But there was still a chance they didn’t all have to die. So, he waited to see how everything would play out.
Rechs got the sense Giles’s men weren’t too sure, either.
“Please have a seat and…” said the crime boss as he moved back to his own chair, hand splayed out showing off the new arrangement he’d made for his guest, “let me know how I can be of use to the one… and the only… Tyrus Rechs.”
He said each part of Rechs’s name like it was its own sentence.
Rechs stepped close to the table but didn’t sit down. “Need to get into the city.”
Giles rubbed one manicured finger across his chin and nodded as though seriously considering this. His eyes watched something unseen. Staring into it.
“Well then you’ve come to the right place, Tyrus. May I call you that? Well… I am the guy that does just that, and I can do it for you, Tyrus, but…” He made a tailor’s face. Indicating that what was going to be asked for was going to take some time because of the work and the craftsmanship involved. It was all very honest. All very earnest. At least according to Giles’s furrowed brow and concerned grimace.
Serious.
Except… thought Rechs. Maybe this is all just an act.
“City’s real hot right now, Tyrus. Hard to get in there, even for me. And once you’re there… why, what do you get up to? No one’s going to shows. Restaurants and shopping have all been looted. All those kids… why, all they want to do is protest, smoke a little lotus, and make love. You know how it is.” He winked at Rechs. Like they’re really doing something. Making a difference.
“Yeah… you know,” Giles continued, as if talking to himself. “The more I think about it… well, I think I can get you in there. Sometime tomorrow. We can leave at oh dark hundred, military talk. Was a marine myself back in the day. We can leave then and it’s a ways, but I can get you right up into the Heights if that’s what you really want. But… I won’t lie to you… that’s going to be very expensive, Tyrus. Credits up front.”
Giles’s eyes went wide as though he’d just had an idea. “Say, what are you up to,” he looked skyward, “up there?”
The bounty hunter ignored this. “Need to go now. It’s urgent.”
Giles tsk-tsked. He sat back and folded his arms after checking his very expensive cuffs. Then he stared off over Rechs’s shoulder.
“That just won’t be possible. There are arrangements that need to be made. People to be paid off. We’d be going through the entire abandoned foundry so… that comes with its own host of problems. I mean come on, Tyrus… you don’t just go waltzing in and not have a contingency plan for the Watcher.”
“Now,” said Rechs bluntly. “I’ll pay extra.”
Again, the older-looking man shook his head.
“I’m afraid that’s a no-can-do, Tyrus. I’m not bargaining for more credits. You’ll pay as it is. I’m telling you how it works.”
One of the guards, a slender fellow who looked highly capable with the two blasters he had cross-rigged over his chest, shifted his stance from leaning to ready on two feet. Blaster grips sticking out from a black leather vest. Rechs identified him as the company shooter. It was expected for this guy to take the lead in this type of situation. He stepped forward to do just that.
“Boss says—”
And then faster than anyone could’ve expected, Rechs was pointing the barrel of the scattergun, one-handed, at the thug.
But no trigger pull.
The guard recognized he was had and put his hands up, ceasing his menacing tough guy act.
“Hold on there, Johnny. Just hold on a minute,” said Giles soothingly. His voice was sober. He stood up from his chair. “First off, Johnny…” He approached his hired man. “That’s just not done here at my place. Maybe in whatever rat hole your mama hatched you in. But this is my”—he spread his arms wide—“kingdom. And the great and venerable Tyrus Rechs, who’s a thing of legend, has come here to do a deal with me, Giles Longfree, humble servant of House Tritan… who doesn’t let his guest be insulted.”
The bounty hunter watched this little playlet unfold. Knowing something was up. Still, he was the only one with a blaster covering the room. So, he had a little advantage.
“Never,” Giles came close to the hired blaster he was beginning to chastise, “ever… threaten Tyrus Rechs unless I want him dead. And I don’t. Do you understand that, Johnny?”
Johnny lowered his head. Taking the chastisement.
“Now turn around and go get yourself a beer from the bar and just settle down, son.”
Obediently, Johnny did.
And Giles shot him in the back of the head. Just like that. Quick as a snake. Even Rechs, who was considered fast, was impressed. The crime boss had produced a small needle blaster from his sleeve and pulled the trigger in one swift motion.
Johnny collapsed to the floor even as the whine of the sudden blaster shot was still fading across the old honky-tonk.
“Sorry, Tyrus,” said Giles, turning and opening his hands expansively. The blaster still in one. “So… you really wanna go now?”
Rechs nodded.
“Okay boys,” Giles said, “we’re goin’ on a safari. Get the gear ready.”
And then everyone was scrambling and Rechs was pretty sure he was walking into a trap. But this was the only way in without storming the city directly. And until he could pin down the location on the captured legionnaires… this was the way it had to be.
20
The “expedition,” as Giles Longfree kept calling it, was ready within the hour. Outside the bar everyone was loaded and ready for what looked like a fight. Giles called out the order of march.
“Sake, you and Koko are on point.” He turned to Rechs, who stood beside him, and whispered, “They’re good men. Expendable.”
Giles raised
