Danger Money

by John Van Stry

  Then there was the question of what to do for a job. I had a lot of training of course. But a freeborn wouldn't have any of that, so I couldn't claim it. That left a lot of low paying opportunities, if I could even get somebody to hire me.

  I had enough money to live for a month when I finally hit the city. Finding a cheap place to live wasn't too hard to do. But it wasn't as cheap as I would have liked. Next I hit the spaceport and looked for whatever work I could find.

  What I eventually got was a job sweeping and cleaning in a bar. It didn't pay much, but it kept me fed and paid the rent. It was a start.

  Over the next four months I kept my eyes and ears open and explored the lay of the land. There was a lot of graft and corruption in the town. A lot of crime too. The corporations were being ripped off by the politicos on the one side, and the organized gangs on the other. The gangs were all pretty small affairs and they usually kicked back to the local politicos and police so things wouldn't get too hot on them.

  The government then used the gangs as an excuse to make things harder on the corporations and bleed even more money. The only reason the corporations didn't pull up stakes here and go to one of the other spaceports was that with the politicians and police being so corrupt in this area, they were easy to bribe. So the corporations could do stuff here that normally they wouldn't be able to on a planet as 'civilized' as this one. So in other words it all worked out and everybody was content, if not happy, with the arrangement.

  As for going back to Earth, I was working on trying to get a contract as a general laborer on a small freighter. I'd have to buy in of course, outfits like that always needed money and would happily look the other way if you wanted to invest. So I was looking for a way to get some fast cash. That was the hard part, that and finding a Freighter that was going to be heading for the Solar system.

  Actually the freighter turned out to be not that hard. Several smaller concerns did a run to the Earth's moon, mostly to pick up custom equipment that couldn't be manufactured anywhere else but the Earth system. I had approached several of these groups, and a few were interested.

  If I could come up with the money of course.

  I had made a few friends here by this time. Nobody close, I wasn't that trusting of strangers. But it's nice to have some people to spend your free time with. Especially if a few of those someone's are female.

  "Whatca' thinkin' of Neti?" Mumbled Reshera sleepily turning to me on the small bed.

  "The future, and what it holds." I whispered softly.

  "Still tryin' to get off planet?" she murmured slowly wrapping herself around me.

  "How'd you find out about that?" I asked curiously as I nuzzled her body.

  "Word gets around Hon. I've been workin' in this port for twenty years now. I'm always keepin' an ear to the gossip, especially if it concerns one of my lovers." She purred as I licked her throat.

  Reshera and I had been lovers for nearly two months now, she was the only Leopard I'd met here. While she was older than both my real and pretended age, that didn't make much of a difference and I liked her maturity.

  "What are you runnin' from anyway?" She asked surprising the hell out of me. "Owwwllll!" she the yowled and I realized that I had her throat in my teeth and was growling quietly myself.

  "Sorry," I said releasing my grip and getting myself quickly under control. "But you have to admit that was one hell of a stupid thing to ask while I was grooming your neck."

  "I didn't think ya'd do that!" She complained rubbing her neck and pulling away from me. "That smarts."

  I grabbed her and forcibly dragged her back to me, "Let me kiss it and make it better." I rumbled avoiding eye contact.

  "Umm, okay I guess." She acquiesced. "Not that ya seem to want to give me a choice in the matter." She growled slightly.

  "I just don't want you to be afraid of me that's all," I murmured while nuzzling and rubbing her neck gently. "So I'm out to prove my good intentions."

  "Horny is more likely." She chuckled while slipping her tail around to rub between my legs and in my crotch. "Hmmmm?"

  "Well maybe just a little," I admitted with a small purr.

  "So you want to talk about it?"

  "About being horny?" I asked grinning and trying to change tack.

  "No about what you're runnin’ from." She chided me gently as I rolled her onto her back.

  "Why do you think I'm running from something?" I sent one of my hands down to explore her thighs while moving my body between her legs.

  "Because I know people, and I know when someone's tryin' to change the topic." She said and grinned while wrapping her legs around my waist and drawing me inside with her free hand.

  "Maybe I'm running to something," I gasped and set my hand to playing around the dock of her tail.

  "Hadn't thought of that love!" She gasped herself and we both ceased further intelligent conversation.

  "Want to talk about it?" she asked much later as we lay quietly together on my bed.

  "Nope."

  "I might be able to help ya', you know."

  "You just want me to change the subject again I suspect!" I laughed at her.

  "Well ya' do have such an interestin' way of doin' it Hon!" She chuckled back. "But I'm not without influence in these parts."

  I thought about that a moment. "I need sixty thou to buy into one of those freighters. I got a thou in the bank."

  "And?"

  "I'll do anything short of killing someone to get it. Any suggestions?"

  "You have any problems with breakin' the law?"

  It was my turn to laugh. "Do you?"

  "Neti! Really, I am the soul of honesty!"

  "Oh sure! I'm not stupid Reshera, your lifestyle is way beyond what you make at the docks. Just because you haven't invited me around to your place doesn't mean I haven't taken a look."

  "You've seen my place?" She said shocked and looking very surprised.

