Danger Money

by John Van Stry

  "It seems good now," I said suspiciously.

  "Yeah, well I'm good at my work!" She smiled.

  "Obviously, how goes your studies anyway?"

  "Wellll, that's going to take a little explaining Jo."

  "What! You didn't quit I hope!" I started to sit up a little upset. She easily pushed me back down.

  "No, of course not!" She looked uncomfortable, "I wanted to wait a little longer to tell you this."

  "Tell me what?" I asked eyes narrowing.

  "Don't get upset now! I spent a lot of time on you and I don't want you to ruin my work. Doctors orders!"

  "Doctor's orders? You haven't been in school a year yet! And just how 'long' has it been?" I noticed that she looked a lot more mature suddenly.

  "I graduated last year Jotun, fifth in my class too."

  "Congratulations" I said confused, the trip onboard that ship couldn't have taken more than a couple of months. Two actually. She read my mind.

  "You got here thirty one Earth months ago."

  "What?" I looked up at her. "Why?"

  "I said you were in bad shape when you got here. You needed a Doctor, a good one too! It wasn't hard to get you stabilized. My basic med training covered that. But getting you out alive and healthy, well it wasn't going to be easy. Wasn't in fact.

  "And who could I trust? Certainly not another Doctor! They all work for somebody around here! So it was safer to keep you down here in cold storage until I learned what had to be done. Then I did it. I uncrated you last month, and spent weeks doing surgery on you. You wouldn't believe the excuses I had to come up with either. Really interrupted my internship as well."

  "Damn," I sighed closing my eyes. "Almost three years gone. Now what?"

  "Well you're alive and after this long whatever you're running from should be safe." Sil smiled and opened up the cooler.

  "Now eat. I gotta run back to my rooms soon. They've been getting a little suspicious down at the school with all the time I've been spending away the last month. So I can't stay long."

  She fed me then until I was stuffed, then gave me a shot to help me sleep. I watched her smiling face as I quickly dozed off.

  Three years.

  That was all I could think of when I awoke the next day. Would anybody still be after me? Probably. But who? The corporation? I know they hated loose ends so it was a safe bet.

  The Earth government? Maybe, but they weren't known for being so thorough anymore. At least not three years ago. Hopefully all concerned thought I was dead. I'm sure nobody would have thought I could go three years without surfacing. I knew I sure couldn't have.

  I ate lunch and prowled around the crawlspace a little. 'Crawled' was more like it, I was too weak to stand up without getting dizzy yet. I was surprised at how much stuff there was. I found the crate, the hibernation tank, an operating table, and enough stuff to run an operating room. But then she already told me she had.

  I looked over the shaved portions of my body, except for my head, feet and hands, I was nearly bald. A lot of it had started growing back already of course. I guess she just decided to get it all out of the way at once, but a lot of spots had been reshaved recently. And the scars! I counted twenty new ones before I gave up, at least they wouldn't show when my fur grew back. I guess she had been busy with me at that.

  But three years. There was no way to get around that. I sat down and ate and drank some more.

  Now what?

  "Jotun?"

  I was instantly awake, it was Sil at the door.

  "Yeah, hi." I smiled as she came in.

  "How's my patient doing?" She smiled.

  "Pretty good I guess," I sat up and gave her a hug. "Few more days and I'll be up and around again."

  "I'll be the judge of that!" She grinned. "Now strip!"

  "I always liked my women direct!" I chuckled and carefully peeled off my coverall.

  "I haven't got the time Jo sorry," she said apologizing. "And I'd hate to give you a relapse!" She grinned then. "Let's check those vitals and see how you're doing." And she preceded to give me a quick but thorough physical.

  "You're pretty good you know that," I said when she had finished. "I've been worked on before by the best, and you're right up there."

  "Thanks," she looked embarrassed.

  "It was tough wasn't it?"

  "Yes it was."

  "Was I the first one you ever cut open?" I looked up at her face.

