Star Minds Interregnum

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "I want to know," she demanded. "Are you the Mercenary or not?"

  "What do you think?" he replied. It was time to test his wife. Find out if she really loved him or not. If the bitchy cop had managed to break her trust in him or if she was still by his side.

  "I'm thinking, why not?" she retorted. "All these mysteries, you're not answering, Charlie, what are you?"

  "I'm your husband and the father of your children."

  "And how do you earn our living? How did you buy this house? How do you keep us fed and sheltered?" Her hands waved around her in hysterical movements. "You left your father's trade to your siblings – why?"

  "I had a better salary at Targeting Magnet."

  "There's no such company! What does a digital network for the targeting magnet do anyway?"

  He raised his eyebrows, skeptical. "You've been doing some online searches?" He thought he was safe by picking a lower-class woman with no computer skills who would take care of his children and not bother with his job. "Or did the cop tell you?"

  She glared at him. "Micaela helped me. Your company doesn't exist. Who pays your salary with that fake name? What is your job, Charlie?"

  "You sure are stubborn today. Who can I thank for this sudden surge of curiosity? What's the name of that police officer who is so certain that I have an illegal job?"

  "I don't know, some Xi-kongian woman with slanted eyes." She huffed impatiently. "And your avoiding any straight answer only adds to my doubts. Either you prove to me you have a decent, legal job or you get out of here and not show your face ever again!"

  "So you'll be living off alimony you don't know where from, much like you're doing now," he said.

  "At least I won't have a murderer under my roof!" she screamed.

  He put one hand over her mouth. "Hush, you'll wake the kids."

  "Hands off." She snarled and pushed him away. "Prove to me you're a honest citizen with a regular job or get out of here."

  He pulled away, wounded. He didn't add anything else – he'd never admit the truth – but he'd find out who seeded doubt in Iulia's mind. He'd try renting that office space, but if Iulia didn't buy it the cop bitch would pay.

  ***

  "Welcome back, sir," the tech-robot greeted. It was a head shorter than Charlie, with a vaguely human shape but no legs. It rolled instead of walking, but had human-like arms. Its round head had a screen where it could display different expressions – at the moment a smiley face. It was a fairly standard model for starships and orbital stations, but Charlie had personalized it by painting its white covering in bright colors.

  "Hello." Charlie sighed, slumping in his chair. "I'm back living here. Are you happy?"

  The chair was in front of his starship's dashboard, a pilot chair more than anything. He turned to the computer as the robot rolled by his side, but didn't switch on the navigator. He wasn't going to lift off yet.

  "Very much, sir." The voice was metallic. The smiley turned into the symbol for laughter.

  His only company during his bachelor years was not even completely human. He wondered if he should buy a more anthropomorphic robot, now that he was on his own again. He could afford an android at this point, since he had two separate accounts – one for the Mercenary and one for the Rose household, where he transferred a very high salary from a fake Targeting Magnet account monthly.

  His hideout was a starship that allowed him to be completely independent from any form of civilization. It was small and semiautomatic – hence the crew of one – but had decent living quarters, and he'd lived in it for years before settling with Iulia. Nobody but him had ever set foot in his cozy cabin until now.

  The starship actually had two IDs, the official one – Charleston Rose's company ship, Mighty Magnet – and the real one, the Deceiver, an unmarked ship he used as Mercenary. It was time to get rid of the Mighty Magnet ID and restore the Deceiver.

  The robot was his technician and he'd named it Tonto. The small spacecraft had a single cabin with bathroom and the cockpit was spacious enough for two. Charlie had been a nomad for most of his life – his father had taken him planet-hopping at an early age, spending a maximum of five years on each new world – and he didn't mind the spartan lodgings.

  "Tonto, take us out," he ordered. "We're not on assignment yet, so see if you can locate Friport."

  "It is not in the quadrant, sir. Maybe you want to go to Alahairo first?"

  Charlie sighed. "Fine, set course for Alahairo for now." Might be a good place to lure the cop with the Mighty Magnet – and then the Deceiver would be back. It was either the ship or the world of adventurers and rogues, now, Charlie thought with a frown. Back to his wanderings with the Deceiver.