  "You're not the only one who takes an interest in their lovers. Take that portrait you have above your bed," I continued with a smile. "I bet that cost more than you make in a year, maybe two!"

  That was when she started to change the subject.

  I didn't hear from her for several days after that, but on Thursday one of the regulars who worked down at the same office as Reshera told me she wanted me to stop by during my break. Getting away wasn't too much trouble, it was pretty slow between lunch and quitting time.

  "Just don't loaf, get back here quick Neti!" said Hal, the Otter who worked the bar and managed the place. He was easy going for the most part, but as I was now the afternoon bouncer he didn't like me being gone too long, especially on a Thursday.

  I went down past the Port offices, and the ticketing agents. Past the food shops, the souvenir stalls, the maintenance facility, until I came to the warehouses. I cut down between two of them, and looked for the small office I wanted. It didn't take me long to get there, I was pretty familiar with the whole area. I had cased it out shortly after arriving and still strolled down here occasionally.

  I walked up to the door and knocked. I didn't try it, all the doors down here were always kept locked. Too much pilfering went on and security was tight. When I came here on my occasional 'inspections' I was always having to dodge security patrols.

  "Who is it?" Buzzed the speaker in the door frame.

  "Neti, here to see Reshera."

  "Come in," the door buzzed and I waved at the optic sensor as I strolled inside. Reshera herself came and let me inside the office from the vestibule herself.

  "Hey ya there handsome!" She smiled and gave me a quick buss.

  "Hey yourself. What's so important that you had to roust me on a Thursday of all days?"

  "What's so big about Thursday?" She asked curious.

  "Payday. There'll be a lot of drunken and rowdy folks tonight. Makes Hal nervous, he doesn't like fights."

  "Oh. Well a job just opened on up here for a general laborer. I though ya'd like ta be the first one to a
pply for it," then she whispered in my ear. "And the only one."

  "What's the pay?" I asked curious, then 'oofed' as she elbowed me in the stomach. I got the message. "What do I do?"

  "Give me your ident disk, and go see the manager. I'll take care of the rest."

  I handed it over and went to the door she pointed at. I knocked lightly.

  "Who is it?" Came a brusk and very human sounding voice.

  "I'm here about the laborer position." I replied slowly.

  "Come in."

  I opened the door and walked inside. It was a pretty nice office, large with nice furnishings. This guy was not only adding to his salary, but he was blatantly showing it off as well. Either he was very stupid, or very powerful.

  I looked him over unobtrusively, he looked to be about thirty five, a little over weight, and about five and a half feet tall. Small for a Human, but not too small.

  "Well, what do you have to say for yourself? I haven't got all day you know!" He demanded looking at me while I waited there.

  "When do I start?" I asked quietly.

  "What makes you think I'll even hire you?" He asked sarcastically. "I gotta' shitload of dumb cats working for me already!"

  "But none of them know anything about the Hanfield line of security systems. Which is the one you're using here in your warehouse. While all the others in this area are relying on more inexpensive models."

  He looked at me a second time. "You know security systems?"

  "I know a few things."

  "Ever run one?"

  "No," I smiled "Just err, played with them. Till I got what I wanted."

  He smiled, "That's more like it. Reshera vouches for you, and I do need a new hand quick. The old one got himself in too much trouble with the gaming tables. You don't gamble do you?"

  "Not if I can help it," I chuckled.

  "Good, show up tomorrow at second shift. I'll have somebody fill you in then."

  And so began my career with the local rackets. The scam was pretty standard, but well run. My new boss, Mister Hannson, was a pretty smooth operator and cautious too. Once a week or so, we raided another one of the warehouses in the area. Sometimes we did it more often, sometimes we did it less. And we were careful about what we took, usually small physical amounts to make it look like pilferage by the local employees, but expensive enough items to earn good money.

  But every once in a while a big job would come through. And that was what we were doing tonight, six months later. We were raiding a large shipment of computer memory blocks, very expensive stuff all right, and under very tight security. I handled my end without a hitch, even if the security system was one so new most people hadn't seen it.

  I had of course, what was new here was still five years old back on Earth. The bonus I would be getting from this one job alone would put me past the halfway mark in the cash I was going to need to buy my passage out. Things were going well. Not great, but well.

  I watched my gauges and displays, when Reshera and the others crawled back out of the hole we had made in the roof, I started to back out of the security system. I nodded as they worked their way by me, then I brought up the rear, doing my best to clean up our traces. Hannson had access to some really wonderful chemicals, so with the careful application of a spray bottle, most physical traces of our passing were quietly dissolved.

  "Well done people," he said to us later at our meeting point, a quiet apartment on the far side of town. "This should keep us solvent for some time to come."

  "When's the next one Sir?" Asked Herund, a Ring Tail Lemur who was very good with locks, and unbelievable with safes. Where he had learned nobody had a clue, and didn't ask.

  "We'll take a break for the next two weeks. This will have a lot of people buzzing and snooping. Also security will be high all over the port, so I'd rather lay low."

  "Sounds good to me," Reshera grinned. "Well, I'm going home. Neti?" She looked at me questioningly.

