Pico's Crush

by Carol Van Natta

  His partner, Mairwen, was an enigma. She was slender in a solid gray, long-sleeved tunic and darker long pants, which made her stand out in a tropical city famous for being clothing-optional. She was a centimeter or two shorter than Andra and had few feminine curves, but looked toned. She wore her pale blonde hair short with an asymmetrical spike cut, and no visible makeup or body art. The only jewelry she wore was a small but elegant percomp on the back of her hand that matched the one Luka wore. Andra was experienced at picking up subtle body language cues, but Mairwen was preternaturally still. She hadn’t said much, though she’d become more relaxed, for lack of a better word, as the evening progressed. Luka was clearly in love with her, but Andra hadn’t been sure the sentiment was returned until she saw Mairwen thread her long fingers through his when he was answering Jerzi’s question about what brought him to Tremplin. He kissed their joined hands, and she gave him a soft, loving smile that transformed her face.

  “We’re following a lead,” Luka said. “Someone has been the author of some very messy crime scenes, and the trail led us here.” He gave Jerzi a quick smile. “To be honest, I hadn’t remembered you or Pico were here until Sojaire reminded me.”

  Abruptly, Pico stood up and grabbed a surprised Valenia’s hand and hauled her up out of her seat. “Freshers,” she announced brightly, then pushed Valenia toward the aisle. Pico gave Jerzi a beseeching look, then turned to lead her roommate away.

  Andra looked to Jerzi for enlightenment, as did everyone else left at the table.

  Jerzi caught Luka’s gaze. “Valenia is sensitive. Pico’s afraid you’re going to talk details about the ‘messy crimes scenes,’ and she doesn’t want Valenia to hear.”

  “I wouldn’t… Oh, she was a victim, wasn’t she?” His eyes darted to Valenia’s empty chair. “Or witnessed it. When she was younger.”

  Andra didn’t know how he came up with that, but it was apparently right, because Jerzi looked relieved. “Both. She copes well, most of the time, but Pico is protective of her.”

  Luka nodded. “Understandable. I don’t usually talk shop at dinner.” Mairwen raised an eyebrow, and Sojaire had a sudden coughing fit and hid his face in his napkin. Luka laughed. “Okay, I do. I’ll try to find less objectionable topics.”

  Jerzi grinned. “You may as well get it out of your system before Valenia comes back.”

  “Mutilation murders, victim and technique commonalities, a dozen planets, at least three years so far.” He spoke hurriedly. “They have symmetry with another pattern of murders made to look like accidents or common crimes. Our client is the wealthy family of one of the mutilation-murder victims.”

  “Contract wet-work crew?” asked Jerzi.

  Andra shook her head. “No crew I know has the funds to be multi-planetary.” When Luka looked her way, she waved a finger between herself and Jerzi. “Our Forward Intelligence unit saw a lot of them over the years. Jack crews stay in their ships or bases and prey on interstellar traffic. They don’t go after planet-based targets unless it’s a really big payoff. Ground-based crews—theft, wetwork, enforcement, whatever—can control a big territory, and maybe a space station, but interstellar transit and real-time comms? That takes heavy investments, like energy firms. Or pirate clan, though they never go dirtside if they can help it.”

  “Pharmas, maybe or blackmarketers,” said Jerzi. “Or just enterprising independent contractors with an interstellar ship.”

  Luka shook his head. “I don’t know yet. I’m meeting with a law enforcement colleague tomorrow.” Andra remembered Jerzi had said something about Luka being High Court certified, and having worked thousands of cases across the Central Galactic Concordance. It stood to reason he had contacts on a lot of planets.

  Valenia and Pico returned the same time the main courses arrived. Andra hid a smile when she noticed that Pico’s eyes went automatically to Sojaire first. She’d been much better than Sojaire at pretending indifference, but little things gave her away. Andra had seated herself next to Jerzi to stop herself from watching him all night, but she wasn’t sure she was hiding her constant awareness any better than Pico was.

