Page 56 of Vicious
“My husband was a ship engineer, taught me everything I know,” she said. “We had a childtogether.”
My heart sank at all of these past tense verbs. Crispin eyed her in the window reflection, thankfullysilent.
“My husband did maintenance on Summertack’s private ship. He never said anything, but I think he found out the truth about the Ringers. Because soon after, our cruiser crashed because of a faulty wire.” She pinned me with her yellow eyes, her gaze a lethal blade, her words twice as sharp. “My family was so much more than a faultywire.”
Oh my Feozva. What else were the Ringers capable of? What would they do to us when we waltzed in there and began making demands ofthem?
“The only side I’m on is against the Ringers,” she continued. “And yours. Whatever ittakes.”
Whatever it takes. That was a lofty promise, and I knew I wasn't worthy enough to earn it. I was a fugitive after all, an iron addicted thief and a so-called murderer who didn't give Christmas presents and thought more than was probably healthy about all the things I could stab with two ice picks. But that wouldn't mean I wouldn’t try to earn Poh’spromise.
“Don Summertack,” I repeated, storing the name away in case I changed my ways and did getmurdery.
My thoughts eventually carried me into a light doze that turned into fitful dreams. Random letters appeared in red walls that waved back and forth like flags, making it impossible to pick out the words. But when my sick mind flashed images of Ellison, Mase, and Captain Glenn’s knifed-out eyes brimming with She electricity, I lashed out,screaming.
“Jesus! What’s wrong with her?” Crispinshouted.
Poh towered over me, one side of her brown duster swept behind her hip for easy access to her gun, her unspoken questions needling myscalp.
My whole body trembling, I fought back a surge of everything I’d eaten back down my throat. They weren’t dead. Theyweren’t. MyViciousfamily could take care of themselves, and I’d be reunited with them as soon as this wasover.
I lifted my hand to ward off Poh, and thankfully she took the hint. She stepped away a few feet, but I could still feel her gaze, heavy on my sweat-slicked, haunted head. I wanted to ask who she’d intended to shoot seconds ago when I’d flipped out, but I didn’t trust my mouth to open without a spray of vomit. So I kept my gaze locked on the window screen with my cheek glued to the cool, rubbery floor on thestairs.
Soon, a large space station appeared. Ships of all shapes and sizes zipped in and out of the rows of docking ports along the station’s middle, leaving or arriving for anything from repairs to food to club dancing supposedly. Ring Guild Space Station 144 was a floating city in thesky.
Behind it rotated a thin outline of an enormous ironring.
My blood leaped through my veins faster and harder as if the parasites swimming through it could sense all that iron. Saliva flooded my mouth. My insides jumped, but the need for more, a whole iron ring more, broke me out in yet another cold sweat. Selfish, needy things, those parasites. I ran my clammy palms down my pocket where my iron cubes should’ve been. I’d dropped my one piece of iron on theViciouswhen Poh had escorted meout.
I dragged myself to my feet as we drew closer. “What do we do withCrispin?”
Poh ruffled his hair. “Crispy goes where we go, and if it gets him killed, well... Try not to do or say anything that will get you killed. We’ll still need a pilot for when we’redone.”
“I can stay here,” Crispin argued, his voice panicked. “There’s police all over that station, and I may have a bit of a record. You can tie me up. Or don’t. I won’t goanywhere.”
“But you’re my bestie, Crispy.” Poh offered a wistful smile and thumbed his bearded chin. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you, which is why you’re coming withus.”
“No.” He shook his head so hard, the She/He lightning couple on his shirt bounced together. “This is a bad, badidea.”
She winked at him, then flicked her thumb so it knocked his head back against his seat. “Ours is a complicated friendship. Just land the ship, Crispy, because my trigger finger is gettingitchy.”
Crispin’s reflection in the window screen drained of all hope as the ship slowed, then gradually drifted toward one of the numerous empty docking ports. Other ships sailed close, likely bustling with activity and everyday life. If only they knew how lucky theywere.
Crispin expertly maneuvered the ship into the port, and the silent landing gear guided us to a slow stop with only a slight vibration through thefloor.
I took a deep breath and gathered all my courage into my clammy, scaled fists. This was it. Ready or not. How hard could a kidnappingbe?
“Door’s open,” Crispin said, flipping a fewswitches.
“Let’s go, then.” Poh waited for him to move first and followed him up the steps to the door. “Do or say anything I don’t like, Crispy, and you’ll be braiding your pubes over the hole where your dick used tobe.”
He clamped his mouth shut and led the way out. My stomach primed for maximum spewage with that image, I strode after them, but stopped when Poh dropped her gun and Mind-I just inside thedoor.
“They don’t allow much through security here,” she murmured over her shoulder. “Including weapons and loose Mind-Is.”
I squeezed my ice pick necklaces, hesitating, then lifted them both off and set them next to her gun. As soon as Mase’s left my fingers, I feared I would never see it, or Mase, again, as if they were one and thesame.
Down an elevator and through a maze of hallways that all looked alike, the ship’s exit soon yawned open. My footsteps vibrated down the ramp, echoing all my doubts about this plan through my skull and sinking them in deeper. My next breath snagged in my throat with a taste like blood on the back of my tongue. I stopped, swallowingthickly.
