Book Read Free

Learning the Hard Way 2

Page 25

by H. P. Caledon


  Saleek smiled hugely at his adé, whose attention had diverted to the table where Mike and Jasper were staring their way.

  “Do you want to join us?”

  “Yes! Please? Can we, should we, huh?” Saleek looked at his adé.

  “Yes.”

  Mike sent Keelan a puzzled glance as he returned to the table with the two varanuides.

  They sat, and Jasper shrank in his seat.

  Mike looked at Jasper. “Do you need to use the restroom?”

  “No,” he said in a small voice.

  Keelan looked at Jasper.

  The boy finally nodded. “Yeah, I should...” Jasper got up and left, and once he was far enough away to not listen in, Keelan gave a quick version on how they’d met.

  “So this is one of those loose ends that Lewis wanted to know about,” Mike said, not looking happy.

  “It’s not a loose end, they haven’t told anyone.”

  “You have a pack,” Saleek said, looking happy.

  “I’ve got more than that.” Keelan explained about Alice and a daughter somewhere. Saleek and the adé looked worried.

  “Can we help?”

  “I don’t think so,” Keelan said. “My daughter got here about two years ago. She and another girl around her age, and three older boys. I don’t even know where to start.”

  Jasper came back and sat, so the conversation changed to something he was allowed to participate in, and Mike got to practice his varanian language skills. From a human, it sounded like a completely different language than the one the varanuides spoke, because humans didn’t have the growling organ that made up the guttural part of varanian.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  After having eaten and been hugged fiercely by the youngling Saleek, Keelan, Mike, and Jasper walked Port City in search for the five runaways and Pavlov. Suddenly Keelan stopped and turned to look at a shop window.

  “Jasper, stay here and have a look at this. Mike, follow me,” Keelan whispered and walked off in the direction they had come. Jasper looked puzzled and turned to look at the women’s clothing display, while Mike followed without question. Keelan walked briskly and suddenly sped up, grabbed a man by the collar, kicked his feet out from under him, and sat on his chest.

  “Hello, Pavlov. You are hereby taken into our custody.” Just for that one time, Keelan didn’t hate pulling out his badge, because getting to shove it in Pavlov’s face and see his dismay was worth it.

  “What the hell?” the guy exclaimed, looking surprised. Mike handed Keelan his cuffs, and Keelan turned Pavlov onto his stomach, secured him, and pulled him to his feet.

  “You do know he’s gonna be in cryo for a while if we’re to stay here and search, right?” Mike looked him up on the memo-pad. “He’s gonna end up costing us in use of canisters alone.” Mike held up the pad for Keelan to see the bounty.

  “So, what do you propose?”

  “We could offload him to another team going that way. It’ll cost us five percent.”

  “Fine by me.” Keelan turned Pavlov by the neck toward the spaceport. Two men ran their way, weapons drawn, so Keelan used his free hand to reach for a knife while making them known to Mike, who pulled his gun.

  “Hey, hey.”

  The two men stopped, and one opened his jacket to reveal a lawman’s badge. And, since Keelan had learned the difference, he saw that they were bounty hunters. The guy was in his forties, and his hair was a disaster. The other was gangly with ears like satellite discs.

  “My bounty,” Keelan growled.

  “We’ve been after him for three weeks!” the gangly guy said.

  Mike uttered an indifferent response.

  Keelan schooled his expression. “You wanna buy him?” Keelan asked. “Colony pays twelve and is close.”

  The two men sighed and looked at each other before nodding.

  “Fifteen for us,” the disastrous hair said.

  “Five,” Mike said.

  “Twelve,” the Hair said. “We have to get something out of it, too.”

  “You do. Five percent,” Keelan said.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Gangly asked and stepped up.

  “Oh, sorry. Mike T. Matthews, Kaleb Hunter,” Mike said and held up his ID for them to see before he repeated himself. “Five percent.”

  “Mercs... Matthews? You’re the guy who almost got sliced in half by Keelan Hun—” They stared at Keelan.