  She took a small bite of the lamb dish she’d ordered, then dug in with pleasure, relieved to find the restaurant lived up to its culinary reputation. Jerzi and Luka got into a spirited discussion about spices and sampled from each other’s plates and Mairwen’s. Andra happened to catch Mairwen’s eye, and she gave the quiet woman a crooked smile and tilted her head toward the bickering men. Mairwen twitched a corner of her mouth in what Andra hoped was shared amusement.

  Andra was finished before anyone else, although Jerzi wasn’t far behind. She’d grown up with greedy siblings and teasing cousins who would steal right off the plate of anyone who dallied, and she hadn’t outgrown the habit of bolting her food. Jerzi had probably learned to eat fast in the military, where leisurely meals and blissful sleep were guaranteed to be interrupted.

  Jerzi took a sip of fizzy water and pushed his plate forward a bit. “Luka, remind me again about the hvalreki that lets you afford to play generous host in famous flying restaurants.”

  “The man who said he killed my fath…” He trailed off and glanced at Valenia, who was giggling as she whispered something to a smiling Pico. “I inherited a half-dozen cybernetics patents last year, and some of them were worth licensing. We got a signing bonus for the first one a couple of weeks ago.”

  “What’s a hvalreki?” asked Andra.

  “‘Lucky find,’ in Icelandic,” said Jerzi. “I learned it recently from Mairwen.” He smirked and touched his finger to the tip of his nose, and surprisingly, the corner of her mouth quirked up. Andra hadn’t been sure the woman responded to teasing. Or maybe it was a shared secret.

  She would like to hear the whole story someday, but it was highly unlikely, since they were all leaving soon, and she wasn’t. She loved teaching and working in a well-equipped lab, but the rest of academic life wasn’t all that she’d hoped. She missed the happy camaraderie she saw between Jerzi and his friends. She sighed to herself and decided she’d better lay off the alcohol for the rest of the evening. It was making her melancholy, and she had enough of that to last a lifetime.

  “Would you have some free time tomorrow?” asked Jerzi, looking at Mairwen.

  “Yes,” said Mairwen. “I make Luka’s colleagues nervous.”

  Jerzi smiled as Luka patted her hand. “No, ljósið mitt, it’s just they can’t read you.”

  Mairwen shrugged, supremely unconcerned. Jerzi laughed, then asked, “How would you like to do a free security assessment for the Chemistry building on the Optimal Polytechnic campus?”

  Andra shook her head. “That’s not necessary—”

  Jerzi overrode her. “Yes, it is. I barely know the basics. She’s good.” He explained to Mairwen about the accidents, and the odd mix of vulnerabilities and systems he’d seen on their tour that afternoon. “So will you do it?”

  “Yes,” Mairwen said, but she wasn’t looking at him. She seemed distracted by something in the aisle behind Sojaire.

  Andra didn’t know how Mairwen felt about the request, but could see that Jerzi wasn’t going to give up. She had to admit it wouldn’t hurt to have an objective expert opinion to take to O-Poly’s administration, if her own suspicions bore fruit. Andra tapped the table with her finger. “I might be able to convince one of the regents to give you full access, if I tell her you’re donating your services.”

  Sojaire spoke up. “I can send you a credentials list and a quick proposal, if that would help.”

  “It would. Jerzi or Pico has my ping ref.” She’d think of something to tell Regent Quan. She knew Vestering and Lavong, the labs manager, would block it if she gave them the chance.

  Jerzi leaned back in his chair and stretched his elbows up and wide. She had a wild impulse to run her hands over the broad expanse of well-defined muscle that was his chest. After her last casual relationship ended a year ago, she’d realized she had nothing in common with the
O-Poly faculty. With Jerzi, she had a lot in common, but he would be leaving soon. She made herself shift her gaze before he noticed her interest. Her hormones had always had bad timing.

  A flash of movement beyond Luka’s shoulders caught her eye. At the next table over, an older, red-faced Chinese man was gesticulating angrily at his two dinner companions. She couldn’t hear anything but low buzzing because of the sonic wall, but he was obviously shouting. A younger Chinese woman at the table was shrinking away from him, wincing. Andra could only see the back of a long-haired blond man as he partially stood and put his fists on the table and leaned forward to yell at the older man.

