Two habitable stone structures – one for the armory, the other for our bedding, kiosk, and special inventions – laid before me. The armory was closer, and that’s where I heard a pair of voices.

  I stumbled upon some amateur thieves. Apparently, assigning a lookout while burgling the place did not occur to these morons. And I had planned to give them brownie points for the tunnel idea.

  Two Aztecans in their early twenties emerged carrying a metal box, big enough for a couple dozen blast rifles. Soon as they saw me, they dropped the box. One of these idiots howled when it landed on his foot. The other grabbed the rifle from over his shoulder and took aim.

  “Well, ain’t you a damn sight?” I said because they were. Filthy clothes (pants stained with red dust) and dirty faces. Skinny bastards to boot. “So, I’ll make it easy. If you plan to press that trigger button, you’d best be top gun for the Naugista Plateau.”

  The kid tensed. Wait, did I call him a kid? Shit, I’m old.

  He thought about it then reconsidered. He was a thief, not a killer. I recognized the stone cold and the psychotic right away; this dumbass fell into neither category.

  “What about you?” I asked the one whose foot got smashed. “Maybe there’s a gun tucked behind your back?”

  “N-no, sir. I’m unarmed. Please, we’ll …”

  I shot him in the head.

  A half-second later, I jumped the surviving moron, disarmed him, and flipped him over. I kneeled at his side and held a blade to his throat. While he hyperventilated, I took a moment to outline the seriousness of his predicament.

  "In the normal course of lethal combat, a smart shooter aims for the guy who poses the greatest threat. Difference is, this weren’t combat because you stood no chance. But you’re alive because you were smart enough to know there might be trouble. Your friend was an idiot. I don’t suffer idiots. Now, I’m gonna ask a question, and you can reply with your fingers. How many others in your crew?”

  The kid raised two quivering fingers.

  “Inside the fort?”

  He shook his head.

  “Good. My partner will deal with them. Now, I’m gonna give you a moment to calm your nerves.”

  I sat him up on his ass. That seemed to do the trick.

  “I’ll be straight. Your chance for survival ain’t much better than his.” I pointed to the corpse. “Your best hope relies on honest answers. Follow?” He nodded. “Say it.”

  “Y-yes, sir. I’m sorry. We didn’t mean no harm but …”

  “Shut the fuck up and answer my questions. You tunneled in?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I like it when you call me ‘sir.’ Keep up the good work. How many days did it take you to dig this tunnel?”

  “Four. We worked at night.”

  “Now that is a hell of a risk, my friend. Your crew kept tabs from a distance and waited until our ship left?”

  “Yes. We started d-digging when you didn’t return for a few days.”

  “How did you know about the shield?”

  “We didn’t. Not exactly. Everybody heard the stories. P-people who walk into the fort never come out. They say it’s cursed.”

  “Yet all that gossip didn’t stop you lot. Do other Aztecans know we live here?”

  “Maybe. Sir, we didn’t mean to h-hurt anybody.”

  “OK. Let’s focus on inventory. How much have you stolen?”

  He gulped. The little rat knew what he said next might end him.

  “T-that was our s-sixth box.”

  “Where are the first five right now?”

  Oh, damn. Here came the waterworks.

  “I’m so sorry. I am. T-this was our second trip. There’s a box outside on a rifter.”

  “That’s how you traveled here?”

  “Yes.”

  “The first four are long gone. Correct?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Where?”

  “Home.”

  “A little more specific, if you will.”

  “Desperido.”

  I pushed the bastard away and had a good chuckle.

  “You four from that crowd, eh?” I took a closer gander at the kid then glanced over my shoulder at the dead man. Now things made sense. “He’s your older brother?”

  “Yes. Emilio.”

  “Your name?”

  “Esai.”

  “Tell me, Esai. Why would you and Emilio and those other fools risk your lives to break in here? You had no idea about our armory.”

  The kid’s eyes bulged as if he’d seen a ghost.

  “We … we didn’t have a choice. Owed a debt to … you might as well kill me. They will if you don’t.”

