Free Hunt the Heavens: Book Two of the Shadow Warrior Trilogy by Chris Bunch Page A

hand free, touched the lock sensor, and the door closed.
    A clang came as the
Grayle
disconnected from the
Laurel.
    “Sir, shall we track them?”
    Jalon Kakara didn’t answer. His eyes were still fixed on the blank alloy portal of the airlock.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “You have no crew?” Rita said.
    “Don’t much need one. The ship’s automated.”
    “So where was it hiding?”
    “Dead astern of the
Laurel.
She doesn’t have much of a silhouette anyway, and nobody ever looks over his shoulder. Except in the romances to make sure the wolves are still there.”
    Rita tried a smile, which graduated to a successful grin. Wolfe poured her another cup of coffee.
    “Should I have shot him?” she asked.
    “No.”
    “Why not? The bastard gave me more than my share of bruises. Broken bones, twice. And if you were one of Cormac’s people, you surely aren’t a pacifist.”
    “No,” Wolfe said, taking his cup to the washer. “I’m hardly that. But death’s a little final, sometimes.”
    • • •
    The planetoid of Malabar, and its attendant junkyard, was “below” them.
    The woman eyed the screen.
    “Eleven … almost twelve years,” she mused. “I hope I haven’t built up something to be more than what it was.”
    “Not from Cormac’s lights. And if it is … you can always leave.”
    “No,” Rita said flatly. “Maybe I don’t know what I should be wanting. I certainly didn’t when I went for Jalon.
    “I’ll stay the course, if he’ll have me. Because I know nobody ever, not
ever
, gets a third chance.”
    • • •
    “I … we owe you big,” Cormac said.
    “You surely do.”
    “Is there anything you need?”
    Wolfe thought, smiled quietly. “A time machine, maybe.”
    Cormac looked at him. “How far back would you go and change things?”
    Wolfe started to answer, stopped. “Maybe … all the way back to — ” He broke off and said no more.
    • • •
    The port slid closed, and Wolfe went up the circular staircase to the control room. “You may emerge from your burrow.”
    A panel slid open, and Taen came out.
    “My apologies,” Wolfe said in Terran, then switched to Al’ar. “I have no pride in having to hide you like this.”
    “It matters not,” the Al’ar said. “I am relieved, in fact, because I do not have to injure my sensors with the sight of more humans. Now, have we adequately fulfilled the role of Noble Savior?”
    “For the moment,” Wolfe said. “And thanks for your appreciation for humanity.”
    “This was received,” Taen said, pointing to a screen. “I do not know how to decode it, but I suspect it is the response from the Federation Intelligence man.”
    Wolfe went to the screen and studied the message for awhile.
    “Cisco is depending one hell of a lot on my memory,” he muttered. “It’s an old hasty code we used during the war. I think. Let’s see … OX4YM, RYED3 … I can’t do it in my head anymore.”
    He opened a drawer, took out a pad and pencil, began scrawling. Twice he got up to consult star charts on a screen.
    “All right,” he said after some time. “I think I have it. Most of it, anyway, and I can guess the rest. It
was
from Cisco, and it was setting up a meeting. We’ve got about two E-weeks to make it, with five days slop on either side.
    “I think it’s pretty safe. Cisco’s going to set his ship down on an armpit called Yerkey’s Planet. It’s a single-planet system, with not much of anywhere to hide. If we can make a slow approach, ready to streak like a scalded cat if anything flickers … maybe. Just maybe.
    “Ship. Take us out of this junkyard. Make two blind jumps when we have room, and put us somewhere in empty space, and I’ll give you the ana/kata numbers at that time.”
    “Understood.”
    The
Grayle
lifted away from Malabar under medium drive.
    Two minutes off, the emergency com frequency blared. “Unknown ship, unknown ship. Cut drive, stand by to be inspected.”
    “Ship! All weapons systems on