Hunter

by Sharon Partington

  “I know, I’m a pain in the ass.”

  I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around her. I’d figure out a way to keep her and Jak safe later. Right now it felt good just to hold her. “You sure are.”

  ◆◆◆

  Joanna lay in my arms as I combed my fingers through her hair. Jak slept in the next room. The outer marker buoy cast flickering blue shadows across the wall and along the floor. The muffled sound of voices and footsteps filtered through the walls and shadows moved under the door. The outer circle was as busy as ever, but here, inside, I lay wrapped in a fragile, peaceful cocoon.

  The eye of the hurricane.

  My weary brain refused to stop working, and what had been vague, formless worries swirled and coalesced into irritating strands of anxiety.

  Maybe taking Jak from Regis Prime wasn’t one of my better ideas. My future was just as uncertain as it had always been, what would happen to him if I wound up dead? Who would look out for him then? I might be able to impose upon Korsin’s goodwill for one more favor, but if I died would the Lyrian bar owner still feel obligated to offer Joanna and Jak his continued protection?

  Possible, but doubtful.

  An abandoned kid wouldn’t last long on Jaraslad, even one as resourceful as Jak. Maybe I should have left him with Miri and Kyr.

  Even as the thought flitted through my mind, I dismissed it. They had their own shit to worry about. Chances were Jak would have gone back to the bar, which would put him at the mercy of Dalla and her guild-runner boyfriend. I knew what fate awaited him then—dead kids turned up in the alleys of the Iron District all the time.

  No. For better or worse he was stuck with me.

  I couldn’t run from Joanna anymore, either. Literally or emotionally. And I couldn’t escape or deny the fact that I was in love with her. She and Jak had given me some pretty powerful reasons to stay alive and I’d promised my dad I’d help him rebuild my aunt’s house on Altair nine. Or at least hold the ladder so he could rebuild it. I looked forward to that. To getting to know him as a man. To having him get to know me.

  After all the chaos I’d lived through over the past seven years—all the blood and bullshit—it seemed like I was finally on the verge of recovering all I’d lost. Maybe the gods had decided I’d suffered long enough.

  It was certainly different looking to the future with something akin to hope. I’d never had much of a family. After my mom’s death, my dad and I had never been close enough to count. Now he, and Joanna and Jak had become the most important things in my life. Whatever happened between Kenny and me, I had to make sure they were taken care of.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” murmured Joanna, running her fingers across my chest. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking...about how important you and Jak are to me. I’m thinking about...how much I love you.”

  There. I’d said it. Out loud, even. What would she say to that?

  She shifted in my arms so she could look into my eyes. “I wondered how long it would take you to admit that.”

  I smiled ruefully. “Yeah, well, sometimes the obvious has to smack me in the head a few times.”

  She snuggled back into my shoulder. “I love you, too, Gage. If someone had told me a year ago that this is where I’d be—working as a bartender on a space station at the edge of nowhere, I’d have called them crazy, but...I can’t imagine my life without you, now.” She hesitated. “It terrifies me when I think about what you do. As much as I love you, I can’t live like this forever. You have to stop.”

  “It’s almost over. There’s only one thing left to do before I can put it all behind me. After that...I promise, I’ll quit.”

  She looked up at me. “Really?”

  I sighed. “Sure, what the hell. I’ll put the guns away and take up an honest profession. Personal security consultant, military advisor—something.”

  She chuckled. “I guess there’s no one better to point out the flaws in some rich guy’s personal security than a former assassin.”

  “We do tend to find the loopholes.” I agreed. I hesitated. “I want you and Jak to leave the station for a while. The two of you can spend some time with my dad in the Altair system.” I mentally prepared my arguments as I waited for her to get all defensive and stubborn on me.

  “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

  I glanced at her in surprise. “That’s it? You’re not going to fight me?”

  She shrugged. “It would be kind of pointless, wouldn’t it? You have to do what you have to do, and you can’t do it properly if you’re worried about us. I understand that, Gage. I understand more than you think. If you want us to wait for you in the Altair system, that’s what we’ll do. Just one thing, though, okay?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Stay alive,” she said fiercely as she pulled me close. “Stay alive and come back to us.”

