"Gunny, about the… them." Ressk sounded worried, so she turned. "You ate their souls?"
"They believe, Ressk, I don't." Glancing between the two Krai, she exchanged raised eyebrows with Mashona and said, "And?"
"And they're lovers," Werst snorted. "Not brothers."
"Actually…" Ressk's nose ridges opened and closed. "They might also be brothers. Their scents are so tangled."
"Yeah, well…" Werst waved that off. "… consenting adults. Who the fuk cares. More to the point, no one smells like that living on protein patties and vat steak. Big Bill, he wasn't kidding about them eating his enemies."
"I doubt Big Bill kids about much," Torin pointed out. "Now, let's find the Heart of Stone, find Craig, and haul ass out of here before it matters."
EIGHT
"So where do we start,Gunny?" "With the bars. Drunks aren't known for their discretion. The Heart of Stone scored big with Jan and Sirin's salvage. People brag. They got hit with a Susumi wave. People talk. And I'm betting…" Torin remembered the look on the gray-haired woman's face as she pushed past her toward the game. "… that Nat owes money to more than one person on this station."
Mashona snickered. "Interesting emphasis, Gunny. I like how you make her name sound like a target."
The four of them had taken half a dozen steps away from the docking arm hatch when the hatch of the bar directly opposite them opened and a roar of laughter spilled out onto the concourse, closely followed by a flailing Human-traveling about a meter and a half off the deck and covering an impressive distance before landing.
"Gravity always wins," Ressk observed as the middle-aged man hit the deck, rolled twice, and finished flat on his back.
Arms and legs splayed out, breathing heavily, the man waved a stained finger in the general direction of the bar while a turquoise-haired di'Taykan yelled, "And don't come back!" out the open hatch. He jerked as the hatch slammed shut, announced with the overly precise diction of the very drunk that it had totally been worth it, flopped over onto his left side, and went to sleep.
"We'll start there," Torin said.
The Vritan Kayti was a di'Taykan bar, and the trick with di'Taykan bars was to take a good long look into the corners, realize that sex was not a spectator sport, and get on with things.
Not a spectator sport for most people, Torin amended, dropping into a chair at an empty table and ordering a beer from the center screen. Took all kinds. Werst was at the bar, Mashona had disappeared behind a drape of multicolored gauze, and Ressk had joined a game of darts. Torin doubted she had any subtle left, and since the last thing they wanted to do was give the game away and spook the bastards into killing Craig, it seemed like a better idea to let people come to her.
She ran her thumb around the inert plastic edge of the screen.
As more of them recognized her, someone would.
It was merely a matter of time.
Or would have been if she'd had any time to spare. Not counting time spent in Susumi space, Craig had been with the pirates for approximately twenty-eight hours. If they'd folded directly here after scooping him out of the debris field, he'd spent anywhere from three-and-a-half-to-five days in Susumi-couldn't be more precise without the exact equations but three-and-a-half days minimum.
The militaries of oldEarth had a saying: Everyone breaks on the third day.
But Craig had information they needed. Page's death had been an accident, an accident that said they'd wanted him alive more than they'd wanted him dead. They'd take their time with Craig.
Three-and-a-half days minimum in Susumi. Another day in real space.
Four days.
If it was true that everyone broke on the third day-and Torin had no way of judging because the Primacy hadn't taken prisoners-what happened on day four? Did they keep him around, keep him alive, in case they had other questions?
What if she was wrong?
What if he was dead?
What did she do then?
Destroy the people who killed him. Easy answer. But what happened after?
"… think you're too fukking good to pay attention?"
The voice had been a constant background drone for a few minutes, but that last bit had volume enough to break through her thoughts. The grip on her shoulder snapped her the rest of the way back to the here and now.
The slam of bone against the table brought a moment's silence, a roar of laughter, then the business of the bar carried on.
He was Human, Torin's height, and his bare arms were heavily muscled. He might have been attractive, but the blood running down his face from above one eyebrow made it hard to tell.
Torin grabbed a fistful of vest and hauled him up onto his feet. Looking past him, she spotted three di'Taykan and a Human who were still finding the situation funny. "He with you?" she asked, raising her voice slightly. When one of the di'Taykan indicated he was, she shoved him in their general direction, sat down, and accepted a fresh beer from Werst.
"Price of these things is fukking proof piracy isn't confined to space," he said, as she took a drink. They sat silently, watching an orange-haired server clean up the blood with practiced efficiency. "Seems like you've solidified your more badass than thou reputation, though," he continued once they were essentially alone again. "Nicely done, Gunny. I know how you did it and barely saw you move. You okay?"
"Thought you said you were watching?"
"Not what I meant."
"I'm fine."
"Really? Because I'd be willing to bet you haven't bothered doing anything since Ryder was taken but try to get him back."
"Your point?"
"I'd be willing to bet," he repeated, "you haven't ranted or raged or used any of time you spent in Susumi to fall apart for a few minutes."
"Who would that help?"
"You."
Torin thought about sticking with the party line, gunnery sergeants didn't fall apart-not for a few minutes, not at all-but gunnery sergeants had the entire Corps helping to hold them together, and she'd given that up.
"All that pressure you're under…" Werst tapped a fingernail against his glass. "Cracks are starting to show, Gunny."
A missed drop of blood gleamed a translucent crimson in the light from the menu.
"I'm not under…"
What if Craig was dead? What if they were too late?
Fuk it. Torin took another swallow of the overpriced, watered beer. "Trust me, I'll use that pressure, let it blow when we find the Heart."
Werst shrugged. "As long as it doesn't use you. The Heart's here. It was here with a cargo. It went away. It came back sometime yesterday."
"But while they were here the first time," Ressk added, sitting down, "word is, they were acting strange. Rumor has it they'd scored big but weren't sharing. Were selling only a small fraction of what they had, and weren't talking about the rest. And then Big Bill got involved. That Krai ship, the Dargonar-you questioned the crew…"
"I know what I did, Ressk."
"Right, well, it left the same time as the Heart. Sent out with the Heart by Big Bill. They aren't back yet."
"Given their last meeting with the gunny, that's a good thing," Werst muttered. "And now the Heart's docked down where the processed ore used to get loaded onto the drones. It's not on an arm, it's sucking on the actual station. And no one docks way the fuk down there without Big Bill's approval."
"No one docks at this station without Big Bill's approval," Torin reminded them.
"Yeah, but where the Heart is now, that's off the beaten path."
"Considerably off," Ressk agreed. "Question still outstanding is why?"
"You could always ask Mackenzie Cho, ex Naval officer, current captain of the Heart of Stone." Mashona grabbed an empty chair from the next table and sat carefully. "Seems he finds di'Taykan service distracting." Her teeth flashed white in the dim light of the bar. "He drinks down the concourse at the Sleepless Goat."
Mashona watched Werst go into the Goat through narrowed eyes. "You sure this is going to work?"