“Wow, that’s delicious, thank you,” she said. She tucked her feet up beneath her and wrapped her hands around the mug to warm them while she waited for the Gryphons to get themselves a drink and settle down. By the time they were all ready, she had decided to tell them everything.
“I’m a bounty hunter,” she said. She raised her mug and took another sip, giving them a moment to absorb that.
“You hunt criminals for money?” Rand said after a long moment.
“Yes, in short,” she replied.
“Until this night, I would never have guessed such a thing,” Olaf said. “Your demeanor has been somewhat...meek...for a bounty hunter.”
“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “It’s not easy living a disguise, especially when you have to do it for months on end.”
“I cannot conceive of how difficult it would be to do such a thing,” Olaf agreed. “Will you tell us why it was necessary?”
“Because I’m hiding from the Xanti,” Aisling replied.
Olaf, Rand and Rudy gaped at her for so long that Aisling nearly smiled. When Olaf closed his mouth and cleared his throat, Rand and Rudy closed their mouths as well.
“The Xanti,” Olaf said, his voice a deep growl.
Aisling nodded.
“Why are the Xanti after you?” Olaf asked.
“That’s kind of a long story,” Aisling said.
“We don’t care how long it is,” Olaf said.
“We are very patient,” Rand added.
Aisling took another sip of her drink. “As I told you before, my parents worked on Welfare ships for many years. When they decided to settle down and have a child, they were older than most first time parents. When I was about five, they started to worry about what would happen to me if they died, so they asked my Mom’s younger brother, Urwin, to come and live with us. He was the only relative either of them had, so he was the obvious choice. He was about twenty at the time.
“After a year or so, they named him my legal guardian in the event of their deaths, and gave him a large amount of money for the privilege. I was never all that fond of my uncle, nor he of me. He pretended to care about me for my parents’ sake, but I think children always know when adults don’t like them. Maybe it’s a survival instinct.”
Aisling took another sip of her drink while she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to say. Even after all these years, she still found it difficult to speak of.
“About a week after my seventeenth birthday, my father fell down the stairs in our home and died, which was disturbing since he never used the stairs. He had a depth perception problem that, even though he’d had corrective surgery, made him nervous about stairs. He always used the elevator.
“Seven months later, my Mom died when she was hit by a speeding ground-car one evening while out walking her little dog.”
Aisling paused as Olaf, Rand and Rudy all bowed their heads and raised their right fists to their hearts. She sensed their sadness for her, and realized this was their way of acknowledging her grief. She was so touched by the solemn gesture that she had to bite the inside of her lip to hold back the tears. The Gryphons waited patiently until she was ready to continue.
“Before my mother died,” she went on after a few moments, “she tossed Uncle Urwin out of the house and told him that he was no longer my legal guardian. After her death, the new documents she’d drawn up were nowhere to be found. That gave Uncle Urwin five months to get his hands on my inheritance. By the time I turned eighteen there wasn’t a dime of it left.
“I had the house and furnishings, and one account that my mother had set up for me before her death. I was informed of the account after my birthday, as per her wishes, along with the key to a safe deposit box. The box held the deeds to the house and some other property, as well as her jewelry, things like that. There was also a copy of the missing Will that removed Urwin as my guardian, and a long letter from her. In the letter, she told me what she suspected her younger brother of doing. You see, he murdered both of my parents because he had huge gambling debts. Debts that my father had paid off for him several times, until finally, just a few days before his death, he’d said no.
“Mom had very little evidence, but I took what there was to the police. They investigated and concluded that Urwin had murdered them both. He hadn’t even been all that careful about covering his tracks, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. He disappeared, and of course all of the money was gone. Thanks to Mom I wasn’t destitute, but Urwin had stolen more than money. He’d taken my parents, my sense of security, and my trust.
“About six months after I lost Mom, I pulled myself together and decided to go to school. Only instead of studying medicine as I’d intended, I studied law and criminology. Two years later I went to my dorm on campus in between classes, and Urwin was there, sitting on the end of my bed like he belonged there.
“He’d gone through the money he’d stolen from me, so he looked me up, found out I was in college and assumed that must mean I still had some money and he wanted it. I told him that I didn’t have any money, I was on a scholarship. I don’t know if he believed me or not. I know only that he didn’t get anything from me other than the satisfaction of beating me up. Luckily my roommate interrupted him before he got too carried away and he disappeared again.
“I realized that as long as Urwin was alive, I was never going to be free of him. He would always come back for more. I needed to learn to protect myself because I knew that I’d let him kill me before I ever gave him anything, and I really didn’t want to die at his hands like my parents had. So I dropped out of school and began studying what I really needed to know.
“I spent the next few years studying self defense, hand to hand combat and weapons. I know how to use most laser and energy weapons, but I discovered that I have a particular affinity for edged weapons. And an uncanny ability to hit whatever I aim at with one.”
“Eventually the money Mom had left me began to run out, so I began bounty hunting. Just a few jobs here and there at first, but after a while I realized I was pretty good at it. Nobody expected me to be a bounty hunter and even if they did, they weren’t too concerned about me.
