Free A Gathering of Widowmakers (The Widowmaker #4) by Mike Resnick Page A

for anyone with a price on his head. That's not necessarily a bad thing." He paused. "But none of it will happen until long after we've left New Barcelona."
    "What makes you think so?"
    "If the good guys and the bad guys wanted a war, they've had two hundred years to start one."
    "Okay," admitted Kinoshita. "You've got a point."
    They attracted some attention after they'd walked two blocks. Bystanders stopped and stared, and began whispering Bellamy's name, but no one made a move to stop them. Two more blocks, and they were out of the District. It was the middle of the night, but word of what they were carrying got out pretty fast, and by the time they came to a police station half a mile from the District they had a curious crowd of perhaps thirty men and aliens following them.
    The doors opened to let them through, and the instant the officer on the night desk saw who was on the largest sled he summoned his superiors.
    Kinoshita's analysis had been correct. The police were definitely not happy to see a bounty hunter carting Hairless Jack Bellamy's body out of the District, but there wasn't much they could do about it.
    "Is there paper on the other two?" asked Nighthawk after they had officially confirmed Bellamy's identity.
    "You mean you shot them without knowing?" demanded a captain who was the ranking officer on the premises.
    "In self defense."
    "Have you got any witnesses?"
    "If there's paper I don't need them," said Nighthawk, "and if there's no paper I'll let you hook me up to a Neverlie Machine."
    An officer walked over to the Lexonian. "I know this one. He's wanted all the hell over the Frontier, and I think there's paper on him in the Spiral Arm as well. I can't pronounce his name, but he's carrying about two hundred thousand credits on his head."
    "The other one's McAllistar Morgan," added the desk officer. "Or at least that's what he's been calling himself lately. He killed two men in a holdup on Benvenuti II, and they're after him for some other stuff as well."
    "Well, that's that," said the captain. "Your ass is covered. Now fill out your claim and get the hell off my planet. I hope to hell you haven't caused more problems than you've solved."
    "I want the two smaller bounties sent to a hospital on Giancola II, to be applied to Jason Newman's bill," said Nighthawk. "My friend here can give you the exact location and details. Have them send the big bounty here to the station and hold it for me."
    "I'll need your name," said the desk officer.
    "Jefferson Nighthawk."
    "A lot of people have borrowed that name," remarked the captain. "I hear there's a young one out here on the Frontier— one who's actually calling himself the Widowmaker."
    "You don't say?"
    "You could do a lot worse," said the captain. "Hell, we could use another Widowmaker these days—a legendary hero to clean out the District."
    "Well, you know what they say," said Nighthawk with a smile no one but Kinoshita understood. "Be careful what you wish for; you may get it."

10.

    "What now?" asked Kinoshita as they walked back across the street and entered the District.
    "Now I go back to Horatio's, and you go around to all the nearby hotels and boarding houses."
    Kinoshita looked puzzled. "What do I do there?"
    "Take out a room at each," Nighthawk instructed him. "At least ten of them. Twenty if you can find them. Then meet me at Horatio's."
    "I assume you want me to take them out in my name, not yours?"
    "Right. There's no sense making it too easy for whoever's following you."
    "Me?" said Kinoshita nervously. ""Who do you think's going to be following me?"
    "The same men who are following us right now," answered Nighthawk calmly.
    Kinoshita looked around. "I can't see or hear anyone."
    "I can."
    Kinoshita fingered his screecher nervously.
    "Don't worry," said Nighthawk. "There are only two of them, and they don't want you. That's why I took Bellamy out in the street—so everyone would know it was me who did it, not you and not us. I would think by