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Yuki closed her eyes and relaxed, closing her ears to outside sounds and concentrating on the sweatpants in her hands. Her fingers lightly brushed the fabric, coaxing it into revealing the owner of that garment's secrets.
At twenty-nine, Yuki was still petite and even if she was trained to fight, she had never really been in the assault teams or star-cruiser crews – except once, when the Galaxy Police had sent a star-cruiser on a rescue mission on Duumme along with the Sylvanian fleet.
She had joined the Galaxy Police when the Emperor was still alive, if only to get away from her home planet, Xi-kong. She had attended the Gifted Children School under the supervision of the Sire Governor, and got out just in time since now the "school" had become an experimental lab that killed most of its gifted students.
Yuki's specialty was psychometry and retrocognition. She'd followed in her cousin's footsteps by joining the Galaxy Police Academy as soon as she completed her secondary education. Two years later – the year the last Sire Emperor had been killed – she had started as Kiril's assistant, since her cousin was ten years older than her.
Working in the investigative section was more interesting than being in assault teams, and she was the youngest member, thanks to her psychic powers. Kiril had requested her specifically for her innate talent and she had helped him uncover a few killers and find some missing persons.
Now – five years later – he was waiting for her in the orbit of Sylvania while she talked to Birgit Gisela who was supposed to have helped a murderer to get away from Ypsilanti – unknowingly. The Sylvanian was a mercenary who had admitted to taking Yashvardan Samara from his home planet, but insisted that he didn't look like a murderer to her.
Birgit had dropped him on Friport and bought him new clothes. For some reason she had kept the sweatpants he was wearing when he ran away from his home planet and Yuki asked to touch them.
And then the garment started telling the story of a scared and abused young man who had only reacted in self-defense. Yuki could almost see him shove away his sneering girlfriend, who had been found dead because she'd hit her head on the floor when she'd fallen.
Yuki frowned and slowly opened her eyes.
"Did you really feel something?" Birgit asked her, curious.
"Yes," she whispered, still holding the fabric. "I saw what happened that night. Are you sure you cannot tell us where Yash is now?"
"I'm sorry, I was only his means to leave the planet." Birgit shrugged. "Do you want to keep that?"
Yuki sighed. "I don't need it. I've read everything it had to say." She gave the sweatpants back and thanked the Sylvanian. It was time to join Kiril and inform him of her findings.
Yuki barely reached the shoulder of her half-blood cousin. Kiril's mother had run away from Xi-kong and married an Ypsilantian man, so Kiril had the height of Ypsilantians and the black hair of Xi-kongians. His eyes were slightly almond-shaped, halfway through his mother's slanted black eyes and his father's blue eyes.
"He's not a murderer, he's a victim," she told her cousin when he met her on the Galaxy Police star-cruiser that had taken them to Sylvania. They had a small office in the crew's quarters and the star-cruiser would take them back to the orbital station on Alahairo, but in the meantime they could continue their investigation. "I felt so much... pain! And shame. And..."
"Like Keith and Hiram thirteen years ago?" Kiril asked, serious. "Although they were raped by men... You're saying Yashvardan Samara was abused?"
Yuki nodded, feeling a lump in her throat. "I can't tell you how upset he was." She had to clear her throat because her voice was shaking. "Birgit said she doesn't know where he is now," she continued, worried. "I couldn't touch her to try and read her as well. I think she's protecting him, but I can't blame her. Are you sure we should keep looking for him?"
"If we don't, someone else will," Kiril replied. "I can reason with him and try to save him. Another would simply take him back and hand him to the Ypsilantian authorities. Who would kill him without a trial."
Yuki sighed. "You're right, I guess. Where do we look, though?"
"Did Birgit confirm the stop on Xi-kong?"
"Yes. She picked up Ryo Hanashima, the gay son of Takaue Boss, who apparently was also in trouble. She seems to be more a warrior woman looking for young-men-in-distress than a mercenary!"
Kiril smiled. "She is a lot like you, then," he commented staring fondly at her. Then he turned to his tablet and did some searches. "If we keep following her starship until she went to Sylvania to visit her ailing mother, she made a stop on Alahairo, after Friport. I think we should see if she dropped the two young men there."
"Will you check from the orbital station first?"
"Yes, and I don't think you should come," he replied. "Wait for me there. I was born on Alahairo, I can go on my own."
"But there's two of them!"
"If they're still together. Do you think Yash would turn to same sex love after being raped by women?"
"Uh... no. He doesn't seem to be interested in sex at all. It makes him feel dirty."
Kiril looked admiringly at her. "You can learn so much by just touching things! Or people!"
"It's not always a good thing," she said, feeling frustrated. She'd sometimes found such dark places in some people's minds that she'd found it hard to come out of them. Yash seemed to be a very decent person, but buried in desperation.
"I know." Kiril patted her arm. "Let me handle this. You know, I think you should start working on your own cases. Haven't you had enough of being my shadow?"
"I like being your shadow," she grumbled, looking away. "I don't think they'll let me have much of a career in the Galaxy Police..."
"Why not? It's not Xi-kong, Yuki. Women can have a career in the GP. You're almost thirty. Don't be scared, I think you'll do great on your own."
"Catch Yashvardan Samara, put him in a safe place, and then we can talk about it," she said, looking at him, determined.
***
While Kiril went onto the planet's surface to look for the accidental murder, Yuki went to a colleague's office to talk. The impression she'd had from Yash's sweatpants was still strong on her, and she wanted to hear from another man who had suffered sexual abuse.
Hiram Rone was forty, married to another Galaxy Police member, and had two children. Thirteen years earlier he'd been victim of abuse at the hand of a crazy man who called himself Master Jacek and had transformed his starship into a BDSM dungeon. The man had invented a de-energizer that had disrupted the Galaxy Police battlesuits, and had raped Hiram and the assault team leader.
"I have felt another man's pain for being abused," she told him. "But he was forced to have sex with a woman."
"Rape has many shapes," Hiram replied sourly. "I know you can feel how I feel by simply touching me, and I admire you for keeping your sanity after getting in touch – literally – with such filth everywhere."
