by John Bowers
“It’s a bit more involved than that, but that’s the story on a microchip.”
Thomas still didn’t look convinced.
“Do you trust him?”
“Who, Walker? I absolutely trust him. If I was in trouble, he’s the man I would want coming for me. I would trust him with my life and my family’s lives.”
“Okay, I’m glad to hear you say that. One more thing—if he’s as wonderful as you say, why did he tell me he’s hunting this terrorist ‘unofficially’? I would expect your office to contact mine, or some other agency here, and ask for our cooperation.”
Bridge sighed. The explanation was getting more and more complicated.
“The man Walker is after is responsible for more than three thousand murders on three Federation planets. A couple of years ago, Walker gutted his operation here on Alpha 2 and the suspect fled the planet. We tracked him to your neck of the galaxy, but since you’re not a part of the Federation, my superiors aren’t willing to officially pursue it.
“Walker, on the other hand, is determined to get this guy because…well, the suspect murdered his fiancée and one of his close friends. It’s personal with him.”
“So you gave him a leave of absence.”
Bridge hesitated. It was close enough to the truth.
“Yeah, that’s about it.”
“Who is the guy he’s looking for?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No. He seems like a suspicious sort. Didn’t volunteer much of anything.”
“That sounds about right. The suspect’s name is Kenneth Saracen. He could be anywhere on your planet, or even on TC 5.”
“Saracen. I may have heard that name. I’ll check into it.”
Bridge noted the body language, but didn’t comment. He would bet his next paycheck that Thomas knew exactly who Saracen was.
“Anything else I can help you with?”
“Not right now, I guess. Thanks for the help, Marshal. I do appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to call. And try to keep my man alive.”
Thomas grinned and nodded, then disconnected.
Chapter 10
Hardwood – Hardwood District, Tau Ceti 4
Nick Walker debated wearing his gunbelt when he left the hotel room, but decided against it. So far, the people he’d seen on the streets dressed in such a manner that he didn’t stand out, but wearing a pair of six-guns might change that. Until he got a better feel for the local custom regarding weapons, he would take the conservative approach.
But he did shove one of the Ru-Hawks into his shoulder holster and cover it with his vest. It was about as comfortable as carrying a five-pound rock under his armpit.
When he and Victoria reached the lobby, Nick stopped at the front desk. The same woman who checked them in offered him a smile.
“Is everything all right?”
“You mean the room? Yeah, it’s great. I just wonder if you could explain the local time to me. Every time I step onto a new planet I have to reprogram my watch.”
“Of course. We have a twenty-three hour day, and every hour is fifty-four minutes long. It doesn’t quite work out on an annual basis so we have to make an adjustment every year, but that only happens at Christmas, so you don’t have to worry about it now.”
“What’s the time right now?”
“It’s 2:42 in the afternoon.”
Nick fiddled with his wristwatch for a moment, then nodded.
“Thanks. Can you recommend a good place to eat?”
“Absolutely!” She pointed toward the street and waved her hand to the right. “Go two blocks down Manor Street and turn right. Hilda’s Café is right in the middle of the block. You can’t miss it, because it’s directly across from the sheriff’s office. It isn’t fancy, but the food is really good.”
“Thanks. Does Hardwood have a car rental agency?”
“Mm, no, but we do have a taxi service. Lard Davis will take you anywhere on the planet for a hundred taus.”
Nick’s eyebrows arched. “Lard? His name is Lard?”
The woman smiled. “I don’t think that’s what’s on his birth record, but…well, when you meet him you’ll understand.”
Nick grinned. “I never did ask you your name.”
“Oh, my goodness!” She laughed and extended her hand. “I’m Viola Fricke. And you’re Nick Jones.”
“Right.” Nick shook hands. “Nice to meet you, Viola. Thanks for the assistance. We may have more questions before our heads stop spinning.”
“Always glad to help. I’m here every day.”
The already chilly air had turned cold as they stepped out of the hotel onto the sidewalk. A layer of cloud had moved in, obscuring the star Tau Ceti, and Nick wondered if it would rain…or snow. They followed Viola Fricke’s instructions in search of the restaurant.
The sidewalk was built of a composite concrete and stone mix, so their boots didn’t ring as they walked. Even though it was a weekend, the farther they got from the train station, the fewer pedestrians they saw; Nick wondered if Saturday and Sunday had the same meaning here as they did in the Federation—maybe a frontier world like this one placed less value on free time than more advanced societies. Nick noticed that only about one in seven of the men he saw were wearing sidearms. That was good to know. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but he also didn’t want to walk around unarmed—Saracen could be anywhere on the planet.
They found Hilda’s Café right where it was supposed to be and went inside. It was cozy and warm, only about half full, and the kitchen smelled fantastic. As Viola had said, the place was unpretentious, but the food was filling and satisfying. Nick had a chicken-fried steak with potatoes and coffee, and Victoria ordered a vegetable stir-fry and tea. They ate largely in silence.
