Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon by Jake Macklem (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

“Really? I don’t often kill on the first meeting. How long ago was that?” Watching the cowboy lift the full ladle toward her, she opened her mouth.

Careful not to go too fast, staying as far away as he could, the cowboy poured water into her mouth. “Six days.”

The water tasted pure and clean, not like the mineral taste of the local water. It splashed over her face a little as she swallowed. She drank until nothing more came, then shook the excess from her face. “You’ve watched over me for six days?”

“I would not phrase it as such.” He blinked.

“Why?” She focused her gaze on the cowboy.

He rested the ladle at his side, and briefly, his eyes went distant, looking beyond the interior of the hut. “My wife would not take kindly to me watching another woman sleep…”

“Why are you helping me?” Ace interrupted.

“Oh.” He looked her in the eye. “Cause it was the right thing to do?” He gave her a puzzled smile and stepped back, setting the ladle down on the table.

“Aren’t you a rare breed. Can I have some more water?” This is when I find out how he expects me to earn my keep around here. ‘The right thing to do.’ What a crock of shit.

The cowboy studied her. “How about I let you off the table and you get your own water?”

“You’d do that?”

“As long as you don’t go using that STAR training on me.” He grimaced and rubbed his throat.

Dread rose in Ace. “STAR training? What’s that.” Who the shank is this guy? This is a setup. She started counting her breathing to regulate her body's natural physical response.

“I found your ship and then I found you, STAR Ace Hart. You thought I was a pirate and punched me in the throat and took off running, like a dog with its tail on fire. Took me three shots to tranq you.” He smiled. “Can’t remember the last time I missed, let alone twice. Where’d you learn to move like that? Never seen anything like it.”

Ace stared blankly.

“It don’t surprise me none you don’t remember any of this. You had some hallucinogenic poison and so much iron in your system your skin was turning red. Haven’t figured out where you got poisoned.”

“The lily pad roots are covered in thick slime. I think it was probably that.”

Ace looked away from the cowboy and at the ceiling of the hut. She kept her face calm while her mind raced. STARs were supposed to keep their identity secret from everyone—their immediate commanding officer the only person that should know their name or face. The only other person who even knew they were Sol military was the commander that recruited and trained them. This was a dismissible offense, forgoing all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Everything she had worked for washed away in a single moment. I have to kill him.

11: Cam

 “Could be. I haven’t sampled the lily pads.” He stepped toward her. Cam studied her face, but she betrayed no emotion. Damn good poker player. “You really a STAR? You gonna kill me if I let you go?”

“Why would I do that?” She stared him in the eye.

“Red, you know why I ask.” He stopped at the end of her stretcher, giving her a pointed look.

Ace never blinked.

Cam sighed. I really hope this ain’t a mistake. “The way I see it, anybody lost and poisoned on an iron moon for who knows how long would most likely be ranting and raving about some damn thing or another. Whether it was being a clandestine member of one of the most elite fighting forces in the Verse, or…” he paused, took a deep breath and shrugged, “or that she was kidnapped by pirates but escaped and crashed on the moon and managed to survive.”

He undid the straps on her legs and moved down the stretcher to her left arm. Her eyes followed. “What they ranted about wouldn’t matter, because I wouldn’t be able to believe any of it. They were poisoned out of their mind, and couldn’t tell reality from the story in their head.” He gripped the strap. Looking her in the eye, he said, “I would do the right thing and forget about all that. And when that person had their senses about them, that’s when I’d ask them who they were and how they got on this ball of iron.”

He undid the strap and stepped back from the stretcher. A good four meters away, he patted his rifle. “Of course, I would ask with a loaded weapon.” She reached over and undid the last strap and started to sit up, the stretcher swaying. “Careful now… don’t let that sheet fall off.”

Confused she said, “You’ve seen me naked.” She swung her legs over the edge, holding the rope for balance.

“Nope. Did not happen. And I’ll stand by that ‘til the day I die.” Gwen can never know. “I would like to give you some privacy but I also sure would like to keep on breathing. So…” Cam stepped back, “I will let you be while you get dressed.

“Oh, there’s some… well I guess you could call them clothes on the table there. I had to guess at the measurements, but if they need adjusting, and if I’m alive, we can work that out.” Cam bumped into the entrance wall.

“You made me clothes?” She asked, surprised, looking at the pile of cloth and color.

“From the dried hide I found and the parachute up there. We have a lot of miles to cover and you need something that is gonna hold up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ll explain everything soon, but short version, I got a pickup coming.”

“You mean you’re getting off