Codename: Night Witch by Cary Caffrey

dare."
    "Come along, Jaffer. We're dumping it."
    Sigrid grabbed Jaffer by the elbow. She'd taken two steps when she heard the low, throaty bellow behind her.
    "Wait!"
    Sigrid turned slowly back around.
    "Thirty-two thousand," the port master said. "My original offer."
    "Ninety-six thousand. Or …I shall personally inform your investors how you let a cargo with a retail value of more than four hundred thousand in adjusted Federated dollars slip through your fingers."
    Franco's eyelid twitched twice. "Forty thousand."
    Sigrid reached across and plucked the contract from the port master's bony hands. Slowly, methodically, she inscribed a new purchasing amount before handing it back to him. "Do we have a deal, Mr. Alvarez?"
     
    ~ - ~
     
    Sigrid was standing by the loading docks ten minutes later. She had just finished offloading Bins's longspur from the storage racks when Jaffer emerged from the port master's office. He carried an overstuffed envelop in his hands, brimming with colorful bills. Sigrid was amazed, they'd actually paid him in real hard currency. One by one, Jaffer sifted through the bills, counting the stack. He practically glowed.
    "Well, don't you look in good spirits," Sigrid said. "Paid in full, I trust?"
    "I watched him count it myself. Seventy-two thousand. Oh, and look, thirty-five cents. I'm not sure what feels better. Hearing all those zeros or seeing the look on Franco's face. I think you actually hurt him. I mean, physically. He didn't look well."
    "Don't worry about him. He'll be fine. As long as you're happy."
    "Happy? Sweetheart, happy isn't half the word for it." Jaffer stared at the stacks of bills in his hands. "This'll really save my bacon. I think you just saved my life."
    "Your life? Jaffer, you're not in trouble—?"
    "What? No, no. Nothing like that. Just a few, er, creditors. Bill collectors and such. Nothing I can't handle."
    "Goodness. I'm sorry I didn't ask for more!"
    "Phhtt. This is more than enough. Speaking of which…" Jaffer counted out several bills from the stack. Folding them, he handed them to her. "Here's your cut."
    " My cut?"
    "Of course! You earned it."
    Sigrid stared at the bills in her hand. It totaled nearly eight thousand. It was too much. Far too generous. "Jaffer, I shouldn't. I couldn't. " But she was also keenly aware that she would need money on Earth, and a lot more of it. Her days of easy access to her mistress's funds were a distant memory. "Could I?"
    "Ten percent. Standard broker's rates."
    "I'm not a broker."
    "The hell you ain't! Take it. It's the least I can do. I just wish I could do more."
    "First you save my life and now this? I'm starting to suspect you might be my guardian angel. I don't know what to say."
    "Well, you could say thank you. And…that you'll join me for supper? There's a little place down the road. It's nothing fancy or anything, but the food eats good."
    Sigrid was about to say no. She couldn't afford to stay in any one place for long. She had to keep moving. But without access to the Warp Relays, where exactly was she going? And her stomach was already rumbling at the mere mention of food. What could one meal hurt?
    "Well, all right, but on one condition. I'm buying. "
    "A free meal and good company. Who am I to protest?"
    Sigrid threw the riding coat over her shoulders and mounted the longspur,straddling it and hooking her feet in the pegs. She was keenly aware of Jaffer's eyes on her as she went swiftly through the ignition sequence, bringing the longspur roaring to life.
    "You're an interesting woman, Sigrid Novak. You've got a head for business, are one hell of a driver, and you handle yourself in a fight better than anyone I've ever seen. One of these days you're going to have to tell me exactly what they had you doing in that factory."
    "One of these days," she said with a wink. "For now, let's just say they didn't have me working in the kitchens."
    She revved the engine hard, letting the thruster coils heat up to a warming glow