Razov

RAZOV

Legwork. It's what breaks the case nine times out of ten. Makar told me that once. Of course, he was talking about an assassination and not trying to recover a lost human girl. But I figured the philosophy still applied.

I had to keep my temper in check. Things could get explosive if I got angry and I didn't want to leave a swath of destruction behind me during the search.

I did some asking around, rattled a few cages. Broke a few jaws, until lips got loose and I got some Night Mother damned answers.

The Ewani to see about fresh human flesh was Ocah, but he was widely thought of as too stupid to be the mastermind. Most likely, he was a public face for someone more entrenched in the station hierarchy.

The good news was, a guy like Ocah could disappear and said entrenched hidden mastermind would be unable to take revenge on us--officially, at any rate. That meant I didn't have to be gentle.

But I was a thoughtful colossus. I knew that going in kicking ass and taking names with a bunch of soldiers or even the inner circle at my back could cause more harm than good.

The objective was to get the girl and any information I might glean about the missing weapons. Not destroy the enemy in an attempt at victory by attrition.

The thing was, whoever pulled Ocah's strings was way smarter than the average ratfink. They made sure only certain clientele were invited to purchase ‘merchandise' from the Ewani slavers.

I had to find a way in. Fortunately, I knew a Volek named Kwayd. He had started as a freedom fighter for one of the factions that thought the Alliance held too tight a grip.

I could get behind that. The Vinduthi had fought as well.

But apparently Kwayd's convictions hadn't been that firm. He'd fought on a few sides of the war before becoming a freelance fixer, a sort of general handyman if your business was illegal. Did you want some extra muscle for a hostage exchange?

Kwayd was your man.

Did you want someone to get their legs broken so they'd think twice about testifying to station security? Kwayd would jump at that shit in a heartbeat.

Now he'd worked his way up the ranks, getting into more and more dirty deals.

I had never heard of him taking an assassination contract, but I wouldn't put it past him. The thing was, Kwayd had a bad habit. He liked to gamble, especially in high stakes Krokur card games. It was a shame.

As good as he was with shady business dealings, his luck with cards was terrible.

So Kwayd had taken out a loan a while back with our family. He made payments for the first couple of orbital cycles, and then he just stopped.

Maybe Kwayd thought that we had forgotten about him.

The Fangs never forget.

It was time to decapitate two foes with one blade stroke.

I headed to Kwayd's place, deep down in the Under. Like most homes down there, he'd carved it out of the existing infrastructure, modifying it for his own needs.

With enough money, you could make anything luxurious, even if few people would enjoy it.

He had too many warrants to risk having his address publicly listed. I took a moment to admire the SuperiorTech model security force field over his door.

It was too bad the device which Havek, our resident tech genius, had given me rendered the field inert in a mere moment. The air cracked with blue energy in a sheet over the door, and then was still.

I tried the door panel, grinning as it slid open at my merest touch. He had way too much faith in his force field.

Sliding inside, I leveled my weapon, sweeping the room. No movement. Around the corner, I found him, lounging on a couch, nibbling a plate of fire clams from a small side table, a pattern of silver chains undulating on the wall behind him.

"Sorry if I interrupted your dinner, Kwayd."

Volek were big and burly, their mass almost as much as a Vinduthi, even if their features were all smushed together, the pale blue skin looking almost corpse-like.

The poor guy had one other mark against him. He was the right size to make the next part of my plan work.

The fixer's hand moved, and I stepped toward him menacingly.

"I don't think so. Touch that gun and you're going to regret it."

He held his hands up in the air.

"I'm good, I'm cool," he blurted. "Nothing to worry about here."

I grimaced. I hated to lie to him, so I didn't. The fact was, he wasn't cool, and there was a lot for him to worry about.

"You know me. I've come up in the games. I can pay you the credits I owe you," he said hopefully, then glanced over to the far side of the room where a holographic Volek female danced across a screen set into a niche. "I've got stuff you'd be interested in."

"Oh, Kwayd, you and I both know we're way past that now."

His shoulders slumped. "So you're going to shoot me while I'm eating dinner?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I picked up the data pad lying beside his unopened bottle of booze. It had a map open on it and he looked mighty nervous as I scrolled through it.

"Going to look at some human flesh tonight, Kwayd?"

"I'm a proxy, only a proxy," he said, raising his hands higher in the air. "Look, man…this just isn't fair."

"No, I suppose it's not."

"So that's it?" he said as I leveled the device at him. "You're going to blast me?"

"This isn't a gun, Kwayd. But you might wish it was in a second."

