Fool Me Once (Privateer Tales) Read online

  “That’s better. Pretty great, right? We’re doing forty meters per second. Any faster and we’d get the attention of the local LEOs.”

  “LEOs?”

  “Puskar Cops. They get grumpy if they have to chase me down.”

  “Oh. How far are we?”

  “Few minutes, not far. You doing okay? Sorry about my hair. I should have tied it up. Look over to the left, that’s downtown. We’re over Coral Vista right now, just about to North Town. University Hills after that.”

  The tall buildings of downtown looked different from the back of a bike than when I was inside the cab. Silently we rode. I loved the feeling of the wind rushing by and the warmth of Tali’s body. It was all so free spirited.

  After fifteen minutes, Tali started descending. All of the nearby buildings had the same orange colored clay tile roofs. Some buildings were large, although none of them were over three stories tall. There were courtyards and paths all over the place. I guessed this was the University. Tali confirmed it.

  “Puskar Stellar University. Good school. Completely free, just like all Universities on Mars. Only requirement is doing the work. If you can hack it, you can stay.”

  “I didn’t know they were free.”

  “You have to be a resident, but yeah. Okay, here’s our stop. She decelerated and landed in a parking structure.”

  “Aren’t you worried someone will take it?” I asked as I handed her the goggles.

  “Good luck with that. Security system goes ape-shit if someone other than me tries to move it.” She smiled and put both sets of goggles into a pouch on the bike. She retrieved a couple of hair brushes and handed one to me. “It’s better if we tie up the hair before getting on, but I love the feeling.”

  I accepted the brush and found I had some nasty tangles. I did the best I could and handed it back to her. She apparently had experience with detangling her hair, as her own looked like she had just taken a shower and brushed it out. Her fine black hair was longer than mine, reaching down past her shoulder blades.

  “Okay, still good for sushi?” she asked.

  I smiled back at her. To find Jenny I would have gone anywhere, but now having experienced the closeness and enjoyment of the bike ride, I'd be happy to eat whatever she wanted. “Only if I can buy,” I answered.

  “It’s a deal.”

  The restaurant wasn’t far from where we’d parked. The décor was minimalistic. A rusty colored stain had been applied directly over concrete and the tables were all high tops with tall stools. A college-aged girl seated us at a table overlooking the courtyard we had crossed to get here.

  “Want me to order for you?”

  “Just get me whatever you get. I’m not picky.” It was an understatement. After a couple of years of near starvation, I was no longer off-put by unusual food. If it was clean, I'd eat it.

  “Remember, if you don’t like it, they also have some easy rice dishes.”

  “It’ll be fine.”

  Tali ordered several items and asked for them to be served in the middle of the table. It was a nice way of letting me choose what I liked.

  “Okay, let’s get down to business. I need to know what I’m getting into. Tell me about Jennifer, how you guys became separated, and why you think she's on Puskar Stellar. Don’t spare any details. The more I know, the more I will likely want to help.”

  “Can you? I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but how do I know you can help me?”

  “Okay, got it. I can go first. I don’t suppose Kathryne told you much about me, so I'll give you the short version. I joined the Marines when I was seventeen, just after I got my EMC (Earth/Mars Citizen). I was accepted into special-forces shortly after that. Without getting into details, I left the service after ten years with an honorable discharge. I tried being a cop for a couple of years, but let’s just say that didn’t work for me. Twenty-six months ago I started a private investigation firm. I’m a solo act, but have lots of contacts. That’s as succinct as I can get.”

  “You don’t look … well, ok, that’s impressive. I didn’t mean to question you but I can’t waste time. It’s my sister.”

  “No. I agree. How could you know? And for the record, I age well. I’m thirty-one.” She was right, she didn't look more than twenty-five from any distance. Close up I could see a hardness in the lines of her face which now made sense.

  “That was me. Now, I need the scoop. Let’s start with you not being dead.” Her look wasn’t unfriendly, but the camaraderie was at least momentarily lost.

