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She felt naked without a weapon at her own side. Chaudry looked as if he’d never worn one in his life. He probably hadn’t, outside of drills.

Radko breathed out, long and slow. This was an easy job. Remember that. A quick in, look at the plans, see if they were worth buying, then out.

And then what? Would Sattur Dow be gone by then? Unlikely.

Vega would send her on another job—possibly already had it planned, in fact.

— ⁂ —

Their roundabout trip gave van Heel time to set up some of the surveillance equipment. She passed each of them a tiny disc. “The shop is a communications black hole. I can’t trace you while you’re in there, but I’ll know the second you come out.”

Radko looked at the screen. One had to assume OneLane was selling pricey stolen goods to warrant such security. “Do a flyover, then circle around to land.”

“Nearest park is two buildings away,” van Heel said. “Whoever heard of a shop that doesn’t have roof landing?”

Ean had said there were whole blocks where he’d grown up that didn’t have parking for aircars. Although, the area they were flying over wasn’t that sort of place.

“What do you think?” Radko asked.

“It looks normal. Like a high-end shopping center. Right number of people, right amount of traffic.” Van Heel dropped neatly into a carspace.

“Let’s go,” Radko said to Han and Chaudry.

Radko had been in shops like Callista OneLane’s before. As a youngster, trailing after her mother for another jeweled egg, or for a high-end gift for a member of the Great Families her parents needed to impress. Or later, on her own, when she found something to interest her. It had been a shock the first time she’d entered one wearing a spacer’s uniform, to find the proprietor thought she’d come to sell stolen military property.

Radko smiled ruefully. She’d been young then.

The shop was quiet.

Radko recognized Callista OneLane immediately. She was ushering a client out the back, into the private offices. A man around her own age, in casual clothes, with the pale skin of a spacer who seldom came on world. The quick glance he gave them as they came in made her think he was selling rather than buying.

There were two shop assistants and one other customer—a well-dressed businessman examining a long, pointed obsidian stick that looked as if it might sit well on Commodore Vega’s wall. He looked familiar.

An assistant handed something small and black to the businessman. He clicked it onto the middle of the stick, holding himself stiff while he did so. Radko bet he was wearing a corset under his clothes, something that pulled in his waist and forced him to stand straight. She smiled at the small vanity that gave the otherwise colorless businessman a measure of personality.

The other assistant came over to Radko. “May I help you?”

“Callista OneLane is expecting me. Tiana Chen.”

“Of course.” They’d been primed, for he recognized the name. “Madam OneLane is with a customer at the moment. She won’t be long.” He indicated a luxurious sitting area off to one side of the store. “While you wait, can I offer you some refreshments?”

“No.” Radko made it sharp and dismissive, like Tiana Chen would. “I’ll browse.” She felt safer on her feet. More in control.

He hovered, offering information about various items, until she said, “If I require information, I’ll call you.”

He bowed. “Of course,” and blessedly left her alone with Han and Chaudry.

Han kept an easy pace behind her, whistling softly to himself. It wasn’t recognizably a line tune; it was a popular song. Had she ever heard a linesman sing popular songs? Ean, for sure, wouldn’t know any. The lines were his life.

Chaudry wasn’t as comfortable. He stared around the shop although his gaze kept returning to the other customer.

“Don’t stare obviously, Chaudry,” Radko said, quietly, so that only the three of them could hear. “Do it unobtrusively, with sideways glances when you’re looking at something else.”

“He’s staring at us,” Chaudry said. “And there’s something—”

Radko glanced over at the man. He was watching them, frowning as if they weren’t supposed to be there. She glared at him discouragingly through narrowed eyes.

He winked at her, hefted the obsidian spear in his hands, and looked down over it, as if looking down a barrel. He seemed to be pointing it directly at her.

Radko remembered the movement, recognized the man. Last time he’d lifted his arm like that, he’d had a blaster in his hand and had been about to kill her.

Stellan Vilhjalmsson. Assassin, and close friend and confidante of Admiral Markan, head of the Gate Union fleet.

“I’ve got it,” Chaudry said triumphantly, making Radko jump. “He’s wearing a surgical brace. That man has injured his spine.”

Vilhjalmsson turned back to his weapon. Though his attention seemed to be off them, Radko knew he watched them as carefully as she was now watching him.

“Be wary of him. He’s an assassin. He could kill us from where he stands if he wanted to.”

Why hadn’t he?

“He’s injured,” Chaudry said.

She didn’t think that would stop him.

— ⁂ —

An older woman burst into the shop. Radko wasn’t the only one who swung around. Vilhjalmsson did as well. Chaudry was right. He did move carefully.

“Where’s Callista?” She reminded Radko of Governor Jade in build and in imperiousness. Her voice was familiar. Distinctive, and parodied on many comedy shows across Lancia and Haladea III. The wife of the head of government of the Redmond worlds.

An assistant hurried forward. “Madam OneLane will be with you in a moment, Partner Nataliya. Meantime, can I offer you refreshments?” He tried to lead her over to the elegant couches, but she paced the shop as if a demon were after her.

“I am in a hurry.”

“She won’t be long, ma’am,” the sales assistant said smoothly, while the other assistant slipped quietly out the back.

Moments later, OneLane came out with the seller she’d exited with earlier. They shook hands. The seller looked satisfied. No doubt he’d gotten a better deal than he’d expected, given OneLane hadn’t had time to bargain.

The shop assistant moved up discreetly to stand beside Radko. “We apologize for keeping you waiting, Madam Chen, but Partner Nataliya is a regular at the store, and it is an emergency for her.”

Partner Nataliya looked like a person who had emergencies all the time.

“Can I get you some refreshments?” and he once again tried to usher Radko across to the couches.

Another time she might have sat because she could tell it would be a long wait. But not now, not when it put her in a corner with a master assassin roaming around.

“I am enjoying browsing,” Radko said. “I have everything I need.” She moved closer to OneLane and Partner Nataliya, partly to get rid of the shop assistant—for he wouldn’t persist close to other customers—and partly to put a barrier between herself and Vilhjalmsson. She made sure Chaudry and Han followed. It was her job to keep them alive. The move brought her close enough to hear the conversation between storekeeper and customer.

“I am in dire straits, Callista,” Partner Nataliya said. “I’m catching a ship tonight to Aeolus, and I need to take a gift to the Factor of the Lesser Gods to celebrate his upcoming wedding.”

Why would the wife of the ruler of Redmond buy a betrothal gift for a man whose world was supposed to be enemies with hers? Why would she be going to said enemy’s planet?