"Well, I haven't been touched myself," she replied. "Although I do feel strongly for you victims of rape. I admire you for surviving, Hiram. And for keeping your marriage together and being such a wonderful father to your children in spite of what you've been through."
Hiram smiled ruefully. "It's not easy," he admitted, staring at his desk without seeing it.
"I know your secret, and I won't betray it," she whispered. "I'm glad you're still warmer than Keith. He's become too icy for his own good."
Hiram's guilty look vanished and he relaxed again. "What about you, Yuki? You were never on the assault teams, how will you find someone to spend your life with?"
"I might start working alone," she answered with a shrug. "And... secret for secret... I actually have my eyes on someone." She smiled and winked.
"Really?" Hiram grinned. "I won't tell anyone. Who is it?"
"Aryan Robena."
"The infiltrator? He's good-looking. And charming. But... ah, why am I warning you? You only need to touch him to know how he feels, right?"
"Yes, but I haven't touched him yet. What warning do you have?" she asked, puzzled.
"He might not be interested in young women, although you're very special, so you never know," Hiram replied.
She sighed. "Why are the best men always either taken or not interested?" she complained.
Hiram chuckled. "Have you told him how you feel?"
"I will next time I see him."
"Good. I wish you luck. Tell me more about this abused young man. Who is he? And where is he?"
"Kiril has found him. He's on Alahairo..."
Yuki told him what she knew of Yash's predicament. Hiram looked as worried as she was for the Ypsilantian young man.
"I'm not familiar with Ypsilantian laws, but it doesn't look good," he admitted. "Let's hope Kiril manages to keep him away from his planet..."
Except Kiril lost him. When he came back to the police orbital station, he looked really down. Yuki met him in the hangar, anxious to know how it had gone. Not well, since he was alone.
"Yash and Ryo ran away," he said. "They're headed out of the galaxy. If they do turn around and come back, I hope they're smart enough to stay on Friport and away from any member of the Star Nations. If they turn around."
"Kiril, that young man is suicidal!" Yuki protested.
"I know. But so is Ryo, apparently, since he followed him."
"Where are they?" Birgit's voice startled them. The Sylvanian had parked her starship next to Kiril's and joined them as they reached the door of the hangar to enter the station itself.
"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked her bluntly.
"I'm worried for my boys," the mercenary replied with a shrug. "So, did you catch them?"
"No," Kiril said without looking at her. "They ran away. They were headed out of the galaxy. I don't think they're coming back."
Birgit cursed under her breath. "You should have left them alone, Commander," she muttered.
"Another would have arrested them and taken them back," Kiril retorted.
Birgit stared at him and slowly smiled. "You let them go."
Kiril nodded, staring at his feet. Yuki wasn't sure it was the best thing. What if the two young men didn't turn around and re-enter the galaxy and the Star Nations? What if they didn't stay hidden somewhere? She felt sorry for both of them now.
"You can't always catch them, Yuki," Kiril said. "After this failure, do you still wish to work with me?"
Yuki sighed. Maybe it was time she got her own assignments.
***
They called him Angel Face. Yuki had seen his face through the clothes of his victims and had tried to identify him, but she was still wading in darkness. He lived on Vilas Lok, which had plenty of tourists. And in fact he killed mostly tourists who came to the planet for a week or a month of pleasure. He raped them and killed them one at a time. Men or women, didn't matter. They were obviously seduced by his handsome face and lured to wherever he finished them, abandoning their bodies in ditches outside the main town of Vilas.
The pleasure planet also had a lot of residents from most planets of the Star Nations. Corporations of the entertainment industry had their headquarters or at least smaller offices in the main town. Even if the slave traders had been taken down three years earlier, there was still a strong criminal underground world on the planet.
That was why Aryan Robena had been sent to Vilas Lok a couple of months before Yuki herself went there to investigate the serial killer that had been labeled Angel Face. She hadn't managed to talk to Aryan, since he was undercover, but she hoped to meet him somewhere in town during her stay. If they pretended not to know each other, they might have a drink together and she might find a way to touch him and explore his feelings.
Sometimes she wondered if she could train to become an undercover police officer. She was a woman from Xi-kong, she could easily go back to her home planet and help the Galaxy Police to control the mob. Except she didn't really want to go back to Xi-kong. Not after trying equality in the rest of the Star Nations. Maybe one day the High Council should teach Xi-kong a lesson like they had done with Duumme – although Xi-kong didn't do anything outside of its orbit. What happened on the individual planets wasn't in the High Council's or the Galaxy Police's jurisdiction.
She knew Aryan was good at infiltrating covert criminal activity. He didn't look like a cop at all. Before coming to Vilas Lok, he hadn't cut his hair for months and now he looked like a wannabe actor or entertainer who had managed to join one of the clubs on the planet. Yuki had seen him in the streets with another dancer who seemed pretty much smitten by him.
She wasn't sure she could use sex to get information, not even for the galaxy's security. No, infiltrating criminal organizations was not for her. She was better using her psychometry to find murderers or missing persons instead. She could never be a planted informer any more than she could be an assault team member.
She'd known Aryan since the Academy, so she could see the real him under his disguises. But he was so good at deception that he'd helped disrupt or uncover three organized crimes on three different planets so far. Vilas Lok was his fourth assignment and he hadn't had a break since he'd started the infiltration job. She wondered if she could lure him into a short break together when they both finished their mission – if they finished at the same time, that is.
She kept bumping into him as she wandered through the streets of Vilas, trying to find Angel Face. She went out mostly at night, when Aryan was busy playing guitar in a club, and sometimes went to listen to his shows to rest her tired feet. That was how she'd noticed his "boyfriend" who was always his loudest fan.
And then Aryan vanished from the club where he was playing. She wondered if his job was done, but didn't try to contact him. She didn't want to jeopardize his cover. She noticed his boyfriend wore a worried frown and finally worked up the courage to approach the dancer at the bar of the club where Aryan had performed.
"Are you all right?" she asked the young man.
"Yes," the other grumbled and averted his eyes.
"You look worried... is there anything I can do for you?"
"No. This is Vilas Lok, people vanish every day here."
"So? Who vanished?
"My boyfriend. He went out and never came back."
