Free Danger Money by John Van Stry Page A

said Shotoon.
    "You could easily have knocked him out," added Rieselle. "There was no need to kill him."
    "What?!" I hissed, I couldn't believe this!
    "We are, or rather you are, on vacation!" sighed Rieselle, "And yet you've already managed to kill somebody and it hasn't even been a day yet. You're out in the real world now, you can't just kill every Weasel you come across, regardless of the circumstances."
    "Fine." I said, it wasn't actually, but I was madder then hell and I hurt too. The last thing I wanted was to be fighting with my friends. Even if they didn't want to act like them.
    So I got up and left.
    I went to the back, past the bathrooms and straight out the back door. When I came to the street at the end of the alley I had to admit to myself that I had no idea of where I was going, or what I was doing.
    I heard a noise behind me and caught a whiff of fox as I quickly spun around.
    "Yes?" I couldn't totally stifle the growl that came out with it.
    "You okay?" It was the Barmaid of course.
    "No, why? What should you care?"
    "Why don't you come home with me? I could take care of those cuts for you at least."
    I caught another whiff of her scent on the breeze. She was scared and smelled it.
    "You don't owe me anything," I sighed and turned back around and headed out into the street. "So you don't have to be scared that I'll try and collect." I turned left and started looking for an open store. It was late and I looked a mess, I needed a good First Aid kit. Or even a bad one.
    "Wait please!" She caught up with me easily, I wasn't in any rush anyway.
    " Hobbs was an out an out bastard, and did a lot of bad things. At least to me." She said quietly grabbing my arm.
    "Owwww!"
    She grabbed it where it was cut unfortunately.
    "Oh! Sorry," she changed her grip. "Anyway, the least I can do is patch up some of those cuts."
    "Okay," I said and let her lead me down the street and through a few alleys.
    We cut through the machine room for a warehouse of some kind, and she unlocked a door in an accessway directly off of it.
    "It ain't much, but it's cheap!" she said showing me in. I stepped inside. The floor was covered with worn rugs, my nose told me it was dirt underneath, and the ceiling was low and uneven. We were in the dead space between the foundation and the ground.
    "At least it's roomy," I smiled. It was easily over a thousand square feet. "How'd you get it?"
    "A small bribe to the janitor every month and he looks the other way." She smiled, "Now let’s see those cuts."
    I walked over to a table and sat on a chair by it. She got out a rather expensive looking kit and set to work.
    "It would seem that you know what you're doing," I observed.
    "Mom was a medic and taught me what she could, and I have managed to get some education on my own."
    "How'd you end up here?" I tried not to squirm as she cleaned the one really deep gash on my chest.
    "Well, Mom got transferred and I couldn't go. So I just made do. I'm slowly getting training, so maybe I'll be able to get a better job in a few years."
    "What about your Dad?"
    "Who knows? Mom said she was never really sure what happened to him. She thought he died in the Leverage conflict. What happened with your friends in the bar anyway?"
    She was gluing the gash closed and lining up the skin. I waited till she was done and had started on my arm.
    "They were angry with me for what I did." I growled a little as I said it.
    "I'm sure not!" She smiled askance at me, "Though it wasn't exactly what I expected."
    "I hate Weasel's," I growled again.
    "Why?"
    "I don't want to go into it now," I sidetracked. "How many people will be upset by what I did anyway?"
    "Not too many. Hobb was the local muscle and had killed at least one person that I know of, and probably several others that I heard about. The police really don't care what goes on up here, as long as they get their cut and it stays off the streets.
    "So what got your friends upset?"
    "Cause I murdered him plain and simple," I