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  “When did these memory blackouts begin?” I asked Rashina.

  “I can’t remember,” she replied in a low voice. “I think right about the time he brought me to the apartment. He had me sit on a chair and touched something to my head. I don’t remember what it was because he came up from behind me.”

  I knew what he’d done. I was furious.

  So was Zilpha. Although dressed to resemble some rich woman from the uppers, Zilpha’s anger showed through her makeup. I watched her eyes turn orange, then red.

  “Brain leech," she growled. “That goddamn brother of mine used a brain leech on her.”

  I could feel the anger from Zilpha from where I stood.We reached the next intersection, and I pulled the women to the right. We were on a small street that ran between two buildings. The buildings were old and had no windows or doors facing the street. It was more of an alley than anything else was.

  I could see Rashina was confused, so I did my best to describe a brain leech to her.

  “It’s a device that removes specific memories from your brain,” I told her. “The Pact of Avana banned them, and it’s considered a war crime to use them on live subjects. Her brother, the man who locked you in that closet, used one. They cause memory loss as a side effect. The long-term use of one can kill people because it destroys the organic structure of the brain. If it ever came out that Drez used one of those....” I let the consequences stew inside me.

  “I don’t care what happens to him now,” Zilpha spoke up. “He’s no longer any blood I’ll recognize. I’m only glad our parents didn’t have to live to see this from their only son. And to think, I kept you from putting a bullet in his disgusting ass.” She stood to one side and fell silent.

  “We have to go see Korth,” I said after letting her stew a few minutes. “I don’t want to go there; he’ll be in no mood to see any of us. But when he hears this, it’ll change everything. Using one of those on a live being could bring down all manner of heat on Nyx Station. If the Fathers don’t keep it concealed and find Drez, someone else will. Someone with multiple armies at their command. It’s all the excuse the Irunians would need to annex the station. Crimes against sentient life. Every government in the galaxy takes that pact seriously. Mother Tara, they’ll crack this rock open if they find out what he did.”

  “Yeah,” Zilpha agreed, “Korth may be a shitass, but he won’t want his entire operation here blown apart by a solar bomb. There are systems that’ll do it if they even suspect someone used one as an interrogation tool.”

  A brain leech was often used to find memories in corpses, but the subject was already dead. What information they could extract was unstable and not admissible in court. Plus, the moment the brain started to break down, so did the memory storage cells.

  “You have a lot of nerve showing your asses around here again!” the doorman yelled at me as I approached the front of Korth’s official building. “You are lucky Mr. Korth found out about you coming here and made plans.”

  “Do does that mean we get to see Hornhead?” I asked the doorman, just to see his face turn several different shades.

  I’d gambled and won again, but there was no way to know how long my fortune would hold up. In the brief time we were away, Korth had raised the bounty on Zilpha and me twice. At some point, he retracted his offer. This was the only reason I figured we could get this close to his operations without being torn to pieces by gunfire. There was a reason he wanted us back here intact, and it didn’t have to do with the knowledge he felt I possessed.

  “You can see Mr. Korth right away,” the doorman told me, as he picked up the phone by the entrance. All I heard him say into the receiver was, “They’re here.” Then, he hung it up and waited.

  Five seconds later, the door to the building blew open, and Korth stormed out. Several of his torpedoes walked out with him, but they stood to one side and held back as he marched down the ramp to the street toward us.

  Korth glared. I returned the glare. He didn’t seem to notice the two women with me.

  I felt a hard strike across the face but didn’t move. Korth had slapped me. I stood there and smiled at him, the fresh blood tasting salty in my mouth.

  “I could have you and those bitches killed right here, and no one would say a word!” he roared at me. “Now, what brings you back? Make it quick. I have things to do and people to take care of. Start talking before I remember what happened the last time you were here.”

  “Brain leech,” I said. His slap would leave a bruise, but I didn’t care.

  “What of it?” he snapped back. “Use them all the time to find out what a dead man knew. Sometimes, we get more than the picture of a gun barrel up close.” He was ready to kill.

  “But on live people?” I asked him.

  “No one does that," he snapped at me. “They string you up for that shit. Hell, I’d string someone up for doing that. Don’t even try to spring that on me because we know no one would ever do it around here. So, what’s the real reason you came?"

  Clearly, Korth was afraid of the live subject brain leech accusation. I couldn’t blame him because who wouldn’t be afraid of being accused of doing that? But why was he so quick to dismiss the possibility of someone else using one? Was Korth afraid of something? I decided to probe a bit further and find out.

  “I’ve got a woman with me that says otherwise,” I told him. I pointed out Rashina to him. With the jacket over her back and the skin tone change, it was impossible to tell that she was Angelika.

  “This woman says she was kidnapped by Drez and that he used a brain leech on her,” I explained, “She has all the signs of it. Loss of memory, loss of identity... hell, she can’t even remember why she came to the station.”

  “So, how does that connect me to a brain leech?” Korth growled. “That shithead Drez could’ve done it on his own. Hell, he’s her brother,” Korth said as he pointed to Zilpha.