“They saw a petite, delicate looking woman and underestimated her with a single glance,” Olaf guessed.
“Exactly,” Aisling replied. “At first I was irritated by that, but I quickly learned that I needed to adjust my attitude. Why be irritated by something that was working so well for me? They underestimated me, and I took full advantage of it.”
“It is wise for a warrior to recognize and use his or her assets, whatever they might be, to aid them in battle,” Olaf said.
“What are your favorite edged weapons?” Rand asked.
“Knives, various types of shuriken, and sai,” she replied.
Rand laughed. “I know what knives are, but the others you will have to explain to us.”
“Shuriken means sword hidden in the hand,” Aisling explained. “Over the centuries there have been many different types and styles of shuriken, from needles to small blades. I prefer star shaped shuriken which are small enough for me to hold in my hand without being easily seen. I have them custom made for me for balance and weight.”
“Yes, we are familiar with a similar type of weapon used by the Terians,” Olaf said. “With your accuracy, I would imagine that to be a good weapon for you.”
“Yes, its my distance weapon of choice,” Aisling said. “I can use guns, but I prefer the shuriken. For close fighting, I use sai in combination with a type of acrobatic fighting called tiketa.”
“Tiketa we are familiar with,” Rudy said. “Arima Sage Lobo is especially talented in that form of fighting. However, she does not use a weapon.”
“In my line of work, sai give me the extra edge I need since the criminals I go after are always armed,” Aisling said.
“And a sai is what exactly?” Rand asked.
“There are different styles, but I prefer the style that�
��s a dagger shaped rod with curved prongs projecting from the handle end. Mine are custom made of steel with perfect balance so that, if I wish, I can throw them.”
“You do not have any of your weapons with you, do you?” Olaf asked.
“No, I don’t,” Aisling replied. “I was kidnapped by the Brethren when I was out on the street with nothing more than the clothes I was wearing.”
“How did they manage to capture you?” Rudy asked.
“Long distance tranquilizer dart,” Aisling said with a hint of bitterness. “I was furious to find myself in that desert compound, and I nearly broke cover. Then Berta described the Brethren as an ancient reptilian race. My father had suspected there was a reptilian race on Earth that had connections with the Xanti. The name he used was not Brethren, but I decided to play it safe anyway. The Xanti were the reason I was under cover to begin with.”
“Why were you hiding from the Xanti?” Olaf asked, returning to the original question.
“In the letter my Mom left me she told me that there was a memory crystal that contained all my father’s research. Decades worth of information collected on the Xanti, and the refugees from the Xanti Empire. Dad’s life’s work. In his Will he instructed Mom to create the memory crystal and destroy his computers, which she did. The crystal went missing before she was able to get it to the vault, and my mother suspected that Urwin took it. She confronted him about it, and he not only admitted taking it, he taunted her with it. For years he had been jealous of my parents, their money and their intelligence. He didn’t really understand what the crystal held other than that it was Dad’s life’s work. He told my mother that, so long as he had the crystal, he had all of father’s knowledge, proving he was the smartest of them all.
“For a time, I was worried that he would try to sell the crystal to the highest bidder. It holds information that most worlds would pay handsomely for. But as the years went by, I realized that he not only couldn’t do that, he wouldn’t.”
“Why not?” Olaf asked.
“First, he’s a wanted man on at least a dozen worlds. There’s no way he can approach a legitimate government and offer that data without getting himself sent to the furthest prison planet in the galaxy. Or being executed. But, even more importantly, he won’t sell it because he will never willingly give up that crystal, or the knowledge it holds. It’s a trophy to him. It’s his proof that he’s better than my parents because they’re dead, and he holds their life work in his hands.”
“Yes, you are most likely correct,” Olaf said. “So you think he still has that data?”
“Yes, I do,” Aisling replied. “In fact, I know he does. A couple of years ago I almost caught him. I came close enough to see him, and, unfortunately, for him to see me as well. Until then he had no idea I was the bounty hunter who’d been tracking him for so long.
“Urwin has no real idea of what is on that memory crystal, but he does know that the focus of Dad’s research was the Xanti. He contacted the Xanti and told them that my father had compiled a lot of damning information about them, and that I had that information on a memory crystal in my possession. Basically, he sicced the Xanti on me, and then sent me a message to let me know he had won again.”
“Nice,” Rand growled.
“Yes,” Aisling agreed. “He also told them exactly where I was and what I looked like. I didn’t really believe him until the Xanti almost got me while I was returning from Terien after delivering a bounty. I escaped, but when I returned to Earth I found three men waiting for me in my home. I escaped again, but I was injured.”
“So that’s why you haven’t had your injury corrected?” Rudy asked. “You’re afraid of being caught while you’re in a healing tank?”
“Partly,” Aisling replied. “And partly because it helps with the disguise. The Xanti don’t know I was injured in that last fight with their agents, so it became an asset for me when I went into hiding.”
“So if your current appearance is a disguise, what do you really look like?” Rudy asked.
“I didn’t change my looks,” Aisling replied. “This is my real hair color, and eye color. I didn’t have any surgery done to change my face. I just changed my demeanor. I became shy, withdrawn, quiet and uncertain of myself. The limp added to the persona. My hair is an unusual color so it would seem to be a given that I would have changed it when I went into hiding. Which is why I didn’t change it.”