  "Ummm, well ..." she looked pretty nervous.

  "I was wasn't I?"

  "Well the first one that was still alive. They still won't even let me do most minor surgeries! And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I had to do on you! If my instructor knew she'd have a heart attack!" Sil laughed.

  "Scared you huh?"

  "Like you wouldn't believe! Want to hear the worst part?"

  "I don't know," I admitted, "You sure you want to tell me?"

  "Well, it was your body," she sighed. "I had to practice on you a few times first."

  "What do you mean by practice?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

  "Oh, you know," she looked very uncomfortable.

  "No I don't! Spill it."

  "I cut you open a few times, and looked around a little."

  "Just where?"

  "Well, see that scar on your leg?"

  "Yeah."

  "And that one on your shoulder, the one's here and here," She pointed to two spots on my abdomen. "And that one on your chest, that one was a horror story!"

  I was feeling a little queasy about this all of the sudden. It's one thing to hear you were 'practiced' on. Another thing totally to see the evidence.

  "Why was it a 'horror story'?" I asked trying not to get sick.

  "I was practicing for your heart operation,"

  "I had a heart operation!" I was shocked.

  "You were a mess when I got you!" She said closing her eyes, her tail and whiskers twitching, I could see she was getting upset. "You had a major blockage in your Aorta. Not to mention a few minor ones in your lungs! Its fine now, but I had never dealt with any of this before, I couldn't just go in cold!"

  "Calm down!" I shuddered. "Sheesh, I never though I'd hear something that could get me upset!" I grabbed her hand. "Listen, it turned out fine. If you felt you had to do it, well that's good enough for me. But please don't tell me about it!"

  Why are Doctors such ghouls anyway? What do they teach them in medical school?

  "I'm sorry," Sil sighed. "I just feel this need to unburden myself on the whole thing. It wasn't easy you know."

  "How much money is left in my account by the way?" I asked changing the subject.

  "About ten thousand credits."

  "That's all?" I wasn't upset, but there had been almost half a million in it when I went under.

  "Do you have any idea how much it cost to get you through customs without being searched? I had no idea what was in that box, so I didn't take any chances."

  "I can see that your equipment expenses were high too." I motioned to the stuff under the tarps in the back of the room. "Don't worry about it Sil, I'm not getting on your case about it," I reached over and gave her a one arm hug. "I'm alive and I can get more. I hope you've been paying Raff good."

  "He refused any money. I'm his friend."

  "Well, I'll give him some then," I smiled. "You should open up a clinic with all that stuff." I motioned to the pile in the back.

  "I might. After all it is paid for!"

  We both laughed at that. Shortly thereafter she left to check back in at the teaching hospital at her school.

  The next week passed pretty quickly for me. I was getting stronger every day and by week's end was able to stand without difficulty. A few days after that I was able to go outside and start looking around.

  The city hadn't changed much in three years, not at all that I could notice. I cleaned out my account and bought a few things, then I tapped into my emergency fund. It wasn't as big as the other account, there was only fifty g
rand in it. I gave half of that to Raff for helping out Sil. He didn't want to take it, so I threatened to beat him up if he didn't.

  "Yeah right!" He laughed ponderously and slowly looked me over. "In your condition?"

  "Its Sil's work you'd be ruining," I warned smiling. "Now just be sensible and take the cash."

  "Some things money can't buy Jotun." He rumbled on slow and deliberate.

  "Then use this for those things it can! Listen, you helped me out and I appreciate it."

  "I helped Sil out," he corrected.

  "And I appreciate that even more," I continued. "I'm just trying to show you that."

  "Your money won't do that. I know how you earned it."

  My eyes narrowed and I looked around to make sure no one was listening. Then I dragged him over to a table, we were at the bar he was bouncing for. That same one were I had seen that wolf reciting his poetry.

  "What do you know," I asked looking straight at him, "and how?"

