“Who are you and what are youdoing on my ship?” John demanded, trying to keep the sense of urgency out ofhis voice.
“I am Daygarn. Bounty hunter ofthe First Lord of Groatus. And I have taken over your ship.”
That much was obvious. Johnwanted to know where his crew were, why they hadn’t tried to call him earlier. He stifled his questions. “What do you want with my ship? I have no quarrelwith the Lords of Groatus.”
Gillespie opened the door. Hehad Soghra by the back of the neck. “Look what the cat dragged in.” Hestopped as he saw John deep in discussion.
Soghra’s face paled and hewriggled out of Gillespie’s grip, dropping to the floor and inching to the deskwhere he sat curled in a ball with the desk front at his back.
“Who is that?” Daygarn demanded.
“Just my supply officer.”
“Show himself.”
John waved Gillespie to comeover. Gillespie looked at his empty hand, then lowered it. His look of ‘What’sgoing on?’ was answered by one of ‘I don’t know’, as he moved to John’s side inview of the screen
Daygarn seemed satisfied. “Ithas come to my attention that you know the whereabouts of the Skaren Roppa. You will deliver him to me and I will give you back your ship.”
“And if I refuse?” John asked politely. There was no need to deliberately provoke Daygarn.
“Then I will execute your crew.”
“How do I know you haven’t donethat already?”
Daygarn stepped out of screen fora moment. He returned with a vice-like grip around McReidy’s upper arm, thebarrel of a weapon jammed so hard against the side of her neck that sheflinched and turned away from it.
John’s body tensed as he saw thefear in her eyes. Gillespie grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t let him get to you,”came the whispered warning.
“Lieutenant Commander, you aredeveloping a habit of having ships stolen out from underneath you,” John spokequietly.
Her lip curled, eyes narrowing asshe tried to turn her head to catch a glimpse of his face and, he hoped, hisintent. Her nose wrinkled, her eyes began to water and she turned away again.
“I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happenagain,” was all she could answer.
“Make sure that it doesn’t. Iseveryone all right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Enough pleasantries,” Daygarnbroke in. “You have forty eight of your hours to deliver Roppa. For everyhour after that, I will execute one hostage… Starting with this one.” Hisgrip tightened on McReidy’s arm and she winced.
“If you harm one hair on herhead, I’ll kill you.” John’s voice was low and even.
McReidy’s eyes darted to himbriefly. His focus remained fully on the bounty hunter.
“You are hardly in any positionto make threats,” Daygarn laughed.
“Oh, it’s not a threat. It’s apromise.”
It was John’s sincerity thatwiped the smile from Daygarn’s face. His head turned slightly as his jawtwitched, and he ended the transmission.
“You know she’s furious withyou,” Gillespie remarked.
“I know.” John couldn’t help thesmall smile that softened his mood as he switched on his communicator. Thesignal was jammed. “Damn!”
Gillespie tried his – jammedalso. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Forty eight hours. It’ll takeus longer than that just to find Roppa.”
“Perhaps I can be ofassistance.” Soghra slowly rose from the floor.
“And why would you do that?” Johnasked cautiously.
“Because I am also on Daygarn’slist.”
John expelled his breath loudlyat Soghra’s confession. “I think it’s about time we had our talk.”
Soghra’s gaze flicked toGillespie then back to John.
“I know when I’m not wanted,”Gillespie lifted his hands in concession and backed towards the door.
John waited until they were alonebefore turning on Soghra. “You better come clean with me or I will turn youover.”
*
The door opened and Soghra wavedGillespie back in, his gaze drifting between the commander and the Ruscatan. Soghra shook his head; he would answer to no one else.
John sat silently against theedge of the desk while politics, legalities, convenience and blackmail rolledaround his head. Captain Decker had had a lot of uses for Soghra that he couldn’thave even dreamed about.
He turned his attention toGillespie. “Any suggestions on how to get the ship back?”
“We’re going to need help,”Gillespie answered.
“That’s just what I need. To getback to Command that I had my ship hijacked. They’re going to be ticked offenough when they get the repair bill.”
“Why don’t you deliver Roppa?”Soghra suggested.
John turned to Soghra with a lookthat said he understood the innuendo. “You know where he is. Don’t you?”
“I have one or two ideas. Thereare a few places he frequents in the next system.”
“How are we supposed to getthere?”
Roppa was an outlaw with a priceon his head. Any places he was familiar with would not welcome John’stransmissions. They would have to be visited personally… and very carefully.
Soghra shrugged. “Steal ashuttle. If you wish I can make all the arrangements.”
“We have no choice.”
Soghra nodded, a smile forming ashe headed for the door.
Gillespie waited for him to leavebefore asking, “Are you sure you can trust him?”
“I don’t know.” John shook hishead slowly. “Unless you can think of something better.” There was an awkwardsilence until John changed the subject. “What happened in your game? I missedthe end.”
“I was doing brilliantly. It gotdown to one other guy. He was sweating like mad and I knew he was about tofold. Then for some reason, he decided to risk everything he had to see me.” There was a slight pause. “I had a pair of twos. He wiped me out completely.”
“You tried bluffing with a pairof twos!”
“I couldn’t help it.” Gillespiewas almost apologetic. “I thought I had him. He was so easy to read…” Hisvoice trailed off as he relived the final moments of the game. Something elsewas irritating him. “About McReidy,” he broached the subject carefully.
“Again? Is there something goingon between you two that I should know about?” John knew the answer to thatquestion already.
“No. I know why you said
