The Complete Razia Series, page 5
"He’d better hope that you never join the web." Harms laughed.
Razia started to laugh, but then dropped her head on the table. "This is humiliating."
"I know, honey," Harms said, patting her comfortingly on the hand. "What number did he give you this time?"
"Hands up, everyone!"
A group of U-POL officers, wearing the finest gold-trimmed uniforms with special patches on their breasts, came barging into the bar. None of them were older than twenty-one or twenty-two, but they looked around with an undeserved sense of entitlement.
Their leader, a fresh lieutenant with combed and short brown hair, a baby face, and wide eyes, was looking around intently. As the place was empty, except for Harms and Razia, he and his two compatriots came marching over, looking very much as if they wanted to arrest someone.
"We are members of the U-POL Special Forces, conducting a raid on this known pirate bar," the lieutenant announced, trying very hard to make his high voice sound lower than it was.
Harms winked at Razia, who watched them with amusement. The U-POL Special Forces were an "elite" unit of policemen dedicated to the eradication of pirates. However, as long as a pirate belonged to one of the four webs that paid huge sums of money to U-POL brass and overseeing politicians, even the Special Forces had no power to arrest them. And although she was on probation, Razia was still covered under the agreement.
"Mr. Harms, you're clear," he said, nodding at Harms.
"Thank you, Officer Opli." Harms nodded. "Do you want a drink—"
"As for your friend," the officer said, turning to Razia. "Give me your identification."
"Give me your identification…what?" Razia smirked. "I know your mother taught you some manners."
"Razia, don’t be a twit," Harms said, giving her a look. "Give him your ID."
Razia rolled her eyes as she pulled her C-card out of her pocket, making sure to give him the right one. The lieutenant’s gaze lingered on her two C-cards, but took only the one she handed to him, scanning it to check her identity.
He grimaced, presumably seeing her membership, even probationary, in Dissident's web. "You’re free to go."
The other officer leaned over the lieutenant’s shoulder. "Since when do they let girls in the pirate webs?"
Razia snatched her card back and gave him a dirty look. "Move along now, junior."
"Watch yourself," the young lieutenant said, giving Razia one final, authoritative glance.
"Idiots." Razia mumbled, sticking her C-card back in its slot.
"Oh come on, he can’t help it." Harms chuckled. "You know Jukin makes them do rounds around here to keep busy. I see that poor kid about once every two weeks."
"I guess he’s got to let them do something, since he can’t arrest pirates anymore."
"Pirates that belong to a pirate web," Harms corrected. "And you'd better watch yourself missy. You’ll be in a world of trouble if Dissident ever kicks you out."
Razia, brought down to reality, grimaced. "Ugh, I don’t want to get this bounty."
"What number is it again?"
"Seven hundred."
Harms smiled at her. "At least that’s not the last guy on the list again?"
"Close enough." She sighed, sitting back. "I just want a chance to prove how good I can be. How good I am…"
"The only way to get what you want is to keep at it. So, you should go get your bounty, like Dissident wants."
She was getting tired of hearing that, so she gulped down her water and said, "I would, except he hasn't moved in a few hours."
"Maybe he’s got an alias you don’t know about!"
Razia sighed, frustrated.
"So what else is new?" Harms asked.
Razia thought about her slimy boss, Pymus, and getting an awful price for her planet because of some woman who was too pretty to be a real planet bidder, and nearly getting mauled by some giant cat, but couldn't share any of that with him. Harms didn't know about her other life and the whole other world she lived in. And she planned to keep it that way.
She shook her head sadly.
"Well, you know I love to chat with you," Harms said gingerly. "But I see another customer hanging out at the bar...and unfortunately, he's a paying customer so..."
"I get it, I get it." Razia frowned as she stood.
"Keep your chin up, kid," Harms said, as she skulked away.
***
With nothing else to do, Razia headed over to the casino district. It had been a good long while since her bounty had made a purchase, and she was sure he’d be active any minute now. She passed under the bright lights, still blinking in the desert sun, and made her way down the line of casinos.
