Ethan nodded. “Could you please move the sheet to a hundred meters? I want an estimate of my shot spread at that range.”
“That’s a long range for a short barrel. I probably should switch on the lights farther down the firing lane. I didn’t think you’d need them at normal pistol range.” The day had turned gray with clouds, but there was some ambient light admitted through the clear ceiling plastic at the far end.
“Yeah, I know the distance is long for this pistol. That’s why I want to see how poorly I do. But leave the lights as they are, I don't need more light.”
He slipped in a fresh magazine, chambered a round, then using a two handed grip he fired off all thirteen rounds in another rolling thunder of rapid fire. When the sheet came back, the center of the bottom right grid was still shot out, but the spread of hits was more pronounced, with two isolated holes two inches from the center.
Charlie shook his head. “Nope. You won’t have a fast draw problem or a distance problem. Do you have that telescopic vision technology the military gave to their Special Operation troops, with infrared sensors? I don’t know how you could see the target that precisely so far away, and return your sights to the target point so quickly after the recoil.”
“I have advantages that you don’t, Charlie. High gravity adapted muscles, a faster nervous system, which also slows my perception of time compared to yours, and I have the same night vision that nature gave that big cat behind you. The target didn’t look as far away or as dim to me as it did for you.”
“Do you still think you need a rifle?” He asked, only half in jest.
“Oh, sure, but your gun range is too short for an adequate test. I’ll zero the rifle once I’m out on the open range. I just need your recommendation for a rifle with decent range and stopping power. Aside from plasma bolt rifles in the war, my only rifle experience was with a .50 caliber bolt-action, which is too cumbersome to carry on horseback. I’ll also buy my ammunition, spare magazines, and a cleaning kit from you, and then we can total the bill.”
****
The Smart Plastic street surfaces in Cayuga had been slightly softened for better traction by horses, although wheeled vehicles were far more common. Ethan pulled Beau up in front of a nondescript building where they sold livestock feed.
“This is the address where we’ll meet our contacts at midnight,” he told Kit by Comtap. “We’re equipped and ready to go to work solving their troubles, provided they prove to be as righteous and honorable as their side of the story made them sound. I hope it pans out, since I’ve spent half of our advance.”
“You mean you’ve spent your share of their advance.” Kit noted dryly. “All I bought was fifty pounds of beef.”
“Hey, we needed all terrain transport,” he patted Beau’s neck, “weapons, and appropriate clothing.”
“Those are your expenses brother. I was born all terrain, and I arrived properly clothed and fully armed.” She flashed him an extra wide “smile” and lifted one massive paw with her claws extended three inches, displaying her armament. “If we decide we can’t work for these people, or reach terms of employment that we can honor without simply becoming hired killers, I can still go home with most of my advance remaining on the chit.”
“Hold on sis. You needed me to make this meeting happen, and to get us here. Then I had to be properly equipped. I noticed when you flashed that paw full of sharp claws that there were still no fingers or thumb there. I assume you want to fly home when we leave, so I think I deserve a fee for services.”
Linking him into her subsequent Comtap call, she initiated a radio transmission. “Bandit, if I ask you send the shuttle down for me, when I’m aboard the ship, can you fly to Koban without Ethan as pilot?”
“Yes, Kit.”
Ethan conceded. “OK, OK. Forget the fingers and thumb comment. But if my purchases prove beneficial to our joint enterprise, then you need to share in part of that expense.”
“Agreed, within limits to be negotiated. You can resell the horse and saddle.”
“You know Kit, you could learn a lot from the wild rippers back home. They are more trusting than you are.”
“So, instead of being a naive trusting wild ripper who you can take advantage of, I behave more like a sister, looking out for her best interest merely because I was raised with a conniving brother like you?” She chuffed in the ripper equivalent of a laugh.
