She glared at him. “I’ve done nothing wrong. Take your hands off me. Immediately. I’ll have my lawyers on you so fast your head will spin.”
Viktis and Keva had followed Finn to the stage. Keva took up a position on the other side of Kitty. “Go right ahead,” she said, pulling the biolock box from her pocket and passing it to Finn. “I think you’ll find plenty of evidence here to keep your lawyers busy for years.
The color drained from Kitty’s face. “What is that? Where did you get it?”
Finn bit back a smile while he gestured to a group of soldiers who’d appeared at the casino door. He’d called in a few favors with the station security chief, an old friend. One he could trust not to turn Finn in to MYTH. At least not until they’d left the station.
“Take these two away,” Finn ordered. “The alien should have another box like this in his possession as well. Search him.”
Kitty’s eyes went wide. “But if the Conyara still has my box with the tech data, what’s in that one?” she whispered.
Icy hatred turned Viktis’s face into a mask. “It contains a very interesting list detailing all the sales, deaths, and transactions of slaves through the Cordoza organization. Along with several signatures signing death warrants and kidnappings. Yours was astonishingly prominent.”
“You won’t get away with this,” she hissed. “You’re a dead man.”
“As a matter of fact, I already have gotten away with this. You don’t think this is the only copy do you? The guards will find one in your suite when they search it. I’ve also sent one to the galactic news service, and one to every government in the sector. Seems like your organization didn’t discriminate on who they sold into slavery or the jobs you took from high ranking officials. This is going to make one scandalous story. It will destroy your organization.”
Behind her mask of makeup, Kitty looked terrified, but jutted her chin defiantly. “Why didn’t you come to me first? I could have made you the richest man in the galaxy.”
Finn watched Viktis take a step closer to the woman, lowering his head so only the four of them could hear.
“I don’t want your money,” Viktis whispered.
Finn’s skin erupted in goose bumps at the hatred in his friend’s voice.
“Then what do you want? Name it.”
“I want my sister back. Can you do that?”
Kitty’s shoulders sagged in relief and she smiled encouragingly. “Of course, I’ll have my men find her. Whatever you need. Just end this.”
“Oh, I will. The only problem is that you already killed her three years ago. Pretty Ileth girl who escaped from her Trezian owner? Pulled the trigger yourself from what I heard.”
Kitty went even paler, her tongue darting between her lips like a lizard’s as she wetted them. “I…I didn’t…”
“Of course you didn’t.” Viktis’s voice dropped to a low growl.
The hair on the back of Finn’s neck stood on end and he put a hand on the pirate’s arm. “We need to wrap this up,” he said softly. Viktis had himself under control now, but if he tried to kill the woman, Finn didn’t know if he could stop him.
“I’m almost done.” Viktis shrugged off Finn’s hand and turned back to Kitty. “One last thing. I’ve taken the liberty of depositing your tournament winnings into an off-shore account. Along with the proceeds of your latest sale. I doubt you’ll need them, since you’ll be spending the rest of your life in prison. I’ve also transferred the ship’s registry.” He smiled coldly. “Thank you for making me a very rich man.”
“You are dead!” Kitty motioned to her guards, but as soon as their hands moved toward their blasters, plain-clothes security men grabbed them from behind.
“No, I don’t think so. I hear the Great Western prison inmates aren’t fans of the Cordoza Empire. I’m sure you’ll face quite a welcome” Viktis stepped back. “Enjoy your new life. And be grateful you still have one.”
Finn gestured to the chief of security, and his men took Kitty and the official into custody. As he watched the guards drag them away, a slow smile wound across his lips. Somehow they’d taken down the biggest slaver ring in this sector.
He clapped a hand on Viktis’s shoulder. “I don’t know how you did it. But damn that felt good.”
“Taking down that bitch is its own reward. But it doesn’t hurt that I got a shiny new ship out of it.” The pained look slid from Viktis’s face, replaced by his usual roguish grin.
Finn eased his hand from the hilt of his gun. Thank the gods he hadn’t needed to use it. On anyone.
“Yeah, how did you manage that, exactly?” Keva asked, shaking her head. Her lips were twisted into a smile Finn had never seen before. She looked…relaxed.
Viktis cracked his knuckles. “I happened to access her accounts when I planted the evidence on her computer. Made the transfer, sold off a few of her biggest assets. The official had already signed the ship over to her so I just signed it over to me. The Fortune’s Risk is sitting in bay D24, ready and waiting.”
“So are you off then?” Finn asked. He found that he was holding his breath for the answer, and he let it out softly.
Viktis shrugged. “Nah, the Risk can wait for me a bit longer. Besides, I won’t always have you around to protect me. I may need her for a quick getaway when MYTH starts chasing me again.”
Finn grinned. “And don’t you forget it. But right now, I have to admit, we make a good team.”
Viktis raised an eyebrow. “That was pretty sappy, even for you.”
With a chuckle, Finn headed for the casino doors, the others following him. “We still have a few hours of shore leave left. How are you going to spend it?”
“Not with you, that’s for damn sure.” But Viktis’s eyes sparkled as he punched Finn in the shoulder.
With a start, Finn realized they’d become friends. It was the last thing he would have expected when they’d met in the brig of the Athena as Viktis tried to steal his ship.
The pirate shrugged. “I think I’m going to go visit my new ship. Get to know her. I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.” He glanced at Keva. “Want to meet her?”
Finn clamped his jaw shut in shock when his XO nodded and took the arm Viktis held out for her.