Nick was just finishing his coffee when the door opened and a familiar figure stepped inside. He and Victoria looked up as Sheriff Thomas walked over to their table and stopped. He nodded amiably.
“Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”
“Sheriff.”
“I see you took the train. Have a nice ride?”
“Actually, yes. It was fun.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Thomas glanced around the dining room—the handful of customers was paying them no attention. He turned back to Nick.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a word with you in my office when you get done here. Nothing urgent, but I would appreciate it.” He nodded toward the window. “I’m right across the street.”
“Sure, not a problem. Just let me settle the bill and we’ll walk over with you.”
***
The sheriff’s office looked at least a hundred years old and was built of brick. The interior smelled of old wood and just a touch of mold. Thomas’s office was in the rear of the building. He closed the door behind them as they entered, then they all took chairs around his desk.
Thomas fixed Nick with a stern gaze.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hunting Kenneth Saracen?” he asked.
“Why didn’t you ask?”
“What?”
Nick leaned forward.
“I come to your jurisdiction and tell you I’m undercover, looking for a suspect, and you don’t even ask his name? I find that highly suspicious.”
“You think I’m acting suspicious?” Thomas looked shocked.
“Yeah, I do. You asked what he was wanted for, but not his name.”
“Well—”
“Do you know Saracen?”
Thomas frowned, off balance.
“I didn’t invite you here to answer questions, Walker, just to ask them.”
“I understand that, but from my point of view, we’re both professionals and we should be working together. I really hope that’s the case, because things could get really nasty if it isn’t.”
“Is that some kind of threat?”
“No, just a fact. When you didn’t ask who I
was tracking, the first thing that occurred to me was that maybe you already knew. If you did, that raises all kinds of uncomfortable questions.”
“Like what?”
“Number one, can I trust you. Number two, can Saracen trust you. Only one of those can have a positive answer, or we have a problem.”
The sheriff’s face darkened with anger, but he sat silent for several seconds. Finally he heaved a deep breath.
“Okay, you had your say, now it’s my turn. The shuttleport is the only official landing site on the planet and everyone who arrives comes in there. I’m always on hand when a shuttle sets down and I talk to every single person who comes in. So yes, I know who Ken Saracen is. He came here almost two years ago and I gave him the same scrutiny I gave you.”
“Did you do a background check?”
“This isn’t the Federation, or the Confederacy. We don’t have an immigration agency or the bureaucracy for anything that sophisticated.”
“So you just let anyone in?”
“Look, Walker, we only get a few hundred immigrants a year. I meet with every one of them. If I don’t like someone, then I notify the other districts and whichever one he settles in can deal with him. But we just don’t have the mechanism for criminal background checks.”
“What about Saracen? How did he strike you?”
“Extremely arrogant, but that isn’t a crime. And with no way to determine his past history, I let him through.”
“Did you flag him? For the other districts?”
“I flag everybody. I send memos every time someone lands, with my observations attached. So yes, I did mention that he seemed like a potential asshole, but again, that isn’t a crime.”
Nick frowned and glanced at Victoria. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but she remained silent. Nick looked at Thomas again.
“Was Saracen alone?”
“Had an entourage, all of them late teens to late twenties. He said they were his employees.”
“How many?”
“Let’s see…I think it was five men—no, six men—and two girls. So, eight, plus Saracen himself.”
“Did you get the names of his employees?”
“I think I asked, but I didn’t save the information. I don’t remember now.”
“Did he say what business he was in?”
“Called himself an entrepreneur. Said he was looking for opportunity, and once he got settled he could provide a lot of jobs. I found him suspicious and insincere, but I had no legal grounds to refuse him entry.”
“Where did he go from here?”
“He spent about a week here in Hardwood, then moved on to another district. I never saw him after that.”
Nick frowned and Thomas noticed.
“We don’t have a planet-wide database here. Each district is self-sustaining and none of us appreciates interference from the others. Once they leave my border, they’re someone else’s problem.”
“Including terrorists?”
“I didn’t know he was a terrorist. If I did, I would have locked him up and notified the Federation to come and get him.”
Nick nodded, relaxing a little. He could hardly expect Thomas to be a mind-reader, nor could he blame him for the deficiencies of TC 4.
“So you don’t know where he is now?”
“I can make some inquiries. I’ll get back to you.”
Thomas looked at Victoria, who hadn’t said a word, then back to Nick.
“I checked you out, Walker. You too, Miss Cross. Marshal Bridge vouched for both of you. So you can dispense with the hostile attitude.”
Nick laughed. “I can dispense? What about you?”
Thomas shrugged. “Put yourself in my shoes. I never saw either one of you before today. You could both be stone-cold killers for all I knew.”
“Funny that you didn’t check Saracen out. He is a stone-cold killer.”
“I had no one to check him with. And he didn’t tell me he was prepared to kill one of our citizens.”
