[universe.git] / agalder.txt

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==== Harlan: Thief ====

Harlan had been sitting on the edge of the roof for the past hour,
waiting for Mellie. She always walked this way after she got off work
and he could keep an eye on her. The streets and especially the alleys
were dangerous away from APD headquarters. This was about as close as
he dared come to the headquarters complex. Too many cameras, too many
infrared imagers seeking live sources.

Those few blocks to the complex were safe, particularly for
detectives. Mellie was one of the best. She could take down four or
five attackers. But sometimes there were more, hiding in the crevasses
of the alleys, crouching behind trash disposals, hanging from second
floor windows. That's why Harlan waited. He would not allow anyone to
harm her.

Dark brown eyes thoughtful, he sucked on a dopestick, peppermint
flavored, while he waited. The mild euphoria helped the time pass. His
sneaker clad feet hung over the edge, three stories up. He glanced up
at the sky where a myriad of stars twinkled in the night. There wasn't
much light pollution since electricity was a precious commodity on
this planet. Neither of the two tiny moons were in the sky tonight.

Rapid footsteps, soft, but firm, came down the alley. Mellie passed
underneath his position as he slid back onto the roof. Her head turned
right to left as her eyes scanned the area on both sides and in front.
She spun suddenly, walking backward, so that she could scrutinize the
section behind her. Harlan hugged the shadows, holding his breath. Her
eyes flicked over him and went on.

Facing forward again, she continued her walk. An Agalderan rodent, a
puvu, which looked a lot more reptilian than mammalian, scurried
across the alley in front of her. She ignored it. The animal turned to
face the human, its shape a little odd. Harlan moved before he
thought, swinging down from the roof to a balcony and from there to
the ground in front of Mellie. He kicked the puvu up through the air,
pivoted, and threw Mellie to the ground, his body covering hers. The
puvu exploded with a loud bang and a hail of nails and staples. Harlan
grunted.

Mellie pushed him off and examined his back. There were several holes
in his tunic, all becoming bloodier by the second. He tried to get up
but didn't make it.

"You complete idiot!" she snapped. "Now what am I going to do with
you?"

"Marry me?" he asked.

She got him to his feet and with an arm draped over her shoulder, they
started down the alley again.

Her condo was on the 36th floor. They could take the elevator to the
35th floor but had to walk up to the 36th. Elevators only stopped
every 5 floors. Harlan was thankful that it was only one floor.

She had a great view from one of the windows. The other windows looked
out on the walls of the adjacent apartment complexes with their myriad
windows. Sometimes a person would appear in one of the windows, but
most of the time, the windows were closed and shaded.

She made Harlan lie down on the sofa and got his shirt off. He had six
holes in the skin of his back. She could see the metal shards sticking
out from three of them. Taking out the shrapnel was punctuated by
swearing and groans from Harlan. She cleaned the wounds and wrapped
his chest. Then she made him a drink.

As she sat beside him, her bright blue eyes evaluated him. She said "I
suppose I should thank you for saving my life. But I'm just so mad at
you for risking your own life and my cover that I can hardly speak."
She took a gulp of her own drink.

He rolled on his side and looked at her. She was staring out over the
lights of the city, avoiding his gaze.

"You have risked everything we've worked for. If I had been killed, it
wouldn't have interfered with the plan. But if someone was watching,
if someone saw your incredible theatrics, they will be adding two and
two and getting 144." Her voice was rising in volume. "You're an
idiot!"

Harlan looked up at her and sighed. "I love you." Gently pushing her
off the sofa, he managed to sit up with a lot of groaning. "There is
no way I could stay on that roof and watch you be blown apart." He
started to pull his bloody shirt back on. "So deal with it."

She took the shirt from him and opened a closet. Pulling out a bag,
she handed it to him. "I bought this for you a while ago. It should
fit you."

He put on the shirt. Looking in a mirror, he nodded. "I have to go.
Thanks for patching me up." He walked to the door. "Oh. You never
answered my question. Will you marry me?"

She threw a pillow at him.

Heading back to the same alley where the explosion took place, he came
to a stop a block away. There were cops all over the place. He took to
the roofs, approaching silently. Lt. Marks, Mellie's boss was standing
by the burn scars on the building. He was speaking softly, but
Harlan's hearing was excellent.

"...know she was here." He waved a hand at the alley. "She came down
from there. She must have been no more than twenty feet from the
explosion. We should be looking at her body. But we aren't." He looked
at his sergeant. "I want to know what happened here and I want to know
tonight. Understand?"

The sergeant nodded with a weary expression on his face and turned
away. "Yessir."

Harlan moved away, heading back to the streets and Emerald Hall.
Santori, the head of the Resistance, needed to know about this. They
might want to pull Mellie back to the Hall. Her cover might be broken.
Mellie was right. The plans of the Resistance for reunification of the
planet were more important than any one life. Except Mellie's.

==== Mellie: Detective ====

Melandra Kaminsky was the lowest of the low on the totem pole of
detectives. At least in Homicide Division. She probably ranked a
little higher than a few in Robbery or Vice. But she was new and young
and had been naive at times. Harlan had helped her claw her way up the
ladder in the department. He was the best man she had ever known.
That's why she had taken Harlan back to her condo. That's why she was
in love with him.

She cursed herself frequently. Why had she picked a damn thief to fall
for? Why not one of the detectives? Because the detectives were a
bunch of crooked, arrogant losers and she hated them, one and all. For
crying out loud, Harlan was the most ethical, moral man she had ever
met. Except for the stealing, of course. He was also the bravest,
smartest, and most impossible human being she knew.

She had run across him when she was part of Robbery Division. He was
supposed to be the best cat burglar in town. He had even robbed the
Mayor! So when she showed up for the weekly, sometimes irregular,
Resistance meeting, she was shocked to see Harlan drinking a mug of
coffee and talking to Santori, the Head of the Resistance, usually
called "Boss". Although she knew there were thieves, even servants and
homeless in the group, she had thought Harlan would think himself
above the petty politics of Agalder.

She cornered him after the meeting and told him that his position in
the Resistance made no difference. She was going to put him away. He
just grinned at her and told her she was free to try. Boss came up to
them at that point and told her that she was to lay off Harlan. He was
too important to the Resistance. Harlan and Mellie both began
complaining that she had to do her job or raise suspicions.

Santori raised his eyebrow and asked "You want her to chase you?"

Harlan grinned "She couldn't catch a hen in a chicken coop."

Mellie had begun yelling at the thief when the "Boss" silently folded
his tents and slipped away. Harlan seemed to enjoy the tirade. When
she slowed down, he commented "You have a hell of a vocabulary." and
walked away. And all she could do was sputter.

She continued to try to trap the thief, but every plan she developed
fell through. She'd see him grinning at her from across the air shafts
between tenements or from the other side of the river.

