Free Lunar Exposure (On the Hunt) by Shona Husk

wouldn’t.
    He pulled out his plex and opened up the simulation he’d been running. A quarter of a tric to go. And if he was wrong? If he called security too early and they found nothing? If he was too late and the firemoss was already too close to critical mass? Would there be time for teams to reach it or for a mass evacuation? Had Noga been able to sneak on hard explosives as a backup?
    Hard explosives were so much easier to deal with than the living variety. He’d used both in the past. Been trained in many more and he knew how to counteract them too.
    He checked his watch again and hoped Haliday—he knew it wasn’t her real name, but that was the only name he had—was okay. He hadn’t liked leaving her to handle Noga herself, even though it made sense and he knew she could take care of herself. They had to work together and he couldn’t be in two places at once and look innocent to Moon security.
    If he’d stalked Noga, that would have looked really bad. Haliday, on the other hand, virtually had a free pass to do whatever she wanted. That could be more useful to a bounty hunter than all the tech and backup in the universe.
    Callen gathered up his plex and made his way down to a meeting room. He enacted the privacy tint on the glass and placed the plex on the table. Then he stood and watched it count down. His stomach was knotted and his mind was distracted. He needed to focus. His job was to convince the Moon it was in danger and to get permission to take down Noga. The Moon rarely gave that pass out. There was a good chance neither Haliday nor he would get the bounty. Maybe the Moon would at least reimburse his stay.
    And Haliday?
    The orphanages would have to wait.
    And if Noga had dug through illegal channels? It was almost enough to make him walk out. Years of training made him hold his ground. They were a team and she was relying on him not to fuck up. Besides, she was tough. She’d escaped Yem; Noga would be no challenge. Even as he thought it, he knew that Noga would have no qualms about returning her and claiming the chits from Yem. But he had to prove who Haliday was first and Callen hadn’t been able to find out who she really was. There were so many orphans and so many incomplete or destroyed records. It wouldn’t be hard for the child she’d been to vanish. It was the same flaw she’d used to create Haliday.
    The countdown went from green to orange.
    Callen waited for the countdown to turn another revolution. He had to be sure. He had to be right. The firemoss had to be found. With his heart hammering from the adrenaline, he pushed the button marked security—false presses were punished with detention and expulsion from the Moon as soon as the dock opened for outgoing traffic. “I wish to speak to the Moon.”
    A man appeared in the room. He looked solid but wasn’t. He was an image of the Moon’s intelligent core. Capable of thought and decision making, he was almost as advanced as some of the APM computers. The Moon’s hat and formal dress were supposed to give a hint of elegance to the resort of disrepute. “Why have you summoned me?”
    “I believe a known terrorist is on the Moon.”
    The Moon AI looked at him. “Callen Brax, bounty hunter, here in the pursuit of sex. Did you lie to get on board the Moon and hunt someone?”
    Great, the physical Moon security was going to be in here in milli-trics ready to throw him out. “If I was hunting someone, I would have grabbed him already. He is disguised.”
    “Mods?”
    Callen shrugged. He didn’t care if the Moon found Noga. That was Haliday’s job.
    “He may be a criminal, but if he has committed no crime here, he is free to participate.” The man flicked his hand and grinned.
    He’d heard that Moon security could be fickle and difficult when not reporting an obvious problem. For all that he looked real, the man was still just a trumped-up plex . “You’ve heard of firemoss?”
    That wiped the man’s smile away. “ Djunik ?