Protection

Days Seven – Ten

Paradise Station

The cat could very well be man's best friend but would never stoop to admitting it.

- Doug Larson

I kept dreaming that long shadowy arms were reaching out to seize me. I faded in and out of consciousness over the next several days.

When I finally came to, I was lying on my stomach, the smell of disinfectants strong in my nostrils. And I was in pain, a lot of pain.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt when I tried to lift my head. It hurt to blink. I could feel the pain in my ribs, my back and especially around my throat. It had been a hell of a fight, and at the time I was quite prepared to say that it could very well have been my last.

As the last tendrils of fog filtered out of my mind, one thought came to me.

"Darwin." I croaked out of a parched mouth.

"The little darling is fine," said an unfamiliar voice. A woman's voice. Then I heard the sounds of movement as she rose from a nearby chair and walked to the door. All of this was out of my field of vision and I didn't want to risk turning my head yet. I wasn't so sure that it wouldn't pop right off.

I felt the familiar weight of a large cat jump onto my bed as he made his way around the edge of it to face me. Darwin's eyes met mine for a moment, then he leaned over and briefly licked my cheek.

"Yeah, me too, buddy." I whispered. "Hell of a fight."

"It certainly was, Josh." Bobak had entered the room. Darwin shifted around and lay down by my legs. Yes, they hurt too, if you must know, but the comfort of his presence far outweighed the discomfort. I heard the sounds of a chair being unclipped from the floor and saw Fred half walk/drift into view. Once he was positioned where I could see him clearly, he reattached the chair to floor.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," he said with a wry grin. "People are starting to talk."

I tried to smile back, but I am pretty sure that it came out as a grimace. I was obviously in the hospital wing of the station, but I was curious as to who was going to be billed for this. As the saying goes "life is cheap and nothing is free." With each corporation taking care of its own, there was little chance that anyone would simply hand over the fees for an extended hospital stay.

I tried to turn over to get into a better position, but realized that my wrists and legs were secured.

"Am I under arrest?" I pulled at the restraints, ignoring the pain. I was wondering if I had finally crossed that line, and Fred had been forced to take action.

"What? No! These are the doctor's, not ours. The damage to your back was pretty severe, though it is healing nicely, I am told. The restraints are there to keep you from rolling onto your back and opening them again."

I was puzzled. I remembered parts of the fight, vaguely. There was the double choking, first by Bornam then by the goon, and various punches. I couldn't remember injuring my back, unless it was cut when Bornam dragged me back across the table. That seemed unlikely. I decided to let it lie. Perhaps clarity would come later.

"I am broke." I said. I realized I wasn't being entirely coherent.

"Well, then, it is a good thing that you are a consultant under the aegis of the Paradise Station Security Division. You were injured while conducting an investigation into a ring of thefts, and injuries sustained on the job are covered under the corporation. I am, however, waiting until you are healed enough to give me your report. How are you feeling?"

I realized that we were being watched and recorded. What I said here would make or break Fred's career. He had told me to stay out of it, and I had blundered on regardless. Now that had I rained chaos down on Fred's watch, he was relying on me to make it right. I suspected that Aleksander had sought his revenge by bringing my situation to the attention of the Station management committee. They were probably hooked up to the monitoring feeds in this room as we spoke. At the very least, I owed Fred a good performance.

"I am ready to report now." I said simply. I then started to cough, a practice I do not recommend when you have a back that is on fire.

Bobak hooked a foot under the leg of a chair then leaned forward with a water pouch. He squeezed a little into the air in front of my mouth where it hung like bubbles for a few moments before beginning to drift. I sucked them in, the liquid cooling and soothing my roughened throat.

"Easy," he said quietly, "there is no rush. The danger is past. Dumbass."

It must have been touch and go, if I were to judge by the concern in his voice. I became conscious of just how reckless I had been. Who would have taken care of Darwin? I find it interesting that twice now he was my primary concern.

"Thanks," I said, "but I do want to report. I have some questions of my own."

"O.K. But only as fast as you are able. We don't need you passing out in the middle of the report again."

"I don't remember that. What have I told you already?"

"Not much that made any sense. Something about killer shadows and men who are women. I think you should start from the beginning of the assignment, then we can backfill where necessary. The recorder is on, so anytime you are ready."

I took a deep breath, which I instantly regretted. Fred jumped up to offer me more water, but I shook my head, a move I also regretted. I tried again with a slow steady breath.

"After I got my assignment though Fernandes," I lied, "I headed to the Utopia to set up my cover. I staked the place out for about an hour to see if anyone familiar would pass through. I was looking for St. Peter."