  "Sure," I said quietly and followed her out of the room. The others grinned and winked as I left. She had been choosing me more of late, and for some reason they all found that amusing. The group did tend to pair off after a job and celebrate, though I only had liaisons with her. I didn't want to form too many attachments.

  "Come 'ere ya' cute Tom," she smiled at me and lightly hooked a claw under my chin, drawing me near.

  "Mrrrr?" I quietly inquired nuzzling her gently.

  "You free tonight?"

  I was still working the bar nights, but I had swapped shifts and worked earlier today, just in case the job ran over. Plus I knew what Reshera usually liked to do after a big job. "Un huh," I mumbled quietly.

  "Not talkin' much tonight are ya?" She grinned leading me down to the street.

  "Not inna' talking mood." I grinned back lazily.

  "Good," She laughed and led me over to her car. We took a slow drive back to her place and spent the evening in rather athletic pursuits.

  This was fine with me, I thought to myself early the next morning as I lay awake in bed, with her curled up against my chest. I gave some thought to my plans, if things continued like this I could be out of here in three or four months.

  I looked at the clock, it was early still and I didn't have to show up at work for almost an hour, but I really wasn't tired. I gently untangled myself from her and got out of bed.

  "Hunnnnn?" She mewed at me as I got up.

  "Work, go back to sleep." I said quietly and she closed her half-open eye and made a little growl of acknowledgement.

  I used her fresher to clean up then headed down to the warehouse. It was a good walk, but I didn't mind. It was nice to get out and stretch my legs every once in a while. I looked at the buildings and the sky in the weak light of the early dawn. It was cloudy and rain seemed to be on the way. Not surprising around here, the weather was always less then perfect.

  It was about then I noticed the car following me.

  Whoever it was, they were really trying to be discrete, but there was very little traffic heading the same way I was. So I eventually noticed it after a couple of miles. I wondered who it was, I had done my best to keep a low profile of course so I didn't think it was a local group. But if it was the company I would have expected a more proactive response.

  I though about this as I continued on, not letting it show I was wise to whoever it was. I did manage to lose the car when I came to the warehouse area, I went through one of the pedestrian gates. I would like to have seen if anybody got out of the car to follow on foot, but it would have been obvious that I was wise to them.

  I put in my ten hours, then went to the bar were I was once again working tonight. I didn't notice anyone following me there, but that didn't mean they weren't. I did my four at the bar, then slipped quietly out the back and started to snoop around myself.

  It took me a while, but I found the car. It was empty and I made a quick pass by it. A quick sniff of the door brought me a surprising scent - female, and a Leopard! If I wasn't suspicious before I was now. The local cops were mostly Dobermans and Shepherds, I made a quick move for the shadows and then the roof tops. Once I got a good vantage point I settled down to watch.

  It didn't take long, I saw a female leopard head for the car followed by a Badger.

  "Do you think we were made?" I thought I heard the Badger ask as they got into the car. I didn't hear her response as he closed the door, but it looked like it was a negative. I sure hoped so.

  They sat there for about two minutes then another car pulled up alongside and a Ferret leaned over and talked with her in very hushed tones for a couple of minutes. I strained my ears all I could and thought I heard comments about where I might have gone.

  But I did hear one word perfectly clear, it was "Jotun", and it was asked as a question. That told me who they were, I guess they still weren't sure it was me, but I doubted that would last much longer.

  But how had they tracked me here?

  They drove off then, I presume in search of me. I decided it
was a good time to go home and see what they knew. I made my way back down to the streets then cautiously through the alleys to the rather poor hovel I rented in a cheap apartment house. I didn't see either of the cars, but I didn't take any chances. I slipped around carefully until I was sure there was no one watching, then snuck quietly inside the back. When I got upstairs I found the room down the hall from mine had an occupant now, it had been vacant since I had moved in.

  A little quiet sniffing around the door told me two important things. The first was that there was a lone Ferret inside right now. The second was that a certain female Leopard had been there in the past. I knocked quietly at the door and waited until I heard the sound of somebody approaching.

  I also heard the distinct sound of the action on a pistol being worked.

  When I judged them to be close enough I kicked the door in with a rather loud crash and attacked. She got out the word 'help' as I kicked her face in, then she collapsed unconscious. I quickly stripped off her headset and slipped it on myself.

  "Tresha? Come in Tresha!" I heard while looking around the room quickly. There was a video monitor set up showing my room, there was also a trigger for some kind of remote detonator. There wasn't much else, this obviously wasn't their base, just a post.

  I found a rather large sack and a crate, it wasn't hard to figure out what they were for. I trussed her up and stuck her in the sack then left quickly carrying her over my shoulder. I could hear the concern in the voice of whoever was trying to contact my new friend, so I didn't doubt that help was on the way. I headed for my own little hidey hole, the one I had set up for just this kind of occasion.

  When I got there I got her out and tied her to the table, she was conscious and obviously in a lot of pain. I dug out the first aid kit I had there and patched her up best I could. After I searched her of course, I didn't want to find out she had a tracker on her when it was too late. She didn't, but she did have a few clips for the gun, which I had brought along.