“Fine. Then you tell me what you think we should do to be sure our clients have been truthful before we commit ourselves. I mean besides Mind Tapping them. Even with that, you know it’s possible they could believe their own stories. They might honestly, and wrongly believe the big ranchers are paying thugs to have farms raided, men shot or lynched for rustling, and mistakenly think it’s the wealthy manipulating the legal system.
“Instead, it could possibly be various gangs of rustlers and killers doing what they do, and justice does sometimes fail. I know that Sheriff McKinnon is partly in the CCA’s pocket, but he isn’t one of the men doing the killing or controlling those that do. He thinks Cliff and Jace are two of those hired to do that, and he tried to defuse Jace’s attempt to pick a fight with me. He’s corrupt, but not all bad.”
“Then why don’t we meet the opposition before our meeting with our clients here tonight? Find out what they think?”
“If we do that, what if we find out we took money to work for the wrong side?”
“What, you’d rather not know if our clients are really the ruthless killers? You told McKinnon we’d listen to the other side, and he said they could pay more. If we picked the wrong clients we’ll take the new money, pay our first clients back, and then tear them new assholes.”
“I suppose that’s the moral thing to do. Have Genes, Will Travel, isn’t a company offering killers for hire.”
Kit disagreed. “Yes it is. But not to the highest bidder, but we are for hire. Although, I want to be certain we’re on the right side. Besides, we won’t have to kill our prey if we catch them alive. Then, we use frilling or Mind Tap to learn the truth and discover who they work for, and go get the proof for the local law to prosecute them. Unless, of course, they learn quickly how to block their stray thoughts, which is not likely since they don’t know much about us.”
Ethan shrugged. “And if that tactic doesn’t work because the local law works for the crooks?”
“I just told you, we will know the truth. In that case, we do what we are hired to do. Eliminate the killers and those that pay them.”
“That could put us on the wrong side of the local law officials.”
“You surely aren’t worried they can arrest and hold us here, are you?”
“Nope. They might kill us, but they can’t hold us long. I’m just verifying your native ripper instincts are still intact. After all, you were raised with a conniving brother like me.” He grinned, tossing her words back at her.
She growled, making Beau nervous. “We’ll do what’s right, not what pays best.”
“Agreed. By the way, I spotted where the local CCA office is located when we were shopping today, and it’s on the top floor above the Cayuga Social Club, where the rich and influential hang out.”
“Perhaps we should visit there, after sunset. I’m curious about them.”
“You’ve heard how curiosity affects cats, haven’t you?”
“I’m a tiger. Much harder to kill.”
“That’s very reassuring to me, since genetically I’m part curious tiger.”
****
“Ok, you keep watch back here, and I’ll jump to that third floor balcony.”
“I can jump higher than you little brother.”
“Can you look like a cowboy if you’re seen in a hallway?”
“Point taken. Anyway, they should have let us in at the front door when I politely asked for a meeting.”
“You mean when the uniformed doorman wet his pants and nearly fainted? Smooth move, and nice smile.”
“I asked if we could meet
with a cattle baron.”
“That isn’t what the big ranchers call themselves, and I don't think they like to be publicly referred to as that. It isn’t exactly used as a compliment.”
“Why the third floor? Most of the people are on the lowest two levels. Only a couple of windows are lit on level three and four.”
“The cocktail lounge, poker room, kitchen, and dining area are on the ground level. A ballroom is on the second level where I can hear voices and music, along with some private party rooms. The third level is mostly CCA offices, and the top floor is a conference room and a library. The library is lit, and so are two third floor offices. That’s where I might find one or two of the large ranch owners, sitting all alone.”
“What makes you such an expert on a club you aren’t rich enough to step inside?”
“The floor directory, just inside the foyer. While you tasted the poor doorman, I read that.”
“I was licking him, to help him regain his senses.”
“Yeah, that’s why he screamed, drawing all that attention. No wonder they told me to take my pet and get lost.”
“If one of them calls me your damned pet again, they’ll see some wild instincts reappear.”
