“I’ve been thinking about that, too, Bill,” Roslyn said. “Maybe you need to start wearing, you know, like disguises and shit. I’m mean, change your hair, start wearing a hoody like Bat Matters does.”
Talbert smirked and grunted before turning.
She watched him walk through the former kitchen, past a column that had once been part of a wall. The exposure, she thought, it was getting to him. He seemed confused how to handle it. She wondered what it all meant to him. He could no longer hide out as Bill Brown. Who was Devil Bill to William Talbert? What would he become? The thought sent a shiver up her back, starting with the damp spot on the top of her butt.
*
Talbert drove his hover bike to F Street and parked it across the road from the Yellow Donkeyballs. He hadn’t been back since his gunfight. It all looked different without the crowds. Izzy’s Breakfast Cantina had tables on the sidewalk under umbrellas with potted local plants surrounding the iron fence. As Talbert passed he could feel people watching him and whispering.
“Devil Bill!” shouted a group of young adults, getting drunk on bloody mary’s in the morning. “Fastest gun… most dangerous man in the galaxy, guey!”
“Hey, can we have your autograph?” shouted a man from another table.
The whole thing made Talbert queasy and he grinned and tipped his hat in response, but kept walking. How many of them were from Annabellus? Which one was going to shiv him in the gut? He hurried past.
Entering the Yellow Donkeyballs, Talbert had to blink a few times before his eyes could adjust. The place was slow for the morning hour. The casino beyond the dance floor seemed to be inhabited but the rest of the club loomed empty.
The android working behind the bar looked up from her inventory and smiled.
“How can I help you, this morning, sir?” the android bartender asked. “My name is Juan.”
“Juan, is your boss in?” Talbert asked.
“Are you referring to Thorton Gunderson or his boss Jia Fang?” the android asked.
“Fang,” Talbert grunted and turned to check behind him.
“I’m afraid he has yet to arrive this morning,” Juan said. “Would you like to speak with the bar manager, Mr. Gunderson?”
“Alright,” Talbert said.
Juan blinked and stared straight ahead and then turned back to Talbert. “He’ll be down in a few minutes. Care for a refreshment while you wait? We’ve recently added Bugsy’s Bug Juice to our inventory.”
Bugsy’s was his brand. It caused his stomach to churn and his mouth to water. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and grimaced.
“You got any Jarritos?” he asked.
“Of course,” the android said with a cheerful expression. “We carry orange, grape, lemon-lime, and cherry.”
“Orange please,” Talbert said. He then turned to look into the casino.
“You lickfinger bastard, better not be trying to cheat!” shouted a raspy woman’s voice. Talbert immediately recognized it. It had been burned into his brain and it came with a specific memory.
Talbert slipped two grey chips across the bar and took the bottle of orange Jarritos with a nod. “I’ll be over here.”
He crossed the dance floor and peeked into the casino. He saw Jane Goodaire first because she was standing. The other poker players were seated. Wild Bull was among them. He looked exhausted and pale, like he hadn’t been to bed but had been drinking all night. Talbert sighed. He tried to suppress the odd sensation he felt. He then wondered what had happened to Chuck the Duck. Had the swarthy booking agent abandoned his cash cow, once the milk stopped tasting so sweet?
Wild Bull McQueen had once been the biggest star of the great galactic frontier. He was the ideal of the tough and dangerous gunman out in the lawless stretch of space. To see him fallen so low, and by Talbert’s own hand, stung. For his part, Talbert didn’t want to fight Wild Bull. He tried to get out of it.
“Devil Bill,” said a voice behind him and instinctively Talbert spun with his left hand on his pistol.
“I’m the bar manager here,” said the tall thin man whose head seemed a bit larger than it should have been. He had all the hallmarks of someone who grew up in low G gravity. A space station or moon baby. “Thorton Gunderson.”
Talbert shook his hand, but made sure not to squeeze it. “Bill Talbert.”
“Yes,” smiled Gunderson. “Everyone knows you around here, sir. What do I owe the pleasure?”
