Smuggler's Dilemma Read Free Page A

"That much?"
    "It’s worth at least one point two."
    "Roger. I haven’t seen even half of the CA-12s out there and I’ll drop off the container, first thing."
    If Nick heard me, he wasn’t saying. He was back to gesturing in the air, dismissing virtual windows and scrolling virtual panes. I had three shipyards to visit. Brinkman’s, Cintani’s and I was saving Weird Wally’s Bone Yard for last. It was three times the size of the other yards and his advertising was pasted all over the space station. Apparently, Wally’s hook was that he was a little unstable and likely to cut you a good deal even if it wasn’t a good deal for him. I didn’t believe it for a minute, but if he had the ships, I was all in.
    I had ninety minutes to make it from Puskar Stellar to the Naval Academy at Coolidge where I’d pick up Tabby. Nick had chosen a hotel close to the transportation terminal which doubled as the terminus for the space elevator as well as a stop for the mag-lev (MAG-L) train that joined many of the Martian cities. At the Coolidge terminal I caught a cab and gave it instructions to fly out to the Naval Academy.
    The purple-hued Martian forest that had been planted centuries before was beautiful. Flying over it took my breath away. I recognized the landscape from the last time we’d stayed in Coolidge. Nick, Marny and I had really done it up by staying at a beautiful lakeside resort which sat on the same lake bordering the Naval Academy. When the taxi stopped, Tabby was standing outside of the visitor’s center in her dress whites.
    "Heya, hot-stuff," I said, opening the door. She jogged over to the cab.
    "Privacy screen," she said as she jumped in, dropped her bag, and pulled the door closed. I raised my eyebrows, but wasn’t left wondering very long as she launched herself on top of me. The model of cab I’d chosen was just a big circular couch with a hole in the middle to put your feet. I had made a good choice. She pushed me back into the cushion, straddled me and gave me a kiss that I’ll never forget. After a few minutes of intense welcoming, she finally released me.
    "Tell me you’re making up for lost time and if we were together it wouldn’t always be like that," I said, panting for breath. I was half joking, but wow, really only half.
    She smiled wickedly and I took a moment to look her up and down. She’d let her hair grow out from the hard-core buzz-cut she’d given herself just before starting at the Academy. Her muscle tone had also significantly increased. When she held me down, I wasn’t sure I’d have had an option to not comply.
    "As if a rogue like you would ever settle down with a respectable woman." Tabby was looking at me playfully. I took advantage and pushed her over onto the opposite couch. Two could play at that game. Her lithe body wriggled beneath me and I enjoyed running my hands over the soft skin that covered those firm muscles.
    Breathless, Tabby finally broke us apart and shifted so we were lying next to each other. "Jupiter, I miss having you around," she said. "Where are we going?"
    It was a friendly reminder that we were still sitting next to the Naval Academy visitor’s center. Our little display of affection would have been trouble for her if she hadn’t requested the privacy screen.
    Coolidge Terminal , I instructed the cab.
    "You’ll never guess who I ran into," she said, turning to face me. Her hands trailed along my chest.
    My mind blanked. Having her this close to me was difficult enough, but I couldn’t imagine who might have been on Mars that we’d both know. "No idea."
    "Commander Sterra," she said. "She gave a lecture on ethics."
    "Did you get a chance to meet her?"
    "Of course, silly, why do you think I’d bring it up? She ate lunch with my whole class. Did you know she knew your dad?"
    I just looked at her dumbfounded, "No…"
    "When he and your mom were in the Amazonian conflict." I must have looked confused. She returned my perplexed look. "Are you