Kill Shot: A Remnant of the Commonwealth, Book Two (16 page)

Adam emerged from the passage carrying a carbine. He nodded at her and then took up position beside Terry.

Susan glanced at Terr
y. He had his hand on the cargo bay door controls, but was waiting for her approval. She took a deep breath and nodded her head.

Terry pressed a button
, and the door began to descend. The door opened slowly, descending until it finally came to rest against the cold metal of the landing pad.

Even before the door was completely open, a rush of freezing air blew over them. The wind was blowing outside
, and snowflakes began wafting into the ship’s hold. Susan ignored them, as she focused her gaze on the fifteen men standing just short of the ramp.

Chapter 20

Susan recognized Peter from Fort Wade, but he wasn’t in the forefront. Instead, an older man had the place of prominence. The older man had black hair that was streaked with gray and a close-cut beard. He was a hard-looking man, and he regarded Susan and Russell through dark, unblinking eyes.

When the ramp completed its lowering
, the older man began climbing up toward the ship’s hold. Irritation burst through Susan that the old bastard hadn’t requested permission first.

She could sense that this man was dangerous
, and she could also sense an excited expectation from Peter.

Peter and the rest of the men followed the older man up the ramp. The entire group
was wearing heavy coats, but every one of them was armed. Some had rifles strung over their shoulders, while others wore pistols on their hips. This was a tough bunch of men, and for the first time Susan found herself wishing that Eric and Thomas were still here. It would have helped to even the odds.

The old man pulled up short, maybe five feet from Susan. He looked her and Russell over for a moment
, then said, “My name is Conrad Nichols and I hear you gave Peter some trouble on Fort Wade.”

Susan glanced to Peter
, who was smiling at her. “Oh,” she said, “is that what the little bastard said?”

That wiped the smile off of Peter’s face and he took a step forward, nearly snarling. He
froze and glanced down as a red dot appeared on his chest. After a moment, he began to slowly turn his head, looking for the source. He found it a moment later when he spotted Kyle laying on the racks on the left side of the hold. Kyle was sprawled out, maybe twenty feet above the floor, and he was sighting down the length of the carbine; he was ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.

“In case you haven’t noticed,”
Conrad said slowly, “we have you outnumbered.”

A red light appeared in the middle of
Conrad’s chest and he slowly raised his eyes. He found the source when he spotted Eve on the opposite side of the hangar from Kyle. She, too, was watching him through the sights of her gun.

There was a deep growl from out in the snow and something bounded up the ramp. It was not human
, but it was in the shape of a man. The humanoid seemed feline; hairy, with long claws and fangs. The creature stopped just behind Conrad and howled, all the while keeping its eyes on Susan.

The creature’s howl was returned, not from the
exterior of the ship, but from farther in the cargo hold.

Grady emerged from his hiding place and tipped his head back, his deep roar of challenge startling everyone.

Peter and the men behind him all dropped their hands to their pistols. Those with rifles slipped them from their shoulders.

Out of the corner of her eye, Susan could see Adam, Terry, and Jessica raising their weapons. With a start, Susan even realized her hand rested on her own pistol.
Events were spiraling out of control and she had to rein things back in.

“Hold!”
Conrad bellowed at the same time that Susan shouted, “Wait!”

Everyone in the hangar froze. It seemed that everyone had their hand
s on their weapon while their eyes frantically shifted around.

“We outnumber you,” Peter said, staring straight at Susan. “Surrender your guns unless you want to die.”

“If this turns into a fight,” Susan snarled, “you and this old bastard die first.”

For a moment Susan thought she might have pushed the little punk too far. She suddenly became convinced that Peter would draw his gun over her insult.
That could not happen—if it did, then many would die needlessly.

“Stop, I said!”
Conrad bellowed loudly. His words didn’t have much influence with Susan or her crew, but they did have a calming effect on his men.

