“Everyone is anonymous here, unless they choose not to be,” she replied. “The identifier tells the guards we have scheduled business here. It doesn’t matter who it’s with or what it’s for.”

  “What if we didn’t have business?” Matt asked. “What if we just came for the vice?”

  “You’d have the same type of identifier for that too. Like I said, it doesn’t matter what you do here, the ID just registers your arrival and departure.”

  “The guards didn’t take our guns or anything,” I said, surprised.

  “Don’t expect them to help you if you get in a bind, either,” Alter replied. “Yi’s hired plenty of guns, but only to defend Cestus’ immediate interests, not to keep the peace. Making trouble with the two on the beach is asking for a lot worse trouble.”

  “Yi?”

  “Yi runs the place. Not someone you want to cross.”

  “But he isn’t in with Sedaya?”

  “She falls under Duke Arnid’s flag, but she also doesn’t take sides. It would do too much damage to the business.”

  “I get it. So who do we need to worry about?”

  “We won’t know until we know.”

  “I love the sound of that.” I groaned.

  Reaching the top of the steps, a worn dirt path led through heavy vegetation, thick enough to further obscure the settlement ahead. Even so, I could hear the faint sounds of awful music, shouting, and laughter in the distance. The thick canopy of trees overhanging the island had made the settlement invisible from above, aiding to its secrecy. Now, I couldn’t wait to see it.

  A pair of larger men in worn spacesuits came into the view on the path before we reached the brush. Both more than six feet tall and heavily muscled, they carried large pistols on their hips and wore tense, angry expressions. Watching them come toward us, the stagger in their walks suggested they were drunk.

  Alter moved aside to let them pass, so Matt and I did too. I didn’t sense any worry from her so I did my best to stay calm as they reached us, their size completely intimidating.

  I thought they would go right past. The way they were walking, it felt like they didn’t even know we were there. But as they came perpendicular to us, nearly at the stairs, one of them wordlessly lunged at Matt, the other at me.

  I reacted instinctively, ducking under their grab and falling to the dirt, rolling aside as the bull stumbled over where I had just been. Matt managed to avoid the clumsy attack too, leaping aside before grabbing his attacker’s arm and holding on, using it as an anchor while he threw a hard kick at the bent over behemoth’s jaw.

  When Matt’s foot connected with a loud crack, I figured the guy would drop. But all the blow did was turn his head sideways, leaving him off-balance. I didn’t see what happened next, because the other attacker tried to stomp me with his size twenty boots. I managed to catch his massive foot and push it aside, reaching for my gun as he straddled me, looking down.

  He suddenly flew off me as Alter planted one of her fiery batons in his throat before kicking him away. I rolled to my feet in time to watch Matt shoot his attacker point-blank in the chest, the round doing little to slow the asshole down. Alter made up for it, jumping on his back and drawing her baton across his neck. He gurgled in surprise, clutching at his sliced open throat as Alter jumped off and he collapsed.

  I closed my eyes, fighting nausea from the violence, my heart pounding so fast I couldn’t make out one beat from another. Matt holstered his gun, eyes wide from the adrenaline-driven fight.

  “Geez,” he said, breathing hard and shallow. “What the hell? Why did they attack us?”

  “Drunken bastards,” Alter replied, turning off her baton and putting it back on her hip. “They saw you two, took us for amateurs, and probably decided they wanted our gear.”

  “Even if we look like amateurs, you don’t,” I said.

  “That’s why they went for you first. They were hoping for two quick kills, and then they could team up on me. Not that it would have worked, especially in their drunken state. But then, that’s what made their decision-making so poor to begin with. They got what they deserved.”

  I glanced over at the two corpses, spilling blood onto the rock. It still churned my stomach to see them like that, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t be the last and I needed to get used to things as they were, not how I wanted them to be. Everything had its positives and negatives. “Do you think they had a ship? Maybe we could claim it as salvage.”

  Alter smiled. “Now you’re thinking like a smuggler. These two are more likely crew. Captains usually dress the part to attract business.”

  “Are we dressed the part?” Matt asked.

  “Well enough, except you didn’t take my advice and change your boots. We might not have been attacked if you had.”

  “Seriously?” I said. “Because of our boots?”

  “Everything is a signal. From your clothes, to your posture, to the set of your eyes. You want to signal confidence here, even if you don’t feel it.”

  “Confidence. Right.” I glanced at Matt. He had already updated his posture, giving the same impression of control he had when he walked out on a stage to sing. I envied that ability a great deal.

  A second group of individuals rounded the corner of the path from the settlement, drawing our attention. It took a lot of effort not to stare at one of the four members in the group. Humanoid, but definitely not human, the alien had large eyes and ears on a small face, four arms along a furry torso, and four legs, its spine turning upward like an insect’s. A tube ran from its mouth to a canister on its back, which I assumed was filled with whatever mixture of chemicals it needed to breathe. The other three were human. One of them wore a crisp uniform, a gun hanging from one hip, a long dagger on the other. The other two were also clean and neat in ordinary gray flight suits.

