The light above the airlock turned green once pressurized. My hand moved to the handle of the gun on my hip. Force of habit, I suppose. Three men came through the door. One cuffed and gagged, two others escorting him aboard. “We did it!” said Mal, one of the escorts. “Ramos Ventili in the flesh. We’re in for a hell of a payday.”

“What’s the bounty up to now?” asked Amita, standing next to me.

“Forty-five. Million. Euro-dollars,” Mal said with a certain satisfaction.

“Is that dead or alive?” I ask.

All eyes turn to me. Mal steps closer to me. “That’d be alive.” He looked at the hand on my hip. “Vasily,” he called over his shoulder, “take the prisoner to his quarters.” He looked back at me. “I’m going to need your iron, Adeoye,” motioning to my pistol.

Between him and Amita, I watch the prisoner being pushed along out of the room. Drawing my piece, I flipped the safety on and begrudgingly handed it over. “It’s for the best,” said Mal. “You’ll get it back when we dock at Eres Station.”

He turned to walk away. My hands balled into fists. “It’s a long burn to UN territory.” I said. “A long time to have that animal on our ship and what, I’m just supposed to suck it up?”

Mal stopped. “Guess you’ll have to. You signed up for this, if you’ve forgotten.”

“Didn’t think we’d be taking him alive.”

Amita said something in Hindi. “Nah,” replied Mal. “He’ll behave. Forty-five mill cut four ways is enough to keep anyone in line.”

~~~~

Vasily called over the comms that we were on approach to Eres. “Alright, you heard ‘em,” said Mal. “Amita, get the prisoner prepped for transport. Adeoye, you’re staying with the ship.”

Going back to my quarters, I put my VAC suit on for when the ship would power down and depressurize after docking. The more I thought about that asshole we had in cuffs, the more I fumed at the prospect of him slipping out of my hands. Mal had my iron, so there was little I could do. Strangling him would take too long, I’d be restrained before he even lost consciousness. In the corner of my eye, my antique straight razor glinted in the fluorescent light.

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Walking back into the common area, we were all suited up, though someone had made the mistake of not gagging Ramos. He strolled calmly towards the airlock, hands bound behind him. “You know it’ll only be a matter of days before I’m free again, don’t you?”

“Shut up,” barked Mal.

“Maybe even this time tomorrow,” said the prisoner. “I’ll be aboard a new ship on a hard burn towards the outer planets again. Then it’ll all have been for nothing.”

“They won’t release a terrorist,” I said, rage kept me as still as a statue.

“I didn’t say anything about being released,” said Ramos, flashing a smile underneath the faceplate of his helmet.

“Eres is on the scope,” Vasliy’s voice rang out over the comms. “About ten minutes before we can dock.”

Mal walked over to Amita and the two held hands as their foreheads touched. “Just one more step,” he whispered to her. “One more, then we’re done. Then we’re out of here.”

I casually walked behind them, closer to Ramos. Putting my helmet on, I looked around carefully. Grabbing Ramos, I opened the airlock and pulled the terrorist in with me. The door closed before Mal could reach us. I used a maintenance override to lock it from the inside.

“What the fuck are you doing!” Mal shouted.

I pushed Ramos against the wall. “If you’re so confident you’re getting out of this, I’ll guess we’ll have to make sure.”

“Let me guess, you lost someone in the attack on Philadelphia,” said Ramos, rolling his eyes. “It was a small price to pay to make the govern-”

His eyes shot to the razor I pulled from behind my back. “Don’t TALK to me about paying prices!” I shouted, nearly foaming at the mouth. “What I lost that day...you can’t even imagine what that did to me.”

Mal was banging on the small window in the airlock door. “We need him alive!” he was shouting. “He’ll face trial, I’ll-I’ll make sure of it. We’re SO close to getting paid. To getting SET UP FOR LIFE!”

“That’s the thing,” I said softly. “It was never about the money for me. It’s about frontier justice. About revenge.”

“Killing him won’t bring back your boy or wife!” shouted Mal, desperation creeped into his voice.

I moved the razor to the air hose in Ramos’ VAC suit. The prisoner’s confidence faded quickly. “Wait, we can make a deal,” he pleaded.

I sliced the air hose and heard the quick hissing of his suit rapidly leaking it’s air supply. “Here’s the deal I have for you. You die gasping for air, while I,” I clicked my heels together, magnetizing my boots. “I watch.” Before he could answer, I opened the airlock’s outer door and watched Ramos get pulled into the cold, silent vacuum of space. A smile crept over my face. It wouldn’t bring anyone back from the dead...but damned if it didn’t make me feel good.