Tomys laughed. "Well, let's just say that I'll see to it that you get whatever you want. Right now, we'd better get started. If you disappear for too long, Cony will get suspicious." He walked over to a cabinet beneath the holovid, which swung out to reveal an impressive comm system. Using what Jirik could remember of the Lass' orbital data, Tomys scanned for the ship. In less than a minute Tomys pronounced himself satisfied that he could maintain an untappable contact with the crewmen aboard, at least until the Lass passed over the horizon which, luckily, would not be for several hours yet.
Valt and Tor were relieved and excited to hear from their Captain. He gave them a short summary of occurrances so far, and what they were expecting. Valt was certain that he could render the Astrogation comp inoperative in such a way that it would take the Engineer to repair it.
Just to be certain, however, Bran gave him ten minutes of detailed instructions, which he accepted in a manner that gradually became exasperated.
"All right!" he finally replied in a tone that revealed his irritation. "I know what to do. I'll get on it right away."
"Captain!" Tor called before Valt could sign off, "Just a drill. What's the word?"
Jirik glanced at Tomys before replying. "'Slingshot. Don't worry, kid, I won't forget."
"Yes, sir," the boy replied. "I was just checking. Good luck, Captain!"
"That kid seems pretty sharp," Tomys commented after they signed off.
"Yeah," Jirik replied. "Well, shall we get on with it?"
Tomys nodded, and they returned to the ground cab. Jirik asked the agent to drop them off at the Guild Office, to deposit Tomys' written guarantee.
Tomys shook his head. "No. I'm going to drop you off at the Market of the Rim. I want you to walk around a bit, familiarize yourself with it, then catch another cab to the Guild, or wherever else you want to go. Don't forget, Cony's going to want to know where you've been since we lost his tail. When he asks, tell him that you've been wandering around the Market. If he tracks down this cab, that's where the regular driver is going to them that he dropped you." As he stopped speaking, he guided the cab to the curb in front of the huge Market of the Rim. As soon as Jirik and Bran exited the cab, Tomys pulled the cab away without a word.
Bran commented, "I'm not sorry to see him go!"
Jirik chuckled. "Yeah, well, before too long we may be praying for him to show up!" They went inside and wandered for nearly an hour.
The Market of the Rim was an impressive place, A huge pavilion covering nearly a square mile, and all devoted to trade. Its first floor was a maze of small stalls selling goods from all over the rim, Alliance and Empire; everything from food to heavy mining equipment could be purchased somewhere in the Market. The second floor of the immense structure was occupied by the offices of shipping agents, wholesale distributors and trading factors. The place was fascinating, and Jirik and Bran could pull themselves away only with difficulty. Bran suggested that they purchase some small items, as substantiation of their story. Finally, they tore themselves away, and caught a cab to the Guild office, where Jirik deposited Tomys' written guarantee.
As they left the Guild office, Jirik noticed the same man who had earlier passed him the terrorist's note, excitedly talking on a public vidphone. He nudged Bran. "Here we go!" he commented. Bran nodded. They began strolling unconcernedly down the street.
They had gone only some two blocks when three men whose strength and heavy builds marked them as heavyworlders, probably from Boondock, jumped out of a parked groundcar and hustled the two men into the rear compartment. For a brief moment Jirik afraid that Bran might resist, but he needn't have worried. Bran's objections were only vocal and appropriate for an unsuspecting spacer kidnapped in broad daylight.
One of their assailants took a seat facing them, while the other two climbed into the front. The man facing them brandished a needler, since the groundcar's polarized canopy made concealment unnecessary. None of the three deigned to answer Jirik's frantic questions, and the one.in the back finally told him to shut up.
The remainder of the ten-local-minute trip was made in silence. Finally, the car came to a stop. The front seat occupants climbed out, covering Jirik and Bran as they exited before the man in the back seat. Jirik had to admit that the three were pretty good. The captives had been given no chance of overpowering their captors. He looked around. The groundcar had stopped inside of a large open building, presumably a warehouse. Their captors nudged them toward the dingy office occupying one corner of the huge building. One of the thugs rapped on the office's door with his needler, and a familiar voice replied, "Come in!"
As they were herded through the door and roughly pushed into hard, uncomfortable chairs, Jirik thought Cony! Then it really is join or die!
Seeing the recognition in Jirik's eyes, the burly man grinned. "Yes, Captain, It's me. Don't worry, you won't be harmed!"
"What the deity's going on?" Jirik grated. "What're you doing here? I thought you lived on Boondock. Why did you grab us?"
Cony's grin was predatory. "Restrain your outrage, Captain. We have business to discuss. First, though, I must know where you were during the two hours between the time you were picked up by a groundcab in front of the Guild office, and the time another groundcab brought you back there."
Jirik shrugged. "We went to the Market of the Rim. Somebody at the Guild mentioned it, and we thought we'd take a look, since we had some time. Our business out here is completed, and we're heading back toward the inner rim. It was too late to conduct any business today, but we thought we'd at least take a look at the Market, since we'll be back there tomorrow, trying to arrange inbound cargoes." He bristled. "So, why the hell is it any of your business?"
Cony looked satisfied. "It's my business because I may have a proposition for you. First, though, one other detail." He nodded at the three big men who were still standing behind the spacers. Jirik and Bran were roughly dragged from their chairs and searched. The contents of all their pockets were emptied onto the office's desk, then one of the thugs ran a hand scanner over their entire bodies, while the others held them immobile.
Jirik's steady stream of curses was accompanied by Bran's vocal objections. Finally, they were pushed back into the chairs, where they were held by the thugs while Cony examined their belongings. He thoughtfully examined their weapons and purchases from the Market before tossing them back on the desk, where the thug with the scanner passed it over each item, before tossing all but the weapons back to their owners. Finally, the thug snapped off the scanner and stepped back.
At Cony's nod, all three stepped out of the office, leaving Jirik, Bran and Cony alone.
Chapter 16
"You've got a lousy way of negotiating deals," Jirik growled.
Cony grinned. "I'm sorry, Captain, but security is essential. You'll understand when I explain my proposition. But first, would you mind telling me why you were armed? It seems to me an unnecessary risk on a strange civilized planet, where personal weapons might be frowned upon."
"I'm not so sure that I'm interested in any proposition where 'security is essential'," Jirik replied in a surly tone "Security was essential in the book deal, too, and we ended up nearly getting our asses blown off. As for the needlers, I knew that I would be transporting a letter of credit worth a million and a quarter. As you pointed out, we've never been here before. I didn't want to take any chances. I think that we've had all the excitement that us old bastards can stand!"
"You know that that breach of security was Fanlin's fault!" Cony protested. "But your ability to complete the mission under those circumstances is one of the reasons that you're here. Both missions." he added.