  “Five percent,” Keelan growled. Gangly nodded and rummaged through a pocket, while Mike punched something into the memo-pad.

  “Badge numbers, fingerprints, names, and the works. Look in here, please.”

  “Retina scans? You don’t trust people much, do you?” the Hair asked offended.

  “Not you, the difference is the uniform, ‘cause you and I never shared colors.”

  The two bounty hunters looked displeased but cooperated with Mike while Keelan watched and held the brooding Pavlov.

  “Pavlov, caught on Motáll the thirty-seventh of the first term in twenty-six-sixteen,” Mike mumbled while entering the information. Keelan smiled all teeth but with no joy at Pavlov as he let go of him. “I’m pretty sure I should say hi and wish you to go to hell from my recently deceased twin brother, Keelan Hunter. You might remember him from Orlani?”

  Pavlov gaped as he was dragged off.

  “He should have gone to Delta, that would have been a sweet revenge,” Mike muttered as the disastrous hair and his gangly partner led Pavlov away.

  “No, I don’t want Rainer to hear that story.” Keelan turned to get Jasper at the clothing store display.

  “Three weeks... three weeks?” Mike shook his head in disbelief. “Limp-dicked pussies.”

  “And what are we? Lucky limp-dicked pussies? We just stumbled upon him.”

  “No, no, you and I are professionals,” Mike said.

  Keelan suppressed a sarcastic snort.

  “You sound like a pig when you make that noise, you know.”

  “What? Have you ever even heard a pig?”

  “I have, actually,” Mike said, skipping sideways, grinning. “I was nine, and my grandparents had three on their farm. One was named Ball-sack Bill. A huge boar with testicles like...” Mike measured something the size of his own head between his hands.

  “Ball-sack Bill?”

  “Not my idea, I swear!”

  “Aha,” Keelan said, glancing at Jasper’s amused expression.

  As always, Keelan woke up early. They had been on Motáll for almost a week, and other than catching Pavlov it had been a slow and quiet week. So slow and quiet, in fact, that Mike had stayed in town with some female company.

  Jasper slept until about ten. He’d just zombied his way to the bathroom when Keelan heard the ramp open. Minutes later, Mike came into the kitchen and collapsed on the wall bench across from Keelan, a dopey grin plastered on his face.

  “Was it good?”

  “Yup. It’s been a long time since I’ve been hit up by a woman like that.”

  “Hit up?”

  “Yeah, you know. Where she’s the one to approach and chat you up for sex.”

  “Other than Alice, women have always approached with their hand out before asking if I wanted company.”

  “Okay, well, it’s not always like that.”

  “So, what... you found a lady friend?” Keelan asked, thinking it odd that he’d never thought about what that would do to their partnership.

  “In this business? No.”

  “I have Alice.”

  “Do you think she’d wait for you while you fly the known Systems to collect bounties? Even if we do find your daughter, will she wait while you earn the credits it takes for you to set the three of you up on an Agro planet? It’s not as lucrative as people might think, considering how long you sit still in route and how much equipment, detailing, and repairs are needed. Unless you only go for the big booties, but they’re harder to track and like wet soap once you get close. And in between all that, you don
’t see her or your daughter.”

  “So what are my options? Stop and live with Alice on Verion four as a bartender?”

  “If it’s what you want,” Mike said, shrugging.

  Keelan looked into his mug. He didn’t know what he wanted. Since he’d claimed his new identity, he’d tried to identify the feeling that Mike thought he knew but which Keelan wasn’t so sure he could. It finally struck him why that was.

  Keelan had always been either imprisoned or on the skip. Now he didn’t have anything to run from, and other than finding his daughter, he no longer had an objective that didn’t demand Alice’s consent. He’d never thought that far before. It was always just to avoid being caught, the next jail, the next escape, and even escapes had several steps to focus on individually. So did not being caught again.

  Always just one step at the time.

  But now?

  Next step was to find his daughter. But after that? More kids? What would Alice even say to him being classified as a predatory species that it was okay to kill on sight? That their kids might be? He couldn’t imagine it to be a fact dropped after hot lovemaking, served with the morning coffee, or even discussed, ever.

