Off World 2: Sanctuary

by Stephanie Vaughn

  “I heard you’d finally had enough. You going to try to heal on your own, then?” Sarhaan’s hand now rested against the back of Cal’s neck, absently rubbing a strand of Cal’s hair between his thumb and forefinger.

  “I can’t sit still any more. I’m already too far behind to lose any more time. And what’s this I hear that no one’s talked to Alex since I got laid out?”

  Sarhaan and Kai made eye contact.

  Caleb wiped a hand on a pant leg.

  It was finally Sarhaan that broke the silence. “We’re looking for him, don’t worry. Caleb’s been monitoring the exit logs and he hasn’t left the station.”

  “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? What about Nelly’s? What does Sotheran say?”

  “Everyone’s favorite nightclub owner isn’t talking. Claims he can’t violate company confidentiality agreements.”

  “That’s horseshit. I’ll go down there and violate something, and I won’t be the least bit confidential about it when I do.”

  “Sandy, take a look at this.” Cal drew his attention back to the computer readout. “Is this the guy you had the run-in with?”

  One look at the picture and Sandy knew. The man who’d been running the show out back of Nelly’s had been a few years older, a little more the worse for wear, but definitely the same man in the picture. “Vasiliy Brasov. That’s the one.”

  “Wanted by both the Republic and the Euros, he fought extradition until he could buy his way off world. He’s ex-Andryusha. He disappeared around the time of the collapse of the European Union and, until now, he’d been presumed dead.”

  Caleb leaned back, resting against Sarhaan’s legs, looking so comfortable and secure that resentment flared in Sandy’s gut. Why should he be safe and sound while Alex was still out there, God only knew where?

  Sandy looked to Kai, who’d been suspiciously quiet until now. Kai was the one with the background in intel; shouldn’t he be at least involved this conversation? “What do you think? Know him?”

  Folding his arms, Kai shifted his weight onto one foot, looking singularly unimpressed. “I know his type. Those old school hard-guy types -- the ‘yushas, the Stasis, Te-Wu -- they’d usually rather gut you than deal with you, so you’re probably lucky to be here.”

  “What does that mean for us then?” Sarhaan’s hands rested on Cal’s shoulders now and Sandy knew exactly what was going through his head.

  Kai looked first at the screen and then at each of them in turn. “It means, I think we’ve got an old fashioned turf war on our hands.”

  ***

  “Okay, so this all goes to the laundry on Green?” Alex shouldered the giant bag of soiled laundry and headed for the door.

  Mid-morning and Henry was only just climbing out of bed. Tousled and sleepy-eyed, looking years younger than Alex knew him to be, the slender Asian man finger-combed his waist length hair as he yawned and waited for his cup of tea to cool. “Mmmhmm . Be sure and tell them it’s mine, okay? I throw them a freebie once a month or so and they give me a better rate.”

  “You’re kidding.” Stopping to stare, Alex gazed at Henry and reassessed.

  “Nope.” Henry shrugged. “Arkady -- the owner -- he’s not very demanding. He’s easy to please and it’s no big deal to me.”

  “Wow. I wouldn’t think…”

  In the midst of logging in to the morning news feed, Henry paused. “What?”

  “I just…” Alex was unsure just how candid he could be. “Never mind. I’ll see you later.”

  “What’s on your mind, Alex? Don’t be afraid to say what you really think.”

  Picking up the scent of Henry’s jasmine tea as he pursed his lips and blew across the top, Alex weighed exactly how far he could trust the man. Was Alex entitled to any respect as a no longer practicing member of the brotherhood? “I’m just surprised that you’d work for free. I don’t think I would.”

  “Have you given any more thought to--?”

  “No.” Alex cut Henry off. “Definitely not. That answer won’t change.”

  “Well, to me it’s all the same. I could work for credits or I could barter for services. Besides, it saves us both on processing fees this way.”

  “I guess.”

  “No luck finding anything new yet?” Henry stirred his tea and took a cautious sip, watching Alex over the rim.

  “No. I’ve got an interview at the Busted Flush in a few hours, though -- keep your fingers crossed for me. You’re going to want your couch back sooner or later, I imagine.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’re no trouble at all, hon, I told you. It’s kind of nice having company, actually. And,” Henry glanced at the bag of laundry Alex still held, “it’s definitely not bad having someone to take care of the mundane tasks.”

  “I guess that’s my hint to get going. Besides, I want to have time to come back and clean up before my interview.”

  Henry grinned, his dark eyes sparkling. “Why? Have you been in the place lately? They don’t call it the Flush for nothing, you know. Somebody ought to flush it.”