  “And who are they?”

  “Who you think? The Horax. Cardinale’s people.”

  I shrugged. “Not familiar. Who are those assholes?”

  Actually, I had a working knowledge of the planet’s cartels, but playing clueless carried benefits. Esai winced like he thought I’d lost my bearings.

  “What? How don’t you know about …?”

  Our attention diverted toward the east wall. Moon jumped in cradling an Aztecan in his arms. He unloaded the guy, who stood up straight, except for the hunched shoulders. I also think Moon broke the man’s left arm. Blood ran from his nose.

  “Move,” my partner ordered.

  “Where’s the other one, my friend?”

  Moon grinned. “You said I only needed to bring one back alive.”

  I offered thumbs up. “True that. Looks like we got good news and bad news. We caught the whole gang, but they off-loaded half our armory to Desperido.”

  “That shit town?”

  “Let’s don’t cast aspersions in front of the burglars. I’d rather hold judgment until we visit. This young fella right here is Esai. He claims they were working for the Horax.”

  The other Aztecan flew into a rage.

  “Esai, you chit! How could you tell them about …”

  Moon popped him upside the head.

  “On your knees.”

  Esai pleaded with the air of a man who wanted to make amends before his inevitable execution.

  “I’m sorry, Manny. I’m sorry. He killed Emilio. I didn’t …”

  “Yeah, yeah. So let’s get back to the Horax. You mentioned a debt. I’m going to assume we’re talking about a criminal enterprise you folks were dumb enough to get involved with. Did those people know what we kept in here? Do they know who we are?”

  Esai and Manny stared as if daring each other to talk.

  Esai broke first. “It wasn’t like that. If we proved ourselves, we eliminated our debt. Emilio saw you a few months ago. He studied your patterns. He said we needed to take the chance.”

  “You chit. Traitor.”

  Manny did not let up. I thought he might lunge at Emilio if the kid kept flapping his lips. I made a judgment call to end the distraction.

  “He’s no help,” I told Moon. “Do it however you want.”

  My partner grinned then buried the lit end of the cigar into Manny’s right cheek. Yeah, this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill cigar burn. Moon employed his special stock as weapons.

  Manny screamed when the flames ripped through his body. The suffering didn’t last long.

  Like I said before: We’re killers, not torturers.

  Manny’s ashes laid at Moon’s feet. Esai vomited.

  Fortunately, he missed my custom-designed boots.

  “OK, Esai. Now that you’ve got it out of your system, let’s put life in perspective. First of all, you still have one. That’s a positive. Second, you’re in mortal danger, to say the least. Looks to me like if we don’t kill you, these Horax will. My partner and I would like to recover our missing property. If you cooperate, we might be able to lessen the odds of your impending doom. Interested?”

  He was a pitiful creature. Numb all over, trying to decide if he wouldn’t be better off dead. I’d seen that look before.

  “Y-yes, please. I’ll cooperate.”

  I tapped him on the cheek.

  “Good man.” I smiled at Moon. “How about this day, partner? I reckon we won’t have to sit around here bored silly until the next job.”

  We had stayed clear of Desperido for nineteen years. It wasn’t very neighborly of us, but it seemed prudent.

  Oh, well. Time to check in on the locals and grab our shit.

  7

  I THREW ON MY DUSTER and holstered two laser pistols. I imagined us approaching the town on foot, a pair of badass killers emerging from the desert. All the townsfolk rushed inside to avoid the inevitable gunfight. It was a sweet fantasy.

  Odds were fairly low we’d find anyone in Desperido worth fighting. We scouted it from a distance not long after we squatted in the fort. At thirty kilometers from Inarra, it qualified as our closest neighbor, and we had no interest in nosy neighbors. When we used public transport, we hitched a ride on the long-range tumbler at the next town – a hundred kay from Inarra.

  Desperido intruded on our privacy after nineteen respectful years. We intended to ride in on rifters, thanks to our mostly-deceased burglars.