  Their attention turned to the two bodies as they approached, offering only quick notice before meeting our eyes. Confidence. I did my best to project strength and arrogance, as though I was pleased with the kills.

  “Good day,” their leader said, nodding to us.

  “Good day to you, sir,” Matt replied with a mischievous smirk. The furry alien turned its head toward him and chittered something beneath its breather, drawing smiles from the other two. They passed without incident, continuing to the steps and down toward the beach.

  “Come on,” Alter said. “We don’t want to be late.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The path through the jungle stretched another kilometer, winding through alien brush not incredibly different from what I expected the Amazon to look like. Plenty of green plants with large leaves, tall trees with thick canopies, and an assortment of small brushy plants. Considering the atmospheric composition and climate, maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising. Even so, I kept my eyes peeled for signs of alien birds and insects and other creatures, hoping to spot something as weird and wonderful as the furry spacefarer that had passed us.

  I did manage to catch a glimpse of something large and bright red flying between the trees, and I heard plenty of calls and chirps from the surroundings. But it seemed the wildlife knew to stick to the outskirts of the small landmass, giving the more intelligent life forms space to do their business.

  The Dark Exchange didn’t so much change the landscape as it was an almost natural part of it, its presence taking me by surprise as we reached the last turn in the path.

  While the buzz of activity had been audible from the stairs, it intensified to a harsh murmur as the first of the structures appeared. The rounded tops of the metal structures were painted in a camouflaged green pattern, making the buildings look like they grew from the jungle floor. Open-air lifts anchored to the tall trees carried riders from the ground into the lower levels of the canopy, where it seemed like most of the action took place. From the ground, I could see dozens of individuals standing up above on rigid walkways between the trees or on platforms surrounding their trunks. Additional structures lined the branches, some as large as a house.

  “Act like you’ve done this before,” Alter reminded us, Matt and I quickly returning our amazed eyes to ground level.

  As we moved into the maze of structures. I could sense the sharpness of her focus. Not that the individuals on the ground paid us any mind. We were nothing special here. Just another group of mercenaries looking for work. Even so, Alter’s promise that we would be tested remained at the front of my mind. But what if the two brutes near the steps had been a test? Did they recognize us from somewhere? Or maybe someone in one of the ships had seen us leave Head Case? We could be relatively anonymous here, but our ship would stand out anywhere.

  A large, round structure rested in the center of the open area beneath the trees, its metal roof stained in places with what I anxiously classified as blood spilled by others who had fallen or were thrown from overhead. The rough nature of the idea gave me shivers, though I was relieved when we made a straight line to that building instead of the lifts, happy to stay on the ground.

  The guard at the entrance to the structure reminded me of a medieval knight. Adorned in thick gray armor with a heavy helmet, a sword rested on his hip, with a plasma rifle slung to his back. He eyed us warily as we neared, but didn’t block our path as the door into the building slid open.

  The same awful music we had avoided on the ship blared out from the open entry. Looking inside, it was easy to make out the nature of the place. A round bar sat at the center, stocked with a huge array of bottles and containers, half the seats around it occupied. Smaller tables circled it where a few more groups drank and ate. Nearly naked women of all shapes and sizes wandered the enclosure, some carrying trays, others pausing to strike a suggestive pose. At the outer perimeter, glass walled enclaves offered silence and secrecy, though only one that I could see from the front appeared to be occupied.

  Matt and I followed Alter into the bar. She had only made it a few steps when one of the women approached her, wrapping an arm over her shoulder and whispering something in her ear.

  “Take your arm off me or lose it,” I heard her reply.

  The prostitute quickly pulled back her arm and wandered off while Alter turned and scanned the private booths. She ignored everything else in the place so we did too, sticking close as we crossed the floor.

  “Matt, transmit the meeting ID to this booth,” she said.

  “Okay,” Matt replied, taking the phone out of his pants pocket and tapping on it. The door to the glass booth slid open. There were two unpadded metal benches, one on each side of the simple metal table, inside the booth. Each was only large enough for two people. Matt slid in first and Alter moved in beside him, so I sat opposite them. The door slid closed behind us, drowning out all of the exterior noise.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Now we wait,” she replied. “Nakata’s maker should be along soon enough. The identifier will lead him to this booth.”

  “Should we get a drink or something?” Matt asked.

  “No, no drinks. We’re here for business, not pleasure. The faster we can conclude it, the faster we get off this planet. The safer it is for us.”

  “Right,” I agreed, pausing. “They don’t have any blue milk, do they?”

  “Blue milk?” Alter asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. But we aren’t drinking.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to drink it. I just wanted to know if it existed.”

  “I don’t understand you sometimes, Ben.”

  “I don’t understand him most of the time,” Matt said. “I think he keeps trying to use nerdy sci-fi pop culture references, but nobody here understands them.”

  “I was just curious,” I said. “Tell me you weren’t thinking it.”

  “I wasn’t thinking it.”

  “Liar.”

  We both clammed up when a figure paused in front of the booth. He used his glass slab to open the door, sliding in beside me.

