Supremacy's Outlaw: A Space Opera Thriller Series (Insurgency Saga Book 3) T.E. Bakutis (read my book .txt) 📖

Jan coughed, collapsed, and rolled around a little. Above him, Emiko politely applauded. Bharat found it only appropriate to join in.

“Right then.” Fatima brushed off her hands. “That’s that.”

Jan coughed from the ground. “Sorry,” he wheezed.

“Nice of you not to go for the balls,” Emiko said.

“Please.” Fatima brushed back her platinum-blond curls. “I have standards.” She reached down to help Jan up. “Apology accepted.”

Jan swallowed hard and took her hand. “Thank you.”

“This does not, of course, mean you don’t still owe me.” Fatima helped an unsteady Jan to his feet. “I did spend five years saving you from prison. For now, I have news!”

Bharat followed Fatima, Jan, and Emiko out of his new HUe into a clear Ceto afternoon. The cloudy blue ball of Phorcys glistened in the clear green sky. The air was cool with a slight breeze. It was, for all intents and purposes, a perfect day, which Bharat hadn’t expected given this was, you know, Ceto.

Nadia, the wife Bharat adored, stood outside, resplendent in a light blue sarong and sandals. One eyebrow raised in what was probably bemusement. “Are you all done hitting each other?”

“For the moment.” Fatima gestured for Nadia to sit before taking a chair for herself. “Also, I just received confirmation from my source on Phorcys. Tarack’s people raised the boat and recovered the bodies.”

Jan settled in the fold-out seat across from Fatima, wincing as he rummaged through the icebox for a beer. He raised it. “A toast, my friends, to the Dhillons. A family lost too soon.”

Bharat raised his own beer, along with Jan, Fatima, Emiko, and Nadia, who brushed dark hair from her face.

“I will say,” Nadia added, “I never expected to toast my own demise. Have I thanked you recently?”

“No need.” Fatima smiled at her. “I’m simply glad you’re no longer under the watchful eye of a psychopath.”

“Yes,” Nadia said, with a meaningful glance at Bharat. “Fortunately, my husband won’t make that mistake again.”

Nadia and Gray Dhillon died in a boating accident off the coast of Tarack’s private island, after the private boat they’d chartered malfunctioned, caught fire, and sank. Bharat Dhillon died beneath Star’s Landing, burned to death by Truthers after he’d retrieved Tarack’s re-encrypted data disc. Senator Tarack had three bodies and no reason to look for more.

Tarack also didn’t know CetInt now had a copy of her entire blackmail disc, and that President Mendoza and his allies were now resolving every problematic issue Tarack had collected on every dirty Ceto senator. It was likely Tarack wouldn’t figure that out for years. Screwing Tarack out of twenty million in blackmail material wasn’t justice, but it was a start.

As for the bodies, Bharat had recently learned medical school donations could be acquired for a price. As to how Fatima altered those bodies to return the appropriate DNA when tested, Bharat had decided it best not to ask. Jan had offered only that Fatima had connections on Phorcys even he didn’t know about.

Gray, Bharat’s eight-year-old son, still sulked in his room, probably watching local vids. He had loudly proclaimed their new home “absolutely sucked.” Cliffside was lousy with former Patriots of Ceto, but they were the good kind, not Truthers.

Better yet, there were plenty of other children Gray’s age here, including Advanced. Apparently, Bharat and his family weren’t the only Phorcys fugitives living in Cliffside. In fact, there were so many Advanced living here now that they had their own little portion of the city. It was called Vat Town.

Bharat could live with that.

Mayor Morna Solace, the woman Bharat had met briefly while he held her sheriff hostage, had a soft spot for Advanced and an iron hand with her more militant people. Bharat would remain on guard for as long as he lived here, but he believed Mayor Solace when she said anyone who attacked them would be executed for treason. Bharat was also confident there was little chance Senator Tarack or her agents would track his family here.

He and his family were finally safe.

“What about you, Jan?” Nadia asked. “When do you report to prison?”

“Tomorrow!” Jan proclaimed. “I am looking forward to it. We’re going to make so many new contacts.”

“I’m not waiting for you,” Emiko deadpanned.

Jan beamed and rubbed her back. “Just see that you keep your distance from Star’s Landing, yes?”

Emiko rolled her eyes and glanced at Nadia. “See, that’s the problem with mine. He makes me fix his mistakes.”

Fatima glanced past Emiko and motioned with the tip of her beer. “Well, look at that. They made it.”

Bharat rose, with Nadia, as a very large blonde woman in a thick jacket and pants, as well as a much smaller redhead in formfitting overalls, strolled toward Bharat’s tiny new yard. Bharat glanced at his wife. “Pollen, and Kinsley.”

“I picked that up,” Nadia snarked.

“Oh, don’t stand for them,” Emiko protested. “Now she’s going to be insufferable.”

Pollen waved madly as she approached. “Hello! Welcome!”

“She’s very friendly,” Nadia said.

“She tried to crush your husband’s head,” Fatima added.

Bharat motioned to empty seats as the newcomers joined them. “Thank you both for coming. We appreciate all you’ve done, and inviting you to our new home is the least we could do.”

“Yeah, you have free beer.” Pollen settled in the nearest empty fold-out chair with a creak that made Bharat fear it might collapse. “I always come where there is beer.”

Kinsley performed a little curtsey for Nadia, an accomplishment all the more impressive in overalls, and thumped down on the dirt. “Lovely garden. Very realistic.”

Emiko opened her mouth to say something, but Jan raised his hand. Shockingly, Emiko relented. What were they doing now?

“Now that we’re all here,” Jan said, brow