She ducked into one doorway, the cool air conditioning hitting her like an icy blast. The sound of a million slot machines filled her ears, and the cigarette smoke made her cough. Zooming in on the picture of her bounty, she studied his face. He was middle-aged, but looked much older, probably from a life of piracy. His skin was brown and leathery, and his eyes were a dull gray. The last place he’d spent money was the bar, so that was probably a good place to start asking around.
She pushed open the glass door to the bar and the jingling song of the slot machines quieted. A few sets of eyes were watching her, especially when Razia sauntered up to the bar and sat down.
The bartender looked up from his paper, sniffed, then continued reading.
"What’s a pretty thing like you doing here all alone in a place like this?"
It was only a matter of time before they started coming out of the woodwork. She was holding out hope that once she actually made it as a respected pirate, it would stop. Razia tapped her fingers on the table and waited patiently for the bartender to come, ignoring whoever was trying, pathetically, to hit on her.
"Come now, don’t be like that—" A cold and sweaty hand reached around her.
With a sigh of frustration, and faster than the man could react, she shot out her elbow and connected with his chest, then whipped her hand up to hit the bridge of his nose with the back of her hand, then brought her fist down on the base of his neck to knock him out.
She wasn’t strong, but she knew the spots to hit.
The other men of the bar stared at her, mouths open. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and sat back down, acting as if nothing had happened, although inwardly, she was counting the minutes until he would wake up.
She unhooked her mini-computer, zooming in on the picture again.
"Have you seen him?" she asked the bartender, pushing her mini-computer toward him.
"Oh yeah," he said, nodding and thumbing over to the left side of the bar. "He’s been out for hours."
"...what?"
"Yeah, come over here and look," he said, leading her around to the end of the bar.
She blinked furiously, looking down at the drunken, sleeping body of the bounty she was supposed to bring in. He was on his back, drool pouring out of his open mouth, a bottle in his hand.
"This the guy you’re looking for?" the bartender asked. "Is he your husband or something?"
"Ridiculous," she said, whipping out the handcuffs from her utility belt. He was lying on a very odd looking purse. "What is that?" she asked the bartender.
"A purse, he took it from some poor dear before he came in here."
"For crying out loud…"
***
Since Razia had neither the strength of ten men nor a crew, she'd fashioned herself a floating gurney with canvasses and discs on the four corners that hovered a few inches off the ground. Her bounty was still passed out cold, but she tied him up tight just in case he managed to wake up. Dragging her bounty behind her, she hurried past the U-POL building, glinting in the dying sunlight, toward the bounty office—a dark, dank little building next door. This was where pirates were turned in—and bounty hunters received payment for their efforts.
Unfortunately, there was a queue of bounty hunters out the door, each with a captured pirate in tow.
Looking at the clock, she calculated how long each bounty would take to process, and multiplied that by how many of them stood in line, then subtracted that from the time she had left, adding in time to run and get to her ship and turn it on and…
Her gaze landed on the man in front of the bounty window. Sage was talking animatedly with the man who processed and paid for bounties. Two of his crew members had a third man between them.
Figures.
She sighed and looked at her mini-computer again. As long as she could get to the front of the line in the next hour and a half, she’d be okay with Dissident.
"Oh…wait…"
She’d parked over four hours ago—and at fifteen hundred credits an hour…
If she didn’t get back to her ship soon, she’d really be in trouble.
She looked at the front of the line. Teon was nowhere to be found, and the line was shuffling up slowly.
"Hey!"
It was Ganon, Sage’s pilot. Dark-skinned with lively dark brown eyes and a voice that carried for miles, Razia wasn't sure if Ganon was always drunk, or if he was just naturally that obnoxious, but she rued the day Sage had hired him onto his crew.
He came barreling over, his arms opened wide to toss her up into one of his usual over-the-shoulder hugs, but she was ready.
"Don’t touch me."
