Anja's Star (Outer Settlement Agency) (7 page)

“Crost. These sedatives from the hospital, how long are they supposed to last?”

He took a minute to enjoy the scene playing out in his mind.

“You still there? I saw a man stationed at the bottom of the stairs. I’m guessing that leads to a vault. There’s no way we’d be able to get past him without alerting half the house. Not that it matters,” she said, unable to mask the humor in her voice.

“Because?”

“I have his omnitablet.”

And there was that delightful giggle again.

R
etzi hadn’t been able to tear his eyes away from the ridiculous amount of information Crost kept on his omnitablet. “It almost seems unfair.”

“Really?”

Retzi shook his head. “No. He has stuff on everyone and everything there. The question is which to exploit?”

“Neither. We find out where the ship is and go home. Who knows how long those meds will keep him out and when he’ll notice that thing you’re holding is missing.”

Retzi scrolled through the screens, but found nothing directly relating to
The Bastard’s Revenge
. He did find the schematics and locations of several other birds, some small shuttles and a mega ship able to hold dozens. Crost was smart though. No more than two were stored together. “The ones listed here are spread out all over the area. Beyond it too.”

“Including here?”

He turned to her, then back to the screen. “Why, yes.”

“So we steal his boat.”

“Even better if we have someone else steal it. With his omnitablet, we can transfer ownership like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “What better way to get the money for
The Bastard
, than from the bastard.”

“It’s a ridiculous plan, Retzi.”

“Beat it, then.”

“It’ll never work.”

“Come up with a better one. Anja, the genius of this is undeniable.”

“And where do you intend to find buyers stupid enough to fall for this?”

“The bars are bound to be full of drunkards willing to make a deal.” He rose, bringing her with him. “Change to your jumpsuit, we’re leaving.”

They walked out moments later, finding a local hangout in one of the better parts of town. He triple checked it against his database to make sure it wasn’t in any way tied to Crost. It was a nice place, the kind he’d take Anja to when their lives were a little less insane. No rips on the chairs, clean napkins and a hostess greeting them with a gloriously long offworld wine list.

He sampled some while they waited for seating, passing up the first two opened tables, claiming a late joining member of the party.

“Because,” he said at Anja’s rising eyebrow, “we need those young men in the corner.”

“Quite the reversal.”

“Young and stupid works in our favor tonight.” He’d chosen his prey with great care. Would a wealthy man buy a ship at a table? Possibly, but not one as small as what Retzi offered. A poor man? No way. But someone of middling income and climbing that ladder of upward mobility? Every day of the week.

Their table came right about when Anja started kneading his growling stomach. The waitress began apologizing before they sat, offering to reseat them to a quieter area when a table opened. He flashed his badge. “This might be the best place.”

The waitress smiled, rolled her eyes heavenward, then scooted away.

Retzi didn’t waste what precious time they had left with games. He’d throw everything he had at them at once and if it didn’t take, they were moving on to the next one.

“Lunar Officer.”

A round of ‘sirs,’ returned his greeting and he put his badge away. “As you can see, I’m out with one of the fleet workers and uh...hoping to enjoy the trip a little longer.”

One of the men produced a shot of something glowing at that and wouldn’t be silenced until Retzi downed the glass. “Like I was saying, and if you tell anyone I showed you a government issued omnitab, I’ll deny it, but ahh hell.”

Retzi pulled it out, showing slide after slide of Crost’s mishmash fleet. “I’ve got to unload these at auction. It’s not so much about the price, you understand, I just have to transfer ownership in the system. You wouldn’t happen to know anyone in the market, would you?”

The ringleader, a blond, shaggy haired and half drunk businessman put his elbows on the table and flailed his hands around. “Land, aero or space?”

“Take your pick.  Tell you what, I’m going to go back to my lady friend and you think about it. Stop by when you’re ready.”

“Wait! I’ll take one.”

“Me too.”

“Auction prices, you say?”

