“Grace,” Roslyn slowed to walk along side of her. “I think people are going to recognize you. I hadn’t thought about it before. But that puts us all in danger.”
“She’s right,” Frank said, motioning for them to step behind someone’s laundry hanging from lines above the mud. “The gambling circuit has made its way around to here already.”
“Surprised Granny Shades isn’t here yet,” Roslyn said.
“Who?” asked Hattie. “You mean Miss Jayden?”
“The old lady that always wears the sun glasses,” Roslyn said.
“Yeah, that’s Jayden Yang,” Hattie said.
“Oh, she’s a rascal,” Grace said with a quick laugh. Talbert stood at the edge of a blanket flowing in the brisk breeze, watching the thoroughfare. It reminded Roslyn of their old tent in New Vegas.
“Should I take her back to Vegas?” asked Frank adjusting his top hot to tilt slightly to one side, his gloves giving the effect of formal wear. Roslyn had to admit he was a snappy dresser and struck a handsome pose.
“Maybe I can disguising myself?” Grace said. “I don’t like sitting out of this action. I am bored being kept hidden away.”
“Well, there’s no disguising your height,” Roslyn said. Grace was six foot three; short for an Amazon but tall for a human.
“I can wear shades to cover my big eyes,” Grace said. “I buy some kind of head gear to cover my big head. Like a what is called, toobin?”
“A turban?” asked Roslyn. “Yeah. You might stand out even more, but hopefully you won’t be recognizable.”
“As a decoy almost. Draw attention away from you,” Frank said to Roslyn. “I go in with her first to these places, we draw people’s attention and you slip in after and quietly try to get a feel for the situation.”
“Do you know someone who sells turbans around here?” Roslyn asked.
“We can make one out of any sheet. We buy one of these sheets and we cut it to wrap around her head,” Frank said, pointing to the flowing laundry next to him.
The Prancing Panda was the largest of the casinos, occupying what appeared to be the camp’s center. It was a large circus tent filled with colored lights and stacks of speakers. It reminded her of New Vegas when they first arrived there.
There were many colorful people crowding the place. Grace, wearing a blue and red homemade turban and large sunglasses, hardly stood out. Her and Frank played blackjack at a table in the middle of the casino floor. Roslyn and Hattie slipped in and kept along the outer edge of the casino, dropping chips into slot machines. She recognized the machine types from New Vegas and assumed the same company manufactured them. She wondered if the company was Earth based.
A quick survey told her there were at least seven Red Scarves milling about the place. They were armed and on patrol. The find must have been substantial after all. Someone knew the camp had potential and was willing to pay to protect it. She filed that away and kept her head down.
She didn’t see the purple scarf that signified the Ed. She’d need to find out where he worked. Whoever employed them most likely had deep pockets and owned most of the town. This was how it worked in these camps. First come, first serve. That was until someone with bigger guns showed up and took things away.
She was pleasantly surprised to have hit a small jackpot and several plastic chips fell into the tray as the sirens went off and lights flashed. She ducked her head, lowered her hat and bent over to scoop up the winnings.
The attention brought on a dire sense of dread. She was happy she’d left Puff back in New Vegas. Something said they were out of their league here; at least out manned and out gunned. Should someone recognize her they might shoot first. A tactical retreat felt in order and she motioned for Hattie to follow her lead to the door.
Keeping the brim of her hat low, she stuffed her pockets with plastic chips and moved quickly to the open flap that served as the door.
*
Talbert and Siringo strolled toward a steel shipping-container with windows cut into it. Whoever had shipped the hardware tools and general supplies hadn’t bothered to move them into a tent but instead had decided to keep them in the large container and simply detach it from the shuttle and open it up as a store. On the side of the container someone spray painted a graffiti symbol. It looked like flopping rabbit ears with two Xs for eyes and lines below that.
A sign above the door read: Grover’s Hardware and Convenient Store. An android clerk wearing an orange smock approached them as they entered. There were half a dozen people inside, some in line to pay, others still browsing. Another android in an orange smock worked the counter. The smell of processed meat rolling over and over on a warmer possessed the air in the metal box.