  And what about Mike? If Keelan found peace and quiet with Alice and tended bar on Verion four for the rest of his life, what would Mike do? Gather a new team, or find a woman, settle down, and make casseroles?

  Everything sounded so farfetched, and Keelan had trouble imagining any of it. It was all so cliché of a normal life. Or in Keelan’s case, a dream life, because he’d only read about that kind of life. He’d never experienced it. But Mike had. And if Mike couldn’t find himself a sweet Agro girl and grow his own crops, then what chances in the worlds did Keelan have?

  Was he a pessimist or a realist? A naïve fool, maybe?

  A beeping from the cockpit interrupted his thoughts, and Mike left to answer. Keelan followed to listen, but it was just the Hunter from Spec Edit five calling to inform of their landing.

  Keelan was still lost in his own thoughts as they packed Jasper’s belongings and walked him to the awaiting Hunter. Jasper was nervous and talked to keep himself going. The soldiers were smiling and accommodating, and Jasper’s nervousness seemed to dim as the soldiers expressed understanding and remembering how it was for them, too. The other two recruits arrived and were settled in before takeoff.

  Jasper met up with Mike and Keelan at the end of the ramp. He sighed heavily and looked at Mike a few beats before he hugged him.

  “Thank you. Both of you,” he said and let go.

  “You’re welcome, Jasper. Now remember, this opportunity can lead you to wherever you want it to. But hard work is what gets you there.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jasper said and stepped up the ramp, smiling. The soldiers returned from their check and smiled at them.

  “Matthews and Hunter,” one said and both saluted. Keelan felt weird doing the same.

  The soldiers and Jasper went up the ramp while Mike and Keelan left the platform.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Mike asked while they walked back to their own ship.

  “We keep searching,” Keelan mumbled.

  “We can’t do that forever. We don’t have the credits for it,” Mike said apologetically. “We know where she is, so we can have our breaks here and look for her.”

  Keelan nodded, knowing he was right. He just really didn’t want to leave there without her.

  “I found a bounty here. We could run it down and take it to Delta,” Mike suggested.

  “What’s it worth?”

  “Twelve thou.”

  “Who?”

  “A robber, Norman Petterson. He tried to take a freight transporter loaded with electrical equipment for the net worth of about one hundred fifty thousand. He fucked it up and ended up killing the chauffeur and a guard and left without the transporter. SWIS has his retinas marked here two days ago on a tasarik bar near the orange zone. That’s the—”

  “Freight docks.”

  “Exactly. We roll tonight?”

  Keelan nodded, glad to have something to occupy his mind with.

  Just before dusk, Keelan and Mike moved out and walked their separate streets in the area Keelan had walked years earlier with a hooker as his guide. He smiled at how much his life had changed since.

  “Hey, looking for company?” a woman asked and stepped up close. It wasn’t the same woman.

  Keelan smiled at her and pulled out his ID and a photo-frame to show her Norman Petterson.

  “Have you seen this guy?” he asked and was given the same glare that he would have given someone with a badge a few months earlier.

  “Fuck off! You’re scaring away my clients.”

  Keelan looked around demonstratively. “What clients?”

  She still just glared at him.

  Keelan hated his way of approaching the situation. He pulled out fifty credits and held them up. “Have you seen him?”

  She held out her hand.

  “Just so we’re clear, a no, haven’t seen him, won’t earn you the fifty,” Keelan said, holding back the money.

  She looked even more pissed than before, rolled her eyes, and left.

  “K, I have a visual on the target.”

  “On my way,” Keelan mumbled and looked at his crono.

  Ten minutes later, Keelan spotted Mike talking to a prostitute further ahead.

  “Do you really think this is the time?” Keelan asked.

  “Sorry, gotta go,” Mike said to her and walked away.

  “You didn’t flash your ID, did you?”

  “Nope,” Mike said, grinning. “Target found a girl up ahead. They’re in the third alley on your side.”

  They moved that way—Mike faster than Keelan. He walked past the alley, glancing into it.

