A Brother's Debt (9 page)

It wasn’t the price that kept Step from giving a quick response, or hearing that Dollier knew of the package he was delivering. Dollier had already demonstrated that he knew a considerable amount about him, so it was no surprise he also knew of Carboni’s package. He was silent because he wanted the time to consider his answer. He didn’t doubt for one moment that Grange Dollier was as dangerous as Ettore Carboni, which meant he was in danger of not making it out of the restaurant alive if he didn’t give the right answer.

“It’s a very fair price, Mr Dollier,” Step said finally, thinking that the package was almost certainly worth at least twice what he was being offered, and probably considerably more than that. That thought made him wonder what was in the package, as he had previously. “Unfortunately I cannot sell you the package, it isn’t mine to sell.”

A dark look passed across Dollier’s face but it was gone before Step had a chance to catch it. “Does that really matter? I can assure you, Carboni would have no hesitation about selling anything of yours he happened to be in possession of.”

“I don’t imagine he would. I am not Carboni however.”

Dollier sipped his coffee for a moment, his eyes not mobing from Step’s face. “It would not be a good idea for you to refuse my offer, Captain, you won’t enjoy the alternative.”

Instinctively Step looked around, searching for the trouble he was sure was there. There was no sign of the thugs he expected to see however, the restaurant appeared to be perfectly normal. Despite that Step didn’t allow himself to relax. “The way I see it, Mr Dollier, I have two choices. I can either decline your offer, deliver the package for Mr Carboni, and have you mad at me, or I can sell you the package and have Mr Carboni hunting for me.

“Whatever I do I end up with someone looking for me so they can do something unpleasant to me, and out of the two of you, Mr Carboni is the only one I know who has been involved in the death of someone. That, combined with the fact that the package is his, and I already owe him a considerable sum of money, makes it far more sensible for me to deliver the package, as I agreed to do.”

Step got to his feet and, his eyes darting all around, made his way towards the exit. With every step he expected to be intercepted by a group of thugs intent on forcing him to hand over Carboni’s package. Despite his expectations he made it safely out of the restaurant.

Chapter Seventeen

On the street Step looked up and down briefly. There was no sign of the ground-car that had brought him to the restaurant, but he wasn’t so foolish that he would have gotten in it if it had been there. He was looking for a habota, or some other means of public transportation, none were visible however.

Since there was no other choice open to him Step started off down the road on foot. He had only a vague idea of where the spaceport was from his current location, but was confident he could find his way back there. At the very least he would eventually find himself somewhere he could get public transportation, and that would take him to the spaceport.

Before he had gone more than a dozen paces, thoughts of the spaceport and public transportation were pushed from his mind. The thugs he had expected to grab him in the restaurant appeared from the alley that ran along the side of it. There were four of them and before he realised they were there they had him surrounded.

“Mr Dollier would like a word with you,” the thug immediately in front of Step said.

Despite being outnumbered Step wasn’t about to meekly go with the thugs. It took no great amount of intelligence to work out that Grange Dollier intended forcing him to hand over Carboni’s package, since he wasn’t willing to sell it.

He chose not to respond verbally to the order; instead he darted to his left and rammed his shoulder into the man there. He leaped over the man as he fell to the ground and twisted away as a hand reached for him; he was brought up short when the hand grabbed at his clothing, pulling him backwards.

He yanked himself free with a quick jerk, though not without suffering damage to his top, which was ripped from his shoulder. He paid little heed to the damage to his outfit as he took off down the street; a torn top was a small price to pay in his opinion.

Behind him Step could hear the pounding footsteps of Dollier’s thugs as they gave chase, but he didn’t dare risk a look over his shoulder to see how close they were. While the street wasn’t packed there were enough people around to force him to keep his attention focused on what lay before him, to avoid running into any of them.

Though he was successful in dodging in and out of the few people around for a while, his luck ran out after a couple of hundred yards when a figure walked out of a bar and straight into him. The pair of them fell to the ground in a heap, and before Step could get to his feet and take off again Dollier’s thugs were on him.

Step lashed out instinctively when he was hauled out from under the man who had knocked him down. The blow landed squarely on the jaw of the thug who had hold of him, rocking his head back, and he yanked himself free. “Sorry,” he grunted an apology when he fell on top of the man who had bumped into him, knocking him back to the ground as he was pushing himself up.

Rolling off the guy beneath him Step lashed out with a foot at the thug who was circling to his left. His foot didn’t connect but the kick was sufficient to drive the thug back, giving him time to turn and face the one moving to his right. He blocked the fist that flew at his face and retaliated with a blow of his own, a jab that broke the man’s nose and made blood spurt.

Step followed up the jab with a second, further damaging the nose he had broken, and he was swinging his fist for a third time, with the intention of putting the man before him out of the fight completely, when his arm was grabbed. Before he had a chance to get himself free he had been spun round and thrown against the wall of the bar they were outside of.

Blood trickled from his forehead and down the side of his nose. He was unaware of it however as he pushed himself away from the wall, only to be grabbed and slammed into the wall again. Dazed, Step flung his arm back wildly; the gasp of pain that came when he felt his elbow connect with something brought a grim smile to his lips.

Half way through turning to face his attacker a fist crashed into the side of his jaw, sending him back into the wall, and he tasted blood. He saw the next blow, which was aimed at his gut, in time to twist away from it and the sound of his attacker’s fist impacting with the wall where he had been made him smile again, if only for a moment. From his cry he was sure the man had broken something.

Since he couldn’t be certain how much damage the thug had done to himself, Step lifted his knee and drove it into his gut, doubling him up. He then grabbed his hair and smashed the thug’s face into the wall, just as had been done to him. After that he hooked his opponent’s feet out from under him and kicked him squarely in the face when he hit the ground. With a sigh the man went limp and Step turned his attention to the other three thugs who had chased him down the street.

