Triple Threat- Jake Mudd Starter Library, page 1
Triple Threat
The Jake Mudd Starter Library: Tangled Peril, Deadly Cargo, Forced Vengeance
Scot C. Morgan
Note from the Author
Three books in one.
TANGLED PERIL and DEADLY CARGO are stand-alone stories, but lead into FORCED VENGEANCE. They are in order in this book.
I hope you enjoy the stories.
After you finish these,
continue the adventure with
HEAT SEEKER
Jake Mudd Adventures Book 2
Contents
Scot C. Morgan
Tangled Peril
Scot C. Morgan
Deadly Cargo
Scot C. Morgan
Forced Vengeance
Thank you for reading
Acknowledgments
The Jake Mudd Books
About the Author
Tangled Peril
A Jake Mudd Tale
Scot C. Morgan
Copyright © Scot C. Morgan (2017).
All rights reserved.
https://scotcmorgan.com
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
Jake knew he didn't care for the man standing in front of him when he first talked to the guy earlier that day. The dark-haired heavyset man had insisted Jake bring the package back to an abandoned storage yard on the edge of town. Jake had already flown his beloved ship Sarah across half the galaxy to make the delivery. That much was routine for him, but the guy's insistence on a last-minute change to the drop-off site was the kind of irregularity Jake tried to avoid. He knew something amiss too often meant he had a good chance of being shot at before the day was over. The fact that he'd already landed his shuttle and trekked through several neighborhoods he could've done without made the request annoying, to say the least. Turns out, it was just the start of his troubles.
Standing in the center of the massive pad of cracked concrete, Jake's opinion of him firmed. The guy exuded asshole without saying anything. Jake stared at him, letting a few moments go by in silence.
The man scowled.
This guy smells.
Jake realized he was making a face too.
Well, I'm not here to make friends. Get the damn credit payment, then it's so long craphole planet.
He watched the man's eye twitch. He glanced at the man's wide jawline and thick neck. No chance he goes down easy.
"You're not going to get a better offer," the man said.
Decent leather jacket. At least he's got that going for him.
The man had a henchman with him. Jake could tell the guy had seen his fair share of action, most likely the kind where someone gets hurt, or worse.
Jake saw three guns, aside from his own. The boss man had one on each hip, and his hired heavy had one too. Wouldn't be a problem under normal circumstances, Jake thought. Then he turned his glance to the most dangerous part of the situation—the woman standing a few feet past the brick-jawed guy.
She raised her exquisite brow, smiled at Jake, and shrugged her shoulders slightly. Then she widened her eyes before glancing down at the gun on the boss man's right hip. She looked back up at Jake and slowly nodded her head.
You gotta be kidding me.
Jake shook his head almost imperceptibly just a half-inch to each side.
The woman's long auburn hair was tied up in a loose ponytail, cascading onto the shoulders of her snug black jacket. Jake thought for a moment how her hair had looked when it was down earlier that morning, draped across her chest as she reclined on a bedding of several thick blankets and furs on the floor. Hell of a way to receive a package, he had thought when he first saw her. But then the call came over the comm device on his belt with word that the drop-off location had changed. Turned out she didn't have the payment. After a good hour considering the request, he parted ways with her and made his way to the storage yard on the outskirts of town.
The woman continued nodding and smiling.
What is it about crazy makes me keep drinking the brew?
The boss man spoke. "Hand over the goods, Mudd. In return, I'll let you live."
"That's not the way this is going down, Gammon," Jake said. "I'm not looking for trouble, but I think you should know." He looked at the henchman, then back to Gammon, "You're not the first guy to try this."
"Yes, I heard what you did to my two men posted outside the original drop off spot," Gammon said.
"I told them I need to pass, to get inside for a meet with you," Jake said. "They didn't listen. You might want to do a little better vetting potential goons."
"I dealt with their incompetence when they brought her to me."
Gammon glanced over his shoulder toward the woman, not exactly looking at her, but clarifying his next point. "I'm told you are an honorable man." He turned back to Jake. "I admire that."
Who the hell told you that?
Jake said nothing, but watched the woman behind Gammon out of the corner of his eye.
Oh, right.
She raised her eyebrows and shoulders, and tipped her head slightly to the side. Jake also noticed her hand poised to move.
"But you see, Mudd, I'm not constrained by such a thing as honor."
The henchman pulled his gun on Jake.
Jake drew his blaster at the same time.
The two kept each other at gun point, but neither fired.
Jake thought about taking the shot, and whether he could dart out of the way of the other man's fire.
The woman ripped Gammon's gun from his side and pointed it at the henchman. "Drop it."
The hired heavy turned his eyes toward the barrel aimed at his head.
No, not on him, Allie.
