All Good Things

Chapter 2

The man nodded toward our table. "Mind if I take a seat?"

Rione and I looked at each other in silence a few moments. I started to voice my opinion, but she interrupted, telling me, "Get over here."

I shook my head, curling up the left side of my mouth. "I don't sit with my back to the door. You know that."

We went back to our mutual staring contest, up until the point our buyer glanced at Rione, and then me, all with a furrowed brow. "If this is going to be a problem, I can take my business elsewhere."

I lifted an eyebrow while staring across at Rione. This guy was high-strung in my estimation, and that never worked well in the cargo business, legal or otherwise.

Rione was eager to jump in with both feet, though, muttering, "Fine, I'll move."

She scooted out and joined me on the proper side of the booth. The gentleman eased himself down, then swapped stares with the two of us.

I had to guess he'd already made his decision on who the sane one of us would be, as he turned to face Rione. "I presume the conditions are still acceptable?"

She nodded. "They are."

I hadn't been privy to any of that information, and maybe that was for the best. Before I'd teamed up with Rione, my financials had always been a bit touch-and-go.

"And where is your ship?"

I finally got a word in. "At the space port attached to this facility."

Both of them turned to look at me with frowns, so I decided to lay back for the rest of the discussion.

He focused back on Rione. "I have twelve cargo containers filled with various forms of medical supplies, also at the spaceport. I assume that you'll be able to make the arrival deadline on Ophalia."

"Shouldn't be a problem," she told him, before proving that she was definitely a woman after my own heart. "You have the half-payment as we agreed?"

The seller eased his hand inside his jacket, then looked around the rest of the room with a focused stare. Satisfied, the man pulled out a small black plastic box and discreetly opened the lid, revealing four stacks of golden coins with red rims. Doing the quick math in my head, I estimated the box had to have around forty thousand credits inside. Just after that total entered my head and a smile formed on my lips, he clamped the lid shut and slid the box across the table.

Rione grabbed it, but he hadn't removed his own grip. He narrowed his cold, black eyes. "The penalty for double crossing me will be swift. I expect the cargo to arrive, for it to be on-time, and for it all to be intact."

"Certainly," she assured him in a calm, collected voice. I saw glimpses of her emotion ridges through her black locks. They were tinged red, which meant we needed to finish up this discussion before things turned ugly.

He finally released his grip, and she pulled the box down to the bench between us. The seller pulled out a tablet and pressed a few buttons before snapping a picture of us. I grimaced, not sure what was going on or why.

"I've sent the meetup location information to you and sent your faces to the buyer. He'll send me confirmation," he stated, then slid back out of the booth and hurried out the exit.

Rione sighed, shaking her head as she watched the empty doorway. "I've never had to deal with someone that abrasive before."

"Really?" I lifted an eyebrow. "Most of my dealings with people have been with people just like him, if not worse."

"Maybe you were just dealing with a lot of scumwads?"

I chuckled, before she handed over the case and I tucked it away for safekeeping.