Pirates of the Outrigger Rift by Gary Jonas, Bill D. Allen Page B

I were you. Some of these starport
bums might take that as an invitation to bend you over. Unless you’re into that
sort of thing.”
    Chandler stopped, looked back, and smiled. “Oh,
thank you for guarding my ship. I’ll pass on a good word to Lord Randol about
you and your men.”
    Cox made rude hand gestures at him as
Chandler walked away. Idiot. At least the girl was able to get away, but Cox
had managed to bungle the exchange. Still, the girl knew where to go. She would
be safe under Randol’s protection, and it freed Chandler up to pursue details
on Helen’s abduction. He used some of Randol’s credits to make that task a
little easier. His first step was going to be meeting this Vincent Maxwell
that he’d heard so much about.

    Maxwell was going over corporate reports with an analyst
when the door to his office flew open and an angry woman wearing a Confed
uniform stormed inside. Maxwell’s secretary entered behind her with an
apologetic look on her face.
    “Vincent Maxwell,” the Confed officer said. “We need to
talk.”
    “I’m sorry, sir,” the secretary said. “I tried to stop her.”
    “It’s all right,” Maxwell said. He turned to the analyst. “Go
back over this again, and bring it back in fifteen minutes.”
    “Yes, sir,” said the analyst. He took his notescribe and
moved around the Confed commander.
    When the secretary closed the door, Maxwell faced the commander.
“As you can see, I’m very busy. What can I do for you?”
    “My name is Commander Joann Montgomery, and I’m here to find
out what the hell you’re doing.” Her eyes burned like fusion fire and she
ground her teeth so hard, Maxwell half expected them to crumble in her mouth.
    He gave her an unflappable expression. “I was going over a
sales report.”
    “Your corporate goons blew up half a city block on Raken! We’re
still counting the injured and the dead.”
    “We had reports of—”
    “That is not a corporate sector! You have no
jurisdiction there.”
    “Look—”
    She was having none of it. “In addition, I have three people
confirmed dead at Tyree’s, several injured, and damage to a building across
from the Bryant Hotel. Your corporate squad has no authority for any of this
and you’ve been dodging my calls all afternoon.”
    “I’ve been busy.”
    “No shit. You keep your corporate security teams out of our
territory. The spacer’s guild is shitting peach pits over this. You’ll be
getting a bill for all the damages your men have caused.”
    Maxwell glared at her. “Listen here, Commander. If your
Confed people would do their jobs, my men wouldn’t need to go to the free zone
starport sector. You’ve done nothing to stop Thorne or any of the other
pirates, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you come into my office and stomp
around like you own the place.”
    “You’ve got no right to criticize. We’ve been doing all we
can. You’ve got a security leak in this corporation that you could steer a
battlecruiser through. We’ve tried to get you to cooperate on covert action,
but time and again you’ve refused.”
    “Director Casey refused. Not me. And if I have a lead, I’m
going to run after it and I don’t care if you get your regulation panties in a
wad over it.”
    “I’ll have your job for this, you insufferable little
prick.”
    “Someone stole some data from us, and we were trying to get
it back. Your people ignored our calls for assistance, so you’d best get down
off my ass or I’ll have your job.”
    “You can’t blow up buildings and kill people with impunity.
You put a leash on your people now, because if any of them set foot in our
territory again, I will arrest them and dump them in a deep, dark hole. And
then I’ll be coming after you. Do you understand me?”
    Maxwell smiled. “Oh, I understand. Now, you write this down
because you won’t want to forget it: I’ve already pulled back my corporate security.
I’ve put forward a reward for the capture of the