“Welcome to Grover’s,” the friendly-faced android said. “Anything I can help you with? Are you mining gold or silver? We have a great selection of boots and rain gear for those nasty mornings in the hills.”
“Interstellar Peace Keepers,” Talbert said. “Looking for the author of a warrant put out recently.”
“Allow me to locate the owner,” android clerk said and walked to the counter.
Ten minutes later, after Siringo had purchased a hot dog, an energy drink, and a pair of thick yellow workman’s gloves, a short man with white hair and a white mustache entered the store. He was finely dressed with eggshell brown skin and a polite smile.
“You’re the detectives?” asked the man shaking Talbert’s hand. Siringo had to wipe mustard off of his before shaking. Talbert wanted to tell him he had relish on his chin. He grunted instead and turned to the owner of the store.
“Detective Bill Brown,” Talbert said, putting on his best smile.
“Detective Charlie Siringo,” Siringo said. He had no reason to hide his real name. He hadn’t been old enough to fight in the war. He joined the agency a couple of years after the war ended at the age of seventeen. His old friend Tom Thorn had brought him in.
“Arjun Grover,” the small man said. “Thanks for coming. I’m surprised I’m even still alive to be honest with you. I had hired a few men to help protect my interests and this mad bastard kills them.”
“Why didn’t you hire the Red Scarves in the first place?” Talbert asked. “Seems like they’re local and work for the highest bidder.”
“Because they don’t answer to the Birds. They are common thugs. I like you guys because you do the Bird’s work. You know? That’s what I’ve heard from people who came here from New Vegas. That’s where I first learned about your agency, at the bar talking to some gamblers,” Arjun said with a warm smile. “They said good things.”
“Huh. Okay,” Talbert said, not wanting to tell him they were no longer stationed out of Shiva, but letting it go.
“Anyway. That and the Red Scarves work for Lu Yanker,” Arjun said, the veins in his neck suddenly becoming visible. “And Lu Yanker is a real son-of-a-bitch! Especially when he’s drunk.”
“This Kidd Wylie, the one with the contract on his head,” Talbert said. “He wear the red scarf?”
“No. He’s associated with them, but he doesn’t wear the scarf,” Arjun said. Talbert tried to gage the man’s eyes. Was there fear in them?
“What does that mean, he associates with them?” asked Siringo. Talbert glanced at him, not as much to reprimand him for overstepping but to remind him of who was conducting the interview. Though, to the rail thin man’s credit, Talbert did invite him along as a partner. He was used to Roslyn overstepping, but something about Siringo rubbed him differently. He couldn’t place it. He’d never liked or trusted the kid. Perhaps it was because Siringo had been best friends with Thorn, an assassin they used to employ back in the days of Athena, before the Birds said no way could he be associated with the agency.
“Well, the Red Scarves are part of a larger outfit,” Arjun said.
“How large?” Talbert asked before Siringo could speak. But something in Siringo’s posture suggested that he’d gotten the message to stand down.
�
��I don’t know that,” Arjun said with a shrug. “I know I first encountered them in Griffin. That was four years ago now. Shit. Time flies, right?”
“Four years ago?” Talbert said.
“I think they formed on one of Gogmagog’s moon originally. I’ve heard someone say once. Like right after the war is what I heard. There are chapters now in Griffin and here that I know of. They fought you guys in New Vegas and lost, is what I hear. But they’ve probably moved to other camps as well.”
“What’s their deal? Who are they exactly?” Talbert asked.
“Well, they are mercenaries. They do bounty work and assassinations and stuff like that. They work as protection as with Lu Yanker’s case,” explained Arjun. “To wear the scarf you have to go through an apprenticeship and then when its time there’s this whole ritual they go through. It’s basically organized crime you ask me.”
“Is there one leader over all of them?” asked Talbert.
“Each chapter has it’s own Ed, or Purple Lord,” Arjun said. “You’ll know him by his--”
“Purple scarf, yeah, I know,” Talbert said.
