Smith's Monthly #5 Read online

  She was the most amazing woman he had ever met.

  It bothered him how much he enjoyed watching her and being with her and working with her and making love to her. It felt like it might be too much, that he was setting himself up for hurt. But right now he wasn’t going to think about what would happen to them when this mission was all over.

  There would be time to decide that. He had a hunch she felt the same way about him, but she was an enforcer for Sector Justice, and the best one in the business. He was a man who saved people from those who weren’t trained, or who didn’t have the ethics Mattie and The Sector Force had.

  There were no doubt going to be issues between them when this mission was over, but they would cross those problems and work them out or not when this was finished.

  Until then he was going to take every opportunity to enjoy her presence and watch her when he could.

  She slipped on a pair of dark slacks, leaving her gun and holster on his dresser. At least she trusted him that much, which was going some he knew. She slipped into a tan blouse and slipped a form of vest over the blouse.

  Then, with a smile on her face, she came over to the bed and sat down to put on her socks and shoes. Her short hair was still damp from the shower and her face looked scrubbed clean.

  He reached for her and she tapped his wrist. “Behave yourself, we have work to do.”

  He laughed. “You want to check the control room to see if any of my alarms missed anything?”

  “Glad to,” she said.

  “I’ll take a quick shower and start breakfast in the galley.”

  “Anything I can do on that side of things?” she asked, finishing her shoes and standing.

  “Just keep me company while I cook,” he said. “I might put you in charge of the toast if you are good.”

  “I might be able to handle that,” she said, laughing. Then she reached down and with a snap, before he could react, she yanked the sheets off him.

  She stood there, hands on her hips, staring at him, smiling. “Now that’s a vision to get a girl’s blood boiling for the day.”

  He liked it when she stared at him like he stared at her. It felt right.

  Then she turned and headed for the door. “Hurry up with that shower,” she said without turning around. “I’m hungry.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” he said, crawling out of bed.

  He could hear her laughing as she walked up the hallway toward the cockpit.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  MATTIE SPENT almost thirty minutes in the control room, double-checking everything and the readings that had come in while they slept. Not a ship had moved and no other ships had joined the other ships at the abandoned station.

  The fleet of old warships and one small passenger liner still looked impressive docked at the old station. But all the real information showed it was still nothing more than just a giant deception.

  She checked to make sure all the alarms were still on, then headed back toward the galley.

  Halfway down the wide corridor she could smell bacon and eggs. It was like walking into a heavenly world. Her stomach growled and she picked up her pace slightly. She really, really was hungry and that smell was so thick, she could almost taste the sizzling bacon.

  “Oh, wow,” she said as she entered the galley. The table was set, the toast in the toaster, and the breakfast about ready to be dished up.

  Red stood at the stovetop, his long hair pulled back as normal, his broad shoulders filling out a short-sleeved shirt that highlighted his strong muscles in his arms. He had on tan slacks that seemed to shape themselves perfectly around his fantastic butt.

  “Perfect timing,” he said, turning to her and smiling. He pointed to a cold storage door. “Would you pour us both some juice. Glasses up there.”

  With a spatula he pointed to a cupboard.

  She had the juice poured and was sitting at her spot at the table as he set a plate in front of her.

  “Same as yesterday,” he said, “but figured it would give us a good start and it was easy.”

  “It’s perfect,” she said. “And it smells wonderful. Thanks!”

  “Eat,” he said as he turned back to get his plate. “No protocol in this galley, remember?”

  “Gladly,” she said, digging into the softly-spiced hash browns and eggs. They tasted as wonderful as she remembered them from their last breakfast. A man who was handsome, competent at everything, rich, and could cook? There just had to be something wrong with him. She didn’t know what she was going to do if there wasn’t something wrong, something that would drive them apart.

  She shook that thought away and kept eating. She hadn’t known this man long enough to be thinking thoughts like that.

  Red joined her after only a moment and dug into his breakfast as well.

  Between bites she gave him the update on the ships and the old station. Basically the alarms were still on and nothing was moving.

  “So think we have enough data to dash back through the hole in the nebula?” Red asked as he ate. “Get the information off to our organizations, get them working on this problem?”

  “I think that would be a good idea,” she said. “And honestly, I need an update on the situation back at the Sector Force Headquarters. It’s driving me crazy not knowing.”

  “You don’t look crazy,” he said, smiling. “But I agree, we need to be caught up. Also, I want to find out how the situation with Chief Lovell is.”

  “You like him, don’t you?” she asked.

  He finished the last of his eggs and nodded. “I do. Don’t you?”

  “I like him a lot and I think he would be great if we can get him fully on our side.”

  Red nodded and downed the last of his juice. “Let’s go find out what’s happening back in the civilized worlds.”

  They spent the next few minutes getting the dishes into the cleaner and the galley secured for travel, then headed for the control room.

  Red cut the alarms as he dropped into his chair and turned the ship back toward the hole in the nebula, checking the screens and shields to make sure they would be safe from the radiation.

