The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper by Thomas Wright Read Free Book Online

ain’t no murderer,” Chip said.
    Jen and Smoke agreed with Chip. They all knew they operated in the gray area of the law, but there was no killing or raping like pirates did. “Let’s put it to a vote.” the captain said. “Majority rules. All in favor say aye.” Cap, Mike and Spaz, the skinny guy with the baggy clothes, said aye. Chip and Jen disagreed, and everyone turned to look at Smoke, the little guy with the towel burns on his neck.
    “C’mon Smoke, you have to vote,” the captain said.
    “Smoke, they tried to kill you. That old man was gonna strangle you dead,” Mike added. He hadn’t said anything during the whole meeting. He leaned towards the table and smacked Smoke in the back of the head, bouncing his head off the mess table. Smoke looked at Mike with watery eyes and Mike motioned with his head toward the captain.
    Smoke dropped his head again and said, “Aye Captain.”
    “Good.” The captain sounded pleased. He handed Spaz a key and asked him to unlock the weapons locker and pass them out. The captain hadn’t planned on Mike going with them. He wanted his vote but didn’t want him to go along and aggravate the broken leg. Mike argued that he could take a rifle, and if they put him in a high position he could provide cover fire. The captain reluctantly agreed and they started packing their hover truck.
     
    Ben carried his foot locker back to his room and laid his katana and knife on the bed. He would spend some time sharpening them before bed.
    Janet had made a roast chicken with potatoes and carrots. There was fresh bread and tea. Ben and Harold were unusually quiet tonight. There was always some kind of talk about farming and equipment and crops or some barber shop gossip about someone in town, but not tonight. She wondered if they had had an argument over something.
    They are big boys; they will work it out, she thought. Then she thought about that beautiful young woman who had come looking for him in the morning.
    “Ben, did you run into your friend Dawn today in town?” Ben looked at her, confused.
    “She stopped here before nine this morning looking for you. She said she had heard you were here on Anubis,” Janet said. “She was here only for a short time and wanted to look you up.”
    Harold perked up at the mention of the lovely young woman and waited to hear what Ben had to say. Ben needed to figure out this mystery quick.
    “I haven’t seen Dawn in years, Ma. How did she look?”
    Before Ma could answer, Harold said, “Ben my boy, she is exquisite.”
    Ben chuckled, thinking Harold was getting in hot water, but Ma just agreed with him. She went on to say how she had beautiful black hair and had a wonderful sundress on. Mystery solved , Ben thought. “I wish I could have caught up with her,” he said. “Maybe she will be back through here again.”
    “Son, you need to hire a ship and chase her down right this minute,” Harold told Ben.
    “Nah, I’m sure she’ll be around.”
     
    Andrea woke up right at sundown and changed into her thermal suit. She pulled on a pair of leather pants and her vest and slipped a boot knife into her boot. Her leather vest had electronics built into the collar that let her communicate with the hover car and her soldiers. When the elevator reached her floor, she exited and told the car to start, to unlock her door and to enter navigation coordinates to where she wanted it to go and land. When she was visiting the Vander Hoyts earlier that morning she had spotted a place to park her hover car in the field across from the farm where it wouldn’t be seen. She could leave the car and find a place where she could watch the house. She saw the spacers were still on planet. She didn’t know what Ben would be doing tonight, but she wasn’t going to leave those sweet old people unguarded.
     
    Ben got up from the table and started clearing dishes. This was his contribution to the evening meal. He would do the dishes then turn in for the night. He