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Garrett rattled the chain-link fence on the elevator to get their attention again. “Whatever buyer you have lined up is no scarier than the Cartel. They’re already coming after you. You want to rile them up more by ruining their rescue efforts?”
The leader threw back his head and laughed, and even the other pirates sniggered. “Oh, trust me, these buyers are much scarier than the Cartel. And if you haven’t heard of them yet, you will soon.”
“And what about the Klah’Eel?” Urs aimed down sights right toward the center of the leader’s chest. He jerked his head to the stockpile door. “That’s Klah’Eel property behind that door, and we’re not letting it go to a bunch of cut-rate pirates. Is your buyer scarier than us?”
The leader’s lips curled in a smile. “Oh, undoubtedly.”
“And the storms?” Kira finally stepped forward. “No one will hunt down anyone if we’re all still standing here arguing when that storm gets here.”
The pirates all muttered between themselves at that, clearly more concerned with the storm than any potential and non-imminent threats. Maxwell tuned the radio to Resistance frequency and breathed into it as quietly as he could manage, “Patrick?”
No response.
Maxwell licked his lips, fiddled with the dial, and tried again. “Patrick?”
Suddenly, the qesh by the door banged on the heavy metal. “Enough fucking talk. Devin, I can get into this system in ten minutes and have the door open in two, but it’s gonna take a hell of a lot longer than that to haul everything out of here, so like it or not, we’re gonna have to make two trips.”
The leader—Devin—fisted his hands and bared his teeth at the qesh. For a moment, Maxwell thought he’d just yell at him too, but then he released his hands and spread his fingers wide with a sigh. He turned back to the elevator and shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll just have to eradicate the witnesses.”
“Stop!” the qesh yelled before the flurry of motion could become actual gunfire. “I still have to get into the system, and I can’t do that with bullets flying everywhere.”
Devin kept his gaze on the elevator but rolled his eyes. “You can finish that when we get back.”
“No, because we already took the casing off.” The qesh’s voice dripped with condescension. “We talked about this. As soon as the casing comes off, I need to get into the system, or it’ll be corroded half to hell by the time we get back, and then we’ll never get in.”
“If it’ll corrode half to hell, what’s the point of making two trips?” The short-haired woman scrunched her face. “If you can’t open the door—”
The qesh snarled at her. “I’ll still be able to open the door, you stupid bitch. I just won’t be able to crack the security—”
Devin finally spun back to the qesh. “Okay, so what the fuck do you want?”
“I want you to buy me some fucking time,” the qesh yelled back and then planted both his hands on the huge double doors again.
“I don’t think so.” Urs aimed at the leader again, and Maxwell’s stomach dropped out as Garrett stepped in front of the barrel.
“We can do time.” Garrett moved slowly but deliberately and slid open the elevator gate. “You get your man into the system. We get our civilians onto the ship. No one shoots anyone.”
Devin narrowed his eyes at Garrett but swept them up and down his body with something like uncertainty. “We’re not letting you leave here. We’ll just blow your ship to bits before it can take off.”
Garrett shot Urs a poisonous look when he made a sound, then turned a placating look back at Devin. “Then you have no reason not to let me get these people out.”
Devin, Garrett, and Urs stared between each other, and the radio in Maxwell’s hand finally let out the tiniest of crackles, and Patrick’s voice came out nearly silently.
“Maxwell?” Patrick’s voice sounded nervous. “Maxwell, you and Garrett better be back on your ship because that storm is hitting any second.”
Maxwell pressed his back to the klah’eel’s, who shifted to keep him out of sight, and brought the radio close enough to his lips to touch. “The pirates are here.”
A pause. “Here as in on the surface here?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.” Another pause. “We can’t get to you in time. That storm will get there before we do.”
“Guard the ship.” Maxwell breathed. He didn’t dare to risk more words by giving too much context. “Guard our ship.”
“Shit. Alright, you got it. Good luck down there.”
Maxwell turned the radio off before it could give them away just as Devin threw up his hands.