"Did you fight?"
"No." The dancer emptied his glass of alcoholic drink and glared at her. "Leave me alone," he snapped before stomping away from the bar.
Yuki sighed. That didn't go very well.
"Can I buy you a drink?" The voice was husky and sexy and startled her. She turned around and her heart missed a beat. Angel Face. His dazzling smile. She had found him.
She gulped and regained control. "Thanks, but no thanks, I think I'm going back to my hotel now."
"Is it because the other guy turned you down? I'll make you forget him," he insisted. Honey-tongued, as she expected. She pretended to think about it.
"I've been so unlucky so far," she complained. "I mean, this is the pleasure planet, but I don't want to pay a pro to find some pleasure, you know?"
He offered his hand. "I'm Dorial Alers, CEO of Veillon Corporation," he said. "I'm not a male prostitute, I come here to be entertained too."
"Yuki Zihan." She shook his hand and gasped as images hit her. All his victims. His assaults. His rapes. His latest feat – a gang-bang to punish an undercover police officer. In a few seconds Yuki saw Aryan's death. She let go of his hand, panting for breath, eyes wide in shock.
"Are you all right?" he asked, solicitous. "You look as if you've seen a ghost..."
She inhaled deeply and grabbed her handcuffs. "Yuki Zihan of the Galaxy Police," she said. "You're under arrest."
"What for?" he protested while she restrained him with quick efficiency. "Hey, hands off, bitch!"
"You better keep your mouth shut, Angel Face, you're in deep shit already," she replied bluntly, dragging him out of the club.
***
Yuki went back to the orbital station at Alahairo still depressed. Aryan had been discovered and had been raped to death by the criminal organization he'd been trying to infiltrate. And the serial killer she'd been after was actually one of his rapists and murderers.
Dorian Alers had been arrested for murder, but that didn't bring down the drug trafficking and slave trade behind Veillon Corporation. Aryan's death brought that investigation to a stop. And Yuki couldn't do much with her psychometry and retrocognition.
She went with Kiril to Aryan's funeral service on the orbital station. On her other side she soon found Hiram Rone, who squeezed her hand knowingly. Yuki fought back the tears. She couldn't tell anyone she'd seen Aryan's death. She had touched his cold skin before it was locked inside the coffin and it had been even more shocking than seeing it from Angel Face's point of view.
If accidental murderer Yashvardan Samara had a beautiful soul, Dorian Alers's was very dark. She was still repelled by the lust and sadism in that man's mind. She had touched him only once and very briefly when she'd arrested him, but his dirty thoughts were still with her. He had enjoyed killing those people. He had enjoyed humiliating and raping Aryan.
Kiril gently ripped her away from the memorial stone the Galaxy Police gave to Aryan, fallen in the line of duty. She couldn't speak and let her cousin take her back to her lodgings, where she crumbled on the bed.
She slept forty-eight hours under Kiril's worried eyes. When she woke up, she was more determined than ever to rid the galaxy of people like Dorian Alers.
***
Yuki lay back in her chair with a sigh. No matter how much she concentrated on the object – a bloodied shirt – it didn't show her anything new about the murder.
She focused on her cubicle again. The low buzzing of AC reached her ears. She was lucky to have a cubicle instead of a workstation in the open space of the GP's space station, but she needed to be able to concentrate.
It was very spartan – a desk with a computer and a chair – but at least the walls protected her from the chatter of the police station. It was usually enough for her to "see", but not this time.
Now that she was on her own, it wasn't easy. She had to balance her ability to find information about a dead person, possibly reliving his or her final moments, with detective work and arresting the culprit. It had been easier when she did the "reading" for Kiril who then took care of everything.
And she was struggling with her latest assignment even more than the previous ones. Angel Face's arrest had gone smoothly compared to the following two missions. Months had flown by, she had turned thirty and sometimes she still missed Aryan. When she woke up alone in the middle of the night, she evoked Aryan's smile and imagined him by her side.
Her latest assignment was a hitman who left no traces on his victims. His codename was Mercenary. He was one of the best killers in the galaxy precisely because he left no traces. And nobody knew what he looked like, although rumors said he'd come from Xi-kong. That was why the Supreme Commander had decided to put Yuki on the case.
Yuki had touched his last two victims, but could see only a shadow – a tall man dressed all in black with icy blue eyes. Even holding that bloodied shirt for hours hadn't allowed her a clearer image. The man's features were blurry, as if the victims didn't have time to take a good look at their killer. Which wasn't so surprising, considering how good the man was.
A knock on her door distracted her from her musings. Kiril put in his head and waved at her.
"Hey, you're working late!" he said. "Come and have dinner with us?"
Yuki sighed and threw the shirt on her desk. "This is the hardest assignment I've had so far," she said, rising and shutting down her computer. "I won't be able to find out who he is."
"Well, talk to Birgit, maybe she can give you some tips." Kiril winked and she followed him outside, into the corridors of the orbital station.
Yuki had always thought Kiril was a handsome man and wondered why he couldn't have a steady relationship until she'd started working with him. Policemen usually had relationships with colleagues, but when she'd joined, Yuki herself couldn't find anyone worth spending time with. Until she'd met Aryan Robena. Except Aryan was dead now. And Kiril had chosen a mercenary instead.
When Yash had chosen to take a stolen rental starship beyond the edge of the galaxy and away from all forms of known civilization, Kiril had felt bummed. He had sympathized with the accidental killer and upon meeting Birgit again, he'd found an eager ear, since the Sylvanian had been quite fond of the young man herself.
How it had happened that a policeman and a mercenary had fallen in love still amazed Yuki, but she thought they were a wonderful couple. Birgit hugged her as soon as she stepped into their house and asked how she was doing.
"You must be very busy, it's been a month since you last came over," she chided.
"True." Yuki sighed as she sat at their dinner table. "I'm after the Mercenary... Did you hear anything about him when you were on Friport?"
"Ah, no, sorry." Birgit's smile vanished. "He's unaffiliated. He works on his own. And in spite of the codename, he's a hitman, not a mercenary."
"I got that part," Yuki grumbled. "I know you mercenaries are not really outlaws."
