Danger Money (6 page)

"That's not what bothers me! Anybody could have done this Job. Why'd they insist on me?"

"I don't know about that. A lot of people would have went inside that house or tried sniping him in the street."

"Yeah and where'd all that blood on you come from?" Added Shotoon, "You were covered! It couldn't have been that easy."

I told them about the guy I had grabbed and the rest of it then.

"How many people would have thought of that?" he said when I finished. "You weren't wearing much in the way of body armor either. That could have been you on the floor instead of that guy who played shield."

"Yeah, I guess your right." I grumped. I grabbed Rieselle then and dragged her into the back of the van. "Well my part's done," I smiled kissing her as I pulled her coverall off. "So come here."

She returned my kisses with enthusiasm and helped me out of my clothes.

"Hey, what about me?" Shotoon laughed from up front, "That's my woman you know!"

"Find a safe place to park then and join us!" I said as Rieselle started running her hands down my body. She sighed as I started some explorations of my own.

A little while later we felt the van stop and Shotoon joined us. We both concentrated on Rieselle for a while, then they eventually focused on me, then Rieselle and I focused on him. I was by no means a jaded individual, and the occasion threesome was fun. Like I said earlier, they were
very
close friends.

It was a considerable time later before we were interested in moving again. When we did start driving we had less than twelve hours until pickup.

"How far away are we?" I asked Shotoon, who was driving again.

"About two hours, we still have a lot of time to burn."

"I wonder if the search will include our destination?"

"Hard to say, but why worry about it?"

"Just curious," I sighed. "Usually I could care less, but something just doesn't feel right. I can't put my finger on it."

"Just relax, We'll be out of here soon. So quit worrying."

I sat and brooded staring out the window. It was raining again and I watched the pattern the water drops made on the side window. I knew there was something I was missing. But what?

We got to the next town, dumped the van and went to our pickup point. Rieselle met us and took us to the spaceport. We met no search points, no extra security, nothing like that at all. Everything was perfectly normal.

I was quickly becoming a nervous wreck!

"What's got you jumping?" Hissed Azelett quietly.

"Nobody seems to be looking for us!" I hissed back.

"So?"

"Anything out of the ordinary worries me!"

I was so concerned that I didn't stop worrying on the shuttle ride into orbit or even during the docking maneuver. I didn't even notice what type of ship we were boarding until I was being led to my cabin by Azelett.

Or should I say stateroom?

"What the?" I asked staring. The best accommodations I had ever had were an eight foot by ten foot cabin. Usually I got a lot less than that. This was a good twelve by twelve, with the best of everything. Even a null grav bed!

"Surprise!" Said Azelett launching herself at me and knocking us both onto the bed. I was surprised too, somebody had left it on. If this was a trap I was going to do my best to enjoy it while it lasted. So I latched on to Azelett, who had already 'latched' on to certain parts of my anatomy.

It was a long time later before regular conversation was even considered, much less possible.

"What are we on?" I asked lazily. My worries momentarily forgotten.

"A large freighter," she smiled.

"With quarters like this?" I asked incredulously.

"Sure, most of them have them. They're for the paying customers and corporate big wigs."

"Well where are they?" I asked looking around, "The 'Big Wigs' and 'Paying' customers that is."

She grinned nastily, "I bumped them!"

"You what?" I laughed.

"Sure, why not? That's why I wanted the higher priority." She grinned evilly again. "I think I'll have a much easier time keeping you out of trouble too! This ship has a
very
large crew."

"So?" I was getting suspicious, she was still smiling.

"You're going to like this!"

"What?"

"I'm not telling!" She laughed

"We have ways of making you talk!" I laughed back and using my arms and legs got her pinned against the headboard. Null g makes for some interesting grappling. I then started tickling her, she of course retaliated, and one thing again led to another. Afterwards we were both too exhausted to do anything but sleep. So it wasn't until breakfast the next day that I finally got a real surprise.

"So how long till we get back?" I asked over a surprisingly good meal. I had only been on small ships and the food was often bland at best.

"Ten weeks," she purred.

"
Ten weeks!
" I said shocked. "It only took eight to get here! how slow is this thing?" I noticed a few looks from some regular crewmembers seated at the other tables. I ignored them.

"Calm down." She smiled again. "This ship is actually fairly fast."

"Then why so long?"

"We have a one week stopover at
Alexandria
." She looked at the expression on my face, "Close your mouth before you start catching flies."

There was an audible snap as I did so.

"Congratulations Jotun." she giggled, "You're going on a week's vacation!"

"What'll Siedman say?"

"I'm not telling him, are you?" She giggled again.

"Hell no!" I laughed out loud. "How did you, err ... Where did you get this idea from?"

