Stealing Coal Read online

  Jill did the math. “What about the missing two percent?”

  Rune stopped next to Jill and the doors slid open. The android gave her a warm smile. “The pod could malfunction and blow up when you jettison away. Death would be instantaneous.”

  “Great.” Jill wished the android hadn’t shared that little possibility with her. “Lead the way please.”

  The droid turned left. “The pods are one level lower. We’ll take the lift down.”

  “Thank you for this.” Jill meant it. She just wanted to get away from her father’s insane, woman-drugging friend.

  “I enjoy being helpful.”

  “You really are.”

  They entered the lift. Rune didn’t touch the buttons but the doors closed. “You can remote link to the computer?”

  “Yes.” Rune smiled. “It saves time while I move around the ship to do my chores.”

  Thoughts of Coal had Jill really edgy to get to the life pod. The things were designed to full blast away from ships in case of pirate takeovers or ship failures. As long as the Jenny hadn’t gotten too far away she should be able to hail them to pick her up before the Cutter would have time to catch her.

  What if Captain Varel comes after me? Her eyes closed with that thought. Her ship wouldn’t be great in a shuttle-to-shuttle battle but then Coal had taken out a huge freighter. Her eyes opened when the lift doors did. She had faith he would think of something to save their asses again if it came down to it.

  They stepped into a cargo hold. Two life pods were secured to the deck near the far bulkhead by the exterior loading doors. Jill jogged forward, intent on releasing one of them from the tethers. All she’d have to do would be to activate the docking doors, seal the pod, and it would get sucked out. She would activate the engines at that point to get her away from the Cutter.

  “What are you doing, Rune?”

  The male voice made Jill spin toward another door she hadn’t seen. Captain Varel stood there glaring at the android. Four of his men were behind him, looking mean, unhappy, and tough.

  “Are you giving our guest a tour?” Sarcasm dripped from Barney Varel’s cold tone.

  “She doesn’t wish to marry you.” Rune shrugged. “She made logical arguments to release her.”

  “You stupid, useless pile of synthetic skin.” The captain jerked his head. “I should have allowed that driver to take you to the incinerator factory instead of trading a barrel of banned booze for you.” His cold stare landed on Jill. “Where do you think you were going?”

  Fear made Jill’s heart race. “You can’t force me to marry you. Coal will come after me.”

  He grinned coldly. “That dumb hulk of silver skin? He believes you met me and fell madly in love.” His boots struck the deck when he approached. “I’m irresistible.”

  Her gaze darted frantically around the cargo hold, looking for an escape, but there wasn’t one. She backed up as he and his men approached. They spread out to corral her into a corner.

  “Why are you doing this? I thought you said you were friends with my father. Big Jim obviously trusted you.”

  The captain paused, holding up a hand to stop his advancing men. “Let me tell you about your daddy, Jillian. We had a twenty-eighty profit split. Want to guess who got the much lower portion?” His face turned red. “Me. He ended up richer than I could ever dream of being while I still have to work just to keep paying for my lifestyle. He promised me he’d leave me something but do you know what he did instead?”

  Jill’s shoulders straightened and some of her fear eased to a cold kind of anger. “Let me guess. He screwed you over somehow. I thought you said you knew him. He had a reputation for being a total bastard. Didn’t that ‘bloody’ part of his nickname tip you off that he wasn’t the nicest guy?”

  “He left me you,” Barney Varel snarled.

  “Then problem solved. I’ll be out of your hair forever. I don’t care if you promised to take care of me. I swear you’ll never see me again if you just let me go.”

  The smile he gave Jill froze her inside. She’d never seen so much animosity directed at her. “You don’t understand. Jim happened to be the most ruthless yet intelligent man I ever met. He wanted to make certain I kept you alive and well after he died. He left you all the money he had.”

  Jill blinked repeatedly, staring at the man blankly. “I don’t have his money. If it were on his ship, it went with him when Viking blew up. The Jenny and the cargo aboard it were all I inherited.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “You’re right. I don’t.”

  Jill backed up until the bulkhead trapped her with nowhere else to go when he inched closer. Captain Varel glared down at her from his slightly taller height and lifted a hand. His finger pointed directly at her chest, pressing right over her left breast.

  “You’re the key to his money.”

  Jill pushed against his chest with both hands, hard enough to knock him back a few stumbling steps. “He never said a word to me about where his money is. Do you think if I knew where it was that I’d be trading with lowlifes in deep space, risking my neck on every job? I can’t even afford to pay a crew. I work with three androids I salvaged. I love the Jenny but that shuttle has more things broken down on it than what actually works.”

  “Unbelievable. He seriously never told you?” Disbelief widened the guy’s eyes.

  “No.”

  The scowl returned. “Have you ever heard of a three-scan lock bank?”

  “No.”

  “Your father had. There are two of them on Earth. That’s where all his money is stored.”

  Jill was not sure what to say.

  “Damn stupid bitch,” he hissed. “They use scans to access the account information. Instead of numbers or passwords or even identification cards, they use your DNA from a blood sample, a genetic scan of your hair, and a retinal scan of your eye.”

  Confused, Jill just gawked at him.

  “You’re coded into the account.”

  Realization slowly dawned. “You mean―”

  He cut her off. “To access it, you have to be alive. Dead or frozen blood is detected, rejected, and it won’t allow access. The same goes for your hair and retinal scans. It verifies you’re alive every damn time. Your father set up the account with a cap on how much can be withdrawn any given time.” He stepped closer but then halted, his hands gripping his hips so hard that his knuckles turned white. “It’s going to take me at least ten years of keeping you alive to use you to withdraw all of it.”

  Horror gripped Jill. “You can have it all. I don’t want it. I just want you to let me go.”

  “Never,” he ground out harshly. “At least not for the next ten years, sweetheart. After the account is drained I don’t give a damn what happens to you.”

  This can’t be happening.

  “Jim felt certain I’d fall in love and grow to care for you in that time.” The captain snorted. “Not damn likely but I will make a deal with you.”

  Jill met his cold glare, feeling numb inside.

  “I won’t beat the shit out of you every time you pull this kind of stunt if you behave and stop trying to escape. If you’re really good, I may even allow you to walk away from me at the end still breathing.”

  Tears blinded her but she tried to blink them back. “Coal will come for me.” God, I hope so. Please, she silently pleaded.

  “The cyborg?” Captain Varel turned his head, grinned at his men, and darted an amused look at each one of them. The amusement left his expression. “She thinks metal heads are intelligent.” He suddenly lunged, a hand fisting in Jill’s hair.

  She cried out when he jerked her away from the bulkhead, spun her to face away from him, and his other arm wrapped around her waist. He held her in front of him. She didn’t fight. The pain of her hair being pulled by the tight grip he had on her kept her still.

  “Watch how damn smart they are,” he whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her nauseous from the unwanted in