“JAN SABATO!” an eager, magnified voice shouted from up the street. “OUR FATED MEETING IS FINALLY AT HAND!”
“Oh, fuck all,” Jan cursed.
Striding toward them from the end of the street — in the center of the street, because of course he would walk straight down the center of the street — was a tall, helmeted figure in green and yellow body armor. His green cloak billowed dramatically in the wind as he strode toward them, fabric flapping against the butt of a long sniper rifle strapped behind his shoulder. Two glistening pistols rode his hips, tucked into big black holsters, with a gleaming silver wolf’s head on the belt buckle. An angular combat helmet hit his features, and its glowing yellow X-slit glistened in the midday light.
“Holy shirtballs,” Kinsley said, staring at the ostentatious display of body armor striding toward them. “That’s Marquis? Can he ... can he even see in that helmet?”
“Behold,” Jan said. “The most annoying man in the world.”
Pollen cupped both hands at her mouth. “Hey!” she bellowed. “Turn off your voice mag!”
“WHY?”
Pollen pointed at the Bowsprit. “People are sleeping in there!” It was, after all, just past the crack of dawn.
“OH!” Marquis said, which was followed up by a slightly quieter, “Sorry.” His long legs had devoured the block or so between them in the time his exchange with Pollen took, which happened before Jan could decide to duck inside the Bowsprit.
“You’re early,” Emiko declared.
“A man of impending action is neither early nor late!” Marquis popped hands on hips and took what he likely believed was a heroic stance. “He arrives precisely when he intends!”
“Stop paraphrasing,” Kinsley said. “It’s tacky.”
Marquis tilted his helmeted head. “You’ve read that book?”
Jan did his level best not to leap forward and sock Marquis in the middle of his stupid helmet. “Okay, everyone, inside, now. This is not a conversation for the middle of the street.”
“Hold, my friends! We dare not go in there!” Marquis gesticulated at the Bowsprit before crossing his armored arms across his armored chest. “The reason I’ve come early is dire indeed. It seems you, Jan Sabato, have been flagged by the CSD!”
“What?” Emiko blurted.
“Their official government contract reached the Network not twenty minutes ago!” Marquis pitched his voice down for dramatic effect. “Bounty! Jan Sabato! Four hundred thousand dollars, captured alive!”
“That’s a decent number,” Kinsley said.
“It sure is.” Pollen hefted her tank-killing rifle. “Want to try me?”
Marquis raised one empty hand. “Peace, m’lady! Your fair Emiko and I have already signed our contract, and I’d not dream of violating that sacred oath!” The glistening X in the center of Marquis’s yellow helmet fixed on Jan. “Nor would I dream of harming the man who saved my life!”
Kinsley looked between them. “You saved his life?”
Jan grunted. “Into the alley, now.” He moved out of the street, and the sound of multiple boots and some very clanky armor assured him the others followed. Once they were all crammed into a more discreet location, Jan turned on Marquis. “If you already knew about my bounty, why come meet us?”
“To warn you, of course!” Marquis sounded surprised Jan would even ask. “You must depart these premises for a secure location of your choosing. Once I know you’re safe, I will fulfill my contract with Miss Emiko. I will find Bharat!”
Jan glanced past Marquis at the ominously empty street, resisting the urge to grab the throwing knives concealed beneath his vest. “Fine. Let’s go.” Tiana would take them in and hide them if they asked, but ten out of ten patrons in the Greasy Bowsprit would sell Jan out for beer money. They’d blow up Tiana’s bar for four hundred thousand dollars.
“Go where, precisely?” Kinsley asked sternly. “Not back home. I will not lead the CSD to my home, Jan.”
Jan understood Kinsley’s hesitance. If anyone from Ceto’s government discovered the horde of illegal weapons, computers, and mods Kinsley had stashed in her back room, they’d seize her livelihood. Also, given that the work she did for contract killers violated at least a dozen local and planetary laws, they’d send her to the same orbital prison where Jan had spent the last five years.
“We’ll divert to the safe house on the east side,” Jan said, after a moment’s internal debate. “If whoever took Rafe last night knows about it, we’re fucked anyway, and if they don’t, it’s the safest place for me that’s not the Hole.”
“That’s a big risk,” Kinsley warned.
“Can you put me in a coma there?”
“If I leave to grab my gear and meet you, yes.”
“Then we’ll split up. You go back to the Hole; I head to the warehouse; you show up in time to make me sleepy.” Jan nodded to himself. “If Bharat did fight his way free of those Truthers last night, that safe house is the one place he knows to start looking. He may even be there now.”
“Agreed!” Marquis declared.
Jan scowled his way. “Was not asking.” He pushed past Marquis, careful not to trip over the bounty hunter’s stupid cloak, and strode toward the street. “Em! Call a taxi!”
For some reason, everything about Marquis — from his colorful body armor to his dramatic speech — annoyed the living shit out of Jan. Even the man’s immaculate sense of honor bugged Jan to hell and back.
Everyone who knew bounty hunters knew Marquis would never betray an employer, and Marquis had almost died many times fulfilling the stupidest contracts. Which was how, quite by accident, Jan had saved his life six years ago.
A gloved hand grasped Jan’s shoulder without warning, and Jan spun and batted himself free. “Hands
