by Clay Moore
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, a mutual friend has asked that I take you around.”
“Who is this friend.”
“The cabbie laughed. “The one you bribed with two of those bottles of scotch.”
“Vencelas Bosch.”
“That the one.”
“What your deal?”
“I am to take you around where you want. Until you leave.”
Brian considered for a moment. Absent a station a trusted local is the next best thing, especially a taxi driver. Brian was not going to take on the cabbie unless he understood all the risks.
“In the desire of full disclosure I am not a normal rich tourist.”
“I know that, man. Tourists don’t walk around with gats hidden on them.”
“Driving me around might get a little exciting.”
“That’s why this is so much fun.”
“I’d like to know your name.”
“I am Manolito Bosch.”
“I see that Vencelas likes to keep it in the family.”
“Yes, he is a good cousin. He hired me to be your personal cabbie.”
“What a nice thing to give me. The first place that I need to go today is the Upton Golf Course and Spa.”
Manolito put Brian's clubs in the cab. Brian got into the taxi. Manolito got into the driver's side. He drove off the Hotel Clement's platform
“I tell you I take a lot of fares to that place. We’re off.”
Manolito was true to his word. He brought the cab into full flight mode and took off the old fashioned way. He ran his ground speed up to enable the flight surfaces and drove off the platform. Manolito knew his stuff. The taxi only dropped a few feet.
Manolito did take an orbit of the golf course. The entire course was laid out on a dirt-covered platform. Where there might be water hazards, they were holes in the platform. The course was a thousand feet in the air. The main thing was that you had to be accurate. Kandi always said, “Accuracy beats power.”
Manolito used null grav to land his taxi in a spot in the parking lot. Manolito turned off his cab. Brian got out of the Cab. Then Manolito retrieved the Clubs.
“I’ll caddy for you.”
“I’ll take it. I think Dag will bring his whole entourage. An extra pair of eyes could be helpful.”
“Good. That’s settled.” Manolito shouldered Brian’s golf bag.
BRIAN MEETS DAG
Brian walked to the starters hut. He showed his handicap card to the Starter. “I’d like to be matched with Dag.”
“Well, our regular members dislike the gentleman. He can’t usually get a game, so he plays on his own.”
“Tell him there is a gentleman from another course who would like to play this course. Tell him you saw the gent with a fist full of marks.”
Brian and the starter exchanged a hundred mark note. “Go to the driving range. The starter handed Brian a basket of driving range balls. Brian nodded and went to the course's driving range. The starters were always giving him driving range balls. He hit balls impressing Manolito.
“Sir, I think your opponent just arrived.”
Brian turned and saw the corpulent Dag Dankly with four guards, the slave girl he owned. Two people who cried out Upper. They wore golf clothing, a golf visor, and a sweater like what Brian wore. The starter waved for Brian to come. Brian handed the one iron back to Manolito. He cleaned off the club head and put it into the bag as he walked with Brian.
They reached the group. The starter s spoke first.
“I was talking with Dag here about having you join him for a round.”
“Yes, he asked, but we haven’t said yes.”
“Then I’m sorry,” said Brian. He turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait, wait,” said Dag quickly. We play for cash stakes. You have cash?”
Brian pulled out a wad of Alphacent bank notes. “I showed you all my color. The least you can do is show me your color.”
The two uppers pulled out their wad. Dag ordered a gruff looking woman who wore the black uniform of a liveried guard. She showed that she held the “color” for Dag.
“What games are we playing?” asked Brian.
“Nearest to pin on par threes. That’s a hundred from the losers,” said Dag. “Win the hole is another hundred from the losers. A hole in one is a grand from the losers. Win the game is five thousand from the losers.”
Brian smiled. “Sounds fun. Do you, Mister Dankly, want the honors?”
“Oh, you are most kind.” He got up and waddled to the men’s tee.