"Okay, okay, okay!" He laughed loudly, garnering the attention of two pirate in front of her who finally noticed she stood there. "Woo…you’ve got a bounty! Look at this, Sage!"
"Yes, that’s what happens when you’re a bounty hunter," Razia snapped, hoping this conversation would end quickly. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself with such a pathetic bounty in hand. But thanks to Ganon's barking, Sage and the other crew member, a quiet, tall man named Nalton, joined the impromptu and unwelcome party.
"Razia, you will not believe what just happened!" Ganon said, slapping Razia on the back. "Sage, you have to tell her!"
"I’d…rather…" Sage said, suddenly looking very much like he would've rather kept walking out the door. Ganon waved him off, and turned to Razia, excitedly.
"Okay, so get this: After we did that museum thing, we noticed this guy would not leave us alone, right? And Sage was like, aw, he’ll get tired of us, just hold off. But I mean, this guy—right, Nalton? I mean, this guy!"
"Very nice," Razia said, shifting uncomfortably, hating how more pirates had taken notice of her.
For once, Sage seemed to share her eagerness to get away. "Ganon, I really don't think—"
"So, finally, we’re all at Eamon’s…you know what Eamon’s is, right?"
"Yes," Razia snapped. It was one of many clubs that catered to the top pirates—only. As Razia had found out three weeks ago when she'd been tossed out for sneaking in through a window.
"Okay, so we’re at Eamon’s, and Sage gets fed up with him bothering us, and we do our bit." Ganon grinned. "And, guess who it is? Guess!"
Razia sighed.
"Dalton Freaking Burk."
"What?" Razia screamed, whirling around to face Sage, who already had his hands up in surrender.
"Look, I didn’t want to turn him in!" Sage said quickly. "I mean, he just wouldn’t leave us alone! What was I supposed to do?"
"Sage, you knew I wanted him!" Razia cried. "What in Leveman’s—"
"I don’t see how you could've possibly thought you'd be allowed to capture him, seeing as you’re only…six hundred? Seven hundred?"
Sage and Razia shared a look of annoyance. Royden Relleck stood behind them, his hair buzzed shorter than in his photo, and his high cheekbones accentuated by his smug smile. He'd joined the pirate web only four or five years ago, but had quickly become Contestant's favorite for his brash cockiness. For the longest time, Dissident and Contestant boasted the best two webs, spending most of their time one-upping each other and ignoring the other two. But since Tauron's death, Dissident had struggled to reclaim his former glory, and Relleck had taken it on himself to claim the mantle. He never missed an opportunity to capture Dissident’s pirates or taunt his favorite ones.
Or, in Razia’s case, his most embarrassing ones.
"I know Dissident is desperate for good pirates, but I doubt he’d let a little girl hunt someone like Dalton Burk," he said, smugly folding his arms over his chest.
"Well Contestant lets you hunt, what’s your excuse?" Razia retorted, before Sage could say anything. "Where’s all your boyfriends? I’m surprised you let them out of your sight. Hope you don’t run into any pirate who can hit."
"It’s a good thing I ran into you and Teon, then," Relleck shot back, sneering at her bounty. "Leveman’s Vortex, I haven’t even heard of that guy—is he a real pirate? Looks like he was already drunk when you got to him. Hope you didn’t break a nail."
Before Razia could respond, Sage chimed in with an unhelpful, "Leave her alone, Relleck. She’s still on probation."
"God in Leveman's Vortex, Teon," Razia swore through clenched teeth.
"Probation?" Relleck laughed. "You’ve been on probation for what…two years now? Why don’t you quit embarrassing yourself already?"
Razia watched him turn and walk away, and smiled knowingly. "Hey, at least I didn’t lose a couple hundred credits in five minutes at the casino last night."
Relleck stopped dead in his tracks. "What’d you say?" he whispered, turning around.
"I said," Razia repeated, slowly, "I may be in the six hundreds, but you obviously need to work on your poker skills. And your lady skills—three times you've visited a cat house in the past week? Can’t get a woman to sleep with you unless you pay them, hm?"
