Free The Alien Trace [Cord 01] by H M Major Page A

That varies from world to world. And a victim, or his friends, or a special-interest group may raise the money to hire a bounty hunter."
        "Perhaps that is not very different from Mehira."
        More humans were drifting into the lounge, Cord noticed. The level of noise was rising, as well as the cacophony of emotions.
        "You've asked me questions, Cord," Julia was saying. "Now you must tell me about Mehira. I conclude that there are similarities between your police work and bounty hunting."
        "If I understand the term 'bounty hunter,' there probably are many parallels," he agreed. "Sometimes we are hired by individuals to find stolen goods or missing persons, or to guard something of value. Or if we catch a violent criminal, we are rewarded by the Council."
        "You are very young to have taken up such a profession," Julia remarked, not unkindly. "I have met bounty hunters occasionally, and they are usually older and… rougher. They are predators. You do not seem like that."
        "My family has practiced criminal science for generations," Cord said indignantly, "ever since my father's five-times-great-grandfather was advised by the voices of his ancestors to find a certain murderer. He did, when everyone else had failed, because he knew the ways of the high mountains, so he guessed where the killer was hiding. We have been hunters of criminals ever since."
        Julia looked thoughtful. Cord fidgeted. The increasing noise was making him uncomfortable; humans in groups talked more loudly than Mehirans, and their emotional pitch ran much higher. He was not deliberately receiving their signals, but in a large group, the sheer volume of emotions made a clamor almost impossible to ignore. With practice and concentration, one could tune out all signals, of course. Most Mehirans never bothered to discipline their minds to that degree. After all, among Mehirans, such defenses were seldom needed: few were rude enough to broadcast unpleasant feelings. Occasional embarrassment or discomfort, perhaps, which let your companion know he had offended, and therefore gave him an opportunity to rectify his error, but not…
        … humiliation…
        … anger…
        … speculation…
        … amatory interest…
        … pain…
        … boredom…
        … anticipation…
        … rejection…
        The waves of emotion beat in on Cord. In comparison, Julia's cool, antiseptic mind was a relief.
        "Is something wrong?" the human woman asked.
        Briefly, Cord caught an emotional stirring in her, but it was gone before he could analyze it, no more than a darting insect seen out of the corner of the eye or the elusive twinkling of a faint star.
        "I think I'd better leave." Cord stood up. "It's getting late."
        "Will you be coming back again?" When Cord nodded, she said, "Come and see me when you do. If you ask for me at the entrance, they'll tell you where to find me."
        Suddenly her strangely colored eyes were full of promise. Cord felt a strong desire to see her again, somewhere quiet and private, where he would not be distracted by the psychic impact of others. It would be good to discuss her peculiar notions about sex, and convince her that she was mistaken about it. And to find out how a Terran woman differed from Bird…
        With a start, Cord realized that he was still staring into those disturbing green and gold-flecked eyes, and that they and her lips and shoulders and thighs seemed to be promising greater delights than any he'd known. It was a good thing that he was used to keeping his emotions to himself, he thought guiltily. If he'd been broadcasting, every Mehiran in the human compound would have gotten a pretty powerful dose of lust.
        "I'd better go," he repeated. He turned away abruptly. If he stayed any longer…
        At the door of the lounge, he looked back. Julia McKay was still sitting there, smiling