  Andra took a breath to warn her table companions, but Mairwen was already standing clear of her chair and facing the trouble. A flat, slender stiletto had somehow appeared in her hand.

  “Luka,” said Mairwen. He was already moving up and away, closer to Jerzi, when the older man stood and knocked over the table so he could launch himself at the blond man.

  Andra glanced to her right. Sojaire and Pico were already standing, crowding closer to Valenia and lifting her to her feet. Andra stood at the same time as Jerzi. He was hemmed in by one of the restaurant’s irregular walls, so she eased right, closer to Pico, to give him room to maneuver if need be.

  The altercation suddenly escalated when she saw a bright blue beamer pulse shoot up into the ceiling. It must have hit one of the sonic wall arrays, because sounds of the Chinese woman screaming assaulted their ears, as well as the alarmed exclamations from the nearby table’s occupants when the fighting men rolled and kicked their way, growling insults in Mandarin.

  Andra could feel Jerzi practically vibrating beside her. A glance at his face said he was wanting to be in two places at once. She nudged him toward Luka. “Go,” she said. “I’ll protect Pico.” He tossed her a relieved smile as he slid past Luka to stand closer to Mairwen. Andra edged in toward Pico, who was splitting her attention between the altercation and her friends. Valenia was watching the fight with horrified fascination. Sojaire gripped the edge of the table tightly, his gaze downward but not focused on anything. The meltglass table wouldn’t protect anyone against a beamer.

  Two young restaurant servers stepped up, but they clearly didn’t know what to do about the fighting men. Once again, Andra was wishing for her shockstick. It would give the idiots something to think about besides pounding each other. Maybe she needed to start carrying one, at least as long as Jerzi was in town.

  “Stop them!” screamed the Chinese woman in heavily accented English. She grabbed the arm of one of the servers and tried to push her forward. “He has beamer—he kill him!”

  Both the servers backed up fast. “The police are on their way,” said the male server, who looked barely seventeen.

  Only because Andra was watching did she see Mairwen execute an exquisitely timed, perfect snap kick that knocked the beamer up and out of the younger man’s upraised hand just as he was aiming down while straddling his opponent. Unfortunately, it left the older man free to stab a steak knife into the younger man’s shoulder.

  The younger man roared in agony and rage as he pulled the knife from his shoulder. He gripped the knife overhead with both hands and arched back, murderous intent on his snarling face. Jerzi intervened and lifted him up, then slammed him into the soft floor. The impact knocked the knife loose and sent it skittering a meter away.

  Mairwen was kneeling on the chest of the older man, apparently showing him her deadly knife… knives, because now she had two of them. The second one was pointed toward the Chinese woman, who was now cursing a blue streak in street Mandarin, screaming something about her father.

  One of the restaurant bartenders entered the fray and surprised the Chinese woman by pulling her wrists back and tying them with a zip strip. She tried to kick him, but all she managed to do was break a thin-strapped high heel. She fell to her knees, sobbing noisily.

  Andra stole a snapshot glance at Pico and Valenia. They seemed fine, so she sidled closer to Luka and spoke quietly. “Tell Mairwen the police here tend to confiscate all weapons and sort them out later.” As if she’d heard, Mairwen slid one of her knives into its wrist sheath.

  Luka nodded, but his attention was on the blond man. “Let him up, Jerzi. He needs a medic.”

  Luka’s words snapped Sojaire out of whatever had kept him frozen, because he left Valenia’s side to approach the bartender. “I’m a licensed first-response medic on Rekoria. Do you have a basic kit?” Most bars did, and this one was no exception. The bartender ordered one of the gawking servers to get it, and sent the other after the beamer before someone decided to pick up a free, untraceable souvenir.

  Mairwen caught the bartender’s eye. “Zip tie?” He fished one-handed in his front tunic pouch and tossed her one. She caught it deftly and rolled the Chinese man over and had him restrained before he knew what was happening. She made her other knife disappear as she kept the man on his side by the simple expedient of kneeling on him again. Andra made a mental note to never, ever spar with Mairwen.

