Mainline Read Online Free Page A

coldly.
    "Don't worry. No one else does."
    Lish didn't let it rest. "How do you know what Karuu's going to do?"
    Reva shook her head. "I know him. I know this business even better. Look—Lesson Number One. It never pays unless you own the distribution. Build your own network, and watch your back. You'll make enemies while you get rich."
    Lish studied her for a moment, then reached into her vest anc pulled out a triangular blue chit. She tossed it to Reva, wh plucked it out of the air handily.
    "A guest pass into my place," explained the Holdout. "The address is on it. I'll be there after the end of this month. Conic visit. Maybe we can do more business."
    Reva doubted that. She glanced at the chit, TYREE LONGHOUSE BANEKS CAPE  was engraved on it. She knew Selmun III well, but that name was unfamiliar.
    "Where's Baneks Cape?" she asked.
    Lish pointed one sculpted nail to the ceiling overhead, "Des'lin," came her one-word reply.
    Ah. Selmun IV, called Des'lin by the natives. An ice world, settled by R'debhi emigrants and others, a place of taiga, snowy wastelands, and touchy Vudesh clansmen. It was the first place Reva had gone for training as an assassin. She knew it well, and could tell Lish was no Des'lin native.
    "Lived there long?" the assassin asked.
    Lish smiled openly, amused. "Come visit. We'll talk about it."
    "It's out of my way," Reva said dismissively.
    "You ever have anything to sell? Come see me. I'll give you a good deal."
    "We'll see." Reva was unsettled by the overture and the impulsive gift of the pass. She left abruptly.

IX
    His first day with Albek Murs, Yavobo checked out a government skimboat before the Senior Advisor stepped on board. The pilot resented the frisking, and the Captain protested the search   loudly until Yavobo tossed him against a bulkhead. Broken ribs made it difficult to shout.
    Word of Advisor Murs' new protection traveled fast. The trans- j port office banned Yavobo from official vehicles, and since Albek | refused to move without him, this necessitated the use of private transportation for his many Shelf-hopping junkets. There was never a second protest against the warrior searching a vessel the Advisor traveled in. Yet Albek found that, for all the extensive traveling he did, it was getting harder and harder to find a boat that consented to carry him and his entourage.
    Soon he was forced to lease a hydroskiff and hire a pilot of his own, an arrangement with which Yavobo found fault.
    "This is not safe. When you travel always in the same boat, you are easy to identify."
    "If other boats would take me," Albek said pointedly, "that wouldn't be a concern."
    "They will take you," responded Yavobo. "It is I they refuse to let on board."
    "We've been over that already."
    "If you let me follow in a second skiff, I will be more effective. I will be free to pursue any trouble once it is encountered."
    "And what if it's encountered on the skiff I'm on?"
    "We have agreed you are not in much danger from your countrymen."
    "What? A R'debhi probably put the contract out on me, and you tell me—"
    The Aztrakhani cut Murs off before he could get started. "I am referring to those who travel with you in the same vessel. They are unlikely to be hired killers. And I am here to screen them. Attack from inside the vessel is unlikely when you are traveling between deepsea domes. If I were in another skiff..."
    Albek tuned out the warrior's lecture on what he would do in a second vessel. The alien seemed far more intent on chasing and capturing an assassin than on preventing the attack in the first place. Albek was irritated with himself. He remembered once again Yavobo's disclaimer that he was a bounty hunter, not a bodyguard.
    And I, Albek thought glumly, had to insist on a contract.

X
    The Senior Advisor's trip to the Obai Shelf deep domes was publicized well in advance. Reva had no problem learning the time of his departure. In planning the hit, she relied on Murs' reputation for punctuality. It