Rescue Her Heart Read online

  “Oh my God,” she said. “Catherine, is that you?” All Catherine could do was nod as the sobs started to come. “Honey, what is wrong?”

  “It’s Dad,” she choked out. “I can’t find him.” Catherine’s aunt was quiet for a long moment.

  “I see,” she finally said. “How long?” Catherine gulped in a breath.

  “Almost a month,” she answered. “And they locked me out of the shop and our apartment. I don’t know what to do.” Again, her aunt did not answer immediately. It was so long in fact, Catherine looked up to make sure they still had a connection. What she saw made her stomach clench with panic. Her aunt’s face was no longer friendly.

  “He inherited that from our parents. They trusted him with it before they died,” she said, her voice hard. “And he let it slip away.” Catherine suddenly felt the need to defend her dad.

  “He did the best he could,” she argued. “After mother died, it was hard for him.” Catherine watched her aunt frown.

  “How do you know anything about when your mother died? You were four,” she said. Now

  Catherine was getting angry. Why is she being so mean? she thought. What did we ever do to her?

  “Dad told me about mom all the time. About how wonderful and kind she was to anyone who came into the store. How beautiful she was,” Catherine said. “How much I looked like her.” Her aunt’s face did not react and stayed cold.

  “Well, she was a good woman and could have married far better than my brother,” she said. “It was a horrible thing which happened to her. A horrible accident.” Catherine had heard enough. She did not call her aunt to listen to insults about her father. It was clear there would be no help from her aunt and Catherine lifted her chin in defiance.

  “Well,” Catherine said. “I simply wanted to let you know about your brother. I need to go.” At last her aunt’s face softened.

  “Catherine, wait,” she started. “Don’t go.” Catherine waved her hand dismissively at her aunt’s image and slung her ratty backpack onto her shoulder.

  “Never mind. Goodbye,” she said. As she reached for the disconnect button, her aunt leaned in closer to the monitor so her face filled almost all of the screen.

  “Please take a transport here,” her aunt said. “Just do that. We can work out the rest.” Catherine shrugged.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said and hung up the call. The timestamp let her know she had used up more credits on the call than she wanted. She was about out of money and knew if she did not get more soon, she would be sleeping on the street. With no other options, she went back to the bar her father most liked to frequent. It was early and the place was empty. When the owner saw her, he rushed around the bar and helped her up on a stool.

  "Catherine, baby," he said. "What is going on? Where's your dad?" For the second time, Catherine started to sob. The man she had met on occasion when her dad took her along was being so nice. She remembered his name was Marcus and he was old and fat, but right now he was a lifeline. Maybe he can lend me the money to get to Untas where my aunt lives, she thought and started to blab out her whole situation. Marcus listened and nodded, a look of sympathy on his face. When she finished with her plan to borrow enough credits to take a transport to Untas, he patted her hand gently. Catherine tried not to flinch when she felt his short, fat, sweaty fingers touch her. He’s a friend of my dad’s. It’s okay.

  “I will help you,” Marcus said and Catherine could not believe her ears. “I don’t have enough to spare for you to take a transport. They are ridiculously expensive, but I have enough credits for you to buy a cheap ship and fly yourself there. Can you do that?” Catherine nodded, smiling for the first time in almost a month. Marcus smiled back and turned to open a cupboard which hid a safe. Glancing back at her for a moment, he paused. Catherine gave him the most hopeful look she could muster and Marcus licked his lips before he looked back at the dial and entered the numbers. As he prepared to open the safe, he paused. “Can you go lock the front door? I don’t want anyone to come in and rob me while I have this open,” he said. Catherine understood and jumped off of the stool to go to the front and turn the deadbolt. When she returned to the bar, Marcus was counting out credits. Catherine’s eyes widened when she saw the small pile he was making for her. Like he said, it was not enough to get a ride to Untas, but it would be her ticket to safety.

  Once he was done, he looked up and their eyes met. He nodded and pushed the credits over to her. She picked them up with a shaking hand, afraid at any second he would change his mind. When he smiled again, Catherine took that as a good sign and slipped the money into the front pocket of her backpack. "Are we okay now?" Marcus asked, making Catherine jump. He had come around the bar and was standing right next to her. Catherine took a step back, suddenly uncomfortable, but smiled to cover it.

