The Darkness of God: Book Three of the Shadow Warrior Trilogy (13 page)

“How do you know?”

“If they were palaces, the owners’d be here. Hired help never gets mansions.”

“You’ve been on worlds like this.”

“I’ve been on worlds like this,” Wolfe agreed.

There was a hand-lettered sign:

Someone had crossed out the population, and scrawled in:

A man sat against the sign. One hand was propped up with a stake, and there was an ace of spades pinned to his open palm.

There was a fist-sized hole in his chest.

Joshua lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He drove the moke down the central street at quarter speed, eyeing the buildings. Some appeared to be residences, others had signs:
HARDWARE, EXPLOSIVES, COMPUTERS, GROCERIES, DRY GOODS, ASSAYERS, GALACTIC COMMUNICATIONS
. There were other, larger signs:
THE BIG STRIKE, HAMMAH’S HANGOUT, THE DEW DROP INN.
Others were operated by those with less imagination or a more direct approach:
GIRLS. ALK. GAMBLING.

They passed a small building with a very neat sign on it:

“First Find Peace in Your Heart, Then Give It to Others.”

“Now there,” Joshua said, “is the loneliest man in Graveyard.” Kristin smiled briefly.

There was one ornate building on the street. It had started life as several modular shelters stacked and butted end-to-end, then workers had laboriously planed the twisted wood of Ak-Mechat into siding and fastened it into place. Others had cast and painted dragon heads from plas, and fastened them to the upper cornices.

There was a neat sign:

On its porch, seemingly oblivious to the cold, was a tall, slender man with immaculate shoulder-length blond hair. He wore brown, formal-looking clothes, tucked into knee-high boots. Gems glittered at his cuffs, fingers, and one earlobe.

Wolfe raised a hand.

The man eyed Wolfe, nodded in return, and went back into the Saratoga.

“You know him?”

“I know who he is. And what he is. I was rendering professional courtesy.”

“Canfield? And a gambler?”

“Sharp, lady. Very sharp.”

Wolfe hesitated, then swung the controls of the moke around and grounded the machine in front of the Saratoga. “This’ll likely be the center of things,” he said. “Maybe a little bit safer than renting a hovel on some backstreet. You go register, and I’ll find out where to get rid of this beast.”

“Which brings up a question,” Kristin said. “What name do I register under?”

“Our own, of course,” Wolfe said. “Honest folk like us have nothing to hide.”

• • •

The room was fairly large, with a big bed, furniture that’d been antiqued with a blowtorch, and fake wood paneling. There were photographs on the walls, not holos, of ancient Earth scenes.

“You won’t believe what this room costs,” Kristin said.

“Sure I would,” Joshua said. “When you’re the only game in town you set your own prices. Plus it’s warm, dry, and better than a cribhouse. Just what a horny miner who’s got more credits than sense wants when he gets paid. Or, since there’s still some freelancers working the hills, when he thinks he’s found something out there in the rocks.”

Kristin looked skeptical, bounced on the bed. “At least it doesn’t squeak,” she agreed.

“Fine. I don’t believe in advertising,” Joshua said.

“Now what?”

“Now we start whining for help.”

• • •

“An open com line to where?” the small man with the large beak asked.

“I’ll make the connection,” Wolfe said.

“I can’t allow that.”

Wolfe dropped another bill on the counter. Then a second.

“All right,” the man said. “Go in that booth there. I’ll cut the controls through to you.”

“No,” Wolfe said. “I want you to take a walk with my friend here. Show her some of the sights of Graveyard.”

“That’s against corporate regulations!”

“I know you wouldn’t dream of eavesdropping, but I’m a
very
private man,” Wolfe said. Three more bills fluttered down. The man put out a finger, touched them.

“For how long?”

“Not long,” Wolfe said. “I’ll go looking for you when I’m finished.”

• • •

“You’ve been out of touch for a while,” the distorted voice said from half a galaxy distant.

