Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3) Read online

  “You guys never let me out.”

  “That’s because we know you,” the team chorused.

  Kelly Samosa sat at her terminal in Naval Lodgings. She was bored and Star Base Hartog was a long way out. It looks like it’ll be another slow one, she thought and opened the email queue.

  They hadn’t had a Navy ship for almost a month, but that might be considered a blessing since those visits usually brought wounded for the hospital and funeral caskets for return to Earth. They always made her sad. Then, there were the guys who booked into the lodgings.

  When they weren’t hitting on her, they were looking for a way to make it to their next set of orders. She sighed when she remembered Todd, all curly brown hair and eyes so blue you could drown in them.

  Yeah, not all the guys who came through were a loss. It really was a shame she’d moved that one on so fast. She flicked through the emails, mentally prioritizing them, and her gaze noticed one from the Norma Gene 56974. Her heart skipped a beat.

  It had taken a couple of days to reach her, so she let herself relax a little. If anything bad had happened to Ryan, the captain would have sent this much faster. After a closer look at it, she saw it was Ryan who’d sent it and not the captain. She smiled.

  That was good news. She loved hearing from her bro.

  It was, as always, short and sweet.

  Package delivered as requested. He was very appreciative and says he owes you one. Just so you know, he was the package that caused the Morgana to go level places. I guess looks aren’t everything, huh?

  “Sonofabitch!” Kelly shook her head. “And I had him right here and all to myself. I guess this is one time I can claim the guy was more than he seemed.”

  She moved hastily to her other screen, pulled Todd’s records, and took a good, long look at his picture. “Maybe next time, Todd. Maybe next time.”

  Her brother was right, though. No matter how blue she remembered his eyes being, he really wasn’t much to look at. Maybe she’d imagined the curls.

  Chapter Five

  Despite Frog’s aspersions, they’d made it to One R&D safely. Brenden and Avery set the shuttle down on the roof, and the team rattled down the stairs and into the building itself.

  Stephanie left Todd in the guys’ common room. “I gotta go and get changed,” she told him. “I can’t go clubbing in this.”

  He had opened his mouth to argue that she looked fine when a hand grasped his shoulder.

  “Don’t say it, Todd,” Lars warned as she headed out the door. “Never tell a girl she looks fine when she’s said she needs to change.”

  Thinking about it, he acknowledged that the man had a point.

  As soon as the door closed behind her, the guys began to strip out of their armor. They vanished down a corridor leading to their rooms.

  “We have to get changed, too,” Lars told him when Frog and Johnny returned dressed in civilian clothes. He patted Todd’s shoulder and headed up the corridor. “Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

  Todd eyed the other two men and wondered how long it would take for the trouble to start. He heard a door close down the corridor and Frog looked over at him.

  Uh oh. Here it comes, he thought as the man came over and studied him carefully while he circled slowly for a complete analysis. Todd resisted the urge to turn with him and stood as still as he could. From the other side of the room, Johnny watched them, an amused expression on his face.

  Frog finally came all the way around and stood in front of him.

  “You’ll do,” he said and made it sound as though he was making a concession.

  Behind him, his teammate rolled his eyes, and Brenden and Avery emerged. They were dressed for a night out on the town and came over to stand with Frog.

  “What do you think?” Avery asked, and the shorter man frowned.

  “I think he’s missing something.”

  Todd cleared his throat. “Right here, guys. I’m standing right in front of you.”

  Frog turned wondering eyes to Brendan, who met his look with a wide-eyed stare and asked, “Did you hear something?”

  His teammate shook his head. “Nah, must have been the wind.”

  Todd groaned and caught Johnny’s eye over their head. The guy was definitely smirking. He opened a locker on one side of the room. “I know what it is.”

  “You, too?” he asked, although he knew the answer. He’d seen this kind of hazing in the barracks and been the new guy, as well. Hell, all he’d ever been was the new guy—on one team. His spirits dipped.

