Living in Freefall (Living on the Run Book 1) (5 page)

Later, just as Ericca and Riley passed Captain Kori’s
office, he called her in.

“You want the two of us, sir?”

“No, just you, Ericca. Please. Come in. Sit.”

She turned to her brother. “Go on ahead. I’ll be there
shortly.”

He nodded and went on his way to
Viper
, their little
weaponized recon spacecraft. While she had words with Kori, probably her last, Riley
could prep the ship for their flight.

“Sir,” she said, turning to her captain.

Jordon seemed more sad than angry as he pulled a small, oak,
iron banded chest from a drawer and set it in front of her. “This is for you
and Riley.”

Perplexed, she looked at the box, looked at him, then at the
box once more. “What’s this?”

“It’s what I owe you. Payment in full for your services,
plus two months’ severance.”

“Severance? So you’re firing us? I said too much, huh?”

Rubbing his chin through his beard, he took and released an
apprehensive breath. “I’m not firing you, Ericca. But I
have
heard you.
Your boredom isn’t without reason.”

Ericca felt awkward. This came to her as a complete
surprise, and she didn’t know what to say or think.

Jordon cleared his throat. “Fact is I want you to see
Freefall
as your home and us as family. In light of that, I felt that your only tie to
me—” his breath caught in in his throat at the Freudian slip—“I mean, to this
ship, to us, should be your heart—
plain and simple
—not money owed you.”
She eyed him suspiciously. He diverted his eyes. “Clearly, Ericca, you need to
get out more—”

“Don’t we all?” she cut him off, purposefully plying her sexiest
low voice to provoke a response. His eyes came up and his jaw dropped down. For
Ericca, this had just gotten fun. Jordon was human after all. Oddly, she
suddenly found his awkwardness as something cute. Funny she hadn’t noticed that
before. Then she recognized the look in his eyes. He had a thing for her. And
stranger still, that didn’t seem like a bad thing.

Recovering quickly, he added, “Yes, umm, so there you go.
Spending money.”

Ericca snorted back laughter. “You mean
bail
money.”

At first, when Jordon raised a faint grin, she thought she
had amused him, but there was sadness in his voice. “Go ahead. Open it.”

She turned and pressed her thumb to the touch lock. Responding
to her thumbprint, the box opened. Inside were small bars of gold bullion, and
an assortment of gold coin. She lifted out a bar to examine. “Gold? Seriously?”

“It’s solid and pure. And unlike Prov or Confed notes, those
are spendable anywhere. But look at one.”

Pressed into the face of every bar was the image of a
raven’s head; the coins too. “What on Earth?”

“It’s the logo I designed for you,” Jordon said. “Not much,
but I thought . . .” He shrugged. Not knowing what to do with his
hands, he first gestured awkwardly to the box, put his hands on his hips,
dropped them to dangle at his side, then moved to put his hands in his pockets,
before finally deciding to cross his arms. Unable to help himself, one hand
shot up to his chin, resting one forefinger across his lips. “You’ll notice raven’s
head faces west.”

Amused by his nervous fidgeting, Ericca, with a growing
smile, lifter her eyes to his. “I don’t know what to say, Jordon.”

His eyes widened. Before now, Ericca had never called him by
his first name. It was always Captain, or Cap, or Mr. Kori. Her doing so
now
had its desired effect. Without wanting to, he was giving himself away. But
then she suddenly felt bad for him. She was being mean. Her teasing, pushing
those particular buttons of his, was just wrong. The man was being sincere, and
here she was, like a cat playing with a crippled bird, toying with his
affections. He deserved better from her. He deserved her respect.

“Umm, thank you, sir,” she added, drawing back from her
desire to manipulate just another man. Jordon Kori
wasn’t
just another
man though. From day one he had made every effort to be her friend. And how did
she respond? She rolled her eyes whenever he approached. She took shots at him
openly and behind his back. And the more she did so, the more awkward around
her he’d become. Damned vicious cycle she herself had started way back when.
Why? What was it about Jordon that drove her to distraction? She didn’t like
momma’s boys—
never did
—but was that it? Mara could be overbearing at
times, but she had no other place to go. Giving her a job on his ship was
simply a decent man looking after his mother. That was noble. Wasn’t it? At
least Jordon had a parent. Ericca felt a twinge of jealousy. What the hell?
Where were all these unbidden emotions coming from. Reining in these rogue
feelings, Ericca dropped her eyes to the bar. It was cool and smooth, and—
she
tested its weight
—heavy.