Ethan crouched slightly, patted her lightly on the head, and said, “You’re a good kitty,” before he hastily leaped to catch the top of the third floor balcony railing, just ahead of an angry paw swipe.
“You’ll have to come down eventually, you know.”
Thinking about that, and the usual ripper style of revenge humor, he apologized as he easily pulled himself up onto the balcony. “I’m sorry Kit. That was mean of me. These people didn’t know that it was actually you speaking, and I could have straightened them out.” He hoped that would forestall his waking up finding ripper pee on his boots, or some dead animal’s skin stuffed in his bedroll. He’d know, in a day or two.
He moved over to the double doors and tested the handles. It was unlocked. Why not? It was the third floor, with nothing to use to climb up the smooth wall. This was one of the dark offices, and he used his ripper’s night vision to walk around desks, chairs, and tables to reach the door to the hallway. That door was locked from his side. He listened a moment, but his highly sensitive wolfbat hearing heard only sounds that originated on the lower floor, and the susurration of the buildings air handler on the other side.
Unlocking and opening the door, sounds of music and voices rose from a stairwell at the end of the corridor. The two offices that had lights on were around the corner away from the stairs. Ethan moved in that direction.
Light spread into the hall from an open door when he turned the corner. He approached and listened, but it was quiet. He took a quick peek and saw an empty room, with no sign of recent occupation. His sense of smell, also enhanced by ripper genetics, told him there had been no one in there for at least an hour. The last to leave had forgotten to turn off the lights.
The next office had a closed door, but light escaped in a thin line at its bottom. Ethan could hear sounds inside, of breathing of one person, and keyboard sounds of someone softly making computer entries. There was a creaking sound, probably of a chair.
He sniffed at the base of the door, and determined that it was a male on the other side. He wore some sort of fragrance, such as aftershave or deodorant. Ethan placed his hand on the door handle and it moved, so he completed the rotation and pushed the door slowly open. As he did, he saw a dark haired man, back to the door, at one of three desks in the room, making entries from a hand written paper ledger open next to the keyboard. He was apparently a clerk and not someone Ethan was seeking. He was one of the few men in Cayuga he’d seen without a gun on their hip.
It stuck Ethan that he’d not questioned the prevalence of so many openly displayed weapons. He never saw anyone outside without a pistol at home. But then no world he’d visited was as dangerous as Koban could be to the unwary, simply from its native life. This planet was tame, at least in the cities, yet almost everyone seemed to go around armed. He eased the door closed.
There was another stairwell at the next corner of the building, and Ethan took that rather than calling for the elevator he saw at mid-corridor. The sounds of music and voices was less at this stairway, and with only a glance down, he turned his attention up and went to the fourth and highest level.
On this floor, the directory had listed only a boardroom, and a library. However, there appeared to be some office doors as well. The double library doors had glass fronts and it was dark inside. He could see a ceiling sign halfway down the corridor for the interior boardroom, but he wasn’t headed there. He was seeking another door, and it would be on the outside of the corridor. It was the fourth floor room with the lighted window he’d seen from outside.
When he reached the area where he knew the window was, there was a door with the name Nathaniel Egerton in gold. This door was properly sealed, with no light around its edges, and it had a heavy look. There wasn’t a sound coming through as he pressed his ear to the top door panel, and none when he listened along the wall. Either there was no one talking or moving inside, or the room was sound proofed.
“Kit, I’m outside the illuminated room on the fourth floor, on the north side. Is the light still on? I’m not hearing anything inside.”
“I saw shadows shift on the ceiling a short time ago. Hold on a moment.”
Ethan assumed Kit was changing positions down below. He was right, but wrong about the direction.
Kit furnished him with an unexpected level of detail. “There are at least three men in the room, two that I could see. One is the man you knocked the gun out of his hand with a bottle at the cantina. Cliff was his name, but the other man had his back to the window, and his right arm is in a sling. I think that’s your new friend Jace. It appeared they were talking to someone, so there is at least one other person in the room.”