"Oh the group I was in before used to do this once a year or so. We figured we earned it once in a while." She slid her hand down to grab the one I was making improper advances with. Well, improper in public. "And if anyone's earned it, it's you!"

I was in a positively good mood for the next four weeks. The idea that I was going someplace where I didn't have to work, and that I wasn't getting put into 'protective' custody was absolutely wonderful. I decided to forget about everything else and enjoy it.

Alexandria
was an interesting place, it was one of the first planets settled and was fairly well developed as such planets go. We got the standards and practices briefing, I usually avoided those on a job, and then hit the streets.

The view here towards Animen here was fairly typical, we were second class citizens and property of our respective companies. This meant we'd have to keep a low profile when out in public, as the police would be hard on anyone who stepped even slightly out of line. Except in the Animan section of the city of course, there things would be a little easier, though not much. This was the way things were most places in the settled galaxy, and it was a pain, but it was still wonderful to be here!

"Well, where too?" Asked Shotoon as the four of us started out.

"A bar!" I said enthusiastically, ears perked.

"What?"

"A bar?"

"Yes, why a bar Jotun?" They all asked.

"I haven't been in one in years, and I want to go someplace crowded. Someplace just full of people!"

"Been alone too long huh?" smiled Azelett.

"Yup!" I grinned foolishly.

We asked around and eventually got directions to a place called 'The Water Hole'. It wasn't much to look at outside, or inside either for that matter. The furniture was cheap, worn and didn't match. But it had atmosphere, and it smelled good. Also it had quite a few people in it even though it was still only late afternoon.

I grabbed a table in the center of the room and flagged down the barmaid.

"Yes hon?" She asked giving me a wink. She was a petite grey fox with nice black markings on her muzzle, obviously very young too. Maybe ten or twelve.

"Beer!" I smiled back, "Lots of it too!"

"Right away!" she hustled off.

"Isn't she a little young to be working?" I asked the others.

"Not really," Volunteered Rieselle with ear flick towards the retreating barmaid. "She's probably free born and needs the money to survive. Their numbers have been increasing radically over the last decade."

"Why don't they work for a corp?"

"Most won't have them, no training. And many parents don't want them either, it costs a lot to send a child to school and you usually can't take them with you. Also the leverage conflict created a lot of orphans."

My tail twitched at that. I had a very big part in that I figured. I had killed enough folks during it, that's for sure.

"Sorry Jo," she sighed.

"That's okay," I sighed myself.

At that moment the first pitcher showed up.

"Better get more," I chuckled looking up from my seat at the waitress, "this won't last very long." I quickly poured it out filling our mugs and grabbed my own.

"How much?" She asked looking us over.

"Lots more I think," said Shotoon watching me drain my mug.

I refilled and started on another.

"And fast too," he added looking at the little bit left in the pitcher.

She took off to get us more, and I settled back to do some serious drinking.

"Don't over do it Jotun," warned Azelett.

"Why not?"

"Well, ummm." She thought a moment. "I guess you're a big boy," she sighed.

"Right!" I tipped my glass her way in a salute. "So drink up, let's cut loose for a while."

We sat back and started enjoying ourselves. I flirted shamelessly with the barmaid, who obviously enjoyed the attention. I was feeling no pain to say the least, and watched with interest as the bar filled up.

It was quite a crowd. This was obviously the local spot to go, as I saw a good representation of all the species. A few more barmaids joined the crowd, but none were as young as ours. I suspect they were moonlighting, so could only be here during nights.

I watched as the divisions started to become apparent in the crowd. It didn't take long to see what the different groups were, or their pecking orders. I suspect that our staking out the center table was intruding on somebody else's prime real estate. We did get quite a few looks from the regulars, I just grinned toothily at them and laughed a lot.

It was about
midnight
when our barmaid came over and sat in my lap.

"Yes?" I asked raising an eyebrow and looking at her.

"It's time for my break, so I though I'd check you folks out," she grinned foxily, which in her case was quite apropos.

"Where you folks from?" She asked running her hands through my chest fur.

"Our ship docked this afternoon," Growled Azelett.

"Oh," she looked at me. "You mated?" she asked quietly.

"Not yet," I smiled.

"Oh, okay," and she went back to tickling my chest.

It felt good too, I let my eyes half close. I could see Azelett was unhappy with it, so I rubbed my foot against hers for a moment. She calmed down a little bit then, I guess she realized that I wasn't serious about the Fox.

"What's your name by the way?" She asked. "I'm Sil," and she gave her hips a shameless little twist that got a rather loud inadvertent purr from me, and started Azelett back to looking daggers at her.

"I'm Jotun, that's Shotoon and Rieselle. The one planning your dismemberment is Azelett."

"Hi folks," she grinned and gave me another of those twists.

"Aren't you a little young yet?" I asked. My hands were safely on her back kneading her shoulders.