He shrugged. “Just let us know in advance when you need a
vacation so we can plan around it.”

“I, umm . . .” Sure. I can do that.”

“Ericca, I’ve tried to keep you safe,” he said, “I mean
us
.
I was only trying to keep
us
safe.” Unfolding his arms, he drove his
hands deep into his pockets, and rocked on his heels. “You understand?”

She smiled. “Yes. I think I do.”

“Sorry. An unintended consequence of my doing so was,
well . . .” he scuffed the floor with a foot. “I certainly don’t
want to make life dull for you.”

She tried without success to stifle her smile. “Actually, my
life is just starting to get interesting.”

The look in his eyes said he didn’t know how to take that.
“You are free to go. Find adventure
if
that’s what you need. And you’re
always free to come back to me—
us!”
The more he tried to control his
tongue, the more nervous he became, and the more readily the truth popped out
into the open. He laughed nervously, then added, “Which, by the way, would be–umm–
our
preference. Of course. Whose preference would it be but
ours
; I mean the
crew’s. We all want you to stay—
come back!
”

“Okaaay?” Now Ericca didn’t know what to say. Their
conversation was starting to get weird.

“And from here on out I’ll seek your advice whenever I plan
a heist,
caper
, I mean operation!” Jordon said.

Ericca felt her smile take control of her entire face. There
seemed no stopping it. She tested the gold bar’s weight once more, then returned
it to the box and closed the lid. Seeing a need, feeling the need, she came
around the desk to hug her captain. Awkwardly accepted, Jordon’s stiff embrace
was nothing like she’d expected. In fact it surprised her. It wasn’t smooth or
graceful or gallant, but it was warm and genuine; so much more than she could
have guessed. Her face flushed warm. Catching her breath, she released him, and
turned as if to leave, but really, she wanted to hide her sure-to-be red face from
him. She took a step toward the door.

“Hey!” he said softly.

She stopped but didn’t look back.

“Don’t forget this.”

She heard him scoop up the chest. She turned to him and held
it out to her.

“Huh? Oh, uhh,” she stammered, fighting to focus her thoughts.
She grabbed the surprisingly heavy oak box and brought it to her hip to carry. Smiling
sheepishly, she considered his lost boy expression for a moment longer. How
could she have missed how handsome the man truly was? His auburn hair was a
tussled mop on his head. And the smattering of freckles on his nose and cheeks
made him look younger than Ericca. Yet something in the man’s deep-set hazel
eyes drew her in like . . .

. . . she thought for a
moment . . .

The draw was like a gambler on the scent of a long shot. Jordon
Kori was indeed a longshot. Too great was the gamble to place a real bet on. He
was a momma’s boy, and Ericca doubted he’d ever break those bonds to stand on
his own two feet. She smiled, dipped her head, then headed out leaving Jordon
there confused. Before stepping through the hatch, she stopped. She didn’t want
to look back, but then again, she did. What would she find if she did? Unable
to help herself, she glanced back over her shoulder. Jordon had followed her to
his door and leaned against the jam to watch her go. For a fleeting instant,
she wanted to go back to him. She didn’t know why. She certainly didn’t know
what to say if she did. All she knew was, seeing him standing there looking
like a lost puppy watching her go, tugged at something deep inside
her—something strange—something foreign—something new.

“Ericca,” Archer’s voice crackled in her ear breaking the
spell, “ship’s ready. Where are you?”

She touched her cheek and pressed the embedded mic. “Copy, Archer.
On my way.” When she looked back up, Jordon was gone. Torn, she sighed, and
headed for her little recon ship.

Ericca stepped from the hallway into the cargo deck.

Mara—
heading the other way
—saw the chest and met her
with a sour face. “Got your gold. Now . . . I don’t expect you’ll be
back.” Her tone sounded more like an order than an accusation.

