Jade Dancer by DezoPenguin

Chapter 6

Mace Redmond was a big man, the kind that despite himself always looked somehow messy. His hair and moustache were neatly trimmed and groomed, and his clothes expensively tailored and immaculately pressed, but these things made no difference. His skin was oily and slick moments after washing, and he sweated profusely even in climate-adjusted rooms. In a way, these traits had become assets, because no matter how cultured or urbane he seemed, there was always that suggestion of the inhuman, the bestial in his appearance. It made people wary and nervous in dealing with him. A poor quality in the trader he professed to be, but a good one in a crime boss.

Protection rackets, prostitution, and black-marketeering were Redmond's major areas of expertise. He'd anticipated that an area like Downtown would form on board Pioneer 2, and had quickly stepped in when it did, ready to fill a need. Advancing through the rackets on Coral had taught Redmond an unshakeable lesson: you could never lose betting on humanity's bad nature. He took his cut from every shopkeeper, every brothel, every pimp, and every fence in an area ten blocks wide and four levels up from the base.

Except Vanis.

Her club had been right on the edge of his turf, just far enough out to be construed as a challenge without being in his face about it. Vanity Dreams was too successful, too upscale to bow to him. The bitch had run his goons off, all but laughed in his face, and studiously ignored him from that point.

She wasn't laughing now.

Then again, neither was Redmond.

"Idiot."

It was said crisply and cleanly, without bluster. No need for emotion, just a logical, methodical assessment of the facts. A one-word, contemptuous dismissal of him and his side of the story.

It reminded Redmond of Vanis.

"Ya-ya gotta listen to me!" He heard the whine in his own voice and it sickened him. That tone in others always made him want to lash out, snuff their pathetic sniveling.

"I've already listened. Mr. Mujo has been generous to you. He's let you keep your little street-level operation in existence, in exchange for a measly percentage of your profits. He could have dusted you off like a speck of sand on his boot, but he was compassionate, even gave you access to something better than yourself. And yet, when he asks a simple favor, what did you do? You let him down."

"I—I did what Black Paper asked!"

A heavy sigh signaled the response to his whining.

"No, Mace. Mr. Mujo discovered that Vanis was brokering a deal to sell a copy of some confidential data that had been relayed from Ragol here to Pioneer 2's Lab. He graciously requested that you obtain this information. Instead, you chose to see this as an opportunity to punish a rival. You used Mr. Mujo's funds to hire hunters because your own people were inadequate for the task you requested—which should have been the first clue that you were on the wrong path. You staged an incident that focused official and media attention squarely on Vanis, and you didn't even get the data."

"It wasn't my—"

A slender hand grabbed Mace's short hair and yanked his head forward, slamming his face against the desk.

"I said I was through listening, Mace. Having failed, you decided to take your anger out on your employees. To do this, you ordered skilled hunters killed, hunters who had proven themselves sufficiently flexible in their morality to be of future use."

"It had to be done!" Mace protested, his speech muffled by his position. "They didn't just foul up. They coulda led the milipol back to me and to Mr. Mujo!"

"The Hunter's Guild has the privilege of extraterritoriality. Contracts cannot be revealed under force of law, nor used in evidence. That is why the Guild was able to function internationally and reliably. All you accomplished was to vent your frustrations and try to shift blame."

She let him go.

A little Newman girl with short pink hair shouldn't have been so intimidating, Mace thought. He was bigger, stronger. He was toughened by years on the streets. Yet she scared the hell out of him, not just because of who she represented but because of what she so obviously was: a professional.

"The blame," she told him, "has not been shifted. Your hunters did what they were told to do, and they did it to the best of their ability. The flaw was in their orders. Now, Mr. Mujo will not obtain the data he desired."

"Look, we can still fix this. The hunters killed at Vanity Dreams—no security goon did that! Someone else was there! It must have been Vanis's buyer, and I can still hunt him down and get the data!"

"No, you can't. Even if this person's presence was not just a coincidence, and even if you can somehow find him or her, and if the deal was completed before your hunters arrived, he or she will have already passed the data on to his or her client. A professional wouldn't waste time waiting, especially since your very public announcement that there was an interested third party."

"What about the original seller? If the deal didn't go down, then the data's still out there?"

"We could have tried that except for you. The only link to the seller, whom we only know as some anonymous Lab worker, was Vanis. What do you think the official reaction would be if someone started poking into Vanis's life, asking questions about recent contacts, or otherwise showing interest in her? Mr. Mujo does not want to be associated with this incident in any way. Do you understand me? We cannot pursue anything directly associated with Vanis. Indeed, we can only hope the milipol and the media don't discover the connection on their own. You have not only failed, but you have done so in such a way that it prevents us from attempting to correct the failure."

It was the death knell. Like the echo of a tomb door slamming shut, her words were the end of Mace Redmond's hopes. With despair, though, came courage, the strength to fight back.

"Look, bitch, if I've screwed up so damn bad," he roared, "then snuff me and get it over with! I won't need to know any of this when I'm dead!"

"I'm not talking for your benefit, Mace. This is an educational lecture for him." She pointed to Redmond's intercom. The green light was lit. Someone was listening in. "I think that's all I had to say, though. From this point, a word to the wise ought to be sufficient."