“How can you see them, are they next to the window?”
“Chisholm has sixty percent of Koban’s gravity. I jumped up and looked. I told you I could reach that balcony easier than you could.”
“They might have seen you!”
“Why would they be looking out a fourth floor window at night? There’s no balcony, and with the light on inside, they can’t see out very well. Besides, it’s done and now you know. Stop complaining like a whiny little brother. What are you going to do?”
“The two gun hands are probably talking to their boss. I’ll see if he wants to hire somebody better.”
“Call me and I’ll come through that window.”
“I know.”
He gently tested the door handle and found it was locked. It was identical to the one on the other office door he’d tried, and he knew it wasn’t very sturdy. He gave it a quick powerful twist, snapping the locked internal mechanism, and pushed the door inwards hard. The latch mechanism, without the full support of the inner workings, pivoted enough to yield against the metal strike plate on the doorframe, and Ethan stepped swiftly into the office.
Three pairs of eyes swung his way in the too-slow reactions of Normals, and in a blur of motion they could never match, Ethan drew his pistol, slid a round in the chamber and aimed it between Cliff’s eyes. He wagged his left index finger at the man, who had started for his own revolver. Next to him stood Jace, who had a reversed right holster, rigged for a cross body draw using his left hand, and a white bandage on his nose that didn’t hide his two black eyes. He was nowhere close to reaching his gun when he froze in place.
The third man had started a move, and then halted his right hand close to his open suit coat, where there was a slight bulge visible at his left armpit. His eyes had widened, and immediately narrowed in recognition of who had just burst into his office. Ethan noted the reaction, and felt confident he understood what it suggested.
The Suit Man obviously wore a gun in a shoulder holster, but he’d recognized whom he was facing. He clearly was smart enough to know that if Ethan had wanted them dead, everyone in the room wo
uld be exhaling their final breaths. That meant Suit Man knew a number of things about the person he faced now.
“Mr. Egerton, I presume?” Ethan asked, turning to him. He holstered his pistol in a repeat blur of motion. That second show of hand speed, simply putting his weapon away, probably wasn’t necessary, but another reminder of his capability couldn’t hurt, and it might prevent a miscalculation by the other two gunmen.
Recovering from his surprise, the man nodded. “Good evening Mr. Greeves. I was just discussing your presence in Cayuga with the two men you met this morning at the airfield. I just asked them to go to the Imperial Hotel to speak with you, and relay an invitation to meet with me here tomorrow morning. I suppose this opportunity serves to save us both some time.”
“I agree. At Sheriff McKinnon’s urging, I’d decided to speak with someone from the CCA after we were settled at a hotel for the evening. My companion and I attempted to gain entry at the main entrance late this afternoon, but the club is apparently very private. Without an appointment, or without an invitation from a member, the front attendant refused us entry. Well, to be fair to him, since he fainted when my friend spoke to him, it was someone else that told us to leave.”
Egerton nodded with a slight smile. “I watched that video of your request to come inside. Your friend is somewhat intimidating when she exposes her teeth.” He looked towards the open door with a mixture of curiosity and concern. “Is she out there?”
“No. We decided Kit would draw too much attention to what I intended to be a confidential meeting with you.” He may as well let Egerton believe he specifically came to see him, instead of simply looking for whomever he could find.
Egerton raised an eyebrow and asked a shrewd question. “Did the doorman faint again? I wasn’t told you were on your way up.” Actually, there were layers of employees that should have seen and reported Greeves. The barman, the host at the dining room, the host and attendants at the second floor ballroom, and other employees on the first two floors that should have seen and reported a stranger walking about, who didn’t display a coded visitor’s pass. The elevator had a simple AI system, which required an unescorted user to pass facial recognition, or to use that coded card.
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