Cyber Dreams 4.18 - Finder's Fee

The plot thickens . . .

Love to hear your thoughts :)

-Plum

A few drinks and a time-out imposed by the rest of the table pointedly ignoring him did wonders for Ray’s demeanor. Juliet found herself laughing along, listening with interest as Nick and his friends talked about the “old days” when they ran a lot of escort jobs together. She’d been snacking on salty, fried foods from onion rings to Callisto “fingers,” which were, as one might guess, finger-shaped mushrooms with a decidedly truffle-flavored aftertaste. The salt kept her ordering beers, and those, on top of the shot she’d taken, kept her comfortably numb as she leaned back into the soft cushions of the booth.

The music in the bar was her kind of vibe—lots of electro-synth with beat drops and rising, spine-tingling vocals that drowned out any conversation outside their sound-dampened booth. It was kind of like sitting in a little oasis of noise within an ocean of strangers, and Juliet liked it. During a lull in the conversation, she said as much, lifting her voice to be heard by everyone at the table, some of whom didn’t have implants that filtered sound very well. “I like the vibe in here! Cool club!”

“I told you!” Nick laughed, lifting his glass to clink against her bottle.

“Nick,” Ray said, leaning in front of Alec, “That guy I mentioned—he just got here. Wants to sit down with us for a proposal.” Juliet still didn’t like Ray and hadn’t said a word to him during the conversations they’d both been involved in, but she was interested to see what this business was all about.

“I wasn’t really looking to do business tonight. I’m not exactly clear-headed.”

“Hah!” Penny snorted, sipping her frosty-blue drink from the top of its high, fluted glass. “When has that ever stopped you?”

“Good point, dear,” Nick chuckled, grinning and brushing his shoulder against hers. He’d gotten a lot friendlier with her after a few drinks. Juliet supposed part of the thaw between them had come when Penny saw him try to stand up for Juliet against Ray. Had he really never done that before?

“You cool with your . . . trainee sitting in on it?” Ray glanced at Juliet but quickly looked back to Nick before their eyes could lock.

“I believe he’s trying to exclude you.” Angel sounded angry.

“Relax,” Juliet subvocalized. “No way Nick will ask me to leave.”

“She’s cool. You know she’s an operator, right? She probably knows more about contracts and negotiating than I do.”

“Oh?” Ray looked at Juliet with a raised eyebrow, and she could see from the glint in his eyes that he was trying to regain some of his prior boldness, trying to think of a way to ask her a question with a teasing edge.

Juliet ignored his look and, instead, focused on Nick. “You know better than that. I haven’t been at it all that long.”

“Regardless, you are fine to sit in. Let me know if you think this friend of Ray’s is too shady.”

“Hey!”

“My pleasure!” This time, it was Juliet who offered Ray a smile with a bit of an edge to it. Further conversation was put on hold when the waitress—their original waiter’s shift had ended—arrived with another round of drinks and a big pitcher of lime-flavored, iced water. She’d just finished setting them down when another person approached the table. He wore a damp, burgundy rain jacket and a matching hat with a wide brim. When he slid into the booth to Juliet’s right, she noticed both of his hands were expensive-looking gold-plated chrome-jobs.

“Ray.” He nodded, smiling with a mouth full of golden teeth at Nick’s friend. Then he turned to the rest of the table. “Ray’s friends. I’m Larry Fine.”

“The guy I was telling you about.” Ray pointed to Nick. “This is Nick, the pilot I mentioned, Larry.”

“Aha.” Larry nodded, shifting to look at Juliet. He smelled like old leather, spices, and something stronger that made Juliet’s eyes water—way too much cologne for her taste. “I know your partner there, Ray. Who are these lovely ladies?”

“That’s an old friend, Penny, and next to you is Nick’s new . . . partner.”

Juliet frowned, but she supposed there wasn’t anything wrong with the description. She turned to Larry. “I’m Lucky. My name, I mean.”