  “Sure, Marcus,” she said. “But I should get going. I want to look for a ship right away.” Marcus licked his lips again and Catherine felt a hint of fear bloom in her stomach.

  “This won’t take long,” he said and unhooked his belt. “Just kneel down right here.” Catherine froze. She could not believe what she just heard and yet a part of her could.

  "There are no free rides," her father told her almost every day of her life. She heard it so often, she almost believed it. But not quite. Catherine smiled as sweetly as she could and stepped closer to Marcus. She saw the lust in his eyes and it gave her power.

  “Thanks for everything, Marcus,” she said and when he looked surprised at her tone, Catherine did not hesitate. She brought her right knee up as hard as she could into his groin. Marcus let out a squeal and crumpled in front of her.

  “You bitch,” he whispered through teeth clenched with pain.

  “Don’t you forget it,” Catherine said and walked fast to the front door, unlocked it, and bolted from the bar.

  CHAPTER 3

  NAT

  Leaning forward, Nat watched the video monitor. It was a bit hazy as the Prospo fuel bay was not well lit, but she could make out enough of the details. While the images of various spacecraft rolled by, Sergeant Baxter returned to the room carrying two cups of coffee. “Here we go,” he said as he handed one to Nat and then sat down in the other chair beside her. “I can’t promise it tastes any good, but it is hot and strong.” Nat gave him a nod.

  “No problem. Thanks,” she said. She was well used to military coffee, so figured this could not be any worse. Taking a faint sip of the hot liquid, Nat realized she was wrong. The coffee was abominable. Seeing her reaction to the taste, Baxter chuckled.

  "Sorry, but I warned you. For some reason that damn SN-0406 android they assigned us can't make a decent pot of java to save its life," he explained. Nat smiled and set the nasty brew aside. She would make herself a nice espresso once she was back on her ship. "Okay," Baxter continued. "Thanks for waiting. Let me rewind this video along to the timestamp we are looking for." He pressed a few buttons and the screen flickered. Everything in the picture started zipping around backward. "It will just be a minute to get to the spot." He leaned back in his chair, sipped his coffee, made a face at the flavor, and then set it down near Nat's. "Incredible. It's like the damn ‘droid tries to make it bad."

  “It is pretty horrible,” Nat admitted. Baxter laughed.

  “Yes, it is,” he leaned back again. “So, tell me, Captain. How long have you been with the Space Rangers?”

  “I just started my eleventh year,” Nat answered.

  “Wow,” Baxter said. “You don’t look old enough to have a decade under your belt already.”

  Nat shrugged. “I joined the day after I turned eighteen. Growing up, it was all I ever wanted to do,” she said.

  "And you like it?" Baxter asked. Nat thought about the question for a second but then nodded.

  “It has its highs and lows. I would lay down my life for my Ranger brothers and sisters, but the red tape gets a little thick sometimes,” she answered.

  “Ever think of retiring? Isn’t ten
years the cut off for the elite forces?” he asked, picking up his coffee, apparently willing to risk tasting it again. Nat gave him another shrug.

  “I’ve considered it,” she said. Just this morning while I checked out that luxury starship in fact, she thought. “But for now, I’m content. It really just depends on what the future holds for me.”

  Baxter nodded. “Gotcha. Well, if you ever do and want a job, I’m always looking for good cops down here. It’s about as laid back as you can get,” he said. From what Nat had seen so far, what he said was an understatement.

  "Thank you, sir," she said. "I'll keep that in mind." Just then the image of an ED-90 came on the screen. "Hold on, I think we found it."

  Baxter pushed the pause button and the video stopped. He leaned in and checked the timestamp. “Yep, that’s the one,” he said. “Like I said, the crew reported the ship was a piece of junk. Looks like they weren’t kidding.” Nat had to agree. The small, one passenger craft showed a lot of neglect. Scanning it from tail to nose, she did not see any clear identifying markings or numbers. The paint was so faded though, she was not especially surprised.