  Although in the past seven years he'd enjoyed living in a real house with a real family. He'd bought it for Iulia. And the kids. She could keep it. But he'd miss the company, especially of the children. He'd never see them grow up. And he was stuck with a robot for company – which after many years of human company was tough to go back to.

  He must find out who ruined his life by instilling doubts in his wife's mind. He sat at the computer and searched the cameras of his own house. He saw the visitor, zoomed in on her face, took a snapshot and linked to online search engines, finally finding a match in the Galaxy Police database.

  Yuki Zhian. The bitch was from Xi-kong, and she'd come out of the Gifted Children School. With psychometry. Except she hadn't touched any of his things – not even Iulia. He checked the security cameras again to be sure. So it wasn't her gift that had led her to him. The bitch was smart. Too smart for her own good. And damn pretty too. She reminded him of his first girlfriend.

  Tonto watched him. It wasn't a conversation robot and Charlie was an introvert, so they barely spoke when they were together.

  "Good." Charlie relaxed and stretched his limbs. "Tonto, my friend, I need some rest. Wake me up in four hours."

  "Yes, sir," the robot confirmed, following him to his bunk bed.

  Charlie lay down and closed his eyes under the robot's fixed stare.

  ***

  "Are you the one who called me?" Yuki sat on the tall stool and stared at the bartender. "I'm Yuki, I got a message to come here."

  Here was the Legendary Tavern on Alahairo, a small, shady pub decently clean with low prices and gut-rotting drinks. It was crowded, with a few shady characters hiding in the corners and about half the patrons already drunk this early in the evening. The noise level was quite loud and rowdy, and Yuki had to scream to be heard.

  The bartender leaned forward, ignoring a minor brawl that had just exploded in the background. He had jet-black hair, ebony skin and a broad build. He was cross-eyed, so Yuki wasn't sure which eye was looking at her.

  "I hear you were looking for Charleston Rose," he said.

  "True. His wife is worried for him."

  "I doubt it, she kicked him out." The man smirked. "Anyway, I know where he is. He comes here every night to drink. Our house special helps him forget."

  She raised her eyebrows, skeptical. "House special?"

  "We call it Jealousy." He quickly came up with a glass of sea green liquid with a few bubbles and a pear slice on the edge of the glass. The drink smelled somewhat like campfire smoke and Yuki decided not to taste it.

  "No thanks," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Give me a nonalcoholic drink while I wait."

  She turned on the stool, sipping her ginger ale and observing patrons. The minor brawl had subsided. Everybody ignored her – but then, she wasn't wearing the GP uniform. Her casual clothes with pants didn't put her in the hookers department and her almond eyes weren't appealing to most of the Humanoids mingling in the small pub.

  She hadn't found anything useful in the abandoned building. She'd tried to get inside the Rose household to touch something that had belonged to the suspect, but Iulia hadn't let her in the second time. She'd said her husband was gone after failing to provide answers and trying to pass off a friend's office as his own.

  Charl
eston Rose's starship, the Mighty Magnet, had left Serenaide and appeared on Alahairo, where Yuki had received a message telling her to come to the Legendary Tavern. Her eyes kept scanning the room, but she lacked focus, feeling tired all of a sudden.

  A blond man in his thirties approached the bar, loudly requesting the death-tasting House Special. Yuki struggled to focus on him. She felt drowsy, but not enough to not recognize the man she was looking for. The man she thought was the Mercenary.

  She got off her stool and swayed. Her head was spinning.

  "Charleston Rose?" She approached him, and her voice was slurred. Her mind was more and more clouded. She shook her head, trying to clear it and gasping for breath.

  The last thing she saw was his knowing smile.

  ***

  Yuki moaned as she came back to her senses. She cursed herself for drinking something she hadn't prepared. The bartender had drugged her, it had been a trap. She should have known better.

  She opened her eyes. She was in a small cabin in some starship. A colorful robot stood next to her and stared at her with an impassive blank screen for a face.