"How…how do you know that?"
"Oh, you mean, how I know all your aliases?" Razia said, feigning innocence. "How I’ve been tracking you for the past six weeks?"
Relleck’s eyes narrowed.
"Because I’m a damned good bounty hunter, that’s how," she said. "Now why don’t you quit embarrassing yourself and get lost." She paused and chuckled. "And next time, try to make it a challenge, will ya? Leveman’s, you’re worse at hiding than Teon here."
Relleck glared at her wordlessly then hotly turned and slunk away.
"You sure shut him up." Sage grinned. "And I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m good at hiding—"
Razia turned her deadly gaze on him. "Get out of my sight."
"Wait—what did I do?"
"Take your pick," Razia growled. "First you get me in trouble with Dissident by blabbing about me hunting guys I'm not supposed to then you capture my bounty then you go and tell Relleck I'm on probation—"
"Hey, I was just trying to get Dissident off your back by telling him how good you are—"
"We’re fighting, Teon," she said, looking forward and doing her best to ignore him.
"Oh, come on!"
She glared daggers at him. He took a hesitant step back before motioning to Ganon and Nalton and leaving.
Razia stood in the line, ignoring the curious looks of the pirates around her. Relleck was awfully cocky, and he had every right to be. Unlike her.
She looked down at her bounty, who let out a loud, whiskey-soaked belch.
After an eternity, she reached the window. The man at the window had never been pleased to see her, and he blew purple smoke out of his mouth when their eyes met. He asked her to repeat the pirate's name four times, even though she knew he'd heard her, then took his sweet time looking up the information.
"I’ll give you fifty for him."
"Fifty?" Razia sputtered. "He’s worth two hundred!"
"I could give you none."
"Fine, just give it to me," she snapped, yanking the card out of his hand. She had to get back to her ship. If she ran, and got lucky with a shuttle, she might make it just in time…
***
"N-no! Oh...damn it!" she yelled, throwing her C-card down to the ground. She'd exceeded the hour by four minutes and twenty-eight seconds, so, of course, they charged her for an entire extra hour.
She now had less than six hundred credits in her account.
She would have to do another planet.
Now.
CHAPTER FOUR
It could never be said of Razia, or rather, Dr. Lyssa Peate, that she didn't learn from her mistakes. So, angry that she was back on the Odysseus station again, she wouldn’t budge under fifty thousand credits for the planet she'd so hastily excavated in just two days.
That would be enough to last her for a few weeks—at least. And maybe then she could finally get some traction with Dissident.
Speaking of, she needed to call him and get her next bounty assignment from him. She was walking down the hall in the presentation wing, keeping an eye out for anyone who would bother her. She hadn’t seen Pymus at all since she'd arrived yesterday—he'd placed her in the queue for today without as much as a response to her email.
She paused at a custodial closet—probably the safest place for her to make a quick video call—and slipped inside. She pulled down her hair and took off her glasses, dialing Dissident’s number.
"What do you want?" he grumbled.
"I got whatshisface," she said. "So who’s next?"
Dissident grunted as if the mere act of lifting his finger to scroll through the bounty roster was causing immeasurable pain. Razia waited, hoping maybe he would forget the number he'd given her last time and maybe give her someone in the four hundreds—he’d done that before.
"Seven-thirty?" Dissident said, after a few minutes of overly dramatic sighing.
Damn, she thought. "That’s pathetic."
"If you have a problem with the bounties I choose, then you are free to try another runner."
Razia was about to respond when the door to the custodial closet flew open, and she found herself face to face with Dr. Pymus.
"Dr. Peate!" he said, almost too happy for his own good. "What in Leveman’s Great Vortex are you doing in here?"
"I-I—" she said, quickly turning off her phone and sticking it in her lab coat pocket. She slid her thick glasses back on and tried to look unhurried as she pulled her hair back up into a bun. "I was looking for—"
Pymus latched onto her arm and yanked her from the closet, pinning her to his side as he marched down the hall. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"