“Right,” Larry dragged the word out with a smile that displayed his shiny teeth. Juliet got the feeling he spent a lot of time smiling too much, trying to get his money’s worth out of those caps. He winked at her and then looked more closely at Nick. “I hear you’re a hell of an interceptor pilot.”

“Some people think so . . .”

“Oh, come on!” Ray groaned. “Anyone else asks, and you’ll point out your ranking on the Jovian System pilot boards.”

“No need for him to be braggadocious, Ray.” Larry scanned the glasses on the table and picked up a dark stout no one had touched. “Ordered this on my way up.” He took a long sip and sighed with pleasure. “Anyway, as I was saying, no need to brag when I can just look him up myself. I’ve seen your rating, Nick. You interested in making a big haul?”

“Is that rhetorical?” Nick chuckled and sipped some of his own beverage, the same thing he’d been ordering all night: two shots of bourbon over a single, fat ice cube.

“Right! Of course, it is. We all want to score big, right? Well, I have an interesting proposal. My client is something of an aggrieved father. His daughter took up with a nasty crowd, and he wants her back.”

“What?” Nick frowned. “I’m a pilot, buddy. That’s not really my thing . . .”

“Hold on.” Larry held up a hand beseechingly. “Let me spit out my whole pitch, and you’ll see why I’m talking to someone with your skill set.” When Nick shrugged, he continued, “You see, she’s mixed up with a gang called Hereford’s Vengeance. You heard of ‘em?”

Everyone at the table made some kind of noise, signifying their recognition. Ray chuckled, Alec shook his head, sighing, Penny coughed, also shaking her head, and Nick simply said, “Who hasn’t?”

Juliet was about to say she hadn’t, but then Angel helped her out, “They're a well-known band of pirates that prey on the shipping lanes between the Jovian System and Mars.”

“Right.” Larry smiled. “Well, I need someone who’s kind of an ace, someone who can walk the walk, so to speak. Someone who could join up with a crew like that.”

“Uh . . .” Nick looked around the table. “I know we’re on a noise blocker here, but you sure are open with your trust. Just talking about infiltrating that crew will get you killed if the right people hear about it.”

Juliet frowned, bothered by Nick’s sudden concern. She let her mind drift a little, trying to pick up something from the strange character beside her. He was close, and his mind was fairly unguarded, or at least it seemed that way because his thoughts came right to her.

Oh, come on! You trust these people! Ray’s the one who turned me on to you. Obviously, he knows the score. Penny, well, yeah, maybe that was a risk. Shit, did I blow it? Is he worried about the rookie here?

Larry glanced at Juliet, his perpetual smile falling a little at the corners of his mouth. He turned back to Nick. “You not cool with these folks hearing this? Shit, we can get our own table . . .”

“Nah, it’s all right. I’m gonna turn you down, anyway. Even if I wanted to do the job, I couldn’t. My skill and prestige,” Nick chuckled and shrugged at his low-key boast, “come with a double-edged blade. Those pirates will recognize my ship, even if they don’t recognize me.”

“That’s the beauty, my friend!” Larry drummed his ring-bedecked fingers on the table and leaned closer to Nick, getting uncomfortable inside Juliet’s imaginary bubble. “My client is loaded. He will supply a ship, something from a local auction with no ties to your legendary record.”

“And my ID?”

“We’ll cover that.”

“How’s Nick supposed to get this girl to fly off with him?” Penny asked, frowning, eyeing Nick with something like genuine concern. The more Juliet watched them, the more she began to wonder if they were really as “over” as they’d professed at the start of the evening.

“Well, that’s the easiest part. You use your pilot chops to get into the gang, and you’re pretty much done. All you have to do is hang around with the crew for a while ‘cause we’ll send an operator in with you, someone who will be responsible for getting the girl aboard your ship. That done, all you gotta do is bail out—haul ass back to Callisto and dump her off.” He brushed his hands together with a chuckle. “Nothing left after that except to collect a very fat payday.”

