CHAPTER 14

Hera: Merc Ship Bridge

Flick this, and this, punch the little button, and........goin’ through. This oughtta be interesting. Stay outta pickup range.

“Yes?”

Whaddaya know, the big man himself.

“Mr. Higgins, you don’t know me, ‘cept indirectly, “ I say. “A year or so back I stole sumthin’ from you, a bible to be exact.” Can practically hear the gears goin’ round in his head, not one to forget a slight.

“I see. Calling to gloat?”

“Nossir. To make up for it, maybe. Does the name Joseph A. Bartholamew mean anything to you?” Got that off my indenture papers.

“Should it?”

“He sold you the book. Then got me to steal it back for ‘im.”

Fill in the details some, just the highlights. He ain’t lookin’ too happy.

“I see. And you are telling me this why, surely not out of remorse?”

“Nossir, that I ain’t. Thing is, I’m in kind of a pickle. Barty’s here, on Hera, with some of his boys and a few mercs, gunnin’ for me. Truth to tell, a little help here wouldn’t go amiss.”

“Well. I see no reason to help you, I can always find him later on Persephone.”

“You’d be wrong about that. See, his ship here ain’t goin’ anywhere ‘less I say otherwise. If you was to come on over, might be as I could deliver ‘im right into your hands, all neat an’ tidy.”

Look at ‘im, he’s tryin’ to hide it, but the prospect of gettin’ his hands on Barty is sumthin’ he wants bad. Doin’ sumthin’ out of the pickup, tryin’ to find a ship, maybe?

“I thank you for the information, but I believe I’ll just let him kill you, then collect him after the dust settles. Goodbye.”

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> “You’ll come awright. Just as soon as you can.”

Higgins’ Moon: Pickup Point, early morning, 15 Months Ago

Beeper’s beepin’, so now all I gotta do is wait. Didn’t get a chance to look at this last night, might as well now, got the time.

Unseal the bag, pull it out gentle. Huh, don’t look like much on the outside. Leather’s cracked in a few spots, chewed on there, maybe a rat got to it. Open it at random.....cain’t hardly read it, letters all curlicued up. Flip a few pages over.....huh. Purdy colors at the start of the page, guess that passed for fancy way back then.

Best put it back so’s not to damage it any more’n it is. C’mon Smelly, get me off this mudball.

Perfect time for a double-cross. Take the book and put me out the airlock soon as he gets hands on it. Ain’t gonna let THAT happen. Got a fancied-up pea-shooter in my pocket, took it off one of the boys I killed before I hightailed it. Almost missed it, tucked down in his boot like that. Lady’s gun, small caliber, fine for a holdout. Fits in my pocket nice, too.

So. Get on the ship. Smiley’ll prolly be waitin’ to get the book, one tucked off to the side, bash me as I come through the inner door. Draw down on Smiley, get ‘em all in the open. Dis-arm, lock ‘em in the cabins. Get on up to the bridge, call Barty, tell ‘im I got it. Get the pilot locked up too, settle in for the run back.

Could just space the whole lot of ‘em........and do what? Book’s no good to me, ain’t got connections to fence it. Don’t really want the ship, hard to run solo. Nope, get back, get paid, then get gone.

Lot of ifs to this plan. More at the other end, too. Just try to live through the next bit, then the one after that.

And there’s the boom, they’re comin’ in hot. Fine. Get this over with sooner.