Free Drifters' Alliance, Book 3 by Elle Casey Page B

door. “How’d you get in without me hearing you?”
    I shrug. “Guess you were too busy.” I point at the cart in front of her. “You ready yet? We’re on a tight schedule here, you know.”
    I glance at Macon and get a wink from him as he pretends to dust himself off. Shit rolls downhill here, and Macon just moved up the hill from you, lying Romanii girl. I wonder if she’s ignorant to me coming back for my knife because her grandfather has chosen not to tell her he found it or because she hasn’t been back in contact with him since they separated. I can’t imagine he’ll keep the information from her for long, but I’m going to wait and let her hear it from him. It’ll have more impact that way.
    I smile inwardly at the idea that her grandfather and I have a little secret between us that, for a time, we will both be keeping from her. She’s going to freak when she finds out. It almost makes it worth it that I have another mouth to feed on this ship.
    “Yes, I’m ready,” she says, annoyed. “I just need to get some baskets to put the food in.”
    “You have some?”
    “I’ve made several, but I have to find where … I put them.”
    You mean, you need to find where your papa put them. Nodding, I gesture toward the door. “Great. Macon and I will see you in about a half hour, then. At the airlock.”
    “He’s not going to help me?”
    “He has something else to do first. Don’t worry. I’m sure you can handle it.” I look out into the plants for a few seconds before leaving, letting her wonder what I might know about her little scheme in there.
    Macon waits until we’re out in the main corridor before speaking. “Where are we going? Did you get your knife?”
    “Yeah. And I met her grandfather, too.” I head in the direction of the flightdeck and Macon keeps pace at my side.
    “Oh, shit, he showed up?”
    “Yes. With my knife in his hand.”
    “Did you fight him?”
    “No. He looks like he’s about a hundred Earth years old.”
    “So he just handed it over?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “What are you going to do about him?”
    I shrug. “I don’t know. For now, he’ll help in there.”
    “Is he going to join us at the table?”
    “No. He wants to stay hidden.” I pause and look up at Macon. “He says he wasn’t hiding from me. What do you think he meant by that?”
    Macon shrugs. “I have no idea. Why would I?” He looks way too innocent to be believed.
    “Oh, I don’t know … maybe because you were in on a plan to come after me and my ship.   Maybe because you said shit about this all being a setup?”
    He has the grace to look embarrassed. Dropping eye contact, he starts rubbing his hands together. “People say things they don’t mean sometimes. In the heat of the moment.”
    I reach up and push my fist under his chin, lifting his head. “And sometimes people say exactly what they mean to and then regret it later.”
    He jerks his face away from my hand, his mood going sour. “Just let it go, Cass. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”
    “Really? Why not?”
    “Because. Captain Bob is dead, and Tremblay is long gone. He’ll never find you out here.”
    “Unless he has some kind of tracker on me. Or a listening device.”
    “Does he?” Macon goes a little scared at that.
    I shrug. “Someone does. They’re disabled now, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t send them a lot of good info before we got to them.”
    “But we went through the wormhole …”
    “Which wouldn’t make one bit of difference if they had locator beacons in this part of the galaxy too, now would it?”
    “You really think Tremblay’s that sophisticated?”
    “Never underestimate the enemy, Macon. Don’t you remember anything from our training?” I move down the hall toward the flightdeck, not caring whether Macon follows or not. For a few minutes back there in the biogrid I was imagining we could be friends again, but now I’m back to thinking I’ll never be able to trust him. He could be