Milk Run (Smuggler's Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1) by Nathan Lowell Page B

unused portion will be returned to your account.”
    Natalya stepped back and motioned Zoya to the kiosk.
    Zoya looked at Natalya and back at the console. “Just like home.”
    Natalya nodded. “Same credentials.”
    Zoya looked skeptical but stepped into the kiosk and tapped a few keys. After a brief exchange, she closed the windows and stepped away from the kiosk.
    “Now, freedom of the station?” Natalya asked. “It gets a bit cramped in there.”
    Russ smiled and nodded. “I can only imagine. As for freedom of the station, Mr. Kondur asked if you’d be so kind as to meet him for breakfast at 0700 station time?”
    Natalya and Zoya traded glances. Zoya shrugged.
    “What time is it now, Mr. Russ?” Natalya asked
    “Current station time is 0436, May 27.”
    “In the meantime?”
    “We’d appreciate it if you’d stay aboard until meeting Mr. Kondur. It’s only a couple of stans.”
    Zoya gave Natalya a nod. “I could use a nap.”
    “Me, too,” Natalya said. “Of course, Mr. Russ. Should we expect an escort?”
    “Tony Eng heads up the day crew. Someone from his team will be along at 0645, if that’s satisfactory?”
    “Thank you, yes.” Natalya nodded to Russ and led Zoya down the docking tube to the ship, keyed the lock open, and stepped aboard. Neither woman spoke until the outer lock clamped down and the inner door opened.
    “That was interesting,” Zoya said.
    Natalya continued down the passageway into the galley. “I thought so, too. In what way?”
    “That kiosk accessed my account from Port Newmar.”
    Natalya started some water heating and picked a mint tea from the cupboard. “It would be more accurate to say the kiosk at Port Newmar accessed your account here. I told you. High Tortuga runs the banking system for the whole Western Annex. You want tea?”
    Zoya shook her head. “I want a shower and a few stans communing with my closed eyelids. What did you find interesting?”
    “Verkol Kondur owns this station. He wants to meet us as soon as we dock.”
    “That’s unusual?”
    Natalya shrugged. “Might be. I’m guessing he’s not available to every rock-knocker and jet jockey who docks here.”
    “Maybe it’s the ship. You said it’s rare.”
    “Possibly.” Natalya looked at the overhead and considered for a moment. “Likely, even, but it’s not the most interesting thing.”
    “What would that be?”
    “While we were flying in from the jump, somebody transferred fifty thousand credits into my account.”
    Zoya’s eyes widened. “Who?”
    Natalya snickered. “That’s the question, isn’t it? The deposit was made at the Newmar Orbital.”
    “So after we escaped?”
    “We didn’t so much escape as got herded.”
    “Herded?”
    “Yep. Somebody wanted us here at Dark Knight Station. Margaret Newmar is the driver but I don’t know what her role in this might be. For that matter I don’t know why they didn’t just hire us to do it. That fifty grand looks suspiciously like a carrot after being chased out of the sector with a stick.”
    “Or evidence that you’ve been bought,” Zoya said.
    Natalya grunted. “Hadn’t thought of that. Bought for what?”
    “Killing Gavin?”
    “But I didn’t kill him. He’s no more dead than I am.”
    “He looked dead to me,” Zoya said.
    Natalya shook her head. “He was supposed to, but we got hustled out of that room real fast and we were off planet before the blood stopped spreading.”
    Zoya nodded half-heartedly but didn’t look convinced.
    “Logic with me. You were told to stick with me. That I’d be leaving the planet. Right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “How long ago? Last week? Last month?”
    Zoya’s gaze shifted for a moment. “Last week, I think. Maybe ten days ago.”
    Natalya spread her hands in an encompassing gesture. “And voilà. Here we are. So, how did we get here?”
    The realization washed across Zoya’s face like a wave. She stared at Natalya, her lips parted as if to speak but no words came