“Yes, sir,” the woman said as she caught Shank’s arm and gave him a particularly nasty jerk to get him moving.
Shank mouthed a silentthanksin Allie’s direction before the woman pulled him into the crowd.
“Don’t try that with me,” the leader of the group ordered Allie as he watched Ben and his two escorts move ahead of them.
“Smooth, Grah,” Ben said as they passed. Allie felt her face heat up as she realized she’d made a fool out of herself. The man dug his fingers into her arm and tugged at her. Allie gritted her teeth and let the guy pull her across the damn station.
Refugees and soldiers on leave and station rats all stopped to snicker as they passed, and Allie tensed up, her back stiff as she tried to keep her gaze off any of them.
“We’re about there,” her escort said in a low voice.
Allie didn’t answer, but she did keep her eyes on the blast doors that separated each ship berth. It wasn’t totally unknown for a ship to come in hot with radiation, so those doors were thick enough to protect the station from ship damage or terrorism. They just had to get past the doors and then close them, and theCandiruand the rest of Command combined wouldn’t be able to pull them off the ship. They could still shoot the ship out of the black, but right now that would be better than sitting on her hands doing nothing.
Allie spotted Ben and Shank getting escorted through the blast doors at Berth 83. A woman with gray hair stood leaning against the wall, a military blaster hanging from a strap over one shoulder, and she gave each of the groups a nod as they passed her and headed for the ship. When Allie reached the door, the woman held her gaze for a moment, nodding before the escort pushed her through. Behind her, Allie could hear the groan of metal as crew closed the blast doors.
The cargo deck was already shut, so their escorts took them around to the side for crew loading. THE LINCOLN was carefully stenciled onto the side of the ship, a portrait of that long-dead president standing in the crook of theL.
“Welcome to theLincoln,” the man said. He eased up on his grip, but he kept his hand on Allie’s arm as they headed up the much smaller crew ramp.
“Ironic name,” Allie said as she recalled Shank’s description of how the families used captured labor.
“That’s us. Ironic to the end.” He grinned as they crossed into the ship and the first gathering room. The walls were lined with equipment lockers, and Becca and Copta were already rubbing their free wrists, working to get the circulation back.
“Hold off on cutting those two free,” the man said, stopping the crew who’d been about to cut the ties around Ben’s wrists.
“Caj,” Shank said wearily.
“Lacroix, don’t give me that expression. This isn’t you looking for passage. This is you bringing a whole gang on my ship. Now I know you can’t run my ship with a skeleton crew, but I’m not sure you know that trying would be fatally stupid.”
Shank’s mouth fell open for a good two seconds. “You think I’m trying to hijack your ship?”
“Excuse me if I’m wrong, but you’ve got some heavy muscle there.” The pirate who had Allie’s arm—Caj—poked a thumb in Ben’s direction.
“Hell yes, I’m heavy muscle,” Ben agreed, “but I’m not here to take anything from you. I’m just trying to keep the rest of these idiots alive.”
Caj huffed. “Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Ben said, and Allie was really starting to get annoyed. Ben seemed to make everything look mundane, like getting double-crossed by the people Shank had vouched for was nothing more than a minor annoyance.
“Enough of this,” Allie said firmly. “All we want is passage to Shank’s folks and a way to get away from Command. If you don’t want us on the ship, lend us a change of clothes, and we’ll find our own way off this station.”
Caj looked at her. He was an older man although he certainly didn’t seem to show his age much. However, the skin at the edges of his eyes had the papery look of age, and she could see a halo of white under his dyed dark hair.
“I say we give them a lift.” The older woman with the gray hair and huge gun stepped through the outside door and pulled it closed behind her. “It will annoy Anpaytoo no end that we are the ones to bring her wayward boy home.”
“Aunt Vi,” Shank said, his voice warm.
“You little devil. We aren’t blood, and I’m claiming the travel fee from your mother. I might even double it for the trouble you brought on board.”
Shank shrugged. “No more trouble than you can handle, Aunt Vi.”
She rolled her eyes.
Caj moved closer. “I don’t mind giving that young bit of trouble a ride, but this isn’t a ride. This is a crew looking for a ship.” Caj looked at them, daring them to disagree.
“We need a ship,” Shank admitted, “but we’re not here to steal from the families.”
Vi laughed. “If you think you can, you’ve been spending too much time with theforasteros.”