Then she caught him. Actually he caught her. He was sitting in a
chair, waiting for her when she burst into the apartment. She heard a
click as the door locked behind her. He ignored her gun and poured her
a glass of wine. When she got over being furious, they talked, really
talked, for hours. He let her go after kissing her thoroughly. She
found that she couldn't think of anything else than Harlan, much to
her annoyance.

She dropped her obsession with the thief and started piling up
arrests. Her case clearance rate climbed until it beat everyone
else's. The Mayor gave her a commendation (and groped a feel at the
same time). She appeared to be the darling of the department. And now
somebody wanted her dead.

When her partner, John Behan, a fiftyish balding man with a paunchy
stomach, and two other detectives showed up at her apartment, she
admitted to having been at the site of the explosion. She had come up
with a story that fit the facts although it was a bit farfetched.
Noting the raised eyebrows, she simply told them she'd see them at
headquarters and shoved them out of her apartment. They couldn't
exactly arrest her for not being murdered, so they left.

The next morning, she got to headquarters very early, took the first
case to come in, and got out before day shift showed up. When she
brought in her catch of the day, a wife killer, the other shift had
gone home. She kept this up for several days until her colleagues gave
up trying to pin something on her for not being killed.

Mellie ignored her partner and his buddies. She wasn't part of the
'old boys' network' and never would be. She did her work and did it
well. The Captain seemed to happy with her. And as she walked the
grimy streets of Crater City, she felt a presence at her back and knew
it was Harlan. She also felt the ghosts of the hundreds of thousands
of people who had died on this planet. It was for those uneasy spirits
that she had joined the Resistance. It was for them that she sought
justice.

==== Captain Tavis: Chief, Agalder Police Department (APD) ====

Sam Tavis was an honest cop and had been amazed when he had progressed
up the ranks so rapidly. He had expected his stubborn ethics would
cause trouble and hold him back at some point. But his immediate
superior had been a brilliant man and recognized the importance of
having a totally trustworthy subordinate who could be duped into
thinking that the Crater City Police Department was free of
corruption. That had worked well until the time came when Tavis was
faced with an untenable situation: support his boss or let a dozen
innocent people die. He had saved the potential victims and his boss
had died. The police force was turned inside out to find corrupt cops.
Now he had a good group. He was pretty sure most of them were honest.

He was almost totally certain about Mellie Kaminsky. She was as
straight an arrow as he had ever seen. But there was something she
hadn't told him. Now she was dodging any questions about what happened
in the alley three nights ago. It wasn't like her and he was worried.

He walked the same route she had that night through the safe zone
around the headquarters, then into the dark alleys of Hollowtown, the
area to the west of APD headquarters. He knew he was crazy to wander
these alleys alone, but he had to see for himself. Garbage was piled
high along the sides of the buildings. Some people just threw their
refuse at the disposal openings and walked away, even if the noisome
waste splattered against the side of the building. The openings to the
trash disposals weren't all covered. He shuddered as he thought what
could happen if a child climbed in there.

Movement to his right caught his attention and he turned, drawing his
laser gun. A shadow appeared farther down the alley. He had started in
that direction, moving slowly and carefully when the knife entered his
back silently and sliced through his spinal cord. He dropped like a
discarded puppet, regretting that he wouldn't have time to finish his
work. He looked at the shoes next to him as a hand reached over him
and twisted the knife. Then his eyes only saw eternity.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

Harlan was the one who found him. He was heading to his rooftop
guarding position the following morning when he saw the body. Thieves
had made off with his gun, identification, badge, and wallet, but
Harlan knew Sam Tavis. He sat on the ground, legs splayed out, back
against the wall and didn't move for a long time.

Mellie found him in the same position forty minutes later as she
walked to work. At first she thought they both were dead. Then she saw
the tears on Harlan's face. He didn't respond at first when she knelt
beside him. Finally his eyes flicked to hers. He leaned forward and
stood up.

Looking down at her, he said "Put in the call. Don't mention me.
They'll know I was here, but say I was gone when you got here." He
didn't touch her, just turned and fled into the warren of alleys. She
watched him go with eyes that were also brimming with tears.

==== Lt. Marks - Chief of Detectives ====

Looking down at the body of Sam Tavis, Jason Marks felt a deep sorrow.
His naturally dark eyes were even darker than usual. His thinning hair
was blowing in the cold wind that prowled this place. He'd been
expecting this for years. Tavis had been an honest cop. And a stubborn
one. The man had stood up to mafia bosses and leaders of cartels, to
politicians and other cops. He'd never bent. Marks had known this
would happen eventually. There were too many bad guys in the world.

He knelt beside his friend and carefully removed the pendant around
Tavis' neck. The chain was gold as was the rim around the stone, a
dark brown, clear quartz from the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland on
Earth. He was surprised the thieves who had taken everything else,
including his shoes and tie, hadn't stolen this. But he was glad to
see it. Tavis and he had talked about death and the talisman that he
now held no more than a couple of months ago. Sam had told him to give
it to Mellie in case of his death and to tell her to pass it on to the
one she loved. It belonged to her lover, the captain had said. Her
lover would be next in line, but he refused to say who the man was or
what he was in line for. He did say to pass it on with his blessing
and his love, which confused Marks even more.

Mellie was standing by a carryall, a self-operating vehicle that could
carry either people or cargo. It would carry Sam Tavis to the morgue.

He walked over to her and in a few brief sentences, told her what
Tavis had charged him to do. He gave her the pendant and turned away
to a group of detectives, examining a spot next to the body. The men
were bent over, talking very softly with each other, looking at
recorders that they held in their hands.

"What have you found?" he asked. They looked up and spread out, making
room for him. He realized that Mellie had followed him and noticed
that they did not make enough room for her. He reached back and drew
her into the circle, the others stepping back grudgingly.

John Behan glanced at Mellie, then addressed Marks. "Someone was
sitting here for quite a while. Close to an hour. Didn't move. Just
sat there."

Marks raised an eyebrow. "Do we have an identification?"

"No, sir." another detective said. "But we should be able to come up
with a name within the next couple of hours."

Marks looked at Millie. "Was there anyone here when you arrived?"

She shook her head. "I thought I heard footsteps running off, but by
the time I checked for a pulse, I had no idea which alley to check."

They all looked at the alleys. Five met in a conjunction, making a
space larger than a couple of condos put together. Each of the alleys
led off into darkness, three curving away, two leading straight out.

Alex Biggers slammed his fist into a tossed away piece of sheetrock.
"Why in hell was he down here by himself?"

Marks looked down at his dead friend, then glanced at Mellie. "I want
a name on my desk in the morning." he said as he stomped off down the
alley.

==== John Behan: Detective ====

John Behan used to be the rising star of the Homicide Division. He had
been young, buff, and ambitious. Before Agalder and especially Crater
City had been forcibly returned to the Paleozoic Era, he had been
optimistic about his future. He married a wonderful woman and they had
talked of having children. But then this world, his world, fell apart.
Alys was killed. An accident they said. But she was gone. Nothing left
of her but pictures and memories.