"I heard he might be from Xi-kong," Kiril said. "That's why you were given the case."
"He's too tall to be Xi-kongian – as tall as you are," Yuki replied. "He might have been trained on Xi-kong, but he's not one of us."
"I've been to Xi-kong once or twice... I know some Alahairian residents are sometimes allowed in the Xi-kongian schools. Not Ypsilantian men, mind you!" Birgit glanced at Kiril who sighed. "But Alahairians..."
"They're everywhere," Yuki muttered. "They're traders, they go back to their home planet only to die."
"Yeah, well, still... how many non-Xi-kongians can say they've been trained by the mob?" Birgit shrugged and looked at Yuki again. "That's the only tip I can give you about that guy."
"That's more than anyone else could give me," Yuki said, relieved. At least she had something to work on now. "And Kiril, stop bothering about Yash and Ryo. You did what you could to bring them back. It was their choice to die out there instead of being brought to justice."
"I've been telling him this since we got together." Birgit smiled, squeezing her husband's hand. "Your cousin is a tenderhearted man, Yuki. I don't know how he managed to stay in the homicide section of the GP for all these years."
"Because I love my job," Kiril replied. "And when Yuki helped me, it was even easier. She also sympathized with the victims a lot. Maybe we should ask to work together again."
"So you're having trouble on your own too?" Yuki asked him, puzzled. Kiril was much more experienced than she was.
"Let's say we were a good team." He winked and smiled at her. "We should ask our superiors to recreate it..."
"Let me nail this Mercenary and I'll definitely request that!" Yuki said, determined.
***
Charleston Rose had two lives. Officially he was married to Iulia and had four children – Micaela, six, Leo, four, Mara, two and Ambra, only a few months old – and worked for a company that Yuki had discovered didn't exist. Most natives of Alahairo were salesmen and traders who moved around the galaxy a lot, but Charleston Rose was paid by elusive Targeting Magnet Inc. who gave him a regular salary for who knew what.
With Birgit's input, Yuki managed to narrow the search and discovered his double life, but now she wasn't sure how to proceed. Iulia Rose knew nothing of her husband's real job and nobody had seen him in action. Charleston Rose might not be the only man who had a fake job to cover his real job. Unless she managed to tie him to the Mercenary's murders, Yuki couldn't arrest him.
The Mercenary worked for anyone willing to pay for his services. If he'd been trained by the Xi-kongian mob, he wasn't one of them. And Charleston Rose had spent his teenage years on Xi-kong, following his father's trade. Now he had settled on Serenaide and looked respectable, but who knew what he'd actually learned on Xi-kong.
The man is good, Yuki thought. She had tried to hire him, but his clients would never give his contact to a stranger. If I could touch him, I'd be able to feel everything... Although he'd have to confess to be convicted. Maybe I could convince his wife to betray him.
Maybe Iulia could find proof or force her husband to confess. Yuki wasn't sure how a non-Xi-kongian woman would feel about it, but she assumed anyone discovering she'd married a hitman would be suitably upset and would demand answers from her husband.
Yuki munched on her lower lip and sighed again. She hated what she was going to do – upset a mother of four – but if she was right, she'd arrest a wanted criminal and have leverage to change jobs. Although if she pulled this off and then requested to work with her cousin again, it would mean admitting defeat.
But then, she couldn't say she'd had such a great career in the Galaxy Police. On Xi-kong women were considered breeding cows, but in the Galaxy Police only Sylvanians and Wegan women seemed to be able to have some kind of career. They were more ruthless than the other women, obviously, and Yuki's gift wasn't enough to make her stand out.
She left the GP orbital station and took a rented starship to Serenaide. She checked her black uniform before leaving the spacecraft and took a flying cab to the Targeting Magnet Inc. offices, which proved to be an empty building, so she continued her ride to the Rose household.
"Charlie isn't home," Iulia apologized, letting Yuki in. "Do you need his direct number?"
"No, I know where to reach him, Ma'am," Yuki answered stopping in the entrance. "I couldn't find him in his office, so I came here to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."
"Oh!" Iulia's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm just a housewife with my hands full..."
"With four kids, I know." Yuki smiled. "Have you ever wondered about your husband, Ma'am? Where he goes and with who?"
"It's his job," Iulia shrugged. "I never ask him about it, it was one of the deals for our marriage."
"So he brings the money home and you don't care where it comes from."
Iulia shifted from one foot to the other, eyes darting around. "That's right. His office is on the other side of the town, I saw it years ago, but haven't had time to go back there since."
Yuki assumed not since the birth of the first child. The place had looked abandoned, but maybe Charleston Rose had rented it for a couple of years to throw dust in his prospective wife's eyes.
"Don't you think it's a little weird?" Yuki insisted. "What if your husband is the Mercenary? I'm sure you've heard of him. What if you have a merciless killer who doesn't leave traces in your house? With four children, I'd be worried sick that he might turn on us without warning..."
"You don't know Charlie." Iulia frowned and looked away towards a room where a baby was cooing. "He's not a hitman, he's the sweetest father that ever was and the most loving husband that ever lived. He makes up for his time away whenever he comes home and calls every day whenever he's traveling."
"How long have you been married, Mrs. Rose? Are you certain you know your husband's every little secret?"
"It's none of your business." Iulia glared at her. "If you have a problem with him, arrest him."
Yuki bowed out. "Thank you for your time," she said, a little disappointed. She'd have to find another way – figure out where Charleston Rose's real office was. Maybe in that abandoned building there were still objects that had belonged to him and could lead her to him...
***
Charlie noticed Iulia was brooding, but he waited until the children were in bed before asking her what was wrong. Instead of going to the bedroom, she went back to the living room – farther away from the kids' rooms, which puzzled him a little.
"What's bothering you?" he insisted, sitting on the couch next to her and putting one arm around her shoulders.
She crossed her arms on her bosom and stared ahead with a frown before answering.
"A GP commander came while you were away," she said at last. "She thinks you're the Mercenary."
Charlie's heart missed a beat. That was close. Someone had been smart enough to figure out who he was. Now he needed to throw dust in his wife's eyes again. Pity he had given up the fake office. He'd have to find a suitable replacement as soon as possible.
