Return

by Blaze Ward

  The van came to a stop outside a fence. The punk in charge opened the sliding door and stepped out.

  “You lot next,” he gestured at her and Aileen.

  They were already surrounded.

  Aileen went first, hopping carefully down. Eha took extra time, not wanting to scare one of these hard men into doing something rash. There were warehouses around them, but across the street from where the van had parked.

  The man confirmed her fears when he stepped to the gate, keyed a combination in, and opened it.

  Beyond, there was a boat. Could you still call it a yacht, if it floated on water, rather than flew between stars?

  Enormous. Bigger than the pincke Lazarus had flown them here aboard.

  The man turned to her.

  “No funny business now,” he snapped and then started walking down a structure made of what Eha assumed were wooden poles stuck into the ground, with a walkway hung across them.

  Wood? She could smell the rot from here. See places where some boards had previously failed and been replaced, with reddish wood slowly bleaching and decaying down to white.

  They walked on something like this?

  But Humans could swim. Falling in if a board broke was a matter of embarrassment, not potential death.

  Aileen’s hand found hers when she stopped moving, and tugged ever so lightly to get Eha in motion again. Yithadreph swam as well. Aileen’s touch had a promise of safety, so Eha began to slither again, heading slowly and carefully down to a place where someone had been so insane as to float a pleasure yacht on the surface of a moving sea.

  And she was surrounded by men with guns.

  Twenty-Five

  Lazarus

  Without much choice in the matter, Lazarus opened the sealed hatch and ushered Oluchi Pryce into the pincke. He wasn’t about to key the man into any of the systems, but Pryce had the look of a man that knew his way around security systems anyway.

  Probably sneaking into a lady’s boudoir for the occasional midnight assignation.

  There had been more calls by Pryce. None of the rest had been recruiting, but the man looking for information. Calling in favors and offering offhand threats to people to provide information.

  Blackmail was such an ugly term, but it calmed Lazarus to see the other man obviously reaching out with his own anger and tapping into the underbelly of Yisan to find out what had happened.

  All that paused as Lazarus led the man back to the arms locker he had installed on this little ship before he left Ajax. Another code to open the lock, and Lazarus pulled the door open.

  He grabbed a pistol and slid it into his holster before taking the next and holding it out to the gambler.

  “That’s an Ares,” Oluchi said with some surprise.

  “You’re right,” Lazarus said, reaching in and grabbing a larger holster for it. “Swap out your holster for the bigger one.”

  “Manticore’s not good enough?” Pryce asked.

  “If I have to shoot someone, I want him dead,” Lazarus ground the words out like glass shards. “I’m not even taking a stunner.”

  Pryce gulped again and began undoing his belt.

  Lazarus had assumed the man was something of a dandy, but the look in Pryce’s eyes right now showed a change coming over the gambler.

  We’re past asking nice, son.

  Oluchi nodded, took the new holster, and got everything situated just so, including the heaviest handheld blaster the Rio Navy issued.

  “Here,” Lazarus said as he pulled an armored vest down from the top shelf and handed it to the man, before taking one for himself and slipping off his jacket.

  Both men got dressed, Pryce keeping the opera cape and Lazarus leaving his jacket open in the front.

  “You want a rifle?” he asked.

  “Never shot one,” Oluchi replied, suggesting that maybe he knew which end of the smaller blaster went bang.

  Lazarus grabbed down a blaster rifle, checked the charge, and slung it over his shoulder before closing up the locker again and heading to the cockpit.

  “Now what?” Oluchi asked as Lazarus checked all the diagnostics on his boards.

  Fuel, life support, systems; everything was green. It had been a short trip and he’d done a full maintenance pass on it before he left as an excuse to train Aileen on the vessel.

  You hurt my loadmaster, whoever you are, and there won’t be identifiable pieces of a body to bury. You hurt Eha and Addison might destroy your planet.

  But he kept that inside. Kept his jaw clenched tight.

  Oluchi had asked a question. He looked up at the man.

