Chapter 8
Aaron awoke lying on a carpeted floor. His hands were pulled behind his back and bound tightly. He was lying on his stomach and he kept his eyes closed. He could hear voices and he didn’t want his captors knowing that he was conscious.
“Good thing I was there,” a woman’s voice said, “your boy Xim was getting his ass kicked.”
The woman’s voice came from Aaron’s right but he was facing his left. It didn’t matter though, as he wasn’t ready to open his eyes yet.
“Maybe Lela should be your chief enforcer,” a man’s deep gravelly voice said. There was a joking tone to the voice and several people laughed. The laughs cut off quickly and a voice that Aaron recognized as Xim spoke.
“Any idiot can stun a man. The objective was to bring him here in a state where he could talk. I don’t think that was accomplished by stunning him. We all know that stun blasts can kill.”
“But it didn’t kill him and without a stun gun he would have gotten away,” the woman’s voice replied. She sounded a little indignant.
“You’re both right,” a new speaker said. It was a man but not Xim or the deep-voiced man from before. This man spoke in a commanding tone. “I did want to speak with him and the stun gun will delay that.” There was a brief pause. “How long until he wakes up?”
“At least an hour or two,” the woman answered.
Aaron nearly started at that but managed to refrain. An hour or two? Estimating the recovery time from a stun blast was fairly straight forward and he wondered why the woman had been off by such a large amount. Then a new thought occurred to him, Perhaps it’s because I’m a cyborg.
“How did he defeat you?” The man with the commanding tone asked. He seemed to be in charge.
“I’m not sure, Sebastian,” Xim replied with a sigh. “He knows some of the same fighting techniques I use and I was completely unprepared for it.” There was the briefest of hesitations. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“If you need to fight him again, just let me know and I’ll bring my stungun,” the woman said.
“Lela! Enough!” Sebastian snapped.
The conversation continued for a while in much the same manner. It seemed that this Sebastian kept his subordinates in competition with each other. Aaron only half-listened. He opened his eyes to mere slits and saw that he faced a wall. The wall was completely devoid of furnishings and Aaron opened his eyes to get a better view, but it didn’t help. He was lying on his stomach with his head facing the wall, in order to see anything he would have to turn his head and that was out of the question.
Trying to move as little as possible, Aaron tested his bonds. There was some play in them and he was surprised that the restraints were no more than leather cords; fairly primitive compared to some of the more advanced ways of restraining a captive. He twitched his feet and was pleased to find them unbound. Either his captors were extremely lax on security or they didn’t view him as much of a threat. Either way he intended to take advantage of the situation. He wasn’t sure he could escape, but he had to try.
He was just summoning up his courage to make a run for it, when several people left the room. Two human men and an alien chukurak stepped over him and moved to the blank wall. Aaron started and hastily narrowed his eyes to mere slits. No one seemed to have noticed his eyes being open and the three turned right at the wall. A moment later Aaron heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening and closing. He hadn’t realized the exit to this room lay in front of him.
He lay there for several more moments, once again working up the courage to try for freedom. He could still hear several voices coming from behind him and he had no idea how many there were or in what direction they were looking.
Taking a deep breath, Aaron put pressure on the leather bonds and began pulling his left arm up, while at the same time pushing his right arm down. After just a moment the bonds slipped over his left wrist and he was free. He hastily rolled over as quiet as he could and sat up.
The empty wall and the exit were to his right, and he quickly looked to his left. Relief flooded over him at the sight that greeted him. He was seated on the floor behind a large couch. He couldn’t see what was beyond it, but two people sat on the couch. On the left side was Xim; he was holding a cooling treatment to his face.
On the other end of the couch, Aaron could see the back of a woman’s head. Her hair was jet black and hung down to her shoulders. He had glimpsed the woman that had stunned him, but he couldn’t remember what she looked like for anything. He assumed it was the same person.
Aaron could see one other person; a large man stood on this side of the couch and leaned on the couch’s high back. He was white with shoulder length greasy hair. He appeared to be almost too big to stand up for long periods of time. Aaron assumed that was why he was leaning on the couch.
All three of them were facing away and, for the moment, had not noticed his movement. Even better than that was the plasma pistol the big man wore on his belt.
Aaron didn’t stand, instead he rolled over onto his knees and crawled slowly towards the couch. He moved slowly, fearful that, at any moment, one of his joints might pop. He even held his breath so as to make as little noise as possible.
Reaching the large man’s backside, Aaron moved off of his knees and onto his feet, although he still knelt down. Deciding it was time, his hand shot out and grabbed the pistol and he jumped to his feet.
The big man started to turn but Aaron never gave him the chance. He whipped out a blow with his left hand and caught the man in the kidneys. There was a loud thud as the man collapsed to his back, howling as he fell.
Aaron was closer to the woman, and he suspected that Xim was less likely to have a weapon. He swiveled the gun in her direction. She had already started to turn, bringing up her stun gun as she moved. She froze at the sight of Aaron pointing a gun in her face from pointblank range. She swallowed hard.