  She pulled herself up, still dazed, and the robot extended its arm to block her. "Do not move."

  "Where am I?" she asked, hoping it was sophisticated enough to answer her questions.

  "Welcome to the Mercenary's abode." The voice was human and had a sarcastic undertone.

  Startled, Yuki looked beyond the robot and saw him. The door had silently slid open, revealing a tall blond man standing in the doorway who stared at her with a wicked smile.

  Yuki had seen only pictures of him – and that shadowy figure in the victims' minds. She wasn't expecting such a tall man with those icy blue eyes. At thirty-five Charleston Rose wasn't the most handsome man in the galaxy, but he had charm. He had dyed his hair blond, but hadn't cut it in years and since he'd been kicked out of his own house, he'd not even bothered dying it again, so the dark roots started to show again. He was clean-shaven, though, and wore black clothes that covered him from neck to toe, including gloves. Not exactly the image of a salesman, but definitely a hitman's look.

  "Why didn't you kill me?" she blurted out, incredulous.

  "What's the hurry?" He came forward. "You're my prisoner, don't you want to be a witness – unable to stop me – to my next job?"

  "No." She shivered and hugged her knees.

  "That's why you're still alive," he replied pleasantly.

  She frowned as he stopped by the bed, towering over her even more than the robot that had moved aside.

  "How can you be a hitman with a wife and four kids?" she blurted out again, unable to keep her curiosity at bay. She could see what Iulia had found in him. His stare was probably less icy when he looked at his family members.

  "It's just a job." He shrugged. "Nothing personal, I've been trained to kill without leaving any trace."

  "With the cold heart of a pro," she commented sourly. "Do you even love your wife?"

  "I love her very much, but you ruined my marriage," he retorted. "Just when I was ready to retire and enjoy family life."

  "Are you blaming me?" she snapped.

  "The Mercenary was ready to stop. Except when he came back from his last job, his wife kicked him out of his house, because a bitch cop told her maybe the salesman she'd married wasn't exactly that. Sounds familiar?"

  "And what other lies would you have told her for the rest of her life?"

  "I could have started a real trade – become a real salesman. That's what most of my people do anyway."

  "Really?" She scoffed. "How long have you been doing this job?"

  "Since I was eighteen," he answered. "Before I met Iulia and fell in love."

  "My, aren't you precocious for a killer!"

  "I was trained on your home planet and my first victims were all Xi-kongian." He smirked. "I might be the very reason why you ran away by joining the Galaxy Police. I might not have your psychometry gift, Commander Zhian, but Fukui Boss thought I was angry enough to be a very promising fighter. He'd have kept me among his enforcers, but I eventually decided to leave. Luckily there was still a Sire Governor back then, so they couldn't stop me."

  Yuki's heart missed a beat when she heard her name and rank coming from his lips. What was she expecting? He was a pro, of course he'd find out everything about her. She'd been smart enough to follow his trail and identify him, but now she was indeed in trouble and had failed in her investigation.

  "I'm not scared," she spat venomously.

  "You will be," he replied. "You destroyed seven years of happy marriage and I won't forgive you. My revenge will be slow and painful. This is Tonto, your jailor. He'll keep an eye on you when I'm away."

  He turned his back on her and left, locking the door of the cabin behind him.

  Yuki huffed. The hitman seemed to be a quiet and harmless man, but underneath there was a fire... She better not awaken him with useless provocations. She looked at the colorful robot and tried again to get up, but it blocked her again.

  "Hey, what if I need to pee!" she shouted towards the door of the cabin.

  The robot pushed a button and opened a side door where there was a small bathroom with sink, shower and WC. "Restroom."

  She glared at the faceless robot and hugged her knees again. She'd have to find another way out. If only the GP had inserted a microchip under her skin, allowing her to communicate or send a signal so they could find her... Again, she'd been stupid and reckless, she should have done it before she went to the appointment with the so-called informer.

  ***

  Charlie mixed well in the crowd of parents after school. He stayed on the other side of the street, but nobody seemed to notice.