"And do you believe her?" he asked quietly, gently squeezing her shoulder. He might find an office to rent in that new mall just outside of the town.
"I don't know!" she blurted out, turning to look at him with a worried expression. "You never allowed me to ask questions, but now I want to know. What is your trade? I know Alahairians are traders, but can you prove you're legit? You're not a smuggler? You don't work for your family business, so who pays you?"
"Iulia," he chided. "You promised you'd never ask."
He took her face in his hands, but she slapped his hands away.
"I want to know," she demanded. "Are you the Mercenary or not?"
"What do you think?" he replied. It was time to test his wife. Find out if she really loved him or not. If the bitchy cop had managed to break her trust in him or if she was still by his side.
"I'm thinking, why not?" she retorted. "All these mysteries, you're not answering, Charlie, what are you?"
"I'm your husband and the father of your children."
"And how do you earn our living? How did you buy this house? How do you keep us fed and sheltered?" Her hands waved around her in hysterical movements. "You left your father's trade to your siblings – why?"
"I had a better salary at Targeting Magnet."
"There's no such company! What does a digital network for the targeting magnet do anyway?"
He raised his eyebrows, skeptical. "You've been doing some online searches?" He thought he was safe by picking a lower-class woman with no computer skills who would take care of his children and not bother with his job. "Or did the cop tell you?"
She glared at him. "Micaela helped me. Your company doesn't exist. Who pays your salary with that fake name? What is your job, Charlie?"
"You sure are stubborn today. Who can I thank for this sudden surge of curiosity? What's the name of that police officer who is so certain that I have an illegal job?"
"I don't know, some Xi-kongian woman with slanted eyes." She huffed impatiently. "And your avoiding any straight answer only adds to my doubts. Either you prove to me you have a decent, legal job or you get out of here and not show your face ever again!"
"So you'll be living off alimony you don't know where from, much like you're doing now," he said.
"At least I won't have a murderer under my roof!" she screamed.
He put one hand over her mouth. "Hush, you'll wake the kids."
"Hands off." She snarled and pushed him away. "Prove to me you're a honest citizen with a regular job or get out of here."
He pulled away, wounded. He didn't add anything else – he'd never admit the truth – but he'd find out who seeded doubt in Iulia's mind. He'd try renting that office space, but if Iulia didn't buy it the cop bitch would pay.
***
"Welcome back, sir," the tech-robot greeted. It was a head shorter than Charlie, with a vaguely human shape but no legs. It rolled instead of walking, but had human-like arms. Its round head had a screen where it could display different expressions – at the moment a smiley face. It was a fairly standard model for starships and orbital stations, but Charlie had personalized it by painting its white covering in bright colors.
"Hello." Charlie sighed, slumping in his chair. "I'm back living here. Are you happy?"
The chair was in front of his starship's dashboard, a pilot chair more than anything. He turned to the computer as the robot rolled by his side, but didn't switch on the navigator. He wasn't going to lift off yet.
"Very much, sir." The voice was metallic. The smiley turned into the symbol for laughter.
His only company during his bachelor years was not even completely human. He wondered if he should buy a more anthropomorphic robot, now that he was on his own again. He could afford an android at this point, since he had two separate accounts – one for the Mercenary and one for the Rose household, where he transferred a very high salary from a fake Targeting Magnet account monthly.
His hideout was a starship that allowed him to be completely independent from any form of civilization. It was small and semiautomatic – hence the crew of one – but had decent living quarters, and he'd lived in it for years before settling with Iulia. Nobody but him had ever set foot in his cozy cabin until now.
The starship actually had two IDs, the official one – Charleston Rose's company ship, Mighty Magnet – and the real one, the Deceiver, an unmarked ship he used as Mercenary. It was time to get rid of the Mighty Magnet ID and restore the Deceiver.
The robot was his technician and he'd named it Tonto. The small spacecraft had a single cabin with bathroom and the cockpit was spacious enough for two. Charlie had been a nomad for most of his life – his father had taken him planet-hopping at an early age, spending a maximum of five years on each new world – and he didn't mind the spartan lodgings.
"Tonto, take us out," he ordered. "We're not on assignment yet, so see if you can locate Friport."
"It is not in the quadrant, sir. Maybe you want to go to Alahairo first?"
Charlie sighed. "Fine, set course for Alahairo for now." Might be a good place to lure the cop with the Mighty Magnet – and then the Deceiver would be back. It was either the ship or the world of adventurers and rogues, now, Charlie thought with a frown. Back to his wanderings with the Deceiver.
Although in the past seven years he'd enjoyed living in a real house with a real family. He'd bought it for Iulia. And the kids. She could keep it. But he'd miss the company, especially of the children. He'd never see them grow up. And he was stuck with a robot for company – which after many years of human company was tough to go back to.
He must find out who ruined his life by instilling doubts in his wife's mind. He sat at the computer and searched the cameras of his own house. He saw the visitor, zoomed in on her face, took a snapshot and linked to online search engines, finally finding a match in the Galaxy Police database.
Yuki Zhian. The bitch was from Xi-kong, and she'd come out of the Gifted Children School. With psychometry. Except she hadn't touched any of his things – not even Iulia. He checked the security cameras again to be sure. So it wasn't her gift that had led her to him. The bitch was smart. Too smart for her own good. And damn pretty too. She reminded him of his first girlfriend.
Tonto watched him. It wasn't a conversation robot and Charlie was an introvert, so they barely spoke when they were together.
"Good." Charlie relaxed and stretched his limbs. "Tonto, my friend, I need some rest. Wake me up in four hours."
"Yes, sir," the robot confirmed, following him to his bunk bed.
Charlie lay down and closed his eyes under the robot's fixed stare.
***
"Are you the one who called me?" Yuki sat on the tall stool and stared at the bartender. "I'm Yuki, I got a message to come here."
Here was the Legendary Tavern on Alahairo, a small, shady pub decently clean with low prices and gut-rotting drinks. It was crowded, with a few shady characters hiding in the corners and about half the patrons already drunk this early in the evening. The noise level was quite loud and rowdy, and Yuki had to scream to be heard.
