A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (27 page)

“I’d be wasting a lot my time if no one shows up and losing credits by the minute sitting on my backside on Tortuga.”

“Allow me to speak with Mr. Romanov and I’ll see if we can’t make an offer acceptable to both of us.”

“You have my frequency,” Leonidas said while smiling.

“However, if we find her, then the contract will end,” the Security Chief added.

Leo nodded “That goes without saying.  I honestly don’t think you can afford me.”

“Then why are you considering doing this?”

Leo smiled, “Because the wealthy just don’t have any sense about how to waste their money.  You may just surprise me and make an offer I can’t refuse.”

The Chief shrugged, “I’ll get back to you.”

The display went dark and Leo’s eyes narrowed.  Barney saw him and said, “What are you thinking?”

“I suspect the man is going to change the target on Tortuga.”

“What?”

“I suspect if they’re half as smart as I think they are that they’ll see that waiting around for someone to kill Blakely will be a waste of time and credits.  Especially if they give credence to my suggestion that Ana was forced to help someone against her will.”

Embree said from his console, “They’ll have to know that Blakely was hired by someone inside their organization to attack that Starliner and they’ll want to question him.  It’s pretty obvious someone inside their organization fed him the Starliner’s new route.”

Barney stared at Embree and smiled as he turned back to Leo, “So, they are going to pay you to do what you were going to do anyway; go after Blakely.”

Leo tipped an imaginary hat, “Something like that.”

“Sir, are we ready to go to Tortuga?”

“I think we are, Carl.  I think we’ve built a good cover that will stand up to inspection.”

“There’s a few pirates there that aren’t very happy with us, Captain.  We may not receive a warm reception.”

“But they can do nothing about it on Tortuga, Embree.  All disputes end at the Tortuga intersection.”  Leonidas pressed a button on his panel, “Gold, I need to see you on the bridge.”

“On my way, Captain.”  Gold might have some ideas about what was coming.  But first, the Romanovs needed to contact him again.

• • •

Two days later, Leonidas looked at his display and saw the Security Chief, “I didn’t expect you to contact me this quickly.”

The Chief smiled, “I’ve discussed the situation with Mr. Romanov and he agrees that we can use your assistance.”

Leo lowered his eyebrows, “That will depend on what you’re willing to pay.  This could take a while to happen.”

“Mr. Romanov feels that waiting to track Ana by waiting for an attack on Mr. Blakely is not a good use of his money.”

“Duh, I could have told you that.”

“He is more interested in discovering who inside his organization is working against him.  He wants you to go to Tortuga and attempt to capture this Pirate John Blakely and bring him to us for questioning.”

“Are you aware of all the structures on Tortuga designed to prevent anything like that from happening?” Leo asked.

“We are and know it will not be easily accomplished.  However, Mr. Romanov is willing to pay you five million credits to make the effort and will triple that if you’re able to do it.”

Leo managed to look surprised and said, “Now that is an offer that’s hard to turn down.”

“The question is whether or not you’ll make a genuine effort to do it.”

Leo smiled, “Instead of just taking the five million and calling it a day.”

The Chief smiled, “Exactly.”

Leo sat back in his chair, “I’ve done a little research on Blakely since our last conversation and I understand that he has forty warships in his personal fleet.  If I were to by some miracle manage to get him on board my ship, there would be quite a few warships pursuing me to take him back.  Further, I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to just walk on board my ship without being fully protected.”

“We will have more than two hundred armed ships ready to come to your defense.”

Leo laughed, “You’re forgetting all the other warships on Tortuga that are honor bound to participate in the chase.  If they choose to join in, your two hundred warships will be useless against the thousands that would be involved.  You also have to remember that there are always a couple of hundred of pirate ships hanging around at the Tortuga intersection to prevent anything like this from happening.  Five million won’t spend well when you’re dead.”

“We recognize that getting him off Tortuga isn’t going to be easy but you should be able to pull it off without alerting his fleet or the other pirates on the planet.”

“That’s easy to say, quite another to do it.  If it’s so easy, why don’t you just do it yourself?”

The Chief smiled, “That’s what the wealthy do with their fortunes; hire others to take the risks.”