One of those memories crossed his mind and he smiled for just a
moment. Biggers dropped a file in front of him and Alys disappeared
into the recesses at the back of his mind.

Biggers was only in his thirties, while Behan was forty-five now.

"Don't strain yourself with this one, John." he said as he swaggered
off.

The younger guys considered Behan the 'Old Man'. Cocky bastard. he
thought as he opened the file on his computer. The white screen went
black for at least twenty seconds before it stabilized. He grimaced,
mumbling "Piece of crap."

A vid appeared on the screen. A young man with dark hair and dark eyes
looked back over his shoulder as he raced up a fire escape that was
missing several rungs. He practically flew up to the roof. Dressed in
black tunic and jeans, he blended well with the dark building. But
Behan knew that face. Harlan. The thief Mellie had been so obsessed
with - until she wasn't. He wondered what had changed her mind.

On the screen, a drone followed Harlan as he ran across roofs, jumped
between buildings, slid down pipes, and scaled ladders. The drone was
the only cop to keep up with him. Behan wondered why they hadn't
turned loose the robots. Those hounds could have caught him. Of
course, they were likely to tear him apart when they caught him. Maybe
the bosses wanted him alive and undamaged.

The drone dived and tried to hit Harlan on the back of the head.
Harlan, however, wasn't cooperative. He ducked at the last moment and
swung something black. The drone went offline.

Behan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. That man was just
too smart and too fast. He knew the city well and rarely ventured into
the suburbs. Except that time that he had robbed the Mayor. The thief
had stolen a statuette, reported to have been brought from Earth, a
fat little guy with his belly button showing, sitting cross-legged
with a silly smile on his face. The statue was supposed to be made of
gold with jewels in the little guy's clothes and a big, fat diamond in
his hands. Behan's lips curled upwards. The Mayor had been hopping
mad. But the Mayor was an asshole. Most of the force had thought the
episode funny, especially since Harlan had been so careful not to hurt
anyone.

The Mayor had tripled the security at his mansion. You'd think that
when Harlan returned the statue without tripping any alarms, the Mayor
would be grateful. No. The asshole went berserk. He'd come screaming
into Sam Travis' office and thrown his hat at the Chief. Behan had
been close by and he'd opened the Chief's door, causing the apoplectic
Mayor to turn and stare at him. Behan had ignored the Mayor, asking
the Chief. "Problem, Captain?"

Tavis had grinned. "No. But thanks, John."

Even now, with Tavis gone, that memory brought a feeling of pride.

Biggers came back, a big grin on his face. "I knew it!" he crowed,
waving a fax sheet. "The sitter, the person who spent nearly an hour
sitting next to the Chief's body, was Harlan." He tossed the sheet on
Behan's desk. "I had a feeling that thief was the one. He musta killed
the chief. You think?"

Behan ignored the question. The vibration report definitely identified
Harlan as the individual who had sat, unmoving, next to Sam Tavis. He
spoke without realizing it. "Like he was keeping vigil."

"What?" asked Biggers. "What's a vigil?"

"A time spent in prayer or grief, watching over something or someone."
answered Behan. He stood up.

Biggers backed off. "But why would that punk Harlan keep this vigil
thing over the Chief?"

Behan ignored him as he headed for the door.

He found Melanie at her condo. He could see that she had been crying
when she let him in.

He took off his coat and put it on the couch, then sat beside it.
"Mellie. We've got to talk. It's this Harlan guy, isn't it? You're in
love with him. Are you helping him?"

Mellie's head whipped around and she stared at her partner, face pale,
eyes wide.

Behan watched her. "You know, babe. I've got a lot more experience
catching out liars than you have. You're not particularly good at
this. You lied when you said no one was there when you found Captain
Tavis. Harlan was there."

He stood up, towering over her. "Wasn't he?!" he yelled in her face.

Mellie backed up, looking frightened. Her hand came up to her mouth,
and for a horrible moment, Behan thought she had a suicide pill. But
she was just frightened and he took a deep breath.

His voice dropped to a gentle whisper. "You love him, don't you?"

Her eyes were full of tears as she nodded.

"Why did he sit by the Chief's body for nearly an hour this morning?
And where is he now?" Behan asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that he was sitting by the Chief, holding
his hand, crying. They had some sort of relationship and Harlan
clearly loved him. He saw me and stood up, told me to call for help,
and left. I don't know where he is or where he lives." She walked to
the window, looking out at the city. "I know almost nothing about him
except his beliefs. We've talked about morality and ethics." She
turned back to him. "He's a good man, John. And, yes. I love him."

Behan nodded. "Give him a message for me. Tell him that we need to
talk. Soon. And set it up." He reached out, patted her on the
shoulder, and left.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

He ran the roofs blindly. The world blurred past as the tears kept
coming. He had never felt pain like this and he couldn't outrun it.
His chest was tight and his breath came in short gasps, intermixed
with sobs. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. They hadn't had enough
time together, not nearly enough, not since they had started playing
their parts in this goddamn drama. His father the Chief of Police, he
a common thief. Well, not common. His lips quirked.

It had been nearly nine years since they had been father and son,
except for stolen minutes now and again. Harlan sometimes surprised
his father in the middle of the night, waking him from sleep for a ten
minute chat. Usually scared the hell out of his dad, especially since
the Chief lived on the eighteenth floor. But there was a balcony and
that made it easy for Harlan, although his father never understood.

He reached his home, an abandoned house on the north side of the city.
He had managed to find a bed and a chair and a table. Home was always
a temporary abode. He moved his residence frequently and kept it
simple. Now he sat at the table and stared at a wall, not thinking,
mind totally blank.

It was hours later when he woke up. He had laid his head on the table
and fallen asleep. The pain came crashing back down and he grunted.
But it was time to find out what happened. In a little while he would
sudz, depilate, and change clothes. There were people to visit.

==== Alfie Gallagher: Thief and general all around thug ====

Alfie Gallagher didn't have a lot of friends. Not necessarily because
of his job, his work for the Syndicate. It was mainly because Alfie
was a miserable excuse for a human being. He was a not too bright
psychopath, a man who would have slit his mother's throat for a ten
spot. In fact, he had done exactly that. In addition, he didn't wash
very often.

Sitting alone in the Rusty Blade, a rundown bar not very far from
Harlan's temporary lair, Alfie was surprised when Diego Farley sat
down across from him. Diego was a runner for the Syndicate.

"Cassidy wants to see you." said the slim young man. The violaceous
scar that ruined his right face twitched. "He's got a job for you."

Farley started to rise from his chair, but Alfie grabbed his arm.
"What kind of job?"

Farley yanked his arm away, wiping it on his jacket as if something
dirty had gotten on it. "How should I know? The big ones don't exactly
consult me, now do they?" and he turned away.

Alfie sat for another twenty minutes, then he dropped a coin on the
table and left.

The job was not to his liking. Cassidy was second-in-command to the
Syndicate's Number One, Chas Hawkins. He had given Alfie his
assignment and started back toward the big house when Alfie sputtered
"But how am I gonna kill this guy if nobody knows where he is, where
he lives. Nobody knows nothin'. I need some help."

