Dragonfly by Erica Hayes Page B

him before I lost consciousness weren’t good. Maybe I could rifle his ship later, once Dragonfly slept, see what I could find.
    A thought sparked danger along my nerves. If only one person knew Dragonfly’s plans, then where had Axis found their intel?
Surveillance reports
, Director Renko had said, but I’d bet an agent could watch Dragonfly for a month and not learn anything more than I’d already gleaned, which was a big fat nothing.
    Maybe Bastie was the leak. Maybe his jolly plump exterior hid a traitorous streak, or at least a mercenary one. Maybe I could buy information from him, or bribe him with a saucy flash of cleavage.
    Or maybe Renko had lied. That had happened before. Perhaps I should pick Nikita’s brains about it before I did anything foolish. Not that I trusted him to tell me the truth for its own sake—“truth” is a fluid, self-serving concept for him. But emotive sub-ether cuts both ways. If he glibly told me Renko was on the level, I’d know it was bullshit.
    Dragonfly shrugged. “You two go right ahead. I have to deal with replenishment.”
    “Good luck,” Bastie teased. “This has gotta be the worst R&R station in the quadrant. Half the techs don’t know a slipspace bearing from an arc rocket transducer. Last time I was here, they put radfuel in the coolant tanks and I had to flush the whole thing out with polymers before it went critical. Cost me a mint.”
    “Well, you don’t get—”
    “—what you don’t pay for. I know. That’s why I charge you a fortune. Nothing but the best.” Bastie turned to me, green eyes twinkling. “Well, pretty lady, shall we get started? Poster Boy here can pay. I trust you’ve got his credit?”
    But I couldn’t let Dragonfly out of my sight. I didn’t put it past him to leave me here, and if he had any other visits to make I didn’t want to miss them.
    I sighed, faking regret. “Think I’ll give it a miss. But thanks. Maybe tomorrow, if you’re still here?”
    A sly glint in his grin, almost imperceptible. “We’ll have to wait and see about that, won’t we?” He turned back to Dragonfly. “Kid, consider it done. Since you didn’t ask how much, I’ll assume you’re desperate enough to pay whatever they charge. I’ll even do cash on delivery, but only because I know you’re too dumb to rip me off.”
    “In that case, I take back everything I said about you.” Dragonfly stood and offered his hand. “An unsavory pleasure, as always.”
    Bastie clasped his hand, and raised a glass to me with a lascivious wink. “All yours, by the look. Don’t keep him up too late, miss.”

12
     
     
    We weaved through the bar crowd to the walkway’s edge. I unclipped my jacket, the beer and the overheated air making me sweat.
    “So, are we really refueling?”
    “Sure.” Dragonfly dug in his pocket, counting plastic cash chips. “But also avoiding another sore head. That bar better have some serious
cerveza
on tap. Bastie could drink a small ocean dry.” He saw my expression and shrugged. “He’s okay. Not as dumb as he pretends.”
    “And he gets you stuff.” I tucked my thumbs in my belt as we walked along beside the carbonsteel railing.
    “Yes. He does a freight run from here to the Leonov cluster every few weeks. Slow and inconspicuous.”
    Vyachesgrad to Leonov. Long way. Could be going anywhere.
    I fished a little deeper. “Yeah? What kind of ship does he run?”
    “A rusty one with radfuel in the coolant, apparently.
Tiene hambre
?”
    “Excuse me?” Paranoia never slept. I’d try again later.
    “Hungry. Food. You want some?” He dragged me up to a high plastic counter, where a crazy-eyed Espan guy in a blue apron was slashing greasy slabs of flesh off a carcass that rotated on a spike in front of a bright orange flashspit.
    I didn’t like the idea of Dragonfly buying me anything. I didn’t want his bloodstained charity, and I remembered Lazuli was supposed to be a vegetarian. Any cyberthief worth the name would already