Allie cocked her head to see Gammon, her boss, directing his weapon to her. "Shit." She kept her blaster trained on the henchman, but darted her eyes back and forth from him to Gammon.
Jake panned his blaster to the right, locking in on Gammon. "I appreciate your help," he said to Allie, "but he's the real problem here."
Each of them glanced at the others, all a trigger squeeze from oblivion.
Gammon's dark curly hair shook as he laughed. "It seems my dear Allie is not to be trusted. And all this time I thought she was such a loyal woman." He laughed some more. "But she's full of surprises, isn't she, Mudd?"
Jake tapped a button on the side of his blaster. The weapon's hum became more audible. "What's it to be?"
Gammon looked at the four guns. "I'm willing to amend my offer."
"Smart man," Jake said.
Chapter 2
Gammon shifted his aim to Jake, then he directed his henchman. "I've got Mudd under control. If my Allie is tired of my protection, I have no use for her." He nodded toward her.
Gammon's henchman trained his weapon on her.
"Hold on," Jake said. "Let's not get hasty."
"Jake." Allie shifted her feet and slightly raised her blaster aimed at the henchman. "What do I do?"
"Tell your man to back down, Gammon," Jake said. "I'll give you the package. Let her go, and I'll cut the payment in half."
"Are you kidding me?" Allie said.
"Fine," Jake said. "Keep the money. The package for the girl."
Keep the money? Mudd! You idiot. Too obvious.
Gammon held his hand up to his hired man. "You know she's not worth half that."
He bought it.
"People don't own people," Jake said. "You trying to talk me out of it?"
"OK," Gammon said, gesturing to the other man. "We all lower our weapons."
The henchman tipped his blaster upward, away from Allie.
"Do as he says." Jake kept his eye on Gammon as he spoke to Allie.
She looked at Gammon, his gun was still on Jake. "He'll shoot you."
"No, he won't. If he does, he and I both die," Jake said. He still had his blaster aimed at Gammon. "I'm going to reach into my jacket for the package, Gammon." He tipped his head toward Allie. "She walks toward me, and I toss the package over to you. Got it?"
Gammon squinted and stared at Jake for a moment. "Don't try anything, Mudd. I'm no fool. More of my men are on their way here now."
"I'll toss it to you," Jake said, "then we walk away."
"OK."
"Jake," Allie said, "you can't trust him!"
"Just walk slowly over here." Jake winked at her.
She looked puzzled.
He glanced down at his jacket pocket before giving her another wink.
She walked toward him, keeping her blaster ready and watching Gammon and his man.
As she reached Jake, he started stepping backward. She did the same, next to him.
Gammon shook his blaster slightly toward Jake. "That's far enough. The package."
"Just getting to a safe distance," Jake said.
Gammon laughed. "You think another ten feet will ma
Jake pulled his fist out of his jacket pocket. He held his hand closed over an object. "That's not what I meant." He squeezed the object in the palm of his hand twice and tossed it onto the ground in front of Gammon.
Gammon looked down at the small metal disc. "That's not—"
The blast went off as Jake turned away from the explosive, swooping his arm around Allie, pulling her back with him as he dove to the ground.
The force of the detonation knocked him and Allie back a few feet. He felt the heat against the back of his jacket. His ears rang for a few seconds. Pushing himself up, he first looked to see if Allie was OK, then he glanced back at the two men. They were down, badly injured, but he figured they'd live. Seems fair to me, he thought.
Gammon was groaning. He slowly moved his hand, fumbling for his weapon. Jake could tell it'd be several minutes before Gammon's head cleared enough to do anything.
He knelt and placed his hand on Allie's shoulder. "You OK?"
She slowly turned over, blinked a few times, and looked up at him. "Ask me when my head stops hurting."
Jake leaned down and looked at her, checking for bleeding.
She reached up and rubbed her hand over her head. "It's just a headache, I think."
"It was the best option I had," Jake said. "Better than getting shot." He held his hand out to her. "Can you stand?"
"Yes." She got to her feet.
He stepped closer to Gammon, who was still on the ground groaning. Gammon's clothes had a few tears and his face a few cuts, but all his limbs were attached and he wasn't in danger of bleeding to death.
"Is he dead?" Allie asked.
"Far from it. That was a stun grenade, it wasn't designed to kill."
Allie walked over to Jake and aimed her blaster at Gammon.
Jake put his hand on the side of the weapon. "No. You don't want to do that."
She looked at Jake. "Yes, I do. He deserves it."
"I'm sure he does, but that's not going to do you any good. Trust me. You're better off walking away."
Trust me.
"You think I haven't killed before?"
Jake stared at her for a few seconds, trying to measure her innocence. "Then, for me." He gestured for her to walk with him, away from Gammon. "I'm trying to take a week off from killing." He smiled at her. "Doctor's orders."