Susan chose to ignore Peter for the moment and focused her attention
on Conrad. He, at least, appeared to agree with her that they did not need a firefight. He was staring at her as well.

“Is this what you want?”
Conrad asked. “Do you want to die?”

Susan shook her head. “No, do you?”

Conrad didn’t answer right away, he just watched her. “Perhaps I underestimated you,” he said.

“Maybe,” Susan agreed
, shrugging. “It’s not of much importance right now. I see two ways that we can move forward.” Susan held up a finger. “You can give me my PG and I give you the money—everybody wins, or,” she held up a second finger, “we can kill each other.”

“Or three,” Peter said angrily, “we can kill you and take the PG and the credits.”

Susan smiled. “Perhaps, although I assure you that you won’t be able to enjoy it when you’re dead. But there’s one thing you forgot in that little scenario.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Peter demanded.

Susan smile disappeared and she began to look angry. “You’d be ripping off Reginald Bailey and I don’t think even you would be that fucking stupid.”

The comment caught Peter off guard. On the one hand he seemed to want to swell up in anger, but the mention of Bailey’s name seemed to deflate
him. He was caught in a comical half-angry, half-scared posture.

“Peter,”
Conrad said slowly, “take Karrara and return to our ship. Wait for us there.”

Peter didn’t answer immediately. His face flushed red and his eyes bulged as he stared at
Conrad’s back. For a moment it seemed that he might refuse.

Conrad
turned to look at him, and that was all it took. Peter dropped his eyes and nodded. He took a step toward the ramp and whistled softly. He had to stop and whistle again and it took a moment, but the furry humanoid slowly turned and followed him down the ramp.

Susan watched them go for a moment
, and then turned to find Conrad watching her.

“I find you beginning to try my patience,” he said.

Anger flared up within Susan and that was surprising. She was normally so good at keeping her emotions under control. “I begin to try your patience,” she repeated softly. “You have worn my patience out, between you and that,” she waved her hand in the direction that Peter had gone, “little shit.”

“That little shit is my son and I see now why he doesn’t like you.”

“He doesn’t like me because I refused to pay him for the drugs before I got them,” Susan retorted. She was fighting to keep her tone under control. She couldn’t afford for this to escalate again.

Her words caught
Conrad by surprise. “What?” he said. “What are you talking about?”

“Peter wanted the credit voucher while we were still on
Fort Wade. He wanted me to give him Bailey’s money before I even saw the drugs.” She paused and then added, “What do you think Bailey would have to say about that?”

Conrad
didn’t answer immediately. His eyes narrowed and he appeared to be searching for a way to turn things around. “I can see how that would be a mistake,” Conrad admitted grudgingly. “But—”

“And,” Susan said, raising her voice to speak over
Conrad, “I get sent to some out-of-the-way world that I’ve never heard of and that was not in the job description. I was told I would get the drugs on Fort Wade, not Caval VII. I considered returning to Bailey and telling him you screwed him.”

Conrad
paled visibly. “But—”

“Then we get to this shitty
, little world and you make us wait. Then you show up with this motley-looking bunch of men trying to intimidate us, not to mention that fucking cat-boy thing.”

“Enough!”
Conrad snapped. “I get it. You don’t like the way this deal went down. Too fucking bad. It’s a job and nothing ever goes according to the plan, but we’re here now, so let’s get this shit over and done with.”

“Fine,” Susan agreed. “Where are my fucking drugs?”

“Where’s my fucking money?” Conrad shot right back. His face was flushed and his lips were pulled back, exposing his teeth.

Susan sighed deeply. “I will not give you the money until I have the drugs.”
Her anger seemed to be slipping away, while Conrad appeared to be getting angrier.

“And I won’t give you the drugs until I get the money,”
Conrad said, nearly shouting.

“I have an idea,” Russell said quietly.

Conrad turned to regard Russell, but Susan kept her eyes forward. “What is it?” she asked.

