"Jane Lindskold - Endpoint Insurance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindskold Jane)

of the stars.”
“Well,” I said, feeling pretty satisfied with myself, “we’ve found them. What next?”
“The pirates won’t have unloaded whatever goods they smuggled in,” Spike said
promptly, “not until their rendezvous with the Absolute is completed. Therefore,
there’s certainly something incriminating in the hold of the factory ship. When we get
there, I’ll go take a look.”
I stared at him, unable for a moment even to speak.
“You’re not planning on going aboard alone?” I finally managed. “Twenty trained
spacers-twenty marines!- would consider that foolhardy. You don’t know how many
pirates are aboard, but I doubt that the Absolute is traveling without a bodyguard.”
“Twenty marines,” Spike mused aloud, his expression wry and mocking. “Would
twenty-one be enough, then?”
“Don’t be an idiot!” I shouted, then I went on more calmly. “Just how do you plan
to get aboard, anyhow? I doubt they have time for traveling insurance salesmen right
now.”
“Those ships don’t have just one entrance,” Spike said, valiantly ignoring my
sarcasm. “I plan to enter via a service port near the engine room. Once aboard, I’ll
shut down the ship’s drive. Then, once the ship can’t get away, you’ll signal for the
Silent Watch.”
“And how will you get through the entry port?” I said. “They aren’t usually left
unlocked.”
In reply, Spike produced a mag-key from one of his coverall’s voluminous pockets,
tossing the rather routine piece of equipment from hand to hand as if it were some
great amulet.
“This one is set to decode a wide variety of locks,” he explained, as if I wouldn’t
recognize the make.
“And the ship’s engine?” I asked. “Do you think the engine crew will just sit by
while you turn the engine off?”
Spike scowled at my doubt, but produced a packet of gas pellets from another
pocket.
“I thought I’d put these in the ventilation,” he explained. He brightened and reached
in his coverall again. “I have a mask.”
I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. He probably had a weapon of some
sort, too, and a coil of rope and who knows what else. The man had seen too many
action vids.
“It’s my fault for not asking in advance what you planned,” I admitted, “but I never
dreamed you planned on taking them on alone. Listen, I have another idea.”
I told him. Spike looked interested, but slightly disappointed. I think he’d been
looking forward to playing the hero and capturing a pirate vessel single-handedly.
When I finished, he only had one question for me.
“And if they won’t come?”
“I think they will,” I said with more certainty than I felt. “As you’ve noted, they’ve
been hurt by the pirates, too, and here’s a chance to get back something of their
own. And if they don’t show, well, we can always fall back on your plan.”
The three ships we were tracking-a third had joined the convoy while we were
arguing-headed in the direction of a large planetoid just beyond a broad asteroid belt.
The backside of this planetoid was a favorite place for smugglers to linger before
bringing in a cargo, since it gave them a chance to scan the system and make certain
that the black ships were patrolling elsewhere. Most successful smugglers carried
legal goods as well as illegal, but who wanted to risk a search if one could be