His eyes flicked from her to the other two security officers. “My story’s a little unusual.”
“You’d be surprised how many unusual stories I’ve heard.”
“Can we talk alone?” He fidgeted.
Fallon didn’t want the situation to escalate into something adversarial. That would only make matters more complicated, and she had enough complications on her hands already.
“Do you mind being searched for weapons beforehand?”
Surprise replaced his wary expression. “No. I’m no threat to anybody.”
Her officers did a thorough scan of him and performed a physical pat down. An archaic check, but a good one when you were watching out for spies.
“We can go to my office,” she said, nodding at her officers to dismiss them.
She watched his eyes as they walked. They darted around, as if they’d never viewed a space station, noting every detail. He was in good shape. Athletic, and a few centimeters taller than her. He was a mix of genetic backgrounds that she had a hard time identifying. Part human, probably. She guessed him to be in his early twenties.
They said little on the trip up to her office. She watched him study the lift, the door to her office, and finally, its interior. There was a hypervigilance to him.
“So.” She sat on one couch and indicated that he should do the same on the other. “What brings you to Dragonfire?”
“I’m looking for a guy named Hawk.”
“You know him?”
“No. Someone told me that he’d help me.”
“Who?” Fallon asked.
“I don’t know who she was. A doctor, but I didn’t know her name. She helped me out of a situation, told me to find Hawk.”
“What makes you think he’s here?”
He chewed on his lip before answering. “I’ve been looking for him for about a year and a half. It’s not easy finding someone when you know nothing but a name.”
“So what led you here?”
“I figured if the guy can help someone who’s in trouble, he might have been in trouble in the past, or at least know people who are. So I started thinking about multi-planet operations, the kind of stuff that isn’t terribly legal. Smuggling. Bogus identification. Things people keep off the books.”
Very smart. Fallon was impressed. The pieces fell right into place and made his story ring true so far.
He continued, “I did a little off-books trading. Nothing illegal, just untraceable. But I made some contacts and a little money to live on. Eventually I met a guy named Arcy. Said he knew Hawk and would tell me where he last knew Hawk to be if I did some work for him.”
“What was the work?”
He shrugged. “Delivering a package. I didn’t ask what it was. But he told me that I’d be able to find Hawk here.”
Arcy and Hawk had a strong partnership. Either Arcy had screwed Hawk over to benefit himself, or he had decided that Lim was trustworthy. Since Lim seemed to have little to offer, she was betting that Arcy had vetted him and determined him to be legit. Which was interesting.
When she didn’t respond right away, Lim asked, “Is he here?”
“What if he isn’t?”
“I’ll go find Arcy and shake him down for why he lied.”
Fallon couldn’t fault that plan. She’d do the same thing. “And if he is here?”
“I need to see him. Right away.”
“Why?”
Lim’s green eyes glowed with intensity. “I’m hoping he can tell me who I am.”
Fallon dismissed her lieutenants and took Lim to her office to wait for Hawk. When he arrived, she could practically smell his suspicion.
Lim frowned at Fallon’s hulk of a partner. “You’re Hawk?”
“Yeah. Who are you?”
Lim ignored the question. “How do I know you’re the guy I’m looking for?”
Hawk pushed back into the couch cushion and rubbed his jaw. “Hell if I know. How am I supposed to prove it when neither of us knows the other?”
Lim’s shoulders slumped. “I guess I should have asked Arcy for some way to know for sure.”
Hawk’s eyes narrowed. “Arcy? Pale little guy? About a meter and a half?”
“No. Dark as night, and almost as tall as you, though his frame is smaller. Likes to swear in some language that seems to involve a lot of spitting.”
“Sartrevian,” Hawk answered. “Very difficult language. I never did manage to learn much of it. Shtiptu mokovol flistivtu.”
He did appear to spit a couple times in the process of speaking.
“That’s it!” Lim’s words vibrated with excitement. “That’s what he said when he dropped a pipe wrench on his foot.” He beamed. “You are Hawk.” He relaxed back into the couch with a look of contentment, as if now that he’d found Hawk, his work was done.
“So what is it you want from me?” Hawk asked.
Lim glanced at Fallon and back to Hawk.
“You can trust her with anything you tell me,” Hawk said. “She’s my partner. One of ’em, anyway.”
“There are more of you?” Lim looked pleased, as if more people increased his odds somehow.
“And some associates too. We’re growing.” Hawk smirked. “We’ve had to recruit, so to speak.”
Lim chewed his lip. “I don’t actually know why I was supposed to find you. The woman just told me that you’d make everything stop.”
“Make what stop?” Hawk asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you know?” By this point, Hawk seemed more intrigued than annoyed.
“Not much, to tell the truth. I woke up in a jail cell. I didn’t know where or who I was. I was taken to this guy called Admiral, who told me to assemble a plasma converter.”
Hawk nodded, encouraging Lim to continue.
“I did it, but not as well as he wanted. He ordered my guards to take me to get some food. They fed me well, treated me okay. But I kept seeing pity when they looked at me, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that I was doomed. And I was remembering these little bits. A security code, the face of a woman, just little flashes without any context. Then the guards said it was time for me to see the doctor, and I
