“Sooner or later?”
“Later.”
Diesel pushed out a sharp breath. “Why?”
“Because the Royal Magistrate Guardsmen in charge are waiting an extra week for a certain high-profile criminal to be sentenced. His barrister has put in a last-ditch effort to clear him. However, as I understand things, it’s such a long shot as to be nearly not worth the time. Still, the court must go through the motions for the sake of justice and the additional paperwork. Blah blah blah.”
“Why don’t they just send him on thenextgulag run? I mean, they come through here every month now.”
“Apparently the criminal is such a big escape risk that they don’t want to wait for the next monthly run. He’s broken out of three holding jails in three different protected spheres on Alpha-Prime. They don’t want him to disappear before, during or after the last-ditch effort by his barrister fails. Which it probably will, according to the gulag officials I was communicating with.”
“So the gulag ship is waiting around for his appeal to fail andthenthey’ll pack him up and send him our way?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t like the gulag ship being only a week away from a Royal Caldera Forte ship visit.”
“Neither do I, but what can we do?”
“We could tell them to do a better job of securing their prisoner while he’s on Alpha-Prime, and then send him on the regularly scheduled gulag run next month.”
Axel laughed. “Yeah, we could do that, but if we do them this favor then they will owe us one. Not to mention the extra fee I dreamed up and attached to this out-of-schedule gulag run. I mean, we make more anyway on these special runs, but instead of one or two out-of-schedule prisoners, there are a full thirty aboard. They are holding the entire flight for this extra-special criminal.”
Diesel pondered. “How much more?”
“I tacked on a 300 percent out-of-cycle fee in addition to the regular fee bump for an out-of-schedule run with a full contingent of prisoners plus one who is very high profile and a flight risk.”
“And they went for it?”
Axel shrugged. “Cheaper than having to chase Indigo Smith all across Alpha-Prime’s outer rim where he has so many ne’er-do-well friends to help him escape his fate.”
“Indigo Smith? Wow. He’s infamous.”
“Yep.”
“I can’t believe they finally caught him.”
“No one can. That’s why they are going the extra mile—so to speak—to keep him locked up and then moved off planet as quickly as possible, so his many Alpha-wide friends, family and fellow criminals can’t help him escape. Again.”
“What if he escapes before they put him on the ship?”
Axel shrugged. “Don’t know, but currently they have a ten-man round-the-clock detail watching his every twitch.”
“Huh.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think anything. I know you don’t really need my approval because you’ve already accepted the run, so I’ll just say…whatever. Do what you gotta do, Bro.”
Axel grinned. “What gave me away?”
“I’ve come to realize that you have adopted the famous ask-for-forgiveness-later-rather-than-permission-up-front philosophy with all manner of difficult things.”
“Have I? Is this the only example of my new philosophy? Or do you have other examples?”
“I do have at least one other.”
Diesel rounded the corner of his desk, sat down and pulled out the bottom drawer to retrieve a product from the latest money-making scheme wily Aunt Dixie had come up with to help bankroll what was likely the richest old folks’ home in the state.