By the time his dinner arrived, the men at the table, and a few nearby ones, were scuttling out the door to trade in their credits for hard currency.  He appreciated the break. It meant he got to watch Anja eat again.  “We’re nearly free.”

She mumbled and shimmied in her seat. After a bit more chewing she leaned over. “Who’s to say they won’t run out and double check all this?”

“It’s too good of a deal,” he said between bites. “They want it to be true and they trust OSA. Plus the one already paid and he’s probably reading the deed on his omnitablet now. For all we know, he might already be at the docks and waved to the cockpit by the attendant.”

“So you’re confident.”

“Totally. But if they’re not back in ten minutes, we’re making a run for it.”

I
t’d taken him two trips to get all the money back. Three if you count the last one that had he and Anja returning to the dock together. He didn’t feel comfortable until he locked the hatchway behind him though, and even then ended up flying the ship to another quadrant just for the night.

Anja smiled over, despite her marathon of successive yawns. “One more night, then I’ll get two nights of decent sleep in a row, right?”

“I promise,” he said giving the money one last look, then crossing the short space to be with her. She’d laid out some emergency blankets she’d found and created a decent sized pallet for them to sleep on. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but between holding Anja and imagining Crost’s face tomorrow
and
the days after when he realized the scale of what he’d lost, he didn’t anticipate anything remotely close to a fitful sleep.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to close my eyes tonight. Ignore that yawn. I mean it.”

Retzi curled up behind her, one leg on either side. He propped himself up against the wall of the ship and started massaging her shoulders. “Have you considered my offer?”

She tensed beneath his fingers, but only for the moment and he didn’t stop his ministrations when she said, “There’s nothing else to think about. Well, besides the obvious.”

“And?”

“I worked so hard with Meash Corp, living under someone else’s rules. And—”

“You don’t think my father will control you just as easily?” He could hear his voice rising, rumbling against his own eardrums. He tried to take the edge out of it, but damnit he was getting awfully close to hauling in his father into the closest OSA station right now.

“He’s on borrowed time. Everyone wants to be the agent who brings him down. I don’t need access to his files to know that. I don’t want you caught up in it. Figure out something else, because you’re not going back.”

That
woke her up. Anja whirled in the next instant to shove her finger in his face. “You don’t get to make that decision for me.”

“I’ll arrest you.”

“On what charges? Aiding and abetting and Ert’zod?”

There wasn’t a good response to that. He’d been mulling a few over the instant the threat escaped his mouth. He pulled at that accusatory finger of hers, but Anja jerked out of his reach. “Fine. Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it.”

“What?”

“Triple it.”

“Stop. First of all, you can’t afford any of that. Second, just, no. It can’t be like that between us.”

“Then how do I keep you, huh? Tell me, because I don’t know what to do.”

Anja’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She was upon him half a breath later, straddling him, pushing her soft lips into his.

They’d been in this position before and it felt just as good this time around, but it wasn’t what he needed right now.

No, he needed her beneath him, needed to control her, if only for the moment. Her future was hers to claim. As much as he would like her to be with him, there was no surety of this. But for the moment, she was willingly under his command and he wouldn’t let it go easily.

Retzi’s lips never left hers while he pinned her down, locking her wrists above her head with one hand, while unzipping her uniform with the other.

“I want to touch you.”

“Shh, I mean to teach you that sometimes it’s good to let others take the lead,” he said, dipping his head for another kiss. Her lips should be kissed, and often, but there was so much more of her worthy of his attention.

Her neck needed licking. Shoulders too. He took his time, letting his tongue travel into every natural dip of her body. It wasn’t enough and he chanced the risk of letting her wrists go with a half whispered, “don’t you dare move.”

His lips traveled lower, passing until the suit had no more room to give him. He yanked it off her, pulling her hips and legs in the air. He didn’t let them come back down either, capturing a thigh on either side of his head.

“Say please.”

“I don’t—”

His tongue running a straight path from the center of her dripping core to the nub at the top, had the desired effect.

