I moved quickly through the open doorway. There was a short corridor, then a set of stairs leading down to a basement area. All was dark save for the scant illumination that emanated from a single, feeble light above the stairwell. I got the impression that whatever lay underground had been there first and that the bar had been built on top of it. The materials of its construction didn't fit with what I'd seen in Kwan's to that point. With my blaster held at the ready, I approached the top of the stairs and waited a moment, listening. No noise came from below but as my eyes adjusted to the near-total darkness, I was able to discern a pulsating red light below—as if a silent alarm of some kind had been triggered.

It did not surprise me. In fact, I'd expected it.

I reached into my pouch and felt around for the honeycomb shapes of the flash grenades I always carried with me. It was a risky business, carrying explosives of any kind. One hit from a blaster rifle and you were done for. But I carried items that could only be detonated when armed. The Krian explosives I'd deployed in the storage module earlier on worked on such a principle. They were safe to carry because their contents could not be provoked into a reaction by external factors—though once armed they were extremely potent and deadly, considering their tiny size. A rookie would not have given so much thought to the items in their inventory—but I was no rookie.

I found one of the flash grenades and armed it. Then I tossed it down the stairwell, turned my back and covered my eyes. Seconds later the flash grenade detonated and even with my back turned to the stairwell, I could momentarily see every vein and blood vessel of my eyelids.

I headed down the stairs and found myself in a dimly lit rectangular basement that seemed to extend beneath the bar itself. The whole time I'd been asking about Jed Teague, he had been hiding beneath my feet. As I'd figured, there was a red light on the wall pulsing on and off. There was a simple bed, some chairs and a table. A few screens on the wall. A holo pick-up which had obviously been in operation earlier when I'd spoken to Teague in the storage module. Some crates of supplies or goods up against one wall.

I reflected on how quickly Cort Valez had given up his location in return for her own life. I did not hold the woman in poor regard for doing so. Valez would have been foolish not to. Everyone likes to think they'll be noble and upstanding right to the end, but things never work out that way. People almost always choose to save their own skin when it comes down to it.

No, I held Valez in poor regard for the kind of clientele she worked with, the scum she helped escape justice.

For that there was no excuse.

My eyes fell on the supply crates. There was nowhere else he could be hiding from me. I walked over to one and gave it a hard kick.

Nothing.

I kicked the one next to it and heard a yelp. The top of the crate lifted up. Jed Teague clambered out as I looked on. Much thinner than I'd expected him to look. Paler, too. I hadn't noticed from his holographic projection. "Hands up," I ordered.

He squinted at me, barely able to see due to the flash grenade. "Okay, okay, I'm unarmed," he said, blinking to clear his vision.

"Funny. You didn't sound so nervous when you were a hologram . . ."

"I surrender, okay?"

"I've seen my fair share of pathetic specimens, Jed Teague, but you really take the prize." I tipped my head in the direction of the bed in the corner. "Sit down over there. Before I decide your fate, I've got something to explain."

Teague sat down on the bed. He swallowed hard. "I'll pay you whatever you want. Every credit I've got, if that's what it takes."

I removed the quarry token from my pocket, activated it then held it near him. The once-green holodisplay flashed several times, then turned pure white, indicating that the token had read Teague's bio signature and confirmed he was nearby—which meant I would get paid for finding him.

I would need to be reimbursed for the search, for the manhunt that had led to this point. But the next part was on the house, free of charge. It went beyond duty. It came down to what was right—what needed to be done. I tucked the token away again.

"I've gone to a lot of effort to find you, Jed. You almost outmaneuvered me there, back at that storage module. I was impressed, I must admit. That was quite the trap. But you employed knuckleheads. I mean, it's a case of getting what you pay for in that line of work, I'm afraid. And they weren't the brightest. It wasn't money well-spent, is what I'm saying," I said, rubbing at my jaw. "Though I'll admit they got a few good licks in. I'll give 'em that."

Teague tucked his hands between his legs and looked down at the floor. His eyes were streaming and I couldn't tell if they were running with tears, or because of a reaction to the flash grenade.

I turned to the table next to me. I filled a glass with water and handed it to him. I continued: "You know my reputation. You know what I do."

