Chapter 6
The Man laughed, a deep throaty chuckle. "Sean O'Brien," he said. "You have style, NG."
He'd never heard the Man laugh like that before. "Desperate times," he said, placing his goblet on the desk. "She's done good work for us before. I thought she might bring Hilyer to his senses."
The Man nodded slowly and threaded his fingers together. He looked up, solemn again. "Your report suggests that he was held captive after his crash. Why could we not identify his captors? The extraction team found him easily enough."
"They found him in a facility not far from the location where Skye set off her emergency beacon. The place was an anonymous holding facility. There was nothing to identify its owners or most recent occupants. Our priority at the time was to get him back. The teams that went back in afterwards found it deserted, sterilised. I should have questioned Wibowski and Hetherington. That was an oversight that cost us badly."
"You're too hard on yourself at times, NG." The Man leaned forward and topped up both goblets, a splash of wine bouncing onto the surface of the desk with a hiss. He wiped it away. "Bringing in the bounty hunter was a good move."
"We needed outside input. I had everyone on this and it wasn't enough," NG said, reaching for his wine. "And our resources are still stretched. This has been hard on all of us."
-
She was armed, in NG's office. That was unheard of. Not that he'd ever heard of NG entertaining bounty hunters before. And when Fliss had said there was a price on LC's head, he hadn't realised it was the guild that could have put it there.
"We leave right away," she said.
"We?" Hil said. He'd been planning to get back out there but for god's sake, not with a freaking bounty hunter.
"The trail's cold already. You're going to give me a head start, the insight into where he'll have gone." She had an air of confidence that rankled in a way that was too familiar. She even stood in the same confrontational way that Martha had a tendency to adopt around him.
Hil looked at NG, reluctant to cause a scene in front of an outsider. But there was no way he was going with this woman. No way that he was going to rat out LC to a bounty hunter. He had no memory of what they'd done or where they'd been but whatever had happened, this should be dealt with by the guild, not some mercenary outsider.
She smiled at him again. "You want him back, work with me. It'll be far better for him that I find him before," she paused for effect, "certain other practitioners of my profession."
She reached towards NG and shook his hand. "You'll hear from me as soon as I have something." She looked back at Hil. "I'm docked in bay twenty four. Be there in half an hour."
NG saw her to the door, leaving Hil to stand stranded by the table, looking surreptitiously over the documents there trying to figure out what they'd been talking about. He scowled and threw the board he was holding onto the table as NG came back.
"Full cooperation, Hil," NG said. "You want us to treat you like one of the best operatives we have, start acting like it."
"I can't believe you're asking me to work with a bounty hunter."
"We often work with outside agencies. Put aside your prejudices and work with her. I want LC back, here within the safety of the guild."
"How do we know she won't sell us out once she has her hands on him?"
"Hil, give me some credit here. How much do you think we're paying her?"
"The Chief said I was grounded," he said, feeling unsettled and out of his depth.
"He's aware of the new situation. He wants LC back. We all do. We're looking into what happened, Hil. And I have to say, there are some people calling for me to throw you into the lock-up. Concussion aside, Legal don't believe your story. Being out there with someone I trust is the best place for you right now."
Skye was horrified that they were sending him out with a bounty hunter. "Good gods, Hil, what are they doing to us? Why don't they send out the extraction teams?"
He threw some essentials into a holdall and rummaged around his locker. He'd lost his favourite coat and the only other one he had wasn't as warm. He checked the pockets. It would have to do.
"They have," he said. "They're doing everything, Skye."
"She's registered with Earth. Can we trust her?"
"I trust NG and he's told me to go. What else can I do?"
"I've heard that her ship has a terrible reputation, Hil. Their apprehension record is phenomenal but over eighty per cent of her captives log an injury on deposit. I'm sorry but I don't trust her to look after you, honey."
"If I walk up into Legal right now, they're going to throw me in jail. Which do you prefer?"
She went quiet.
"Exactly," he said. "I have no choice." He slammed the locker shut and kicked the drawer closed.
"Hon, I've been told to give them whatever information they need on you and LC. But I can't tell them what I don't know, Hil honey, can I?" she said, distressed at having to talk about him to people she didn't know.