  “It’s money. Credits.” Alex glanced at the couch that had been his bed over the past several nights. “I need to pay my own way.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Before turning back to his news feed, Henry smiled encouragingly. “Let me know if you want help with your hair or anything. For the interview.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mulling over his list of things to do, Alex made his way down the stairs and out to the street. Henry lived over his business, sharing a four-plex with two other freelance recreation specialists and a guy who worked for station security. A nice enough set up, Alex could see getting something like that for—

  He’d almost said Sandy and him.

  He really missed Sandy.

  It had been four days since Alex had been fired. It had also been four days since he’d heard from Sandy. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe Sandy didn’t want anything to with him any more. Or maybe he’d gotten tired of waiting.

  By the time Alex had gotten back to his room -- escorted by Nelly’s security staff, just long enough to gather his things and get out -- Sandy had been gone. Alex wondered what Sandy thought about why Alex had been delayed. Did he think Alex had decided to work late? That he’d rather be doing anything besides be alone with Sandy? Or had he figured out that Alex had gotten high and was appropriately disgusted?

  Why hadn’t Sandy returned any of his messages, though? Should he have gone to see Sandy on the ship?

  Alex shook his head. The drugs might have been a mistake. Aside from losing his job over it, he couldn’t tell what Sandy had thought about the whole experience. He’d never cared enough before to notice, but Alex couldn’t remember a lot about the night. Maybe the difference was, he’d never wanted to remember before.

  The laundry on Green wasn’t hard to find and Alex dropped off Henry’s laundry, giving the man behind the counter the location code for Henry’s apartment instead of Henry’s personal ID number. The man took the bag, running a speculative glance over Alex as he did.

  Whatever.

  The disgusting little weasel could hope for anything he liked, but all he was getting from Alex was a bag of dirty laundry.

  Leaving the shop, Alex stopped to consider. The station’s lighting had brightened to simulate late morning. The foot traffic was still sparse, but people were beginning to stir and move about. It might be a good time to stop in a few businesses -- see who might be looking for help. The only problem was, knowing how to mix drinks and give a world class blowjob were about all he really had as far as certifications.

  While he was still willing to get behind a bar and make small talk to coax the customers into spending more, he wasn’t willing to give up control over his body, not now when he’d only just gotten it back.

  “Mr. Valentine, a moment of your time?”

  Mr. Valentine?

  No one called him by his last name. In fact, it had been so long since he’d even heard it that it had taken Al
ex a moment to realize that whoever it was meant him and not his father.

  Alex turned. He wasn’t far from the Pike and these men looked like they might have just come from there.

  Different.

  Outsiders.

  There were three of them. Not the usual miners, spacers, or station-dwellers, Alex had never seen them before. So different from the well-heeled, sophisticated types that had been his main clientele back on Earth, these men looked… smudged. Dirty. Not their clothes or their skin, though. The men themselves, somehow.

  Alex looked at them warily. “Who’s asking?”

  “Mr. Valentine, may I call you Alex? No need to be so formal.”

  “Have we met?” Could he have—? He didn’t think so, but it wasn’t out of the question. There’d been too many to say for sure.

  A little shorter than Alex, but older, the man looked weary; as though he’d seen too much. Yeah, well, so had Alex.

  “Not officially. Our mutual acquaintances have spoken of you so often, though. So fondly. I feel as though we’re old friends.”

  This was getting weirder by the moment. If Alex had learned one thing over the years, it was reading people. His survival had depended on it and he had by God survived.

  “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “Done with the pleasantries, then? Straight to business? Very well, then.” The man’s smile faded. “What we want is for you and your friends to stop mucking about in our business. We’ve worked too long to let some small time operators from a dingy little backwater operation like this get in the way.”

  “Huh?” Alex stared at the man. His expression was too deadly serious to think he might be joking. “I’m not-- I don’t-- I think you must have me confused with someone else. I’m a bartender. Was a bartender. Now I’m unemployed.”

  “Yes, yes, we know all about your little job at the nightclub. We’ve talked to some of your associates and word is getting out.”

  While their leader was talking, the two others -- obviously underlings -- moved around to flank Alex, so that he was now effectively surrounded. He tried to back up, but the two thugs closed ranks on him. Adrenalin spiked in Alex’s blood and his heart picked up speed.

  “Look, there’s obviously a mistake here. I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m a threat to no one’s business. I just…” Alex raised a hand to run it through his hair and one of the goons stuck a weapon in Alex’s side -- a warning not to move -- and Alex froze. He had no idea what kind of weapon it was, but it felt extreme and Alex wasn’t going to argue.

  “Be very careful with your movements, if you would. My man Dov here is a notoriously poor judge of character; prone to acting first and questioning later. Problematic, but so difficult to train out of people, I find.”

  “Okay, now. Hold on. I really think you’ve got me mistaken for someone else. Can we just talk about this some more, Mr.—” He didn’t know the man’s name. Alex tried lowering the hand he’d raised to his head and got a jab in the side for his trouble.

  “Vasily Brasov.” The man’s lips hadn’t moved. The voice was familiar. Unaccented. The thoughts all collided in Alex’s brain simultaneously.