Aaron flicked his eyes up, taking a quick survey of the room. Xim’s only movement had been to pull the medical treatment from his face and look over. His eyes went wide to see Aaron holding a gun on them. Aaron was pleased to see a second medical treatment between the man’s legs.
Seven or eight feet in front of the couch was a desk and a man sat behind the desk. He was slim and Aaron guessed him to be in his late forties or early fifties. He was white with short black hair and several days of stubble. He wore expensive clothes and sat relaxed in his chair, even with Aaron waving a gun around.
Aaron glanced back to the woman; she had froze with her stungun halfway raised. Aaron motioned with the pistol in his hand. “Throw your gun out into the middle of the room.” The woman hesitated, she couldn’t know that Aaron had no compunction about killing her. His finger was already beginning to tighten on the trigger, when the man at the desk spoke.
“Do as he says, Lela.” He spoke with an unmistakable tone of command.
The woman glanced at the older man and then tossed her stungun into the open space between the couch and the desk.
Aaron spared a moment to look around the room. The man he had sucker-punched was still groaning on the ground and Xim hadn’t moved a muscle. In addition to the couch, there were three chairs in front of the desk. The wall behind the desk was covered in expensive looking cabinets and shelves. Several plants and floor lamps completed the furnishings. All in all, it was rather Spartan.
Turning his gaze back to the man seated at the desk, Aaron asked, “Who are you and why am I here?”
The older man, being careful to keep both hands in view, smiled. “My name is Sebastian Locke,” he said simply.
Aaron swallowed hard at that. In their brief time on this shithole of a planet he had managed to hear the name of Sebastian Locke. The man was a crime boss and one of the bigger players, too. Official stats weren’t kept on such things, but Aaron figured he was one of the big three crime leaders. It was a rather unsettling feeling to have come to the man’s attention. “And why am I here?” A
aron repeated.
“For a friendly chat,” Locke answered. “I assure you no harm will come to you.” He motioned at the ground where the large man was still groaning. “Do you mind if Lela and Xim help Colin to the infirmary?”
Xim’s eyes widened. “Sir, I don’t think you should be alone with him.”
Lela snickered. “What could you do even if you stayed?”
“Enough!” Locke called out firmly. He turned his attention back to Aaron. “Will you let them leave?”
After a moment, Aaron nodded. Lela got to her feet and walked around the couch. Aaron backed away as she bent down and pulled the groaning Colin to his feet. Xim did not offer to help but instead led the way out of the room, limping.
When they were gone, Locke climbed to this feet and motioned to the couch. “Please have a seat.” It was polite and friendly, but the tone was commanding.
Feeling that this meeting had already started off badly, Aaron walked around the couch and sat down on the left side, in the same spot where Xim had been sitting. He kept the gun by his side, careful not to point it at the crime boss. Locke came around the edge of his desk and sat down in one of the chairs.
“All right, we’re sitting,” Aaron said after a moment’s silence. “Care to tell me what this is about?”
Locke smiled. “I recently bought some information,” he paused briefly before adding, “and a shuttle from a man named Grameszky.”
Aaron immediately recognized the man but he fought hard to keep his face blank, even as a cold shutter ran down his back.
“This Grameszky told me about you and your little group. My techs have gone over the shuttle and tell me it’s in excellent shape. They say it looks like the shuttle was maintained by the military.” He paused but Aaron didn’t speak. “I’m good at figuring things out and it seems to me that you and your friends are ex-military. I would also guess that your service ended quite recently. Now, there are several possible explanations for this. I don’t fancy you as deserters or thieves, so I have to wonder how you came by this shuttle. Based on your appearance and accent, I would guess you are either from the Miram Union or perhaps the Commonwealth.” Still Aaron said nothing. “It would make sense for a squad from the Commonwealth to take a shuttle and flee. The Unionists don’t treat their prisoners very well.”
Surprised, Aaron cocked his head. Unless he was mistaken there was real anger in Locke’s words. “What do you want?”
Locke smiled again and slid back in his seat. He crossed his legs and regarded Aaron for several moments. “I want to hire you.”
Aaron blinked, surprised for the second time in mere moments. “Hire me?”
“You, and your friends.”
“For what?”
Locke took a deep breath. “What do you know about me?”
Shrugging, Aaron opened his mouth and then closed it again. He had to be careful here, he didn’t want to piss this man off.
Locke noticed the hesitation. “It’s all right. Tell me what you’ve heard.”
“Well,” Aaron began slowly, “you’re supposed to be one of the bigger crime bosses operating in this area.” He took a deep breath, trying to remember the things he had heard. “Supposedly not as sadistic as the others.” Locke grunted and Aaron realized how the words had sounded. He shrugged. “Sorry.” Locke smiled and waved his hands for Aaron to continue. “You’re into smuggling and gambling, but I don’t know what else.”
A brief silence settled on them when Aaron finished speaking. It was broken by Locke saying, “The gossip about me is right, at least for the most part. Like you said, I’m not as sadistic as my competition, but I’m also not into the same types of things as they are.” He paused and considered his words. “I do some smuggling and I do have considerable investments in the casinos here, but I’m not into prostitution, slavery, murder for hire, or any of a number of other things that the other groups routinely get involved in. Furthermore, I am loyal to my people and I won’t betray them so long as they don’t betray me.” Aaron’s eyes had gone a little wide at the confessions and Locke noticed. “What?”
