His last one had gotten a prime job offer she couldn’t resist.
A little guilt surfaced over that, but Abby pushed it back. After all, the woman had applied twice before to the Ribus Colony but had been rejected. It had been easy for Abby to ask a favor of another family friend. The previous civilian assistant was happy now, and Abby had her job.
He stood. “Let’s go have lunch.”
“I have to remind you that it’s only going to feed the rumor mill about us sleeping together. That’s the best reason they could think of for why you’d hire me.”
He chuckled. “A young, beautiful woman like you wanting an old bastard like me? I should be so lucky.” He rounded his desk. “Let them gossip. We know the truth. Besides, I like your company better than that of most of my office staff, and I hate to eat alone.”
She nodded, and they walked side by side out of his office.
He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “When are you going to fess up and tell me the real reason you’re here?”
She kept her gaze forward. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Howard kept quiet until they sat down in the officers’ dining hall, waiting for a server to come to them. “You’re incredibly intelligent, the pay cut you took is laughable, yet you asked to work for me on this vessel. You don’t even need a job, Abby. I know you already have an important one at D Corp. Don’t get me wrong. I’m lucky to have you working at my side. Now give it to me straight.”
She opened a cloth napkin, folding it over her lap, and stared at him.
“I’ve been patient and played your game. I even pretended to buy the excuse that you wanted off Earth for a while due to the media harassing you. You could have gone anywhere with the money and resources at your disposal, but you asked to be put here, on a battle vessel. Why, Abby?”
“The press were hounding me. All those reporters won’t stop demanding interviews. They started sending drones to my penthouse, hovering outside my windows just to get vids of me. Leaving Earth was a good thing. This is the highest-level security ship in the fleet. They wouldn’t dare come after me here.”
Howard sighed, watching her with a frown. “Abby, I’ve known you all your life. You’re like a niece to me. If you believe your parents don’t share stories about how troublesome you can be, think again. You’re up to something—and I want to know what it is. I’m old, but not a fool. My last assistant suddenly got a job offer from her dream colony. I couldn’t even obtain that for her with my connections, and I tried. She was sick of living on this space boat and I was tired of hearing her complain. Suddenly, out of the blue, they contacted her—and less than an hour later, you called to ask me to hire you. I immediately knew you were behind it. I trust you, Abby, but I wish you’d do the same with me. Whatever you’re up to, I’ve allowed it. Hell, I’m risking my career.”
She tapped her fingernail against the table. “Fine. It’s the Veslors.”
His expression tensed. “What about them? Do you know something that I don’t? I asked for them to be assigned here. Have you uncovered something, like maybe they aren’t trustworthy?”
“No. It’s not that.” She leaned forward. “The exact opposite, in fact. You know some of them saved my life.”
“I do.” He seemed to relax. “They boarded the Gorison Traveler to deal with the Ke’ters and helped you and your friend save lives.”
“I pushed hard for United Earth to give the Veslors a shot and talked my parents into pressing some business friends into supporting a trade alliance. I have both a professional and personal investment to see it all go smoothly. What I didn’t expect was some of them to be asked to fight for us or to live amongst humans.”
Howard relaxed more. “I see. You feel responsible for them being here.”
“I do.”
“You want to make sure everything goes well and, unlike the Ke’ters, our trust in them isn’t misplaced. You’re a sweet girl.”
“That’s not exactly it. I trust the Veslors. My friend Vivian is mated to one. I’ve learned a lot about them as a race. It’s us I don’t trust.”
Howard waved the approaching waiter off, motioning they needed a few more minutes. “What do you mean?”
“I saw how some of the crew reacted on the Gorison Traveler when they found out the Veslors saved our asses. If we hadn’t let them leave before releasing most of the crew from lockdown, there probably would have been an ugly attack on them. Solely due to fear and alien prejudice, pure and simple. I just want to make sure no one gives the Veslors any shit while they’re here. They needed someone looking out for them. Who better than me? And it turns out I was right to come, too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Bradley Rogers doesn’t want them working with our people, and he’s going to do everything in his power to make them fail. I heard him threatening to send the Veslors down to the surface without working weapons. You shouldn’t have assigned the Veslors to him. He’s got a chip on his shoulder, and he’s an asshole about other races. Hell, he’s just an asshole, period.”
“Goddamn it,” he sighed. “He’s the best tactical team leader we have. You must have misheard him.”
“I didn’t. Members of Team One were complaining about the Veslors. It was the perfect time for Rogers to lecture them about acceptance. He didn’t. Instead, he began spouting off, calling them animals, and that’s when he made the threat about the weapons. He’s a jerk who can’t see the value of the extra team you’ve assigned to him simply because they’re aliens. I made sure he knows he’ll get into deep shit if anything happens to them…and I screwed with his head a little.”
He cocked one eyebrow.
“I may have misled him about how the Veslors react to the death of one of their own, and he may just believe they’d tear him into tiny pieces if he causes one of them to die by sabotaging their team. I also pointed out how important the Veslors are with their food supplies, that if he fucks with them, he’ll be lucky to work with sewage on some tiny station when he’s tossed out of the fleet. I’m hoping what I said keeps him in line.”
Howard chuckled. “You’re a hellion. I like that you don’t take any shit from anyone.”
“I deeply appreciate your trust by giving me this job.” She could never thank him enough. It was important to her that she look out for the Veslors. Howard was allowing her to do just that.
He seemed to know where her thoughts lie. “You and your friend saved a hell of a lot of lives by working with the Veslors. Anyone who followed the investigation should feel profuse gratitude that you took that risk. It paid off. You and Vivian Goss are heroes. Hiring you was easy, and hell, you’re so overqualified it’s not funny. Besides…your parents asked me to keep an eye on you by saying yes to your request.” He pointed a finger at her. “They knew you were up to something.”
“They’ve been worried about the stress I’ve been under ever since I destroyed Commander Alderson’s career, and the careers of those morons who followed him down that dark path he was on. He wanted to kill me, probably still does. I blocked him from destroying evidence when he would have lied about who was responsible for allowing the Ke’ters onboard, trying to shove the blame on the crew members who’d died and poor Vivian. I’m just sorry the fleet decided not to press criminal charges against him. He didn’t deserve leniency for his years of service. His forced retirement should be done in an eight-by-eight cell instead of the comfort of his home.”