Wings of Retribution (46 page)

“I can’t believe you gave her the ship, Rabbit,” Athenais muttered, casting a dark look at her friend.  “And then you let her
keep
it afterward.  What were you
thinking
?”

Rabbit sighed.  “It was the only way I could get her to help me.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Athenais snapped.  “She was washing
dishes
, for chrissakes!  She would’ve given her right ear to fly that bird.  You could’ve put her on contract.  You could’ve—”

“I figured the girl deserved a break,” Rabbit interrupted, “after what you put her through.”

“What
I
put her through?!”  Athenais stopped and stared at her friend, utterly flabbergasted.  Obviously, the wiry twerp had
no idea
how much trouble the snoopy little airhead had caused for her in two years of sneaking around, sifting through other people’s belongings, and generally being an insubordinate pain in the ass.  When she found herself able to speak again, Athenais shoved a finger at Rabbit’s chest and growled,  “If
she
hadn’t opened her mouth,
I
wouldn’t be wandering on Odan wondering when the flesh merchants are gonna jump out of the alley and snag us.  My crew would still be alive.  You ever think about
that,
Rabbit?”

“Kids make mistakes.  How old is she?  A couple hundred?”

“Not even.”

“Well there you go.  Still a child.”

“She’s thirty-four.  Plenty of time to figure out how to keep her mouth shut.”

“You know why you don’t like her?” Rabbit snapped suddenly.  He spun to face her, his gray eyes uncharacteristically scathing. 

“Because she’s a nosy little twit?” Athenais suggested.

Rabbit’s eyes narrowed.  “Because she’s just like you, only younger and prettier.”

The idea was so ridiculous that Athenais didn’t even bother responding.  Laughing, she turned back to the alley and started moving again.  “Just help me find this market.”

“She’s better at flying and you just can’t stand that,” Rabbit insisted, falling in beside her.

“The guy said it was around here somewhere,” Athenais said, frowning at the neglected buildings.

“You know what her only problem is?” Rabbit demanded.

Athenais rolled her eyes.  “I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

“Her only problem is, underneath all that genius, she’s insecure.  She’s starving for a few friends.  That’s why she digs through your stuff.  She wants a
friend
.” 

Athenais chuckled.  “Oh, that’s the way to make friends, right there.  Just dig through their underwear drawer a bit, try a few things on for size…”

Rabbit wasn’t to be derailed in his idiotic train of thought.  “That’s why she took that
suzait
in, you know.  He was the only one on the ship who didn’t treat her like a cadet.”

Athenais groaned.  “Just help me find this market, okay?  I don’t care about Fairy.”

“Her name’s Dallas.”

“Whatever.  Just
help
me.”

“The next street,” Rabbit said.  “It’s got the statue of the goat, just like he described.”

“
Thank
you.”  Athenais turned down the street, trying to stay ahead of Rabbit so he didn’t have an opportunity to spout more mushy nonsense at her.

The street wrapped around a sturdy brick building and came to a dead end at a huge set of double doors.  The green paint was peeling on them, showing a layer of gray underneath.  As soon as Athenais approached the door, two well-armed guards stepped in front of them.

“This is private property, sorry,” the woman on the left said, touching her flesh-seeker.

“I’m sure it is,” Athenais said, peering up at the building behind them.

“We’re looking for some rare items,” Rabbit said, casually stepping between them.  “We heard you might be the place.”

The man looked the two of them up and down.  He snorted, apparently not liking what he saw.  “No tourists,” he said.  “Serious buyers only.”

Athenais reached for her gun, but Rabbit stopped her with a hand on her arm. 

“I assure you,” Rabbit said, smiling that sinister drug-dealer-cutpurse-crimeboss smile of his.  “We can pay.”

The woman motioned to Athenais’s bloody nose.  “Maybe you could’ve before you got robbed.  Now git.”

Athenais stepped past Rabbit and showed them her weapon, still in its holster.  “This is a J-29 Phoenix quick-charge pistol.  It’s worth about a million credits.  If we’d been robbed, they would’ve taken it.”  She let her coat slide back over her belt and waited.

“Then where’d you take the beating?” the woman sneered.  “The guy who used to own the gun?”

Athenais narrowed her eyes.  “That’s none of your business, bitch.”

Rabbit shoved her aside.  “Look, I know we don’t look like what you’re used to, but we have the means to pay, I assure you.”

The woman at the door sniffed.  “We’ll have to take her gun as collateral.  Make sure you don’t try anything inside.”

“
Bullshit!”
Athenais roared.  “You thieving tramp, you can’t just—”

Rabbit casually jammed his elbow into her ribcage, then swiped the gun from under her belt as she doubled over for air.  “Not a problem, miss.  Here you go.”

Athenais watched in horror as he passed the weapon over to the guard.  The woman looked it over, tuning it in her hands, then sniffed again and stepped aside.  Her burly companion pulled one of the double-doors open and motioned them to enter.

“Come on, Attie,” Rabbit said, giving her an irritated tug.  Athenais followed, still scowling at the woman when the door slammed shut behind them.

