“And you are?” I shot back. “Where did you train for it?”
“By studying you.”
“That’s an unacceptable answer,” I said. “I’m no teacher.”
“Give me a chance, Jake,” he urged. “You won’t be sorry.”
“I’m already sorry,” I said. “If you hadn’t studied me and got silly ideas, George would still have his second-in-command.”
“If I break him out of jail, will you take me on?”
“You’re going to break the law to show me how good you’ll be at putting lawbreakers out of business?”
He sighed deeply. “That wasn’t the brightest thing I ever said.”
“You don’t have to be pure as the driven snow,” I said. “Just try real hard not to be dumb as dirt.” For a minute I thought he might break down and cry, so I said, “Let’s go over to the courthouse and see if we can’t get the charges thrown out.”
“They were legitimate charges,” he replied. “He’s very high up in the biggest criminal organization in the Quarter.”
“A detective’s got to be an even more convincing liar than a criminal,” I said. “Let’s see how you do at it.”
“And if I can get him released, you’ll hire me?”
“Let me put it this way,” I said. “If you don’t get him released, I definitely won’t hire you.”
“All right,” he said, getting to his feet. “Let’s go.”
We walked out into the street and took a slidewalk north toward the courthouse. We were almost there when a pair of men stepped out from between two buildings and trained their burners on us.
“Which one of you is Jake Masters?” demanded the smaller of them.
“I am,” we answered in unison.
“We should have killed you back on Delphini IV,” said the taller one. “I don’t know how we missed you, but we won’t miss you again.”
“I never take the same route twice when I’m on a case,” said the shape-changer.
“So you’re Masters?”
“I am.”
“And what about this guy here?” he asked, pointing to me.
“You think this two-credit actor actually looks that much like me?” said the shape-changer contemptuously. “Now I’m offended.” Then he added, so softly than only I could hear it: “Get ready.”
Suddenly he emitted such a roar of rage that the two men were momentarily stunned into immobility, and he charged them. The big one remained motionless, but the little one leveled his burner at the shape-changer and fired. I had my own burner out, and turned the little one’s head into bubbling goo. I wheeled around to face the bigger one, but he’d thrown his weapon to the ground and was high-tailing it down the slidewalk.
I was going to go after him when I saw the shape-changer twitch feebly, and I kneeled down next to him. He was in a bad way. He was trying to say something, and I propped up his head so he could speak more easily.
“I guess I’m not as good as the real Jake,” he whispered.
“You saved the real Jake’s ass,” I told him. “As soon as you’re out of the hospital, you’ve got a lifetime job.”
He smiled weakly. “You’re a pretty good liar yourself,” he said. “We both know I’m not going to any hospital.”
And with that, he closed his eyes and died.
We buried him the next day. I never knew his name or his race, and his tombstone read:
Jake Masters
?—3505 G. E.
He brought honor to his name
He was a thief, and a liar, and probably a lot of other things as well, but as detectives named Jake Masters go, he was as good as they come. Now I’ve got to spend the rest of my life living up to his example.
Masters of the Galaxy
Copyright © 2014 by Mike Resnick
The right of Mike Resnick to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Originally published in printed book form by PS Publishing Ltd in 2012. This electronic version published in March 2014 by PS by arrangement with the author. All rights reserved by the author.
FIRST EBOOK EDITION
ISBN 978-1-848633-89-6
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PS Publishing Ltd
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Hornsea / HU18 1PG
East Yorkshire / England
www.pspublishing.co.uk
[email protected]
Contents
Masters of the Galaxy
INTRODUCTION
GUARDIAN ANGEL
A LOCKED-PLANET MYSTERY
HONORABLE ENEMIES
IF THE FRAME FITS…
REAL JAKE
Masters of the Galaxy
Masters of the Galaxy Page 26