  “Drez works for you,” I explained. “Our friend came in on the Byzantium, a ship you had Drez and me boost. A ship everyone wants for some reason. Now, what do you think will happen if it ever came out that you ordered someone to use a brain leech on a live person to find out some information about it?”

  “You got no way to connect me with that ship,” Korth snapped back. “Nothing you can nail down. It’s all a lot of bugshit. Go up to the first level and see if anyone believes a word of it.” He turned and started walking back toward the building.

  “I wouldn’t walk so fast,” I called back to him. “It’s really going to boil when the word gets around that you had Drez used it on an Angelika.”

  Korth froze. He looked like a statue for a second. Then, he slowly turned around.

  “What the fuck are you talking about now?” he snarled. I had his attention.

  Calmly, I turned to Rashina. “Why don’t you take off your top and show the nice man, Honey?” I requested.

  Unable to understand why we covered ourselves on Nyx Station, Rashina handed her jacket to Zilpha. Next, she unbuttoned her top and removed it, also handing it to Zilpha. This got the attention of both Korth and the torpedoes. Not to mention whatever camera operators and sentries there were on top of the building.

  Then, she turned around.

  The torpedoes who stayed on the landing watched Rashina disrobe her top as well, but they didn’t seem to find anything odd about it until she rotated. One look at those wings let them know she was for real. I saw several of their eyes pop out in disbelief. I couldn’t tell from where I stood, but I guessed the entire line had spontaneous erections. Most people found the Angelikans beautiful and sensuous, even if it was considered a vile sin by every other religion in the galaxy to have sex with one.

  That did it.

  “Get that motherfucking Drez out here!” Korth roared to the doorman. The doorman went up to the phone and made one call, hanging up the moment he finished.

  Rashina, whose large breasts swayed in the breeze, put her blouse and jacket back on while we waite
d. I doubted if anyone there ever seen a topless Angelika before.

  The door flew open a few minutes later, and Drez appeared. With him were two more enforcers, who carried Drez down the ramp and dropped him on the ground next to Korth. They walked back up and joined the rest of the honor guard.

  Drez stood, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and tried to look calm. It didn’t work.

  “Do you recognize that bitch over there?” Korth yelled at him, one finger pointing in the direction of Rashina. She’d managed to wipe most of the blue tint from her face, which made her Angelika origins prominent.

  “I dunno,” Drez spoke. “She looks familiar. Am I supposed to know who she is?” That didn’t work either.

  Korth took one step toward the younger man and hit him hard across the face with the back of his hand. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” he screamed. “You use a brain leech I gave you on a live woman? And an Angelika at that? What? You want to turn the entire station into a cloud of ash? I gave you that thing to use on this motherfucker’s corpse!” He pointed at me. “You know better than to use one on a ghee while he’s breathing!" At least, I’d confirmed myself as the target, even if I’d gone to this length to do it.

  “I didn’t say I did,” Drez tried to protest. Blood streamed from his mouth.

  Korth howled something in a language I didn’t understand and hit him again. This time, Drez hit the ground. He rolled over and looked up.

  “You little piece of shit!” Korth screamed at him. “I’m going to deliver you and that goddamned machine to the militia. Maybe, just maybe, we can all survive this if they have you!” He took two steps toward Drez.

  Drez now realized his options were gone. He jumped up from the ground and ran down the alley, dodging Korth’s solid form by a nimble step. Drez continued to run as he turned a corner.

  “Get him!" Korth roared.

  I took off after Drez.

  But Korth blocked my way. He was a massive figure, so I halted, as it seemed he wanted to say something. He’d already confessed to putting a hit out on me, so I had no reason to trust him.

  Korth glared at me for a few seconds and then put up his hand when his torpedoes flew down the ramp in pursuit of Zilpha’s brother. They stopped too.

  He reached in his jacket and withdrew a long knife. The blade was a good six inches in length, which let me know what is was to be used for.

  “You’re going to need this,” he told me. “I have all but my most trusted men turn in their guns in before they enter the building. I never felt right around that scumbag. So, all he has on him is a shiv. I know you’ve got a gun, but a shiv is back-up. Besides, you won’t shoot him in cold blood; I know you too well.”

  I took the knife from Korth and slid it into my jacket. I might’ve had on eveningwear, but Pops made sure it had pockets.

  “Thanks,” I told him. “I’ll take care of this.”

  “If you do,” he responded, “I owe you.”

  “You will,” I spoke again and took off after Drez in a full sprint. I glanced behind to see if any of the others were coming along. They weren’t. Korth blocked their way. This was something he wanted me to handle on my own.

  I managed to find Drez in the dead-end of an alley fifteen minutes later. He’d turned and ran into it, unaware that the alley was blocked by a 12-foot fence. Although I was sure Drez could scale it, the fence would slow him down long enough for me to catch up to him.

  I came up behind him quietly. Drez had stopped the moment he saw the fence. As I approached him, I could see Drez trying to figure out how to climb over it, not an unreasonable act, since there was a strand of barbed wire across the top.

  He realized I was there the moment he put his hand on the chain-link fence that blocked the alley. Drez gave it a tug and I heard it rattle. I coughed at the same time, and he knew I was there.

