Fool Me Once (Privateer Tales) Read online

  I couldn't understand what I had done to perturb her, so I pressed on. "Instinct."

  She looked me up and down and then twirled her finger at me. I obliged by turning around.

  “You’re too skinny, but I could make something work. What do you want here?”

  “I need clothing.” I was a dumbfounded at her question.

  “No. That’s why you are at my shop. Why are you in Puskar Stellar?”

  “I'm looking for someone.”

  “Okay. Good. How long do you plan to be here?”

  “I don’t know. Depends on if I find her.”

  “Her?” She jumped on it. I immediately wished I could rescind my words. Somehow she had me off balance.

  “It’s personal.”

  “It matters. I need to know who I’m dressing,” she insisted.

  “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Kathryne. Yours?”

  “Lena.”

  “So, Lena. Who is this girl you are looking for? Does she owe you money?”

  “No. Look, I don’t even know if she’s here. I just need to find her.”

  “A friend then. Is this friend in trouble?”

  “What does this have to do with clothing?”

  “Humor an old woman.” She grabbed one of the reading pads and started swiping, no longer looking at me.

  “I'm looking for my sister.” I felt defeated.

  “See. That wasn’t so hard. Can you swing thirty-five hundred? She looked up from her reading pad.”

  “You don’t even know what I want.”

  “No. You don’t know what you want. You obviously are from off-world and have never shopped for clothing in your life. I, on the other hand, have been fitting women with clothing for most of mine. What do you think we’ve been talking about?”

  “What? Are you always this difficult?”

  “Yes. At least I answer your questions. How about it?”

  “How about what?” I was fuming at this point.

  “Don’t be dense. Can you swing thirty-five hundred m-creds?”

  I looked at her for several minutes, and she returned my stare, neither of us looking away. I finally made a decision. “Yes. I can swing it.”

  “Good decision. Come back in two hours. And while you are out, fix that hair. I won’t have you wearing my clothes looking like that.”

  “Anything else?” I could feel the flush in my face.

  “One more thing. Stop and see my friend Emir. Pay for and pick up two small devices. I need them for your clothing.” Kathryne reached into the air just in front of her eyes and pinched her fingers. She held her hand toward me, as if to drop something at my feet. I held my reading pad forward and she released her fingers. Emir’s Emporium showed up with an address.

  I left Kathryne’s company, relieved to be away from her. Emir's Emporium was several blocks away but in the direction of Punjay’s Pawn. When I arrived, another dark-skinned man with thick hair met me at the door. I wondered if there was a settlement of a particular nationality here.

  “You must be Lena,” he said.

  “Yes. Kathryne recommended you. Are you Emir?”

  “I am indeed. She sent the specs for a couple pieces. I have them in the back.”

  I followed him past vac-suits, weapons, racks of blaster rifles, flechette pistols and all different types of weapons and armored clothing. On a back table he showed me two items. They were both small rectangular devices not much bigger than the end of my thumb.

  “Power packs,” Emir explained before I could ask. “Flexible, regenerating, parasitic, top of the line. Kathryne only works with the best.” The packs didn’t look like much, so they must be expensive if he was selling them this hard.

  “Anything else?” Emir asked. “I have the biggest selection in town. You need it, I either have it or can get it.”’

  “How about a small pistol?”

  “Blaster or flechette?”

  “I’m not sure. Needs to be small and if I have to use it I don’t want them getting back up.”

  “Blaster then. Flechettes with stopping power are bigger. Personally, I like their control; your AI can adjust the flight while the dart is en-route. Nothing beats a blaster for putting ‘em down, though. I know just the thing. Of course you know blasters aren’t legal on Puskar Stellar and you will need to keep it locked up?”

  “Of course.”

  Emir walked over to a shelf and moved a few boxes around. He finally found whatever he was looking for. He returned, opened a box and pulled out a small pistol. It was small, the barrel half again longer than if I simply pointed my finger. The grip fit easily into my hand. I hadn’t realized that weapons were made with smaller grips for a woman's hand. I would definitely have picked out this gun if I'd only known what to ask for. It would be easy to hide.