  Here was Micaela with a babysitter. Charlie followed her with his eyes wishing he could hug her. Whenever he could, he spied on his children – he couldn't give them up just yet.

  And then Micaela turned around and saw him.

  "It's Dad!" she exclaimed. The babysitter prevented her from running to him and Charlie walked away, ashamed like a thief. He didn't dare go near the house and went back to the Deceiver, depressed.

  Iulia called him as he entered the starship.

  "Don't you dare ever show your face again, either to me or to the kids! I told them you're dead and you better stay away from us!" she said, her eyes glaring at him. Of course being a widow entitled her to all his belongings without the paperwork necessary for a divorce.

  "Don't you need a death certificate?" he asked, frowning as he walked to his cabin.

  "I want you out of our lives, since you failed to prove to me you're a honest citizen!" she snapped. "I'm thinking you really are the Mercenary after all! That cop was right, hope she catches you soon!"

  He hung up, cursing under his breath. He knew better than to admit his real job on a videophone. That would give the GP a reason to arrest him. He was sure Commander Zhian had put his and Iulia's phones under surveillance.

  He found the cop seated on his bed. Her almond eyes stared at him and her face was an obvious question mark.

  "Charleston Rose is dead," he announced. "Are you happy now?"

  "I'd rather see the Mercenary dead," she replied cautiously. "Charleston Rose wasn't the dangerous one."

  "Not until you blew his cover," he retorted. "Now that I don't have my life anymore, the Mercenary is going to be much worse. You unleashed a monster, Commander Zhian."

  "I tried to stop a killer. I had found his real ID. You shouldn't have married in the first place. I mean, you kill for a living! Your family is better off without you. If you'd been killed or arrested, they wouldn't even know why."

  "Shut up, bitch!"

  He slapped her. How dare she. He was doing just fine until she'd put her pretty nose in his affairs. And now there she was, looking at him undaunted – and she was so damn lovely with her round face and rosy lips and...

  He grabbed Yuki by the hair and pulled her head back as he climbed on the bunk over her. She was so petite, i
t wasn't hard to hold her still while he forced himself on her. It didn't give him any relief, though. Raping her wasn't going to mend his broken heart.

  He stormed out of the cabin, hating himself and the whole universe.

  ***

  Yuki thought Charlie was quite gentle for a hitman. She'd dealt with victims of rape, and didn't feel so bruised after he was gone. Maybe because she felt she deserved it – it was her fault if the monster was free. Touching him meant she had more insight, almost as if she'd read his mind. She'd felt his tortured past, his falling in love, his inner change – and now his desperate present.

  Charlie's soul wasn't as dark as Angel Face's. A little part of him died every time he pulled the trigger. He loved Iulia and his children. He'd really wanted to stop – before she identified him and forced him to leave his family.

  A very fresh wound for him that made him more dangerous. He was condemned to be the Mercenary forever and live in the underworld – unless Yuki managed to free herself, call for help and arrest him.

  This time he was away for a long time. Tonto allowed her to move within the small cabin, but not to the rest of the starship. And the robot was awful company, too basic for any kind of conversation and totally faithful to its master.

  When Charlie came back, he gave her a list of dead people: two were paid hits, but the others were all cops.

  "Why don't you kill me?" she challenged him. Why should her colleagues pay for her mistakes? "I put you in this position, why kill them?"

  "They're damn cops, like you," he replied bluntly. "And I haven't decided if you'd better die or live with remorse, knowing you are the cause for these murders."

  "You're not that heartless," she said with a shaky voice.

  "I am now," he retorted. "Thanks to you, honey."

  He stole a violent kiss and left again.

  ***

  Charlie knew he'd made the headlines. The Mercenary has gone wild. He's killing cops with no real motive. He'd been picking his targets at random, trying to get rid of his feelings of anger and frustration and... confusion, damn Yuki. He knew the bitch had gained unwanted insight into him when he touched her, and forcing himself on her hadn't been so pleasant. A part of him wanted to hold her, bury his face against her and forget it all.