"Who is St. Peter?"

"I wasn't sure at the time, but I suspected that he was running an illegal 7-Hand life game. I needed to set up my situation so that I would get invited to it."

"As we agreed," prompted Fred.

"Yes, as we agreed." The folks watching were either too stupid to miss the obvious leading, or they were already on Fred's side but needed the fiction of legitimacy in order to approve my treatment or avoid incarcerating me for inciting a riot on the station. Probably for both.

"I played a few games, pretty much breaking even, though I made it look like I was losing a lot of money. Eventually I was invited to play 5-hand. I feigned poverty after a while, and asked to see the banker."

"That would be," Fred said, looking over his notes "Arvid Matsen, former leader of the Matsen Family, a.k.a. The Clan."

"Yes. I approached him for a loan, which is when I uncovered the source of the theft ring. It looks like the clones..."

"Clan," Fred interrupted.

"The Clan," I corrected, "was using gamblers down on their luck to inform on other guests and set them up as targets."

"So that's how they have been so well informed!" Fred said. "Go on." At that moment his mobile buzzed and he answered. "Yes, sir. I heard him... Yes, sir, that ring... I can't say for sure, sir, but I think it was the entire ring... Yes sir, one in custody..."

He looked over at me apologetically. "Excuse me a moment. You can deliver the rest of your report later." He drifted out of sight, his mobile in hand.

Darwin lay purring quietly at my feet, the vibration sending shooting pains up my legs to my already befuddled brain. And I could even swear I smelled perfume. At first I was pretty sure this was some sort of olfactory hallucination. That is until a perfumed presence wafted over me as a woman sailed into sight and settled into Fred's chair.

"Hello again," she said. To my surprise, Darwin had no reaction to this unexpected intrusion.

She did seemed vaguely familiar however. "Hello," I replied cautiously.

"Come along Darwin," she said. "You need to let Joshua rest a little more."

I felt Darwin disengage himself from the bed and leap towards her. She expertly snatched him out of the air and settled him into her lap.

Shock would not even begin to express my state of mind. That Darwin would even deign to respond to another human being was beyond imagining, let alone connect with them so trustingly. I had seen him do this to only one other person. Who was this woman who had so completely seduced my cat?

She was youngish, likely in her mid to late thirties. Her hair was that unnamable shade that hovered between brown and blonde, tied back in a ponytail to keep it from drifting in the low gravity hospital wing. She was nevertheless fit in a way that only extended periods of gravity would allow, and had a pretty enough face. It was that face, though, that bothered me. I had seen it before.

"I'm Samantha. Samantha Doreen Susan MacGregor..." she paused. "At your service."

At your service? Service? Images started to fall into place. Coffee, tea, very expensive alcohol.

"The waitress? You're the waitress!"

"Not here, I am not." She smiled, absentmindedly petting Darwin. "But it is nice to see that you are regaining your faculties. At least you don't think I am a man anymore."

I looked over her figure again, and she had the good grace to blush a little. "Excuse me," she said politely, "eyes up here."

It was my turn to be embarrassed. I was being rude. "Pardon me," I apologized.

"Forgiven. We don't know each other that well yet, so let's keep it platonic for now, shall we?" The words 'yet' and 'for now' had an ominous ring to them. "It is true though, you kept referring to me as Mr. Jones. That is when I decided to change out of my uniform before coming to see you and Darwin."

"How long have you been coming here?"

"Since the very beginning. Before that actually."

At this point, Fred drifted back into the scene. "Thanks Sam. I going to need to finish my conversation with Josh here. Maybe you can come by later?"

"I am going to have to feed Darwin anyway, so I will be back." She made that sound like a warning.

Fred looked at her, then at me. "I promise I will go easy on him."

She nodded, then gently lifted Darwin from her lap and placed him back on the bed next to me. "You behave yourself when I am gone and I will bring you a nice piece of fish." She gave him a stroke, then drifted away, her perfume marking her passage.

Fred reinstalled himself in the chair. He seemed much more relaxed than our previous meeting. He was even smiling a little.

"It's alright," he said. "We aren't being watched anymore. You've just cracked a case that has been plaguing us for months and causing no small amount of embarrassment. Paradise was starting to lose business and traffic because we were developing an unsafe and unsavory reputation. We were a few more cancelled reservations away from becoming the next Trajan or Moorshead Station, then it is a slippery slope to Dark Stations club. The Management is extremely grateful to you for cleaning up one ring and providing the means the clear out the rest for the time being. In their infinite generosity, they have decided to give you a free ride here by way of thanks."

"Ring?" I asked.

