Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

comforting arm across his shoulders. "You're safe here, Brett. I won't let them get to you."
    "I can't stay here long. People will be looking for me. And if Finn even suspected you knew what I know, he'd burn this place down, with you and everyone else in it."
    "Then you need to get offplanet," said Nikki. "Put Logres behind you, till things have calmed down again.
    These things pass; they always do. Want me to arrange a new face and ID so you can buy a ticket?"
    "No good," said Brett. "Finn's got people everywhere these days. No matter who you got to do the work, someone would talk. I'm going to have to steal a ship. Any ideas?"
    "Well; at least you're still thinking big." Nikki frowned, her antennae twitching thoughtfully. "There's always the Hereward; a luxury racing yacht currently standing empty on the pads at the main starport.
    Fast as hell, and twice as comfortable. No weapons, but you can't have everything. As it happens, I've got the captain and owner upstairs, hip deep in a Thardian. Easy enough to acquire the ship's access codes from his wallet, while he's preoccupied. You want me to arrange it?"
    "If you would, Nikki."
    "Anything to get you out of here, darling."
    She rose to her full height and left, her piercings clattering loudly. Brett gulped down the last of the brandy. A new world meant starting over again from scratch, but there was always an opening for someone with his kind of skills. There were always suckers, just sitting up and begging to be fleeced.
    Brett considered the data crystal burning a hole in his pocket, and wondered what the hell he was going to do with it. He ought to tell someone what he knew, before he left. If only so the information wouldn't be lost if Finn managed to have him killed before he got offworld. There were any number of media shows who would broadcast the data happily enough without any provenance, but they were the kind of shows no one took seriously anyway. He needed someone honest and respectable he could turn the crystal over to; but unfortunately Brett didn't know people like that.
    He was still turning the matter over and over in his mind, and trying to work up the energy to go looking for another drink, when the parlor door crashed open and Rose Constantine stalked in. Brett actually shrieked out loud as he jumped up out of his chair and backed away from her. He got ready to run, but she already had her gun in her hand, and he knew he'd never make it. He thought about jumping her, and immediately thought better of it. So he just froze where he was, gasping for breath, his hands shaking, and hoped Nikki wouldn't come back until it was all over. "How did you find me?" Brett said finally, and was surprised at how calm he sounded. There was a certain peace to knowing you'd finally run out of options.
    "Finn has a file on you," said Rose. "You'd be surprised at all the things he knows about you. About all sorts of people."
    "Nothing that bastard does surprises me anymore," said Brett. "He's planning to ambush every Paragon on the Quest. Did you know that?"
    "No," said Rose. "I didn't know. And I don't care. Is that why you broke and ran? You care about the strangest things, Brett."
    "Do it," said Brett. "Get it over with. Kill me, and get out of here. No one else has to die. Surely you've killed enough people for one day."
    "There's no such thing as enough," said Rose, smiling for the first time with her savage scarlet rosebud mouth. "Finn sent me here. He wants you dead. In fact, he was very specific about how he wants you to die. I think he wants to send a message to anyone else who might consider running out on him. I have to say, that what he had in mind was so appallingly nasty that even I was impressed. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so angry. He wants me to bring him back your heart, as proof of the kill. But I've decided that I'm not going to do that. Because I like you, Brett. So I'm going to run away with you."
    Brett hadn't thought it was possible for him to feel even more horrified, but that did it. Still, freaked as he was, he had enough sense not to say it. "That's . . . nice, Rose. I'm sure I'll feel much . . . safer, with you around. But you can't kill any more bars! Really you can't. It attracts attention.
    And if we're going to run, we've got to get offworld before Finn and his people discover we've joined forces. Even you can't fight a whole army. I've made arrangements to steal a racing yacht right off the main pads ... Is that all