Haywire by Justin R. Macumber Read Free Book Online

tomorrow.”
    “ Will do. Love you.”
    “ Love you too.”
    The rest of the evening went by in a blur brought on by too many surprises and too much traveling. By the time he curled up in bed, his head was buzzing. For months he’d dreaded visiting his mother, sure it would mean two weeks of being locked up with the Ice Queen of his childhood, but in just a few hours many of his preconceived notions were torn down. His mother still wasn’t the warmest woman in the universe, but when she laughed, it sounded real, and smiles rested on her lips more easily. She’d even hugged him and kissed his cheek before he went to bed. He had no idea who this Alex person was that had come into her life, but the impact he’d had on her was easy to see. As he drifted off to sleep, Shawn hoped he’d be able to meet the man soon.
    For the first time in a long time, Shawn contemplated the notion of having his mother back. It was a strange idea, but he was okay with that. Strange was different, and different was good.

Chapter Five
     
    Gimble cleared the airlock and stepped onto the gangplank that led down to a cavernous staging area ringed by the airlocks of other ships, hoping his face didn’t betray the fear that swirled in his stomach like a nest of worms. Men were gathered several paces away from the bottom of the ramp, central among them Captain Julien Laroux, the leader of the Crimson Kings. He didn’t look pleased.
    Laroux was not a large man. In fact, compared to some of the pirates standing around him, he seemed slight, but Gimble knew from experience that he was as slippery as a fox and just as clever. Like everyone who made their living amongst the stars, Laroux was dressed in a biosuit with retractable helmet that would protect him from the ravages of the vacuum. But, where the men in his command had to overlay that with bulky armor plates to keep them safe in battle, beneath his biosuit he wore a customized suit of armor made of nano-carbon fibers as thin and supple as cotton yet stronger than steel, and beneath that was a trauma layer that could dispense painkilling wound sealant if something actually made it through to damage him. Energy pistols were tucked into holsters low on his hips, ready to leap out like war hounds and kill at a second’s notice, and tucked into his belt was a coiled metal whip. Gimble gave the guns an uneasy glance, but Laroux’s arms were crossed over his chest.
    “ Stumble across some trouble, did we?” Laroux’s Parisian accent cut through the air like a plasma torch.
    Gimble blew out an exhale and walked down the gangplank as casually as he could. Showing any fear or hesitation would ensure his execution. “Three Alliance hunters had the audacity to think they could cross a Crimson King,” he said, forcing a broad smile on his face. “Crowe and I showed ‘em the error of their ways.”
    Laroux tilted his head and pointed at the closed cargo hatch viewable through a pressure sealed opening. “They were not too far off the mark, though, eh?”
    Turning, Gimble saw long dark streaks burned into the metal of the ship. Repairing those wouldn’t be cheap, but he shrugged his shoulders and looked back at his captain as though it was of little consequence. “Any dog can get a bite if it snaps its jaws enough times. We lost ‘em, though. Takes more than a flotilla of hunters to bring down a Crimson King, aye?”
    Several of the pirates standing behind Laroux laughed and nodded in agreement, but the captain wasn’t nearly as amused.
    “ Oui, it does, but while I am not one to avoid angering those that oppose me, I at least want to have gotten something for my troubles.”
    Gimble nodded so quickly his jaws smacked together. “Indeed, Captain, indeed. Rightly so. Fortunately we’ve brought something back with us. I think it’s highly valuable.”
    “ We shall see,” Laroux replied, his right eyebrow hoisted high on his forehead and his goatee circling a sneer.
    Ignoring the nausea