“Looking for a man that your boss, Jia Fang,” Talbert said and pointed toward the ceiling indicating the balcony. “Entertained the other day at my… fight.” He almost said stun duel but it sounded stupid in his head.
“Oh?” Gunderson said, still holding on to his smile, but his eyes no longer matched it. “Do you know the man’s name?”
“Omnious,” Talbert said. “Rex Omnious. He owns the bank here in town.”
“Right, right, right,” Gunderson said, quickly. “Well, it’s still a relatively small town. The business owners all know each other.”
“I’m looking for information on that man,” Talbert said.
“Have you tried the bank?” Gunderson asked.
“I have,” Talbert grunted. “His boy says he’s long gone. But then I see him after that sitting up there with your boss.”
“I see,” Gunderson said. He was a graceful man, Talbert thought, suited for hospitality. “I’ll have Mr. Fang contact you when he arrives. He likes to close the place, which is a misnomer because we don’t close, but he waits until the main action dies down before retiring. That’s usually in the wee hours of the morning.”
“All right, then,” Talbert said. He was about to leave when a thought struck him. He turned to head back to the casino.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Is that what they’re building out there?” asked Rusty Carmichael, the tall red headed man with a redder nose.
“Race track,” answered the beady-eyed, short man next to him at the poker table. “Yep.”
“Well, this town’s going down right cosmopolitan,” Wild Bull said. He sat with his back to the wall, facing the door. His eyes were fixed on Talbert as the detective entered the casino and sauntered toward the table. There was one open seat and nodding to Wild Bull first and then to everyone else he took it.
“We have a celebrity in our midst,” Wild Bull said.
“Hey, who the shit said you could join us?” Jane snapped.
“It’s a free planet, Jane,” Wild Bull said. “Don’t be rude.”
“Sorry, Bull,” Jane said, subtly bowing her head to him.
“Morning,” Talbert said to Rusty Carmichael, realizing he knew the man.
“Dev – Mr. Talbert,” Rusty said with a grin. But the grin faded before it turned genuine. Instead there was anxiety. Talbert glanced around the table and saw the same expression in everyone save Wild Bull. Wild Bull adjusted his cards into a certain order and discarded two.
“Felt like playing cards this morning, detective?” Wild Bull asked. “Don’t have some other things pressing on your time?”
“I was just looking into that,” Talbert said, throwing a white chip into the pile. “But the lead’s cold. Sometimes its best to take your mind off of it and let it brew.”
“I see,” Wild Bull said. “I used to work security, back on the moon Og, little domed city called Bashan.”
“Heard you cleaned that place up,” Talbert said.
“There was a group of thugs that ran the place before the local businesses hired me to come in and clear ‘em out,” Wild Bull said. “That was back right after the war. Months after the peace agreements were signed.”
“You fight in the war?” asked the short man next to Rusty.
“Yes sir,” Wild Bull said.
“Bull was a hero,” Jane said.
“Which side?” asked Rusty.
“Earth,” Wild Bull said. “General McLane’s American Brigade. When I joined up, I scouted for a little while on Lynceus.”
“Bull got mauled by a Lycan,” Jane said eagerly.
“Had the same experience when I visited that horrible place,” Talbert said.
“Managed to slit its throat before it took my head off,” Wild Bull said. “Luckily it was alone. After I recovered I moved on to spy a little bit for General Kroos’ European Union Brigade down in Annabellus. Spent the rest of the war down there in places like Jax and Fort Neutron.”
“I was in Montgomery mostly,” Talbert said.
“Yeah, everybody knows your story, Devil Bill,” Jane said in her gruff rasp. “Burned down a church full of kids, is what I hear tell.”
“Okay, Jane,” Wild Bull said. “That’s enough war talk.”