"Yes."

"Fear makes you thirsty."

Teague lifted the glass to his lips and guzzled the water down, only stopping when he'd finished the whole thing. I took the glass from him and set it back down on the table.

Teague wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "What're you going to do to me?"

"Ordinarily I wouldn't touch a job like this, not for what they were offering in terms of payment. It's barely covered my expenses if I'm being honest. But there were other factors involved in my decision making. This might come as a surprise to you but some things are more important than money. Sometimes, the details of a job have a way of getting under your skin. And this one . . . well, once I learned what you did, I just couldn't shake it."

I squatted down in front of Jed so that I was on his level. He looked slowly up at me with red, watery eyes.

I pressed the muzzle of my blaster against his stomach and held it there.

"What you did to those girls . . . how you used them, broke them, killed them. Man, the things you did . . . you're one sick puppy, do you know that? My client, the father of your twelfth victim, knew who you were. Knew it was you. Because you'd been dating her. You weren't even trying to hide it anymore. You were getting off on the danger. The risk. Taking things closer and closer to the edge. Do you remember her name, Jed?"

He didn't answer.

"Her name was Tanile. A beautiful name, isn't it? I've seen pictures of her. I can see why you chose her. I mean, you only chose the pretty ones, didn't you?"

"Let me go," Teague pleaded.

I stood.

"I wish I could make you pay for all of them, all the eleven victims who came before. And to be honest, they're the ones we know about. I'll bet there are more. A killer like you doesn't just pick this up as a hobby. It's something that develops over time. But I can't do anything for the others. It was Tanile's father who employed me to find you. And so whatever comes next, it's for Tanile. I want that to be in your mind, Jed. I want you to know. Whatever happens to you, it's because of what you did to Tanile."

Teague's expression changed and I saw that the killer I had pursued from one planet to the other appeared to be suddenly composed. The part of his psyche that made him such a monster had taken over. The same part of his personality that enabled him to hunt, and kill, and survive. The predator within.

"I see you in there now," I said, nodding slowly. "There he is."

"I've been here the whole time."

"How did you kill her, Jed?"

"I gave her a toxin that paralyzed her."

"That's right," I said. "And then what did you do?"

A sickly smile spread across the man's features as he recalled Tanile's murder. "We were staying at a fancy hotel on Bureneon. The room came with its own pool. I picked her up and carried her to the water's edge. Dropped her in."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Then what?"

"I watched her drown. She couldn't even panic. She couldn't do a thing. The water just took her."

"You did it so you could see her die, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Even having the conversation with Teague made my blood run cold. But I wanted the full horror of what was about to happen to him to dawn on him, so that he could feel something of what his victims must have felt. So that he could know their fear and realize he was as helpless as they had been when he'd taken their lives.

In my mind I saw Tanile sinking into the blue water of the swimming pool. I could imagine her last seconds as the water claimed her. I'd visualized it ever since Tanile's father had described how his daughter had died. How the hotel staff had found her, floating upside down, and Jed Teague long gone.

"The Peripheries are perfect for a man like you, aren't they, Jed? A rich man with a penchant for killing. A man like you can get away with a lot of things for a long time. You can disappear. Become somebody else. Get away with it all. You'd never get away with committing these despicable crimes in the Inner Realm."

Teague looked down at his feet and frowned.

I watched as he tried to lift his legs and found he couldn't.

He looked back up at me. "What . . . what did you do?"

I removed a tiny vial from my pouch, the last of my tricks. "I gave you the same paralyzing agent you gave to Tanile that night at the hotel. Looks like it's working nicely."

Teague's eyes moved to the empty glass on the table. "The water."

"That's right. And talking of water, I'm aware there isn't a swimming pool here. So I've devised something far better for you. Something more explosive."

His hands had already begun to turn numb as I placed a Krian explosive into his right palm, closed his fingers around it and pressed his thumb down on the arming trigger.

"What are you doing!?" Teague demanded in a panicked voice.

I smiled. "As the numbness takes over, you'll lose control of your body. And when your thumb slips off that trigger . . . well, let's just say there won't be a lot of you left."

