Page 28 of Under Control

“Captain!” Espinosa shouted behind him.

Tracht paused and took a breath. He was in no mood to interact with anybody, least of all Espinosa, at that moment, but it wouldn’t do to give her any cause for concern. He turned around, annoyed that she’d managed to catch him at all; he’d been attempting to avoid her entirely for a few days, and he thought the tasks he’d given her would have kept her busy during his own time on the ship.

He’d been about to leave too, off to a few meetings with clients and maybe to secure an invitation to meet with the station legislators who could put a stop to this silly talk of new work conditions on board ships.

“Ms. Espinosa. What is it? I’m in a bit of a rush. I have a few clients to meet.” He pointedly looked down the hall towards the ship’s hatch.

“My apologies, sir,” Espinosa said. “This should only take a moment. It’s just…I wanted to know what customs made of the container. I didn’t notice any evidence of a container being sawed into, and none of the crew at the time said anything… the news stations haven’t said anything about it either.”

“No, they wouldn’t have. It’s hardly something they’d want spread around the station, causing panic among the general populace. And the container was picked up by customs. They’ll be inspecting it in their own facilities,” Tracht said. “I told them I simply wanted it off my hands. What becomes of it beyond that is hardly our business.”

“Oh, of course.” Espinosa nodded briefly. “Thank you. I’ll get back to my work then. I just wanted to confirm.”

Tracht watched her leave, and something about her gait seemed off. The entire exchange didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t have time to try to untangle what had just happened. He hurried out the door to his meetings.

===

It was a shame that Alex wasn’t with him, because the meeting had been so successful that Tracht wanted to make Alex squirm. Soon.

He pulled out his tablet to check the time—half the day had passed already—and to make a quick call to Fontaine while he rode the cab back to the ship.

“Captain, hello!” Fontaine greeted, looking far more tired than he usually did. “Did you want to talk to Lina? She’s asleep right now, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“No, that’s all right. I looked through the events list you sent me. I’m going to take Alex to the animal-themed one tonight. Are you and Dr. Singh interested in bringing your Nadia along? She’s still under contract, if I understand correctly.”

Fontaine grimaced and looked over his shoulder briefly. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us tonight. We have to work through some issues. Did Lina tell you—”

“Yes, yes. Nadia’s contract is up soon, and you’re both worried she’ll decide to leave permanently.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Fontaine shook his head. “No, never mind. This isn’t something I want to talk to you about, no offense.”

All the better. Tracht had no desire to listen. “Absolutely none taken. Getting back to what I called about, I don’t know the host of this party. Could you tell me a bit about her?”

One reason to play nice with Fontaine was that he knew just about everybody who participated in the public “kink” scene, particularly the ones that welcomed bondservants and were very lax on the definition of consent. Fontaine was happy enough to give Tracht the information he needed, and Tracht ended the call with a few more ideas on what he could subject Alex to.

The cab pulled to a stop on the docks, a good few blocks away from where the Sigrun was anchored. Tracht frowned and checked the interface, but he’d definitely told it the right address.

“Why did we stop?” he asked the interface.

“There is a road block,” it responded in its robotic voice.

Tracht peered out the window, but he saw nothing. The street was bare, completely isolated. The usual hustle of dock workers was missing in this particular corner.

So, either the cab had malfunctioned, or something else was going on. He thought back to the training he’d received regarding potential hostage situations and was chagrined to realize that he hadn’t retained much of it. He couldn’t decide if it was safer to stay where he was, or to get out of the cab and attempt to reach the Sigrun.

A sudden loud sound, and the front window splintered. Tracht shouted in surprise and bent forward to protect himself from whatever came next. He fumbled for his tablet, hoping to send off a message. Remain calm. Always remain calm. Contact help when able.

His fingers were shaking though, and speed dial got him Alex’s tablet, rather than station security. It went straight to voice mail.

“Alex. I’m being attacked. On the docks. I don’t know who—”

A second impact on the front window shattered it completely, and Tracht saw several large, masked men standing there. The one furthest to the front had an extremely heavy looking club in his hand.

The first thing the guy did was pull Tracht’s tablet out of his hands and smash it on the street.

Tracht tried to keep his breathing steady. “Gentlemen. How can I help you?”

“You’re coming with us.”

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