Cassidy looked back at the unshaven man with hair hanging in his eyes
and the same clothes he'd been wearing for four days. "If you want to
obtain information, take a sudz, clean up, shave, cut your disgusting
hair, and then ask. No one wants to talk to a streetie." and he
disappeared into the crowd.

Alfie cleaned up. He rented a hole at the spaceport where passengers
could sudz and sleep. He had stolen some clothes from the mission
store. When he looked in the mirror after he shaved, he could barely
recognize himself. He even brushed his teeth.

He returned to the big house that served as Hawkins' headquarters here
in the city. He found Cassidy in a large room overlooking what used to
be a rose garden. The blackened plants were being removed by a couple
of men in dark green one piece uniforms. Cassidy glanced at the two
men sitting with him and they stood and left. Alfie sat down across a
small table from the Second. "Okay. Now I'm clean and pretty. Tell
me."

Cassidy's lips quirked. "You can find him two houses down from the
Blind Rat Tavern toward the dock. I think he is holed up in the
attic." He waved dismissal at Alfie, who stood and started toward the
door.

"And, Alfie." Cassidy's voice stopped him. "If you want to be part of
this organization, you will stay clean and pretty."

==== Harlan: Thief ====

The very soft sound of glass breaking far below woke him. He stood up
from the table where he had fallen asleep again. A loose board below
the shuttered window allowed him a small view of the street. His
eyebrows rose. There were at least a dozen black clothed figures
starting to enter the house. They must really want him this time.

He reached over the table and pulled on a cord. A loud crashing
followed by screams and loud cursing came from the first floor as a
large part of the ceiling collapsed. Harlan smiled. He pushed a button
next to the door. More yelling and cursing. A kitchen timer sat on the
table. Harlan set it for three minutes, replaced it, and slipped out a
trap door that led to the roof. He disappeared into the dusk as the
third trap was sprung.

==== Lt. Marks: Chief of Detectives ====

Exasperated wasn't nearly a strong enough word, Jason Marks thought.
Perhaps infuriated would cover it. He stood looking at the filthy,
dust covered, bruised and scraped squad he had sent to pick up Harlan.
They'd gotten his location and put the op together in a hurry. There
was no way the thief could have known they were coming. Yet he had
thwarted them and was gone.

No one was seriously hurt. Harlan was like that, careful. He
apparently didn't want to cause harm to anyone. But he was probably
laughing on his way out the window.

==== Alfie Gallagher: Thief, Apprentice Assassin ====

Alfie got to the house in time to see a squad of the APD Elites going
in the door. He watched for a while and heard the ceiling collapse in
the hallway and the stairs crumple as they started to climb. He had to
grin even as he thought that he might have been the one buried under
the dust and dirt and what passed for spiders and bugs on this world.
A cloud of dust spewed forth from the door and Alfie slid into the
darkness.

==== Mellie: Detective ====

When Mellie opened the door and found Harlan leaning against the wall
outside, eyes swollen and red, she said nothing. She simply took his
arm and brought him inside. After steering him to the couch, she
programmed drinks for both of them and then sat beside him.

"He was your father, wasn't he?" she said softly.

Harlan turned to her, eyes widening. "How did you find out?"

Mellie smiled. "Just a good guess. You look alike in some ways. And
you share his world view."

He looked down into his drink, swirling the liquid around in the
glass. "He was the best man I ever knew. We argued a lot, but he
always kept it friendly, even humorous." His voice broke. "God, I
loved him."

She put her hand on his arm and leaned into him. "I loved him, too. He
helped me so many times."

Harlan turned and gathered her into his arms and they sat that way for
a long time, sharing their grief.

Harlan left early in the morning before dawn. He had to find Santorini
and report. Mellie watched him go, the tears still on her cheeks.

==== Santorini: "Boss" of the Resistance ====

Santorini was still asleep when Harlan bypassed his security detail
and shook him awake.

"What the fuck?!" yelled the Boss. Three guards exploded through the
door, guns raised. They grabbed Harlan and started to hustle him out
of the room when Santorini stopped them.

"But, Boss. He's an intruder. We have to..."

"You have to figure out how he got in here. But leave him alone. He
was just showing off."

The Boss and Harlan watched the disgruntled guards leave before they
spoke.

"How the flaming Hell did you get in here?" Santorini hissed.

Ignoring the question, Harlan continued staring at the door. Silently
he stepped closer and yanked the door open. One of the guards stood,
hunched over, an eavesdropper attached to the wood, extending to his
ears. Harlan tore the device out of the man's ears, eliciting a yell
of pain, ripped it off the wood, and slammed the door in the guard's
face.

He turned to the Boss. "I would change my guard detail if I were you."
he said.

But Santorini was already throwing the door open. The guards were
backing off, blood running from the ears of one.

"Jackson!" he bellowed. In seconds another guard appeared in a
sleepfit, with a dart gun in his hand, two others behind him.

"Take these three into custody. I will question them later." the Boss
snarled and closed the door.

"How?" he asked, looking at Harlan.

"One guard asleep. Another alert but looking in the wrong direction
for a couple seconds too long. And I'm just skinny enough to fit
through the air vents." Harlan shrugged. "It was easy."

Santorini ran his hand through his thinning hair. "You will drive me
crazy eventually."

He stood and walked to the window. He stood looking out for a full
minute. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "I'm so sorry about your
father, Harlan. He wasn't just one of the best men I've ever met, he
was my friend."

He turned and Harlan saw that his eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"Do you have any ideas why he was killed?"

Harlan shook his head. "He certainly had enemies enough. The Syndicate
is probably celebrating tonight because of his death. The Hideout 12
group are another possibility. We may have found their lair, but we
still don't know much about them. We need to take members of that
group alive to gather information. I have heard rumors of the thieves
organizing as well." He frowned and rubbed his hands over his face.
"Something big is going on and I haven't heard anything that lets me
get a handle on it."

He looked at the Boss. "The APD Elites paid me a visit tonight. I got
out only because I had set up the traps."

Santorini smiled. "I heard about that. Apparently Marks came close to
having a stroke when the squad came stumbling back in, bruised and
covered in dust. The Elites are going to have to work a lot in order
to recover their shining reputation."

The two men shared an amused grin.

Harlan sat down on the edge of the bed. There were no chairs in the
room. It was too small. Santorini refused to accept the ostentatious
display of the previous 'Boss'.

"Tell me about the raid on Hideout 12." said Harlan. "Do we know whose
stronghold it was?"

Santorini shook his shaggy head. "There are so many of the survivor
gangs out in the wilds, it could be any one of them. We got lucky.
This group was pretty sophisticated. They carved that place out of the
obsidian formed during the Iron Wars. It means the tunnels wander up
and down and the rooms are odd shapes, but the camouflage is great."

