Wren caught wind of what I was planning and glowed with enthusiasm. “Take Dolgra along for the ride. We’ll need backup.”
“Good idea.”
I contacted the Tanza crew. “Is this a secure line?”
“I’ve flipped it to encrypt secure,” said Dolgra. “What is it?”
“Raez’s meat. Fucker tried to kill me. Trying to make off with the escape pod, so I had to smoke him.”
A wheezing groan came over the com. “Why would he do something stupid like that?”
“Who knows what that devious fuckwad was up to? I suggest if we want to save our hides, we either scram, or take over Urgon. Personally I like the second option, as it gives us the flexibility of selling the cargo on our own terms.”
There was a long pause. “What do you need from me?”
“Get over here so you can help us take down Gris. We take the shuttle over, fake them out, and kill the crew.”
“What, are you berserkers?” Dolgra barked.
“Any other ideas?”
“How do I know you won’t scuttle me and take me out like you did Raez?”
“You don’t. But who do you trust—me or Pazarol?”
“No contest. Okay, how many men do we need?”
“Wren, me and two of your guys.”
“That’s all?” He spat out a harsh croak. “Rusco, you’re a bold bastard. Well, you only live once.”
I cut the channel and called up Urgon on Raez’s ear com.
“Gris, it’s Raez here.” I disguised my voice.
Silence, then a hard-edged mutter. “You got the piece? Did Rusco cause any trouble?”
“I’m heading over in the pod now. Rusco went out like a lamb. He doesn’t know a thing. I’ve some interesting merchandise—think you and Paz might like it. Turn off the video and cut this channel when we’re done, in case our boy is on the wire.”
“10-4.”
I grinned my sour grin. “Let’s have ourselves a little rendezvous, Wren. Give a little surprise to our ‘partners-in-crime’.”
I paused. Raez… I tried to understand the man’s game. The fuck could pretend he got tired staking out Starrunner and that the old man could be pinned with the theft of the phaso if anything were found out. He’d lie low on Urgon, use it as a shielded fortress to protect his ass and sit tight, keep both prizes, the fareon tech and the phaso. Not a bad plan, but desperate, and flawed. Leaving me a live unknown was as stupid a mistake as he could ever make. Glad I confiscated his R4. Should’ve checked him more carefully for that concealed pistol. He must have cached it in his boot. No wonder he so easily relinquished his weapon earlier.
I glanced at the clock. 04:07. We had time. Raez wouldn’t be checking with anyone on Tarsus anytime soon. I faked a call to summon Dolgra over and piggy-back for refueling, keeping the communication on open channel. This way Gris could overhear.
When Dolgra’s ship did dock on ours, Dolgra and two of his men came aboard, armed to the hilts.
We entered the Messenger and reviewed our plans. “Four men we’re going to have to take down quickly,” I whispered in a raspy voice. We all stared grimly at each other like wolves before the hunt. “Pazarol’s going to get wise pretty soon, but if we can take over the freighter quickly, we can be off before Paz can do anything about it.”
Dolgra peeled back his black mask. His nose twitched in a grimace. “It’s risky, Rusco. About even odds man-for-man in a blast-out, but we have the bonus of surprise.”
I remembered Raez and the murderous look on his face which reflected the murderous schemes in his twisted mind. “This big crime business is ugly, Dolgra—risky and ugly.”
The Urgon transport carrier grew large as we approached. It dwarfed our vessel like a grey toad floating in space. The monster’s hatch opened, mouthing an unpleasant grin. I guided Messenger in with technical ease. “On my signal.”
The hatch closed, a dull clink reverberating through layers of steel. I deliberately kept the landing dock lights in our area dim. I hoped to hell this hare-brained scheme worked. The point of return had passed. Four sets of eyes looked on as the cold metal grates of Urgon’s docking platform materialized and the landing chamber re-pressurized from vacuum. We crouched, weapons gripped. Only a pool of pale light shone through the port windows from Urgon’s teal dockyard. I could see the whites of Wren’s and Dolgra’s men’s eyes gleaming in the half murk.
The hatch peeled back and we hugged the walls of our own vessel, keeping back in the shadows. Gris’s first man strode in, the proverbial unsuspecting lamb. “Raez, about time you showed—What the fuck—?”
The man exploded in a fountain of blood as Dolgra’s men lay bullets into him, head and chest peppered with R4 fire. He flopped like a puppet to the metal grates. Wren and I burst through, kicking the mangled body aside while I crashed a shoulder into his henchman only a few feet away. But the man’s Uzi came up and got off a blast, triggering the ship’s alarm.
Shit. I twisted and kicked the weapon aside while Wren stomped on the man’s larynx.
Two down. How many more to go?
They’d be watching, closed-circuit video. I aimed my barrel and knocked out the sensor light poised high on the far wall. There could be more. Better to assume Gris had eyes on us; he was the most dangerous of the lot. I could tell by that efficient wastage of Gedra flesh down on Gizren.
Soon blasts raged from around the hallway. Two more came in ducking around the corners, well-trained and fast. How many more of the ferrets manned this freighter? I cursed