  Something of what he’d thought must have shown on his face because Frog frowned. Determined not to ruin the evening, Todd made himself focus on what Johnny hauled out of the locker.

  “I need body armor to go clubbing?” he asked.

  “Yes!” the guys chorused, and his eyebrows rose.

  “What kind of clubs do you guys go to?” he asked while he unbuttoned his shirt.

  Johnny brought the armor over, and he was relieved to see it was one of the newer, lighter brands. It was still effective but less obtrusive than the cheaper models. He took it out of the other man’s hands and examined it carefully.

  The team moved away. Some sat on the couch and turned the tv on while others retrieved water from a cooler in the corner. Johnny stayed close and didn’t say anything. He simply watched as the younger man determined how the armor worked.

  He’d barely managed to figure the straps out when another door opened and Johnny looked up. Todd pivoted to see who’d arrived and his jaw dropped. Fortunately, Stephanie didn’t notice. She was too busy bitching at the yellow-striped cat.

  The creature pranced beside her, its head tilted up and eyes appealing.

  “What do you mean, you’re hungry?” she demanded while Johnny placed a fingertip under Todd’s chin and pushed his mouth closed. “You just ate.”

  The cat gave a soft roar, followed by a grumbling growl.

  She was unsympathetic. “Well, why don’t you take a bite out of Frog next time?”

  “Hey!” Frog yelled, and the cat’s head snapped toward him.

  The second feline appeared through the door and the three of them passed through the common room and out the other side. Frog watched them warily the entire way, and the yellow-and-black cat fixed him with a predatory stare all the way, giving a series of grunting coughs as it followed Stephanie out the door.

  “Nice six-pack, Toddster,” she yelled before the door closed behind them and he blushed.

  “Did that cat actually laugh?” he asked as he dragged the armor over his head to hide his embarrassment.

  “Did she compliment your stomach?” Frog wanted to know.

  “Huh?”

  “Because I don’t see why she would.”

  He felt the blush return. “I guess she did. I was kinda chunky in high school and had a girlfriend who tried to get me to diet.”

  “Did it work?”

  Todd laughed. “Hell, no! I dropped her.”

  Frog frowned and wandered over to watch as he began to work with the straps. “So what did work, then?” He patted his own flat stomach “Because, you know, she never compliments mine.”

  Johnny gave a short bark of laughter, and Lars groaned. “Do I want to know?”

  “Better you don’t,” Brenden told him but Todd answered Frog’s question.

  “Way too much time in the hospital. I lost a fair amount of weight in there. I healed fast, though, and came back better than before.” He glanced at Frog. “Yeah, I’d recommend the hospital for weight loss but not so much the method for getting in there.”

  “Yeah?” the man asked. He seemed about to push for the why but caught the look on Todd’s face and changed the subject. “So, how are you at dancing?”

  He spun on the spot and followed with a couple of fancy steps. “The Toddster can dance,” he told them and struck a pose.

  Frog wrinkled his lip. “Well, we’d better go find him, then,” he said and studied him acer
bically. “Because damn, you need to get something done about that.”

  “Screw you, too,” Todd told him as he finished with the straps.

  “Not in your wildest dreams, honey,” the man answered as he checked the armor to make sure it was tightly buckled.

  Johnny laughed and handed him his shirt. “I’d give up while you are ahead,” he advised. “There’s no dealing with him when he’s in this kind of a mood.”

  “Mood?” Todd quipped. “I thought he was always like that.”

  Frog watched as he buttoned his shirt and did another walk around. “I guess you’ll do.”

  “Do for what?”

  “Well...” he began and was elbowed out of the way by Lars.

  “I think you guys have had enough fun for one evening,” he told them and took Todd by the arm. “She won’t be very happy if we make her late.”

  The guys all headed to the door like he’d given an order, which Todd supposed he had. He couldn’t resist one last stab as they went, though.