  He smelled good at least, a dab of cologne or aftershave quickly filling the small space. Short white hair, with dark eyes and light skin that seemed to cling to his bones. His strong jaw and calm expression exuded confidence and comfort.

  “Enigma, I presume?” he said, looking across the table at Alter.

  She nodded. “And my associates.”

  “Do your associates have names?” He glared across the table at Matt.

  “Stang,” he said, too damn quickly as I realized I needed an alias. He had always used Stang for everything.

  Nakata’s maker side-eyed me. “And you?”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Hondo.”

  I spotted Matt’s wince out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t really like the name either, but it would have to do.

  “I’m Vicar Lo,” the man said, returning his attention to Alter. He reached a gaunt hand under his coat, pulling out a thin slab of clear plastic similar to the one Matt had in his pants pocket, and placed it in the center of the table. “Privacy.” The booth’s glass turned opaque, wrapping us in total secrecy. “Your reputation precedes you, Enigma. But I have to admit, you aren’t what I expected.”

  “What did you expect?” she replied.

  “A man for one. Not to sound misogynistic. But there are a lot more men than women in your line of work. More enhancements, for another.” I noticed his eye twitch, and staring into it I spotted what looked like a small glint of metal shifting behind his iris. “Again, the vast majority of your ilk have at least two or three physical modifications.”

  “Like your eye,” Alter said.

  “Yes. Third, I thought you would be older. The last I had heard, you were supposed to be dead. You disappeared almost twenty years ago, and yet you don’t look a day over thirty, if that. Perhaps you inherited your father’s identifier?”

  “No. The identifier is mine. But a good assassin never reveals their true face. You should know that.”

  “Is it still that obvious?” Lo said.

  “To the ones who know.”

  He glanced over at me. “I used to be an assassin too. A contemporary of Engima’s,” he explained before looking back at Alter. “With that said, it’s an honor to meet you, Enigma. Your exploits are well known across the Family, even if you were never a member.” He paused. “Where have you been, all of these years?”

  “Enjoying retirement. Much like you.”

  “There is no retirement for people like us. When you’re too old, they find another use for you or throw you out with the trash.”

  My eyes shifted to Alter. Somehow, she managed not to give even the slightest hint of a reaction to the statement.

  “In any case,” Lo continued. “What brought you back?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” She reached for the clear slab.

  “Not so fast,” Lo said, stopping her before she picked it up. “You do understand, I’m hiring smugglers, not killers.”

  “I do,” Alter replied. “Hondo is one of the best pilots in the Spiral. Stang’s ship is the fastest in the Quadrant, guaranteed. My team is the best you’ll find.”

  “Your team? People like us always work alone.”

  “I’m not like you anymore. I told you, I retired.”

  Lo smiled. “Of course. Well then, if you say Hondo is the best pilot in the Spiral, I believe you. And I certainly don’t need to worry about pirates with you on board.” He motioned to the slab. “That’s the cargo.”

  Alter didn’t ask what it was or what might be on it. She knew better. My curiosity begged me to put the question to Lo, but I held my tongue.

  “Where is it going?” she asked.

  “Kasper. The courier is expecting it to arrive in nine days. He’ll be at the spaceport with an active identifier linked to the device. Leave it somewhere it won’t be stolen and he’ll pick it up within minutes. Don’t linger to keep an eye on it. If you see the courier, it will be considered a breach of contract.”

  “Okay. What’s the rate?”

  “Twelve million.”

  “That’s a lot of electro to move a personal slab from one side of the Quadrant to the other. You’d be better off sending it with a whore on a pleasure cruise. More subtle.”

  “The data on the slab is too sensitive to risk any attempt to access it. In fact, without the proper key, the slab will self-destruct when turned on. The high rate is to mitigate the temptation, as failure to deliver the slab is a breach of contract. Also, the recipient’s enemies are aware of the slab's existence. They may be waiting on Kasper, or they may try to capture it ahead of your arrival.”

  “You mean they may already be here?”

  “Possibly.”

  Alter nodded. “The contract?”

  Lo retrieved his smaller slab. The interface was visible through the back, though I couldn’t read the text. He tapped on it a few times.

  Alter held her hand out in front of Matt, and he placed our phone on her upturned palm. She quickly scanned the contract before looking up at Lo. “Eighteen million,” she said firmly.

  Lo didn’t bat an eye. “The contract is for twelve.”

  “You didn’t know who you would have the opportunity to hire. Now you do. Eighteen million.”

  “Twenty-five years out of action and off the map,” Lo said. “And you believe you’re still worth that much?”

  “We can go outside and you can try me.”

  He smiled. “That won’t be necessary.” He tapped on his slab again.

  Alter glanced down at the phone before smiling back. “Not in the mood to bargain, then?”

  “I consider your offer a bargain for your services.”

  Alter entered something on the phone before handing it back to Matt. “It’s always a pleasure to do business with Duke Nakata.”

  Lo bowed his head. “Payment will be transmitted automatically when the slab’s identifier is linked to the courier. End privacy.”

  The glass didn’t have a chance to clear before the bullets started raining in.

  Chapter Forty-Three