  She once again scanned for any ships in the area. Nothing. All the ships on this side of the nebula seemed to be docked at the old station and for the moment weren’t moving.

  “Headed in,” Red said as the ship ducked back into the high radiation area and everything around them suddenly went from clear space to gray dust and nothingness.

  She hated this and everything about flying blind into anything.

  They sat in silence for the next twelve minutes until finally Red said, “Coming out.”

  And then all the sensors cleared and they were out of the nebula.

  Her fingers flew over the board, running quick scans of everything in the area. Nothing at all looked out of place.

  Nothing.

  “The area is clear,” she reported to him, feeling relieved. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but she had to admit she felt relieved that the Bodie Station was still there and everything looked normal at the moment.

  “I’m going to keep us shielded and cloaked,” Red said. “Better to not let anyone know where we are anymore.”

  “I agree,” she said.

  “We should be clear enough now from the nebula curtain to contact the Sector Force and my people.”

  Again her fingers flew over the panel in front of her, making sure that her contact with the Sector Force could not be traced to any one location in space.

  After a moment, her immediate boss at headquarters answered the call. Her name was Scipio and she was smiling, something Mattie had seldom seen from her. She had hair shorter than Mattie’s and a scar that ran across her forehead. Her dark eyes looked just flat mean most of the time, but Mattie liked working for her because she was all business.

  “I want you to know that we intercepted sixteen different bombers on board eleven ships, seven of which were liners. The attack would have wiped out thousa
nds of innocent lives and destroyed the heart of Sector Force Three at the same time.”

  Mattie felt her stomach relax. For now the Sector Force was safe. She wanted to just slump into the chair, but there was still far too much work to do.

  Scipio went on. “There were no injuries and all sixteen carrying the bombs were acting under duress from General Jarvis, who had their families in custody. The Innocence Inc. organization, working with local operatives on each planet, have rescued all of the families and they are being brought to the First Sector and relocated with the bombers to safe havens under new names.”

  “Thank you,” Mattie said. “I am glad this has turned out so well at this point.”

  “Do you have word on General Jarvis?” Scipio asked.

  “All the data we have is being downloaded to you now. We think he is contained on an abandoned space station on the edge of The Emptiness with a small force of men and ships. We do not yet have an affirmative positive sighting.”

  Scipio nodded curtly. “Other Sector Force members are still a day or more journey from your location.”

  “I will do my best to end this quickly,” Mattie said. “Please have our people analyze the data I have just downloaded about his force and ships and give me suggestions on ways of infiltration and attack.”

  “Understand,” Scipio said. Then she said. “Good luck to both of you and thank you once again, from all of us.”

  With that the connection was cut.

  “That was pretty darned nice,” Red said from off to her right.

  “It was, wasn’t it?” Mattie said, smiling. “Not like her at all. It seems we managed to avoid a major disaster. I’m glad your people could get the families clear.”

  “It’s what we do,” he said, smiling. “And we also have Chief Lovell’s family clear and on board the station with him now.”

  She laughed. “I bet he’s going to be fun to talk with.”

  “Opening a secure channel now,” Red said.

  “It took only a moment before Chief Lovell’s smiling face appeared on the screen. “Damn am I glad you two picked up on my hints. I couldn’t say a word.”

  “Red spotted them,” Mattie said. “Well done.”

  “And thank you, Red,” Lovell said, “and your people, for getting my family out of that damn monster’s grip.”

  “What’s the word on your station now?” Mattie asked.

  Lovell laughed. “I took care of the last two of General’s men who were left on the station personally,” he said. “Those two will never threaten another family again, I can promise you. But try to avoid the space debris heading for the nebula if you are out in that direction. It ain’t a pretty sight.”

  Mattie and Red both laughed. She knew exactly what the Chief had done. He had spaced them, as it is called. Alive. It takes a human thirty seconds to a minute to die in a really ugly fashion in open space without protection.

  “All wrapped down now,” Lovell said.

  “Did you get any information out of them before they made the wrong turn out a wrong door?” Red asked.

  “Only that your hunch was right, General Jarvis and some of his men are living on ships at the old Bodie Two space station on the other side of the nebula. Since the men here had no way to communicate to the General from here, the General’s plan is to start moving tomorrow morning and be around the nebula and here in about four days.”

  “That fits what we have seen as well,” Red said.

  “Trust me,” Chief Lovell said. “We have the codes from our dearly departed guests to signal the general when he does get in contact that his people are in charge of Bodie Station. But when he gets in range, he’s going to discover just how nasty this space station can be in a fight.”

  Red glanced back at Mattie, then faced the Chief again. “We’re going to try to keep it from coming to that.”

  The Chief laughed. “Take all my fun away,” he said. “But thanks, that would be better if you could. In the meantime I’m evacuating all guests and non-essential personnel until this is over.”