  “Did I hear her say to take a bite out of Frog?”

  “Hey!”

  Ms E stared at the small light flashing on her screen. Although she was in the office, she’d watched the guys while they gave Todd their own version of a welcome. She’d promised Stephanie she wouldn’t let them go too far and had been pleased to see she hadn’t had to step in.

  Now, her screen flashed a warning and she had to pay attention. At least it had waited until the kids were on their way. She tapped the keyboard and pulled up the video feed that sent the alarm.

  “Well, well, well, boys, aren’t we an enterprising group of pricks, today?”

  She studied the feed a little longer and raised her eyebrows. “Oh, my, that is impressive! I wonder where you got your hands on that? Your last heist?”

  She winced as one of them walked into a potted plant, knocked it over, and triggered another alarm. “Dickless wonder... How did you get this far with coordination like that?”

  Their clumsiness wasn’t what had her attention, though, and nor was their dress.

  “Neon flashes? Who dressed you? Your girlfriend?”

  She wasn’t entertained. The large box they carried was far more interesting and she narrowed her eyes to focus as they worked their way through the garage and up the stairs.

  “Goddammit! Did you have to break the lock?”

  Ms E focused again when another feed picked them up and tracked them. She nodded her approval at the seamless transition but groaned when they reached the top of the stairs. Admittedly, they moved quietly, but they were so clumsy.

  “Mind the... Oh, for heaven’s sake. Never mind. I wanted to change the colors in that room, anyway.”

  They put the box down and two of them immediately headed over to the doors and checked the adjoining rooms.

  “Well, it’s a little late for that, boys. You shoulda checked for occupants before you went inside. Where the fuck did you get your training?”

  When she saw what they’d carried up the stairs, her eyes widened and immediately narrowed in ire.

  “Oh, no, you didn’t. This now became personal.”

  Elizabeth retrieved her tablet and sent a hasty, secured text to the body double she’d had occupying the apartment in her place.

  Don’t go home. Change your looks and take twelve months off—the agreed payment is in your account.

  She pulled up another screen and sent the payment through, waiting long enough for the bank to verify it had received the funds.

  Will contact you three months prior to end of year with further instructions.

  For a moment, she paused, drummed her fingers on the desk, and added, Assume all valuables in the apartment are lost as per our agreement, sub-part 3. An additional 50K credits will be provided for reimbursement. DO NOT RETURN TO APARTMENT.

  As soon as she’d sent it, she flicked to another security feed to monitor the woman as her tablet pinged. She was in a meeting but glanced at the device and excused herself hastily.

  Through another feed, Ms E watched as the woman read her text, her eyes widening when she reached the warning. Her reply was short and succinct.

  Understood. Will look forward to your call. I always wanted a holiday on the beach.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and remained connected long enough to see her double book the tickets before she shut her system down.

  “BURT, I’m stepping out for a while. I have a problem to deal with at the apartment.”

  Elizabeth located a comm link and pulled it on before she snatched her purse up and headed to the door. She filled him in on the way to the garage and severed the link when she got into the car.

  “Right, you sonsofbitches...” she muttered as the vehicle powered up.

  “Good afternoon, Elizabeth,” the AI greeted her, and she groaned.

  “Good afternoon, Frank.”

  The AI paused. “Frank?”

  “Yeah,” Elizabeth told it. “That’s what I’m going to call you. We keep having these conversations, so you need a name.”

  “Usually you refer to me as ‘you uptight rules-mongering asshole,’” the AI informed her. “Are you sure you wish to grant me another designation?”

  “Yes,” she told it acidly. “I hereby designate you as Frank—or today, as ‘shift your ass, Frank’ because I’m in a hurry.”

  The AI was silent for a moment. “I must remind you that this vehicle is noted under the alert system and that your license has been tagged as a repeat offender. Should this journey result in more than a hundred infringements or violations of the Federation’s traffic codes, your license will be suspended.”