  "I was there for most of the operations, I assisted" He said looking back at me. And down too. Even sitting he was a good two feet taller than me. "You talked quite a bit when she had you semi-conscious."

  "What exactly did I say?" I asked tightly.

  "Lots of stuff. Sometimes it was conversations, but mostly it was about jobs. Like you were reading a report."

  "How'd she take it?" I could see he wasn't bothered by it.

  "She's scared of you. What do you think? I would have let you die, but I couldn't suggest that to her. She loves you I guess."

  I was shocked at that. All of it. "What do you think?" I asked looking back at him. I had left the pistol at home and part of my mind was suddenly quite aware of that fact. Old habits die hard I guess.

  "About what?" He just stared at me as calm as ever.

  "About me. If you even heard half of what I've done you shouldn't be sitting there so calmly. What do you have to say?"

  "You're her friend, and she's mine. So I won't do anything, yet. But once you're better you had better move on. Or I will."

  I sighed and sat back. "Raff, I'll be honest. I can't stay here too long. I've got unfinished business to take care of, whether I like it or not.

  "And the truth is, I don't anymore. But I gotta warn you, old habits die hard. So I really don't know what's gonna happen to me next. But don't ever come after me, it's not a lifestyle I think you'd care for."

  "You may be right about that. But I have to protect my friends."

  "I am right. But a friendly discussion will be a lot more persuasive than anything else. Trust me on that, okay?"

  He looked me over carefully. Weighing my soul. Raff suddenly climbed several notches in my estimation, I got the impression that only his speech was slow.

  "For now I will. Later, who knows?" He said and smiled widely.

  "I'll take what I can get," I smiled back again. "Now if you'll excuse me I think I have an explanation to make."

  "What's there to explain?"

  "My life." And I walked out the door.

  12

  I finally caught up with Sil at the School. I went and sat outside until she came out for a break. She saw me and came over to sit on the bench, obviously surprised by my presence.

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Hoping to see you." I said looking at the ground and not making eye contact.

  "What's wrong?" She asked concerned, "You're feeling okay aren't you?"

  "I talked to Raff today," I began.

  "Oh?"

  "And he told me about my talking. And what you heard."

  She shuddered, "I heard a lot more than him. Especially that last week. I thought you guys had mental blocks on that stuff."

  "Me too. Anyway if you want me to go, I'll go."

  "No Jo, you don't have to leave its okay."

  "Then spend the night with me," and I looked up into her eyes.

  "Ummm," she hesitated ears twitching.

  "I need you Sil, I really do. Sorry," I looked back down at the grass. "But if you find me revolting now, hey I'll understand. But you knew what I did before, it didn't seem to bother you then."

  "But I hadn't heard it in detail, and so many cases! Jotun, I counted over fifty!"

  "It's more like three hundred and fifty," I admitted and heard her gasp. "But it's over, one way or the other. I've got to go set a few things straight. But after that I'm done. No more."

  "Why not be done now?" she took my muzzle in her hand and turned it back towards her eyes.

  "I was used foully there at the end," I noticed her incredulous expression. "Hard to believe huh? But I was, even for what I do, and I have to set that straight. And revenge a few people who were just thrown away and wasted. My company didn't used to be like that. I started out as a response to the attacks of other companies. But that went awry I guess." I sighed and looked back down at the tip of my tail which was flicking against my leg.

  "And I don't really have much of a choice. I'm compelled by my training. And sooner or later somebody will turn up looking for me."

  "You sure about that?"

  "If you misplaced or lost a nuke you'd go looking for it right?"

  "You got a point there I guess Jo."

  "So please, spend the night? I'm the same Leopard you slept with before, even if you're not the same Fox. I do have feelings you know, and I'm lonely."

  "And you're whining!" she laughed ears perking back up. "Don't worry. I'll be there, I don't fear you Jo. Though Raff may think I'm crazy."

  I went back to the room then, and waited quietly for her to arrive.