Harlan leaned forward. "Why can't we turn that place into a trap for
the Syndicate? We could drop a few hints about our new fortress where
we keep our arsenal. I bet we could pick up a few Syndicate rats
pretty easily."

The Boss looked down at his hands. "Maybe. The idea has some merit.
Let me think about it."

==== Alfie: Thief, Would-be Assassin ====

Everyone knew the approximate location of the Emerald Palace, the
headquarters for the Resistance. So Alfie just wandered down the
nearest street and set himself up when he had a good view of the
undulating roof.

Three hours later a figure appeared on the roof. Using his monoc,
Alfie could see that it was Harlan. He lined up the shot as the best
of the thieves looked around and then pulled his collar up. Gently,
gently Alfie squeezed the trigger. The ancient sharpshooter rifle
bucked into Alfie's shoulder and spat forth a bullet. The sound was
deafening. Harlan dropped like a puppet whose strings have been cut.

==== Alfie: Thief, Assassin ====

Alfie broke down the rifle and packed it in a bag of groceries. He put
the wig and scarf back on and within three minutes, as the Resistance
fighters poured out onto the street, an overweight grandmother passed
by, staring at them with open curiosity.

When he reached the little trail into the park, he disappeared along a
faint trail that led to a clearing. By the time Alfie reached the
clearing, he had discarded his female disguise, turning the raincoat
inside out and ripping off the lower half to form a leather jacket.
His wig turned inside out to become a leather cap and the scarf went
around his neck. The grocery bag and every other scrap of material
went into sacks on either side of an air runner with lots of chrome.
He looked like every other air rider. Totally forgettable. He walked
the machine out to the street, waited until the road was clear both
ways and slipped out of the woods and down the lane unseen.

==== Santorini: Boss of the Resistance ====

Jackson burst into Santorini's office about fifteen minutes after
Harlan left. "Harlan's been shot!" he yelled.

Santorini knocked over the lamp as he rushed from the room. "Where is
he?"

"They're bringing him down from the roof now." was the answer.

The Boss skidded to a stop and turned around, facing Jackson. "Is he
alive?" he asked in a softer voice.

Jackson shook his head, his face somber, saying "I don't know."

Santorini caught up with the medics as they reached the ground floor
and started running down the corridors. The Boss raced alongside.
Harlan had a breathing tube in his pharynx and a machine was assisting
his respirations. His face was almost as pale as the white sheets and
sweat dripped off him. His eyes were closed.

The Boss called out to the head medic. "Mason. Did he say anything?"

Mason didn't slow his pace or turn around. He called out over his
shoulder. "He was unconscious when we got there, Boss. He wasn't even
breathing. Sorry."

Santorini dropped out and watched the group careen around the corner
into the corridor that opened out into the clinic. He stood catching
his breath for a minute and then turned back to his office. Getting
his assistant on his wrist phone, he called for all the surveillance
recordings in the area as well as overhead satellite and traffic cams.
He also ordered teams of investigators, including robot cops, to start
canvassing the neighborhood.

An hour later they found footage of what happened on the roof. But all
they saw was the muzzle flash. They triangulated it and found the spot
the shooter had chosen for the ambush. Vibration evidence was sketchy
since the spot was in a little garden and the plants interfered with
the detectors. However, a preliminary id was consistent with the
readings from a known thief named Alfie Gallagher. The word went out
that the Boss wanted to 'speak' to this Alfie Gallagher.

==== Alfie: Thief ====

Alfie reported to Cassidy after shooting Harlan, but the man wanted
proof of death. Alfie's description of the exceptional thief's demise
wasn't sufficient. Alfie was seething. He stomped out of the big house
and returned to his condo where he threw the wig/cap across the room.
He was furious but not stupid. He wanted to get drunk but knew it
would be counterproductive.

The place to start would be the place he used for the shot, but when
he got close, the area was crawling with Resistance techs. He backed
off quietly and hurried down the hill. The fact that the Resistance
had a forensic team scouring the area where he had been was evidence
in itself that Harlan was dead. He was fairly sure that Cassidy
wouldn't accept that conclusion, but he sent a coded message to the
Second-in-Command.

He worked his way back around the Emerald Palace to a house where he
could watch the activity from a rooftop. Like some other houses still
in use, this one had a makeshift chimney, added when the Iron Wars
destroyed the energy net that had surrounded the planet, Alfie climbed
a lattice slowly and quietly to the roof. He cursed under his breath
as he climbed, muttering. "You'd think they'd make roses thornless
after all these centuries." Then as he pulled up onto the roof, a
slightly louder "Ouch!"

Settling behind the chimney, he put on his monoc and prepared to wait.
The wait was short. In fifteen minutes, a small woman in a forensics
smock walked up to the house and activated the bell. Alfie could hear
voices from below but couldn't make out the words. But the result was
that a man came out of the house with an expanding ladder and leaned
it against the edge of the roof. The ladder flowed upward, gripping
the roof tightly, Alfie heard the woman thank the householder, who
replied that he would be inside if she needed anything. Then there was
silence as the woman climbed up to the roof.

She stood up when she reached the top and began scanning the area with
a high tech binoc. The appliance limited her near vision. Alfie
slipped out of hiding and applied a drug spray gun to her exposed
neck, then eased her down as she lost consciousness.

To Alfie, it seemed that she weighed almost nothing. He threw her over
his shoulder, collected his gear, and carefully walked to the opposite
side of the roof. The roof of the neighboring home was only two meters
away. He threw his gear bag across the gap, then tossed the woman
over. She landed with a heavy 'thunk'. Alarmed by the noise, afraid
that someone heard and would come, he waited several minutes before
crossing over himself. From that roof, he was able to drop down three
feet to a small garden behind the house. Using alleys and back
gardens, he made his way to the edge of the wilderness. Then, having
sent a second message to Cassidy, he sat and waited. Cassidy would
want to talk to the forensics woman.

==== Cassidy: Second-in-Command of the Syndicate ====

The woman was awake when Cassidy got there, shivering and sobbing.
Alfie sat a little away from her, smoking a happy joint. Cassidy got
the information from the woman. Harlan was alive although might die
overnight. He glared at Alfie.

"Yer not doin' so good. Two tries and you miss both times."

Alfie got to his feet. "I didn't miss him. I shot him." He motioned at
the terrified woman. "You heard what she said. He's expected to die
tonight."

"Yeah. I heard what she said." said Cassidy. "He's alive." He leaned
forward and grabbed Alfie's lapels. "I want you to rectify that
condition."

He stood up and threw the woman over his shoulder. He started back
toward the city, talking around his captive. "You hear me, Alfie? Last
chance. Make him dead by midnight."

Alfie yelled "Whatcha gonna do with that woman?"

"I'm going to take her to her home and dump her outside. She'll be
able to get out of her ties in a while."

"You ain't gonna kill her?"

Exasperated, Cassidy turned around. "No. I'm not going to kill her and
I'm not leaving her here with you either. You'd just slit her throat."

"But she's seen us. She heard what we said. She needs to be dead."