“Let’s add a little more challenge. Let’s use the pro’s tee,” said Brian. Kandi always said to play from the pro tee. Most players are used to playing from the men’s tee. Play from the Pro Tee, and they won’t be used to it.
Brian saw the two uppers wince at the pro tee remark. These were two men that Dag was trying to fleece. Dag also gave a start to the suggestion. All the golfing Brian did with Kandi made him used to the pro tees.
Brian watched Dag waddle over the pro tee. He picked up some grass and tossed it in the air. Kandi always said that a non-tournament level player may use nervous ticks to give him time to get ready. Brian got closer to the slave girl.
“Hello, he said to her. “My name is Brian Butler.”
“My name is Vendella.”
“What is your last name?”
“When I was sold, they told me I no longer had the last name. I kinda forgot it.”
“That’s fine. Oh, It’s my turn now.”
Brian stepped up to the tee. He put his ball on the tee. Then he swung freely. The ball carried straighter and farther than Dag’s golfball, or the other two players.
“Wow,” said Brian disingenuously.
“How are going to keep ‘em on the hook,” said Manolito.
“I could care less about the two uppers. I have to strike at Dag’s ego. I have to make enough money to make my offer to buy gold sound sweet.”
“Look at those guards. They have to be a thousand marks a day guards.”
“Yes, his expenses are part of my calculation.”
“When I win the next hole I need you to play it up. Make ‘em hate me a little more.”
Dag won the hole by a single stroke. Brian paid his hundred to Dag with good humor and a cartoonish threat of revenge on the next hole.
Brian did not get any more chances to talk with Vendella during the game. Brian was starting to come on winning five holes in a row including a hole in one. He folded their money and put it in his pocket. His pocket was noticeably bulging. The two Uppers must have thought they had been taken advantage.
By the time they were on the tenth tee, the two uppers had enough.
“I think you two are flimflam men, and not very good ones either.”
Brian pulled out his pistol. “That sir besmirches my character. I demand satisfaction.”
“I don’t have a weapon.”
“You besmirch my name and then have the audacity not to know your own laws? Besides I was trying to take this goomba for everything he is worth.” Brian slapped Dag’s back to tell everyone which goomba he was talking about.
“I am unarmed. You can’t have a duel with one person being disarmed.”
“I see it now you will go and promise to be back with a weapon. Then you go home and thank your stars that you are still alive. I tell you what I’ll do. You go home, and I will spill it that you have reneged on a bet and you are also a coward. How long will you keep your contracts and so remain on the top levels?”
“What do you want from us?”
Brian put his pistol in his holster. He looked at all of the men in the eye. “I say I would win all the holes, so that is six thousand per man.”
Manolito gathered up the money. He put the money in his own pocket.
“Thank you, gentlemen. You may depart now.”
The two uppers left the course as quick as the golf bags would let them. Brian went to his golf bag. H
e started to put things away.
“Hey,” said Dag, “you have my money.”
“What about it?”
“I want it back.”
“You’ll have to win it back.”
“Not more golf.”
“Then what? I don’t think you have enough stamina for Tennis.”
“You like casinos?”
“They’re okay.”
“We play poker at my club. The Club has a one hundred thousand Marks buy-in for Texas Hold ‘em. We play until there is only one left standing, or we all are tired.”
“Deal. At what time.”
“7 pm. It may take the club a few minutes to shake loose a dealer and a pit boss for the game. Come a little early and warm up your luck.”
“Will do.”
“Here’s an invitation. I’m expecting Seven now, with you.”
Brian took the invitation. He slipped it into a back pocket. “I will be there.”
“Good, I am going to enjoy winning my money back.”
Dag left a bemused Brian standing on the golf course. Brian likes it when a plan comes together, but not when it happens so perfectly together. It was as if someone had been reading his plan.
“Did you know that he would react that way,” asked Manolito.
“Nope. I am just as surprised as you.
“Put the cash you collected for me in the bank. The bank vault is at the bottom of the bag.”