The bartender leaned forward, ignoring a minor brawl that had just exploded in the background. He had jet-black hair, ebony skin and a broad build. He was cross-eyed, so Yuki wasn't sure which eye was looking at her.
"I hear you were looking for Charleston Rose," he said.
"True. His wife is worried for him."
"I doubt it, she kicked him out." The man smirked. "Anyway, I know where he is. He comes here every night to drink. Our house special helps him forget."
She raised her eyebrows, skeptical. "House special?"
"We call it Jealousy." He quickly came up with a glass of sea green liquid with a few bubbles and a pear slice on the edge of the glass. The drink smelled somewhat like campfire smoke and Yuki decided not to taste it.
"No thanks," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Give me a nonalcoholic drink while I wait."
She turned on the stool, sipping her ginger ale and observing patrons. The minor brawl had subsided. Everybody ignored her – but then, she wasn't wearing the GP uniform. Her casual clothes with pants didn't put her in the hookers department and her almond eyes weren't appealing to most of the Humanoids mingling in the small pub.
She hadn't found anything useful in the abandoned building. She'd tried to get inside the Rose household to touch something that had belonged to the suspect, but Iulia hadn't let her in the second time. She'd said her husband was gone after failing to provide answers and trying to pass off a friend's office as his own.
Charleston Rose's starship, the Mighty Magnet, had left Serenaide and appeared on Alahairo, where Yuki had received a message telling her to come to the Legendary Tavern. Her eyes kept scanning the room, but she lacked focus, feeling tired all of a sudden.
A blond man in his thirties approached the bar, loudly requesting the death-tasting House Special. Yuki struggled to focus on him. She felt drowsy, but not enough to not recognize the man she was looking for. The man she thought was the Mercenary.
She got off her stool and swayed. Her head was spinning.
"Charleston Rose?" She approached him, and her voice was slurred. Her mind was more and more clouded. She shook her head, trying to clear it and gasping for breath.
The last thing she saw was his knowing smile.
***
Yuki moaned as she came back to her senses. She cursed herself for drinking something she hadn't prepared. The bartender had drugged her, it had been a trap. She should have known better.
She opened her eyes. She was in a small cabin in some starship. A colorful robot stood next to her and stared at her with an impassive blank screen for a face.
She pulled herself up, still dazed, and the robot extended its arm to block her. "Do not move."
"Where am I?" she asked, hoping it was sophisticated enough to answer her questions.
"Welcome to the Mercenary's abode." The voice was human and had a sarcastic undertone.
Startled, Yuki looked beyond the robot and saw him. The door had silently slid open, revealing a tall blond man standing in the doorway who stared at her with a wicked smile.
Yuki had seen only pictures of him – and that shadowy figure in the victims' minds. She wasn't expecting such a tall man with those icy blue eyes. At thirty-five Charleston Rose wasn't the most handsome man in the galaxy, but he had charm. He had dyed his hair blond, but hadn't cut it in years and since he'd been kicked out of his own house, he'd not even bothered dying it again, so the dark roots started to show again. He was clean-shaven, though, and wore black clothes that covered him from neck to toe, including gloves. Not exactly the image of a salesman, but definitely a hitman's look.
"Why didn't you kill me?" she blurted out, incredulous.
"What's the hurry?" He came forward. "You're my prisoner, don't you want to be a witness – unable to stop me – to my next job?"
"No." She shivered and hugged her knees.
"That's why you're still alive," he replied pleasantly.
She frowned as he stopped by the bed, towering over her even more than the robot that had moved aside.
"How can you be a hitman with a wife and four kids?" she blurted out again, unable to keep her curiosity at bay. She could see what Iulia had found in him. His stare was probably less icy when he looked at his family members.
"It's just a job." He shrugged. "Nothing personal, I've been trained to kill without leaving any trace."
"With the cold heart of a pro," she commented sourly. "Do you even love your wife?"
"I love her very much, but you ruined my marriage," he retorted. "Just when I was ready to retire and enjoy family life."
"Are you blaming me?" she snapped.
"The Mercenary was ready to stop. Except when he came back from his last job, his wife kicked him out of his house, because a bitch cop told her maybe the salesman she'd married wasn't exactly that. Sounds familiar?"
"And what other lies would you have told her for the rest of her life?"
"I could have started a real trade – become a real salesman. That's what most of my people do anyway."
"Really?" She scoffed. "How long have you been doing this job?"
"Since I was eighteen," he answered. "Before I met Iulia and fell in love."
"My, aren't you precocious for a killer!"
"I was trained on your home planet and my first victims were all Xi-kongian." He smirked. "I might be the very reason why you ran away by joining the Galaxy Police. I might not have your psychometry gift, Commander Zhian, but Fukui Boss thought I was angry enough to be a very promising fighter. He'd have kept me among his enforcers, but I eventually decided to leave. Luckily there was still a Sire Governor back then, so they couldn't stop me."
Yuki's heart missed a beat when she heard her name and rank coming from his lips. What was she expecting? He was a pro, of course he'd find out everything about her. She'd been smart enough to follow his trail and identify him, but now she was indeed in trouble and had failed in her investigation.
"I'm not scared," she spat venomously.
"You will be," he replied. "You destroyed seven years of happy marriage and I won't forgive you. My revenge will be slow and painful. This is Tonto, your jailor. He'll keep an eye on you when I'm away."
He turned his back on her and left, locking the door of the cabin behind him.
Yuki huffed. The hitman seemed to be a quiet and harmless man, but underneath there was a fire... She better not awaken him with useless provocations. She looked at the colorful robot and tried again to get up, but it blocked her again.
"Hey, what if I need to pee!" she shouted towards the door of the cabin.
The robot pushed a button and opened a side door where there was a small bathroom with sink, shower and WC. "Restroom."
She glared at the faceless robot and hugged her knees again. She'd have to find another way out. If only the GP had inserted a microchip under her skin, allowing her to communicate or send a signal so they could find her... Again, she'd been stupid and reckless, she should have done it before she went to the appointment with the so-called informer.
***
Charlie mixed well in the crowd of parents after school. He stayed on the other side of the street, but nobody seemed to notice.