Too happy to do anything other than smile, Ericca thumbed
open the chest, drew out three large gold coins and fanned them like playing
cards for Mara to see all three.

“I don’t want your money, child, nor do I need a tip. That
you’re leaving is enough.”

Holding her smile, Ericca pocketed the three coins, closed
the lid, and shoved the box into Mara’s hands. “I’ll be back for that. Count on
it, witch.” Ericca stepped past the older woman, bumping her shoulder as she
went. A few steps beyond, a thought stopped her cold. Turning, she saw the
older woman just standing there watching her go. Ericca spun toward her and
recovered the chest with a yank. “What am I doing? Hell, I don’t even trust
you. And I certainly don’t need to prove anything to
you
.”

“Doesn’t matter, child. You already have.”

With Ericca’s love of speed, and Archer’s ever ready desire
to blast something,
Viper
was the answer to their dreams. They were
always eager to slide down into its tight cockpit and give it a whirl. And with
Rachel and Jordon’s enhancements, flying it always proved interesting.

To accommodate the little craft, Jordon and Rachel had
removed
Freefall’s
forward landing skid. They had deemed it worthless
anyway. They then turned the well into a proper shuttle berth for
Viper
.
The fit was snug, but with her winglets retracted, Ericca and Archer’s little
ship now had a proper home.

Now in
Viper’s
front seat, Ericca looked up through
the canopy and watched
Freefall
’s latches release their ship. A
mechanical arm, formerly the skid strut, lowered them down and out of the
mother ship, and released them to open space. As the arm retracted, maneuvering
jets blew small puffs of air to move
Viper
further away from the larger
ship, clear of the berth and other obstructions.

“That is
so
strange,” Archer said from the back seat.

“What’s that?”

“I get a sense that
Viper
will never again rest in
that berth.”

“What?”

“Never mind. I’m just being silly. This recon trip should be
short and sweet, right?”

Ericca didn’t answer.

“Right, Ericca? We’ll be back lickety-split, huh?”

“Yeah, sure. Lickety-split.” Ericca was doing her own bit to
shake off the same feelings. His saying that unnerved her a little. She
refocused and ran deft fingers across her console controls, touching one icon
after the other. The thrusters fired, as she throttled forward to leave the
larger ship. The new engines seemed responsive and eager to please. But that odd
feeling of loss wouldn’t leave her.

Archer studied his scanner. To test his aim, he found a
distant target, zoomed in, and pressed the trigger. One gun flashed. The far
off rock vaporized. He looked for another target but found none. “So how’d it
go with Captain and Mrs. Kori?”

“Confusing,” Ericca said, turning toward the nearest
habitable planet. Although
Freefall
had passed Hawthorn hours earlier,
it didn’t take
Viper
but a few moments to close on the tiny world.

“I’m about to make my circuits, Archer. Three times around,
so get ready to record.”

“Roger, Captain Sis.” He ran his fingers over certain icons,
then asked her, “Not good, huh?”

“Are you ready to start the camera?”

“Not going to say, huh? I’ll take that as a sign things went
bad for us.”

“Archer, please.”

“Fine. Here we go then. Lights, camera . . .”

“Action!” Ericca said as she pulled
Viper
into a
tight turn around the planet. Tight being relative. Sixty miles above the
planet’s surface, but at her current speed it would take everything she had to
keep it
tight and right
– just forty-five seconds to complete three full
orbits. Being the only pilot capable of such a feat was what defined her as the
very best. Other pilots might be able to stay with her in a straight run, but
the moment Ericca made
Viper
dance, she danced alone.

Archer tapped his helmet and spoke into his headset. “I
think I detect a bit of metal down there, sis. Better go in for a closer
look-see. I’ll transfer the location to your screen.”

“Roger, Archer.” Her console projected three semi-transparent
monitors. Focusing through them, she had an unobstructed view of the real world.
Focusing on the right screen showed her Archer’s face, and he could see her in
his. Her left screen displayed what was behind them. And the larger center
screen showed what lay farther ahead or tactical, depending on her need and
preference.

“Going atmo. Archer, retract your guns, please.”

“Check.” With a touch on the control screen holograph, both
gun turrets slid down into the winglets, then the winglets themselves pulled
tighter into the body of
Viper
.