“What about this?  What if I can get the information out of him about who inside the Romanov Organization is using him?  Would that be as good as capturing him for questioning?”

“If you can do that, why couldn’t you just bring him to us?”

“Have you been listening?  Getting him off the planet is the hard part.  Capturing him and questioning him while still on the planet would be a lot easier.  I’m reasonably certain Blakely has a deep space emitter inside him that would necessitate killing him to remove it.  Are you prepared to lose all of your warships to take him?”

“How will you know you have the information we need?”

Leo shrugged, “I guess you’re hoping that Blakely knows who he’s working for.  What if he doesn’t know?   I really suspect both you and I could hire someone to do some tasks for us and never allow them to know who’s pulling the strings; that could be the exact situation Blakely is in and all this would just be wasted effort.  The point is, killing him is easier than escaping with him.  I believe he knows that and will give up whatever you want to know if he possesses that information.”

The Chief hesitated and Leonidas knew he was about to say something he didn’t want to reveal, “We possess a means of getting him off the planet without being detected.”

“And just how can that be done?  Are you just going to make him instantly disappear?” Leo asked sarcastically with a small grin.

“We’ll bring you a module to install on your landing bay.  Put him in the module and he will be sent to us.”

“WHAT?”

“Just put him in the module and press the red button on the side of it.”

“What you’re saying is ridiculous!  You’re talking about teleportation.  That’s not possible!”

The Chief smiled, “Yes it is, more or less.”

“I said it’s not possible!”

“I assure you, Mr. Alexander, that if you will do as we ask, you will fulfill your contract.”

“How do I know that module you’re talking about isn’t booby trapped to blow up my ship when we use it?”

“Then install it on a shuttle and put him in there.”

Leo shook his head, “You realize that if he is sent to your home world, his deep space emitter will still be operational.  The pirates on Tortuga will know where he is anywhere in the known universe and be coming to take him back.”

“That is not your problem.  We’ll deal with that issue.”

Leo shook his head, “If you’re able to teleport objects, just hit him with a teleportation beam and cut out the middleman.”

“It doesn’t work that way.  Just like using a communicator, there needs to be a sending and receiving unit.”

Leo stared at the Chief while shaking his head, “You’re serious?”

“I am.”

“Why haven’t I heard about this technology?”

“I would guess it’s because you don’t know as much as you think you do, Mr. Alexander.”

Leo lowered his eyes, “The price has gone up to ten million credits to make the effort and ten million to pull it off.”

“Make it fifteen million for each,” the chief replied.

Leo allowed his eyes to go wide before saying, “And how will I be paid?”

“Do you have a recommendation?”

Leo stared at the display and after a long moment of silence, he said, “First, how are you going to install that module?”

“Give us the coordinates to meet your ship and we’ll install it there.”

Leo stared at him again and then said, “Once it’s installed, send fifteen million credits in untraceable notes through the device to my vessel.”

“Done.”

“Once we send Blakely to you, send the remainder owed to me through the device again.”

“It will be sent the moment we have him in our possession.”  The Chief smiled, “You’re doing this to prove our little device actually works.”

“Duh, you think?  I just don’t find this technology feasible.”

“Then we need to make sure you do before you put your lives on the line.” The Chief replied.

“I’m going to take your advice and install it on a shuttle.  I’ll have my navigator send you the coordinates where the shuttle will be waiting for your vessel to make the installation.”

“I’ll be waiting for the coordinates.  Would tomorrow at this time be acceptable?”

“Yes.  Please instruct my officer on how to operate the device.”

“All you’ll need to know is how to press one of two buttons.  The green button sends whatever is in the module to us and the red button allows us to send you your credits.”

“You know your engineers will be on the shuttle when we press that red button for our initial payment?”

The Chief tilted his head, “Why are you so insecure, Mr. Alexander?  You know thirty million credits is nothing to Mr. Romanov.  I’m sure he wouldn’t want bad will between you and him.  Besides, he might want to hire you again for future tasks that need to be done if you can make this happen.”

Leonidas nodded and said, “I’ll be sending the coordinates momentarily.”

“Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Alexander.”