It sucked. And he knew that sitting there in lock down was tough for her. Not being trusted by the guild was tough on both of them.
"Just keep your ears open, Skye. I'm sure LC is laying low somewhere. See if you can find out what happened to Mendhel. I'll be back soon, I promise."
The engines were already firing up as Hil walked on board. The ship talked him through their procedures and told him where to stash his gear. Edinburgh was a small two-seater with a holding cell in place of a cargo bay and it was strange being a passenger but he was still tired so he just buckled up and closed his eyes. Apart from a couple of curt, polite comments, the bounty hunter ignored him until they were about jump distance away from the cruiser.
"It's Hil, right?" she said. "That's what you prefer?"
He knew she was looking at him so he nodded.
"The more you help me, Hil, the faster we'll find him."
"I don't know where he is," Hil said stubbornly, repeating the mantra that had been his only answer since he'd been picked up after the crash.
"Yeah, yeah, amnesia, I know, they told me all about that." Like she didn't believe him. "So where first?"
"Abisko," he said without thinking. It was in the Between, not far from the system where he'd been found. Something that no one else knew, not even Mendhel, was that the two of them had a series of drop boxes hidden on orbitals across the galaxy. If LC was alright, he'd leave a message in one of them at some point. And one of the boxes was on Abisko station. It was a long shot but hey, where the hell else was he supposed to start. "There's a bar we know. We'll try there."
"Be straight with me, Hil," she warned. "I don't tolerate time wasters."
"I'm not a good team player, Ms O'Brien," he fired back. "I'm sure they told you that about me."
She smiled. "They told me a lot about you."
That didn't bode well.
"You're a lot alike, you and LC, according to everyone I've spoken to. That should help us find him."
He frowned. He wasn't anything like LC. They were a similar build, that was all. Slender and agile, but then so were a lot of the field-ops - it suited the job. Apart from that, they were nothing alike.
Sean laughed. "Yeah, they said you'd deny it too."
"I didn't say anything."
She laughed again. "Defensive, arrogant, fearless. Same height, same weight - give or take a few pounds, same average for a hundred metre sprint, same Paninski profile. Same hungry look in the eyes. You're both near as dammit ambidextrous, except that LC is naturally left-handed. The only thing I can see that separates you both is your arrest record. You get into more trouble than LC."
"They give you our whole freaking personnel files?"
She threw a board over to him. "The whole caboodle."
She had everything. Not just personnel notes and training logs, the board contained full ID data, DNA tags, fingerprints, retina scans, photos. A chill gripped his stomach.
"This is private," he said quietly.
"Not any more."
>
Guild field operatives didn't exist. They were all issued with a different ID and documents every time they went out on a tab. No one anywhere knew anything about any of them. Wrong, no one outside the guild should have known anything.
"There's already a contract out on Anderton," she said. "With a price that's attracting attention. There's a basic physical description in the public domain. But that's all. So that gives us an advantage. I take it he's smart enough to change his appearance if he doesn't want to be found?"
Hil shrugged, still irritated that she had their personal data and disturbed that she'd confirmed the rumour that there was a price on LC's head. "I don't know why he's disappeared so I don't know what he's thinking. Has anyone considered that he might be hurt somewhere?"
"Your guild is checking out that possibility. I've been hired to assume he's on the run." She leaned forward and entered the coordinates for the jump. "Edinburgh, start jump procedures. Hil, don't worry, that information's not going anywhere except with me."
Hil liked Abisko. That was another reason it had come to mind as the first place to look. Abisko was a mining colony. Neutral alliance, tough environment with most of its deposits under hundreds of metres of ice, and one of the best rec scenes on any of the orbitals in the Between. The planet also had some kind of research status so the station teemed with science types as well as the mining facility operatives. And working in those kinds of harsh conditions meant everyone was up for a good time when they had leave. They had some good friends here and if nothing else, he thought, downing the last of the amber liquid in his glass, they had good whisky.
O'Brien had caught hold of his arm and ticked off her rules before they'd left the ship.