  “This is hard for me to talk about.”

  Tali reached across the table and put her hand on my arm. It was an intimate gesture and there was compassion in her eyes. “Don’t give details yet, be brief. If it’s important I will ask for more. Try to not to skip too much though.”

  I wanted so badly to trust her. In less than an hour, I'd become closer to her than any other person in the universe other than Jenny.

  “Okay, here goes. On Terrence, both my parents died before I was twelve. By the time I was fourteen I was the sole provider for me and my sister. To start out with we had enough to get by. We spent virtually nothing. I dropped out of school to work more and keep us going. A mining colony is a terrible place to need money. The whole economy is about mining and if you're not a miner, you can’t add value to the community. By the time I was sixteen, I turned to prostitution to help make ends meet. We weren’t getting ahead, but Jenny was still in school. I don’t think she knew what I did. One day I got invited to a party, there were supposed to be some big-shots there. I was abducted and taken to a Red Houzi base. Roll forward eighteen months. I escaped, made my way to Terrence and found out that Jenny disappeared, maybe to come here.”

  It was as dispassionate as I could make it, but the memories brought tears to my eyes. I refused to give into them. Tali didn’t seem like the type to make decisions based on emotions and she needed to see that I was tough enough to see this through.

  “That sucks. How did you get to Terrence and Puskar Stellar?” I found it odd to think that she simply accepted my story. Even as a summary it sounded pretty far-fetched.

  “That’s a long story all by itself. The clowns at the base where I was held, targeted a group that got pissed off and brought the fight to us. They basically kicked our asses. The captain was cool though. He told me that if I helped him, he'd get me out and he did. He even gave me the ship he captured on the base.”

  “Captain Liam Hoffen?” She asked.

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “It’s the sort of thing that gets around. So you were part of that mess. Where’s your ship now?”

  “Not my ship anymore. The place where I left it is crawling with Red Houzi. I think they’re after me too.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “One of the pirates showed up in Puskar and tracked me down at a restaurant and then sent threatening messages.”

  “Seems like that might have been good information to share. Anything else?”

  “Well, there's a guy from the place I landed the ship. Benny. He told Red Houzi where we were eating dinner and they came for us. The pirate that’s after me is Alexander Boyarov. He’s dangerous. But Benny’s not a bad guy. They would have hurt him if he hadn’t turned me in.”

  “Yeah, sounds like a real standup guy.”

  “He helped me escape.” Was I so desperate for friends that I was willing to defend Benny?

  “Okay, now tell me everything you know about your sister after you were abducted.”

  I sent Tali the correspondence I'd received from Jenny and also the conversation I had with Jenny’s friend Misty regarding passage on Domiva’s Grace.

  The sushi arrived. I wasn’t particularly hungry.

  “Eat. It's not heavy and you can’t let your body run down,” Tali instructed.

  I grabbed a few of the rolls from the nearest plate and nibbled on them as Tali reviewed the correspondence.

  “Okay. Everything
you say seems legit and I believe you. I’m not cheap. Seven hundred a day plus expenses. A week in advance. After a week we reassess. Sound fair?”

  Neither of us realized just how much fair wouldn’t cover what we were stepping into.

  OH, THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK

  “I’ll check in with you as needed this week,” Tali said. “I mostly need to do some computer work. Expect a few hundred in expenses. I’ll need to pay a nerd or two.”

  “Hah. Okay.”

  “Do you need a ride anywhere?” she asked.

  “No, I’m good. Thanks for dinner, love this place.” I said.

  I watched her walk across the courtyard to the grav-bike. She walked gracefully, with no mind for just what those black pants did to college boys. I smiled as each boy along her path turned to catch a glimpse as she passed. It was hard for me to understand how someone that beautiful could also be Special Forces, but she didn’t seem to be the sort to make things up.