"We have had an increasingly disruptive run of thefts and petty assassinations throughout the station. We had a pretty good idea of who was responsible, but we had no idea how they were choosing their victims. We never imagined that their sources were the victim's own neighbors, sometimes even their own families. It just goes to show that we all have a little larceny working in us."

I smiled, but was careful not to laugh. The memory of the pain from the previous attempt at laughter was enough to make me wince.

Fred continued. "I am not surprised that you're in pain. Not only did you find our lead thief, Bornam Singer, but you also took out the majority of an assassin's clan. These were a particularly nasty clone mod who were renewing themselves with a new member every 5 years. You managed to take care of their leadership in a single coup d'état. I expect that if you had the inclination, you would be able to take over their entire criminal organization. These folks respect power, and you seem to have it spades."

"I don't feel very powerful." I said, pulling at the restraints.

"You are alive, they are dead. The math is fairly easy, even for you."

I smiled again. "My dance card is still a little full," I said. He raised an eyebrow quizzically at the anachronism, but made no comment.

"I still have a job to do," I continued.

"That is where you are wrong my old friend. You are done, Leena be damned. I got you off of several murder charges, and a few thousand credits worth of the best care available on top of that. When you are healthy enough, I am shipping you planetside. Unless you choose to stay for the scenery." He glanced briefly in the direction that Samantha had left. "If you do, it will be strictly as a tourist. This Find is over for you. Are we agreed?"

So there was no sign of Leena yet. I did have one suspicion though. "Fred, do you mind if I ask you a direct question?"

"Shoot it straight at me," he said, relaxing into the chair, "today you can ask me anything!" He looked for all the world like all he needed was a glass of scotch to make himself right at home. I guess I really had helped him out.

"O.K. What's with the girl? That not your usual style. Is she undercover?"

"Sam?" He laughed at this, finding something funny. "No, she's not one of mine. Don't worry though, she's alright. It's a good thing for you that she came along. Things could have been much worse."

"You're not answering my question. Who is she? Before today, I have never said a word to her."

"Three days," he interjected.

"What?"

"You have been recuperating for three days."

Dammit, that made it Day seven of my eleven day allotment. I wasn't sure what the powers-that-be who really ran 3p were going to do when the time ran out, but I was sure that it would just add confusion and complications to my job. Having someone try to kill you puts a damper on your day. Trust me, voice of experience.

"That does not explain Sam, though." I continued. "I briefly meet this waitress and then here she is acting as a nursemaid in my hospital room, and if she hasn't corrupted Darwin already, she is well on her way to doing so. I don't know what she told you, but I can honestly say this woman is a stranger to me."

Fred thought about that a bit. "I know that you don't know her very well, but it's good for you that she came along. By the time we broke into the 7-Hand game, everything was over but the dying. And there were several who were still in the process of doing just that. There's one exception, a fellow who had happened to get himself knocked out. We are holding him for interrogation. When we arrived, Darwin was standing on your back daring anyone to approach. A couple of my guys got some pretty deep gashes, courtesy of your cat."

Darwin was standing guard, was he? Once again, it appeared that I owed him my life. I wondered when he would consider his debt repaid. Maybe he already did, and was simply acting as any friend would.

"It would have been much worse for us, and for your back, if Fernandes had not come along."

"Fernandes?" I said. "He does not strike me as a cat whisperer."

"Oh, he's not!" Fred said with a smile. "Fernandes is allergic to all animals. Sent him into a sneezing fit as soon as he tried to touch your cat. His fit is probably what saved his fingers, but it sure freaked your cat out. Darwin must have thought Fernandes was attacking and latched onto your back. Those injuries are proof of your cat's devotion to you. Your boy's claws opened your back up to the bone. And he wasn't letting go. But it was also Fernandes who remembered the effect that Darwin had on that waitress of yours in the restaurant outside the station."

"That doesn't explain why she was here today," I observed.

"Nor does it explain why she has come back here after every work shift and stays the night, sleeping in this chair." Fred grinned a wicked grin. "Son, you got troubles."

Damn it, I thought to myself, I haven't the time for complications. I have a job to do, and explaining to Samantha that I wasn't fit relationship material would take time. Then again, it didn't look like I was going anywhere soon. I guess I would have to burn that bridge when I came to it.

"Listen Josh," Fred said, his tone turning serious, "I wanted to ask you a question. I am just not quite sure how to put it."

"Shoot it straight at me," I echoed.

"Do you care to explain to me how you and one cat managed to take out four trained killers, an accomplished thief and six thugs? All on your own?"

"That's the thing," I said. "I don't think that we were alone."