Pirate's Price Read Online Free Page B

access the funds, but neither
could Vihlok. Once the job was completed, the client would transmit
their passcode, releasing the credits. The arrangement protected
both sides and Sephoran bankers had gotten rich brokering the
deals.
    Vihlok whistled long and low when he saw the
amount. “That is a lot of money.”
    “This will give us some much needed
stability. We’ve been dredging the bottom for too long. Wouldn’t it
be nice to be selective again?”
    He couldn’t argue with that and still
tension gripped his abdomen. “Risk assessment?”
    “Minimal.” Fibros motioned toward the
datapad. “The entire job is outlined, opportunity, escape route, we
will even be issued invitations to the event.”
    “This is an inside job.” It wasn’t a
question. Only someone close to the victim could arrange all this.
Vihlok scrolled through the diagrams, his discomfort growing with
each detail. Fibros was right about not asking why, yet the
question screamed through Vihlok’s mind. “Is the mark in on
it?”
    “Didn’t ask. Don’t care. We disrupt a
wedding and make off with the bride. It’s a pretty straightforward
gig.”
    “Are you sure you didn’t recognize the
messenger?”
    Fibros shook his head. “They all look the
same after a while.”
    Bliss was one of their best customers. Her
clients expected luxuries that weren’t easy to find in this
secluded sector. Bliss paid well and without argument, so they did
their best to help keep her customers satisfied.
    “Who submitted the contract?” Vihlok asked.
“Are there references?”
    “The credit confirmation is all the
reference I need. Why are you being so squeamish?”
    “This doesn’t feel right.” Tapping his thumb
against one corner of the datapad, he reached for his half-empty
mug of hazard. “How long do we have to accept or decline? I need to
do some digging.”
    “Digging into what? This couldn’t be cleaner
if we’d planned it ourselves.”
    “That’s the problem. It’s too damned easy.
There has to be more to it than we know.”
    “I’m sure there is, but we don’t need to
know the motivation. We provide a service for a fee. As long as the
fee compensates for the risk, and we can avoid collateral damage,
we do the job. Those are your rules.”
    Vihlok studied the details more closely,
determined to figure out what was bothering him. “There’s a six-day
lapse between the wedding and the ransom. What the venot are
we supposed to do with our guest for six days?”
    “According to the contract, we’re supposed
to ‘irreversibly sully her reputation through direct or indirect
means.’ You’re better with all that legal blin than I am,
but it sounds like she wants a good fuck thrown into the
bargain.”
    Ignoring Fibros’s obvious amusement, Vihlok
returned to his apartment. Space on Makar was limited, so all of
the shops and personnel quarters were designed for functionality
not comfort. Shrugging out of his metlar jacket, he tossed it onto
the sleeping station. The garment might be heavy and hot, but it
protected him from focused pulse blasts and thrusting blades.
    His reality had changed dramatically when
the Devauntian uprising began. Memories of life before his exile
were hazy at best. His father had been overthrown when Vihlok was
thirteen. The next twenty-one solar cycles evolved in an ever
changing blur of danger and lies. He’d progressed from negotiator
to smuggler to privateer, but the outcomes were all similar.
Despite authorization from the Sabrotine Federation, he was a
criminal, a man existing outside the law.
    Silencing the past with practiced
indifference, he crossed to his access terminal. The datapad named
the groom, but gave no information about the bride. “Info search,
King Vega of Peronite.”
    “There are four thousand six hundred
ninety-two entries referencing that name,” the computer told
him.
    “Do any of the records pertain to his
upcoming wedding?”
    “The official announcement, thirty-two