  “You’ll need to climb higher than that fence if you expect to get out of here,” I said. I was only 10 feet behind him.

  He whipped around and had his knife out. “I figured it would be you that found me,” he snapped.

  “I won’t be the only one looking for you if you run” I replied. “You used that brain leech on someone who was still alive. They’ll hunt you down like a mad dog, Drez. You won’t have Korth or the rest of the Cinzar family after you; you’ll have the whole galaxy on your ass.” I reached in my jacket and withdrew the knife Korth gave me.

  “Think you’re bad enough to take me down, Terry?” he sneered. “We can finish this right now! Think you’ve got one up on me because you fucked my sister?”

  “Why don’t you come back with me and give me the information you hacked out of the Angelika girl’s head to give to Korth?” I asked him. “You know Korth won’t rest until you’re dead. If you give him what you took, maybe he’ll find a way you can get off-world.” It was worth an attempt.

  “Go fuck yourself!” Drez yelled back at me, “Besides, I sold it all to the Irunians. Nothing to give back!”

  He began to circle me as he jabbed his knife in my direction. I knew he meant to kill me on the spot. This time, it wasn’t our usual boasting; he was serious. Fine, if he wanted to end it, I would be glad to help him.

  He came at me with his knife, a large six-inch dagger, aimed at my throat. He swiped in the air to feel out my defense. I didn’t fall for the move and slid out of the way. He came at me a second time and cut across my center, but I’d already swerved out of his cutting range.

  The most important thing about a knife fight, I remembered from an old drill instructor, is that someone will die. The key is to see that it’s not you.

  The next time Drez attacked, I was ready for him.

  He came at me with another overhand strike, and I intercepted it with my knife. Instead of cutting into him, I locked my wrist around his and bound him tight. With my other hand, I locked his head in place.

  This gave me enough time to slide the knife across his throat, opening both of his jugular veins. Blood spilled across the ground, and I let him fall down.

  He hit the ground on his stomach and managed to roll over. His knife landed to one side of him. I picked it up. He managed to move for a bit before he looked up at me.

  I pocketed both knives and watched Drez as he quit struggling. By now, most of his blood was pumped out over the alley. When he didn’t move any longer, I found his wallet and tossed the citizen ID card next to him. At least, Zilpha could claim the body later if she wanted to do so.

  Once again, I said the brief prayer for the fallen. Then, I turned on my heels and walked slowly back to the Cinzar compound. This wasn’t the first time I’d killed a man; when I was in the Janissaries, it happened all the time. Sometimes daily. I’d been in plenty of firefights where we decimated the outpost of an enemy position and left nothing but burnt skulls. How was what happened today any different?

  Drez wasn’t an innocent by any means. I knew he’d killed his share of people too, but he didn’t have any personal codes about who or what he would kill. At least, I’d learned something from the Janissaries. There was no honor in killing innocents, no matter how it helped the war campaign.

  Today was different because Drez was someone I’d worked with for years. We’d had our fights, and it had come close to the knife on the Byzantium when I found those Angelika kids, but this time, it was real. I was surprised at how fast the encounter went. We knew each other’s moves well enough from practicing with wooden staves that I’d thought it would last longer.

  I turned the corner and found Zilpha and Rashina staring at me. They’d managed to get loose from Korth and his goons. Zilpha knew me well enough to track my movements. I could see she was a bit winded from pulling Rashina along by the hand. Finally, she spoke to me.

  “Is he dead?” Zilpha asked.

  “Yes," I told her. I’d wiped the blood off both knives, and I didn’t need to show her the tools; it was enough that she knew he was gone. I handed her Drez’s wallet, and she placed it in her purse.
/>   “How will they know to identify him?” she asked.

  “I left his ID card on him.”

  Zilpha looked at the ground for a few seconds.

  “We need to get out of here,” Zilpha finally said. “Korth and his boys were in a meeting after you ran off. I was able to slip away with Rashina while they talked.” I had no issue believing her.

  “Where do we go now?” Rashina asked me as the three of us began to walk down the street.

  “I have a plan,” I lied to her.

  Right then, I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do. Soon, Korth would find out that Drez was gone. He’d feel relieved, as that meant no tie between him and the use of the brain leech on a living subject. But then, it would hit him that he didn’t know what Drez found out from using it. He’d eventually make the connection between the Byzantium, its hidden technology, the information from Rashina’s head, and me. I would be the man he’d want to find, and everything would start all over again.

  Right now, Zilpha wasn’t of much use. I could tell the death of Drez had done something to her. Despite his reputation and the way he’d treated her, Drez was her only family. Now, she was alone in the world. But I was with her. I’d stick with her for as long as she wanted me to be there.

  So, it would be up to me, as usual, to come up with a plan. Given enough time, I knew that I would do just that. After all, was I not the man who could fix any problem?

  “Do we need to find a place to hide for the time being?” Zilpha asked me.

  “I’ll come up with something,” I responded. “I’ve all manner of people I can turn to if I need to come up with a place for us to crash.”

  “I know a place,” Rashina spoke up.

  “I thought this was the first time you’ve been to Nyx Station,” I said. How could she possibly know of a place to hide on this hollowed-out rock?