  While Sojaire treated the blond man’s stab wound, the restaurant manager moved the rest of the nearby patrons to other newly configured tables, away from the commotion, smoothing things over with free drinks and future vouchers.

  The police arrived a few minutes later to efficiently take everybody’s statements, and to collect the bloody steak knife and the beamer. Andra was sardonically amused to note that by the time they got around to questioning Pico and Valenia, they were only going through the motions, and missed the fact that Valenia was clearly a filer, with a filer’s perfect memory. She’d accurately described Mairwen’s knives, but no one else had mentioned them.

  When Sojaire was acting as a medic, he’d been calm and competent, making Andra think he might be a few years older than Pico and Valenia, rather than the same age as she’d originally thought. After the excitement had died down and peace had been restored, the restaurant manager thanked them quietly for handling the situation, and told them their meals and drinks were on the house.

  “What was the argument about?” asked Pico. “All I got was that the old man was the woman’s father.”

  “The old guy called the blond guy a ‘stinking minder,’ and something about stealing business secrets,” said Jerzi. “The blond guy called the old guy a ‘brown dwarf star.’”

  Pico looked confused.

  “It’s an insult,” explained Andra. “Sort of like ‘failure to launch’ in English, but always blaming someone else for it.” Andra had a cousin or two that the term described perfectly.

  “See, I told you,” said Valenia meaningfully to Pico. “Interesting times.” She tilted her head back toward Sojaire, who was back to fiddling with his wristcomp and pretending not to notice Pico.

  Pico rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. This is a university town. Fights like that happen every night.” She took a delicate bite of her on-the-house citrus sorbet.

  Jerzi glanced at her in alarm, then looked relieved when he must have realized she was exaggerating.

  “Power down, Commander Crush,” Andra said quietly. “She’s fine. The campus is safe.”

  Jerzi smiled ruefully and murmured, “Am I that obvious?”

  “Only to people who know you.” She teased him with a momentary smart-ass smile. “Of course, that’s only half the galaxy, because you’re such a shy and retiring fellow.”

  Jerzi tilted his head in acknowledgment. “I like people.”

  “And they like you, gunnin,” she said, acknowledging to herself that she liked him, too, far more than was good for her. She doubted she could keep her heart if she got involved with him, and she couldn’t take another loss. For her own peace of mind, he needed to get right back on whatever interstellar transport brought him and not look back.

  Chapter 9

  * Planet: Nila Marbela * GDAT 3241.146 *

  Night had fallen on another day in paradise, and there Andra was, walking with Pico toward the Math building. As soon as s
he left Pico with Valenia in the childcare center, she’d have a whole hour to herself before seeing Jerzi again. Somewhere, the universe was laughing at her for her late-night decision to keep her distance from the Adams clan.

  Since Sojaire had gone to the trouble of sending the proposal after last evening’s eventful but excellent dinner, she’d quickly forwarded it to Regent Quan, with a tactful note suggesting that a professional security assessment of the Chemistry building might ease the minds of the sponsors and commercial partners who’d had to be evacuated after the lab accident. She knew the budget was tight, so she’d asked a friend from the military for a favor, and the assessment would be free.

  Quan unexpectedly responded within the hour, instead of the couple of days later Andra had guessed it would take. Optimal Polytechnic would be delighted to accept such a generous offer, and had taken the liberty of arranging access first thing the next morning. Andra was to accompany the Foxe Investigations representative for the assessment, even if it meant canceling her classes.

  She supposed it could have been worse, if she’d had to drag Vestering along, too. Reading between the tea leaves, as her great-great-aunt used to say, Andra guessed the regents were trying to get in front of the news stories that had finally started trending planet-wide. It was a major miracle the university public relations staff had managed to keep it off the net for four whole days, considering how many people had been affected. The university hated negative publicity and enforced strict message control.

  Mairwen looked all business in a nicely tailored navy jacket and pants, and not nearly as dangerous as Andra suspected she could be. Jerzi, in all black, stayed in the background and hardly said a word. Andra felt his presence constantly, like a subtle magnet, but she was surprised how often others barely noticed him. It must be a skill he’d learned in the personal security business.