Page 14 of Protected By the Convicts
From the sofa, winded and face red with anger, Ren nodded.
Vaughn meanwhile righted one of the large chairs and sat down, bent over, leaning on his knees. “I told Ren I sabotaged his ship,” he confessed.
Shocked, Hannah found a spot, equidistant to both men. “Why Vaughn? That’s not you. . . that makes no sense.”
She glanced at Ren, who stared at Vaughn like he was ready to kill him. Ren finally broke off from giving Vaughn the look of death and glanced at her. He couldn’t talk it appeared. He shook his head, but she could see it in his face. He was sorry, mad, confused, but he no longer blamed her.
“I didn’t want to,” Vaughn began. “But I’m in trouble.” Crystal blue eyes lifted to Ren. “Big trouble, Ren.”
“You thought you’d destroy my ship, so I’d stay and bail you out?”
“Not exactly.” Vaughn took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Dresden knows about your ship. He’s known for a while.”
“You’re working for fucking Dresden, taking orders from that piece of shit now?” The veins in Ren’s neck bulged and his fists clenched around something in his pants pocket. A switchblade or tool perhaps, Hannah couldn’t be sure. Ren was barely holding onto his temper.
“Get out, Vaughn, or I swear they’ll be nothing left of you in a few minutes,” Ren threatened.
“He was never going to let you leave. I sabotaged your ship to show him I’d play alone, give him what he wants. That was the first item on his list. I needed to buy time, but I’m in trouble here. Serious trouble. I need help.”
“What does he have on you?” Ren asked, still fuming, but listening more now.
“He knows about the nanites.”
“You mean he blackmailed you?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, but it gets worse.”
“How could it possibly be worse?” Ren spit out.
“He threatened us,” Vaughn said. “You. Me. Sersie.”
“I wouldn’t have had to worry about that if you hadn’t destroyed my ship! I wouldn’t have been off this rock long before Dresden could push the paper through to lower me to a 5 and ship me out!”
“That drug that Hannah inhaled by accident,” Vaughn pressed forward even though Ren looked ready to tear into him. “He’s shipping it off-planet.”
“We fucking know that,” Ren snarled.
“He’s trying to force me to do trials on the miners here. He has them picked out already. Each group is to receive varying doses of NK171 so we can study the effects and report back to The Company.”
The room fell deathly still. Then, in a too-controlled voice, Ren asked, “How many?”
“Eighty. The miners who were recently awarded level three designation and are due to go home. He’s not letting anyone go, Ren, not unscathed. Those poor bastards will end up so addicted, they’ll land back here or worse, end up dead. Sersie hasn’t finished the antidote yet. Salvation. . .” Vaughn’s chuckle sent a chill through Hannah. “What a name considering its origin. They’ve had this whole fucking thing planned out for a while.”
“I don’t buy that,” Hannah said. “Long term, there’s no profit in the drugs or even the antidote. The costs to The Company in missed workdays, poor quality, and all the other problems associated with a worker on drugs are too great in comparison to the street value for the drug or the antidote.”
“The Company can make money on anything. Making money is their specialty,” Ren said.
“But they are risk-averse. Drugs are risky, especially an unknown drug.”
“I’m not making this up, Hannah. Dresden laid it out quite clearly. And if I don’t conduct these trials, Ren and I will be shipped out to a level 5 planet.”
“And Sersie?” Hannah asked. “You said Dresden threatened him as well.”
“He’ll be tied down while they give him Flight. And this time, they won’t let him back into the med-center to work on kicking it.”
“Dresden’s going to kill him?” she said, shocked.
“Our esteemedmanagerwill give Sersie just enough to ensure he continues doing what they want. Forget food or credits, Sersie will be working for his next hit.”
