Going Concerns by Watts Martin

Author:Watts Martin [Martin, Watts]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Flying Tofu Press
Published: 2018-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

SIX

~

NOT HAVING MUCH OF a green thumb, Annie had never been to a garden shop, but she imagined them as bright, sunlit spaces full of colorful flowers. Maybe in some room on the inside, the inventively named Charin Street Garden Supply House matched that image. From the alley behind it, though, it looked like a giant dilapidated toolshed full of sawhorse tables and potted plants, and smelled like insecticide and horse poop.

She held a hand over her nose. “I don’t see anyone else back here.”

“We’ve got a few minutes to go. Have some patience.”

“Do you have any idea what your informant looks like?”

He shook his head. “Not a clue.”

“So how are we supposed to know who it is?”

Scava gestured around the empty alley. “The next one back here who doesn’t look like he’s here to buy a plant, I suppose.”

“I suppose.” She thrust her hands in her pockets, then grimaced at her first breath and put her hand over her nose again.

“I’m guessing running a farm is out for you as a future career choice.”

“I think that’s a safe bet.”

They waited another several minutes before footsteps approached from the other side of the alley. A Vraini—middle-aged, rather stout, at least a head shorter than Annie—walked toward them, looking wary but not as furtive as Annie imagined an informant would be. He’d hidden most recognizable features behind a hat, dark glasses, coat and scarf. Given the weather it had to be uncomfortably hot already.

“Are you with the Guard?” He looked from side to side, then back at Gibson and Annie. “You don’t look like you’re with the Guard.”

“We are,” Gibson said. “Well, I am. She’s a consultant working with me. And I’m guessing you and I have communicated before.”

“I’m guessing,” the fox said, sizing Annie up before he turned to the cat. “So you found out more about what’s going on at Union than what you heard from me, didn’t you?”

The Melifen nodded. “You got us pointed in the right direction, and we connected things back with what we knew about what was going on in Garanelt at that branch.”

“I didn’t tell you that much about that.”

“No, but Miss Swift was able to fill in some details you couldn’t.”

He looked back at her. “Miss Swift. Right! From the Garanelt office. But she—you—you didn’t know about the smuggling, either.”

“No, I didn’t. But I think you can fill in some of those details for us.”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“Where the furs are coming from, for a start.”

The fox grinned. Being unable to see his eyes made it a decidely humorless look. “Like, are we killing people and skinning them, right? No. They’re from a mortuary.”

Annie shuddered. “Who would buy anything that…that awful?”

He shrugged. “People who don’t know where they come from, or don’t care, or think that makes it even more valuable. None of them stay in Ranea. A lot end up making a big circuit back to Raneadhros and out through the Great Gate to entirely different worlds.”

“That’s still terrible!”

“Yeah. Terrible.

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.