I pulled the trigger and two things happened. A needle-tipped dart shot out of the device's barrel. My aim was true and Kwayd took the dart right in the big throbbing vein in his throat.

Second, another needle pierced the center of my palm. I ignored the sting at first, but then it grew increasingly insistent.

I'm not really sure how the transmogrifying gun worked, but I knew it was necessary.

The Ewani scanned carefully for holo disguises, though, and no Vinduthi would ever be welcome down in one of their auctions.

Alkard had made the family's feelings about slavery a little too well known for that.

There was only one way to pass both a visual inspection and a DNA scan, and that was the device. I clamped my teeth down and bore the pain as my features reshaped themselves to match Kwayd's.

It wasn't perfect. Our different sizes couldn't be adjusted, only the layers of subcutaneous fat and soft tissue. But it would be good enough. Nobody would know who I really was.

I looked down at the withered husk that had become of the original Kwayd. Shouldn't have failed to repay us. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to use him as a warning. Too bad.

I set about securing him into a compressed ball before stashing him in a closet. I ransacked his wardrobe for clothing that fit this new shape. Hopefully, I would be long gone before anyone made the discovery.

I headed out after that, adjusting my borrowed coat and trying not to let on how much my whole body hurt. I didn't have long before the effects of the device wore off. Maybe a few hours, tops. Just long enough to get me in. It would be enough to work with.

I worked my way through the Under following the map provided. When I saw a bunch of armed Ewani standing around outside of an industrial looking door, I knew I had arrived at the right place.

"Gentlemen," I said, smiling as I approached.

"Who you isssss?" hissed the apparent smart one.

"I am Kwayd. I'm expected."

"Kwayd." He came up close and sniffed, then snarled. "You smell funny, Kwayd. You sssssick or something?"

"Or something. Will you let me in already? I'm afraid someone will see me talking to you wretches."

He hissed at me, but Kwayd was known for his swagger. If I wanted them to think I was him, I had to act the part.

Inside the door, the dark, dank and haunting Under gave way to a rich carpet, bright lights, and soft music. If I'd been someone who cared about station high society, I'm sure I'd have recognized some of the people there.

The people I did recognize were all the scum of the station.

I sighed. Time to act like one of them.

I bullied my way over to the buffet table and made an arrogant ass of myself. The Ewani would never suspect an oaf like that to be a spy. Spies don't like to stand out.

I'd studied the holo of Mera in preparation for this job. I'd know her the instant she came up for sale.

But that assumed she was here.

I needed more information than that. Slipping out of the main reception area under the excuse of needing the facilities, I managed to get myself further behind the scenes, the unfamiliar body of a Volek slowing me down only a bit.

The muted cries and chatter led me to the door of the room where a dozen human women were kept heavily under guard.

I scanned them quickly, but didn't see Mera there.

Dammit. Was this just one more dead end?

Then I heard a groan. Further down the hallway was another smaller cage where a mostly naked human woman dangled by manacles affixed to her wrists, wearing little more than the collar at her neck. She appeared to be alone, but a strange insect rested on her shoulder. Her back glowed red, which meant she'd probably recently been treated with a dermal regeneration unit.

I knew what Mera looked like. This blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman was not her.

But still, something wouldn't let me stay away.

She glared at me from behind the bars of her cage, blue eyes flashing with defiance.

"You're not an Ewani."

"Thank the Night Mother for that. Do you know Mera?'

She perked up.

"Mera is my friend, but I think they moved her off site already."

I cursed under my breath.

"How come you're chained up? And what is that bug doing on your shoulder?"

"They're punishing me, I guess," she said before glancing at the creature on her shoulder. "And this little guy seems to blink in and out from here to somewhere else whenever there's danger. He comes back when the danger is gone and I usually seem to feel better. I don't know, I like him."

"While I appreciate your bond with an insect," I said. "It doesn't explain why you're in chains."

"Because I helped kill one of the bastards." Her eyes narrowed. "And I'd do it again."

Something fluttered in my chest. I'd never been into humans before. Alkard's mate, Tessi, was sweet and all, but not my thing.

But this one, somehow beautiful even when injured, proud and murderous… Her blue eyes caught me, I wanted to fall into their inky depths and never climb back out.

"What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. I couldn't let myself get caught up with a woman who was not Mera, and yet…she was a friend of Mera's, right?

So I needed to take her with me, get information.

That's all it was.

"What are you doing?" she asked as I wrapped my fingers around the bars of her cage.

"I'm getting you out."