The Corsair Uprising #1: The Azure Key Read online

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  Liam Kidd was not a pushover, but he knew when he was in a bad situation. Takara’s goons would be around any minute negating any chance he would have of a fair fight. It didn’t help that he had a gun pointed to his head and the technological travesty above him had an itchy trigger finger.

  “I told you before, Takara, I didn’t take the money,” Liam said, keeping an air of calm about him. She frightened him, mostly because he knew what she was capable of, but he didn’t have to let her know that. Liam had a feeling any sign of weakness might hurt his case.

  Takara scrunched her nose and spat inches from his head, her thick, dark makeup obscuring her eyes as she did. The cybernetic implants on her face caused her skin to appear pinched whenever she held an expression other than neutral.

  “We hired you to protect our money, and you have the nerve to steal from Vesta Corp? Surely you know better.”

  Liam had been hired to smuggle a load of ore from the Martian Colonies back to Earth. Vesta Corporation received subsidies from the government to supply the colonies with ore, but the colonists had more than they needed; government mismanagement at its finest. They turned around and smuggled it back to Earth, pocketing the subsidy and selling metals and minerals to manufacturers on Earth. Liam performed his job as well as he always did, but when he reached Earth, his payload was missing.

  “I swear this is all a big misunderstanding. Vesta checked my hold, they know I’m innocent.”

  Takara’s fingers dug into his neck, her long fingernails drawing tiny streams of blood that trailed down his throat, warm in contrast to the cold air. Most of what Liam knew about Takara was from her reputation. She wasn’t known for taking no for an answer and he’d heard stories from other smugglers and mercenaries; something about a collection of trophies.

  “1,000 tons of ore missing, worth more than your life. Why should I listen to you, a pawn?”

  “I was stopped at the lunar checkpoint. There were inspectors. They didn’t flag me, I came through clean.”

  “Then where’s the ore?”

  “I don’t know,” Liam choked out. “The inspectors let me pass but when I reached the surface it was gone. My hold was empty.”

  “Baka,” Takara cursed in Japanese before smashing his face with the butt of her gun.

  Liam reeled in pain, his cheekbone on fire. She hit with more force that most men and the metal implants on her hand cut deep into his skin. That was going to leave a mark.

  “I can pay you back, but you’ve got to give me more time,” Liam said.

  “I don’t take the word of thieves. My orders from Vesta were clear.”

  Takara charged her laser weapon, a faint whir spinning up within the pistol-like device and creating a blue glow down several slits in the shaft.

  “24 hours. Just give me 24 hours and the money’s yours.”

  Takara considered his request. He could see her eyes flash onto his. Liam had heard stories, but he never believed they were true. The tales went that the circuits in her eyes were a lie detector, sensing his facial movements and ticks to determine if he was trustworthy. Liam wondered how deep the implants went. How much of Takara was automated and how much was real?

  “Vesta Corporation isn’t merciless. Deposit five thousand credits to my account in one hour as a sign of good faith. If you do this, we will work out a payment plan that will serve both of our interests.”

  Takara put extra emphasis on the word interest. Whatever deal she was proposing was going to cost him. She knew as well as him it would take a hundred years for him to pay off the debt. A thousand tons of ore could be worth millions of credits depending on the buyer.

  “If you cross me, Kidd, I’ll add your head to my wall.”

  Takara rose slowly, keeping her weapon leveled at his chest and took a step back. Liam stood and brushed off his jacket, and then checked his cheek with the back of his hand. Even on the darkening street corner he could see it stained red. Takara knew five thousand credits was his life savings. He didn’t know how, but Vesta Corporation always knew. They always had something on him to make him take the next job. He wanted out.

  He started to walk past Takara toward his apartment, brushing her shoulder as he went, when she grasped his forearm tight, her fingers bearing down on him with incredible power. Liam winced.

  “One hour.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll have it,” Liam said jovially, hiding his frustration.

  •

  Liam’s apartment was on the twenty-eighth floor of a forty-story complex. It was one of the larger buildings in Toronto, housing thousands of residents. The living quarters were small, but affordable. Something that was a necessity for Liam. Being the Jack-of-all-trades that he was, scraping together enough money for rent wasn’t always easy. Often his jobs were paid for in favors. The average Joe in Toronto, or anywhere really, didn’t have a dime. Government subsidies accounted for the bulk of their income. The common man was reduced to a barter system just to get by.

  He pressed his thumb against a panel, opening the door to Unit 2804. When the door slid open on its track he entered the dark apartment. The sun had set completely, despite the early hour, and the windows were fogged. Liam shut the door behind him and moved through the entryway to the window on the far side of the room. He touched a pad on the windowsill and the dark glass defogged, revealing the hectic cityscape. Liam checked the sky for drones, hoping to avoid a repeat of before. It’s not like it would have mattered, Takara knew where he lived.

