Vision of the future

There were no convenient handholds that she could get to, which meant she was going to have to make some. Timing it to the exact moment when one of the pirates stomped into the car, she jabbed her climbing hooks into the grillwork behind two of the glow panels. She'd barely gotten them set when there was the vibration of the main doors closing, and they were off.

'So what was at the other end of the tunnel?' she heard Grinner's voice ask through the crack between the doors.

She'd expected the response to come from Zothip, but it was Control's voice that answered.

'Looked like some sort of apartment,' he said. 'Rather nicely appointed.'

'Anyone in it?' Grinner asked.

'Not at the moment,' Control said. 'But whoever was living there liked having his own personal Star Destroyer captain's chair.'

'His own what?' Grinner growled. 'What in Vader's face would anyone want with something like that?'

'Very good,' Control said archly. 'You've got the question. Now if we had the answer, we'd have a complete set.'

'I don't like this,' Zothip rumbled. 'I don't like any of it. He's playing something real close to the chest, and I don't like it.'

'Whatever it is, we'll find out soon enough,' Control assured him. 'We might want to go in a little quieter than you'd planned, though.'

'Oh, we'll go in quiet, all right,' Zothip promised darkly. 'Don't worry about that. He'll never hear a thing.'

CHAPTER

21

They had made it five blocks—which was four blocks farther than Han had thought they would get—when the whole thing started to unravel.

'Han?' Lando murmured as the three of them hurried across a busy street with a crowd of other pedestrians. 'That security landspeeder there to the left just slowed down.'

'I know,' Han said grimly, peering around the edge of his scholar's hood. Near as he could tell through the curved windows, there were two men in the vehicle. Alert young men, by the looks of them, undoubtedly armed to the teeth. 'That's, what, the third one that's taken an interest in us?'

'About that,' Lando sighed. 'Where's Luke and his Jedi tricks when you need them?'

'Luke or Leia,' Han added, wishing mightily now that he hadn't argued so successfully against her coming on this trip. They might well have been spotted a lot sooner; but at least when they were they would have had a Jedi here on their side. 'He's turning back around—they're on us, all right.'

'Well, don't give up just yet,' Lando said, glancing around. 'You still have official standing with the New Republic —we may be able to talk our way out of it. Especially if they know how Leia reacts when one of her family gets in trouble.'

'You mean like when one of the kids gets kidnapped or her husband gets beaten to a pulp or something?' Han growled, feeling his face warm.

'I didn't mean it that way,' Lando protested.

'Thanks anyway,' Han said, looking around for inspiration. His gaze fell on a tapcafe across the street with a large sign reading SABACC TOURNAMENT TODAY prominently displayed in the privacy-glazed window... 'Over there.' He nudged Lando in the tapcafe's direction. 'You have your slugthrower, right?'

'Uh... yes,' Lando said cautiously. 'What exactly have you got in mind?'

'What's the one thing security types can't ever resist?' Han asked. 'Especially young, cocky ones?'

'I don't know,' Lando said humorlessly. 'Working prisoners over?' Han shook his head. 'A good commotion,' he said, nodding toward the tapcafe. 'You take Lobot into the middle of the place and clear it out. I'll handle the rest.'

'Right. Good luck.'