“Right,” Grover smiled politely and bowed his head. “But there might be a founder or supreme leader or whatever, a founder back on the moons of Gogmagog.”
“How do you earn the purple scarf?” Talbert asked.
“It’s totally an alpha male thing with these Purple Lords. He had to beat every contender for the position in a fight to submission or death,” Arjun said, raising his thick white eyebrows momentarily.
“So what happened with this Kidd Wylie?” asked Talbert, trying to remember which case he was working, but realizing they were intertwined.
“He killed my men,” Arjun said.
“Conflict of interest? I’m assuming there was,” Talbert said.
“I saved this camp. Okay? I helped discover the gold,” Arjun said, with a slight bow of his head. “Lu Yanker found the silver and was the first to establish the camp. Big deal. Right? The silver’s almost all tapped out now. Besides, that doesn’t mean he owns the camp. It’s a free planet. Free from Earth’s laws and people claiming rights and all that crap. I can set up my businesses and shouldn’t be harassed.”
“Why not?” Talbert asked, causing Arjun’s head to snap up suddenly.
“Because it’s how it goes,” Arjun said, seemingly confused by the question.
“But you just said there shouldn’t be laws and all that, right?” Talbert said. “So what’s keeping the bullies from running things and the good people from being subservient to them?”
“People like you, sir.” Arjun’s smile returned. “That’s why I have hired you. Myself and a few of my friends who own businesses in camp, that is. I’m making allies of the people Lu Yanker has stepped on. We want to even the playing field and we want justice for my men to be served.”
Talbert released a long sigh through his nostrils and looked out the window at the camp.
“Where can I find this Kidd Wylie?” asked Talbert finally.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since he gunned down my men,” Arjun said, shaking his head.
“Did he ambush your men or how did that go down?” asked Talbert rubbing his chin with the back of his hand.
“He killed them in smaller numbers at a time,” Arjun said pointing to the muddy thoroughfare.
“Out in front of your store?” Talbert asked.
“Yes. He killed four of my men as they left my store,” Arjun said.
“So he ambushed them?” asked Talbert, needing to understand the situation as much as possible before beginning the hunt.
“I mean, he was waiting out there for them when they came out,” Arjun said in a defensive tone.
“Okay, well, was it a fair fight?” asked Talbert.
“Fair?” Arjun asked, tilting his head like a confused puppy.
“I’m just trying to see what kind of man I’m up against, is all,” Talbert assured him.
“Ah,” Arjun said, nodding. “Well, he out gunned four hired security officers. Two of them were veterans from the war. They all knew their way around their guns.”
“So he’s deadly fast and accurate,” Talbert said and cleared his throat.
“That’s why the bounty is so high,” Arjun said returning to his smile.
“No, I get that,” Talbert said. “I’m just taking inventory is all. Let me ask you. What’s the beef about again? Do you owe Lu Yanker money?”
“I do not,” Arjun said shaking his head in an exaggerated arch. “Just because I know how to make a better profit than Yanker. He had a monopoly on hardware stores and convenient stores in the camp. So when I got here and opened not only this store but two more in the area, he came to bully me out.”
“He threaten you?” Talbert asked.
“First he showed up with a goon by the name of Chad Roosevelt. Chad was a bare knuckles cage fighter, local celebrity for being undefeated in the cages,” Arjun said, a wry smile on his face. But as soon as the smile appeared it vanished. “But then I hired some security officers from back down in Annabellus. Went to Montgomery to recruit some ex-military and former outlaw types. They came up and it was all good, business was booming and then he hired the Red Scarves to his side. It was a cold war for a long while, you know, the occasional flare ups, but for the most part a standoff, that is until Kidd Wylie came through town and started systematically murdering my men.”
“You hired eleven men and Kidd Wylie killed them all?” Talbert said, more keeping the numbers straight than asking. “Why didn’t he kill you?”
