Mission: Planet Biter (Veslor Mates Book 4) Read online

  Trowly leaned closer. “Are you certain he knows you didn’t make him your beneficiary?”

  “I try like hell to avoid him, and have moved a few times to do just that, but I’m certain.” She lifted a hand and brushed hair off her face. “If your next question is, could he afford to pay someone to kill me…the answer is no. He’s always flat broke. It’s why he harasses me.”

  Trowly seemed to ponder her words. “Who do you know onboard Defcon Red? I want a list of names.”

  She stared into Trowly’s steely gray eyes. “Nobody. I don’t travel on fleet ships or even hang out with fleet people. We run in different circles, you know?”

  Trowly frowned. “No. I’m afraid I don’t know. Everyone knows someone in fleet, Miss Wade.”

  “Don’t speak to Vera with that aggressive tone,” Roth warned Trowly. “She is frightened, and your security humans treated her badly. You will not do the same.”

  Vera was grateful to Roth. “I work for New Worlds. It’s a planet survey company. We use company-owned freighters to travel to and from job sites. They’re manned by civilian crews. I’m usually only home on Earth for a few weeks to maybe a month before I’m sent off on the next project. I can spend anywhere from four to eight months on each job. It all depends on the size of the planet we’re surveying and the difficultness we might face gaining all the information we need. When I’m home, I just go shopping around my neighborhood. I live in San Francisco, and there are no fleet bases there. The closest one is in Los Angeles, which I never visit. I don’t travel around on Earth. When I’m home, I just enjoy being in my apartment, relaxing until the next job.”

  “You don’t have any pissed-off ex-boyfriends?” Trowly removed a small data pad from his pocket. “Tell me about them. Any who are in fleet?”

  “I’ve never dated anyone who works for the fleet.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes. One of my ex-boyfriends has a criminal record. I know because I pressed charges against him for stealing from me. I also learned at that point that he had done it before. Fleet wouldn’t accept him, even if he tried to join. The second one works for New Worlds too, in security. Before that, he worked for the city of San Francisco doing street clean-up.”

  Trowly glanced up from his device. “What about your other boyfriends? Maybe one-night stands? Is there some guy who wanted more from you but you refused?”

  She felt her cheeks heat. “That’s it. That’s all. I’ve had two boyfriends. No one-night stands.”

  The security investigator didn’t look convinced.

  “Look…I’ve worked from the time I was fourteen to help add to my college fund. After I graduated from general education, I crammed five years of schooling into three and half years. I had no time to date with all those classes. Nor was I going to screw up my dreams by risking getting accidently pregnant. Birth control implants can fail. It happened to my mom. When I wasn’t in class, I had part-time jobs, and I got hired on by New Worlds when I was twenty-one, two days after I earned my degrees. I’ve already told you how long and how often I’m gone on jobs. It’s difficult to meet men, and the ones I work with tend to lie about being single. No way did I want to start a relationship with someone, only to find out he was married or had a girlfriend when we returned to Earth. It happens all the time in my line of work.”

  “You said one of your ex’s works for New Worlds.”

  “I got him the job,” Vera admitted to Trowly. “I didn’t meet him at work. I also haven’t seen him or worked with him since we broke up. That was at least four years ago.”

  Roth softy growled next to her, probably remembering her telling him about that.

  “Well, someone wants you dead, and only fleet personnel have access to you on Defcon Red.”

  “That’s not true, and you know it.” Clark stared hard at Trowly. “We have civilian workers onboard. Don’t forget what happened on that planet we took her from. Someone drugged all those people. Miss Wade is the only survivor. It’s possible whoever is responsible didn’t like that she got away. They could have offered money to anyone on this boat—civilian or fleet—to kill her. We need to start checking all messages from Earth.”

  Trowly leaned back in his chair. “We have over two thousand souls aboard. That could take months. Right now, we’re focusing on trying to find whoever left the poisoned beer at Miss Wade’s table. He was careful not to leave any prints or DNA traces. We may not have seen his face, but we’re analyzing everything we can to try to identify the culprit.”

  “How long will that take?” Roth asked.

  Vera wanted the answer to that question too.

  Trowly hesitated a bit too long before he spoke. “Days to perhaps a week. The culprit was very careful to shield his identity. We’re narrowing it down to men between five-nine to six feet tall, approximately one hundred and fifty to one seventy-five in weight.”

  “What about the bar employee jumpsuit he wore? How did he gain access to it?”

  Vera kept silent, happy to let Roth ask the questions. That wasn’t something she’d considered.

  “Anyone with access to laundry services could have stolen one,” Clark answered. “Or bribed someone who worked there to steal one.”

  “We’re looking at ex-employees of the bar and ones who weren’t on shift first,” Trowly shared. “Not all of them are civilian workers. Some of our fleet members earn extra money taking shifts in bars and other establishments.” He looked at Vera. “I’ll assign one of my security officers to stand at your cabin door. For your safety, you will remain sequestered there until you leave us. We got word that New Worlds is sending a shuttle with company representatives to collect you in two days. An officer is waiting outside to escort you to your cabin.”

