Any Job Will Do by John Wilker

Author:John Wilker [Wilker, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Space Opera, Humorous, General
ISBN: 9781951964153
Google: 4UIIEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 55881574
Publisher: Rogue Publishing LTD
Published: 2021-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Making New Friends

Jax and Kori came back to the table to get their new beers and snatch handfuls of fries. Jax tried an eel wing, Kori refused. Steve had eaten most of them. Naomi asked, “How’d the hustle go?”

“That obvious?” Kori asked, her brown eyes twinkling as she slid a small pile of physical currency into the middle of the table. Naomi whistled.

Jax watched Steve eat another of the misleadingly named wings . “How are you still eating those?”

Steve shrugged. “I dunno. They’re not bad as long as you don’t think about what they are. I mean, they’re basically a boneless wing.”

“Made of eel,” Naomi reminded.

“Well, yeah, but we have wings on Kelso. Have you ever seen a chicken?” Steve raised an eyebrow and looked at Kori and Jax.

Rudy chimed in, “There are no chickens on Kelso, nor are they frequently imported.”

“Well, shit.” Jax exhaled. “Thanks for ruining wings, forever.” The younger Delphino brother made a rolling motion with his free hand and bowed his head.

Kori looked over to where they’d been throwing darts. “We should probably pay up and get out of here.”

Naomi tilted her head. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Steve, the smarter Delphino by far, replied, “I don’t think your marks were as dumb as you thought.” A small clutch of men and women, still near the dartboard, were exchanging glances with each other and cold stares toward Jax and the others.

Jax made a face. “Sore losers.” Several of the men started toward their booth. He looked at Rudy, “Can you get us paid out?” The droid made its nodding motion, then rolled off toward the bar. As the nav droid passed another booth, it swiped a steak knife off the table.

“You cheated us,” one of the men said when he reached their table. He was big, bigger than any of Jax’s friends. He was wearing stained overalls and reeked of fish, and his red hair was slicked back against his scalp. He must have worked in the eel business. Apophis City was only two kilometers from the ocean. Another man joined him as Jax and the others all stood to leave. The second man grabbed Jax by the shoulder.

“Get your goddamned hands off me!” Jax shouted, reaching up and wrenching the man’s thumb, driving him to his knees.

As more people from the other side of the bar joined in, the first man reached for Jax only to have his hand stopped by Steve. “We’re leaving now.” He said as sternly as he could muster. His brother was the muscle of their operation, normally.

“You cheated me,” the first man growled. “I want my money back!” he shouted, spit flying from his mouth.

“No,” Jax said through gritted teeth as he released the other man and wiped spit from his face. The first guy had at least ten inches on Jax. “We didn’t.”

Before anyone could say or do anything further, Naomi sailed through the air to land on the back of the large local. She was a blur of blue jumpsuit and jet-black hair, raining blows down on her surprised target.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.