  “Perfect fit,” Emir said. “Your thin fingers are a little unusual. Interest you in a blade? Nice looking girl like you can’t be too careful. More subtle than a blaster, too.”

  I thought about it. I hadn’t really considered myself a knife-type person, but his point about subtle was a good one. “I don’t have a lot of places to hold a blade.”

  “I have just the thing. Top of the line. Only problem is the cops will take it if they find it on you.” Emir disappeared into a back room and reemerged with a flat, black stick the length of my index finger. He handed it to me.

  “Close your hand on it.” I closed my hand around the flat stick and it puffed up, allowing me to grip it easily. The surface of the device felt like the handgrip of the blaster Emir had just shown me. It was comfortable and would be difficult to drop.

  “Flick it away from your body, but don’t drop it. You can’t imagine how many people throw this the first time I show it to them.”

  I flicked my wrist away from my body, not sure what might occur. A small glowing line, the length of my hand, extended from the end of the device. Emir put an apple on the table.

  “Sweep through it, but try not to hit my table,” he said.

  I did as he asked and when the apple moved only slightly, I felt just a small amount of pressure. Emir picked up the top of the apple and took a bite out of it. The blade had cut the apple neatly in half. I couldn’t imagine what it would do to my arm if I missed. Emir must have suspected my concern.

  “It won’t cut you or your clothing. For that matter it won’t cut someone you are touching. Give it a little harder flick, but do it away from everything.”

  I did as he bade and the blue light grew to nearly two-thirds of a meter. I was holding an extremely thin sword.

  “Is this legal?”

  “Not strictly speaking, so you should be careful.” He handed two small squares to me. “Give these to Kathryne.” He put the blaster pistol back in its box. “Remember. If these weapons don’t work out for you, I have many more choices. Emir either has it or can get it. Swipe?” Emir gestured to his payment terminal. I saw the total of twenty-four hundred m-creds. It was going to be an expensive day.

  My next stop was Ballance Electronics. I got help from a young woman and found a nice matte silver device that rested behind my ear and could telescope out in front of my eye to provide a HUD. The unit had a much higher quality display than my suit. I hoped it wouldn't cause as much eye strain. It was another six hundred m-creds, but I liked the way it fit. I could barely feel it on my ear, although I kept thinking something was brushing against my cheek as I walked. I would get used to it.

  I still had an hour to kill and couldn't go back to Kathryne’s without getting my hair fixed. She was right, it was in terrible shape. Some of the shine had started to return with regular nutrition, but it was still a mess with dry, split ends. I found a cluster of hair boutiques several blocks away and followed a pair of well dressed women into an upbeat shop. Several young men and women worked steadily on their clientele. The thin man who greeted me, was taller than me and dressed in tight fitting jeans and a loose black shirt.

  “Are you here to
make an appointment?” His smile was friendly but his message was clear, no open seats today.

  “I’m in big trouble. I have a date tonight and I just arrived on Mars. I can’t be seen like this.” I caused my face to flush and willed tears to my eyes. Drama would be necessary.

  “Oh, you poor dear, maybe we can squeeze you in. Let me check.”

  I reached out to him and gently touched his forearm. “You are so kind.”

  “As it turns out, I was just scheduled to go on break. Follow me. What did you say your name was? My name is Sam but they call me Sunny.” I wondered if he would stop for a breath.

  “Lena,” I replied.

  “Pretty name.” He gave me a gentle push into a chair and spun it around, then ran his hands through my hair. “Lena, girl, you are a wreck. What have you done to your hair? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  Sunny scrubbed, moisturized and trimmed my hair, then spun me around with a flourish. I hardly recognized myself in the mirror. My stringy, lifeless hair was full, like it had been when I was much younger. Sunny loved my silver-white color. He said it made me look mysterious. In the end, he did a fabulous job. I was surprised at how much I still wanted to feel pretty.