The display went dark and Leo looked at Embree, “Contact Victoria, now!”

Leo waited and ten minutes later, both Victoria and Desiree appeared on his display.  “Victoria, your former father has set up a scheme where I capture Blakely on Tortuga and put him in a module that will teleport him to Romania.  Do you honestly think this teleportation technology actually exists and wasn’t a scheme to steal from stock holders?”

“My father told me he has proof it works.  I understand that there has to be a sending and receiving unit to actually teleport anything.”

“He’s planning to install a module on one of my shuttles.”

“That’s better than putting it on your ship, Leonidas.  He could just as easily teleport a bomb as anything else,” Victoria replied.

Leo shook his head, “Something about this bothers me but I can’t wrap my mind around exactly what it is.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I just don’t like this technology being in the possession of a ruthless arrogant man like Serge Romanov.”

“Well, I don’t know what you can do about it?”

“What are you going to do?” Desiree asked.

“I’m going to attempt to take Blakely and send him to your father.  What do you think he’ll do with Blakely, Victoria?”

“There won’t be much of him left after the Security Agents finish questioning him.  They will burn out his synapses getting the truth out of him and it will be extremely painful as they do it.”

“Will this meet your need to have him punished for killing the two in your party on the Starliner?”

“Oh yes!”

“Then I guess that will also make up for Mark’s death as well.”  Leo looked at Embree, “Send the coordinates we’re sitting on now.  Carl take a shuttle out tomorrow an hour early to this location and we’ll come back to pick you up after the transfer is made.”

“Send Embree,” Carl asked.

“No, I want you to go, Carl.” Leo said sternly.

“Why me?”

“You’re the best I have on board at understanding how technology operates.  I want you present when that module is installed.”

Carl rolled his eyes and Embree laughed, “Take a bottle of water with you.”

Carl said under his breath, “Take a bottle of water with you.  You’re so fricking funny!”

“So you’re going to Tortuga, Leonidas?”

Leo looked at Desiree, “Yes, it appears I am.”

“We’re going to start keeping the ship on standby Battlestations starting today.”

“I hope I don’t have to call you in.”

“Before you decide to take Blakely, we’re moving in a lot closer.” Desiree said.

Leo’s mouth opened to respond but Victoria interrupted before he could speak, “This is not negotiable, Leonidas.  If you don’t need us, great.  However, if you do, we won’t have time to waste getting there.”

Leo stared at them and saw Barney, Carl, and Embree nodding out of the corner of his eye, “Alright.  Just don’t get inside Tortuga’s scanning range.”

“Be careful, Leonidas.”

“I will, Desiree.” 

Leo ended the contact and saw Embree nod, “The coordinates have been sent.”

“Carl, take the large shuttle tomorrow and stay in touch; we won’t be far.”

“Yes, Captain.” 

Carl sighed as Embree said, “Sir, I really think both of us should go?”

It was hard to tell who was surprised the most, Carl or Leo, “Why is that?”

“Because I can fly the shuttle while Carl watches what they’re doing.  Two sets of eyes are better than one, Sir.  Someone needs to remain at the shuttle’s controls to execute an escape if it’s called for.”

Leo tilted his head and smiled, “Take a bottle of water.” 

Carl and Barney both laughed out loud and Embree lifted a bottle out of his pouch, “Never leave home without one, Captain.”

Leo smiled and lifted the microphone, “Attention all crewmembers.  You will start going over the list of ships we’ve supposedly destroyed, immediately.  We’re going to Tortuga shortly and all of you are going to have to be on the same sheet of music when we go there.  I want you to question each other until we arrive to make sure everyone knows the details.  That is all.”

• • •

The Spider sat at the console and checked out the panel.  The frequency that was used to keep track of what was happening was not active.  Someone had changed it.  Ummm, something important was happening and it was being missed.  Well, whatever frequency they were now using could be found by the end of the day.  The Spider smiled, “They just didn’t know who they were dealing with.”  But…why did they change the frequency?  Were they on to who was inside their organization?  No, if they were, the Security Agents would have already arrived to make an arrest.  This uncertainty was not something that was comfortable.  The new frequency had to be acquired quickly.