A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (5 page)

“Take it out and show me.”

The man reached in his pocket and pulled out a small communicator.  Leo looked at it and said, “What is the countdown for?”

“I have to report in before it reaches zero.”

Leo looked at Ana, “Pull over!  Now!”

Ana pulled the car over to the curb and Leo said, “Move it up to the no parking space.”

“But that’s illegal!”

“Ana, pull up to the no parking space or someone who has nothing to do with this is going to get killed.” Leo said as he rolled his eyes.

Ana suddenly jerked the car forward and the man said to Leo, “She’s really not a very good driver, is she?”

“No, she’s not.  Close your eyes and go to sleep.”  The man’s eyes closed and Leo said urgently, “Ana, get out of the car and follow me!”

“What’s going on?”

Leo sighed as he jumped out of the car and moved quickly into the park.  Ana shook her head and jumped out of the car and ran to catch up.  They walked to a bench on the far side of the park and Leo sat down with a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Leo exhaled sharply and turned to her, “I’m really starting to question my decision to try and stop you from getting killed.”

Ana’s eyes widened, “Why is that?”

“Because you question everything I tell you to do and that will get you killed.”  Suddenly, a giant explosion erupted on the other side of the park and Ana jumped as she saw the black vehicle blown off the ground and into the edge of the park.  She looked at Leo as he said, “I saw on the man’s phone that there was a two minute countdown for him to report in.”  Leo nodded toward the now burning upside down vehicle, “If the countdown was at twenty seconds, you would have died in the blast asking your stupid idiotic questions instead of getting out and running!!  Either you agree to immediately do as you’re told or we part ways now!”

“I have nowhere I can go.”

“That would be the case even if I weren’t involved in this fiasco.  You would have died within twenty minutes of leaving the bank or right after the drone flew past us.  You don’t have the vision to see the dangers around you and it’s just a matter of time until you don’t react fast enough and then you’re dead!  I don’t intend to die with you.”

“That’s why you left the car without me?”

“It is and I’ll do what I need to do to survive in the future.  Your safest place is right next to me and if you ask one more question after I tell you what to do, I won’t wait for you and our relationship is over!”

“Why are you so upset about this?  What is it to you if I die?”

Leo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before saying, “You gave me fifty million credits to go after the pirate that killed my brother and I feel an obligation to see that my benefactor isn’t killed right after the gift.  It would be bad form.”

“So all I am to you is a possible embarrassment?”

Leo stared into Ana’s eyes, “I don’t mean to sound callous but you haven’t shed many tears at the loss of your husband.  I’m not the only one showing no emotion.”

Ana stared at him and then lowered her eyes, “We were married because it would be an embarrassment if it came out that I was not traveling with my father but another man not related to me.  We were often booked in the same room during our trips and my father was concerned about what would be said if the news organizations found out about it.”

Leo stared at her and blinked, before saying, “And you were ok with that?”

“Well, the news is out that my father was supposedly killed by pirates and he’s already appeared on one news cast telling all of the company’s investors that it was someone else.  The questions about who it was will start now and that’s when my marriage will be revealed.”

“Did you love him?”

“I didn’t know him.  But he was a good man and played his role well.  He wasn’t charming but he did have a quick wit and sense of humor.  He also didn’t pressure me to do anything.  He still didn’t deserve to die.”

“He didn’t have to.”

Ana’s expression changed to anger, “And just why do you say that?”

“The contents of the wall safe could have been put in the liner and shipped without anyone having the code on board.  Someone could have met the liner on Kellinger and opened the safe there.  Your husband and the rest of you didn’t have to be there and I really suspect the code he was given was not the real one.”

“What?”

“You had the real code and your father made sure no one knew that except the two of you.  He didn’t trust that the twin would keep it secret.  He sent you, your husband, the fake wife, sister, and nephew along to see if someone would try to steal the contents.  Your presence made it certain that anyone planning a theft would never suspect your father wasn’t there.”

