“Relax,” I growled at Raez, grabbing his arm while lancing him a warning glare.
Raez grunted and wrenched his arm free. “Don’t patronize me, asshole. Lay hands on me again, Rusco, and you’ll regret it. These fucking grease balls are trying to dick us around, don’t you see it? Pazarol is going to be eating monkey nuts for breakfast when—”
“Shut the hell up,” I hissed. I turned to Dolgra, showing my most amiable face. “How long for the rest of the shipment? Two hours, maybe four?”
He shrugged. “Probably longer.”
I wagged my head. “Well, nothing we can do about it. We kick back and relax.”
“What do you mean, ‘kick back and relax’?” uttered Raez. “No we can’t just ‘kick back and relax’, you lamebrain. Paz said—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what ‘Paz’ said,” I rasped. “Things are never optimal, Raez. Paz should have allowed for some contingencies.”
“And he didn’t.” The thug’s hand went for his R4. The clink of metal sounded all around as Dolgra’s men trained barrels on us.
I held up my hands, smiling like a cornered cat. “Okay…let’s all calm down. No need for violence.” Shit, this is going badly. That pissbrain, Raez. No wonder Paz-ass couldn’t trust his own men to handle this.
“Control your dog, Mr. Rusco,” said Dolgra, “otherwise, there’ll be blood on the sand today.”
I glared at Raez. “You heard the man.”
A whine of engines came screeching out of the sky. Two V-Zon cruisers arched down armed to the teeth with glinting armor. I shook my head in dismay. What else could go wrong?
“Who are they?” Wren croaked.
“Gedra.” Dolgra swore. “They’ll want a cut.” He whirled on his aide beside him. “Vespie, I thought you said we were clean? Didn’t you scout out the area?”
“They must have slipped underneath our radar, chief. Cloakers.”
“That’s unacceptable!”
“How much do they want?” I asked.
“Probably 30% which is the usual Gedra tax.”
“No fucking way, Dole-face,” Raez snorted. “Stall them, or kill them. It’s up to you, or this deal’s off.”
Weapons came up, half on the approaching ships, the others cocked on Raez and me. Dolgra scowled, face curling in an indecisive snarl. “The deal stands, or you’ll be strung in those trees minus two arms.”
“See, I told you so,” whined Raez. “While these morons were out sunbathing by the lake, we could’ve loaded up and been out of here. Now what’s your plan, Rusco? You going to leap around, do a rain dance or something?”
“Shut up, I’m thinking.”
“Think fast, because—”
The first Gedra ship landed nearby kicking up dust; four armored men stormed out, clutching rifles and home-grown grenades in fists that were big, ugly, olive-colored weapons, the size of melons.
The first man spoke in a guttural accent, “This is most irregular, Dolgra. You know Chief Jzrend’s policy. Report all goods to the central authority—or….”
“I can pay next time, Avloz. Not this time.”
“Famous excuses.” The Gedra smiled and gave his head a sad shake. “No deal. Make that 40% cut this time, for insolence and wasting our time.”
I approached with a breezy confidence. “No need to bat heads, gentlemen.” I hefted the bag of yols. Putting on my most disarming smile, I let my words spew out in typical Rusco fashion. “I bet you boys are getting what, a tenth of a percent of your shakedown? if that, even if you are on salary? Let’s sweeten the pot.” Let a competitor think he’s getting a better deal, he’ll be all for it, and think you’re on his side.
But there was no chance to explore that angle.
Raez whipped out his R4 and sprayed bullets into the midst, taking off the head of the first Gedra. The others in his troupe fired, dropping two of Dolgra’s guards.
Weapons exploded from all sides. Grenades launched in the air. I ducked. Reached out to pull Wren back. Shrapnel tore at the closest Gedra and skimmed off Starrunner’s back plates. Lucky that I’d set her down farther away.
Another grenade landed closer to our payload and the flames licked out at the Urgon. Grisheimer was yelling, “Shit! Back to the ship!”
I spoke harsh words into the com as I ran, “TK, get Starrunner running!” Grisheimer’s man got Urgon airborne, even as metal was flying by me. I caught a glimpse of Dolgra scrambling for the silver Sphinx, dodging bullets all the way. Some of his men caught lead and fell like flies.
TK already had the hatch open as Wren and I zigzagged along, dodging shells and firing back over our shoulders.
One of the Gedra air guard flew over us, raining bullets and spraying death. I hunched, crouching behind a dune, my AK trained on some movement to my right. Wren and Raez fell in behind, sucking in labored breaths. The leather on my right arm was torn and blood flowed. Raez had an ugly slash across his left cheek from shrapnel that had grazed him. Good. All of us were soot-covered from the blast.
“You idiot, sabotaging our venture?” I wheezed at the acrid stench. “Whose side are you on?”
“None, from where I’m looking,” Wren spat, blood curling from her lip.
Raez spat. “I at least, had the guts to do what neither of you chickenshits did—blast those bitches away.”
I lifted a fist. “I could have smoothed it out, fed them a line and given those messenger boys some baksheesh and it would have ended smoothly.”
“You think? I highly doubt that given the size of the load they’d—”
“Quit bitching and let’s get to the ship,” Wren cried.
An opening presented itself. The crouching Gedra were concentrating on the Urgon, raking it with fire.
I grinned. “Lick your wounds later, Raez. Let’s shake a