Talbert felt his stomach turn. Several emotions competed for his attention. Anger being the loudest, but regret and a hint of shame lingered beneath it all. He felt like someone had peeled his skin off leaving millions of nerve endings exposed. The slightest breeze might prove excruciating. When he’d been Bill Brown, he didn’t have to answer for the things he’d done in the war. Now that he was out as General Devil Bill Talbert, he couldn’t hide. Why had he come to play poker? He desperately regretted it now. Had he come to check on Wild Bull? Was it to pay his respect? Whatever the motivation, it now seemed like a very bad move. But cashing in before the first hand played out didn’t feel right either. So he sat there, feeling the heat of his cheeks rise into his eyeballs, drying them out, parching his mouth. Did the bartender mention carrying Bugsy’s Bug Juice?
Two hands passed without much more discussion but the cards themselves. Then, saving him, Talbert’s transponder chimed. It was a call from Roslyn. He contemplated answering it at the table, but figured against it and so he cashed out.
“I need to return this phone call,” Talbert said. “I appreciate the distraction of letting me play a couple rounds. Sorry I couldn’t lose all my money to you Wild Bull.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Wild Bull asked quickly.
“I was just making a joke,” Talbert said.
“Meaning what exactly?” Wild Bull leaned back and slightly spread his legs. Was he about to pounce? A second passed and then another as both men stared at each other. Everyone else sat poised, ready to spring away from the pending violence.
“What are you trying to say?” Jane asked. “He’s asking you a goddamn question.”
“Okay, Jane,” Wild Bull said, but didn’t take his eyes off of Talbert.
“Meaning, I was having a bad streak and you were having a good one,” Talbert said, slowly, deliberately with an underlying tone that said best to let it go.
“Meaning you pity me?” Wild Bull asked. “Meaning you came over here to purposely lose money to me because you feel some kind of guilt for having ended my career as an exhibitionist?”
“Not at all,” Talbert barked back. “I could give two shits whether or not you continue to put on your shows for people, out drawing these morons across the stars, or where ever.”
Wild Bull’s red mustache spread into a grin, followed by a quick snort. “You think you’re doing something better than that. Something more noble? Well, I don’t have the guilt of child murder on my hands, weighing on me, hoping to somehow make up for it by trying to clean up the entire galaxy. I can just go to hell the way I want to. Clean conscience.”
“You keep telling yourself that, Wild Bull,” Talbert said and turned his back to the table and dialed his transponder. He strolled across the casino floor.
“What’s up?” Talbert asked when Roslyn answered.
“You’d better get to the shuttle port,” she said with an anxious tone.
Talbert met Hattie, Grace, Frank, and Roslyn across the street from the shuttle port.
“My guy at the port called me when they landed,” Roslyn said, wearing her smart goggles. “Shuttle from Athena.”
“Athena?” Talbert asked, regretting that he didn’t have his goggles with him. He didn’t like to wear them around his neck or on his hat, like Frank did.
“What are they doing here?” Hattie asked, watching a group of beings collect their luggage through the glass window. Talbert moved around her trying to make out the large figures. Given the reflection on the glass it was hard to count how many there were.
“What do you think?” Roslyn answered. “I have a feeling you know who sent for them.”
“Did your guy say how many?” asked Talbert.
“He said there were twelve,” Roslyn said. “Including the two that guard Rex that makes fourteen of them in town.”
“Should we arrest them?” Grace asked.
“Arrest them for what?” Frank said.
“They obvious are here for us, yes?” Grace said, adjusting her smart goggles to a different setting “We need to do something. What else is to do, but wait until they coming for us? Not a good plan, Stan.”
“I would suggest you keep a low profile, Grace,” Roslyn said.
“But I can be very good in a fight,” Grace said. But Roslyn was distracted.
“Now what?” asked Roslyn looking up the street. Talbert turned in time to see Ed and his Red Scarves heading their direction.
The Red Scarves met the Amazon contingency as they exited the port. There were some exchanges and then Ed and the Red Scarves, six total, escorted the Amazons toward the Grand Mother Hotel. Talbert found it interesting that neither the Red Scarves nor the Amazons turned to acknowledge them. The street was crowded but the agents weren’t hiding. They had gathered around the benches across the street from the port in plain sight.
“You think they’re here to avenge Lahky Reems?” asked Hattie.
“Could be,” Talbert answered. Roslyn tried not to roll her eyes.