“That is bold,” Olaf said approvingly. “Bold and smart.”
“Maybe too smart,” Aisling said. “I booked a trip to Jasan and went so far as to hire someone to take the trip in my place in an effort to throw the Xanti off. It was that trip to Jasan that I never even took that put me on the Brethren’s list.”
“Do you still use your real name?” Rand asked.
“Sort of,” Aisling replied. “It’s the same name, just spelled differently, with a false last name. It’s important to know your own weaknesses, and one of mine is that I have a difficult time not reacting to my own name. I knew that pretending to be a Mary or Joan wasn’t going to work for me.”
“So you went into hiding from the Xanti, got abducted by the Brethren who injected you with a Controller, were brought all the way to Jasan to have the Controller removed, and now you find yourself here, translating for us,” Olaf said. “It doesn’t sound like you’ve had much control of your life for a while. You can’t be too happy about that.”
“Actually, I don’t mind at all,” Aisling replied. “For one thing, the Xanti do not know where I am, and if they did, I don’t think they can get to me here. It’s nice to be able to relax a little, and I think I’m safe enough to finally get my injury fixed. For another thing, I’m doing something right now that nobody else can do, something that will, hopefully, hurt the Xanti.”
“Now that you feel safe, will you consent to having your injury corrected?” Olaf asked.
“Yes,” Aisling replied. “I want to finish the translations first, though. Just in case something goes wrong.” She covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned widely. “Excuse me.”
“I think you need to go to bed now,” Rand said, taking her empty mug from her hands.
“I agree,” Aisling said.
“I would ask one more question, if you do not mind,” Olaf said
“Sure.”
“What about Urwin? Do you know where he is?”
“Not at the moment, no,” she replied. “I’ve sent a message to my friend, Jessi, back on Earth. The only person in the universe that I actually trust. I got a reply from her today saying that she hasn’t heard a thing in months. I’ve set up a substantial reward for information on his whereabouts, no questions asked. I’ve gotten a few good leads on him over the years, but he always manages to slip away from me. So far. One day I will catch him, and when I do, I will get my father’s data back. I have no doubt of that.”
“Nor do I,” Olaf agreed.
Chapter 13
High Prince Garen Dracon finished reading his latest incoming message and leaned back in his chair. He wasn’t sure what was more shocking. That Mara Winicke had been abducted from her home by the Brethren leader, Stalnek. That she had deliberately faked an injury to escape from them. Or that she had contacted him, of all people, with a request for help, and a promise of new information on the Narrasti and the Brethren’s location. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought it was all some kind of joke.
“You are not going to believe this,” he said to Trey who was sitting across from him.
“What?” Trey asked, looking up from his cattle marketing report. Even with the heightened military presence on the ranch, the increased number of families now living there, and the increase in their responsibilities as Princes to their people, they were still running a cattle ranch. They just had less time to do it in.
“We just received a message from Mara Winicke,” Garen replied.
“You’re correct,” Trey replied. “I don’t believe it.”
Garen
glanced up as the door opened and Val stepped in.
“Just in time,” he said, waving his youngest brother toward a seat. He turned the monitor on his desk so that they could see it, then replayed the message from Mara. When the message was finished he stopped it, then waited for their reaction.
“Damn,” Trey said softly. “The Brethren have the ability to transport people off of Jasan without our knowledge? I thought it was the Xanti. That’s bad.”
“Yes, it is,” Garen agreed. “However, I believe that such a thing is no longer possible.”
“Why is that?” Val asked.
“Now that we are able to see through Blind Sight, no one can get close enough to Jasan to effect transportation,” Garen replied.
“Obvious answer, but I didn’t even think of it,” Val said.
“What I don’t get is, why would Mara Winicke call us for help?” Trey asked.
“I think she wants to come back to Jasan to collect on the deal we made with her, but she does not have the funds, though she didn’t say that directly,” Garen said.
“I wonder if the new information she says she has on the Brethren is worth the price of return passage,” Trey said.
“Where is she?” Val asked.
“Lapu 12, adeep space refueling station in the Regulus Sector,” Garen replied.
Trey did some rapid mental calculations. “The timing is right if the Brethren were using a yacht and avoided all jump points,” he said. “From what Arima Bearen and Miss Berta have told us, that is likely.”
“If she knows where the Brethren have gone with the Narrasti, then she is correct,” Garen said. “That information is most definitely worth the price of passage for her to return to Jasan. I don’t particularly want that woman on Jasan again, but I do want that information.”
“Absolutely,” Trey agreed.
“I don’t think we should bring her back to Jasan,” Val said, surprising Garen and Trey.
“Why not?” Trey asked. “This information could be vital to us.”
“I agree, but bringing her back to Jasan might be an unnecessary risk,” Val said. “What she has is information, and she does not need to be here, on Jasan, to give us that information. I suggest that we send her the new identity we set up for her, and the access codes for the money in return for what she has to tell us.”
Laura Jo Phillips Page 10