“I ran away,” Arjun said, embarrassment seeping into his chocolate brown eyes. “I’m not a fighter. I’m a businessman. I hire men to fight for me.”
“Well, just so you know, that’s not the case here,” Talbert said, pointing his thumb at first Siringo and then to his own chest. “We serve the Birds.”
“Of course,” Arjun said. “But surely the murdering of eleven men…”
“No, I agree,” Talbert said. “And we’ll see to it that justice is served.”
“Thank you, sir,” Arjun said, taking his hand and shaking it vigorously.
“Okay,” Talbert said, ending the handshake and returning a tip of his hat. “But we aren’t picking sides and sticking around to fight the Red Scarves for you. Not unless they provoke us.”
“I seek justice for my dead men,” Arjun assured him as he walked the two agents out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Talbert and Siringo found Hattie and Roslyn sitting on a bench at the roped off shuttle port. Roslyn had her hat pulled down to shadow her eyes, while Hattie wore freshly purchased sunglasses. He guessed she purchased them from the same hut Grace bought hers.
His first instinct was they had been made. He scanned people’s faces as he carefully approached them. Siringo took the open seat next to Hattie, while Talbert took the bench behind theirs, facing the opposite direction. He pretended to speak into his transponder. Roslyn and Hattie pretended to speak to each other.
“The Red Scarves work for the casino as security,” Roslyn said, looking at Hattie.
“The Red Scarves work for Lu Yanker,” Talbert corrected her.
“Therefore Lu Yanker owns the casino,” Roslyn concluded.
“Nice detective work, guys,” Hattie said, pretending to applaud. Roslyn shook her head.
“According to the author of the warrant, Lu Yanker likes to have the monopoly on mining supplies and convenient stores,” Talbert said into the small plastic card. “When Arjun and I’m guessing a few others discovered gold and then Arjun opened his own stores in town, old Lu didn’t take it well. Tried to muscle him out.”
“Arjun being the author of the--” Roslyn asked for clarification.
“The warrant, correct,” Talbert cut her off. “I’d like to hear Lu Yanker’s version.”
Down the thoroughfare it was hard to miss Grace, wearing her large sunglasses and colorful turban. The dandy Frank Lee strode along beside her.
From a distance it could have been Dogg Holly walking with his woman, until the man’s facial features coming into focus said otherwise. They crowded onto the bench beside Talbert.
There were people starting to gather on the other benches in the lot. The sixteen-thirty to New Oldtowne was on time according to the holoboard floating above the ticket booth. Another shuttle landed on the far side of the lot. Most people gathered under the plastic shells closer to the landing pads. If this had been a structure they would have been considered to be sitting in the lobby while most everyone else gathered at the gates.
“So, I had an interesting conversation with a guy at the poker table,” Frank said, as if to Grace.
“I know, I was there,” Grace said, frowning. “I hear everything he was saying.”
“I know, but I’m telling them,” Frank said, trying keep his tone patient. “So according to--”
“Oh, yes, right,” Grace said.
“So I guess there’s been a feud going on for a while now,” Frank said. “Between two big shots who want to be the only big shots in town, basically.”
“Yeah, that’s what we got,” Talbert said.
“Yep,” Siringo said, trying to include himself in the know. Talbert raised an eyebrow toward him. “Goes back to the gold find.”
“Who’s the bad guy here?” asked Roslyn.
“The guy who moved in on Lu Yanker’s territory, I guess is a real snake,” Frank said. “He tried to ruin Lu Yanker’s reputation, spreading rumors about him and they said he tried to set fire to the casino.”
“Really?” Talbert said, leaning forward to put his forearms on his thighs and lock fingers. “I got it that Lu Yanker hired Kidd Wylie to kill Arjun Grover’s men.”
“That’s the author of the warrant’s name,” Roslyn said.
“Not only that, but there are several people involved in the warrant,” Siringo said with a rushed eagerness. “Arjun has friends who have previous beef’s with Lu Yanker. They say, like the silver mines, Lu’s tapped out.” He added the part about the silver mine thinking he was being clever.
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