Outrageous Fortune-Errant Freight Book One

Chapter 36

The second Jagati slipped out of the gondola, silence descended over the bay in an uncomfortable huddle.

Galileo remained near the open door, his face pale in the moon's light, both hands holding the boarding axe, while Colin and Ysabel roamed the deck, less to watch for any trouble from the prisoners than to keep themselves warm.

Rory was right cold himself, but t'wasn't the chill that worried him so much as the silence.

That, and the possibility Galileo might at any time choose to Sense the Errant crew.

"Could ye not at least give the wee lass a coat?" he asked, glancing Jinna's way, where she immediately huddled closer to John and, when Colin looked her way, produced a shudder for effect.

"I thought mums-to-be ran warm," Colin said.

"We do," Jinna replied.

"But not 'standing in an open bay at a thousand feet,' warm," John pointed out, rubbing her arm with his free hand.

"You know the current altitude?" Ysabel asked.

"You don't?" he asked back.

Jinna sneezed.

Colin glanced at Galileo. "I could go above and fetch—"

"No one is going anywhere to fetch anything," Galileo snapped, his eyes still on Jagati's progress. From the direction of his gaze, Rory figured the first mate was halfway to the pod junction. "Radio Mary on the bridge, she can bring down something."

Mary? Rory held back a curse as he recalled there was yet another member of the invading party. And while he was not at all pleased to have this Mary person on his bridge, he'd be less pleased to have another body here in the bay at present.

"It's all right," Jinna said. "I can handle a little cold."

"No trouble," Colin assured, and crossed to the bay radio. "This bird ain't goin' anywhere, and if I know Mary, she's already bored."

"Keepers forfend Mary be bored," John murmured as Colin radioed the bridge and made the request.

Rory hoped this Mary person was chatty, as the lock pick he'd passed to Jinna during their kiss wouldn't do much good if the bay remained too quiet for her to use it.

He might have kept it himself, and been out in a thrice, but of all the crew, he was the least useful in a scrap, and knew it, so he'd trusted his instincts and given Jinna the spare in hopes she could free Jagati or John.

"Colin, is it?" he heard Eitan say, and let his eyes drift to where the Fujian leaned against the pallet. One dark eye dipped in a wink to Rory before he turned his full attention in Colin's direction.

"Aye," the mercenary shot a suspicious, and appreciative, glance Eitan's way. "And what do you need? A pillow? Or someone to scratch your back?"

"Neither, though I will keep you in mind should I have an itch." White teeth flashed, brightening the dimly lit bay with the sheer force of Eitan's charisma.

Rory watched Colin swallow, Ysabel sigh, and even Galileo, back at the jump door, look up.

When Eitan turned up the crystal, no one was immune.

"I am merely curious," Eitan continued, having captured Colin's attention, "how a man such as yourself chose this life. You have skills, initiative, looks..." Again the smile, and Rory wanted to cheer, for Colin took another step forward. "Fortune could be your apiary."

"You'd think," Colin agreed, running a hand over his smooth, golden-brown scalp. "But you know how it is. War ends, the Corps don't need the extra bodies, and what's a demobbed infantryman to do? I spent my life onna lines, pushing the smogging Coal Farts back to their side. S'what I'm good at, pushing them's as causing trouble back to the other side."