“Why in heaven’s name would he do that?”

“Because whoever was behind all this wanted to stop the delivery of the contents.  If none of you were present, the ship could have just been taken but that would have resulted in the contents being lost; no one is going to penetrate a Starliner’s wall safe.  That would have prevented the funds being delivered on time to purchase the teleportation company but the eight trillion would not have been lost.  By the appearance of your father being on the ship, there was an opportunity to stop the purchase as well as take possession of the Trillium.”

“But they could have still taken the liner and stopped the funds from being taken to the Treasury?” Ana replied.

Leo shook his head, “Did you not listen to Blakely?  He told his fellow pirate that if he attempted to tow the ship away, the Proctors would arrive before he could escape.”

“He could have blasted the ship and stopped it.”

“I suspect his orders did not take into account that your husband would commit suicide.  I think they also felt that your father would not die just to protect the investors.”

“YOU’RE WRONG!  HE WOULD NEVER CAUSE THE FAMILIES TO BE HARMED!!” Ana replied sharply.

“Ana, what is the value of Romanov Industries?”  Ana stared at Leo in silence.  “I looked it up on my communicator and the present estimate, as of nine am this morning, is a little over two hundred trillion.  Are you honestly going to sit here and tell me your father would die for eight trillion that wasn’t his own money?  The fact he sent your husband in his place tells me he suspected something was going to happen and he didn’t want to be anywhere near that liner when it did.”

“And sending me, my sister and her baby?”

“I suspect whoever is operating behind the scenes must know that your father has twins.  By sending the three of you, it removed doubt about his being present.  And that bit about your marrying the twin to prevent an embarrassment is also a bit of hogwash.”  Ana’s face grew angry but Leo continued, “How is he going to explain the woman that was killed is not his actual wife.  She couldn’t be your husband’s wife.  So your husband was sharing a room with two women and one of them was not family.  I suspect he wanted you married to someone he knew to prevent any other emotional attachments you might develop with someone he couldn’t trust.  By the way, did that woman look like your mother?  I don’t ever recall seeing her in any videos about your family.”

Ana’s expression changed as she thought about what Leo was asking.  Leo let her think about it and after five minutes she looked at him, “I’m nothing more than a tool to my father and evidently not a valuable one.”

“Don’t sell yourself too short, he did give you the code to open the safe.  However, you are right that he has no issues with putting you in situations that could get you killed.  What about your mother’s appearance?”

“Lyla did look like her.  Enough to pass for her anyway.”  Ana stared at Leo and saw him look away.  “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“You may not like it.”

“Tell me!”

“You say that Lyla looks almost exactly like your mother.”  Ana nodded.  “I noticed on the liner that she has green eyes.  Does your mother also have green eyes?”

“She does.”

“Your father has blue eyes.”

“What?”

“He has blue eyes.  I’ve seen them on news recordings I pulled up.

“So?”

“Think it through, Ana.”  Leo watched her and waited.  Suddenly her eyes flew wide open and he said, “It is impossible for you to be his biological daughter and that is also true of your sister.  He really didn’t put members of his family in danger.”  Ana sat on the bench and felt her world come crashing down on her.  Her eyes as well as her sister’s eyes were brown which was genetically impossible for two parents with green or blue eyes.

“
W
ho is the man with her?” a computerized voice asked.

The agent looked at a dark monitor and replied, “Sir, we’ve been unable to find any information about him.”

“Look at the Liner’s passenger list!”

“That’s where we looked first.  We discovered that there were a hundred and eighty passengers on board but only a hundred and seventy nine names were on the manifest.  One of the passengers was not listed and it does appear that man is the one missing.”

“He had to provide identification to board the liner.  Go into the liner’s main computer and pull the information on that flight.”

“We did and came up empty.”

“How is that possible?”

“It actually isn’t.  The most regulated industry is the Starlines and there are no exceptions to the rules that govern them.  Even we couldn’t get someone on board a liner without providing proof of identity.”

