Alien Assassin (21 page)

Then Sherri was in the room. She ran toward the diminutive alien, whose eyes literally grew to twice their normal size at the sight of the Human female. She let out such a high-pitched scream that Adam had to cover his ears just to tolerate the sound.

The alien began to shudder so hard that she dropped the laser weapon. Then she jumped and stuck fast to the wall above the couch.

Sherri stood a few meters away, holding her MK-17 steady at the alien. The two males had recovered somewhat and moved to the couch below Sileen.

“Don’t kill my offspring, please!” Sileen screamed. “Please spare them. They had nothing to do with what happened on the ship.”

“Relax, I’m not going to kill anyone,” Sherri said softly, trying to calm the hysterical alien.

“Oh please spare my offspring. Please!”

“Relax!” Sherri finally yelled, loud enough to penetrate the whimpering of the alien stuck on the wall. “I’m not here to hurt you or your…offspring.”

Sileen blinked rapidly several times, as her eyes began to return to normal. Then slowly she slipped down the wall, propping herself on the back of the couch.

Then Sherri turned to Adam. “That’s how she kept from being killed in the first place. That thing can squeeze into the smallest openings and stick to just about anything.”

Then she turned back to Sileen. “All I want to know is where you picked me up at? It had to be your last port before returning to Silea.”

Again, Sileen blinked several times, while her two sons huddled together on the couch, one of them licking the back of the other’s head. Adam just wrinkled his nose at the bazaar scene.

“That is all you want? You don’t mean to harm us?”

“No. All I want is information—”

“Locin-Annan!” said Sileen quickly. “That was the location.”

Locin-
Annan
! Adam nearly fainted when he heard the word
Annan
. During all his research into the word and its meaning, he had been going in a completely different direction. Annan was only
part
of the name – and the name of a
place!

Sherri had no idea what was going on in Adam’s head at that moment, so she simply asked, “Where is that? Is it a planet or a city?”

“It’s the uranium mines on Zylim-4. Over in the New Regian system.”

Sherri turned to Adam with a large, satisfied grin. Sileen and her offspring recoiled at the sight of Sherri’s long, white teeth, but she didn’t care. “There you go. Zylim-4. In the next system over.”

“But the mines are off-limits to most merchants,” Sileen added. “The radiation is quite strong there from hundreds of years of waste being deposited on the surface.”

“Let us worry about that,” Sherri said to the still trembling creature. Then she moved in closer, and Adam saw all three beings shrink to about half their body thickness as they pressed deeper into the couch. “We are going to leave you now,” Sherri said, her voice deeper, threatening. “If you say one word about us coming here, or the information you gave us, I will come back and I
will
kill you—” then she glared at the two males “—and all of your
offspring
, and then all of
their
offspring. And I won’t just kill you all – I will eat you, too, bloody and raw. Do you understand?”

One of the males appeared to faint, while the other climbed into the grasp of his mother. “Yes. Yes I understand.” Adam noticed a wet stain begin to spread on the top of the couch. He did his best not to grin; Sherri was really laying it on thick – and it appeared to be working.

“Let’s go,” Sherri called to Adam as she brushed past him, heading for the door.

Adam hesitated for a moment, looking at the terrified creatures. Then he couldn’t resist. He leaned in closer and said, “
Boo!
”

The other male fainted, while Sileen let loose with a loud farting sound, and the putrid smell of feces in the room suddenly grew even stronger…

Chapter Twenty

As the Juirean shuttle approached Silea, the comm unit began to blow up with calls from the government, requesting destination, purpose, accommodations requested and more. Riyad answered none of them. Instead, he had located a quick emergency exit off the main cargo bay that he would use for his escape once on-planet.

He was in the pilothouse, bringing the small shuttle in toward one of Dargor’s major spaceports. Then at the last minute, he changed course, setting the ship down quick and hard in one of the outlying freight ports, about fifteen kilometers from his original destination. It would take the authorities at least an hour or so to regroup and send the official greeting party to this new location.

Once down, Riyad slipped out through the emergency exit and mingled with the other spacers who were coming and going in the port. It was nearing dusk, so his movements went unnoticed. He made it through the main gate of the facility by mixing with a group of noisy Sileans anxious to get home to their mates – or to the nearest bar.

Once in the city, he separated from the group and set off down a side alley to carry out the second part of his plan for recovering his money. The first part had been to get on the planet without being apprehended aboard a Juirean shuttle. Since he had no credits, the second part of his plan had to do with securing some, at least enough to get him to his final destination.

Riyad stationed himself in a side alley, near a crowded and boisterous tavern, and then waited.

It wasn’t long before two creatures of unknown origin left the bar and headed his way. They were dressed in modestly expensive robes and were even foolish enough to be displaying gold jewelry on their wrists and dangling from their ears. From their gait, Riyad knew they had been partaking in the excellent intoxicants Silea had to offer. These two would be perfect.