Manolito smiled sheepishly. He took all of the notes out of his pocket. He bent down and unzipped a small compartment. When he opened it, Manolito saw several banded bricks of Alphacent currency. He said nothing in apology. He put his folded wad of money in the bag. He picked up the bag.
“I’ll carry this bag with a bit more respect now,” said Manolito.
“What is the Modus Club Casino?” Brian was reading the invitation.
“That is a snooty place. You need to be invited or join to be allowed in. Once a week they open the club to anyone who wants to gamble. The members can get a meal and free drinks. Dere is rumors about women and men of negotiable virtue being available.”
“What you say may be true. Unless and until I see it for myself I reserve judgment. Let’s see, I have my tuxedo, my stake, and my plan. We’ll have to see what Lady Luck has for me.”
“Dere is one more thing. You need to have a limousine.”
“Do you have one?”
Manolito smiled a broad smile. “If it flies or floats I drive it. My limousine is cherry.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, forgot you not from here. Cherry is in pristine condition.”
“My pistol is cherry.”
“Now you getting it.”
“It’s nice to know. Do you have chauffeur’s livery as well?”
“Affirm.”
“From Hotel Clement to Modus Club Casino, how long.”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Pick me up at six pm. I need one more thing. Is there anyone on your family that can move a lot of something?”
“How much of something?”
“A Million ounces of gold.”
“I talk to Zata. Where it go?”
“Starport Freighter. Ulysses.”
“Zata has a lot of Trucks and Vans. How much t him?”
“Ten thousand marks.”
“I talk to him when I get me Limousine.”
Brian noticed through the plate glass window that Vendella went into the women’s locker room. Brian gave Manolito a signal to continue to the taxi. Brian entered the Clubhouse. He snuck into the women’s locker room. He saw Vendella walking into the massage room. He went into the room that was the Masseur’s office.
He saw the masseur still in the office. He received a com call. From the one side, he guessed it was informing him that Vendella was ready for her massage. He stood up. Brian cupped a sleeping drug needle. He brought both of his hands together on the Masseur’s neck. A few seconds later the Masseur was sleeping soundly in his desk chair. Brian pushed the cart full of concoctions used by the massage fraternity to lubricate and warm.
Brian pushed the cart to the massage room that Vendella occupied. He knocked on the door.”
“Yes,” came Vendella’s muffled voice.
“Masseur, Ma’am.”
“Come in.”
Brian opened the door and pushed his cart into the room. Then he locked the door. On tiptoes, Brian snuck up on Vendella. He covered her mouth.
“Vendella, it’s Brian.” She turned around and hugged him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I think I can get you to some place of safety. From there I can get you to Eridani where they can help you regain your childhood.”
“That’s gone forever.”
“What do you mean?”
“Last night he must have been feeling his manhood. He insisted over my objections. He took me. I tried to resist, but he was so fat and heavy. I felt something enter me. What he did hurt. There was blood on the sheets in the morning. I am no longer a girl. I am forced to be a woman at fifteen.”
“They can help you with that.”
“I don’t want to live with this.”
Brian could hardly see through his tears. “…Forced to be a woman at 15…” she said. Not for the first time he tried to understand. His gender got in the way. His desire to save the life of others would have him deny the request.
Then in a moment of clarity, he thought he understood. Vendella was afraid of carrying something of this pig. She felt sullied. Not worth the love she wanted so much.
“I want you to kill me. When you come to end Dag's life at the new house, kill me then. Promise me, you will do this!”
“How do you know what I came here to do?”
“I saw the outline of your gun under the sweater. I like looking at you. You were the only beauty I have now. Do as I ask on your honor.”
Her face was screwed up trying to exact a promise that would bind Brian. Then she found the argument.
“If you will not do this, I will still find a way. I may do it wrong. I may end up in a hospital. Neither living nor dead.”