  “They’re there, and they’re busy.”

  “Should we let him finish?” Keelan asked, remembering his and Jasper’s conversation about lawmen not having the honor or even decency to let people finish necessities like finishing on the toilet. Letting them finish sex had to count.

  “Might make him a bit more cooperative.”

  “I’ll take the back way.” Keelan found a fire escape in an alley, tip-toeing past another man with a prostitute—that one male, by the sound of it. From there, Keelan made it up and across the roof to where their target was getting busy.

  They waited another ten minutes.

  Petterson finished his business and straightened his clothes.

  “Going down,” Keelan whispered and descended as silently as possible. The prostitute made it out of the alley before Mike stepped into the opening.

  “Norman Petterson, you are hereby taken into custody.”

  Norman pulled a weapon, and Keelan jerked to jump him but lost his footing as a rusty hinge broke. Patterson aimed up and a shot echoed. Keelan stood completely still, waiting for the pain to shoot through him somewhere. Instead, he heard someone groan.

  “M!”

  “Yeah, yeah, no reason to shout. Come on down,” Mike said.

  Keelan looked over the edge of the fire escape at their moaning target, sitting on his knees and holding his arm close. Keelan hurried down while Mike closed in on Patterson and kicked the weapon aside.

  “Let me see your arms.”

  “You shot me!”

  “You pulled a weapon on us,” Mike said. “Now put your arms out so I can see how hurt you are.”

  Norman finally held his arms out. Mike had shot all the way through the left lower arm, but it looked like the bullet was lodged in the right.

  “Child-friendly ammo?” Keelan asked and jumped the last two rungs.

  “Yeah, or the bounty gets too low for it to be worth the trouble,” Mike said, still holding his gun on Patterson. “Cuffs?”

  “With injured arms?”

  “Less resistance,” Mike said and shrugged.

  “Just how closely have you worked with the physician?”

  “Come on. We put him in cryo after we
patch him up.”

  Keelan found the cuffs and put them on the gaping prisoner. Keelan then hauled him to his feet, and they exited the alley with Petterson cursing up a storm and groaning. Every eye on the street was on them, and even Keelan found it wise to keep his weapon out.

  Keelan almost sighed in relief at finally making it to a smaller and quieter street. He wished for a team member to stand by with a transporter, but that wasn’t safe for a two-man crew, so they had to walk. Good thing Mike hadn’t shot Petterson in the leg, or they’d have to spend credits and waste time finding a taxi who wanted to transport someone bleeding.

  Someone ran onto their street further ahead. Keelan studied the slight frame and shifted his eyes.

  His stomach dropped. “It’s her,” he whispered, but his voice failed him.

  “Run,” Mike said and pushed Norman into an alley. Keelan burst into a sprint, but then someone else ran into the street and followed his daughter. As far as Keelan could see, it was a young man. Twelve seconds later, two men followed, and Keelan ducked for cover.

  “Stop, identify yourself!” a man yelled.

  “Matthews, mercenary!” Mike yelled and held both arms up—his ID in one hand. The men ran right past Keelan’s cover.

  “Bounty hunter,” one of them said and held out his ID. “Santiago, in pursuit of a target.”

  “I got mine here,” Mike said and pointed.

  Santiago looked into the alley. “Did you see which way the first one ran?”

  “Yeah, that way. Met up with a couple other youngsters.” Mike pointed in the opposite direction of where Keelan’s daughter had run.

  Keelan smiled and almost chuckled as the two bounty hunters ran off in the direction Mike pointed the.

  Mike turned to look roughly at where Keelan was hiding. “Find her, I’ll drag Norman to the ship. Keep in contact.”

  “Thanks.” Keelan ran off as soon as the two men were out of sight. Half a mile later Keelan feared the half minute delay had resulted in him losing her scent, but instead of being upset about it, he tried to remember where he would have hidden at that age. There were a lot of hiding places, but Keelan was pretty sure that if he called out the two possible names, she would expect him to be a badge and stay hidden.

 

‹ Prev