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Emerson nodded to her and then turned for the door, hands patting his sides and pockets, doing a quick inventory of his weapons. The only weapons I had were a laser gun and a rather large hunting knife strapped to my hip, hidden by my coat. I had given Julia everything else because she obviously had far more training with them. I trusted her accuracy even more than my own. Besides, I didn’t need more than one gun and a knife. Though there was no telling what danger we would end up encountering.
I doubted the men pursuing Julia would have caught up to us fast enough to cause problems, but I also doubted it would take long before they figured out where we had gone, even though we had taken appropriate precautions. If those people had enough resources, then we would be found eventually. I was hopeful that we would wrap up with Archuleta and be off-world before they figured out we were with mercenaries. Doubtful, but still possible.
Emerson led the way down to a small bay that housed a few hover vehicles. He hopped into a sleek, black hovercar that cost as much as a house. It was a simple two-door, but it looked elegant. I opened the passenger door and sat down on supple black leather and glanced around the interior, sufficiently impressed. It might have looked like a regular car, but an extra meter on the dash belied the power under the hood. He had made a few adjustments, including a gravity propulsion system that would offer an almost obscene amount of speed for that kind of vehicle.
The car turned over and purred contentedly. Emerson checked the meters on the dash while the ship’s outer bay doors opened behind us. “Nice car,” I commented.
Emerson grunted. “It’s my personal car, so let’s not destroy it on this trip, understood?”
Personal car? The man sure has taste.“I’m not the one driving.”
“Duly noted. Not a scratch anyway.”
I lifted my hands. “I have no intentions of hurting such a beautiful car.”
The door opened all the way and Emerson put the car in gear and it lifted effortlessly up and out of the bay. “Doesn’t being Goliath’s third come with perks like a nice car?”
“Yes, but I’m not with Goliath anymore. I had a nice car, but it wasn’t as nice as this one. Fairfax isn’t exactly a wealthy place.”
Emerson eased out into open air and the car joined seamlessly into air traffic. “So, you quit the drug business?”
His line of questioning made me uncomfortable, but I felt obligated to answer. It was one thing to tell Julia, but I didn’t know this mercenary. “Basically.”
“But you still have a good relationship with Goliath, I take it?”
“Yes.” I kept my answers brief, not wanting to share too much information.
Emerson seemed to catch on and he snorted. “I’m not being nosey; I just want to make sure that when you say you’re in with Goliath you’re telling the truth and not putting us all at further risk.”
I gave him a derisive look. “I’m not lying.”
“Carter obviously didn’t know about your drug connections, so it’s not a far leap for me to think you’re lying. Very few people make it out of this life with their life still intact.”
He means too many people die.He wanted to be sure I wasn’t marked for death by Goliath. A lot of people who deserted their gangs were hunted down and killed to protect the gang’s secrets. I wasn’t one of those people.
“I was lucky,” was all I said.
Emerson rubbed the scar that ran down his jaw. “How was it? Getting out, I mean.”
Not sure where he was going with his question, I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Transitioning to a normal life. I assume that’s what you did. How was it?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy. I’d been with Goliath since I was thirteen. I went to college and got a legitimate job to help pay for it. I had never been in a formal classroom before, and it was an adjustment. So was the job. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. I suppose that was the hard part. I kept expecting to fail at what I was doing or to somehow be drawn back into Goliath. But I wasn’t.”
“Until now.”
A smile cracked my face. “Until now. Which was a total coincidence. It’s been years since I got out. It feels a little strange being back in this kind of situation, but I couldn’t let them kill Julia.”
“Even though she was a stranger?” Emerson seemed genuinely curious.
I shrugged. I didn’t know how to answer him. “I couldn’t stand by and watch them kill her. It wasn’t right.”
“Yeah.” Emerson nodded. “I understand. I don’t think I could have stood by either. Do you regret leaving Goliath?”
“No.” I truly didn’t. Sometimes I missed my brothers, but I never regretted giving up the lifestyle. I didn’t even realize how wrong it all was until I was far away from it. I did things while I was part of the gang I would always regret, and there was no way to change that.I will never repeat those mistakes.
Drawing myself out of my gloomy thoughts, I peered at Emerson. “Are you thinking of leaving the life of a mercenary behind?”