“Been busy.”

“So I gather,” the voice said. “Don’t know if I should be talking to you.”

“Oh?”

There was nothing but star-hum for a bit.

“All right,” the voice said reluctantly. “I didn’t get where I am by picking sides. FI would like to talk to you, real bad. And I don’t mean with you as a free agent.”

“That’s a known.”

“Did you know they’ve put the word out that anybody who grabs you and delivers you to Cisco or one of his bottom-feeders will get absolution? Alive only, which I suppose is a blessing.”

“I didn’t. Am I hot publicly?”

“Not yet. But sooner or later some bravo’ll open his mouth to the law.”

“Of course. You thinking about collecting?”

There was a blurt of static.

“Come on, Wolfe. I’ve seen what happens when somebody decides to pin your hide to the wall. I’m not an operator anymore, either. I just sit here and put people in touch with people they’d like to do business with.”

“Good,” Wolfe said. “I don’t like dealing with ambitious folks.”

“What do you need?” the voice asked. “And what’s in it for me?”

“I need a ship. Clean, fast, armed if possible.”

“How much you willing to pay?”

“Once I’ve got the ship — whatever the price tag is.”

“Once you’ve got the ship — come
on,
Wolfe. Once I’ve won the Federation lottery I can afford to buy a ticket. Ships are expensive.”

“They didn’t used to be.”

“You didn’t use to be Federation Intelligence’s poster boy, either.”

“All right,” Wolfe said grudgingly. “I’ll hunt elsewhere.”

“No,” the voice said. “I didn’t say I couldn’t get you one. But since it doesn’t sound like you’re sitting on barrels of credits right now, we’ll have to find another way of payment.”

“That’s what I told somebody not too long ago,” Wolfe said. “So what’s the tag?”

“Now we’re doing business,” the voice said. “Let me consider a couple offers I’ve got lying around.”

The voice went away. After a while it came back.

“There’s this official on a certain world who seems to think he’s a minor deity. Some people I know would like him to discover the joys of disembodiment and see what he’s like in a new incarnation.”

• • •

Wolfe took a deep breath. “I don’t have much choice.”

“Good. This one won’t be … Wait a second. Cancel the above, my friend. I’ve got something a whole lot better. And it won’t mess with any morals you have left. The bodies shouldn’t start bouncing until you’re well out of town.”

“What is it?”

“Very simple. I’ve got a package — or rather some people I know have a package. They want it delivered to some people on another world.”

“What’s the catch? Seems there’s always enough hotrods around for courier runs,” Wolfe said.

“The package itself is hot — in both old-fashioned senses of the word. And the ship-driver I’m going to use I have — some small questions about. He may or may not have done me wrong a couple of years ago, so I want somebody I can trust with him.” The voice paused. “Oh yeah. The people it’s going to are also warmish.”

“Break it down, man.”

“Fine. I’ve got twenty-five pounds of fissionable material somebody on World A wants taken back to his, her, or their Old Sentimental Home, so a group of people who call themselves Fighters for Victory can build a little bitty bomb.”

Star-hum.

“You interested?”

“I’ll do it.”

“Good man. I assume you’ll have some specifications about being picked up, wherever you are, since you never were a trusting soul.”

“I will.”

“Nice to be partners again, Joshua.”

Wolfe let the little man have his office back. He seemed grateful, scurrying about like a chipmunk making sure his grain hadn’t been discovered. Joshua looked for Kristin, found her down the street, talking to a medium-size cheerful man with a neatly trimmed beard.

“Joshua, this is Pastor — it is Pastor, right? — Stoutenburg. Joshua Wolfe.”

“Honored,” Wolfe said. “Not sure I’ve met many ministers in my life.”

“We seem to be a declining breed,” Stoutenburg admitted. “Christianity’s a little old-fashioned and slow these days. But at least I’m not as extinct as priests.”

Wolfe inclined his head and didn’t open the argument.