Vendella did not pull punches. Tears welled up in his eyes once more
“You ask something that is hard for me to do to the innocent,”said Brian
“He raped me. I am no longer innocent. I wish that I had met you three years from now. I would have melted in your arms.”
Brian tried to say it, but his voice faltered. Finally, he spoke.
“I swear that when I come to kill Dag. I will be the tool of your suicide. I have something that will end your life, guaranteed You can administer it yourself. I will make sure that you are dead before I go. If not I will put a dart through your head. Is that good enough?”
“Yes. What a relief. Now you better get out of here.”
Brian opened the door to the hallway outside. He looked around and saw that it was clear. He snuck out of the women’s locker room.
He found Manolito sitting on the cab’s roof. He stood up on the roof of his cab with his hands held up in victory. Brian tumbled into the taxi. Manolito had seen it all before. Someone laid a heavy burden on his new friend. He kept the silence with Brian. Brian got out at the Hotel and retrieved his golf bag. Manolito waited until Brian got in the hotel. Then he drove off with the Taxi to get the Limo.
HARMONINO
The man had sat on the same bench at the same time for three straight days. Nobody thought that odd. The building he was in front of was the titular headquarters for the Pendit Corporation. The fact that this man knew that it was not the headquarters for the Pendit Corporation, but instead the Eridani Secret Service would have caused a stir. The reason it did not was this was Harminio Andrews. No one knew his actual name and Birth world. When he works with Anton Hecton, he is Harminio Andrews.
Harminio was looking for an opening into the Secret Service. If the subject was a wage slave, an inducement of money might be enough to convert him into a spy. In his experie
nce, women wanted things like a boyfriend, companionship, and even a proposal of marriage.
To do this observation he wanted to be invisible to the people that walked the plaza. He went to a second-hand shop. He purchased work clothes that looked as if they had seen better days. He mended the shirt and pants and cleaned the shoes. He put on the makeup to turn him into a retiree. He was now invisible. Today was just a test to see if she had the same pattern. Patterns are wrong to have if you are a member of an intelligence organization. Humans are a species that are creatures of habit. Unless the organization harps on the no patterns thing, people will go back to their practices.
The person he had selected for targeting was a young woman with dirty blond hair. She always wore her dresses or skirts at mid-thigh level. She was trying to attract the attention of her boss. Harminio had seen this on a hundred jobs. A young woman who thinks she is in love with her boss, but he is just too high for her.
Harminio liked women. More often than not they were the chink in an organizations armor. She passed by again in her short skirt on her way to the Tea and sandwich shop across from the Police headquarters. She usually ate at a table by herself. Her usual was camomile tea and a roast beef sandwich with lettuce and tomato.
He arrived at the Tea shop. She sat at her usual chair to watch the birds play in the water garden behind the shop. She was right on time. He strolled away from the shop. The other thing he heard was her name today, Julie Brio. That sounded like a name of a treasonous bitch.
He went into the cheap dive hotel that served as his base for the watching part. He packed what things he wanted to take with him. He checked out settling his bill. He stepped out of the hotel and flagged down a taxi. The cabbie refused to take so poorly looking a fare. He showed a hundred crown bank note and promised it to the cabbie at ride’s end. The cabbie let him in. Harminio had to put his own suitcase in the trunk of the cab. He gave the destination as 49 Chester Street, Beltroy Arms apartments. He retrieved a suitcase from the doorman for a forty crown tip. Harminio got both suits cases up to 6B. He walked into a sparkling Apartment.
The floor was all tiles to a black and white color scheme. The furnishings were either black or white. Everything provided was either black or white With one exception. In the master bedroom, the bed has a blue motif. Harminio had to continue with the black and white color scheme. He wadded up the cover, sheets, and pillowcases. Then He took from the suitcase that he recovered from the doorman a set of satin black sheets and pillowcases. He made up the bed. He put the things that made it looked lived in, but not too many. His story was a change of jobs.