  These old models were rusty around the frames, each with a cargo basket big enough to handle two boxes of our inventory. Still, they evoked a few memories. I hot-rodded rifters when I was a teen. I zipped around one of the largest cities in the Collectorate, dodging through flight traffic a hundred meters aboveground. This trip? There weren’t much of anything between here and Desperido except the occasional umbrella-shaped Albuen tree.

  Esai got real chatty when his odds for survival upticked. When I asked if he’d like to take Emilio back home for burial, he claimed the brothers had no family. Seemed indifferent about the poor fella, so I had Moon incinerate the body. The little prick didn’t shed a tear. In fact, he pivoted.

  “I’m real sorry we stole your guns, sir, but maybe we can make a deal? I owe a debt to the Horax. It’s just me now, so they won’t expect a big haul. One box. It’ll get me in the door. That’s all I ask.”

  Moon and I shared a laugh. I liked this little asshole already.

  “So, we keep five-sixths of our boxes, and the Horax don’t kill you. It’s a win-win.”

  “For sure. I … I don’t know what you need all these weapons for, but if it’s just the two of you …”

  I waved till his mouth shut.

  “Let’s say we agreed to this magnanimous arrangement. Whatcha planning to say when they ask how you acquired these weapons?”

  He shuffled his feet in the red dust. Didn’t have a clue.

  “I won’t mention the fort. I promise.”

  “Or your three dead associates?”

  “I’ll say they ran. I’ll lead them down a trail to nowhere.”

  I nudged Moon in the side.

  “You believe this guy? Damn, Esai. You’re an impressive little bullshit artist. How old are you?”

  “Nineteen, sir.”

  “Huh. I figured mid-twenties at least. You’re rough around the edges. Here’s what we’ll do. For the sake of moving this shit along, we’ll take your proposal under advisement and render a decision after you return our goods.”

  Esai knew damn well he had no leverage, so he didn’t counter. He also knew we’d never agree to those terms. Free guns? Left alone to trade his knowledge about Inarra for a sweeter deal? Yeah. This shifty little bastard had a Plan B.

  No problem. Added a little more hot sauce to the adventure.

  Before we left, Moon used an explosive to collapse the thirty-meter-long tunnel. Emilio and his band of thieves had done a nice job. Four nights of careful digging. I heard no snark from Theo.

  After I reset the shield, we hopped on the rifters. Standing next to me, Esai made a confession:

  “We weren’t going to come back out here after the first load.”

  “Four boxes was a healthy haul. No sense pressing your luck. Why return?”

  “Emilio. He always had big ideas. He said we could hand over four boxes to the Horax and sell the rest on the night market. There’s no one in town with a badge to keep tabs on our activities. We thought another trip out here was too risky, but nobody argued with Emilio.”

  “So he got himself killed, plus Manny and the other dumbass.”

  “Sure did. He was always too cocky.”

  I pushed the navigator arms forward. The rifter surged. Moon kept pace a few meters starboard.

  “Your big brother is a pile of ash, and here you are trashing the man. If you three had stood up to him, they’d be breathing. You’re as much to blame.”

  Humans. Always looking for a scapegoat. It’s comfort food for the guilty conscience.

  Esai knew better than to open his flappers again. I didn’t hear another word until we approached Desperido.

  Before we left the fort, I took Moon aside and laid down a few cautionary notes about what we might face.

  “If we’re lucky, we’ll be out of there before anyone casts an inauspicious gaze in our direction. But if we should encounter trouble, remember who you are: A simple man named Ilan trying to go about your business. Kill with a pistol, not the cigar. We don’t run faster than any man, and we don’t shapeshift. I’d rather leave town without a body count. The fort ain’t much, but it’s home. Feel me, partner?”

  Moon pulled on his cigar. “Understood. Don’t draw attention.”

  “Is that a twinkle in your eyes, my friend?”

  Moon glanced over my shoulder toward the last burglar.

  “I’ve had a fun day.”

  “I know you’re eager to finish the job. No worries. I’ll give him to you when the time’s right. What d’ya say we refill the armory first?”