  ◆◆◆

  Joanna fussed over Jak like a mother hen over a lost chick, and like a typical male he basked in all the female attention. She relieved me of my credit chip and they spent an entire day buying out the shops on level nine, replacing the patched and threadbare things he’d lived in for god only knew how long. He cleaned up good—once she’d introduced him to a shower and had his shaggy hair cut he turned out to be a nice looking young man.

  They stopped at the Orion, briefly, so she could tell Korsin about her upcoming vacation. Rachmar wouldn’t let him in, but he did allow Jak to help him man the door for an hour or so, and after that it was all Jak could talk about. The huge Arconian bouncer fascinated him and he spent what little free time he didn’t spend with Joanna sitting with Rachmar and D’lal in front of that beaded orange curtain checking Jaraslad’s resident criminal population for weapons.

  As much fun as he appeared to be having, I had to put a temporary stop to it. Kenny would be arriving soon and Jak and Joanna had to be gone when he did. I placed a call to my aunt and she said she’d love to have them stay for a few weeks. I asked about my dad and she said he was doing fine. He was making himself useful, doing minor repairs to the house. Helping her in the garden. So far he hadn’t mentioned anything about wanting to go home. She said she’d give him my love.

  I booked transit for Jak and Joanna on a Rhysian passenger liner—first class. They would arrive on Altair Nine in a little over two weeks, and I promised them that once my remaining business was finished I’d join them and we’d figure out what to do next. I kissed Joanna goodbye, and Jak gave me an awkward hug before they boarded the ship. I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched it make the jump to hyperspace.

  Whatever else Kenny might do to me, at least the people I loved were beyond his reach.

  He wasn’t due to arrive for another few days and I decided to use my time productively. We’d agreed to meet at the Orion, the ‘no weapons’ rule would work in his favor, and I wanted a way to circumvent it. Rachmar wouldn’t allow my regular personal arsenal through the door, but I wasn’t about to meet that bastard without some kind of weapon at hand. I decided to purchase a small, micro-laser, one just as lethal as its larger cousins, but more easily concealed.

  My first stop was a jeweler on level nine where I took my time picking out the perfect piece of platinum camouflage. The ring band looked like twin braids of twisted rope, a chunky sapphire nestled between them. It was ridiculously expensive and tacky as hell, but I didn’t plan on wearing it long.

  My next stop was Agrakh’s. He had a couple of micro-lasers that looked fairly promising. I turned one of them over in my fingers, a silver disk about the size of an old-fashioned Terran hearing aid battery.

  “That be a good one,” Agrakh grunted. “Very small, but big power.”

  “Power enough to kill a man?”

  Agrakh frowned. “What range?”

  I shrugged. “From me to you.”

  He grinned, revealing yellowed fangs. “He be dead quick, but only one shot because so small. Better not miss.”

  I pulled off my new ring.
“Can you hide it in this?”

  He slipped the ring onto one of his claws and examined it carefully. “Sure. Behind blue stone. Need to adjust setting, though. This one not thick enough to hide. When you need?”

  “Yesterday,” I said with a small smile.

  Agrakh grunted. “I charge you for laser only. Come back tomorrow, it be ready.”

  “How much?”

  The Arconian grinned. “For you, Hunter? I make good deal!”

  ◆◆◆

  Agrakh’s ‘good deal’ cost me eight hundred credits, add that to the five hundred I’d paid for the ring and I figured it was still a bargain if Kenny Briani was dead at the end of it. When I returned the next day Agrakh passed me my ring with a grin of pride.

  “Laser hidden behind blue stone,” he said as he showed it to me. “Fire like this,” he clenched his fist. “You put on. Try before you leave shop. I recharge for free.”