  “We’ll be back in touch,” Red said, nodding, clicking off the connection.

  Then he turned to Mattie. “We have some planning to do.”

  She was thinking the exact same thing.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  MATTIE WATCHED as Red quickly made sure all the ship’s screens and cloaks were in place so that nothing could see the ship or track them. And alarms would tell her and Red if another ship was even close.

  They were still on the Bodie Station side of the nebula, and they had both figured that was the best place to be for the moment until some sort of solution was figured out as to exactly how to stop General Jarvis and his mostly fake, but still dangerous, fleet of ships.

  After getting everything set, they headed down the wide hallway in Red’s ship, talking about any idea they could think of as a plan of attack.

  So far, Mattie couldn’t think of a one she liked much at all. She was best at face-to-face encounters with a target. And that’s how she wanted to take out General Jarvis, just to make sure there was no chance he would ever escape and threaten the Sector Force again.

  She wanted to kill him and then stand over his dead body. It was going to be the only way she would be satisfied.

  “You up for lunch yet?” Red asked, clearly in a very good mood after discovering all the families had been saved and the Sector Force was out of danger and Chief Lovell was back in charge of Bodie Station. There were a lot of reasons to be in a good mood, she had to admit that.

  But the job left unfinished bothered her.

  Her job.

  “How long has it been since breakfast?” she asked as they entered the galley.

  “Just under four hours,” Red said.

  “Then the answer is yes,” she said, surprised it had been that long. “I’d love to have a sandwich like the ones we had for dinner last night, if that’s possible.”

  “Very possible,” he said, smiling at her and then giving her a light kiss.

  Just a soft kiss sent shivers through her.

  “Sit,” he said, pointing at her chair at the table, “and we can plan while I put the sandwiches together.”

  She laughed as she sat down. “You really love cooking, don’t you?”

  “I do,” he said, glancing at her as he got supplies out of the cold storage. “And it’s a lot more fun when I have someone to cook for.”

  “Does that happen often?” she asked.

  “Rarely,” he said. “Usually just for friends like Carson and his wife when I was close to their home.”

  He buried his head into the cold storage, working to get what he would need and she kept silent, giving him a minute to think about Carson.

  When he moved to the counter with an armful of supplies, she spoke up again. “Well, I seldom cook for myself, since I don’t have my own ship and when home the restaurants around the Sector Force Headquarters are spectacular. I see no reason to eat anything at home but breakfast and a processed lunch before going out. But I like it when someone cooks for me.”

  “Great,” he said, giving her a wide smile, past the dark thoughts of Carson for the moment. “I like to cook for people, you like to be cooked for. A perfect match.”

  He turned back to his food preparation and she stared at his back and butt. Wow was this guy amazingly good-looking. It kept stunning her every time she actually stopped and looked at him.

  She stared at his back and watched him move for a few moments before he turned around and said, “Out loud. Think out loud so we can plan this attack.”

  “I was thinking of attacking that cute butt of yours, actually,” she said.

  “Later,” he said, laughing. “Keep your mind on the task at hand. How do we dig the General out of the middle of those men and ships?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” she said. “It would seem logical that the General would be on that main passenger liner, but what happens if he isn’t. That could be a decoy as
well. We just can’t go in blowing up ships without knowing we killed him.”

  “I agree,” Red said. “We have to make sure of the target.”

  “And I’m betting that many of those men are not loyal to the General,” Mattie said, “but just being blackmailed into manning the ships as the bombers were.”

  “My second big worry as well,” Red said, nodding as he finished up the two sandwiches and brought them to the table.

  Mattie used her fingers to tick off the problems they faced. “One, we have a fleet of ships we can’t safely attack without risking innocent lives, and two, there is no way at all to track General Jarvis’s movements in that fleet, or three, to know for certain he is even in the fleet when it starts moving toward Bodie Station.”

  Red sat a glass of juice in front of her and sat down across from her. “Eat,” he said. “This meat in this sandwich is known to be brain food.”

  She glanced down at the white bread and red meat layered inside it. “It’s not actually brains, is it?”

  He laughed. “Nope. Honest it’s not. Now eat.”

  She did as he said, and it was better-tasting than she remembered from last night. And slightly sweeter.

  “What did you add to this?” she asked after the first bite. “It’s fantastic.”

  A local sector mustard,” he said while chewing. “From the brains of the mustard plant.”

  She ignored the joke and kept eating while he just chuckled to himself.

  It was great to see him in such a good mood. She just wished she could match it.

  “So,” she said between bites, “just to be certain I have the same information you have, run me through the weapons available on this ship.”

  He did. There was little doubt this ship could do stunning amounts of damage to that fleet without ever being seen. But again, that wouldn’t help them much.

  Then she had an idea. “How close could we get to a moving ship without being seen?”

  “Close,” he said. “Almost close enough to touch it, actually. The cloak on this ship is the best ever made. But we can’t board another ship without dropping the cloak I’m afraid.”