  I didn't know what my next step would be really. I was healed for the most part, but I'd have to start exercising to get into top shape. I had lost some weight and muscle tone over the last month, or rather last three years I reminded myself. Fortunately hibernation hadn't apparently taken too much off of me, I guess that I had Sil to thank for that.

  So a month or so to get back in shape. Then what? I didn't have enough money to go back to earth. Assuming I could buy passage of course. But that was where I had to go. And traveling in hibernation was definitely out of the question.

  Also, who'd come looking for me? I know that I had left a trail that could be followed. That is if somebody wanted to spend enough money to follow it. How much would the Corporation be willing to spend to find me? I thought about that one for a while.

  A lot I finally conceded. I was the top assassin, and I was known for having one hell of a temper at times. The people who set this up would be worried, and so would the Corporation. Once I surfaced I could expect a lot of attention real fast.

  "No use worrying about the inevitable," I sighed to myself. So I went back to the number one concern, money. I'd have to talk to Raff about that I guess. He'd probably know who needed what, and my skills weren't exactly marketable on the city jobline. But I'd have to avoid any assassinations. That would stand out too much.

  I puzzled all this over for a long time.

  I picked up Sil's scent as she knocked on the door.

  "Come in Sil."

  "What are you brooding about?" She asked smiling, ducking under one of the ceiling beams.

  "Oh, nothing. Just where do I go from here stuff."

  "Any decisions?"

  "Well, I need money and I need to go back to Earth. I can't find out anything out here, I'm just too far away."

  "How are you planning to get there?" She asked as I stood up and walked over.

  "Beats me. Lets go eat!" I smiled and did my best to forget about my troubles.

  "Okay. What do you feel like?"

  "Lot's of food! You pick."

  "Follow me," She said with a smile and sashayed out the door tail swaying.

  "So how has life been treating you these last few years anyway?" I said as I hurried to catch up.

  "Not bad, but I've been real busy. School was tough and it took a lot to get though it."

  "Well now you're an intern so it should get easier right?"

  "Wrong,
now it gets even harder. And it'll be worse when I make resident I expect."

  "Why's that?"

  "Look around you. These people don't have any Doctors down here. Sure they can go to some company hospital. And get company care at company prices. Most can't afford that."

  "So they've started coming to you?" I had my arm around her and noticed I had been drawing looks. Suddenly I revised my opinion on who was being looked at.

  "Over a year ago," She sighed. "But I do get a lot of respect and nobody harasses me."

  "Why not?" I asked curious.

  "Well there's Raff for one. And then there are those stories about a crazy Leopard who killed the last person who bothered me!" She smiled as she said that.

  "People still remember that?" I was surprised, "Anyway, you weren't even in school then."

  "You know how stories spread Jotun, at least you should! Anyhow, I encouraged it a little bit."

  "You're kidding!" I said surprised.

  "Sure why not?" She grinned, "It helps keep the nasties at a distance."

  We continued to walk through the streets, it was dark now and it wasn't much longer till she pointed out our destination.

  "Seafood? Sounds good to me." I grinned, and followed her in.

  Dinner was a quiet affair. I was trying to stuff myself for all I was worth, and she didn't have much to say. Afterwards we walked around the town a little and stopped at some small quiet pub for a few beers before calling it a night.

  Once back at her place I quietly took her in my arms and kissed her. She melted against me and held nothing back, it was a very enjoyable night.

  I awoke when she did the next morning, and after a very hurried session she had to leave for school. I myself did calisthenics for a while, then headed off for the public baths. For the entire week after that all I did was train.

  Sil did show up the next weekend, and we once again had an enjoyable time. I was quickly getting my stamina back, and she gave me a few follow up exams. The next two weeks were spent in the same fashion, with myself in seclusion. I figured that as long as I kept a low profile I was safe for now.

  By the end of the third week I figured it was time to poke my head out of the nest and start seeing what I could find.