“Retzi?”

Eventually.

“Please.”

That salty, sopping, creamy part of her that he’d been craving now belonged to him.  There was nothing soft about what he did. He slurped, bit and pulled with this teeth wanting as much of her in his mouth as he could suck in. When her nails raked up his arms, he pulled her, stretching her drenched inner folds with his lips. “Do you have any idea how good you smell?”

She moaned and he lowered her legs to the floor, positioning himself on all fours over her. He let the hand on her right thigh inch its way up, until it brushed against her soaked curls. He rubbed an open hand up and down her core until she writhed and gasped and, most deliciously, begged.

He slipped two fingers inside while his thumb pressed and looped around the small mound that proved her undoing.

And nearly his.

He could feel his own desire thrumming up, a dull pull in the base of his stomach. They were both on the verge of cumming and he meant to be inside her when they did. The moment his slipped in, the walls of her collapsed around him, wrenching the strength from him with every thrust.

Her legs locked tight behind him and she used it as leverage to propel upward, riding him face to face. He was sure she’d have bruises on her ass from how tightly he gripped her, but she dug her nails into him so forcefully, that he knew they’d both have war wounds in the morning.

Remarkably, her hips
could
go faster and it sent his toes curling.

He would thank every single star in the sky that hers curled first. With a series of shudders she bucked above him one last time, before screaming his name.

She tried to get up, but he wouldn’t let her and, still half hard inside her, he slid them both until his back hit the wall and held her until they fell asleep.

I
t’d been a long time since she’d felt this way: safe, protected, cared for and yes, sore, Anja thought with a grin.

She sucked in air when Retzi stretched and yawned, but thankfully, he’d gone back to his well deserved sleep. She’d never been with a man who paid so much attention to her desire. And he’d been so commanding, not something she would have thought of the otherwise happy go lucky man.

Not so long ago she’d asked herself if this was worth the risk. Now she had her answer. She’d fight for it – this future of possibilities.

“I worked very hard last night to convince you to stay. Did it work?”

Anja slapped the back of his head, still turned in the opposite direction. “I tried to be very logical about this and I have come to a suitable conclusion.”

He flipped over then, forehead wrinkled and lips pressed together in a tight line. Poor thing. This close to having everything worked out and he looked terrified. “What?”

“This. Your father and piracy will have to wait, I suppose. You think he’ll pay me what I’ve earned?”

Retzi’s clapping cut her off. She kicked him for that, but followed up with an apologetic kiss. “Mmm, forgiven. Now,” he said, rising, “we’ve got to meet up with Crost, hopefully while he’s still recovering from your little date.”

“You’ve got to meet him. I’m not so sure me being there is going to do you any favors. Here.” She pulled out the earpieces from her pack and tossed him one. “I’ll be close if you need backup.”

“No you won’t. You’ll be right here. If I need to make a fast exit, I want this thing humming and running. You might even have to bring it into the city.”

“Well that won’t attract authorities.”

“If it’s
that
bad that I need to call you in, the authorities are the least of our problems. Promise you’ll stay? I’m not leaving until you do.”

So, she did.

***

S
he didn’t.

The moment he disappeared out the hatchway, neck and arms bulging under the weight strapped to him, she went to work cleaning up the ship. When the time came to leave, they’d have to take this ship out and at some point not too far later, abandon it. Anything tracing them to it, had to be accounted for.

Straightening everything hadn’t taken nearly as long as she thought and the only thing left to do was worry.  He was there now, she could hear the small talk in her ear as he waited for Crost to see him.

She got the distinct feeling, given the length of time and harried words of the goons that Retzi hadn’t been expected this early, if at all. She couldn’t stop her pacing until Crost’s groggy voice popped in her head over the earpiece. Then she couldn’t find a way to move at all.

He was livid! She’d never known a man to be so upset with a treasure presented at his feet. Retzi mumbled on about honor among thieves, but it didn’t work to calm down Crost or her.