The Bounty Hunter by Scott Jasper T

Author:Scott, Jasper T. [Scott, Jasper T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Amazon: B08JHGDQJR
Goodreads: 56484622
Publisher: Anthem Press
Published: 2020-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 33

Back in the cockpit, I find Aurora all by herself, watching the mesmerizing swirl of FTL space. Streaks of starlight and nebula spin endlessly around a central point of light. Violet is nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Violet?” I ask her.

“You mean the hooker that you almost got us killed for?”

I regard Aurora with a frown. Some hard feelings there obviously. “You were well paid for your trouble,” I point out.

“Sure.” Aurora shrugs. “But what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Oh, I’m not. I’m just trying to figure out if this is a pattern of yours. She told me what happened. You killed her shitbag client and then decided to get her out of there when you realized that she might not be in Margrave of her own volition. Is that what you do between jobs? Flit around the galaxy saving all the damsels in distress?”

Aurora bats her glowing orange eyes at me. I frown, but say nothing. There is a charging cable snaking from her hip to an electrical socket on her left.

“Or maybe you don’t do it out of some fucked-up sense of chivalry. Maybe you’re just buying her services in a more subtle way. Bet you have a whole harem of girls back in whatever rathole you crawled out of.”

I could tell her that Violet offered, and I declined, but Aurora’s inquiries are starting to piss me off. She’s too cynical. Too aggressive. She can’t imagine a guy like me would ever stick my neck out for free. And to be fair, any other hunter wouldn’t. She probably doesn’t. Maybe that’s what’s setting her off. She’s realized that I’m not like her, and that makes her suspicious. Classic human psychology. If you’re not like the rest of us, then you’re bad. Even when normal people are complete misanthropes.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Aurora asks.

My turn to shrug.

She blows out a breath. “Well, this is going to be a long fucking trip.”

“Probably.”

She snorts.

“Tell me about the job.”

“Back to business. Maybe you’re not so bad after all. All right, I’ll bite. Her name is Rama Drakos, just twenty-one chronological, and utterly deadly.”

“Is she a bio or a bot?” I ask.

“Bio.”

“Rare. Especially for a hunter with her rank.”

“You’re a bio and your rank is better than hers.”

“I’m almost fifty,” I point out.

“Don’t be an ageist. Some people are born killers.”

“Like you?” I suggest. It’s not exactly fishing, and I’m being subtle, so I hope she’ll let some valuable personal details slip.

Aurora tucks fiery red hair behind one ear, leans back and turns her chair to face me more fully. She crosses her arms over her chest.

“You want to know about me or the target?”

Maybe I wasn’t being that subtle.

“Both,” I admit.

“Fine. I’m a resurrected human.”

“I figured. Died on a job?”

She nods. “First one. I took a laser bolt to the brain, and about fifty more to the rest of me. I’m told there wasn’t much left. Fortunately, I had enough credits to come back as this.” She uncrosses her arms to gesture to her chest with both hands as if she’s the newest model off the production line.

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