“I love it when a client talks about how easy my job’s going to be. It never turns out badly . . .” Nick snorted and shook his head.

“Come on, Nick!” Ray whined, leaning in front of Alec. Juliet, despite her better judgment, tried to listen to his thoughts, staring pointedly into his left eye as he worked to convince Nick that he was being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Goddammit, I need this! Quit being a bitch, Nick!

The heat of the emotions accompanying Ray’s thoughts began to turn Juliet’s stomach, and she quickly looked away, staring into one of the high, yellow neon signs as she sipped at her beer. She couldn’t wrap her head around how anyone could be so intensely full of vitriol all the time. He had to be miserable. Unable to help herself, she asked, “Something in this for you, Ray?”

He jerked his gaze away from Nick to her, slid back into his seat, giving Alec room to breathe, and snarled, “What’s wrong with that? Just a finder’s fee. Larry’s been having a hell of a time finding a decent interceptor pilot.”

“Why don’t you do it?” Juliet pressed.

“I’m stuck in a long-term contract!” He elbowed Alec. “Tell ‘em!”

“It’s true. We’re on a six-month contract with Yggdrasil.”

“As I said,” Larry held up a hand, tamping it down in the air, as though he could cool the rising temperature around the booth, “my client is very wealthy and, yes, I have a nice finder’s fee for your friend here, should you take the job, Nick.”

Nick sighed and leaned back, sipping at his drink. Everyone at the table had gotten quiet, waiting to see how he’d respond to the outlandish job offer. “I dunno. I’m a pilot—that’s my thing. I’m not an actor or any sort of operator, you know? I’m not sure I can pull off the BS required to get hired on with a real pirate crew. What do I tell ‘em about myself? How do I prove my chops? What if I don’t like the operator you’re sending with me, or we don’t gel? What if he’s a complete dipshit and gets my cover blown and, along with it, my ship? Sounds risky as hell, to be honest.”

“I agree.” Juliet didn’t like the sound of the job at all.

“Jesus. Shut the fuck up. Who the fuck are you, even?” Ray growled, dropping their earlier truce.

Juliet’s legs were stretched out to the side of the table, and she let her palm rest on the grip of her Texan, her annoyance with Ray rising to irrational levels. “Who am I? I don’t know, but one thing I’m not is a leech trying to get my friend into a real cluster fu . . .”

“Lucky! Ray! Chill, please.” Nick slammed his glass down with a clunk. “Let Larry here paint the whole picture. He knows I’m not too excited about the job. He knows it sounds like a real nasty bit of risk. So, Larry, how are you going to entice me? What’s the upshot?”

“Glad you asked, Nick. How does half a million bits sound to you? That’s your cut after the operator, and I take ours.” He glanced at Ray, frowned, and added, “Finder’s fees come out of my cut, of course.”

“Holy . . .” Penny whistled and sipped her fluted glass again. Neither Ray nor Alec flinched or even reacted at the mention of half a million bits—Juliet thought it was pretty evident they’d been planning this proposal for a while.

“It’s a nice payday, but is it worth getting blasted into dust?” Nick shrugged. “I think I need a beat to think about this. Can you tell me who the operator is? I’d feel better with someone I know.” He looked past Larry to make eye contact with Juliet, and then she saw the lightbulb go off in his brain as his eyes widened. “Hey, Lucky . . .”

“Huh-uh!” Juliet vehemently shook her head. “I can smell trouble from a mile away, and this one smells like rotten fish . . .”

“Operator cut’s the same as the pilot’s . . .” Larry said, turning to re-evaluate Juliet. “You got the chops? If Nick trusts you, it might make the whole thing a lot smoother . . .”

“Let us think about it.” Nick held up a hand, forestalling more objections from Juliet. “Seriously. Let us get sober and take a day to talk.” He glanced at Ray. “Without all the outside pressures, you know what I mean?”