Here was Micaela with a babysitter. Charlie followed her with his eyes wishing he could hug her. Whenever he could, he spied on his children – he couldn't give them up just yet.
And then Micaela turned around and saw him.
"It's Dad!" she exclaimed. The babysitter prevented her from running to him and Charlie walked away, ashamed like a thief. He didn't dare go near the house and went back to the Deceiver, depressed.
Iulia called him as he entered the starship.
"Don't you dare ever show your face again, either to me or to the kids! I told them you're dead and you better stay away from us!" she said, her eyes glaring at him. Of course being a widow entitled her to all his belongings without the paperwork necessary for a divorce.
"Don't you need a death certificate?" he asked, frowning as he walked to his cabin.
"I want you out of our lives, since you failed to prove to me you're a honest citizen!" she snapped. "I'm thinking you really are the Mercenary after all! That cop was right, hope she catches you soon!"
He hung up, cursing under his breath. He knew better than to admit his real job on a videophone. That would give the GP a reason to arrest him. He was sure Commander Zhian had put his and Iulia's phones under surveillance.
He found the cop seated on his bed. Her almond eyes stared at him and her face was an obvious question mark.
"Charleston Rose is dead," he announced. "Are you happy now?"
"I'd rather see the Mercenary dead," she replied cautiously. "Charleston Rose wasn't the dangerous one."
"Not until you blew his cover," he retorted. "Now that I don't have my life anymore, the Mercenary is going to be much worse. You unleashed a monster, Commander Zhian."
"I tried to stop a killer. I had found his real ID. You shouldn't have married in the first place. I mean, you kill for a living! Your family is better off without you. If you'd been killed or arrested, they wouldn't even know why."
"Shut up, bitch!"
He slapped her. How dare she. He was doing just fine until she'd put her pretty nose in his affairs. And now there she was, looking at him undaunted – and she was so damn lovely with her round face and rosy lips and...
He grabbed Yuki by the hair and pulled her head back as he climbed on the bunk over her. She was so petite, it wasn't hard to hold her still while he forced himself on her. It didn't give him any relief, though. Raping her wasn't going to mend his broken heart.
He stormed out of the cabin, hating himself and the whole universe.
***
Yuki thought Charlie was quite gentle for a hitman. She'd dealt with victims of rape, and didn't feel so bruised after he was gone. Maybe because she felt she deserved it – it was her fault if the monster was free. Touching him meant she had more insight, almost as if she'd read his mind. She'd felt his tortured past, his falling in love, his inner change – and now his desperate present.
Charlie's soul wasn't as dark as Angel Face's. A little part of him died every time he pulled the trigger. He loved Iulia and his children. He'd really wanted to stop – before she identified him and forced him to leave his family.
A very fresh wound for him that made him more dangerous. He was condemned to be the Mercenary forever and live in the underworld – unless Yuki managed to free herself, call for help and arrest him.
This time he was away for a long time. Tonto allowed her to move within the small cabin, but not to the rest of the starship. And the robot was awful company, too basic for any kind of conversation and totally faithful to its master.
When Charlie came back, he gave her a list of dead people: two were paid hits, but the others were all cops.
"Why don't you kill me?" she challenged him. Why should her colleagues pay for her mistakes? "I put you in this position, why kill them?"
"They're damn cops, like you," he replied bluntly. "And I haven't decided if you'd better die or live with remorse, knowing you are the cause for these murders."
"You're not that heartless," she said with a shaky voice.
"I am now," he retorted. "Thanks to you, honey."
He stole a violent kiss and left again.
***
Charlie knew he'd made the headlines. The Mercenary has gone wild. He's killing cops with no real motive. He'd been picking his targets at random, trying to get rid of his feelings of anger and frustration and... confusion, damn Yuki. He knew the bitch had gained unwanted insight into him when he touched her, and forcing himself on her hadn't been so pleasant. A part of him wanted to hold her, bury his face against her and forget it all.
The articles stated that the body of Yuki Zhian hadn't been found yet, but she was officially missing, so surely some other cop might come looking for her. And die in the attempt. Or maybe succeed. Charlie didn't care. He was becoming sloppy – maybe on purpose. He'd get himself killed. But it didn't matter anymore.
And then Iulia contacted him again. She sent him a message to meet her at the temple where they'd married now almost eight years before. She was nervous, but the temple was empty and hopefully nobody would see them together.
He sat next to her on the bench staring straight ahead. He hadn't shaved, nor washed his hair in days. He had circles under his eyes and looked as if he'd aged ten years in ten months. He didn't smell good either and his clothes looked shabby. But she didn't flinch or move away. He could feel her eyes staring at him.
"What do you want?" he asked bluntly.
"Are you the Mercenary?" she asked in a strangled voice.
"Yes."
There, he'd said it. There was no denying it anymore. The sweet father of her children was a merciless murderer who did it for the money. Iulia closed her eyes.
"Do you want my death certificate so you can live off my money?" he continued flatly.
"No! I don't want you dead, Charlie!" she protested.
"I won't be dead, your husband will."
"What are you doing, Charlie?" she asked, worried. "Will you kill until you find someone faster or smarter than you?"
She had realized that meant the Mercenary would keep killing cops with unusual ferocity. She'd smartened up during the months they'd been apart, Charlie thought. He wondered who had helped her. She didn't seem to have another man in her life yet.
"I'm a professional hitman, I kill in cold blood."
"You're also a tender husband and father," she whispered, holding a sigh. "If you stop killing and change your way of life, you can come home. Nobody knows you're the Mercenary, except that Xi-kongian cop who has vanished..."
"She's with me," he snapped. "She's alive. So she can enjoy what she's done. I was going to retire when she ruined everything."
"Let her go, Charlie. Come home. We can try again..."
She must have figured she couldn't raise four children on her own, not even with his money. Maybe she even missed him, but he didn't feel anything at the thought. All his love for her and his children had vanished in a well of... what? He hated himself for what he'd become.
He stared at her with a suddenly icy stare. He saw her stiffen and gulp, but her eyes were still pleading. She seemed to think her sweet husband was still behind the mask of the Mercenary, and that Charlie was a gentle and sensible man. He felt everything but that.