Cassidy stared at the thug for a minute. "Perhaps you're right. But I
am not going to kill some innocent woman just because she was in the
wrong place at the wrong time."

Alfie sputtered. "But..but you'll order a hit on Harlan? He's a nice
guy."

Cassidy sighed "I am not going to stand here and debate philosophy
with you. Suffice it to say that I think Harlan is a spy working for
the cops. He's a traitor. He's not an innocent. Now goodnight."

Alfie stared after him, speechless.

==== Mellie: Detective ====

The door announced another visitor. Mellie checked the viewer.
Santorini! He never came here. She pulled the door open and yanked him
inside.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Then she noticed how pale his
face was and the sadness in his eyes. "What happened?"

"It's Harlan. He's been shot."

"Is he alive?"

"For the moment." The Boss looked around the condo, not really seeing
it, just trying to avoid Mellie's gaze. "The surgeons don't expect him
to live through the night." He dropped his eyes then to look at her as
she backed away, hand over her mouth. "Get your coat. You'll want to
be with him."

She grabbed a jacket and attached her bag to the sticker on her skirt,
picked up her gun, and ran out the door, locking it with a word.

Santorini had brought a skimmer, a small air-borne vehicle that could
skim over the roofs. They arrived at the Emerald Palace in five
minutes, leaving Mellie a bit nauseous and white-knuckled. They got to
Harlan's room only to find that he had been taken back to surgery..
The bleeding had started again.

They waited. Mellie's tired mind wandered, conjuring scenes from the
time she was chasing Harlan to love scenes. She slipped into a doze,
then woke when the Boss shook her.

The surgeon was coming down the hall. His face was serious, she felt,
but not stony hard.

The surgeon looked at her and then with raised eyebrows he turned his
gaze to the Boss.

"She's one of us." Said Santorini.

The surgeon nodded. "He's still alive and somewhat stable now.
Survival is going to be up to him. It all depends on how tough he is
and how much he wants to live. Right now he's hanging by a thread."

Hours passed as she sat by his bedside. Santorini had disappeared when
an aide came to whisper in his ear. She held Harlan's hand and talked
to him, telling him things she had never told anyone. Her mind was
still wandering and she talked about playing with colored glass beads
when she was a little girl and how she loved the way the sunlight made
the colors zing. She jumped to a party at college where she had
literally had to fight to get away from a couple of guys who wanted to
'play' with her.

Crying, she revealed her deepest feelings when her mother had died and
her anger at her father who retreated into a fog of drugs to bury his
pain. She had been eleven. Then he died and she had been alone except
for a scruffy old cat who bit her. She spoke of hiding the fact that
her parents were dead from the school. Getting up every morning, she'd
feed the cat and go to school. At night she did her homework and
studied. Sometimes she watched the vid-tube, but mostly she read.

Eventually the school found out when she wasn't able to pay the bills.
She'd been hustled off to a foster home. There were lots of those
these days with all the orphans from the war. She told Harlan about
the kids she'd lived with then and how she couldn't stop crying
because she had lost the old cat.

Her voice became hoarse, but she felt that her words were keeping him
alive. So she talked and recited poetry, told him stories, and sang to
him softly. Fatigue finally won out against determination and she
slept with her head on the bed, next to his hand.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

He drifted up and down. Sometimes he felt pain, but most of the time
he just rode on a sea in the darkness and listened to the voice. Each
time he started getting too far away, the voice would draw him back.
He heard the words but didn't understand much of what it said. Then
came songs and that was wonderful, too. Eventually the voice stopped.
He lay on his back, waiting for the voice, but it didn't come back. He
decided to go find it.

The first sensation he had was the feel of breathing on his left hand.
He moved the hand toward the breaths and felt soft hair and a head.
Opening his eyes, he saw Mellie, asleep. Gently, he stroked her hair.
She smiled and opened her eyes.

Then she jerked up in the chair and yelled "Surgeon!! He's awake!"

There was a lot of activity then. They pushed Mellie out of the way
and worked over him, taking blood and scans and checking vital signs.
He just lay quietly. The pain was back and he really wanted to go back
to sleep, but they were all talking at him. Finally, a tall woman
shooed the others back and stood beside him.

"Are you in pain?" she asked.

"Yes" he mumbled, eyes closed.

A nurse stepped forward with a syringe, but the tall woman raised her
hand and stopped him. "Do you want something for pain? Or would you
rather stay awake for a while and talk to Mellie?"

His eyes opened. "Mellie." he said, voice stronger.

Then she was there and holding his hand. His eyes closed, but he lay
listening to her voice as she told him what had happened and drifted
again on the sea, but this time there was light all around.

==== Alfie: Thief, Assassin ====

Alfie looked out from the window of a house across the street from the
Emerald Palace. There was a small door in the wall of the Palace, put
there primarily for the convenience of the cleaning crew. He saw men
and women come out occasionally with robocleaners to utilize a plug-in
on the electrical box on the street. The box was for the neighborhood.
The plug-in was illegal. He smiled. Even the Resistance were thieves.

Late in the night, there was no more activity. He slipped out of the
house, leaving three bodies behind him. Crossing to the little door,
he found it locked. Having the most up-to-date equipment, he simply
inserted his uni-key and the door opened. Alfie stepped into the
Emerald Palace with a knife in his hand.

==== Alfie: Continued ====

The hallway was empty and poorly lighted. No one was supposed to use
this area at night except in emergencies. Alfie moved along, a
darkness among other shadows. There were occasional doors. He tried
all of them. Only one was unlocked. A janitor's closet. A set of deep
green scrubs hung in the back and a robocleaner took up the front
portion. Alfie pulled the cleaner out and put on the scrubs. They were
a little large but not bad. A pair of earphones were in the pocket and
he stuck them in his ears.

He pushed the cleaner ahead of him to the brightly lighted
intersection ahead. No one was in sight, but he hadn't gone more than
a hundred meters before a pair of nurses came rushing toward him.
Every muscle tensed up, but Alfie's expression of boredom didn't
change. He had turned the earphones on when he saw the nurses and the
sound was audible for several meters around him. The nurses ran past
him without a glance.

A schematic of the Palace showed in his vision as he navigated the
corridors, and he eventually found the clinic. He didn't know which
room was Harlan's until he saw the guards outside. "Crap!" He thought.
"These people are totally paranoid."

He walked right past the guards who were holding a conversation, but
eyeing everyone in sight. Including Alfie. As he was turning onto the
next corridor, Alfie heard the guards demand identification. Glancing
back, he saw the person standing there was Santorini. They wanted id
from the Boss himself?

He wandered along corridors thinking, until he realized that he was
coming around to Harlan's room again. A person in dark blue scrubs was
walking toward him. She had on a badge with her picture and name. He
stepped aside so that she could pass. So now all he had to do was find
someone who looked like him and grabbed their scrubs and badge.

It took over an hour, but he finally came to a stairwell and found
three guys playing craps. He hunkered down in between them, looking at
their badges and faces.