  “We sit,” Lazarus said. “Hopefully your friend arrives and knows what to do. Hopefully one of your other friends has the information I need. Otherwise, in twenty-six hours I lift off and go get help myself.”

  Oluchi shivered again, like he could subconsciously already see Ajax in orbit, firing Kirov’s Lance into the ground at targets identified by having not already been annihilated.

  Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

  Yisan was supposed to be something of a pirate haven, but that meant that it was run by a powerful oligopoly that didn’t like paying Rio Alliance taxes or dealing with rules and laws that would cramp their trading. This was still supposed to be a well-run port planet, with rules and understandings.

  Lazarus didn’t think that the rest of those tycoons at the poker table would get their backs up on the topic, except where maybe Ardna might steal a march on them by getting trade information that they didn’t have.

  It wouldn’t be personal with them. Just money.

  It was always that way with the incredibly wealthy. As long as they had their swindles, their games, and their mansions, they didn’t trouble themselves all that much with what other tycoons did, as long as nobody crossed lines.

  That two random strangers might have gotten into trouble…

  Lazarus nearly jumped out of his seat when his own comm beeped.

  He didn’t recognize the incoming code, but took a moment to put his voice back into something close to Human before he keyed the line open.

  “Lazarus,” he growled.

  “This is Eduardo Martìnez,” the man replied. “I’ve just gotten off the line with Fernanda Flores, and she tells me that you believe Strav has kidnapped your two lady friends. Is that true?”

  “It is,” Lazarus replied bluntly, amazed that the man had found him, but he supposed a lot of favors were being offered and cashed tonight.

  Oluchi’s blackmail must go deeper than Lazarus had imagined. And the man was using it like a scalpel.

  “What are you going to do, Lazarus?” Eduardo asked.

  He had been a complete gentleman all evening. The others had been polite, but only Eduardo and Fernanda had been friendly, and Flores’s ulterior motives weren’t limited to trade missions.”

  “Once I find out where they are, I’m going to get Aileen and Eha back, Eduardo,” Lazarus said in a voice that offered no emotional content whatsoever.

  “I see,” Eduardo said after a brief pause. “Let me make some calls.”

  “Thank you, Eduardo,” Lazarus said and then the line went cold.

  “And?” Oluchi asked.

  “You’ve rattled a lot of cages tonight, Oluchi,” Lazarus said, offering up his first smile in a while, thin and cold as it might be. “Flores and Eduardo Martìnez are apparently on our side and offering assistance. What strings should I expect?”

  “If it’s Fernanda, probably none from you, unless you felt like a few tumbles with an older woman who knows what she’s about, is rather fun in bed, and will even cook you a pretty good breakfast in the morning,” he smiled. “Leena’s a bit more mercenary in those things, but Fernanda’s almost someone I would consider a friend.”

  Lazarus checked the clock on the console.

  “When’s your friend arriving?” he asked.

  Oluchi glanced at his watch.

  “Any time now.”

  Lazarus
nodded. A figure walking across the gravel was visible, growing closer. Male. Short and broad. Large duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

  “That’s him,” Oluchi said, leaning forward to check. “Xiuying Bălan.”

  “What’s his story?” Lazarus asked.

  “I find things for people,” Oluchi shrugged in that offhand way that suggested nobody was probably better at it on this planet. “Found him a few things. Got him a better job at a different bar than the hellhole he’d been working. Introduced him to a few women. Probably as good a friend as I have on this planet.”

  “No women in your life who count?” Lazarus decided to pry. The man seemed a little more open than he had been before.

  “Dockside girls are generally looking for Prince Charming to take them away from all this,” Oluchi scowled. “Rich ladies on the hill usually have different wants and needs. Depending on who you ask, I might have a rep here as a gigolo, but you’d be amazed how few men take the time to listen to a woman when she wants to talk, or take care of her needs before your own. You can get a lot of mileage out of simple courtesy.”

  “So Fernanda calling Eduardo and demanding he get involved?” Lazarus asked.