"No," he said at last, averting his eyes. "I'm sorry, Iulia. It's over. Enjoy widowhood."
He rose from the bench and left without turning back.
***
The Mercenary was back in his lair, but he was brooding. Yuki watched him spend his days lost in thought – or maybe memories of whatever he had lost. He'd forged a death certificate for Charleston Rose and had sent it with a testament to Iulia Rose. The salesman was dead for the galaxy, but the hitman was still alive.
Charlie had given back her phone without looking her in the eyes. Tonto wasn't blocking her way anymore, so she could leave at any time. The Deceiver was parked next to one of the many cemeteries of Alahairo, where the race of galactic traders was buried – as if Charlie already considered himself dead. Or he'd gone back to the home planet to die, like an elder of his people would do.
Yuki could arrest him and lock him in a prison forever, but she hesitated. Charlie was a dead man walking and maybe that was what he wanted. She knew he wasn't an accidental killer like Yash had been, but she still felt attracted to him. She thought there was more to him than the icy hitman.
Since she was free to surf the meganet, she noticed the Mercenary had vanished. After his killing spree, the assassin was now nowhere to be found. She intercepted a message from Iulia, telling him she wasn't going to tell anyone he was dead yet, and that he should go home, so Yuki guessed they had met. Maybe his wife had said something that had made him stop what he was doing.
But now he was simply waiting for death. Or for Yuki to arrest him. Or who knew what. He never spoke and ignored her questions. He didn't even look at her, a brooding beau who never got off his landed starship. He had started writing a diary-testament to his daughter and nothing else seemed to matter.
Yuki wanted to know him better, to see the person behind the hitman – the man Iulia now missed and wanted back. But his hatred kept her at bay, probably because she was a cop. Touching him didn't give her much more insight than what she already had. She couldn't read his thoughts, only "feel" him, and he seemed to be empty. That fire he had when she'd first met him was extinguished.
She tried to go home, but seeing Kiril and Birgit together only made her miss Charlie.
"Have you figured out who he is, where he hides?" Kiril asked worried. "You had vanished and he killed so many of us in that killing spree..."
"I caused it, Kiril," Yuki replied. "He had me in his clutches and wanted me to watch, unable to do anything... But he hasn't killed anyone after that crazy spree, I think he's given up his job."
"And how can you tell? He kept you prisoner for months!"
"And then he let me go. I touched him, Kiril. His fire has burned out."
"We're still supposed to bring him in. I understand you established some kind of bond with him, so if you want me to do it..."
"No! I will not tell you anything about him, Kiril. I think he might do like Yash if we try to bring him in."
That made Kiril stop arguing immediately. He still felt guilty for that case. He looked concerned for her, but he was the only one. Her superiors would blame her for the slaughter and her inability to nail the criminal responsible for so many pointless deaths.
She didn't have a story for them – they wouldn't be as understanding as Kiril. Luckily the only Sire officer who could have read her mind – haughty Jako-wan Silverio – had been one of the Mercenary's victims, so they had no way of forcing her to tell the truth. So she resigned. She sent her letter without going back to her office, since she didn't want to talk to any of them.
She said good-bye to her cousin and went back to Alahairo, determined. She felt relieved that the Deceiver was still where she'd left it. Charlie hadn't moved, he still sat with his computer in his lap when she joined him in the cockpit.
"You're not the Mercenary anymore," she told him. "And I'm not Commander Zhian – discharged with dishonor. The galaxy is huge, let's get away from it all." She hoped that telling him she'd been kicked out of the Galaxy Police would make him relent and give her a chance. Besides, it wasn't too far from the truth – if she'd told her superiors what had happened, they would have done it that way. Not that she cared about honor or the Galaxy Police anymore.
"Do you really think I want to spend my life with you after what you've done?" he replied, hostile.
"Then why didn't you go back to your family?" she said.
He didn't answer and frowned even more.
"We could go to Friport, get ourselves new IDs," she insisted. "We can be a team – I mean, we both have fighting training, I'm sure we can find something. You can't spend the rest of your life in this starship."
He scoffed but didn't look at her. He seemed determined to do just that.
"You might as well drive it to the edge of the galaxy and beyond, then!" she said with a snort of exasperation. "That would mean certain death, for both of us. Or maybe not, who knows. The two people who did it haven't come back. It's been a year, they must have run out of fuel or met with some other space disaster... If you're so willing to die, why don't you just do it?"
"Maybe I will," he snapped. "Take you to hell with me."
Yuki sighed and went to sit on the bunk, wondering what else she could say to take him out of his gloomy mood. Time was on her side – she'd given up her career and her life to stay by Charlie's side – he'd relent eventually...
***
Charlie hated the fact that Yuki was right. Iulia was dead to him, and he'd forget his kids faster if he started a new life. He could lose himself in the outlaws' world – with a former cop no less. He could start from scratch. With the woman who had ruined everything.
He was still fond of Xi-kongians. His first girlfriend had been Xi-kongian. Yuki reminded him of that long lost girlfriend. In spite of the harsh training, the years on Xi-kong had been the best of his life. He'd learned to control his teenage angst, to channel his energies, to find his balance...
Something he'd lost when he'd met pretty, dumb Iulia, who had given him seven years of happiness, but then... Yuki had entered his life. Yuki, who had resigned from the Galaxy Police and seemed determined to stay by his side. Yuki, who was much better company than poor Tonto.
Losing his family was a numbing pain now. Killing didn't seem appealing anymore. Not because he had suddenly developed a code of honor of some kind, but because he felt exhausted, empty. All the youthful anger was gone, but also the more mature family man.
He still wasn't sure he liked what he'd become, but he surely had changed since he'd met Yuki.
"You," he said at last. "Come here."
She obeyed and he sat her in his lap. "You hurt me, you know that?"
"I have all my life to make myself forgiven, don't you think?" she answered gravely, putting her arms around his neck. Besides, he'd raped her more than once, so they were even. Maybe they should stop hurting each other.
She kissed him and he held her tighter, feeling lighter.
He could leave. Go far away. Start again. It was the only way to solve his problems, including the love-hate he'd felt for Yuki from the very beginning...