"Hey. Can I play?" he asked in a whiny voice.

"Got any money?" one of the three replied.

"Yeah. Just cashed my paycheck."

"Okay." said another.

As he sat down, Alfie pulled his knife. Only one of them gave him any
trouble. And that was just for a few seconds. Then the stairwell was
quiet again.

Dressed in the dark blue scrubs with the badge, he walked up to the
guards in front of Harlan's room.

"I need to check his heart. I got a consult." he said to them.

The two men looked at each other. "We didn't hear about no consult."

"Yeah. They just sent it." He held up a fax.

"Let's see your id."

Alfie obligingly handed them the badge.

"Okay." They passed him through.

Alfie opened the door to the room and discovered that the famous thief
wasn't alone. A pretty young woman sat in a chair next to the bed. She
looked up sharply.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Cardiologist Miller." he replied. "I'm here to do a consult."

She glanced at the door and then back at him. "Okay." she said.

He approached the bed, looking down at Harlan. He'd talked to the kid
a few times. He even liked him a bit. But business was business.

Distant shouts could be heard outside the room. Getting closer.

Alfie pulled out his knife, glancing at the door. When he turned back,
Harlan was looking at him. "Alfie? What the..." Alfie brought the
knife down in a sweeping motion.

And then the girl was all over him. She came over the bed like a big
catlizard, landing on his chest and throwing the two of them to the
floor. She had a gun in her hand which was pointed unwaveringly at his
nose.

Alfie dropped the knife and raised his hands carefully. "I give up."
he whined.

The guards burst into the room, jarring the girl. Alfie had half a
second to run, but his attempt was thwarted. He looked down at the
hand clasped around his wrist and then followed the arm up to Harlan's
stony eyes. He raised his hands again. Harlan had a trickle of blood
running down his neck.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

The next few days were spent either walking in the halls or sleeping.
His doctor told him he needed the sleep as much as the exercise to
heal. Santorini came by after interviewing Alfie Gallagher. They got
very little from the would-be assassin. All he knew was that Cassidy
told him to get rid of Harlan. He couldn't even confirm that the
orders came from the head of the Syndicate, Chas Hawkins. Cassidy
talked to him alone each time. No witnesses to what he said. It was a
dead end unless they could get their hands on Cassidy.

But Cassidy lived in the big house and rarely left. When he did, he
was surrounded with his bodyguards. If they tried to grab him while he
was out, they were likely to take heavy casualties. It wasn't worth it
at this point.

Santorini was still enthusiastic about Harlan's idea for the Obsidian
Stronghold, as they'd renamed Hideout 12. They were working on the
place, having set security in place. But not too much security. A good
spy could get through and see that they were lining the rooms and
corridors with shelves and specially designed holders for weapons and
ammunition. The obvious conclusion would be that the Resistance was
moving out of its antique armory into a new one.

The security detail had scared off one spy already. The Resistance had
a large supply of weapons. If the Syndicate could get their hands on
them, they'd be able to take over Crater City. Indeed, they'd be able
to take over most of Agalder, including the desert gangs.

Santorini intended to dangle this priceless plum in front of the
Syndicate until they went for it. Destroying the Syndicate would cut
the crime rate in Crater City in half - at least. And it would make
the revolution, when it came, that much easier.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

The surgeon released Harlan to Santorini's care after a week of hall
walking. He objected loudly until Santorini told him to shut up and do
what he was told. Then Harlan grumbled but softly where no one could
hear. When Mellie came to visit him, he complained until she left
early. The Boss finally yelled louder than a drill sergeant,
explaining the facts of life to a recruit with a restricted IQ and
Harlan snapped out of his funk.

He went to see Alfie.

When Alfie saw Harlan walk in his cell, he talked so fast they
couldn't understand him. But it didn't matter. He'd already given them
everything he could think of.

Harlan was sitting on a stool, staring at Alfie when the Boss walked
in.

Harlan asked "What are you going to do with him?"

Santorini considered. "He's killed or been responsible for the deaths
of several people. He almost killed you. We can kill him which is the
easiest thing to do. Or we can send him somewhere unpleasant. It's up
to you."

Harlan's head turned quickly. "Me? You expect me to decide his fate?"

"Yes."

Alfie had stopped talking and was watching the two Resistance fighters
intently. His eyes were like those of a hound dog, pleading.

Harlan sat very still for several minutes, his face set in stone.
Sweat was running down Alfie's face. Finally Harlan shrugged. "Send
him to Alaton." he said and left. Alfie's face turned white while
Santorini lips spread in a wicked grin.

It was another week before the surgeon would allow Harlan to go back
to work on light duty only. Specifically desk duty. The thief was on
the street in five minutes. He found a quiet place to sleep and rested
until dark. Then he headed for the big house and Cassidy. Alfie knew
next to nothing. But Cassidy would have answers. And screw Santorini's
orders.

The big house was an old mansion, sprawling across several hilly
acres. It followed the contours of the hills, which meant that there
were probably a lot of stairs inside. Harlan had a general idea of the
layout of the house. While he had no idea where he would find Cassidy,
the roof contours might show him something.

The motion detectors and security cams never quite covered the whole
area. There were always places that the cams would miss. He slid from
one of these to the next, mostly on the ground. He didn't think the
Syndicate was quite as sophisticated as the Empire had been and
doubted he'd be disturbing any pressure detectors.

He reached the house without setting off any alarms that he could
hear. He jumped to the roof and moved quietly to the living areas.
These were in a relatively flat part of the property. From there, he
began to survey the rest of the house from above. He knew there were
at least twenty bedrooms, some bigger for the important people, some
very big to accommodate ten or more bodyguards. Walking as softly as
he could, he traversed the roof and found what he was looking for.
Partitions tended to show up on the roof, partitions between rooms. He
found the twenty plus bedroom area.

Once oriented, he moved swiftly to a window looking out over the lawn.
The alarm setup was simple and he bypassed it easily.

Once in the house, he moved from the living areas to the bedrooms.
Cassidy, as second-in command. would have his own private room. From
the curvature of the roof, he had figured out where the rooms for the
goons were and where the very private rooms for the bosses were. He
crept along a carpeted hall that meandered around curves, past closed
doors.

Voices behind him warned him of the approach of two people. Cassidy
and a woman. They were leaning into each other, laughing. Harlan
watched them go by and slid out from behind one of the doors to follow
silently.

The couple entered a room near the end of the corridor. Harlan entered
right behind them. The two were so involved with each other, that they
didn't notice him. An open closet beckoned and he moved inside.

The couple began making noises and comments indicating imminent sex.
Harlan grimaced, stepping out of the closet with a gun in his hand.

She noticed him first and opened her mouth to scream.

He snarled "Please don't do that. I'll have to stop you."

The woman thought better of the screaming and sat down on the bed.

Cassidy was moving toward a desk. Harlan, being younger, slimmer, and
a lot more in shape, cut him off and smacked him on the back of his
head with his hand.