  Ms E frowned and pressed the button to activate the flight engine. The engine refused to start.

  “For God’s sake, Frank! I really am in a hurry.”

  “You must acknowledge the warning before I am permitted to start,” the AI informed her and she sighed.

  “Very well, Frank, I heard your warning. Now, get me in the air.”

  BURT interrupted before she could say any more. “I am tracing the security breaches in your apartment,” he told her. “We will deal with them together.”

  She snorted. “I’m reasonably sure you won’t be there when I arrive, BURT, but thank you.”

  “You are welcome,” he told her, and she was surprised when he had nothing to say about the rest.

  “The boy must be learning tact,” she muttered, took hold of the steering column, and pulled the car into a steep vertical ascent.

  “That is not a regulation entry for Airway 342,” the AI intoned. “A warning has been appended to your account. Do you wish to hear it, now?”

  “Sure. Go ahead,” Ms E told it and slid into the nearest lane.

  “Dangerous merging,” the AI warned, two sentences into its spiel. “We have been fined one hundred and eighty credits.”

  “So, shoot me,” she told it, changed lanes again, and checked her rearview mirror.

  “I am not equipped to do that.”

  “Seriously?” she asked and frowned when a dark-blue sky vehicle changed lanes behind her. “Are you clowns for real?”

  “I must assure you that the Traffic Authority is very serious,” Frank responded, “that it does not employ clowns, and that the fine is real.”

  “Can it, Frank. Momma’s busy.”

  Frank did not respond, and Elizabeth took another look in the mirror, changed lanes calmly, and moved as though she intended to take the next off-ramp. A second car joined the first to mirror her movements and she sighed.

  “Fine. You want to play, assholes? Let’s play.”

  She gunned the engine.

  “We have received a ticket for excessive speed, four hundred credits.”

  Behind her, the cars increased speed. Ms E switched lanes—once, then twice, and finally, a third time.

  “We have received a ticket for changing lanes in a dangerous manner, three hundred credits, another for changing lanes without indication or adequate warn
ing, two hundred credits. We have received a ticket for unauthorized gestures and using the forbidden phrase ‘butt monkey,’ five hundred credits.”

  She let the AI’s tones flow over her as she changed another three lanes and realized she needed to change her license plates and maybe her license—before she got any more tickets. Tamora Clynes didn’t have a record.

  Elizabeth made the change and fixed the plates. She slipped into the narrow space between a heavy haulage floater and another vehicle and pressed the switch she’d had installed.

  “We have received a ticket for unauthorized tampering with a factory standard flying vehicle, fine one thousand credits, another infringement notice for the use of unauthorized plates, fine to follow of nine hundred credits and a felony charge is pending.”

  She gritted her teeth and pulled the car into a steep climb. “Thank you, Frank.”

  “You are most welcome, Elizabeth. We have received a ticket for illegal entry to a skyway, nine hundred and fifty credits.”

  She hadn’t had time to change the car’s surface so its color could be altered, but she swore that was coming. All she needed was a quiet month or two to install the right technology. A horn sounded a panicked note, long and loud, outside her window.

  “Infringement road rage indicative behavior, two hundred credits. We have received a ticket for use of foul language on a public roadway to wit “crotch-mongering, goat-sucking, shit-licking asshole,” two hundred and forty credits, unprovoked and unwarranted usage of a warning device, four hundred credits.”

  “Shut your mouth, Frank. Momma needs to focus.”

  “I do not have the orifice required. We have been issued a ticket for causing a skyway accident, five hundred credits. We have been issued a ticket for leaving the scene of an accident, seven hundred and fifty credits.”

  Elizabeth swore under her breath.

  “We have been issued a ticket for—”

  She pulled the blaster she had strapped under her seat and shot the intercom. It fizzed and crackled in an accusatory fashion, and the cars on either side of her veered away in panic.

  “I wonder if I’ve reached a hundred, yet,” she murmured.