“Pastor Stoutenburg — Tony — has been giving me the history of Graveyard.”

“Such as it is,” Stoutenburg said. “It can be summed up pretty briefly: Find minerals, dig minerals, use credits to look for new sins.”

“Has anybody had any success?” Joshua asked. “With the sins, I mean.”

“Not that I’m aware of,” the preacher said. “But they seem fairly content recycling the old ones.”

“Are you making any headway?”

Stoutenburg shrugged. “I’m not looking for rice Christians, but I think I’m getting a few more folks at my services every week.” He grinned. “Since we’re on an Earth seven-day week, twenty-two-hour day here, I refuse to believe the reason is I’m the only place where you can come down on a Sunday morning without having to pay for quiet.”

“What’s the town like?” Kristin asked.

“Really? Seven hundred to a thousand people, everyone dependent on the mines. There are, so far, half a dozen major veins of stellite. Most everyone except for me spends good weather wandering the hills looking for more, and the possibilities of success are good. It appears most people think riches are either here or right around the corner, so why not spend it like they already have it. I won’t grant Graveyard the honor of calling it Satan’s favorite resort — we’re not big enough or decadent enough for that yet — but there’s a sufficiency of people building its reputation.” Stoutenburg nodded with his chin. “Here’s one of our finest boosters.”

Wolfe turned and saw Canfield strolling toward them. Ten feet behind him were a very large man with a shaven head and an angry expression and a medium-size man clad in all gray. Both openly wore holstered pistols. Wolfe noted with interest the guns were heavy current-issue Federation military blasters.

“Morning, Father,” Canfield said. “Who’re your friends?”

Joshua introduced himself and Kristin.

“I don’t suppose,” Stoutenburg said, “that it makes any difference to remind you I’m not a priest, Canfield. Father doesn’t apply.”

• • •

“Sorry … Father. It’s easy to forget.” Canfield eyed Wolfe. “So you’re a guest at my establishment — and talking to the representative of the other half. Trying to copper your bets, Mister Wolfe?”

“No,” Joshua said. “It was figured out a long time ago which way I’m intended.”

“Which is?”

Joshua smiled blandly. Canfield looked puzzled, then smiled in return.

“Are you planning on settling here in Graveyard?” he asked.

“We’re just passing through.”

“Ah,” Canfield said. “Well, may your stay be a successful one.” He inclined his head to Kristin, then moved on.

“I wonder if he’ll ever figure out that we’re all just passing through,” Stoutenburg said gently.

“Probably not,” Joshua said. “His kind take their markers far too seriously.”

• • •

They were just finishing dinner when the shouting started in the nearby gaming rooms: “Cheat … Bastard double-counter … Goddamned rayfield scummek …” Kristin swiveled; Joshua managed to watch out of the corner of his eye, still appearing disinterested.

Three men dragged a fourth out the casino entrance. One wore the green eyeshade of a croupier; the other two were the gray man and the shaven-headed behemoth who’d accompanied Canfield. The fourth wore the high plas boots of a miner and a clean, patched shirt and pants.

The miner broke free at the door and swung at the croupier. The man in gray struck him down from behind with an edged hand, and the big man kicked him hard six times. Now he had a broad smile on his face.

“Joshua! Do something,” Kristin hissed.

“No. Wrong time to play Samaritan.”

The big man stopped, walked around the miner, aimed carefully, and sent his boot crashing into the side of the man’s head. The impact sounded mushy, as if bone had already been broken.

The other two picked up the motionless miner, pushed the outer door open, and threw him out into the street.

The big man swaggered back through the dining room, looking at each table, each diner. No one held his gaze for more than a moment. He stopped at Joshua and Kristin’s table, and glowered at them. Joshua felt Kristin’s hand slide to her waist, where her gun was hidden. Wolfe stared back at the big man, his face calm.

The man blinked, jerked his gaze away, and went back into the casino, the other two behind him.