“They could be hired by Rex Omnious as well,” Frank said. “He isn’t finished with us.”
“And we aren’t finished with him,” Talbert grunted.
“Look who’s back in town,” Roslyn said, looking back at the exit door of the terminal.
Talbert turned back to see Kidd Wylie with his arm around his girlfriend Silvia Sood. “Elvis Christ, kid. What’s he doing back here?”
Kidd saw them and grinned when he did. He laughed and kissed Silvia on the cheek before maneuvering the traffic to cross to them.
“I thought you’d have the good sense to get far away from this planet,” Talbert said as Kidd came within earshot.
“I did,” Kidd said. “But we want to get married. Start a family.”
“Okay, good for you,” Roslyn said, smiling at Silvia. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Silvia said. She was young and extremely beautiful with long brown hair with blonde highlights. Her smooth, eggshell colored skin and her high cheekbones gave a regal impression.
“So why are you here, then?” Roslyn asked.
“Well, I got to thinking,” Kidd said.
“Be careful, Kidd, that could get you in trouble,” Talbert said. He felt Roslyn turn to him and give him a surprised and somewhat bemused look.
“I know, right,” Kidd said with a soft chuckle. “But what kind of career does a guy with my certain… skill set, you know, do?”
“Okay?” Roslyn said.
“Yes, ma’am, I was just wondering if you guys were hiring?” Kidd asked.
“If we’re…” Roslyn trailed off. She needed a second to process. She glanced at Talbert who smirked.
“You want to work for us, Kidd?” Talbert asked.
“Yeah,” Kidd said with a sincere expression that nearly made Talbert laugh.
“You picked a fine time to want to join up,” Frank said. “Didn’t you notice the dozen Amazons that landed about the same time your shuttle did?”
“You can’t miss eight-feet-tall aliens walking through a shuttle port, can you?” Kidd said. “What? Are they here for you guys?”
“We don’t know why they’re here exactly,” Roslyn said. “But since they just met up with the Red Scarves, we can only assume so, yeah.”
“Well then, ma’am, i
t sounds like you guys could use a guy with my skill sets right about now,” Kidd said.
“There’s a process to this, though,” Roslyn said. “We’ll need to vet you and all of that.”
“Okay,” Kidd said, nodding. “Sounds about right.”
“Okay, when you get settled into wherever you plan to get settled,” Roslyn said. “Come by our offices and we’ll talk.”
“Really?” Kidd’s eyes grew and he turned to Silvia who smiled. He kissed her on the lips.
“You’ll need to upgrade your gun,” Roslyn said. “Got to have stun capabilities.”
“Ma’am, do you guys uhm, help out with that? Far as the money goes,” Kidd said, scratching the back of his neck and wincing. “I spent our last bytes getting back here.”
“Where are you going to sleep?” Hattie asked.
“Well, we can camp outside of town or whatever,” Kidd said. “She may look like a delicate flower, but my Silvia can rough it with the best of them, right babe?”
“Of course, my love bug,” Silvia said. They rubbed noses. Everyone else tried not to grimace.
“I can let you stay with me until you find a place,” Hattie said. “Winter will be coming soon. The nights are already starting to get chilly.”
“Easy, Hattie,” Roslyn said holding up one hand.
“It’s okay, Ros,” Hattie said.
“Oh, we couldn’t impose, ma’am,” Kidd said.
“No, I insist,” Hattie said. “You can have my bed. I can sleep on my couch. It’s very comfortable.”
“That’s not necessary,” Kidd said. “We can sleep on your floor, ma’am.”
Talbert turned to Roslyn as they negotiated room and board.
“What’s up?” she asked, seeing he toyed with some notion or another.
“If he’s building an army,” Talbert said. “He’s expecting a war.”
“True,” Roslyn said.
“The question is, what is his end game?” Frank said, joining them. They had collectively decided as a group to move toward their office building. The feeling of exposure drew them toward cover.
“Hard to guess, exactly,” Talbert said. “It’s got something to do with me.”
Hell Is Empty (The Frontier Book 3) Page 17