  “Not what I asked her, but I could see her drawing her own conclusions,” Oluchi said. “Eduardo might be the only one at that table tonight smarter than Fernanda, for pure ability to think. The others mostly inherited enormous wealth and the infrastructure to keep it intact.”

  “So we should trust them?” Lazarus pressed.

  This was the key point.

  He already had one tycoon playing fast and loose. The last thing he needed was to get into the middle of a pissing match between folks with that kind of money, getting even for something that might have happened thirty years ago that everyone’s forgotten about by now.

  Oluchi earned a whole bunch of points by shrugging and tilting his head, rather than immediately speaking.

  “I’m going to go with a hard maybe, slightly in the positive, Lazarus,” Oluchi said. “Both have generally done right by me, plus you and the ladies represent the possibility of trade and wealth that nobody can even calculate right now. If Ardna gets that, he steals a march on them. Upsets things here on Yisan, maybe.”

  “I can live with self-interest, Oluchi,” Lazarus said, nodding to the man and rising. “That’s an honest enough thing. Now, let’s go talk to your friend.”

  Lazarus moved to the hatch and keyed it open, one hand close to his pistol but not quite resting on the pommel.

  Xiuying Bălan was short. Five and a half feet tall in scuffed combat boots. Just about the exact minimum height for a Rio Alliance sailor. At the same time, Lazarus thought the man might outweigh him.

  Small gut but not even a beer belly. Shoulders about as wide as a ship’s corridor. Arms as big as Lazarus’s thighs and thighs that looked like tree trunks.

  Ethnic Chinese Diaspora from his face, scowling in general but not at Lazarus.

  Oluchi stepped up.

  “Thank you, Xiuying,” he said casually.

  “Gimme a chance to get back at Khan?” the small man rumbled with a smile Lazarus recognized. His eyes shifted to Lazarus. “Permission to come aboard, sir?”

  “Granted,” Lazarus said automatically and stepped back out of the lock.

  Xiuying looked around with a perceptive, critical eye as he exited the lock and stepped into the main cargo bay.

  “Been a while,” he said, nodding at Lazarus.

  Lazarus nodded back. Former Rio Alliance Navy, that man was. Recognized the style of the ship and knew who he was dealing with.

  Xiuying knelt and unzipped the bag, pulling out a holster and a pistol wrapped in a belt.

  “Didn’t figure I should wear this walking around,” he looked up at the two of them and smiled. “Someone might ask where the party was.”

  He stood and started to buckle it on.

  “Need something heavier?” Lazarus asked, tapping the stock of his rifle.

  “Got one amazingly similar, sir,” Xiuying nodded, reaching down and pulling out a compact version.

  No, his was disassembled for travel. Lazarus watched the man put three parts together and suddenly the Rio Alliance ex-marine was carrying a standard Battlerifle, a squad-level assault blaster like only the Rio Alliance Navy used. And then only for elite troopers trained for boarding actions.

  “Armor?” Lazarus asked, tapping his vest.

  “Covered,” the man tapped his own, under the sweatshirt he wore. It made the same sound.

  Xiuying turned to Oluchi.

  “Got their coordinates, yet?” he asked in a cold, brutal tone.

  “Waiting a few calls back,” Oluchi said. “Some major players have decided to get involved.”

  “How major?” the man asked, his head coming up and turning a little.

  “That major,” Oluchi nodded.

  “Gotcha,” Xiuying said.

  They settled back on the bridge and Lazarus’s comm chirped again.

  He had saved the number. Eduardo Martìnez.

  “Sir?” Lazarus asked as he keyed it live.

  “There will be a young woman along shortly, Lazarus,” the man said. “She works for me.”

  And the line went dead.

  Oluchi’s beeped a moment later.

  “Yes, sir?” Oluchi sat taller as Lazarus watched. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  He lowered the comm with a look of utter and profound shock on his face.

  “That was Eduardo Martìnez,” Oluchi said.

  “So was mine,” Lazarus replied, a little confused as to why the man felt the need to call the other man immediately.