  I slid the ring back onto my finger and looked around the shop for a suitable target, my gaze finally settling on a ceremonial Dorani Sun Shield hanging on the wall behind the counter. I clenched my fist, and a narrow beam of blue light shot from the sapphire to make a small, neat hole in the center of the shield. I nodded with satisfaction and paid Agrakh his eight hundred credits.

  I spent the next few days in an agony of impatience. Wandering the circle between the upper and lower rings. Hovering about the observation platforms. Watching for Kenny’s ship. Now that the end was in sight I just wanted it to be over.

  Finally, my impatience was rewarded and Bellissima appeared out of hyper-space. I watched her circle the station, heading for the lower rings. The familiar killing calm settled over me as I made my way to the Orion.

  Rachmar stopped me on my way in, his huge hand on my chest. “I hear rumor, Hunter. My cousin, Agrakh, has big mouth. When he drink, he gossip like woman. He say he sell you micro-laser.”

  I met Rachmar’s gaze steadily. “I didn’t know you were one to listen to rumors.”

  “Korsin pay me to listen to everything. It my job to keep Orion weapons free.” His beady little eyes narrowed. “There will be no trouble here. Whatever your fight, take it away from Orion.”

  I nodded and he held the neon curtain aside so I could enter.

  The bar was busy as usual. Kayla brought my drink without asking, but it sat there untouched. I kept my eyes locked on that curtain, taking note of everyone who came in.

  I thought about those who’d died. Went over all the lies. All the bullshit. The more I thought and remembered, the angrier I got. I made a conscious effort to keep the rage firmly in check. I couldn’t allow Kenny to see it, he had to believe I was as clueless today as I had been yesterday.

  He smiled as he came in, shouldering his way through the crowd. He pulled up a chair and sat across from me. My throat felt suddenly dry and tight. What I really wanted to do was reach across the table and strangle the bastard. Instead, I lowered my gaze and reached for my drink.

  “So,” he said. “Get your business with Corin Raas all sorted out?”

  “Yeah. She’s dead.”

  I watched him, trying to gauge his reaction. There wasn’t one.

  “You killed her?”

  “Not me. Delaren.”

  “Huh,” grunted Kenny. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

  “She told an interesting story before she died. I’m not sure I believe it, but,” I shrugged. “You might get a charge out of it.”

  Kenny’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah?”

  His fault. All of it.

  Calm, Gage.

  “Seems there was this trooper at Lachra she was involved with. Some guy she met in a bar. According to her, the poor, deluded asshole was in love with her. Fed her information about Androsian and GSF troop movements so she and her rebel buddies could stay one step ahead of us.”

  I took a sip of my drink to calm my rage and allow myself a moment to think. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you, Ken? You’d been stationed at Lachra longer than me, ever hear about any Chakar rebels in our merry little band?”

  He didn’t reply right away, just sat there watching me. Finally he smiled and shook his head. “Back then you couldn’t throw a rock in Lachra without hitting a Chakar rebel or one of their supporters. There were even half a dozen or so within the High Command. Corin was a popular girl.”

  “It was you. Wasn’t it? You sold us out.”

  Kenny chuckled and reached for his drink. “What do you want from me, Gage? A confession?”

  Fucking right, Briani. I want to hear you say the words before I send you straight to hell.

  “I want the truth. A confession. An explanation. Call it what you want.”

  He shrugged. “What the hell, I guess there’s no point in denying it now, is there, since Corin was so forthcoming. Yes. It was me. I thought I was in love with her. The Androsians planned to kill her before she got to Orlakhan. I couldn’t let that happen. Doraan sent you charging off into the jungle after her—in the wrong direction, by the way, but you know that now. As soon as you were out of sight, me and a few of my rebel buddies turned Ansaala into a great, flaming diversion. Crude maybe, but effective. Of course, getting myself shot hadn’t been part of the plan, but it did lend a certain realism to the scenario, don’t you think?”

  “And Delta Six?”

  “Delta Six,” he repeated softly. “I felt bad about that, but I needed to cover my own escape.”

  “Why not leave me to die with the rest?”