  “No,” Roth suddenly growled. “Vera will go home with us.”

  She turned her head, staring at him in surprise.

  He looked at her. “You’re in danger. No one will harm you. I won’t allow them to. Do you trust me?”

  She didn’t have to think about it. “I do.”

  “You will come with me.” Roth rose to his feet.

  “Wait a minute. I’ve already made arrangements,” Trowly protested.

  “Too bad,” Roth snarled, glaring at him. “Vera is in danger. She stays with me.”

  “Thought you’d say that. And Commander Bills already approved it.” Clark got to his feet, too. “Miss Wade will be safer with the Veslors. It means you won’t be short any security officers assigned to protection duty. I’ve already rescheduled the Veslor shifts to keep at least two of their males off duty to provide protection for her around the clock.”

  Trowly scowled. “I want access to her if I have more questions.”

  “Of course.” Clark nodded.

  Vera kept hold of Roth’s hand as they left the security area. Two Veslors led the way. Roth stayed at her side. Clark, whoever he was, followed behind with the fourth Veslor. They all climbed onto a lift together but no one spoke until the doors sealed them inside.

  “Wait until we reach your family cabin,” Clark said quietly, lifting his head to glare at something in the corner.

  Vera followed his line of sight, noting the surveillance camera. She pressed closer to Roth and lowered her voice. “Thank you for coming for me.”

  Roth held her gaze, giving her a sharp nod.

  The lift stopped and the doors slid open. Two Veslors took the lead again, with Clark and the fourth Veslor trailing close behind Vera and Roth. They reached a door and it opened.

  She found herself in a large living room, and a wide entryway revealed what appeared to be a second huge living room. A long table with lots of chairs sat between the two spaces. There was a massive open kitchen to the left of the living space, but as she studied it, she realized it was two duplicate kitchens, side by side. Several closed doors that were probably bedrooms were on the right.

  “Not all living spaces are this big. It’s two family cabins combined,” the older man told he
r.

  She turned to face him.

  “I’m Clark Yenna, currently in charge of all the tactical teams on Defcon Red. You’re looking far better now than you were the first time I saw you, Miss Wade. Let’s all take a seat at the dining room table. There’s plenty of space there.”

  “You can call me Vera,” she offered.

  Roth tugged on her hand, and she was led to one end of the table. He pulled out a chair next to the end seat, and she gratefully sat. He took the chair at the head of the table, which unfortunately meant he had to release her hand. Clark Yenna planted himself on her other side but left an empty chair between them. The three remaining Veslors seated themselves across from her.

  “Are you well, Vera?”

  She nodded at Roth. “I’m much better now that I’m not being accused of trying to kill someone.”

  Clark cleared his throat, drawing her attention. “You were targeted at your facility. Now you’ve been targeted again on Defcon Red. I’m not in agreement with George that this is a personal attack against you. I want you to tell me why someone would murder everyone down on that planet. Think about it. Does New Worlds have a history of getting employees killed on the job?”

  Vera frowned. “Who’s George?”

  “George Trowly. Answer my question. Do you know of anyone who holds a grudge against New Worlds? You’ve worked for them for six years, correct?”

  “Yes. They have an excellent safety record. There was one death last year but it was a personal error.”

  “Explain,” Roth urged.

  She turned to him. “A member of a survey team went against orders and visited a dangerous location. I talked to a few people who were on that survey team. The guy was an adrenaline junkie who liked to make vids of alien planets to share with his friends back on Earth. That time it was a sinkhole. He got too close, despite it being marked as off limits, and the ground collapsed under him. As a drone operator, I’ve had members of my team ignore my warnings, too.”

  Clark frowned at her.

  “The first thing a drone operator does after we move into our base is to send up drones to evaluate the areas around us. Usually a fifty- to a hundred-mile radius. Initial scans from space are how the project manager decides the safest place to set us up on the surface, but they can miss small dangers.” Vera paused. “I look for heavy alien animal activity that could be dangerous to our team. One planet had some dark ground areas on the surface that acted like quicksand. One of my drones had picked up some wildlife sinking into it. I document that kind of activity with the drones and share the information in group meetings with my team. No one is allowed outside to start taking samples until my report is finished. Otherwise, in the case of that planet, they could have driven right into quicksand and died. It was tagged an off-limit area.”

  “Do you know if your company was sued by the dead man’s family?”

  She took a deep breath before answering Clark’s question. “New Worlds has excellent benefits, including a hefty death payout. We sign waivers because of it. Our families aren’t allowed to sue for more.”

  Clark nodded. “Fleet is like that too. What is New Worlds’ stance in a hostage situation?”

  That question surprised her. “We’re sent to planets without sentient alien life. That’s not an issue.”

  “Do you believe your company would pay though, if that situation came about?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking about Clark’s question. “It would probably cost them less to pay a ransom than the combined death benefits of losing an entire survey team.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Vera told Clark the payout amount for death benefits on her team. “That’s why we sign waivers. It can be a dangerous job being on a new planet. The second team that goes in doesn’t have the same high payout. I heard their death benefits are about half that much. We’re the ones who find all the dangers, and give them a heads up on what to avoid.”

