Soldier of Fortune: Gideon Quinn Adventures Book One

Chapter 22

Mia slouched in the shotgun seat of the "borrowed" Edsel Comet.

As it was too dark to read, she had, with great reluctance, tucked Pitte's book into one of her tunic's many inner pockets. She'd need to stash it on her way back to the hive, or Ellison would have her hide. Assuming, that is, he didn't just dump her in the river for coming back without the draco.

Which was when it occurred to her, this was the first time she'd given Ellison a thought since bursting into an alley to find Gideon at gunpoint. And then there'd been the scene at Kit's, and the rush to the Errant, and what had happened there and, well, with one thing and another, her fagin's existence had just sort of faded into the background.

But now that they were clear of folk chasing Gideon, and Jinna was gone (which Mia hated because Jinna was a mate), thoughts of Ellison were creeping back into her consciousness like cockroaches in the brain.

Still, she'd rather Jinna do a runner than stay and be stalked by that other old cockroach, Del. Gideon had been on the starbuck to suggest bringing Jinna to Rory's people, and since Jagati had taken time to bribe the airfield's night crew, no one from the government would hear of the airship's unscheduled departure.

Which was good for Jinna, but now Mia had no choice but to face the reality of Fagin Ellison.

"Problem?" Gideon asked.

She looked to her right, where Gideon, in the driver's seat, was eying the road ahead, with Elvis nestled around his shoulders like some scaly version of a scarf.

"Just thinking." She shrugged, and didn't see the flash of amusement in his eyes at the gesture. "You worked that business with Jinna smooth as honey. Or you did until the..." Here she grabbed her throat and mock-throttled herself.

"Yeah well..." Now he shrugged, and surprised her with a look of genuine shame before he returned his eyes to the road. "Lucky for all of us, cooler, and better-armed, heads prevailed." He looked to his right, out the window where, as far as Mia could tell, there was nothing to see before he continued. "Anyway, there wasn't much to work. It was more—facilitating Jinna's move to a less stressful environment."

"Oooh, fancy talk," Mia grinned. "So when you were forking Rolf inna sausage n'beans, you was just—"

"Were just—"

"—facilitating him round to your point of view?"

He smiled. "Something like that."

It was, she thought, a nice smile, and completely at odds with the cold, deadly rage that had overtaken him when he'd first laid eyes on Captain Pitte.

Mia didn't think she'd ever been more scared than in that moment, or more confused when, after everything was done and dusted, both Gideon and Captain Pitte seemed to be getting on just fine.

Grown-ups, she thought—and not for the first time—were all a little swarm in the head.

And some, like old man Del and Fagin Ellison, were just plain mean.

Gideon wasn't mean.

Angry, sure. Even at thirteen (give or take), Mia could see Gideon carried a bone-deep fury under the kind smiles and twisty sense of humor.

She'd first glimpsed it in the diner (after, she now realized, Gideon had overheard Rory mentioning Captain Pitte by name). And it had bubbled a mite when he'd taken on the three (three!) Ohmdahls. It had iced over his features on coming face to face with Pitte, but now, from what Mia had been told on the Errant, she understood how Gideon might blame the captain for the deaths of his mates.