  It was getting late and I didn’t have a place to stay yet. I walked outside and sat under a tree to do a search for lodging – maybe something that rented by the week. I wanted to see about the cases I had in storage. If the search took longer than a couple of weeks I would run out of money pretty quickly. My big concern was Alexander somehow tracking the cases and intercepting me when I got to them.

  I found a furnished dive that rented week-to-week for two hundred a week. It was just outside the Open Air District in an area known as The Skeg. From this location it would be handy to get to where the cases were stored. As the cab approached my destination, I noticed that contrary to the other parts of town, this area was pretty sketchy. The buildings weren’t particularly well maintained and some were crumbling. Given the wealth of the rest of the town, it was surprising a place like this would exist. But, I'd already paid for a week and I had a weapon.

  The front of the building was in bad shape. At two hundred a week I had expected better. I should have left, but didn’t have money to burn. It took the building super ten minutes to show up and grant me access to the building.

  “Three-E. Make sure you're out by the end of a week. Anything left in the apartment is mine if you don't renew.” The little man was dressed in a worn shirt and black jeans. He liked his position of authority and probably made a small amount of money selling the possessions of the inhabitants who had the bad fortune to forget his rule. As it was, I owned nothing that I wasn’t already carrying.

  The inside of the apartment wasn’t as bad as the outside of the building had led me to believe. It was spartan, but clean. They probably had a cleaning bot to keep the units looking nice between visits. I noticed with a certain glumness that the shower didn’t come with free shampoo, soap or a towel. I'd need to pick up those things, but not until tomorrow. I was beat.

  Sometime in the middle of the night I felt a crushing pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes, still full of sleep. A big hand slapped me hard on the side of my face, just missing my ear, for which I was thankful. The pain brought me fully awake. On top of me was Alexander Boyarov, his knee pressed into my chest.

  “Heya, crap for brains. Think I wouldn’t be able to find you?”

  I tried to push my way out from under him, struggling as hard as I could. I managed to slide to the side, out from under his knee, but he was too strong and wrestled me back down.

  “Oh, you want a little fight?” He brought a big fist down on my face again and my head exploded in pain. I might have blacked out for a moment. When I came to again, Alexander was standing next to Olav Peetre, who had my gun leveled on me.

  “Okay, little chicken. You ran away, but it is time to come back. I like what you've done with yourself. You were getting a little ratty back on the base.

  I pushed myself up to a half sitting position, feigning more grogginess than I felt.

  “How?” I asked.

  “We are everywhere. You can’t hide from me.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, they put me in charge. I own the Baru Manush franchise now, I was just getting ready to head back there and need to take all of my stuff with me. That’s what you are, Dontal. You’re my stuff. Get it?”

  I turned to Olav. “Olav, really? I spared you guys and this is the repayment I get? I could have spaced you - should have spaced you.”

  I was waiting for it. No way would Alexander allow me to try to turn Olav. Alexander was also predictable in his favorite method of punishment. Straight to the head. Once again, my head exploded in pain, but I kept my wits about me and on the way down I fished the nano-blade out from the top of my boot.

  “Stop. You’ve made your point. I’ll come with you, just stop hitting me.” I really meant the last part. My face was bleeding badly and I didn’t think I could take another hit like the last one and remain conscious.

  “See Olav. You just gotta train ‘em. Okay, Dontal, get up. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble so we ain’t done here. Maybe if you go to the ship quietly I can be a little forgiving, although I wouldn’t give me any more excuses.”

  I stood up slowly. It wasn’t hard to pretend to be in pain. My head throbbed from the pounding I had taken. I flicked my wrist hard and caused the blade to extend fully and swung it around, catching Alexander’s cheek and part of his chest. I had to give it to him, though. He was quick and jumped back, avoiding a much deeper, likely fatal cut. The wound on his cheek was deep, probably because as he pulled back his head dipped forward.

  “Drop it, Celina,” Olav said.