  Sandy!

  Alex tried to look without moving his body too much. He craned his neck and found Sandy, with only one man for back up, standing a few meters behind him.

  “Mr. D’abu.” Brasov smiled and Alex got the impression that for this man, the fun was just beginning. “And looking very resilient, may I say? I’m most impressed.”

  Alex must have unconsciously relaxed, because he got another poke with the weapon. Straightening, he turned his head, his gaze meeting Sandy’s and he couldn’t help but smile.

  Sandy didn’t blink. “I told you we could talk business, but first you need to stop harassing my people.”

  “I would like that, but a good businessman knows when the advantage is his, and any failure to exploit that advantage would simply be poor business practice. Unacceptable. Or do you not agree, Mr. D’abu?”

  “I believe I see your point.” Sandy’s lips quirked. “But a businessman should also appreciate the importance of preparation in advance of any negotiation.”

  From behind him, Brasov’s arm was twisted backward, while a disembodied hand pressed a pistol to the base of his skull as, from out of the shadows behind him, Kai Xuwicha stepped forward.

  “Hello, Vasya. Just like old times, eh?”

  Chapter 15

  Brasov froze and Sandy could breathe again.

  It chilled Sandy’s blood to see Alex caught between a stone-cold killer like Brasov and his two thugs. Sandy’d slipped into fighting mode without a second thought, like slipping on a comfortable old coat, and it felt good to be back in action. Everything had been relaxed and easy, a walk in the park -- until he’d recognized the posture of men carrying concealed weapons and realized those weapons were trained on Alex.

  Life was fragile. Terrifyingly easy to snuff out. He had to get Alex out of there.

  “Who is that? Xuwicha? Is that you? How do you come to be involved in this shabby business, my old friend?”

  “Who it is doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that the pistol he’s holding to your head is locked and loaded. Tell your associates to step away or my colleague will be forced to deliver a little message of our own -- gravitas, no extra charge.”

  “Disgraceful that someone with your abilities should be reduced to consorting with such second-rate criminals. You were always so much classier than that.”

  Nothing in Brasov’s body language betrayed the pressure being put on his shoulder. He smiled and chatted as though catching up with an old acquaintance who had a gun pressed to his skull was an everyday thing.

  Who knew?

  Maybe it was.

  Kai’s narrow face twisted into a facsimile of a smile. “Tell your friends to back off and we can all go for a drink. Talk over better days. Tell you what, Vasya -- I’ll even buy the first round.”

  Even from this distance, Sandy could see the calculation in Brasov’s eyes and his gut clenched. This was where things would either go smooth and everyone walked away clean, or where a limited-phase energy pulse slammed into Brasov’s brain pan and things got messy. An expensive cleaning bill would be the least of their worries if they had to discharge a weapon within the station.

  “Dov, Arkady, allow Mr. Valentine to rejoin his friends. We can talk more about this later.”

  The two gunmen relaxed their posture and stepped back, allowing Alex to move for the first time since Sandy arrived. His gaze darting between the two sides, Alex took two hesitant steps before breaking into a run and within seconds Sandy was wrapping a protective arm around Alex as he buried his face against Sandy’s shoulder. While Sandy murmured quiet reassurances, Kai lowered his weapon and stepped back. Brasov turned and the two men exchanged greetings like a pair of long-lost brothers.

  ***

  “What the hell were you thinking?”

  Sandy tried to keep his tone even, but the fear was gone and in its place now was something hotter; something that felt a little like anger. They had retreated to VSS, Inc.’s offices, specifically, the apartment above it. Naslund was relaxing downstairs -- looking at porn again, probably -- while Kai played old home week with the criminal who had ordered a charged weapon held to Alex’s head.

  Alex’s eyes widened and he held on to Sandy’s arms as they gripped Alex’s shoulders. “About what?”

  “About anything. Were you thinking at all? Wandering the streets like some idiot child. You could have been killed. Do you know how close you came just now?”

  “I wasn’t wandering the streets, I was helping out a friend. I thought it was the least I could do after he was nice enough to let me sleep at his place.”

  Sandy brushed the hair out of Alex’s eyes and tried to read what was behind them. “Is that where you’ve been? What’s the matter with your place?”

  Looking away, Alex shifted beneath Sandy’s hands a
nd made a half-hearted attempt to break free. “They fired me. Since the room at Nelly’s came with the job… no job, no room.”

  “What do you mean they fired you?” The idea of someone having Alex and letting him get away made no sense.

  “They fired me. Let me go. Terminated my employment. They gave me ten minutes to

  collect my things and then they showed me the door. I’m done. I have no job.” The jaw was firm, as unyielding as the set of the mouth. It was the look in Alex’s eyes, too bleak and hopeless for just the loss of a job. “What am I going to do, Sandy?”