Page 10 of Under His Skin

The woman wasn’t nearly as amused as Tracht, and she gave Alex an offended sniff. “Not so bad? Sure, if you’re lucky enough to end up with somebody who’s not an asshole. Anyway, it’s none of your business.”

Before Alex could argue and cause a scene—which was probably what Alex wanted—Tracht put his hand on Alex’s head. “Leave it.”

Alex scowled, but he shifted subtly so he was facing Tracht instead of the woman. Tracht imagined what he could do to punish Alex for this scene: another medical scene with Singh, or a session of complete sensory deprivation that would leave Alex desperate for touch and attention later.

“Is that Anna?” Alex said suddenly.

Tracht couldn’t imagine why Anna would be here—she’d only recently gotten her latest bondservant. He turned to look where Alex was pointing anyway.

The vid screen in the corner had Anna right in the center. The volume was muted, but the text underneath read “Judge Tracht arrested on charges of corruption.”

Tracht’s entire body stiffened. He read the subtitles in horror: Anna saying that the charges were unfounded, that she was sure all of this would be cleared up soon, that she had nothing to hide.

“We’re going,” Tracht said. He was surprised at how calm he sounded, because his muscles were painfully tense.

“We are?” Alex shrugged and stood up though.

Good. Good that Alex wasn’t questioning him. Tracht headed toward the exit, Alex right on his heels.

“Sir? Mr. Greis is ready to see you,” the receptionist called out.

Tracht ignored him and kept walking. His mind raced while he called up a cab. He had to… He had to call his lawyers. No wonder Anna had been so argumentative: she’d known. She must have known this was coming, and she hadn’t said a word to him. Vasilis too had known or suspected.

This explained the reporters sniffing around too. They had smelled the story and wanted an early scoop.

Alex had the good sense not to say anything during the cab ride. Once they were at the docks, he puffed himself up and glared at everybody in a way that made them clear the way.

Tracht called Bahjat while they walked.

“Captain?” Bahjat sounded tired. “I’m off duty.”

“It’s an emergency. Get back to the ship. We need to depart as soon as possible.” Tracht walked toward his office, running mental calculations. The cargo hold was currently only half full, and the income from that would cover salaries for sailors—no bonuses this trip—and some of the supplies needed for the long trip. He would probably barely break even, but his finances could take the hit.

“Depart? Now? Most of the crew are still on leave. The cargo hold is half empty. We haven’t finished maintenance.”

“That’s fine. How many people can we support? We’ll run on reduced crew—anybody who’s willing to come back early and depart now. We can redistribute the salaries—” He reached his office and closed the door behind him, locking Alex out. He saw the hurt look in Alex’s eyes, but he couldn’t deal with that right now.

“Captain!” Bahjat interrupted. “I’m not ready to depart. Maler is probably happy to leave but Strobel is with his family. Singh didn’t tell me where she was going but she’s not on the ship.”

“I’ll call Mr. Strobel in. He’ll understand. And I’ll have supplies delivered. Just get as many people as you can.” Tracht set his tablet in the dock and pulled up his logistics program. Bahjat wasn’t wrong about the maintenance situation, but there hadn’t been any major issues during the trip and they could triple their maintenance checks once they were on Atalanta.

“Captain, this is insane. Why are you in a sudden rush to leave? Is this another birthday party you want to avoid, because if so—”

“No, Ms. Bahjat. Return to the ship at once. We’ll discuss the matter then.” He hung up on her and immediately pulled up the dock management site. He filled out the electronic application informing management of his intention to depart.

Then he put a call in to his lawyers.

“Captain Tracht. I’ve been expecting your call.” The person who picked up was his lawyer, Ms. Raptis, instead of her assistant or one of the paralegals. That worried him even more than the news alone. He’d been trying to convince himself that what happened to Anna had nothing to do with him, but her grim tone disillusioned him.

“You know why I’m calling. Are you able to handle things or do I need to find specialized counsel?” Tracht set the logistics program to do a few calculations, and he didn’t like what it spit out at him. It killed him to make an unprofitable run, but if that was what it took…

“You’ll need special counsel, but I already have somebody at our firm I recommend. And, full disclosure, your sister’s lawyers are part of our firm. It shouldn’t be an issue—”

Tracht didn’t hear what she said next, because the dock management system told him that his application to depart had been denied. He stared at it, reading over the information. He’d inputted everything correctly. There was no reason for his application to be denied.

“I have to call you back,” Tracht said absentmindedly. He cut the call with the law firm and dialed dock management instead. “Hello, Ms. Kreisel? I have a strange issue that I hope you’ll be able to help me with.”

Kreisel was one of the senior managers, and she was an old friend of Vasilis’s. “Captain Tracht. How can I help you?”

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