  I tipped Sunny twice what he had charged and felt it was worth every m-credit I spent. I made my way back to Kathryne’s with a bounce in my step.

  “Oh, that’s so much better,” Kathryne said when she saw me. “You have such beautiful hair and you've treated it so badly. Promise me you’ll not do that to yourself again.”

  “Never again.”

  She led me through her shop and stopped at a door to a small room. There were clothes draped over the back of a beautiful wooden chair. My eyes were drawn to long black boots leaning against the chair.

  “Try it all on and we can see about a final fitting, though I doubt that will be necessary. Now that I see you again, you really are that thin. Boots go on last.”

  The clothing pieces Kathryne had assembled weren’t significantly different than what she was wearing. A black skirt made of a luxurious, satiny material, clung to my body, making it only halfway down my thighs. On top, she had a long-sleeve beige shirt with a deep cut v-neck for me to wear. The black boots pulled up over my knees and held tightly to my legs, leaving a small amount of skin showing between the top of the boots and the bottom of the skirt.

  I stepped out of the changing room and turned around at Kathryne’s prompting.

  “Beautiful. The fit is perfect. Now watch this.” Kathryne tugged the skirt's hem and instead of pulling the entire skirt down, it simply extended. She let go, with the skirt just above my knees, and looked at me. I nodded my understanding. She pulled again and extended the skirt to my ankles. It was a beautiful look, but not particularly practical for walking.

  “Not done.” She ran a finger down the side of my leg starting at just above my knee and the skirt split.

  “That's incredible, and the material feels great!”

  “There’s one more piece.” She pulled a cloak off of a chair next to her and threw it over my shoulders. The cloak hung down to my ankles and had openings for my arms.

  “Did you bring the generators from Emir?”

  I handed her the two wafer thin squares.

  “Perfect.” She slipped them into a seam. “The cloak is active armor. Not only will it absorb small blaster fire, but most blades won’t be able to penetrate it. No idea if you’ll need it, but you look to have had a tough run of things. You can extend and shorten the cloak also. Styling is all mine, but you can set the length.”

  “It is all perfect. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “Swipe here, dear. You were smart to be truthful with me. I had intended to turn you away. You smell of trouble, but now I must know when you find your sister."

  GONE TO GROUND

  Back on the ship, I packed my vac-suit into one of the cases I'd taken from the Red Houzi hideout. A good chunk of my money had gone to clothing and I needed to be more frugal. The chests held at least four times the value of the platinum and coins, but that’s where the money ended. I had to take good care of these, as there wouldn’t be any more access to pirate loot.

  Secure storage facilities in a major trading hub are apparently as common as horny men in a bar. The problem was, how safe were they? The facilities, not the men. I desperately needed to get these cases off the ship just in case the Red Houzi showed up sooner, rather than later. In the end, I chose two separate storage facilities. They both advertised the ability to pick up within the next two hours for a substantial up-charge. A representative of the local stevedore's union was required to be present while robotic carriers zipped up the ship’s ramp, picked up the cases and trundled off.

  I must have lost track of time, because I was startled when Benny pinged me. He was standing just outside the airlock.

  “Hi Benny. What’s up?”

  “Want to let me in, Doll?”

  “Be right there.” I was pleased to see that the little troll had dressed up. I arranged the skirt so that it fell only halfway down my thighs and pulled a deeper V into the shirt. I lifted the cloak up so its length matched the hem of my skirt.

  Benny was not only sporting a new, brightly colored blue shirt with large lapels, but he also appeared to have found a new pair of pants and dress suspenders. I might have made fun of him for the loud shirt, but I couldn't. He was making such an effort.

  I opened the door and allowed Benny to get a look at me. I could have worked it a little harder, but I was pretty sure I had him either way at this point.

