“Oh well, they were bad men! I doubt anybody from that little burg would miss them even if they had been killed trying to kill us and, really, it was self-defense.”
“Chloe … it was rangers. It does not matter if they were bad men, they were still rangers. We are in deep trouble.”
Chloe frowned at Jared. “Ok, so I know that. But it isn’t like we really robbed them or even broke out desperate criminals. We only took the cyborgs, and they hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just a recall. It isn’t like the cyborgs belonged to them or even the company. They sold them. People don’t have to take things back just because they recall them. It isn’t a law or anything. It’s just to protect people from defective products and they aren’t defective. You heard them.”
“You were seen. You will be identified, and they will put a price on your head,” Kane said angrily. “You know this. You knew this when you went into the ranger station.”
Chloe stared at him for a long moment. “Ok, so I did. I made a conscious decision to break the law, knowing I could go to jail if they caught me. It was still worth it! What they had in mind wasn’t right and Damon wouldn’t have been able to defend himself because he’s a cyborg! Or any of the others for that matter! The only alternative was to just let those bastards haul them off and destroy them and I didn’t consider that acceptable!”
She could see they were still angry, but they could just be angry! It washerdecision! It was her life!
Stalking away from them, she settled at the console and checked the status. The main computer, she saw to her relief, had already taken the ship out of orbit and was gaining speed as it headed out of the star system.
Unfortunately, she also discovered that they had a ship right behind them.
“Uh—we may have a problem.”
Jared and Kane approached her and leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen.
“They are already in pursuit!”
“We don’t know that!”
She’d hardly gotten the words out of her mouth, unfortunately, when the com-link lit up. Ignoring the condemnation in Jared’s and Kane’s expressions, she moved to the com seat and answered the hail.
“Salvager Omega-3, this is Thagorous port authority. We have a report that you are transporting contraband cyborgs.”
“This is Salvager Omega-3, Captain Chloe Armstein. That’s a negative, port authority. We are only transporting salvage.”
“Salvager Omega-3, decrease speed, pull into stationary orbit and prepare to be boarded.”
“Shit! Shit! Damn it!” Chloe said explosively. She chewed her lip, trying to think. “Computer, slow speed.” Pressing the com-link, she spoke to the port authority. “Order received. We are slowing to stationary orbit and preparing for boarding.”
She turned to look at Jared and Kane uncomfortably, still struggling to come up with a plan. “We’ve got maybe fifteen minutes and they’ll be all over the ship. Get the cyborgs down in the hold and make a hole for them as far back into the salvage as you can. Hopefully, they’ll be as lazy as most of those bastards and won’t be too thorough.”
Jared and Kane exchanged a look.
“They will bring scanners. It will not matter if we hide the cyborgs beneath the salvage. They will still find them,” Kane said tightly.
Jared grinned abruptly, however. “They will not search the bilge.”
“Ugh!” Chloe said with a mixture of disgust and horror. “They’ll die in that filth if they don’t expire from the fumes!”
Jared shrugged. “I will issue gas masks.”
As disgusting as the thought was, Chloe knew he was right. She thought it was completely inappropriate that he was so damned gleeful about the prospect, but there was next to no chance, she knew, that the port authority would want to check the sewage. “So be quick! And get back here before they dock. I want you two to stay out of sight as much as possible. I’d suggest you join the others, but you justhadto follow me to the surface and now you’ve been seen, too!”
That earned her a couple of resentful glares, but she knew she’d be spared hearing about it for a while at least.
Maybe a very long while if the port authority had brought anyone with them that could identify her. As soon as they’d left, she headed to the nearest arms locker and unloaded it. Carrying the weapons back to the bridge, she hid them in every available space where they couldn’t easily be seen and then dashed to the crew cabin to find something loose enough to wear that she might conceivably be able to conceal a weapon in. Jared’s and Kane’s flight suits were completely out of the question. They swallowed her whole andlookedlike something she might put on to conceal a weapon. Fortunately, being salvagers, they never threw anything away. She found one of the old crewmember’s flight suits and pulled it on, slipping a pistol in the pocket on one leg.
She passed Jared and Kane on the way back up to the bridge as she headed down to the docking bay to greet the port authority. They were both grinning until they saw her and immediately wiped all expression from their faces. Frowning, she stopped them long enough to ask if they’d hidden their passengers, told them she’d hidden weapons around the bridge, just in case, reminded them not to say anything around their ‘guests’, and then continued to the bay.
She nearly had heart failure when the port authority descended the gangplank with the proprietor of the brothel in tow.
“Oh hell! We are so fucked!”
Chapter Four