“Just great,” she growled when she heard the tumblers lock into place.  “Now we’re sitting ducks for any flesh-trader who takes it upon himself to knock us over the head.  What were you
thinking,
Rabbit?  Why couldn’t I just shoot them?”

“I’ll protect you,” Rabbit said, patting her arm.  “Don’t worry, dear.”

Athenais prickled like a cat that had been approached with a running chainsaw.  “I don’t need protection.”

Rabbit glanced at her, looking surprised.  “You mean you actually decided to learn a decent fighting style since the last time I saw you?”

Athenais fisted her hands and kept them pressed against her sides to keep from flattening them on Rabbit’s face.  “I can fight fine.”

He snorted.  “Dear, clumsy barroom brawls do not count.”

“You ‘dear’ me again and I’ll cut off your head and feed it to a dungrunner,” Athenais bit out.  “We’re not married anymore.”

“Yes, dear.”

Athenais’s eyes narrowed.

“Come on,” Rabbit said.  “These guys will be able to help us.”  Then he stepped forward into the labyrinth of holding cells, leaving her the option of going with him or being left behind.

Grumbling, Athenais followed, making a mental note to bring the quick little sensei down a peg or three, once she had her flesh-seeker back. 
Dodge
that
, oh martial master.  Oh, whoops.  What’s the matter, not fast enough?  Too
clumsy
?

Inside each of the cages lining the walls, a strange or exotic creature lay in the straw, a well-worn feeling of misery seeping from behind the stainless steel bars.  Outside, the seller stood with armed guards, eying every passerby with a keen eye.  Athenais felt sick at first sight of them, remembering a similar situation all-too-well, back when she had been on the other side of the bars.

“Come on, Attie,” Rabbit said, tugging gently on her arm.  She hadn’t realized she had stopped.  She was staring at a dirty, naked woman sitting in the straw, hunched over, staring off into nothingness.  Reluctantly, she allowed Rabbit to pull her onward.

As they passed, Athenais saw more men and women, some with grotesque genetic alterations, watching them through the bars with resentful gazes.  She saw aliens, both on and off the Endangered Races list, and plenty of exotic non-intelligents.  Tigers and slender, long-haired eshwers were a specialty here, it seemed.

Rabbit took them to the back of the maze to a small door set in the wall.  It was flanked by four guards, each toting a fully automatic flesh-seeker and dressed in energy-resistant body armor.

“What’s your business here, little man?” one of the four demanded.

“Is this where they keep the exotics?” Rabbit asked politely.

“The exotics are behind you, moron.”

“He’s talking about
shifters,
you stupid son of a bitch,” Athenais interrupted.  “We’re here to buy three of them.”

The guard eyed her.  “Careful, or I’ll blacken the other eye, wench.”

Athenais fisted her hand, but Rabbit caught her arm.  “That won’t be necessary, sir.  You see, we’re looking to buy a breeding population for a very important collector on Wyvin.  We heard Odan was the place to come, but we still haven’t found any shifters.”

“We don’t let nobody past these doors unless we got confirmation they’re not S.O.,” the man said.  “Sorry.”  He sighed and glanced the other way, looking bored.

Athenais grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved the barcode on her scalp under his nose.  “That look like S.O. to you?”

The man’s eyes widened.  “That say Orplex?”

“Wow.  You can read. 
Amazing
.”

“
Damn
it, Attie!” Rabbit snapped.  “Let me take care of this, okay?”

Athenais shrugged.

Rabbit walked up and said something quietly to the nearest guard.  The guard’s eyes opened wide and he made a nodding motion to the rest of the men.  They stepped back, allowing Rabbit to step through.  When Athenais tried to follow, however, they blocked her progress.

“Just stay there a minute,” Rabbit said.  “I won’t take long.”  At that, he closed the door behind him.

Fuming, Athenais stalked back and forth, scowling at the four guards.

“Probably a fake, anyway,” one of the guards jeered.  “Either that or she got a sex change.”

“You kidding?!  She didn’t
need
a sex change.”  The guard who had spoken broke off into hearty guffaws.

Athenais stopped, glaring at the man who had spoken, wondering what his face would look like when introduced to an engine turbine.  He winked at her.  “You want some of this, sister?”  He grabbed his crotch and bounced it.

Athenais quietly swallowed down the little bit of vomit that had risen up into the back of her throat and turned to look at something else.  She was busily inspecting the stonework when Rabbit opened the door.

“Well?” she demanded.

Rabbit shook his head slightly, then led her away from the guards.  “I’ll tell you once we’re outside.”  He hurried to the front door, knocked, and waited—somewhat impatiently, for Rabbit—as they unlocked the door.

On the other side, Athenais held out her hand for her Phoenix, and the woman reluctantly untucked it from her belt and gave it back.  As she and Rabbit walked away, Athenais inspected it for damage.  “And?  What did you find out?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at a little scratch in the gleaming blue steel.  Had that been there before?

“They were here three weeks ago,” Rabbit told her.  “All bought by the same woman.  Ordered them to be delivered to a ship called
New Divinity.”