"Why are you doing this? Why not just hand me in to the authorities? I demand you to take me in! I want to be arrested!"

I shook my head. "I already told you, that's not an option for you. Not for what you are. With your money, you'll be able to buy yourself out. You know it, I know it. This is the way it has to be."

"Don't . . ."

I holstered my blaster. I no longer needed it. "Years ago, a man like you took somebody I loved dearly. We never saw him again. I do not hope he is still alive, somewhere, somehow, because I know that to hope would only be futile. I know, deep down, that he is gone. I'm more sure of it now than I ever was. A man like you—no, a monster like you—took him and killed him. So I feel the pain of the victim's loved ones. It's beyond your comprehension. Something you could never empathize with. That's because you get your kicks out of taking innocent lives."

"You say all that but we're not so different."

I smiled thinly. "Yes, we are. Now you know what is coming. I wanted to make sure of that. And I hope you feel it."

"Feel what?" Teague asked, swallowing hard.

"What they did," I said and headed back up the stairs. I did not spare him one last look. When his grip failed him and his thumbed slipped off the detonator, the explosive would obliterate him in a fraction of a second. It wasn't what he deserved—a killer like Jed Teague deserved an eternity of torment. But he would no longer exist, and that meant I had saved future victims the misfortune of crossing paths with him. Lives would be spared, though it did nothing to help those who had already perished at his hands.

The women he had claimed.

When I emerged from the back of the stage area, there were six armed men and women waiting for me. All wore the same uniform as those I'd encountered before at the storage module. Captain Legard was no longer on the floor, there was only a pool of coagulating blood left where he'd lain.

They closed in on me. "Freeze!"

I held both hands up to demonstrate I was not a threat. "Easy."

One of them, a tall man with a scar across his rugged face, stepped forward. "We're under orders to bring you in."

"And take me where?"

"Holding cells."

"Has this been cleared by Lerii?"

The man smirked. "We don't recognize her authority here. That's why you'll be detained and placed into our care until we can extradite you."

"Now you're getting to it. And send me where, I wonder?"

"Well, you've got a hefty price on your head. It's our employer's intention to collect on it."

I rolled my eyes. "Doesn't Zel Nekra have enough credits in the bank already?"

Ignoring me, the man said, "Put your hands out in front so we can cuff you."

"Well," I said, carefully consulting the time-piece on my wrist so that my actions couldn't be construed as reaching for a weapon. "We could do that. Or we could all run."

"Run?"

"You see, Jed Teague is about to be blown to smithereens. And when he does he's likely going to take the floor your standing on with him."

The man smiled at first. Then, when it dawned on him that I might not be bluffing, he ordered his people to exit the bar. He jabbed a finger at me. "You. You're coming with me."

"Let's be quick about it, though," I said, hurrying ahead of him toward the double doors.

When purchasing the toxin I'd given Teague, I had been given an estimation of how long it would take to work—and the length of time it would take for him to lose the use of his hands. So as I strode out of the bar and into the street, I knew there could only be seconds left before the place blew.

As the man with the scar across his face exited the bar behind me, I spun about and hit him square on the jaw. He rebounded, stunned, and swung at me. It was sloppy. I dodged it easily and used the man's own momentum against him, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward hard into my knee. He grunted as it smashed into his midsection and hammered the air out of him.

I shoved him back through the double doors of Kwan's, turned and intercepted my next opponent. A female with light blue skin, augmented with implants either side of her head. I parried her attacks, but one got through, knocking me back. I backed up, moved into the street, conscious of getting some distance from the bar itself.

Any moment now, I thought.

The blue-skinned woman leapt at me. I was able to dodge, sweeping the other woman's legs out from under her. She hit the dirt on her front, then flipped over. I kicked out, the toe of my boot connecting with the woman's ribs. Something gave way and the woman cried out. One of the uniform-clad enforcers jumped on my back, tried to bring me down. I spun, trying to shake my attacker loose. The blue-skinned woman got to her feet, grimacing from the pain in her ribs. Aimed her blaster at me.

"Time to put her down!" she shouted.

Whoever had me from behind suddenly released me. The double doors to Kwan's were thrown open as the man with the scar emerged again, this time with a furious expression on his face. "You!" he yelled.

