A Brother's Debt (4 page)

The kick to the knee made the man stumble forward, but the punch, delivered with all of Step’s strength, only provoked a grunt. He was just moving in to punch the man again when a wild backswing caught him a glancing blow, knocking him into the wall. The impact stunned him and before he could recover a fist to the stomach doubled him up, forcing his breath from him in an explosive gasp.

Anticipating a second blow, though he had no idea which direction it would come from, Step dropped to the floor and rolled away. Coming up on one knee he swept his other leg round. The reinforced toe of his boot connected with the Grejlon’s knee and there was the sound of breaking bone. The pain, from the look on the man’s face, was tremendous, but a grunt was still the only verbal expression he gave.

Step moved forward as the man fell sideways into the wall of the cubicle, jabbing his fist into the man’s face. He followed that up with a second jab, from his left that time, to keep him off-balance, and then launched a right hook. He put all of his strength into the hook and it landed squarely on his opponent’s nose, spreading it across his face and knocking his head back into the wall behind him.

It wasn’t until he heard the squeak of a shoe behind him that Step remembered the second thug. He had been so focused on dealing with the Grejlon as quickly as possible, he had forgotten about his partner. He tried to twist away, before the man could reach him, but he wasn’t quick enough.

A large hand grabbed Step by the back of the neck, and he was thrown forward into the wall of the cubicle. Before he could recover a fist slammed into his kidney, just as he had punched the Grejlon. Unlike the Grejlon, he cried out in pain, his back arching away from the fist, which felt as though it was the size of a small boulder.

The next thing Step knew he had been spun round, and was facing the Grejlon. “You broke my nose, you sonofabitch.” Blood covered the lower half of his face, looking twice as disturbing on his grey skin as it would have on his companion. “You’ll pay for that.” He slammed his fist into Step’s stomach, and then hauled him upright, smashing his head against the cubicle again.

A second time Step was doubled up by the fist. After that everything went black, and he had no idea what happened to him.

Chapter Seven

Step woke with a start, and found he was no longer in the station facilities.

He was not surprised to discover he had been removed from the facilities, what did surprise him was that he appeared to have been taken to an apartment.

He threw back the covers and was half way out of the bed he had been placed in when pain stabbed through his side. Gasping at the suddenness of it he fell back onto the bed, where he sat for a few moments, waiting for the pain to subside. He didn’t need to probe at them with his fingers to know an unknown number of his ribs had been cracked, possibly even broken. He’d had broken ribs before, and knew what they felt like.

Looking down at his almost naked body - he was only wearing his boxers; Step saw where a large bruise was developing. The position of the bruise told him which ribs had been damaged, and the colouration gave him an indication of how long he had been out of it, at least a couple of hours, by his reckoning.

The speed with which the pain from his ribs disappeared told him that someone had given him pain relief. He found that strange, given he had been attacked and kidnapped, but couldn’t help being grateful, even if it wasn’t enough to remove the pain completely.

When the pain had diminished to a dull ache he made another attempt to get up, by moving slowly and carefully he was able to ensure it remained distant, and easily ignored.

Before Step could get any further than rising to his feet a door slid open across from the bed to reveal a woman a few years younger than him. He wasn’t a genius, but he didn’t need to be to work out there was either a sensor or a camera somewhere in the room, which had alerted the woman to his waking.

“Mr Carboni will see you when you are dressed,” the woman said, showing neither concern nor interest in his almost naked body. “Your bag is in the closet there, and facilities are through there,” she indicated the two doors in turn. “I suggest you don’t keep him waiting.” With that she departed, as abruptly as she had arrived.

Step stood for a moment, looking at the door that had closed behind the mystery woman. An urgent message from his bladder made him turn away, and he crossed the room to the door that had been pointed out to him.

After relieving himself he washed his face and hands, which prompted a few brief stabs of pain, and he leant forward to examine himself in the mirror above the sink. A bruise was visible on the side of his jaw, like the one on his torso, and he could just make out that his nose had been broken during the altercation in the station facilities, though someone appeared to have fixed it while he was unconscious.

He remembered being hit in the kidney, but his attempt to twist himself round to look for bruising only brought pain from his ribs. Since that was the case he put the injury from his mind, along with his various bruises, deciding there was little point in him dwelling on them at that time.

Once he had finished sorting himself out Step left the facilities and returned to the bedroom. He spent a short while checking the room out, but it was obvious from the bland and impersonal decoration it was only a guest room. As such it gave him no clues to what sort of person Mr Carboni was, other than someone who was prepared to order a man kidnapped.

Not only did he fail to find out anything about the man who had ordered him kidnapped, Step was also unable to find a means of escape. There was only three doors to be seen, the nearest was behind him and led to the facilities, while the second was the door to the closet. The last door was the one through which Mr Carboni’s woman, she had given no indication of her role or connection to Mr Carboni, had appeared and disappeared.

It was obvious that the only way out of the room was through the third door, but it was equally obvious to Step that beyond that door was Mr Carboni, and most likely his thugs as well. Since there was no other option open to him, through the door he had to go, but not while nearly naked.

His bag was where he had been told he would find it, with his shipsuit, clean and folded neatly on top of it but his knife, he discovered when he made a quick search of his bag, was missing. He had anticipated the weapon’s absence however, so he didn’t let its loss trouble him.

Dressing in the shipsuit Step knelt to secure his boots, taking comfort from the knowledge that their reinforced toes made them a reasonably effective weapon, as the Grejlon in the station’s facilities had discovered, to his misfortune.

With his bag slung over his shoulder he crossed to the door and was surprised to see it open readily when he waved his hand in front of the sensor. He had expected it to remain closed and for him to have to signal somehow his readiness to meet Mr Carboni.