  That was my everyday experience: Setting Moon on a proper course. If I didn’t coach him, there’d be no greater danger to this or any other planet than the serpent god.

  As we neared Desperido, the land rose and the surface transitioned from red dust to a patchwork blend of low cacti, sagebrush, and dry soil with rusty scales. The Ogala hills rose above the northern horizon, a good forty kay north of town. Everything south of Ogala weren’t fit for human consumption, but the locals never cared a wit. Best I could tell, that’s how they liked it.

  We slowed a hundred meters shy of the southern edge of town. We saw a few rifters scattered about but no humans, which made sense: The sun was directly overhead. In fact, our burglar had become overripe, so I turned down my olfactory regulators.

  Desperido spread across five hectares with no grid. The one-level stone and mud buildings felt like random growths poking out of a bronze landscape. Sun globes, a comm tower, and a handy network of cisterns did the heavy lifting. These folks relied on hydrogardens and kiosks for food. Except for the main road to civilization, which cut the town in half, the dusty streets were unpaved. Other than one sedan that seemed out of place, I saw no vehicles but rifters.

  Would’ve been easy for me to dump on the poor sods who lived in this slice of nowhere. But as a longtime resident of an abandoned fort, I understood the value of isolation. I reckon nobody caused trouble around here for a simple reason: Trouble didn’t make a profit.

  That is, until Esai and his gang of fools got a bright idea.

  “We’d rather not draw attention,” I told the kid. “Where do we find our boxes? And don’t say the middle of town.”

  “I won’t, sir. We have a place to the northeast. Built it ourselves.”

  “A house? You and Emilio?”

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  I shook my head. “Life lesson, Esai. When you steal an arsenal of weapons, don’t hide them in the first place where the vengeful owners are bound to look. Which way, genius?”

  He led us on a course around the periphery. We stood a reasonable chance of avoiding suspicious eyes.

  The brothers’ stone home didn’t seem like much more than a lean-to surrounded by mounds of hard-packed soil, fifty meters from the nearest structure.

  Now I understood. They didn’t “build” this house. They dug it out of the planet. Made sense; they were good with shovels.

  Esai led us into an impressive cellar, where we met a cool wave of recycled air and soft, earthly lighting. The combination bedroom and kitchen was tight quarters but well-stocked with canned goods and three tiers of hydrogardens. Clothes hanged on makeshift rods drilled into the natural wall.

  We passed through to the second chamber, which featured a convoluted mess of tech both ancient and current, much of it disassembled on workbenches. We didn’t ask they were up to. Didn’t care. They stacked our boxes against the rear retaining wall.

  “See? It’s all here, sir. Just like I promised. Do we have a deal? You take three, and I keep one.”

  I grinned at Moon. He wanted to pull the trigger on this dumbass.

  “Which one?” I asked Esai.

  “Uh. I dunno. I’ll keep whichever you leave behind.”

  “Will you now? Have you evaluated the contents? If I had profit on my mind, I’d want to keep the most valuable box.”

  The kid shuffled his feet.

  “We didn’t take inventory. We just filled the boxes and ran.”

  “Then got greedy. Yeah. What d’ya say we sort the contents, and you can choose the guns with the most value on the night market? I’d like to leave you with a fair deal.”

  “Uh. OK. Why be so generous, sir? I stole from you.”

  The shady little prick had a good point.

  “For one, I have a kind heart. Second, my partner and I feel a little nudge of guilt. We did kill your brother and your friends. You’re an orphan living in a bunker. Eh. You deserve a break.”

  “It’s true,” Moon said. “We’re not bad men.”

  The kid’s eyes wandered between us as if he weren’t sure whether we were on the level. It was a nice act. He knew we were knee-deep in bullshit. Emilio might have been the ringleader, but I suspected Esai was the brains. The smartest one knew better than to play his hand. And this kid? He knew we intended to kill him.

  How did he plan to save himself? I was curious to find out. Not the best strategic move but damn sure the most fun.

  “Tell you what, Esai. We’ll make it easy for you. My partner and I will pick through the guns and leave you a healthy selection.”