The blue-skinned woman's finger flexed on the trigger.

She was about to fire.

Kwan's exploded, the entire building blown apart by the detonation of the Krian explosive beneath it. The scarred man was instantly vaporized in the blast. The building succumbed to the unleashed forces of the Krian explosive. The intensely bright flash of the initial explosion was followed by the sonic boom of the detonation echoing off the surrounding structures. The force of the blast ripped Kwan's apart, showering the vicinity with chunks of its structure. The shattered skeleton of the place instantly collapsed in on itself, buckling under its own weight as an inferno blossomed where, seconds before, it had stood. Smoke and ash blew around me as I stood up and surveyed the devastation.

The blue-skinned woman lay in the street, unconscious. There was a cut on her head. I surmised that a piece of falling debris had probably knocked her out. Of the others who'd been sent to detain me on behalf of their employer, I could not see them. I began to drag the blue-skinned woman away from the smoke and the immediate vicinity of the fire.

Propping her up further down the street, the blue-skinned woman's eyes struggled to open. She looked up at me.

"We're going to take you down," she croaked.

"In your state? Nobody's taking anybody down," I said and left, the sound of approaching sirens enough to tell me I should make a swift exit.

From my viewpoint at the top of the Observation Tower, I could see the black smoke rising from where Kwan's had stood. It had been several hours since the blast that took the place out, but the ruins continued to smoulder—and probably would for another day or more.

"When you asked for my blessing, I didn't realise this was what you had in mind," Lerii said, handing me a glass of something with bubbles.

I accepted the glass and took a sip. It was light, and sweet, and just what I needed. My throat still burned from the smoke I'd inhaled, and there were parts of me that ached from the combat, but I was otherwise unharmed.

I'd had worse.

A lot worse.

Today was nothing.

"It was never my plan," I lied. "It's just the way it played out."

"I see."

"I'm not here to deceive anyone," I said. "I came here to kill Jed Teague and that's what I've done."

"Well, I'd say you did a lot more than that. You described an operation on behalf of Zel Nekra, correct?" Lerii asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Operating right under your nose."

"I've had Nekra in my sights for a while now."

"Let me guess. He's not a contributor."

"You guess correctly. He does not acknowledge my authority here. Which, between us, is fine by me. I cannot control the thoughts of others! But if he feels that way, then he is not welcome to ply his trade here. He can't have, as the old saying goes, 'the best of both worlds'. That's not how this game is played."

"What will you do?"

"I think I will have a meeting with Nekra. Try to iron all of this out. Clearly we are operating at odds with one another—though the extent to which this is happening was not something I was aware of until today, so thank you for that."

I drained the glass. Set it down on the little table next to where we were sat. "You're welcome."

"We are investigating the owner of Kwan's, too. Though I won't come down on him too harshly. The Doubians always have capitol. They're big hitters. Having one in your back pocket can be a useful asset to have, especially in a place like this."

"I can imagine," I said.

"What are your plans now? Will you be leaving? You are a welcome guest at this Space Port, Miss March. You may not realize it but you've been a great help today."

"I think I'm going to hit a bar—"

"Not Kwan's!" Lerii cut in.

I grinned. "Unfortunately not. I think they're closed for refurbishment."

"Go on," Lerii said with a dainty chuckle that belied the power she wielded.

"A few drinks. A good meal. Find myself a soft bed somewhere. It's been a while since I slept in one of those."

Lerii stood, signaling the end of our meeting. "Go to The Turning Sun. Any cab driver will know where it is. Tell them Lerii sent you. You'll get the best sleep of your life."

"I'll be sure to do that," I told her.

But when I got outside, I signaled a taxi and told them to take me to the place I usually used when I visited Space Port 66. Not that I didn't trust Lerii—I did. But with a hefty price on my head, I couldn't guarantee the overseer of Space Port 66 wouldn't turn me in. Lerii did not owe me her loyalty. The beds at my usual place were soft enough. Once I'd eaten a good meal and sank my fair share of liquor, none of it would matter anyway, not after the day I had had.

Sleep would find me, as surely as trouble always did.