(eng) Mark Wayne McGinnis - Scrapyard Ship 4-7 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Jason listened as Ricket and the Gordon twins got deep into techy-weeds, far and above Jason’s head. Billy had already excused himself and Jason was readying to leave when he saw Nan’s face appear on the screen.

“Can you three take this conversation elsewhere?” Jason asked. Ricket and the two Gordons, seeing Nan on the screen, immediately stood and left the compartment.

“Jason. Are you all right? You look all right. But the message I received sounded so dire.”

“Nan, there’s no good way to tell you this.” Jason paused to let her prepare for bad news. “Boomer’s been abducted.”

Her face transformed from confusion to indignation. “What? How? Don’t you dare tell me it’s Stalls. I don’t think I can handle that, Jason.”

Jason didn’t say anything. His expression must have said it all because her tears came with an inability to catch her breath. “Has he … Has he hurt her? Oh my God, Jason, has he hurt our baby?”

“No. She’s absolutely fine,” he answered, not really sure if that was true or not.

Nan’s hands covered her face and eyes, as if she were saying a private prayer. Wiping her cheeks, she caught her breath. “What does he want? He must want something to trade …”

She then came to the conclusion herself. “He wants me, right? He wants to trade her life for me being his … whatever.”

“Among other things, yes.”

“What other things? Tell me specifically what he’s asked for.”

“Ten of our Craing warships and my head on a platter.”

She didn’t need to think about it. “I’ll go. Tell him I’ll go and be his fucking concubine if he wants, but Boomer needs to be returned first—safe and sound.”

“That’s not an option. He’ll never release her, Nan. That’s not the way he’s wired. Even you chained to his bed, and my head mounted on a wall, won’t be enough for him. There’s no honor with this guy. Boomer would inevitably be sold off to slavers, or worse. His hatred of me is that intense. Believe me on this.”

“Then what do we do?”

“I have some time; a few hours. I’m developing a plan. I’ll get her back and I’ll deal with Stalls then, once and for all.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head, still in disbelief. With concern in her eyes she said, “No, I’ll go to him … nothing’s more important than getting her back safe.” She started to tear up again.

“That simply isn’t going to happen. Let me deal with Stalls … trust me, Nan. I’ll get her back.”

Eventually she nodded, looking resigned to what Jason said. “On an another subject, the admiral’s furious. Your convoy arrived, but without The Lilly. The Craing are assembling, Jason. We need you.”

“Nan, I think you know I’m not new to fighting the Craing. But six dreadnaughts and a fleet of fifteen hundred Craing warships are too much for us. Even if we had the Allied fleet fully intact, it would still be a slaughter. The only way we survive is holding them off long enough to bring the Minian back into the fight.

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