  “I have the location, and Martìnez is sending us some help,” Oluchi said. “Why not just tell you?”

  “He wants to make sure you’re involved,” Lazarus guessed. “Either you’ve impressed him, or he’s expecting you to be his point man with me after this and wants to make sure you owe him. Probably both.”

  “I think your ride just arrived,” Xiuying spoke up suddenly, pointing out the front window at a small panel truck that had just come to land outside the immediate blast area if he were to suddenly lift off.

  Lazarus watched a petite woman with dark brown skin and short, curly hair step out of the van and start to walk towards them. If you’d met her on the street, she’d catch the eyes with the grace of her walk, long muscular legs on a short torso, everything covered over with loose pants and a formless, gray jacket.

  Nothing about her face stood out, being not the utter perfection of beauty or the ragged asymmetry of ugly. Forgettable, other than those legs.

  But yeah, she looked like trouble.

  Twenty-Six

  Aileen

  Aileen made sure that Eha had friendly contact as they made their way down the wharf to the big boat. She’d spent enough time around Addison to know how much the average Churquen disliked open bodies of water. Even her sleeping pool back on Shiva Zephyr Glaive got Addison’s scales in a tizzy if he came into her cabin for something.

  This was a whole freaking ocean, and all these dumb goons wanted them to go aboard somebody’s toy ship.

  Still, Eha moved without complaint. Aileen wasn’t sure what they would do if either of them refused, but Lazarus had been sent on, when they might have simply killed him, so hopefully, somebody just wanted to talk and didn’t really have any solid grasp on manners.

  The name of the boat, painted across the square stern as they got close to the ramp, was Cardinal, but she knew that with Humans it might be either the color or a bird native to their homeworld, so she wasn’t sure if there were deeper meanings she was missing.

  Lots of idiot birds around, yarping loudly and swooping around as they walked. White bodies with gray on the leading edge of the wings and central tail feathers. Annoying shits, but the men around them didn’t seem to like the birds any more than she did.

  Up the ramp. Aileen could always swim away. Humans needed complicated gear to stay underwat
er for any length of time, or to move quickly. But Eha would be trapped here alone.

  Aileen felt the woman freeze now, just as her coil hit the bottom of the ramp. Her weight stopped Aileen as well.

  “What’s the problem, ladies?” the angry short man rumbled from the top of the ramp when he turned around.

  “Gimme a second!” Aileen snapped at him and then turned to Eha.

  The Churquen was freaking out right now. Even worse than Addison would have. Must really hate water.

  “Eha, I’m with you,” Aileen said calmly. “I’ll stay with you. You can do this.”

  Aileen wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a Churquen with eye slits that far open. The breath was a harsh rasp. The muscles in her tail were quivering.

  “Eha?” Aileen asked as the men behind them started to stir.

  “Okay,” she said quietly, shivering once the whole length of her body and then starting to flow up the ramp.

  “Problem?” the little man asked when they got to the top.

  “Her kind don’t swim,” Aileen said simply.

  “Oh,” he replied, his voice changing down just a shade. “Not a lot of choice about that, then. Boss wanted you lot aboard his boat where he could have some privacy. Mind your step.”

  She followed him across the broad fantail and forward to where a space was overhung from the way the upper deck stuck out like a balcony.

  Outside, everything was rugged and durable, so Aileen assumed that this planet must get some ugly storms. Once she was inside, everything turned to luxury. Polished wood inlays on the walls. Rough, hardwood floor over the deck plates. Rugs tacked down. Gold and silver filigree everywhere to offset the faint mustard color of the wall paint that made her suddenly hungry for a sandwich.

  This was a space to entertain guests as they exited and went forward, turned, and descended to a lower deck dedicated to crew spaces. Raw walls in off-white. Floors that had been chewed up by boots and polished by traffic.

  “In here,” the man commanded, gesturing them into what Aileen discovered was a crew cabin.

  Top and bottom bunks. A small desk with a Human chair. Space under the bottom bunk where a trunk could be stashed.