  "Can you back it up all the way and then let it run? I can't quite make out the driver," Nat asked. Baxter obliged and after a moment, the footage ran forward again. Nat watched as the ED-90 made it to the front of the line and stopped. The attendants hooked up the hoses and then moved on to the next ship in line. Once the meter clicked off on the ED-90, one guy came back, unhooked it and waved the ship forward to the pay station. Everything seemed normal until the tiny spaceship accelerated past the cashier and raced out of the landing area. People started yelling for the pilot to stop, but it was wasted breath. The ED-90 clearly had no intention of paying and was flying away. Nat remembered the note of apology Baxter showed her earlier. "And where did they find the canister?" Baxter pointed to a spot on the screen and Nat saw the small dot resting on the platform. While she watched, an attendant picked it up. After he inspected it for a second, he called over to what Nat guess was a supervisor and handed the object off.

  “That’s Dave Lewis,” Baxter said. “He runs the place during the day shift and is the one who called us.”

  “I see,” Nat said. The whole situation was puzzling. She still could not get all the pieces to fit together. Why steal the fuel? she wondered. Filling up the small tanks of an ED-90 would cost almost nothing. And then why apologize for it? She shook her head. “Okay,” she continued. “I did see a face in about the last five seconds of the clip. Let’s back it up and enlarge the frame.”

  “You got it,” Baxter said and, in a minute, the monitor was filled with the picture of a young woman. Can’t be more than eighteen, Nat thought. And she looks scared as hell. Nat studied the graphic. The girl was incredibly pretty. Dark hair down to her shoulders framing large brown eyes. I think I could look at that face all day. “Good looking, kid,” Baxter said, interrupting Nat’s thoughts. “Wonder what her story is.” Nat wondered it too.

  “Can I get a printout of this image?” she asked.

  Baxter nodded. “No problem,” he said and reached around to turn on the printer behind him. “Just gotta let this relic warm up and then I can have it for you.” Nat continued to examine the picture while she waited. She found the woman’s image captivating. It was as if Nat somehow knew she was supposed to know her.

  “Did your tower track her on radar when she left the fuel bay?” Nat asked. Baxter sighed.

  “I wish,” he said. “But since she didn’t send out any comm she was about to exit the airspace and leave the planet, no one was looking for her. I called the guys up there and they told me she came and went too fast to get a lock.” Nat frowned feeling frustrated by the lack of efficiency she was finding with the civilians on the laid-back planet of Prospo. Then she had an idea.

  “Print me a shot of the ship too,” she said. “There can’t be too many places the girl is headed if she left orbit. I’ll go run her down.”

  "Really?" Baxter asked. "Is it worth it? It's just a little fuel and I only called you because petrol crimes are a mandatory call." Nat paused. He was right. Was this really worth pursuing? she thought. For reasons even she could not explain, it felt like it was and so she nodded.

  “I want to do this,” she said. “Besides, things were getting a little too quiet for me anyway.” Baxter grinned and punched the buttons to print out a picture of the runaway ED-90.

  “I bet,” he said and waited for the printer to finish. He handed the images to Nat. She glanced at them, pausing at the photo of the girl again. So young to be on the run from something, Nat thought and then stood up. Baxter did the same and they went to the front desk. As soon as they were within earshot, the SN-0406 android spoke up.

  "Perfect timing, Sergeant," it said. "A Level Orange bulletin just came in. Seems a meteor shower is set to pass through." Nat watched Baxter frown and study the monitor the android was pointing too. Meteor showers were not necessarily a problem unless they came too close to a planet's atmosphere. Then it depended on the size of them. Nat knew a Level Orange bulletin was only semi-serious, so she waited patiently until Baxter finished reading the brief. He turned to Nat.

  “Well that means your manhunt for the ED-90 is out,” he said. “A pretty substantial number of small meteors is set to blast past Prospo over the next few hours. All craft are grounded until the all-clear.” Nat felt an unexpected surge of disappointment. Where is all that emotion coming from? she wondered. It was completely out of character for her to feel much investment in anything, particularly for some thief running away in a piece of shit spaceship. It’s probably for the best.

  Nat shrugged. "So it goes. Good break for the girl, assuming she's clear of the shower's lane. Now she gets away scotfree," she said.

