Page 1 of Under Control

Chapter 1

Six hours before they were scheduled to depart, Tracht was holed up in his office trying to settle some business matters. Tracht had sent Alex and Espinosa to oversee the cargo hold and ensure loading went smoothly while he called a client who still hadn’t transferred payment. Each follow up had been met with “Payment will be delivered soon!” and some excuse about the business’s current difficulties. At this rate, Tracht would have to tell his crew to unload that specific container. He didn’t particularly want to set off under capacity, but he wanted to transport the goods for free even less.

“Please hold while I talk to our accounting section,” the woman on the other line said. Tracht was tired of holding, but he got some satisfaction out of the way her voice trembled. Petty of him, but he did like to see people afraid of him.

He dialed over to Espinosa.

“Captain? How can I help?” She hadn’t turned the vid receptor on, but Tracht could hear the sounds of the machines and sailors working in the background, putting everything in place and triple checking that all containers were completely secure.

“I’m getting the runaround from Stieglitz. How much trouble would it be to unload their container?”

“That was container AP-2685, right? I think it would be doable, but it might delay our departure if—”

The comm line beeped. “Sorry, Ms. Espinosa, I have another call. I hope that’s Stieglitz. Hold off on that container until I get back to you.”

The face that greeted him was not anybody from Stieglitz, though. The woman was older, with uneven eyes, a large nose, and hair that she must have cut recently. The last time Tracht had seen this woman, she’d had long hair done up in an elaborate style; now she sported a short bob.

Anja Nilsen. She smiled and waved to him. “Oh, Captain Tracht. I am so glad I was able to catch you before you departed.”

There could only be one reason why she was calling, and Tracht had to wonder now if all his trouble with Stieglitz was her doing. “I suppose you want to collect your favor.”

“No small talk? It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Almost a year.”

“Yes. I was hoping you’d forget.” Tracht had been counting down the days, and the closer they got to the one-year mark they’d agreed upon, the more he’d believed he might get away without following through on his end of the bargain. He was too cynical to be surprised by this turn of events though.

“Not a chance. But since you’re in a rush, I have a container ready and waiting for you. I’m sending over the client contract form and other paperwork I believe you’ll need.”

At least that solved the problem of setting off under capacity, although he’d still be transporting goods for free. “Very well. I’ll send some of my sailors to receive it.”

Nilsen grinned widely. “It’s nice that you’re such a professional. You’d be surprised how many people try to renege on their contracts with me.”

“It would hardly do me any good to argue. And I really am in a rush, so the sooner we get things sorted, the sooner my ship can depart.”

There was still the option of going to the authorities or to Vasilis, but Tracht couldn’t risk the Nilsens revealing exactly how the entire kidnapping scenario had been resolved. No, better to cut his losses here and simply wash his hands of the affair once it was over.

The file she sent included all the important things: container number, size, and weight, along with the presumably fake contract papers. Once everything was in order, he cut the call.

This was going to be nothing but a headache. The comm beeped, signaling another call. The caller ID let him know it was Stieglitz, but Tracht hit the ignore button.

With a sigh, he called Espinosa again.

“Change of plans. Forget Stieglitz. Dump his container out on the docks. Or even just on the loading chutes, I don’t care. We’ve got a new client instead.”

===

Alex wanted to punch somebody. First on his list was their contact at Stieglitz. If Alex remembered right, he was the reedy older dude who’d rubbed Alex the wrong way from the first meeting, and this time not because he was perving on Alex. There was just something off about him.

Seemed like Alex’s instincts were right, because they had to do all this extra work because of him.

Espinosa was pissed off too, and she barked her orders even more harshly than usual. Alex thought she was trying out her best “Tracht” voice, but she didn’t even come close. The rest of the crew jumped at her orders just the same.

They’d unloaded the Stieglitz container, with the crew grumbling about all the unnecessary work, when Espinosa approached him. “Alex. May I have a word?”

“Uh, sure?” Alex looked around and couldn’t see Tracht—probably still working in his office—and followed her towards the hatch.

“Do you know who this new container belongs to?” she motioned towards the replacement container waiting to be loaded.

“No. Should I?” Alex stared at the people milling around the container, who he assumed were hired by whoever the client was. He recognized one as a dock worker, though he didn’t know her name, just saw her around every so often. The other people were completely unfamiliar to him.

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