  “Aren’t you just darling?” I asked, causing Benny to blush. “Where are we headed tonight?”

  “K-Paul’s Cajun. Feu Follet is playing.”

  Darkness had fallen while I was on the ship. I wasn’t used to thinking about such things and I noticed the air had cooled considerably. A vac-suit kept my body at a consistent temperature, and now, without it, I had skin exposed. The discomfort wasn’t critical, so I put my arm in Benny’s and we walked together out of the ship lot.

  K-Paul’s was several blocks away and I was surprised at how the streets had transformed from a bustling marketplace to well-lit walkways. Light flooded out of the building through giant arched glass windows. Black-shirted servers worked around tables with red checked tablecloths. The music pouring out of the front door was loud.

  “Had to bribe a guy I know to get a reservation. It’s all about who you know,” Benny said. He had to speak up to be heard over the noise. His raspy voice was having difficulty keeping up.

  We received a few looks from the patrons. I wasn’t exactly date material for Benny, if anything I was over-dressed. I exaggerated the swing in my hips. No better way to be forgotten than to act like an escort.

  There was a raised stage in the middle of the room where the band played. A wisp of a man was holding an accordion and singing. I couldn’t make out a word, other than it was loud. The rest of the band played stringed instruments and harmonized with the lead.

  “Good, no?” Benny all but yelled at me. I nodded and smiled, not wanting to yell back. The waiter sat us next to a window, giving us a nice view of the street. It would be difficult to be in a bad mood at K-Paul’s.

  Benny ordered for the two of us. I had no idea what to order in a Cajun restaurant. When the food came out, it smelled delicious. Jambalaya.

  While I was trying to work my way around the spicy food, my eye caught sight of something that caused me to break into a cold sweat. Alexander Boyarov. He was leaning against a building directly across from K-Paul’s, staring directly at me. When we made eye contact, he gave me a knowing smile. Panic coursed through my body. I had to run. I started to get up.

  Benny reached out his hand to grab me. “What’s up, doll?”

  I shucked off his hand, but sat back down. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my small hand blaster and pointed it at Benny under the table. He saw the gun and his eyes grew wide.

  “Who did you tell?
” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “What are you talking about doll? Put the toy away.” His raspy voice now sounded greasy instead of cute.

  “You called someone. Reported my ship. Who was it?”

  “Wasn’t me. I was going to but we were getting along so well.”

  “Red Houzi, you stupid shit. Standing right outside looking at us. Was that the plan? Get me out of the ship and turn me over?”

  “No doll, you got it all wrong.” Benny stared at me imploringly. It was his mistake.

  “So you already know he’s there? I tell you Red Houzi is standing outside and you don’t even look?” I was pissed now.

  “Where? I don’t see anyone.” Benny looked out the window, but refused to look in Alexander’s direction. No doubt he had been warned about giving Boyarov’s position away.

  “Benny. If you ever want to see me again you have to level with me. How many are there? He’s here to kill me.”

  Benny looked away from me to the floor. “At least three. I’m supposed to get you out the back door. I didn’t have a choice. I'd already called them before we started getting along. Can I help?”

  “Will you help me?” I asked.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  We both stood and walked toward the back. Benny pulled out a small blaster that fit neatly into his oversized hand. He walked close to me and I could feel the barrel in my ribs.

  When we got close to the back door, I pulled my nano-blade from the top of my boot and gave it a quick flick. I saw the blue glow of its extended blade out of the corner of my eye. I tore away from Benny and jammed the blade into his shoulder.

  “You frakking bitch!” he bellowed. My heart was already hammering and my legs churned in panic, putting distance between us.

  I made a mad dash toward the front of the restaurant. Two men at the back were odds I had no interest in. I ran into a waitress who was carrying a large tray of steaming food, causing the tray to crash into a nearby table. To her credit, she followed it down, trying to minimize the damage.

  I heard blaster fire and saw charged rounds flying just over my head.