He had expected the other thugs to wade in and help their friend at any moment, now he saw why they hadn’t. One of them was on the ground, unmoving, and the other two were being held at bay by the man who had knocked him to the ground. Why he was involved in the fight was a mystery, but it was clear to Step he was no stranger to violence from the small puddle of blood beneath the head of the thug on the ground.

While the remaining two thugs tried to get close enough to use the knives they were clutching, the stranger was holding them off with a knife of his own. An open wound, and the blood running from it down his arm, told Step at least one of the thugs had managed to get through the stranger’s defensive efforts. The knife wound didn’t appear to be hampering him however, though he seemed unable to do more than hold off the two thugs.

Step sorted that problem by moving forward to help the stranger, whose intervention had initially endangered him, and then saved him. He grabbed the hand of the thug closest to him, so he couldn’t swing the knife, and twisted it away from the stranger. At the same time he kicked him in the side of the knee and delivered a swift chop with the edge of his hand to the thug’s throat.

The move left the thug on the ground, gasping for breath, in a matter of seconds and Step had no difficulty prying the knife from his hand. Holding the weapon before him he faced the last thug, who quickly realised he no longer had the advantage of numbers, turned, and ran.

“Well that was fun,” the stranger said with a smile that seemed to suggest he had found the fight little more than a pleasant diversion. Dropping the knife he had defended himself with he held out his hand. “Jay Vance, JV to my friends.”

“Step Velkin.” He shook the proffered hand. “Thanks for the help; I don’t think I would have lasted long against all four of them.”

“Least I could do after knocking you down. I’m guessing you probably would have gotten away if it hadn’t been for that, those guys didn’t seem too quick on their feet, all strength, no speed.” Since Jay was several inches taller than him, and almost as muscled as the thugs who had attacked him, Step found that comment a little hypocritical. “Besides, I couldn’t stand by and leave a fellow Mully to it, not when the odds were four against one.

“I had your tat practically in my face when you landed on me.” He pointed to the tattoo on Step’s shoulder, visible where his top had been torn away. “Eighth fleet right? I was third fleet, engineer second class.”

“Yeah, eighth fleet. Fighters, then scouts. Chamri, at least I was until a couple of weeks ago. That’s a long story though,” Step said, surprised to find another Mully, as members of the Mulnoy Navy referred to themselves, at least those who didn’t take themselves too seriously, out in the frontier sector.

“A Chamri, huh! Well, Sir, why don’t we go inside and have a drink, you can tell me what leads an officer to leave the Mullies and end up out here being chased by thugs. In return I can tell you what a lowly engineer second class is doing out here, not that you’ll find that story all that interesting.”

“I’d like to, Jay, I could certainly do with a drink after this afternoon, but I don’t think that’s such a hot idea right now.

“These guys,” he nudged the thug he had floored with his foot, “work for a man called Dollier, who operates out of a restaurant down the street. It won’t take that last guy long to reach him, and then he’ll send more guys after me, and they’ll probably be carrying more than just knives.

“Besides, I think we could both do with some medical treatment. You need that cut sealed, and I hate to think what my face looks like.”

“If you’re talking about Grange Dollier, you’re right; this isn’t the place for us to have a drink, it’s far too close to his restaurant. And it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to go to a hospital either. The moment his man tells him the situation he’ll have men checking every place we could get treatment for us, for you at least.

“I might be lucky and his men might not come looking for me, though I wouldn’t want to guarantee that, Dollier can be a vindictive bastard when he’s in the wrong mood.”

“He won’t need to have his men check the hospitals for me; he knows where I’ll be,” Step said. “All he’s got to do his send men to watch my ship and wait for me to turn up there.”

“You have a ship! Well, I’m sure we can figure out some way to get you on board and off-planet without Dollier’s men stopping you. First things first though. We need a drink, and somewhere we can get ourselves fixed up without anyone asking awkward questions. And most of all, I need to hear how you went from being a Chamri to associating with the likes of Grange Dollier in the space of a couple of weeks.

“That’s quite a fall from grace.”

“How do you know Grange Dollier?”

Jay looked down the street in the direction of Dollier’s restaurant. “I don’t know him. I do know who he is however, and what he is capable of. Come on, I know a place where we can get acquainted, get fixed up, and get ourselves a drink, all under the one roof.

“And as an added bonus, it’s not that far away. Just follow me.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Sounds like you’re having a bad run of luck,” Jay remarked when Step had finished his story. “You must be right pissed at your brother, leaving you in debt to Carboni. Herschla! What a pair to get stuck in the middle of, Carboni and Dollier, two of the worst sons-of-bitches in this sector. Each as bad as the other.

“The way your luck seems to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if you find Zaz after you next, and you really don’t want that.”

“Who’s Zaz?” Step asked, not entirely certain he wanted to know the answer if Jay thought Zaz, whoever he was, worse than either Ettore Carboni or Grange Dollier.

“Zaz is Zassifer Hul Grent, arguably the nastiest bastard this side of Mulnoy space. Carboni and Dollier will at least make a pretence of being civilized businessmen; Zaz doesn’t. If he had been the one after Carboni’s package this afternoon he wouldn’t have treated you to a fine meal and offered you a price for it. He would have had his men grab you from your ship and torture you until you told him where to find the package.”

“How is it you know all of these men?” Step wanted to know. “You said you were going to tell me your story, so go on. What is a former engineer, second class, doing out here mixed up with these guys? You’ve heard how I’m mixed up with them, how are you?”