Free Drifter's War by William C. Dietz Page A

tell.
    "Put the weapon on the floor, take two steps back, and place your hands on top of your head."
    The voice was calm, professional, and very sure of itself.
    Lando swallowed hard. What should he do? Fight or surrender? Melissa made up his mind. She stood and moved into the light.
    "Who is it, Pik? What will they do to us?"
    That's when it hit him. If he fired the woman would fire back. Melissa would die and that was completely unacceptable.

    Lando put the blast rifle on the floor, took two steps back, and placed his hands on top of his head.
    "Good," the voice said. "Very good. Now, let's get out of here before all hell breaks loose. They have the tender under surveillance, Cap feels like hell, and the drifter is a long ways off."
    It took Lando a moment to understand. "Della? Is that you? What the…?"
    The light went out and color swirled in front of Lando's eyes. The next thing the smuggler knew his arms were full of rather nicely proportioned femininity. Lips touched his and arms went around his neck. The smell of leather and perfume made a heady combination. He held on and didn't want to let go.
    It was Melissa who broke it up, switching from child to adult, forever practical. "Break it up you two… times a-wasting. Besides, where's my hug?"
    "Right here." The voice came from the doorway.
    "Daddy!"
    Melissa scurried to the doorway, jumped into her father's arms, and laughed when he stumbled backward.
    The sound of a siren caused them to freeze momentarily, then galvanized them into action.
    Cap lowered Melissa to the ground and pulled her away.
    Della tugged on Lando's hand. "Come on! The car's up front."
    They jumped to the ground, sprinted the length of the trailers, and rounded the robo-hauler's chunky front end.
    Lando saw they were in some sort of warehouse district. There were low blocky buildings, widely spaced float lights, and stacks of cargo modules. Something roared, and a long, thin shaft of fire raced toward the sky. The spaceport! It was one, maybe two miles away!
    The ground car sat two feet from the roller's massive bumper. From the way the vehicle was positioned Lando could tell that Della had pulled in front of the robo-hauler and forced it to stop. Assuming a hijacking or other criminal activity the truck's on-board computer had summoned the police. And from the sound of it, they were damned close.
    Doors slammed as they piled into the car. Lando was thrown forward as Della put the transmission into reverse and stepped on the gas. Tires screeched as she stood on the brakes, changed gears, and accelerated away. The sirens started to fade.
    "Where are we headed?" Lando had to yell to make himself heard from the back seat.
    "The spaceport," Della yelled back. "They're keeping an eye on the tender, which means they're watching Junk as well, so I hired a jobber. She's waiting for us now."
    Junk was a deep-space tug. She'd been designed and built by Melissa's mother from salvaged parts and whatever else happened to be lying around at the moment. Hence the name Junk.
    Jobbers eked out a marginal existence by carrying cargoes from one ship to another, ferrying passengers to and from the planet's surface, and other less legitimate tasks. No one used them unless forced to do so, and knowing that, the jobbers charged exorbitant prices.
    "A jobber?" Cap demanded. "They'll charge an arm and a leg!"
    Della glanced toward the passenger seat. Her voice was hard and cold. "You should have thought of that before you got drunk and spilled your guts."
    Cap flinched as if struck across the face. He turned toward the window.
    Melissa looked from one adult to the other and frowned. Della meant well, but it wouldn't do any good. Daddy was Daddy. She didn't like it when the adults became angry with each other.
    Lando braced himself as the car skidded into a corner, slid sideways, and accelerated away. The spaceport was up ahead. "How did you find us anyway? We could have been anywhere."
    Della smiled grimly. "It