“This man appears to have done it.”

“I’m forced to agree but my best people have no idea how he pulled it off,” the agent replied.

“Blakely tells me that a young man on board appeared to know a great deal about him.  Could that have been this man?”

The agent paused before saying, “Probably.  Unless Blakely took a recording of the passengers in the landing bay, we have no way of really knowing.”

“You know he wouldn’t do that.  I need Ana captured so she can tell me how she managed to make the switch.  She didn’t come up with that on her own.  Capture her, don’t kill her.”

“Well, there is a man with her and he may have been the one to come up with the plan.  However, that is pure speculation.  It could have been the plan from the beginning and we didn’t uncover it.”

“It wasn’t!”

The man shrugged, “Romanov can be…twisty.”

“I know what his plans were.  The switch wasn’t part of it!  There’s something else going on here that I don’t like.  The loss of two of your assassins also has me concerned.  Find Ana and bring her in.”

“What about the man?”

“Take him as well but I don’t want any risks taken doing that.  Kill him if you must.”

“Blakely is not happy about the switch.  He’s complaining about the expense of the first attack for no return.  He was not told that the real Serge Romanov wasn’t on board.   Increasing the pay for the attack on the convoy hasn’t satisfied him.”

“Tell him that nothing is certain and to shut-up.”

“He won’t take that well, Sir.”

“He needs to remember who is in charge.  Tell him I don’t want to be forced to demonstrate it to him.”

“I’ll pass it on.”

• • •

Ana’s tears were real and Leo hated to be the one that caused them.  “Leo, I remember being raised in the house on Cruet.  I remember my mother being there and my father coming to be with us whenever he could.  I remember my sister being born.”

“Do you?”  Ana looked at Leo as he shrugged, “You’re only fifteen months older than she is.  Do you really remember that?”

Ana sighed, “You’re right.  She’s in my earliest memories but I don’t remember seeing my mother pregnant.”

“How could you?  You weren’t two years old.”

Ana looked at Leo, “How long have you known this?”

“As soon as you told me that it wasn’t your father who was killed.”

“Did you determine then that I’m not his real daughter?”

“I determined that while sitting in first class on the flight to Kellinger after the attack.  I pulled up some images and recordings of your father and saw that he had blue eyes.  Everything else was simply a matter of elementary logic.  I’m surprised you never noticed it.”

“Easy for you to say.  I’ve never had a clue.”  Ana looked at him, “Why?  Why would he put me and my sister in that situation?”  Leo stared at her and Ana started crying, “Why?  Please tell me!”

Leo blew out a hard breath, “We need to move.”  Ana stood up and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.  Leo looked around and asked as they walked away from the bench, “Have you learned what it means to be really wealthy growing up?”  Ana looked up at him and nodded.  “I don’t just mean having more money than you can ever spend or the ability to purchase anything your desire.  I mean really, really wealthy.”

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Ana said as she wiped her eyes again.

“When anyone becomes accustomed to that level of wealth, they start worrying about keeping it.  They also lose the ability to feel anything for others and everyone they encounter simply wants to take some of their wealth from them.  You start seeing others as little more than scavengers, beggars, and thieves.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

“A really wealthy man knows what his greatest weakness is, Ana.  It’s been demonstrated for as long as there have been wealthy beings.  Do you know what it is?”

“I’m not thinking clearly at the moment.  Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Hostages, Ana.  A wealthy man’s family can be taken and held hostage forcing him to part with huge sums of his wealth to get them back safely and they could still be taken again by another kidnapper.  A man of unlimited wealth would actively plan something to prevent that from happening and the price wouldn’t really be an object.  It would never be as much as he’d have to pay to ransom his family members.”

Ana stared at the sidewalk as they walked and said, “He made it appear as if we are his children and even went to the point of purchasing two babies to make it appear real.”

“He also had to purchase the mansion for them to live in along with the tutors and staff to run the household and all the other trappings of wealth that would make it appear real.”