  Clark whistled. “That’s a lot of money.”

  Vera nodded. “It is. New Worlds also pays higher than any other survey company. But they don’t send an extra freighter to stay in space with a secondary survey team and extra supplies, which saves them money. It also means if someone gets sick, they better recover fast. We don’t have backup members to take over for our shifts. We also must be very careful about our supplies, to make sure we don’t come up short. I was on a team once that ran out of food three weeks early because the new cook wasn’t good at rationing. Thankfully, we were able to find edible vegetation on that planet.”

  “Other companies keep freighters in space?” Clark was making notes on his data pad.

  “Yes. They’ll usually send two. One is loaded with our survey equipment, food supplies, and materials to build a habitat on the planet surface. Plus the people that construct our living and working spaces. That freighter will leave once the site is set up. A second freighter is mostly loaded with additional food supplies to feed the crews and a secondary survey team to relieve the first. They switch off every week. Plus extra shuttles to ferry both teams to the surface and back. Those people get paid less because it costs the company more to do it that way. Then again, they also have a fast exit if shit hits the fan.”

  The Veslors, Roth, and Clark all stared at her.

  Vera swallowed hard, emotion choking her. “Like what happened to my team. If we’d had a freighter in space, they could have evacuated us off the surface fast. We were stranded on Biter until help could arrive. New Worlds survey teams get paid to work without that kind of safety net.”

  “Why would you agree to that?” Roth’s harsh tone made her flinch.

  Vera met his angry glare. “The pay. I make three times what I would at some other company. Sure, it’s hard work, the danger is higher, but I won’t end up having to work until I’m seventy years old to retire. I’ll be able to do that by the time I’m in my mid-forties.” She licked her lips. “I grew up poor. I’ll have managed to save a small fortune if I stick with New Worlds, and never have to worry about going hungry or having to take on dangerous jobs when I’m older.”

  Clark met her gaze. “Who would hold a grudge against New Worlds? Why would someone attempt to kill an entire survey team?”

  Vera thought about it. “Maybe the other companies who bid on Biter but lost to mine. We were only a couple months into our work, but initial results were great. New Worlds stands to make a fortune on that planet. Crystal found a few plants that had medicinal purposes. I overheard her and Dr. Jeth speaking at dinner one night, both excited about rapid healing. I just can’t tell you from what. We’re not supposed to share that kind of information with each other, so I didn’t catch all of it or ask questions.”

  “Why the secrets from other team members?”

  She looked at the Veslor who’d spoken. Maith, the medic. “To avoid drawing pirates and thieves to the planet. What if a survey team found something extremely valuable and word leaked before the company gained full rights to the planet? The initial survey team is on their own without protection. Once rights are established, the company starts phase two. That’s collecting and harvesting resources we’ve discovered. At that time, it doesn’t matter if what we found becomes common knowledge. A steady stream of company freighters would always be in that planet’s orbit while they’re being loaded with cargo from the surface. The captains have the right and responsibility to defend the planet from other ships not associated with our company, who might attempt landing there to steal resources.”

  “Has that ever happened? Leaks that had other companies sending someone to steal valuable finds?” Clark asked.

  “I’m sure it has, but not with New Worlds. We’re not able to send or receive private messages from our families or friends while on a job. Before you ask, it’s to avoid a leak from happening or someone on the survey team from receiving threats.” She paused. “You know, someone wanting information by making death threats against a family member back on Earth.”

  “Do
you think another company would murder a survey team in retaliation for losing a bid?” Clark leaned closer, studying Vera.

  “If they wanted that planet bad enough. They could also hope that New Worlds wasn’t able to complete the survey in time, if they had to replace an entire team before their twelve-month contract to study the planet is up. The chances of that are slim though. I’m certain New Worlds already has another freighter on the way by now to replace my team.”

  Vera noticed all of them appeared confused.

  “When you win a bid, you have exactly one year to establish a claim,” she explained. “That only happens after the survey is complete. After we finish our survey, it can take a month or two for all that information to process through the red tape of bureaucracy on Earth’s end. If the company fails to secure the claim, the planet in question goes up for bid again. New Worlds would be excluded from bidding a second time on that planet since we failed to accomplish the task the first time around.”

  Roth snarled.

  She turned to him.

  It was Clark who spoke, though. “Right now, Biter, as you call it, is off limits to everyone but our investigation teams. New Worlds isn’t allowed to interfere since the fleet got involved by answering your distress hail. We’ve taken jurisdiction—and no one is permitted down there until we figure out who is responsible.”

  Roth stood. “Vera needs rest. You have the information you need for now. Come, Vera.”

  She got to her feet, and Roth led her by the hand to one of the closed doors. It opened after he waved his free hand at the sensor, and she stepped into a bedroom with him, the door sealing behind them.

  Chapter Ten

  Roth released Vera’s hand and faced her. She stared up into his golden eyes. “Thank you for everything. I’m in your debt once again.”

  “You owe me nothing. Were you hurt?” His gaze lowered down her body.