The Vastalimi Gambit (23 page)

The door to his cube was open, and Wink saw Kay as she arrived.

“Kay.”

“Wink. May I enter?”

“Please.”

She came into the cube and stood close to where he sat at the small table, honing the edge on his knife with a leather strop. He held the knife up, inspected the edge under the bright light, touched it with his thumb. Done, as sharp as he could get it, given the spine-to-edge thickness. He put the knife into the sheath and clicked off the lamp.

The ship’s quarters were small, but sufficient; a place to sleep, sit, attend to small chores in private. “What can I do for you?”

“You recall the conversation we had on our first visit to see Shan, regarding prostitutes?”

He blinked. “Uh, yeah?”

Shan was recovering in a
bolnica
after Kay got through with him. She had spared his life. Too many had died already, she’d said, and he was relatively innocent. And wiser, now.

She continued: “You asked, had I ever considered sex with other than one of my own species?”

“Um, yeah . . . ?”

“I have considered it twice. One of them is you.”

That got his attention. “Really?”

“You find it surprising?”

“Well, my ego wants to grin and dance a little pretending that it knew, but, yes, actually.”

“You find the idea repellent?”

“Not in any way. I’m honored. How could I not be? I like you, and our recent adventure only made that more so. A fem of great ability, always an attraction.”

“Truth?”

He came to his feet. “Let me close the door,” he said.

She grinned.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Later, Wink said, “Wow.
That
was
incredible
.”

“I thought so, as well. I never would have expected it to be so intense.” She leaned over and licked the side of his face.

He grinned, and said, “I’m curious. The other non-Vastalimi you mentioned you had considered, it was Jo, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

He smiled more broadly.

“This amuses you?”

“Not amuses, so much. It opens up certain, um, possibilities in my mind.”

“Possibilities?”

“We can talk about that later. Show me that trick with your hair again? How can you make it move like that?”

He truly did enjoy skating on the edge, Wink thought. Risking disaster. That might well be the case if what he was speculating upon came to pass. Jo and Kay together with him in a bed?

Oh, my, yes . . .

“Here’s something,” Rags said. He and Jo were alone in the ship’s dining area.

“What?” Jo said.

“An old friend from my Army days has reached out. There’s a class-one license-limit industrial war brewing in SoNorAm, a region called
Coahuila y Tejas
.”

“It’s being allowed? On Earth? When’s the last time one of those went down? Fifteen years?”

“Apparently somebody got the permits, so there’s weight behind it. Both sides are recruiting. My friend has joined one faction, and she’s wondering if we might be interested in some freelance guerrilla work.”

“What kind of money are they offering?”

Rags grinned as he waved his hand at the hologram. It blinked and enlarged a number. “That’s the basic contract for boots on the ground. Premiums for officers, per diem, winning bonus, the usual.”

“Whoa! That’s serious noodle. She talking ranger stuff?”

“Looks like. Sneak and peek, harry and harass, shoot and scoot.”

Jo said, “Well, the board is kind of lean, not like we have anything else big lined up. You trust your friend’s judgment?”

“I did. Been a few years since I’ve seen her, but unless she’s changed, she’s a good soldier. She was a colonel when she cashed out; looks like she’s a general in this action.”

He laughed.

“What’s funny?”

“Her name is Wood. When I met her, she was just being promoted from captain.”

Jo thought about that for a second, then grinned. “Major Wood?”

He nodded.

“Bet she got tired of the dick jokes pretty quick.”

“She was a big woman, serious jock, and quick with her hands, too. Lot of guys only made the joke once.”

She shook her head. “A real war,” she said. “And isn’t Gunny from somewhere in that area?”

“Limited, but more risk than chasing bandits or rescuing kidnapees,” he allowed.

“Yep. But even if you live in paradise . . .”

“. . . you still die anyway,” he finished the old saw.

“We have been coasting here of late,” she said. “Good to sharpen up our edges.”

“I bet Formentara will go for it. Zhe has been bitching about going somewhere with civilization. Plenty of that on the homeworld.”

“Such that it is,” Jo said.

“Such that it is,” he agreed. “What do you think?”

“Been a while since I was on Earth. I wouldn’t mind seeing the old homeworld.”

“Me, neither. Let’s have a talk with the team, shall we?”