Cassidy grabbed his head, whirling to glare at the thief. "What the
fuck do you think you're doing? You think I don't know you? You think
there's any chance of your walking out of this house alive? Well,
there isn't. You're dead. You just don't know it yet."

Harlan rolled his eyes. "Are you finished?"

When Cassidy opened his mouth to talk, Harlan shoved the barrel of the
gun in between his teeth. Actually, he knocked a couple of them loose.

Cassidy froze. A trickle of blood leaked from between his lips.

Harlan shoved him back into a chair and saw the first trace of fear in
the man's eyes.

He loomed over Cassidy, pushing his advantage. But he had the woman in
his peripheral vision. She had stripped down to her underwear and her
shapely breasts were bare. Now she had risen from the bed and was
turning toward the door. Harlan took one step back, grabbed her long
green hair, and yanked her back. She fell onto the floor with a
shriek.

"Quiet, dear." said Harlan. "I don't want to hurt you. But if it's
necessary, I will."

His conversational tone of voice made the threat even more
frightening. The woman crawled up on the bed and lay down.

As Harlan's attention refocused on Cassidy, he realized that the man
was reaching for something on the wall by the chair. He grabbed
Cassidy's wrist and pulled it back.

Then he grasped the loose material of Cassidy's silken shirt and
yanked him up to eye level. "Who killed Sam Tavis?" came out as a
whisper. When Cassidy made no response, Harlan twisted the shirt so
hard that it started to put pressure on the Syndicate leader's throat.

"Who killed Sam Tavis?" A little louder.

"I don't know." Cassidy tried to push at Harlan, but the thief batted
his hands away with the gun. "Honest. All I know is that there was a
contract out on him. I heard that from a runner."

Harlan stared into Cassidy's eyes for a full minute. Then he dropped
him and grabbed the green haired vixen again. She was once more headed
for the door. He pulled the sheets back from the bed, shoved her in,
and then tucked the sheets in under the mattress so tightly that she
couldn't move.

Turning casually, he fired a shot that penetrated the wall next to
Cassidy's hand. Cassidy jumped back, holding his hand. Harlan checked
the wall and saw the tiny switch in the three dimensional art.

"So why did you send Alfie to kill me?" he asked softly, his eyes as
cold as space.

==== Harlan: Thief ====

Cassidy met his gaze. "We figured you'd come after us if we killed
your father. So we decided to eliminate a threat. ‘Cept Alfie screwed
up."

Harlan leaned back abruptly. "You knew that the Chief was my father?
How?"

"Strictly accidental. One of the boys was passing by and saw you jump
onto the balcony. He said it took him a couple of minutes to recover
from the shock of seeing that jump. He said he didn't think a human
being could twist in the air like that and land wherever he wanted."
He shook his head. "Boy. I wish I'd seen it." Then he shrugged. "Then
he consulted the window diagram of the building and realized it was
the Chief's balcony. So we kept an eye on it. You pulled your stunt a
few more times. Meanwhile we were digging into the Chief's past and
guess who we found?"

Shaking his head, Harlan started to chuckle, surprising Cassidy. "You
have a window chart of the building? That's impressive work."

Cassidy smiled. "Yeah. It was my idea. Lots of important people in
that building."

He dropped the smile. "So you're not one of us. You're a traitor, a
snitch. Just like the dopers hooked on slam. The cops use you. You
have no loyalty to anyone, you worthless piece of..."

He saw the change in Harlan's face and he shut up but continued to
glare at Harlan. "Getting rid of you was a bit more than good sense.
It was eliminating a threat to the organization."

Harlan continued to stare at the crime boss for a full minute or two.
Then he shrugged and smiled. "Who killed Sam Tavis? And who ordered
it?"

Cassidy shook his head. "You know I can't tell you that. I'd be
signing their death warrants." He stood up. "Do what you have to do to
me. But I'm not going to tell you."

The green haired woman spoke up. "It was the Bastard and Jonny Tool."

Harlan looked at her Cassidy cursed. "How do you know?"

"What are you a male chauvinist? I'm a vital part of this
organization, too. Don't jump to conclusions just because I'm female."

She had gotten out of the bed trap and had gotten dressed while Harlan
was intimidating Cassidy.

Grinning, Harlan said "I won't underestimate you a second time." Then
his face went stony. "Who ordered the hit?"

The woman shook her head. "Can't help you with that. I don't know. We
operate on a need to know basis and that's outside my purview."

Harlan's eyebrows rose as he realized that her education was probably
far better than the average person in Crater City, which meant that
she came from a wealthy family. He didn't think she had used the word
to show off. It was just part of a large vocabulary.

She continued. "And please don't kill Cassidy. I like him." She smiled
a tiger's smile at Harlan.

He was glad she hadn't done that at the beginning. He could feel the
draw of her charisma.

"Thank you." he said to her. Turning to Cassidy, he growled "I will
find out. Meanwhile, don't cut paychecks for the Bastard and Jonny
Tool. They won't need them." He went out the door quietly. Cassidy was
in mid-jump to reach the tiny switch when the gun poked back into the
room and blew the switch away.

==== John Behan: Detective ====

Behan had to talk to Harlan. Nothing made sense unless Harlan and Sam
Tavis were very close somehow. And Mellie would know what their
connection was.

He arrived at Mellie's condo just as she was getting home. She jumped
when he spoke her name from behind.

"Jumpy tonight?" he asked.

"You did that deliberately just to see me jump, didn't you?" she said
as she opened the door. She didn't sound angry.

"Guilty as charged, Boss." Behan smiled at her.

"I am not now and never will be the boss, John." Mellie disappeared
into the kitchen. Her voice floated back. "I haven't seen Harlan since
the Chief..." Her voice broke.

He followed her. She had the fridger open and was just staring at it.

He sighed. "Mellie. You're lying again. Please don't do that. We're
partners. You've got to let me in on this or both you and Harlan are
going to get hurt. Or worse."

Mellie turned and gazed into his eyes. After a minute, she said "He's
already been hurt. He was shot with an old fashioned bullet by a
sniper 2 weeks ago. And he disappeared today."

Her face crumpled. "I don't know where he is and I'm so scared for
him. I'm sure he was going after Cassidy." Tears coursed down her
face.

Behan pulled her close and hugged her. "Harlan is... resourceful. He's
smart and he'll get through."

"Damn straight." Came a voice behind them. Harlan entered the kitchen
with a grin. "You're hugging someone I love, Johnny. It's a good thing
I heard what you two were saying or I might have misconstrued this
scene."

Mellie came and put her arms around him but carefully, mindful of the
recent injury and surgery.

He pulled her close and kissed her, but Behan could see the flash of
pain that crossed his face. He smiled at the thief "I don't think
we've ever been introduced." And stuck his hand out. "John Behan."

Harlan took the hand and shook it warmly. "Harlan Tavis." he said.

Behan's eyebrows rose as he realized the true relationship between the
Chief he had admired so much and the cocky young thief.