  I didn’t stop moving. Olav fired and missed me. My blade didn’t miss his outstretched arm, however, and I severed his hand from it. The gun and his hand both dropped to the ground. It would have been handy if the gun had come free. Olav screamed. I lunged at Alexander but held back from impaling him with my blade.

  “You have thirty minutes to get that hand over to the hospital so they can reconnect it,” I said. I actually had no idea how long he had, but I knew a clean cut like that could be repaired. I kept the blade even with Alexander.

  “You. Make a tourniquet and stop the bleeding.”

  “You’ll never get away with this. I got two guys downstairs. You leave without us, you’re as good as dead.”

  “Do it!” I said.

  Alexander ripped the case of a pillow into a long sheet and tied off Olav’s arm.

  “Now. Give him his hand and put the gun on the table. You make one move toward me and I slice you open.”

  Alexander was brutish as well as arrogant. What he wasn’t, was dumb. I still had the drop on him but he just needed to buy some time. I'd already tipped my hand. I didn’t want their blood on my hands. Well, let’s be clear, I didn’t want to kill anyone, a little blood I was okay with. He pried the gun from Olav’s detached hand and held it out to me. I saw the deception right away. The nano-blade’s one major weakness was it couldn’t hurt someone you were in direct contact with.

  “On the table, Alexander.”

  He just looked at me, assessing if he could reach me before I sliced. He must have figured he would lose because he placed the gun on the table.

  “Back up a step.” He complied. I picked up the blaster and fired a round into the couch I'd been sleeping in. Alexander flinched, clearly expecting that I was aiming at him. I just wanted to make sure it would fire and couldn’t spare looking at it closely.

  With the blaster in my hand, I retracted the nano-blade. I was in a better position of control. I could shoot them from a distance if need be.

  “Weapons on the table. Remember, I know where you keep ‘em,” I said.

  It took some convincing, but they finally coughed up a pistol each and three knives. I remembered Alexander’s knife, he was pretty fond of it.

  “Take off your clothing.”

  “What? No way,” Alexander protested.

  “All of it. Otherwise I shoot you where you stand. Five. Four.”

  Alexander must have decided I was serious. He peeled off his vac-suit and wasn’t wearing a liner. What
a slob.

  “Now help Olav off with his.”

  I finally had a pile of clothing and guns on the table.

  “Get in the bathroom. You show your head for twenty minutes and I will blow it off. I’m gonna sit out here for a while, just so you know.”

  With both of them in the bathroom, I pushed a chair in front of the door. It wouldn’t hold them for long but I didn’t need much time. I dropped their clothing into the garbage recycler at the end of the hallway. No self-respecting pirate hunts naked, so I figured I had bought myself a short period of time.

  Exiting the building, I didn’t see anyone standing outside. The two-guys-downstairs thing was a bluff. No one would bring four guys to take one girl back. Big frakking mistake. Oh … my head hurt. I walked briskly down the street. I wasn’t sure where I was going but until I figured out how they had found me, I was in trouble.

  “Hey! You! Stop there!” Oh frak, he really had brought people with him. I took off at a run, then stole a glance over my shoulder, nearly causing myself to trip. Sure enough two guys were giving chase. FRAK!

  Open comm with Tali Liszt, emergency priority.

  “Lena. What’s up with emergency priority?”

  “They found me.”

  “Where are you?”

  Constantly stream coordinates to Tali.

  “I’m ten minutes out. Hunker down somewhere.”

  Blaster fire erupted around me and I pulled up my cloak, remembering it had some capacity to absorb blaster fire. I hoped that wasn’t just a sales gimmick. I turned the corner and sprinted down a street with very little lighting. I hoped the guys following me were my worst problem. How was I going to make it for ten minutes?

  I wasn’t in good enough shape to keep running, but my pursuers weren’t coming right away. I hoped they had headed back to find Alexander and Olav. I needed to put some distance between me and Boyarov.

  Hail taxi service.

  My AI replied, Taxi service not available in this area for another six hours.

  Frak!