  “Good point,” Baxter agreed. “Some people are just born lucky. And don’t worry about the girl being caught off-guard by the shower. We will be sending out an all-points bulletin to any spacecraft in the area warning them of the danger and the mandatory requirement to either land or clear the airspace. Our thief will have plenty of notice.”

  “Fair enough,” Nat said. She put out her hand and Baxter gave it a shake. “Thanks for taking the time to show me the video.”

  Baxter smiled. “And thank you for being so quick to come answer our call,” he said. “Sorry it didn't work out to be an arrest for you.” He motioned to the video screen capture printouts she still held in her hand. “You want me to shred those for you?”

  Nat looked at the pages again. There was absolutely zero reason to keep them. And yet, she thought. I really want to. “You know, I am going to hold on to these,” Nat said. “And keep an eye out for this girl or this ship. It could still turn up.”

  “Well, if it does and I can help you in any way, speak up,” Baxter said. “So what will you do while you’re stuck for a while on Prospo? Lots of great beaches to check out. Surfing. Swimming. Sunbathing. Or there’s restaurants galore, with—” Nat held up her hand to interrupt him with a polite smile.

  “I plan to head out the minute the all-clear is sounded,” she said. “So, I’ll go back to my ship and relax in my quarters. Catch up on some reading.” She stepped away from the counter and started slowly toward the exit. Baxter followed suit and walked her to the door.

  “I hear that,” he said. “And if and when you do retire, keep in mind what I said. A job here for you, anytime you want it.”

  "I appreciate that," Nat said and walked outside. Evening was coming on and, with a glance at her comm device to check the time, she was surprised at how late it was already. For a brief moment, Nat reconsidered Baxter's advice about finding a restaurant and having dinner. Something cooked in a kitchen larger than the three by three foot galley she had back on her ship. Then she remembered the diner and how much she disliked having to interact with people in general. Even when she wanted to be left to herself in public, her muscular body wrapped in her tailored Space Ranger uniform always drew attention. It did not help
that she was naturally good-looking with olive skin, sandy blonde hair, and intense blue-gray eyes. On nights she went out, it was not uncommon for her to receive propositions from both men and women. Nat always said no. It was an easy choice for her. People simply were not interesting and she was far happier being alone.

  CHAPTER 4

  CATHERINE

  She was making good time and starting to feel confident in her progress when the first pinging noise sounded off of the hull. What in the hell was that? she thought. It was not like she was back on the ground of Prospo where she could run over something. She was in open space. There should be absolutely nothing to hit. Shaking her head, Catherine tried to convince herself it was a fluke. The ship was settling from old age or something. Then she heard it again, only this time it was more of a banging noise and she felt the craft waiver from the impact. Something definitely just hit the side of my spaceship. But what? There’s nothing out there. Just then she noticed a small flashing red light on the instrument panel in her cockpit. It was faint, as if the bulb was nearly done for, but once she saw it, Catherine knew it was not a good sign. Pressing it with a shaking finger, her holographic map was immediately replaced with a bulletin.

  WARNING: LEVEL ORANGE METEOR SHOWER EXPECTED IN THE PROSPO AIRSPACE STARTING AT 1900 HOURS. ALL CRAFT IN THE AREA ARE ADVISED TO LAND IMMEDIATELY.

  Catherine looked at the clock on the dashboard. It read 1915 hours. Oh, you have got to be kidding me, she thought realizing her bad luck was continuing all the way up into space. But it is only Level Orange, so that can’t be too bad, right? Just then another rock, bigger than the other two, ricocheted off of the windshield. Although it did not crack the thick, space tempered glass, it startled the hell out of Catherine. It was followed by the sound of pinging and clanking from smaller pieces all over the ship. I need to turn around, she thought. Or I’m going to get shot to bits. But Catherine also knew she could not go back. There were no more credits in her account to live on and, even if there were, she was a criminal now after stealing the fuel. The only choice was to keep going on toward Untas and pray her ship held together. Clamping her hands tighter onto the steering wheel, she gritted her teeth and willed the little craft to fly faster. A minute passed and there were no more pings of meteors hitting the ED-90. When it was quiet for a full five minutes, Catherine relaxed and let out the breath she had not realized she was holding. It was going to be okay.