“Come on, Nick. You know I’m not like that!” Ray glared at Juliet. “You’re not going to listen to this . . .” he struggled with words for a minute as he glared at Juliet, and she stared right into his eyes, her expression daring him to insult her again. “This rookie. Are you?”

“I dunno. I like Lucky; she’s got some interesting viewpoints on things, and she’s already saved my bacon at least once.”

“You forget about Venus? How many times did I save your ass?” Ray was red-faced with anger. Something more was going on here; he seemed far too desperate for Nick to take this job, and Juliet wanted to get to the bottom of it, but she dreaded getting into his mind again. Still, she reached out while he stared at Nick, hoping she’d get something quick and easy.

Please, you old asshole! My dick’s on the line here! I owe . . . I owe . . . I owe . . .

It was weird how the thought kept repeating and, along with it, the desperate angst that Ray felt. He was terribly worried about what he owed to someone. Juliet cleared her throat and decided to try a new angle. “Ray,” he jerked his head toward her, ready to bark an insult or tell her to stay out of it, but she held up a hand, “I’m gonna walk around the club a little—check out some of the dancers or something. Maybe you should be honest with Nick and tell him what’s the big deal for you with him taking this job.”

“Uh, yeah.” Alec started sliding toward Ray. “Let me out, Ray. I gotta take a leak.”

“Not a bad idea. You two boys work this out ‘cause the testosterone is giving me a headache.” Penny started sliding behind Alec, and Ray stood to let them out. He locked eyes with Juliet for a second, and then he nodded.

“All right. Yeah. Let me talk to Nick for a few.”

“You good, Lucky?” Nick asked as she slid to the edge of the booth and stood.

“I’m totally good.” She glanced up to the next level and added, “I’m gonna go up a level. I think I see people dancing. It’s been a while since I danced at a club. Can you watch my jacket?” She shrugged off her motorcycle jacket and laid it on the seat next to Larry. “Don’t let this guy walk off with it.” She winked at Larry to show she was joking.

“Jesus, Lucky, is that a vibroblade on your wrist? The cannon on your hip wasn’t enough?” Nick shook his head, clinking his ice cube around in his glass as he sized her up.

“What? This? I just keep it around to win bets—you know, throwing it and whatnot.” As she joked, she looked down at Ray and narrowed her eyes, making sure to rest a hand casually on her Texan’s grip. He flinched, but he also scowled, and Juliet decided that perhaps using a lethal weapon as a prop in a pissing contest wasn’t cool. “Anyway, be back in a few.”

“Hang on!” Penny called, and Juliet slowed, waiting for her to catch up. “You really gonna dance?”

“Yeah, I like the music in here.”

“I’ll join you. Damn! You’re tall!” Standing near her, Juliet realized Penny was a lot shorter than she’d expected, maybe only five feet or so.

“Eh, it’s the boots.” Juliet winked at her as she led the way to the elevator.

“You gonna dance in those?”

“Sure. I do a lot of things in my boots.” She was definitely buzzed, and the words made her laugh as she looked back at Penny. “Not like that!”

As they stepped into the elevator, Penny said, in a near-yell because of the loud, thumping music, “I like your shirt!”

“Do you? I have a thing for these old smiley faces.”

“It’s not smiling!”

“Well, that’s what they called them . . .” Juliet laughed, looking down at the frowning, yellow face on a black background. “Anyway, I like your shirt. It’s really . . . pretty. I’m bad at dressing in pretty things.”

“Well, you could fool me: your hair and those eyes. Damn, girl, I’d kill for looks like that. You must’ve spent a fortune.”

“Oh.” Juliet felt heat rising in her cheeks as she stared at the elevator door, waiting for it to open up. “I mean, changing looks is important for some of the jobs I’ve done. It’s not all vanity . . .”

“I’m not judging!” Penny laughed and bumped her hip into Juliet as the door slid open, revealing a darker level with more pulsing lights timed with the beat of the music. “I’m just jealous! Come on, let’s go dance!”