“I’m just surprised you would say all these things to an absolute stranger. I mean, what if I was in law enforcement?”
Locke’s grin grew even bigger. “But you’re not an absolute stranger. My people have been following you for weeks.”
The words staggered Aaron. “You’ve been following us?” he finally managed to get out, “for weeks?”
Locke nodded. “I know about your four friends. I know that two of them seem to have an unending supply of good luck at the casinos,” he paused and met Aaron’s stunned gaze. “I’m invested in some of those casinos. I also know that the other two members of your group have been running a makeshift clinic in the poorer sections of the city.”
Aaron stared. It was bad enough that this criminal knew about Susan and Russell, but what the hell was this about a clinic? He didn’t say anything and simply waited for Locke to continue. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Care to tell me how those two always seem to win, albeit in small amounts?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Aaron said as calmly as he could. “Are they alright?”
Locke waved his hand. “I wouldn’t even noticed the amounts of money that they’re stealing,” he paused and leaned forward in his chair, “but sooner or later the casinos will notice. And when that happens things will end very badly.”
Confused, Aaron chose not to respond immediately. His first impression was that Locke had mentioned Russell and Susan as a sort of threat, but that didn’t seem to be the case. “So you want to hire us?” he asked, thinking maybe Locke wanted them to help improve his casino security or something.
“Yes,” Locke replied and slid back in his chair. “Grameszky told me that you want to buy a ship, maybe do some smuggling.” Aaron nodded hesitantly and Locke continued, “I can help you there.”
“How?”
“I can use people like you. You’re ex-military which means you already have discipline. You also undoubtedly have some other skills which I can use. For instance the blond woman is running a clinic; from what I understand she has some skill, too. I can always use a doctor. In addition, you want to own a ship and become a smuggler.” He idly scratched his right hand. “Most smugglers don’t last very long before they get caught. I’ve been in business for nearly thirty years and have never been caught. I can teach you the tricks of the trade and at the same time you can earn the credits you need to buy your ship.”
“You want me to smuggle for you?” Aaron asked. He felt like he was in a daze, this was completely unexpected. “How long would it take to earn the kind of money we need for a ship?”
“That depends on what type of ship you want and how free you are with your credits. I would guess two or three years.”
Aaron’s heart sank at the very thought of spending two or three years on this miserable little planet.
Aaron arrived back at their apartment several hours after the sun had gone down. He took a deep breath before opening the door and entering the cramped living spaces.
“Thank the gods!” Jessica exclaimed. Her eyes were wide and she looked genuinely worried. “Where have you been?”
Anger threatened to bubble up from within him at her question. She, who was running a clinic and keeping it from him, was demanding to know where he had been. “I’ve just been wandering through the poorer parts of the city. I was thinking maybe you could set up a small and free medical clinic.” He said the words harsher than he wanted to; he just couldn’t help it.
Jessica blinked and her expression hardened, then she sighed. “I didn’t tell you because I was afraid of how you react.”
Russell and Adam had both bolted to their feet when he entered and now they stood there, looking uncomfortably from one to another. Susan was standing in the kitchen, watching Aaron closely.
“We didn’t tell,” Russell began but he cut off when Aaron held up a finger. Russell ground his teeth a
little at the way he had been interrupted.
“Would you like to know how I found out about your little clinic?” Aaron asked. No one answered and so he continued. “I was shot with a stungun and taken to see a man by the name of Sebastian Locke.” His words were greeted by absolute silence. “He told me that he learned about me from the person to whom I sold the shuttle. He had me, and my associates, followed. He learned that two of my friends were have amazing luck at the casinos, some of the very casinos that he owns a portion of, by the way. Then he tells me that my other two friends are running a free clinic in the poorer part of town.”
“We thought you wouldn’t approve,” Adam said quietly.
Moving quickly, Aaron got in the younger man’s face. “Then you shouldn’t have done it!” he shouted. Taken by surprise, Adam took an involuntary step backwards.
Susan came around the small bar into the common area. “Are you all right?” she asked in a calm quiet voice.
Just the way she spoke to him made some of the anger drain away. He took a deep breath and nodded at her. “I’m fine and thanks for asking.”
“So, Sebastian Locke knows what we’ve been doing?” Susan asked.
“Not exactly. He knows that you seem to win every day and always in small amounts. He suspects that you’ve been cheating and told me it has to stop before the casinos catch on. He said that would end badly for us,” Aaron replied.
“So,” Susan began slowly, “he just warned you to stop?”
“No,” Aaron replied. “He offered us jobs.”
Susan blinked. “Jobs?”
“After he put the kibosh on our gambling, he offered us jobs in his smuggling empire,” Aaron said dramatically. “He’s smart. He knows we sold a military shuttle and that we want a ship. He said he’ll show us the ropes and pay us well. He estimates that within a couple of years we can buy our own ship.”
“Work for a criminal?” Susan repeated slowly. There was no mistaking the disdain in her tone.
Long Shot Page 8
