“I don't have to tell you that that was very bad form, Thorne,” she said icily.
“Well then, we can add that to all the other stuff you didn't bother to tell me,” Aiden shot back. “Starting with the fact that ERI facilities apparently run checkpoints looking for adult companions now.”
The facilitator blinked. “Well yes, I was aware of that new policy, implemented a few weeks ago. I didn't realize they'd begun enforcing it at Recluse, though. More importantly, why would those checkpoints matter to you? As long as you didn't panic and start shooting up guards for wanting to check your blood, it's something you could've walked past.” Her cold, calculating eyes narrowed. “Unless, for some reason, them looking for incredibly rare and expensive pre-release adult companions was a specific problem for you?”
Blast, he should've known better than to give an information broker a hint she could use to draw obvious conclusions. He kept his eyes on the display, resisting the urge to make any nervous gestures, and hastily changed the subject. “But that was just a slight hiccup that nearly got me and my crew killed. The more important thing you didn't tell us was that the cargo we were picking up from this facility is slaves!” He wasn't quite shouting by the end of that, but his composure was definitely frayed.
“Of course. No slaves aboard your ship.” Elyssa rolled her eyes. “Out of all the Stag ideals you've left by the wayside since beginning your life of piracy, that's the one you've held to?”
Her casual condemnation stung more than it should've. Especially considering the path her own life seemed to have taken since leaving him. “I have,” he growled.
The facilitator rolled her eyes again. “Well that's inconvenient. Would you believe me if I told you I intend to free them?”
Aiden couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. “Of course you do. After paying us a fortune to grab them, sticking your neck out by pissing off ERI and probably the entire Movement, out of the goodness of your heart you're going to help them start new lives and send them on their merry way.”
The severe woman looked at him coolly for a few seconds. “No, what I'm going to do is offer to hire them myself. They're technical experts, very, very competent developers of high end robotics and AI algorithms who were captured by the Deeks in a raid on an HAE facility. They're currently working with guns to their heads to produce the same sort of results for their hated corporate enemies, ERI.”
“Yeah thanks, already figured that all out,” he replied sarcastically. “Actually, no thanks to you for giving me a heads up about any of it. Which I should've realized, given how thorough your information was about everything else.” He shook his head in disbelief, half at her and half at himself for being so gullible. “So after everything they've gone through, these poor people will now be working with your gun to their heads.”
Elyssa's voice turned steely. “I intend to offer them an alternative to slavery, a generous salary and near complete autonomy. To say nothing of the protection of my substantial resources to hide them and, if necessary, fight to ensure they're not captured again. Their gratitude for the risk and effort I took to free them, combined with the generous compensation I'm offering as an employer, should make them more than happy to accept.”
“And if they do refuse, you let them go with your best wishes?” Aiden demanded. Her cold, merciless eyes offered all the answer he needed, and he sighed and wearily rubbed at his eyes. “Pretty it up all you like, it's still just slavery in a gilded cage.”
“If that's how you want to view it.” She waved dismissively. “It's still the job you took, the one I'm paying you for. Including the half you've already received.”
“You think this is a joke to me, Elyssa? I've never dealt in slaves. I've never carried a slave aboard my ship I didn't immediately free. I don't want to piss you off, but you're the one who put me in this impossible position.”
The facilitator was certainly starting to look pissed. “Thorne,” she said very carefully through a clenched jaw. “What are you going to do? You can't return them to HAE because the Deeks are purging that corporation's assets all over the universe, seizing or destroying them. Soon there won't even be an HAE to return them to. So what would you do then, offer to make twenty-six brilliant scientists part of your pirate crew? Even if you could accommodate them all, which you can't, do you think they'd want to spend the rest of their lives on one of the most hunted ships in the universe?”
It was Aiden's turn to answer by simply returning her gaze, although in his case because he knew she was right.
She snorted bitterly and continued. “Now consider what happens to them if you let them go. Even if you dumped them on a secluded colony to shovel cow dung and dig ditches for the rest of their lives, the Movement would eventually find them again, or I would, and their circumstances will be the same. The only difference would be that you'd be out the reward you've earned, and you'll have made an enemy you very much do not want.”
It saddened Aiden to be threatened by a woman he'd once trusted like a sister. But he knew how to respond to threats. He straightened, spearing her with his gaze. “You're the one who put me in this impossible position. You should've known better.”
Elyssa cursed and hurled something that looked valuable out of the display's field of view. “Okay fine, Aiden!” she shouted. “Go talk to your new buddies the HAE geniuses! Explain the situation to them in every particular! And then if you respect their freedom and autonomy so much, why don't you ask them what they want to do? Because I'm willing to bet your payment