“Jesus Christ, are you serious! I told you I was prepared to kill him only as a last resort! I told you—”
“Objection!”
Victoria said it in a clear, concise, courtroom voice. Both men looked at her in surprise. She glared at each of them.
“You’re both on the same side. Why don’t we just leave it where it is and everyone get on with his business?”
Nick felt his cheeks heat, but looked at Thomas. Thomas was looking at Victoria but made eye contact with Nick.
Nick nodded. Grudgingly.
“Okay. Works for me.”
“Me, too.” Thomas leaned forward. “Anything I can do to help, just ask. But in the meantime, maybe you can give me a hand.”
“What kind of a hand?”
“I have a local problem, and I’m not sure how to handle it. Maybe, with your background, you might have some ideas.”
Nick considered for a moment. He didn’t really want to get distracted from his mission, but if he could lend the sheriff a hand, it might pay off if he needed help later on. He nodded curtly.
“Tell me about it.”
*
Thomas looked worried as he explained the situation to Nick.
“It gets a little complicated,” he said, “but we have union organizers in town. There’s a big meeting tonight and I’m picking up some vibes that I don’t like.”
“What kind of vibes?”
Thomas sighed.
“Let me give you some background first. The nearest settlement to this one is Orosi District, about thirty-four miles southeast of here. Orosi is located on the plain and is mostly a farming district, but they also have a steel mill and do some manufacturing. We sell them timber for construction and various raw materials for their smelters, primarily iron and coal. In return we buy food and factory goods.
“The problem is that about fifteen years ago, they unionized most of their labor. Now the union wants to do the same thing here, and that’s where my problem comes in.”
“You’re worried about violence?”
“Yes. I understand the theory behind labor unions and the need for them in some cases, but I don’t much care for some of the tactics they use, or their desire to force their union on others. About a quarter of the working men in this district are in favor of unionizing, but the rest are against it. Tonight’s rally is supposed to be a free exchange of ideas designed to sway the opponents, but I don’t like the look of what is shaping up.”
“What are you seeing?”
“For the past couple of days, men have been arriving from Orosi, and they don’t look much like laborers. They look more like thugs.”
“How many men?”
“I’ve seen eight or ten, but I’m sure there are more. The rally tonight will probably draw three or four hundred locals, but when you add the outsiders it could get up to five hundred men, and if words get heated, things could turn ugly.”
“How many deputies do you have?”
“Well, that’s the problem. I only have four, and two of them are pro-union.”
“Why? Are they trying to unionize law enforcement too?”
“Not yet, but that may be on the horizon. Right now they’re trying to unionize the railroad, but because the railroad serves all the communities, they have to convince the workers who live in other districts to vote for it.”
“Are working conditions so bad here that a union is even necessary?”
“Not that I’ve seen. The whole thing smells like a power play by a small group of individuals to get control of industry. If they succeed with the railroad, they’ll move on to mining, then timber, fishing, and every other industry on the planet. When the factories unionized in Orosi a few years back, prices jumped dramatically on everything from groceries to finished goods. A lot of people could no longer afford to buy even the most basic necessities, and there were some real problems.”
“But wages went up?”
“In Orosi, yes, but not anywhere else. I’ve talked to
unionized workers from Orosi and some of them told me that their wage increase didn’t really help them all that much. They were paid more, but their union dues ate up most of the increase; and any time the union decided to strike, the workers got paid nothing while they waited it out. In the long run, they were worse off than they were before. If they complained, some of them were fired or got roughed up by union enforcers. Stories like that don’t encourage anyone here to sign up.”
Nick was silent a moment.
“When did this new push to unionize begin?”
“About a year ago.”
Nick exchanged glances with Victoria. Thomas noticed.
“What are you two thinking?”
“Ken Saracen showed up here about then, didn’t he?”
“He got here about six or eight months before that…” Thomas frowned. “You think he has something to do with this?”
“I honestly don’t know, but Saracen is pushing a philosophy called communism. Unions and communists have something in common called collectivization. Basically, it unites the workers and creates hostility against whoever is in power. In the case of unions, employers become the enemy. In the case of communism, anyone with money becomes the enemy. They create a class divide, and since there are always more poor people than wealthy ones, it’s a one-sided battle. Employers can’t operate without labor, so labor refuses to work until it gets what it wants. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, the only ones who benefit are the labor organizers, the union bosses—and in the case of communism, the political leaders. Everyone else loses.”
Victoria spoke up for the first time.
“It wasn’t always that way,” she said. “When unions first started on Terra, there was a real need for them. But over time, once they accomplished their objectives, they continued to expand their power until they became more the problem than the solution.”
Thomas nodded, his expression grim.
“Human nature always goes too far. All I know is that we don’t need them here, at least not now. But what makes you think Saracen has a hand in it?”
“The timing. You said Orosi has been unionized for fifteen years. Did they ever try to spread the unions before now?”
“No. Apparently they were satisfied with what they had, until about twelve or fourteen months ago.”