“Decrypt the credit voucher and give it to
Conrad,” Russell said.

Susan blinked in surprise and turned to stare at Russell.

Conrad’s eyes widened momentarily and then he smiled. “Finally, an intelligent member of your crew.”

Susan opened her mouth to ask a question, but Russell waved her to silence.

“Once Conrad has confirmed the voucher, his crew will load the PG,” Russell continued while Conrad nodded his head. “He will remain in the cargo hold with the voucher,” Russell said, his tone losing some of its cheeriness. “If he leaves the hold, or there’s something wrong with the PG, then we shoot him in the fucking head.”

“Wait just a minute!”
Conrad began, taking one step forward. The little red dot appeared in the middle of his chest again. Conrad stopped walking and slowly looked up to where Eve was aiming her carbine at him.

Susan was impressed
and relieved. She had thought that Russell was losing his mind for a moment, but she suddenly found herself loving his plan. She also loved the coolness that Eve was displaying. The woman stared unflinching at Conrad and the red dot from her sight wasn’t moving or bobbing at all.

Conrad
slowly took one step back. “No deal,” he said simply.

Susan smiled.
Conrad was putting a brave face forward, but she could tell that he was feeling the pressure. His men had to be paid and he did not want to piss Bailey off.

“That’s the deal,” she said. “Take it or you and your men can deal with an angry Reginald Bailey.”

Conrad was silent for a moment. “Fine,” he finally said through clenched teeth. “But once this is over, you’d better hope that I never see you again.”

Susan’s
only answer was a smile.

Susan glanced over to the side where Conrad stood clenching the credit voucher. She could tell that the man would gladly kill her, but she didn’t think he would try anything until this job was over. He most certainly did not want to piss off Bailey. People who angered Bailey had a way of disappearing, and Conrad did not want to be one of them. So instead, Conrad stood there with the anger and hate rolling off him—it was so strong she didn’t need her telepathic abilities to sense it.

About half of
Conrad’s men had exited the ship at a wave from Conrad. The remaining men stood near the ramp, glaring around at Susan’s crew. They were still trying to be intimidating, but the affect was minimized by their boss having a targeting dot on his chest.

The men knew their boss had come off the worse for this meeting and
Conrad knew they knew. It was another reason Susan knew he wanted to kill her. Strangely, it gave her a feeling of satisfaction.

There was a rumbling sound
, and Susan looked out the opening into the snow. She didn’t expect any kind of trick. She hadn’t sensed any type of deception in Conrad’s men as they left, but it was always possible.

The snow seemed to be falling faster now. The sun was far away from C
aval and it had been murky even in the middle of the day. The sun was setting now and the temperature was dropping.

The rumbling got louder and two lights appeared out of the darkness. They had the look of transports and Susan shot a glance at
Conrad. He hadn’t moved and neither had the targeting dot. Conrad stared out into the darkness. He was still angry, but now it was tempered with relief.

She turned back to the darkness. The two lights had indeed reso
lved into two small transports—five metal crates riding on the back of each transport. In addition, two men in exo-suits rode on one of the transports’ bumpers.

The transports turned around and backed up the ramp. It only took a few minutes to get the cargo unloaded, and then ten crates sat on the deck.
Conrad’s men were watching her.

Susan glanced in Russell’s direction. “Check
`em out,” she called.

“Do you actually think I would be stupid enough to cheat Reginald Bailey?”
Conrad asked, his words carrying across the deck.

“Yes,” Susan
said simply, barely glancing at Conrad. She still saw his body stiffen in anger. She knew better. She shouldn’t continue to anger this man, but she couldn’t help herself. He had walked aboard her ship like he owned it, and she was enjoying showing him that he was in the wrong. Although, she had to admit that she wouldn’t want to meet Conrad in a dark alley. She could easily believe that he would kill her given half a chance.

“It’s all here,” Russell said. “Everything is as it should be.”