"Stay out of trouble," she'd said. "Check your contacts and get back here in two hours. In the one in a million chance that Anderton is here, bring him back to the ship. There are too many people interested in this contract. Don't get their attention. No drinking, no fighting. And call me Sean, for Christ's sake."
They'd left the ship separately and he'd hightailed it straight to Polly's. She'd given him a hug, said she hadn't seen LC and had let him into her stockroom to climb up and break into the station's maintenance core. The drop box on Abisko was simply one in a bank of lockers used by the orbital's crew. It was easy to get to. Some of their boxes were hidden in ridiculous places that no ordinary person could even hope to reach. He couldn't face a climb with his wrist in the state it was, so again this was a good place to start.
The box had been empty.
Polly pushed across another whisky and took his empty glass. She was wise enough not to ask any questions but she'd held his hand and brushed a finger over the scar on his forehead, and looked at him disapprovingly.
"Mendhel was a good man," she said.
Polly was one of only two people outside the guild that he'd trust with his life, that even knew what he really did for a living. She ran the bar with an iron fist and a warm heart, and every patron knew with absolute certainty that their secrets were safe.
Hil nodded and drank the shot down in one. Polly topped up the glass, looked up over his shoulder and nodded. "Watch yourself, babes," she said and turned away.
He watched the guy approach in the mirror behind the bar, saw the glint of silver at his belt. The bounty hunter sat down on the stool next to him and waved to catch Polly's attention.
"Whatever he's drinking," the man said, waving casually towards Hil.
Polly brought over the whisky bottle and another glass, filling it and leaving the bottle by Hil before backing off and making it clear that she was watching.
Hil downed his and filled it up again.
"You came in with Sean O'Brien," the man said, picking up his own glass.
"You're mistaking me for someone else," Hil muttered.
"No," he said loudly. "You see, I know Seanie and I saw you leave her ship. So what's the story?"
The man had ruddy cheeks and carefully groomed stubble. And there was a pistol at his waist next to the badge.
Hil let his left hand wrap slowly around the base of the whisky bottle while he took a drink with his right, holding the glass as well as he could with the restriction of the brace. As he put it down, the man's left hand shot out quickly and pinned Hil's wrist to the bar, squeezing hard. Pain shot into his hand and up to his elbow.
Hil raised his head, winking at Polly as she edged sideways towards her alarm button by the till. She rolled her eyes and hit the button anyway.
The bounty hunter stood up, moving closer, leaning his weight into the bar and increasing the pressure on Hil's arm.
Hil let himself relax completely. "You really don't want to make a scene in here," he said quietly, fingers tightening around the bottle to his left.
In the mirror he could see two of Polly's guys moving in, one on either side. Polly was reaching under the counter.
A voice at his shoulder broke the tension and he had to shift his weight slightly to see Sean standing behind him.
"McKenzie," she said over-cheerfully. She put a hand on the guy's back and leaned in to pop a kiss on his cheek, whispering, "What the hell are you doing to my little brother, McKenzie?"
Hil grinned at him and shook the hand off his arm, still smiling as he slipped his arm under the counter to nestle in his lap. Crap, that had hurt.
McKenzie opened his mouth to speak but Sean shushed him with a finger to his lips. She turned to Hil. "Time to go, little bro. Get back to the ship. I'll see you there."
She edged her way in to the bar, putting her body between him and the other bounty hunter. Hil stood up, still grinning. Polly waved off her guys and leaned over to hug him across the bar. "Be careful, babe," she whispered. He kissed her on the cheek and pushed away from his stool.
McKenzie was glowering at him. Hil waved a sloppy salute at him and grinned at Sean. "See you there, sis."
One of Polly's bouncers followed him to the door and stopped him outside. "Look out for yourself, Hil. A lot of people have been here asking about LC," he said quietly. "What the hell are you into?"
"You don't want to know," Hil said. "Look after Polly. Tell her we'll be back once this has blown over."
"Do you know where he is?"
Hil looked into the guy's eyes. Tavner was one of Polly's long time protectors, closer to her than a member of staff should be they reckoned, and he'd known him a long time but there was something in his eyes that made Hil feel more uneasy than he'd ever felt here. This was supposed to be somewhere safe.
He shook his head. "I don't and don't ask me again."