As they came upon the alley, Riyad slipped in behind them, grabbed the backs of their fancy robes and spun them into the alley.

Twisting his head and body to regain his balance, the tallest of the pair focused on Riyad. “You should refrain, else we rip your head from its socket,” the creature growled at Riyad. “You have picked the wrong Lonilans to attack!”

Riyad had never heard of Lonilans before, but he didn’t care. He was in a hurry. Riyad swung with his right hand, and the unfortunate creature did not even see it approach in the dark of the alley. Riyad heard the crack of bone, and the being collapsed with a thud on the paved street. His companion had not seen the blow, either. So he lunged at Riyad, attempting to grab him around the neck. Riyad sweep his left arm across his body, easily brushing away the limbs of the Lonilan. Then he chopped down at the base of the creature’s head and neck, sending this one also to the pavement.

Riyad quickly rifled through their pockets and robes and found a money belt on each. He emptied the contents into the pockets of the utility coveralls he wore and tossed the empty belts on the unconscious aliens. This money would tie him over until he could get to his five million credits.

Leaving the two corpses where they lie, Riyad hurried down the street for about a kilometer before hailing a transport. He gave the driver the address, then leaned back in the rear seat and began to flesh out part three of his plan to get his money.

Over the years, Riyad had made a lot of credits as the leader of the Fringe Pirates. The bulk of this fortune had been on K’ly when the Juireans first attacked. Those credits were lost. Then he had another sizeable stash on Dimloe. And now that, too, was gone. But over the years, he had
also
been secretly sending deposits to be held by the head of the Silean underworld, a fat blob of a creature named Kroekus. That was it – just Kroekus. Riyad reasoned that if you were powerful enough, you only needed one name. Everyone knew of Kroekus, and no one messed with him.

Riyad had never met him face-to-face, but they had been tacit partners in many a criminal adventure for years. Kroekus was the Fringe Pirate’s major fence. He could move any merchandise, from gold ornaments to starships. And he also had the most-secure bank in the Fringe; even the Jurieans would have trouble tracking all the movements of the credits within his system. Riyad’s money would be safe, even if it came with a very steep fee of twenty percent.

Riyad reasoned that gaining an audience with Kroekus shouldn’t be too difficult, not after he dropped his name and affiliation. And there would be plenty of references to be made that would verify his identity, even though he carried nothing official with him.

The only concern Riyad had with walking into Kroekus’s stronghold was the fact that he had no weapon, nothing but his human abilities. They had never failed him before, but this time he was confronting the most-powerful criminal in the entire Fringe. And if an issue arose, he would surely be outnumbered a hundred to one.

It was well past dark when the transport dropped Riyad off in front of a massive complex of office buildings, yet even at this hour, most of the windows in the four-story building still exploded with light. The pirate knew eyes were upon him the moment he stepped from the transport, so he confidently walked up the short flight of stairs to the main entrance. As expected, four armed Silean guards approached as the large glass doors slid shut behind him.

“Your business?” one of the brown-leather uniformed guards asked, while suspiciously eyeing Riyad’s laborer coveralls.

“I am here to see Kroekus. I am—”

The guard laughed. “Do you have an appointment, at this hour?”

“Relay to Kroekus that Riyad Tarazi is here to see him.” Riyad stood a little taller and tried to sound as forceful as possible. Even though he was dressed in a clothing of a common laborer, he needed to make the guards believe he was more than he appeared.

“It is late. If you do not have an appointment I will not disturb The Menormor.” A
Menormor
was the Silean equivalent of a CEO.

Riyad’s dark eyes focused on the guard. “I am Riyad Tarazi, leader of The Fringe Pirates, here on a very important matter of The Menormor’s concern.” He leaned in close to the guard, as the others around him gripped their weapons tighter. “You will be risking not only your job, but also your life, if you do not relay the message.” Riyad’s unblinking eyes burned into those of the guard’s.

Momentarily stunned by Riyad’s intensity, the Silean soon recovered his composure. “I will relay the message,” he said defiantly. “But if Kroekus will not see you, then we will have our way with you, pirate, if that is what you really are.”

Satisfied, Riyad relaxed and stood stoically as the call was made. He did not want his nervousness to show. He wasn’t even sure Kroekus was in the building. At any moment, he may have to fight his way out of the building.

The guard spoke for a moment on the comm unit, and then turned to Riyad. “He asks where would your pirates be located today, if you are indeed the pirate leader.”

Riyad had nothing to lose revealing the location now, not after the Juirean attack. So without hesitation, he said, “Dimloe.”

The guard spoke on the unit again, then suddenly become very nervous. He kept nodding to the person on the other end of the link, and then finally turned to Riyad. “Please follow me. I will escort you to the office.”