approval.
“Thanks.”
“We need to gag him,” I whispered, “and then put him out of sight.”
“Already on it.” She pulled a roll of duct tape from her pocket and slapped a couple strips over his mouth and beard, then wrapped another piece around his head to hold everything in place.
Damn, that was going to hurt when he tried to take it off.
“You’ll need to move him, though,” she said. “I can’t do it without making a lot of noise.”
“Got it.” I hefted the guy by his collar and dragged him into the shadows where I’d hidden Lacy. He was scrawny, but unconscious, he was dead weight. I tucked him behind a stack of crates. He should be out for a while.
I rejoined Lacy. “Anything from the rest of the team?”
She nodded and pointed down the aisle to where Burn was flashing the all-clear signal. I flashed a response back.
“Same plan as before.” My hand cupped her cheek briefly. “Stay behind me and stay out of danger.”
Lacy nodded, then stooped to pick up a long wrench. “Okay, ready.”
I studied her choice of weapon. It suited her. “Okay. Just remember, quietly.”
Lacy rolled her eyes. “I’m new, not stupid.”
“I know. I just worry.”
Surprise flared in her eyes. She grabbed my hand with her free hand and squeezed my fingers. “I worry about you, too. Now let’s get to Burn.”
We moved through the hangar as quickly and quietly as we could, keeping a wary eye out for threats.
The cavernous space distorted sound and with the racket coming from near the front of the building, we might not hear anyone who came up on us.
Plus, the haphazard aisles and the ship parts scattered about the place offered any number of hiding places.
Burn was in sight, only fifteen feet away, when Lacy gasped.
I whirled around, raising my weapon as I did so. There was no one there except Lacy. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s . . .” Instead of answering, Lacy approached a nearby rolling tool chest.
“Burn, watch our backs,” I whispered before following Lacy to the workstation. “What’s wrong?”
Transferring the wrench to her left hand, she plucked an item off the top of it. “This is mine.” Though still quiet, her tone was somewhere between a growl and a whine. “She was here, Dax. My sister was here!”
“Lacy, baby, what is it? What did you find?” My heart was in my throat. What had caused such a visceral reaction for her?
Lacy turned slowly, her hand clenched around the base of a gray, plastic . . . I peered closer. A toy shark?
“My sister gave this to me.” She thrust it toward me. As she did, the head of the bobblehead shark started vibrating and the mouth started chomping at me.
What the fuck?
“Lacy, that could be from anywhere. Lots of people like toys.” I scanned the top of the tool chest for any other signs that Lacy’s sister had been here. Maybe a great big sign that said Layla Dupree was here. But there was nothing.
“Look, I can prove it.” She tucked her wrench under her arm and twisted the shark around. She pointed to the lettering on the toy’s display platform. “Right there.”
Emblazoned was a word: MAKO.
“My sister did that. It’s the figurehead for Mako. It lived on the console of my ship.” Her eyes widened. “That bitch! She stole my ship!”
I bit the inside of my lip to keep from laughing. Now she knew how it felt. Still . . . it looked like proof that we were on the right track. Now we had to learn what it meant.
She grabbed my arm. “Dax, if this is here, it means Mako might be here too. I’ve got to find my ship.”
Before she could dart past me, I wrapped my arm around her waist. When she started to struggle, I pulled her closer. “Shhh. You can’t go rushing out into the hangar before we’ve had a chance to clear it. We’ll ask the team if they’ve seen her, okay?”
Wide eyes met my gaze. “I’ve got to find them, Dax. Layla and Mako.”
She was killing me. “We will, baby. We will.”
This woman had me making promises I wasn’t sure I could keep.
“Let’s go show Burn what you found. She’s getting worried.”
Lacy took a shaky breath in, a calmer breath out. “Okay. You’re right. I’m okay. You can let go now.”
I didn’t want to ever let her go, but I did.
Before Burn could say a word, Lacy thrust the bobblehead shark at her. “My sister was here, Burn. This is proof.”
Concerned, Burn looked at me before responding.
I gave her a subtle nod. It wasn’t 100 percent, but the handwritten MAKO on the side certainly made it seem less circumstantial.
“That’s great, Lacy. What is it?”
“It’s the figurehead from my ship, Mako. Which means my sister has been using my ship. Did you see her while you were clearing the hangar?”
“Um, nothing that said Mako. What does it look like?”
“Exactly like the Fortuna,” Lacy said. “Unless they’ve stripped her for parts. Then she would look more like that.” She gestured toward a ship that looked uncomfortably like a skeleton, only a few structural metal pieces left.