  A thousand drones filled the sky, moving in an orderly fashion from place to place. Some carried packages and cargo, some carried people, and some bore the black and grey insignia of a government drone, no doubt used for surveillance and police pursuits. None, however, were focused on him. Liam touched the button again and the window fogged up, blurring the outside world once more.

  “Lights,” he said.

  His apartment’s computer responded by illuminating the room, slowly increasing the light to his favorite preset level. The apartment was fairly bare. He didn’t have much use for furniture if he was never there. Besides, he only really had room for a bed, a kitchen, and a bathroom anyway.

  The walls had originally been beige, but some of the paint had chipped off over the years and Liam had never felt compelled to fix it. Underneath the beige was the light gray of concrete. His kitchen originally matched the paint. Now, the countertops were faded and the tiny fridge’s door hung open. Liam had turned that thing off years ago when the hinge broke. With food prices what they were it was easier to just eat at a dispensary.

  There was a groan from underneath his bed sheets. Liam cursed, he’d forgotten about her.

  “Zeke?” the redhead under his covers asked. “Is that you?”

  Liam crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He tried to remember the night before but the pictures came in muddled and sparse. He’d met her at a dance club down the street. She asked him to buy her a drink and he obliged. She’d made it hard to say no. He always found it hard to say no. Her name was Amber? No. Ashley?

  “I thought I said you could let yourself out.”

  When he’d left her that morning he’d had a feeling she would be a clinger. She had that look in her eye the whole night. Relationship eyes. Still, he had way too much on his plate to be dealing with a relationship. They’d had their fun and now he had to deal with his own issues, without dragging anyone else into it. He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his sweaty blond hair, pulling his shoulder-length tangles behind his ears.

  The redhead eyed him in a sultry manner. “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. You left in such a hurry this morning.”

  “I got a call. Business.”

  She took off the covers and Liam cautioned a glance. The redhead was wearing one of his old shirts and black panties that offset against her pale white thighs. He couldn’t help but be aroused, despite his objections to her wearing his favorite shirt. She tilted her h
ead and examined his face in the light.

  “What happened to you?”

  “It’s nothing. Were you napping?” Liam redirected. “It’s five in the afternoon.”

  “Give yourself more credit, last night took a lot out of me,” she said with a smirk across her lightly freckled face.

  She sat up, hugging her knees, and toyed with a few strands of her long red hair. A part of Liam wanted to jump back into bed with her, but it would be his last act if he didn’t wire that money soon. Besides, he’d already given her the wrong idea once. He wasn’t a monster.

  “You should go,” he said, snapping out of his arousal. “It isn’t safe for you here.”

  “What are you talking about? I have you. You’re a cop. How much safer could I be?”

  Shit, Liam thought.

  Of course he had to use the cop line last night, preying on a girl who desired an authority figure. Sometimes it was so easy it wasn’t even worth it. He stood up and scratched the back of his head.

  “Right, but I’m working a big case,” Liam lied, unsure if he sounded convincing. “I’m undercover. It could be really dangerous for you, so you’ve got to go. I might have been followed back here.”

  The redhead got out of bed and began searching for her pants. Her face flushed pink. Liam had a feeling his face had betrayed him. He never was a very good liar, a fact that made his jobs with Vesta far more difficult than they had to be.

  “You know, you don’t have to lie to me,” she said as she slipped into her skin-tight black pants.

  “What? I don’t—”

  “I’m so stupid. Your name probably isn’t even Zeke. What the hell kind of name is Zeke, anyway?”

  She took off his old shirt, revealing her small bare breasts, and fidgeted with her bra, which matched her lacy black underwear. The redhead knelt down and reached under the bed for her purple tee, which she pulled over her head, fixing her hair afterward.

  “Come on, you’re not stupid,” Liam assured her.

  She grabbed her mismatched bag from the nightstand and stormed off toward the door, stopping before her hand reached the pad. She turned and crossed her arms, glaring at him intensely.

  “You don’t even know my name, do you?”

  Liam’s hands found his hips and he tilted his head to the side. It had been a long time since a woman had called him out like that. It wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed.

  “Of course I do...Ashley?” Liam guessed.

  “Tiffany. God!”

  She turned and pressed the button on the wall and the door quickly slid aside on its track. When she looked up she was face to face with the tip of a gun. Tiffany dropped her leopard print bag and backed herself into the apartment. She made a number of sounds, including a few curses directed toward Liam.

  In the doorway stood Takara along with two of her lackeys. She checked the sub-dermal implant in her hand, which projected up a spinning red hologram of the current time.

  “Tick-tock, lover boy.”