Bounty Hunted by J.N. Chaney & Matthew A. Goodwin

Author:J.N. Chaney & Matthew A. Goodwin [Chaney, J.N. & Goodwin, Matthew A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2024-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

15

Alek didn’t want to waste any time either waiting for a Conclave team to arrive or to fly and deliver Roan, so Lara had taken the starship from the bunker, and I had headed back to the Buzzard with Alek and Clynt.

“What did you mean when you said you had enough to go on?” I asked, powering up the ship and lifting off the surface, happy that I had never found out what a swarm of carpet ants could do.

“It was another Kyrog,” he said.

I cocked my head. “How can you be sure? I know the comment about ‘tribal’ whatever was implicit, but I’m not sure it was enough to go on.”

He chuckled. “It wasn’t that,” he said. “The tribalism comment only bolstered what I already believed. It was something earlier.”

“The arm pulling,” Clynt filled it.

Alek nodded. “Exactly,” he affirmed.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Because it’s all but a slur,” Clynt explained. “Humans tend to lump all us ‘aliens’ together, and comments like that tell us everything we need to know.”

Alek pointed a finger of acknowledgement at the Vekrass. “Just that. I don’t know if a Kyrog has ever pulled a human’s arm off, but if they have, it wasn’t often enough for it to become a thing. This is one of those comments that seems to have stemmed from some early human seeing a Kyrog and being frightened.”

“I see,” I said, not sure what else I could add here.

“And now it’s used to make other humans scared of us,” he continued. “So the moment I heard her say it, I knew that it was another Kyrog.”

“Do you know who?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, but this is where the second comment comes into it. If there is a Clan aspect to it, then whoever is behind this will need to get supplies, and they almost certainly couldn’t get what they needed through conventional methods.”

I knew what he was implying and immediately set the coordinates for the Intermediary. I hadn’t visited the young woman for a long time, not since striking up a deal, and it seemed like a good time to change that.

Alek leaned back in his chair as we lifted off the surface, and I saw Lara’s ship heading up in a different direction.

“I feel like we are getting close,” Ned announced.

The Kyrog snorted. “I feel like we have been chasing our tails.”

“Uncovering a Conclave Falconer who is hiring out assassins is more than just spinning,” I noted. “We just did some real good, in addition to getting closer to finding out who is trying to have you killed.”

Alek nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s true.”

“I know it has taken longer than you would have liked, but these kinds of things are a process,” I said. “You’ve been away from bounty hunting for a minute, but everything takes time.”

“Tell me how much you like waiting the next time someone is trying to hunt you down,” Alek said.

I laughed. “Someone is always trying to hunt me down!”

“But not as many as want to string me up,” Clynt added.

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.