On the other side of the door was a short passage, with several other doors opening off it. None of them opened when Step tried their sensors, forcing him to walk to the end of the passage, where he found himself in the lounge of what was obviously a spacious and expensive apartment.

“Good evening, Mr Velkin.” A figure rose from the sofa and moved round to where Step was standing at the end of the passage. “I am Ettore Carboni.”

“The man who had me kidnapped.” Step studied the man in front of him warily.

There was nothing about Ettore Carboni’s appearance to suggest he was the sort to order a man kidnapped. He was a couple of inches shorter than Step, though he outweighed him by a small margin, and his face was pleasant, if not friendly, but there was a look in his eyes that told the scout pilot he was facing a dangerous man.

He took all of that in in just a glance, and then turned his attention to the room beyond, looking for a way out. He was surprised to see there was only one other person in the room, aside from himself and Ettore Carboni, the woman who had shown him where to find his bag and the facilities. He had expected Carboni to have a couple of his thugs around as protection.

“I apologise, Mr Velkin, I did not intend for you to be kidnapped. I merely wish to discuss some business with you. I should have sent my daughter,” he gestured to the woman, who was standing alongside the sofa, “to bring you here, unfortunately I allowed the task to be delegated to my men, who were overzealous in their duties.”

“I imagine the business you want to discuss involves my brother.”

“The information I have on you said you are intelligent. You are correct, it does involve Andrei. Would you care to join me in a drink?”

 Step was bewildered by the evening’s turn of events. “Your men kidnap me, and you think a simple apology and an invitation to join you in a drink while we discuss my dead brother is enough?” His tone was incredulous.

Stepping around the man before him Step made for the door, only to be intercepted by Carboni’s daughter. “I have apologised for my men, Mr Velkin,” Carboni said, as his daughter placed herself between Step and the door. “It was not my intention for you to be brought to me like this, but here you are. Now, I suggest you join me in a drink while we discuss the predicament your brother’s death has left both of us in.” Though his voice was pleasant, there was an edge to it that hinted it would be wise for Step to follow the suggestion.

Step looked over his shoulder at Carboni, and then at the man’s daughter, near the door. He was pretty certain he could deal with Carboni if he tried to stop him, and the woman was unlikely to be any trouble, nonetheless he realised it wasn’t a good idea for him to just barge past and out of the door. For one thing there was every chance the door wouldn’t open for him.

Even if he did manage to get out of the apartment, that wouldn’t be the end of his problem. Bund Fret had made it very clear he would not be able to leave the station until his brother’s debt was resolved, and as long as he was on the station he would be within reach of Carboni and his men.

Turning away from his original path Step made his way over to the sofa, where Carboni had been when he entered the lounge. He let his duffle bag fall from his shoulder to the floor and then dropped ungracefully onto the sofa. He immediately regretted his lack of caution as pain stabbed through his side, provoking a gasp.

“Are you alright, Mr Velkin?” Carboni inquired solicitously, his voice carrying none of the veiled threat it had a moment before. “Would you like some more pain relief? The doctor gave you some when he fixed your ribs and nose, but I imagine it is probably wearing off by now.”

“No, thank you.”

“How about a drink then?  I understand you were drinking Domon and Litebs earlier, but if you would prefer something else don’t hesitate to say. I keep my bar fully stocked. Crezia, another for myself, and whatever Mr Velkin would like.”

Once she had given her father and Step a drink Crezia Carboni retreated to the kitchen, where she settled herself on a stool by the counter, out of sight, but ready to respond the moment she was called for.

“Did you say a doctor fixed my ribs and nose?” Step asked as he sipped at the glass of Domon he had been given. His taste buds told him that the brand of Domon served up by Carboni’s daughter was vastly superior to what he had been drinking in The Razor’s Edge.

“Yes. I regret my men not only exceeded my desires in kidnapping you, but they were unnecessarily rough with you while doing so. Oln Nakru broke your nose and three of your ribs, though I have to say you did bring it on yourself. You did more damage to his nose than he did to yours, and as for his knee, it will be at least a month before he can even begin physio. Even then there is a chance he will be left with a permanent limp.” Carboni didn’t sound overly troubled by the injuries caused to his man, if anything he sounded impressed. “When you were brought here I had my personal doctor look you over. He fixed your nose and your ribs, though he couldn’t completely eliminate the discomfort you are obviously feeling, especially now the pain relief he gave you is wearing off.”

“I suppose I should be grateful you had your doctor fix me up.” Carboni dismissed the gratitude with a wave of his hand. “You said my brother’s death has left us both in a predicament.” He prompted the older man, after taking a second sip of his drink.

“That’s correct. My sources informed me that you have been to see Bund Fret, which means you are now aware of the debt your brother owed to the station when he died.” Step nodded unhappily. “I assume she also told you what would happen if you don’t repay the debt.”

“I have one week to come up with the money, if I can’t then the station will sell all of my belongings. If that isn’t enough to cover the debt they will sell me to the Kargan mines, which Bund Fret assured me is perfectly legal.”

“It is. All of the systems in this region use the Kargan mines as a means of recouping money owed to them. Even private individuals have been known to sell people who owe them money to the mines.” Though neither his face nor his voice gave any indication of it, Step had no doubts that Carboni was one of those private individuals. “And that brings me to the problem I mentioned earlier.”

“If the station sells me to the Kargan mines I can’t repay the money my brother owed you.”

“Correct. Your brother owed me a considerable sum, significantly more than he owed the station, and with him now dead, it falls to you to repay the debt.”