  “Well, that had been the original idea. You know what it was like in that jungle. Shadows everywhere. Confused heat signatures. Half the time we couldn’t tell our guys from theirs. I had you in my sights a couple of times, Cap, all I had to do was pull the trigger.”

  The casualness of his confession sent an icy shiver up my spine. It took all the self-control I could muster not to shatter the glass in my hand.

  “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

  “Yeah, well, you know what they say about hindsight being twenty-twenty. You were a fighter, though, Gage. You didn’t quit, even when you knew you couldn’t win, I had to admire you for that. When it came right down to it, I just didn’t have the heart to kill you. Besides, you were the mighty hero of Kressin Four. The GSF’s new rising star. Delta Six was supposed to be my command—I was next in line for promotion until you showed up with your sparkly rep and hero billing. That was certainly a pisser. You’re right, I probably should have killed you, but it was much more fun turning you into a cold blooded killer. All those years you spent thinking Lansing was responsible for your fall from grace—and here it was me.”

  “So he was innocent?”

  “Well, not exactly. He and Morrison knew I was the informant, but I made damn sure they could never prove anything, so they had no choice but to leave me there to have my fun. Thanks for taking care of him for me, by the way, he’d outlived his usefulness. It’s kind of too bad, I’ve made a small fortune off him over the past six or seven years. Nothing like a little extortion to add to the old retirement fund.

  “But then the GSF figured he’d served his penance and dragged him back from whatever jerkwater planet they’d exiled him to. Gave him that big promotion. The Androsians decided to build that damn memorial and he came down with a serious case of the guilts. He was going to appear before the General Assembly and confess his sins. Name names. Reopen the Ansaala investigation. Nothing I could threaten him with would change his mind, and believe me, I tried. He said he wouldn’t pay me another dime, he was going to take his chances and throw himself on the mercy of the Security Council. I couldn’t allow that. I do a lot of business with the Androsians. Most of those old military officers are high ranking officials now, they wouldn’t appreciate their rebel affiliations coming back to bite them in the ass.”

  “So, it was all a game to you? Three hundred civilians, twenty troopers, dead. And for what? So your Androsian girlfriend could dump you at Norbrand?”r />
  He shrugged. “Apparently I wasn’t as important to her as I thought. Quite a blow to the old ego, I’ll admit. I’d gambled huge to get her off that planet. Killed a lot of people. Convinced my asshole father to smuggle her out from underneath the GSF’s nose, which was a feat in itself. The bitch used me. Nobody does that and gets away with it.”

  “Why send me after her? You knew she was in the Rigian system, I told you that much myself. With your connections you could have found her long before I did.”

  “That may be true, but even if I’d found her I’d never have gotten close to her. You’re the cloak and dagger man, Gage. You’re much better at that seek and destroy shit than I am. All I had to do was point you in the right direction and turn you loose. I was kinda hoping you’d screw it up and get yourself killed—take care of my loose ends for me—but you’re just too damned efficient. I even passed along your description and Jack Dennis alias to the Guilds thinking maybe they’d take care of you, but....” He shrugged.

  So that explained how Melardis and his goons had recognized me.

  “What about Gina? Did you ‘turn me loose’ on her too?”

  “My dad and I had an unspoken agreement—Bellissima was always supposed to be mine. And as much as I’d like to take credit for Gina’s little bit of betrayal, I’m afraid my loving sister brokered her deal with the Dorani’s without my input. It all worked out, though. You got a year in the Blackgate and I got my ship.”

  He watched me, a cocky little smirk on his face. My hand twitched and I gripped my knee under the table. I only had the one shot.

  “You must have had a great time, over the years,” I said softly. “Watching me jump through your hoops. Leading me around by the nose. Go here. Kill there. I’m sure I provided you with plenty of amusement. Know what, Ken? That’s okay. I’m a big boy. I knew what I was doing. You may have controlled the number of choices, but I was still the guy who made them. But those refugees and Delta Six—they didn’t have a choice. You decided for them. Whether to save your own ass or somebody else’s, they didn’t deserve the end you gave them.”