Allie seemed to fight it for a second, but then smiled. She lowered her weapon. "Fine. Have it your way." She knelt beside Gammon and rummaged through his jacket. She pulled out a handful of credit chips from his inside pocket. "But I'm taking these. He owes me." She stood and stared at Jake. She looked stern. "These are mine, understand? You keep the package."
"No argument here," Jake said. He holstered his blaster. "That must be a lot of credits around here. He seemed to think so. This was just a stop-off delivery for me. I can broker a deal for the goods on my next stop."
She looked at the credit chips in her hand, then shoved them into her pants pocket. "Let's get out of here."
"Gladly."
Jake stepped over to the henchman and nudged him with his boot. "He'll make it."
"You're not so tough," Allie said.
Jake chuckled, as he kept walking. "Come on."
She joined him and they made their way out of the concrete yard.
"What're you gonna use the money for?" Jake asked. "Get set up some place safe, away from Gammon, maybe another town?"
"I guess I never told you, did I?"
"What's that?"
"How I ended up as Gammon's—."
"No. You'll recall we didn't talk much when we first met."
She smiled. "Right."
"So?"
"A long time ago, he saved me."
Jake waited for her to go on, but they were interrupted by the sounds of Gammon and his henchman waking up.
Jake glanced back and saw them stirring. He heard the heavy hum of a ship's engines. Seconds later he saw a large ship flying toward them.
Allie looked skyward. "That's Gammon's ship."
"Let's move. Better we're not here when they land."
"I know a place we can go," Allie said. "We'll be safe there."
Chapter 3
After a long walk out of town, past warehouses and several streets of shanty houses which looked forgotten by the rest of the town, they came to a brown building. It stood alone, the only structure on the last street before the heavy line of trees a few hundred feet beyond it.
"That's it," Allie said, pointing to the unassuming one-story brick building. It was twice the size of the run-down houses they'd just passed, but had the same look of an owner's disregard. The two windows in front, painted over, a dull gray. The faded blue door, weathered, with cracks and chipped paint. The ground around the building was concrete, with dirt built up against the corners of the structure.
"Whose place?" Jake asked, as they approached the door.
"An old friend. I hope she's still here. It's been a while."
Allie raised her hand to knock on the door, but it opened before she touched it.
"It's been too long." An elderly lady stood in the doorway, half her body behind the door. She had black hair, pale wrinkled skin. She wore a blue dress.
"I'm sorry, Mable," Allie said. "You're right. It has been.”
Mable nodded toward Jake. "He OK?"
"He saved my life," Allie said. "Got me away from Gammon, but we need a place to lay low for a while."
Mable let the door open the rest of the way, revealing the shotgun she had in her right hand. "In that case, get in here."
Mable stepped aside as Allie entered. Jake followed her, but stopped as Mable blocked his way at the door.
"What's your name?" She jutted the barrel of the shotgun toward Jake as she spoke.
"Jake Mudd."
"You stood up to Gammon?"
Jake glanced at the shotgun still pointed at him. "Had to be done."
Mable looked Jake in the eyes and nodded. "Damn right." She stepped aside. "Come on in, Jake Mudd."
Jake nodded to her. "Thank you." He entered and Mable looked outside for a moment before closing the door and dropping a large metal bar across it.
The large room had a long couch piled with crocheted multi-colored blankets and a couple of pillows. Opposite was a shorter gray sofa. Behind it was a pile of crochet thread, each thick bundle a different color. Stuck in the top of the pile were two metal crochet hooks. At the back of the room was a small open kitchen—single sink, counter, and cooler box. There was a single door to the left.
Jake stepped farther into the room and glanced back to the painted windows at the front of the house, on either side of the door. He saw where a small spot on one of the windows had the paint scraped away, making a peephole to the outside of the house.
Mable moved past Jake and Allie, and went into the kitchen. "You two have a seat." She filled a kettle with water. "Sorry about the pile on the big couch. That's been my bed since my back started giving trouble. Bedroom's through there," she pointed to the closed door, "but I use it for storage now. Gray couch." She turned from the teapot, which she sat on the burner, to look at Jake and Allie. "Both you can squeeze on there."
Allie sat down and made eyes at Jake for him to do the same. As he joined Allie on the couch, Mable left the kitchen area and took her spot next to the pile of colored blankets on the long couch. "I'm so happy to see you, Allie."
"It's good of you to let us stay here for a while," Allie said. "I don't want to cause you any trouble. We'll be on our way in an hour or so, if that's alright."
"Nonsense." Mable reached over and patted Allie's knee. "I don't get company too often. You two will stay for dinner." She looked at Jake. "You're hungry, aren't you, Mr. Mudd?"
Jake glanced at Allie before answering. He was out of his element. Allie offered no help. "Sounds better than a gun to my head."