A moment later, the door to Mace's office slid open and a man entered. He held a Photon handgun fitted with a suppressor that quelled the gun's auxiliary power and channeled it back into the standard attack, reducing the noise of the shot as a side effect. A quiet, efficient weapon for quiet, efficient killing.

"Gekigasky?"

The Ranger shrugged, though his aim didn't waver by so much as a fraction of an inch.

"What can I say? After this fiasco, Black Paper made it clear you were no longer acceptable. On the other hand, Mujo would keep up his contacts with this gang under new leadership."

"It's always been easier to promote from within," said the Newman, "and your lieutenant has already demonstrated that he can think and plan tactically."

"Damn it, we came up from the streets together! You'd be nothing without me!"

"I admit, you were tougher than I was, nastier, but this is a different game now, Mace. One in which you have to have a brain, not just a pair of big brass ones."

He pulled the trigger. There was no point in building up to an announcement of the execution which would have been nothing but a signal for Redmond to try a last desperate move. Desperate moves occasionally worked, and Gekigasky did not want to permit one.

The Photon round punctured Redmond's skull, exited the back of his head, and gouged a furrow in the neowood desk. Gekigasky put away the gun.

"Personally," he commented, "I always liked Vanis's club. Since it suddenly finds itself without an owner, maybe it's ripe for a buyout and takeover."

He clapped the corpse on the shoulder.

"Guess you beat her in the end, eh, Mace?"

"You look...ready," Tane told Jade, his eyes taking in her appearance. He'd never seen her dressed in her Hunter's outfit, even though he'd paid for it, and his reaction definitely pleased her. He tried to keep it cool, and he did a pretty good job of it, but Jade was an expert at gauging men's interest and the way Tane's eyes lingered just for an instant in certain places said that at least the male part of him was very interested.

That was good, she thought. She hadn't picked the outfit just for the color. While the array of suitable clothing suggested that female Newmen weren't overly fond of heavy, confining wardrobes, Jade had picked out one of the more provocative styles: a sleeveless emerald top, split from neck to waist in front and back, held together by a strip of mesh under cross-lacing. This was combined with short, tight shorts and mesh stockings. She wore a single glove past the elbow on her left hand and arm; a wrist-mounted nav system and PDL was part of a hunter's typical gear. A collar around her throat accentuated her neck and would hold her Section ID badge...if she passed. The only area where appearance had lost out to function was on her feet, where her boots were flat-heeled and sturdy.

Apparently, Tane liked the look. It gave her a pleasurable buzz alongside the knot of tension in the pit of her stomach.

"As I'll ever be," she agreed, then met his gaze seriously with hers. "Tane, I'm going to pay you back, and I mean every last meseta you've spent on me."

"I know." He pointed to her wrist unit, the weight of which was still unfamiliar for her. "I already simple-mailed you a bill."

"Tane, I don't have an account yet."

"You will. I have faith. Besides, if you don't pass and you don't get an account, I'm not likely to get paid anyway, so there we are."

He grinned boyishly at her, making it obvious he was teasing. A moment later, the grin went away.

"This, on the other hand, is a gift."

He reached back and unslung a long sword in its sheath from where he'd worn it over his shoulder. Jade recognized the design of the hilt and sheath from Tane's wall.

"This is the Orotiagito—well, not really. It's actually a copy of that legendary katana, made in AUW 1983 by the master Dousetsu. Even as a copy it's still a first-class weapon in its own right; it was forged with all the artistry of that long-ago age and is far better than most anything you could find by way of standard Photon sabers. I want you to have it."

"Tane...I can't, this is..."

"I insist." He thrust it towards her again. "A katana is supposed to carry the soul of the warrior who wields it, but for me, this is a toy to play with in the practice ring, or a prize to be shown off on my wall. If any weapon carries my soul, then it's got a clip and a cartridge ejector. This Agito deserves better. It was made to be used by someone who can appreciate it."

"I understand, but this is a valuable antique, a collector's piece. It must be worth thousands of meseta. It's worth more than...Tane, you could have bought me for what this costs!"

He didn't lower his arm.

"In the era the Legendary Katanas came from, I've read that there was a custom. When offered a gift, a person refused it twice, making the giver think up more and more clever reasons why it was appropriate to accept. All I've got left is that I like pre-Photon technology too much to see it rusting uselessly on a wall. You'll do better with a weapon that fits your training, and it'll do better in the hand of someone who cares."

He pushed the katana towards her again, and this time she let him give it to her. It was perfect in shape and weight, and she almost felt she could feel the spirit within it, or at least a thousand years of history.

"Tane, I don't know what to say," she floundered helplessly. "Next to this, 'thank you' would almost be an insult." They both knew she wasn't just talking about the Agito.

"Oh, I don't think so."

Jade reached out and placed her bare hand flat against his chest, over his heart.

"I'm serious, Tane. You gave me my life."

He shook his head.

"No one can do that. I just cleared some of the debris out of it."

Tane reached out and ruffled her tousled hair, then pointed to the Guild office door.

"Now go on and live."

She didn't move, though.

"My life, and my choices, then?"

"Of course."

"Good. So long as we're clear on that..."

She reached up, cupped the back of his head, and before he could react, hauled his facedown to hers, where she proceeded to kiss him hard, deep, and expertly. When she let him go, Tane looked as if someone had cracked him over the head with a club; the eyes behind his spectacles didn't quite focus.

Only then did Jade turn and head towards the Guild office, and whatever waited.