Chapter Eight
Cregar found Baris. The man was gambling again but with skill. From what the ex-beast master knew, Baris often supplemented his and Ideena's income with some clever cheating but only on planets not sophisticated enough to have checking programs in place. The penalties for being caught cheating ranged from forced bond to death depending on the world and its laws.
Nor would Baris bother with the inner worlds, where monetary systems were mainly on personal or general memorychips. They depended on IDs which were almost impossible to forge, and their gambling payouts were transferrals from one chip to another. Baris wouldn't gamble on such worlds; they gave nothing portable and anonymous. Computer winnings on such worlds could be too easily tracked from planet to planet. He signaled Baris who raked in a stack of credits and nodded.
"Thank you, friends. I must go now as I warned you." He flicked a couple of credits across to the dealer. "Drinks on me." He bowed to the gamblers around the table. "I salute you. It's as well I'm leaving before fortune frowns and I lose my very boots."
Cregar noted the grins. So, Baris had been cheating a bunch of rich amateurs. A good touch. He'd warned them he'd have to leave when a friend showed up. Paid for drinks, and left them with a compliment. By their looks, they had no suspicion they'd been done. They thought of Baris as a nice man and merely a good gambler with luck on his shoulder. Cregar made a mental note of that. Baris was a better psychologist than he'd thought. Judging by the stack of credits he'd scooped up he'd sheared this bunch and left them liking it.
Baris joined him. "Nice people, terrible gamblers." His smile was satisfied. "Ideena will be pleased. I made back everything we spent on supplies earlier."
Cregar hid a wince. "How long were you at the table?"
"Five hours. Come on, Ideena wants us back at the ship. She plans to lift off as soon as we get clearance."
Obediently Cregar hurried. Five hours, he was thinking as he trotted along. Baris must have tossed in the occasional hand and built up a slow but steady trickle of hands won. No huge pots. No obvious runs of too-good fortune. Just a quiet bleeding of credits across the table in Baris's direction. He'd have used sleight of hand to drop credits into his pockets. No buildup of those on the table. With them out of sight and Baris not seen pocketing them either, there'd have been nothing to remind the others that they kept losing.
Cregar wasn't a gambler himself. Most professionals in that field had a touch of ESP. His own abilities didn't lean in that direction, but he knew how it was done. It was one of the first things they taught beast masters, so they didn't get caught in any traps. He'd survived long enough to learn that as well as other things. He didn't realize his lips had peeled back in a snarl. They'd taught him, shown him heaven—then torn it away from him, leaving him empty and bleeding for the rest of his life. They would pay.
At the ship Ideena was waiting. "What kept you?" Her tone softened when Baris grinned and began turning credits from his pockets. "Well done. No trouble?"
He snorted. "Bunch of amateurs. Rich kids wanting to show they knew what was what. I trimmed them good an' they never knew a thing. They'll still be down there drinking the credits I left and saying what a nice guy I was."
Ideena was counting the notes and coins. "This'll cover what I spent for supplies. Nothing like a free trip." She eyed Cregar. "But there's still fuel. You'd better make this worthwhile, Circus Man. Get to your cabin and strap down. I've already got clearance. We lift in a few minutes."
Cregar nodded and left. He opened doors. The first two cabins clearly belonged to Baris and Ideena. The next was empty. He dropped his bag into a chest bolted to the floor, rolled onto the bunk, and fastened the shockweb harness. Just a couple of minutes later the small ship shivered and leapt skyward. Cregar was mulling over something Ideena had given away. She had to have known Baris had met him and that they were on their way to the ship.
Without knowing that, she'd hardly have asked for liftoff clearance. This was an active port. It was the clearing area for the trade of several planets. Ships large and small came and went busily. If Ideena had asked for clearance and then aborted they'd have dumped her to the back of the queue. Therefore she'd known they were on their way. Which meant she and Baris had some way of keeping in contact without the man making it obvious.
He'd better find out what that was. It could be inconvenient at the least to have them exchanging information if he wanted them isolated. At the most it could be lethal. The shivering quietened as the power curve leveled off. Gravity dropped to what felt like a quarter of standard and Cregar flicked the shockweb harness free again. He stood and wandered from the cabin. Time for a quick snoop now under the guise of finding his way about.
He had time for that and more over the time it took to make Arzor. Baris tried to entice him into gambling and failed. Ideena tried her wiles and he allowed it to appear she had succeeded. Not that she'd take it further than sweet smiles. Baris wouldn't like it. But he allowed it to seem that he was softening toward her, perhaps that he was beginning to even trust her a little. He wondered who was fooling who. But you had to play the game.
They landed on Arzor. Hiring a copter and a few career criminals was easy. Baris had the transactions completed by evening. They'd fly out early the next morning. Cregar went to his cabin for a good night's sleep. Judging by the sounds, Baris and Ideena had sought her cabin for a similarly early night, although not to sleep. That was another interesting point. Courting danger clearly excited them. His smile was grim as he made his own preparations. If they tried anything he'd be ready for it and the danger would be more than they were expecting.
The copter was already there by the time they had risen and eaten a light meal the next morning. The hired quartet of scruffy, dangerous-looking port scum were lounging about beside it. Baris was a qualified pilot, but at a pinch Cregar could get the copter up if he had to. He took the seat behind Baris and unobtrusively watched as the big man handled the controls.
The copter circled, drifted in as quietly as possible from an unexpected direction, and finally settled in to land in the rough country past the clan camp. They'd wait until dark then move in. Both Baris and Ideena had slipped dark lenses into their eyes. They would be able to see well enough. The lenses Cregar used were state-of-the-art. He could not only see everything as if it were day, he could also pick up heat auras. He'd know if living things were in hiding behind brush or behind anything else which allowed a heat signature to seep past.
He omitted to mention that. Let them believe his lenses were of the usual kind. If things went wrong he wasn't about to risk more than he had to. The sun curved slowly across the lavender sky. The copter's seven occupants dozed, drank, and ate. Cregar eyed the hired quartet from under half-closed eyelids. An unsavory bunch. Ten-to-one if Ideena found her gems in any quantity there'd be an attempt to dump her, Baris, and Cregar. Probably not until the men had been paid though. If they waited until they were back at the ship they could maybe loot the ship too.
He lay back, allowing himself to fall into a half sleep. He could smell the desert from here where the small breeze lifted to higher land. It was a good smell. Clean, dry, with a hint of the growing brush. That soft smoky scent which would have said falwood in bloom to an Azoran. In the distance a grass hen squawked angrily. Cregar squinted at his watch. He'd keep an eye on their so-called comrades in crime. He didn't think they'd try anything. Not yet. They wouldn't move until there was loot to take. Right now he'd be safe enough.