No threatening strangers visited the Shop in the following weeks, though Mads was waiting for them. She kept her stun gun close and had trouble not jumping at the sound of the door's bells early in the morning or later at night.
More importantly, Springs Village came together to raise money for the Lasky's, though it was still a mystery what had happened to their farm. Apparently, all leads had come up inconclusive. However, nothing else strange had been seen or heard (at least, stranger than normal). This did give the "science experiment" theory some traction though, as people whispered about it in the corners of shops and restaurants.
A whole month had passed without incident, so when Luc and Graynard had to leave for a "family emergency," presumably involving Luc's aforementioned girl troubles, their three-day absence was felt by all the denizens of the coffee shop and the subject of local conversation and speculations. Needless to say, when Luc finally walked back into the shop, Krill wasn't the only person happy to see him.
The winter tourist season was almost upon them, with the dome's carefully modded climate to thank for keeping the original four Ithirn Seasons alive (29). Mads had her hands full harvesting the later crops and running the shop. By the time the first perfectly engineered snowflake fell, Mads had almost forgotten about intruders and private detectives.
As it turned out, that was a major oversight.
Everything had fallen back into its usual pattern: Mads hoarded Galactics and roasted beans, and gave perfectly personalized drinks. Grandmere graced the shop, gossiped, and browbeat any SVUAC members who dared show up on business. Krill baked pastries and went out to clubs, and was still (unhappily) single. Luc baked, made himself generally useful, escorted Krill to clubs, and somehow managed to seem thinner and more gaunt each week, despite eating more than a boy half his age. Graynard stopped by at regular intervals, but as they were usually a conveniently busy sort of interval, he ended up spending the time taking tea with Grandmere, which suited them both. Alan showed up several times a week, usually alone, and provided all the local gossip Mads never wanted to hear.
It was one of these absolutely ordinary evenings when everyone's life, quite unexpectedly, went to hell.
Grandmere had gone to the store to do the weekly shopping. Krill and Luc were in the Shop's kitchen, and Mads was cleaning the milk steamer when she heard something that sounded like a roaring wind outside (30).
Mads and two alarmed customers were halfway to the door when the lights winked out. Someone screamed, and a glass shattered. A moment later, the front door exploded, sending glass and wood flying like daggers.
Mads dropped instinctively, rolling under a table as the shards buried themselves in most available surfaces. When Mads looked up, she saw that her arms were covered in sprayed blood, none of which appeared to be hers. At least, she didn't feel any pain.
Silhouetted in the fading evening light were the same three thugs she'd seen before: the two aliens and the human with green tattoos. The tall male alien was holding a giant compressed-air cannon, which explained the door. The other two held stun guns, which were trained on the still breathing customers of The Last Coffee Shop.
Everything was silent. Mads could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She thought she might scream, or faint, or throw up, but then the thugs were coming toward her table refuge.
"Spread out," barked the tall alien. "Kill anyone who gets in the way."
The reptilian female was wearing skin tight black armor, which would make her hardest to hit. She sniffed the air right in front of Mads' table shelter, then scuttled toward the back of the shop with purpose.
That left the human. Mads grabbed a large door shard from the floor beside her and crouched, waiting until the man drew level with her hiding place.
As soon as he was close, Mads leapt out, whacking the wood into his face with all her considerable strength. The man staggered back and dropped his stun gun, which skittered past her foot.
Mads didn't wait to feel sorry, or sick. She grabbed the gun and ran to the register, gaining the counter before any of the thugs could react.
"Hey!" boomed the male alien. He leveled the air cannon at Mads, and she dove behind the counter as the register exploded. The drawer just missed her head. Its contents rained down on the counter, a shower of metal stars. The counter sagged inward, threatening to collapse at her feet.
There was another explosion from the door, and the sharp report of a weapon fired. Mads peered over the counter to see the tall alien whirl to face the door. The female alien had returned to the front, slither-stepping toward the door, and Mads used the opportunity to fire a stun blast at her head.
The female whirled back, catching the blue stun bolt directly in the face. Mads turned to the door, and her heart plummeted.
Alan stood there, barely illuminated by the fading sun, grime on his face and his rifle in hand. He had the gun aimed at the tall alien, but his hands were obviously shaking. The human sagged against the table Mads had hidden under, his face pale and his hands clumsily pawing at his belt for (presumably) another weapon.
"ALAN! Get out of here!" shouted Mads, skirting the slowly collapsing counter and leveling her stun gun at the tall alien. His back was to her, his air cannon whirring to life and aimed at Alan.
At the same time, the female alien twitched a bit, her face contorting as the anesthetic seeped into her skin. But she just shook her head and straightened, unaffected.
"ALAN!" Mads fired again, but the alien woman just stepped to the side.
The alien pulled a real gun from her hip and leveled it at Mads. "Drop the gun, human boy." Her hissy voice echoed over the air cannon powering up. "Or the girl diesss."
"Don't do it Alan," said Mads, keeping her own stun gun up, despite its uselessness.
"Hey!" Krill came out of the kitchen with a rolling pin, her voice shrill with worry. "What in the galaxy is going on out here?"
The alien woman produced another gun from her belt, which she pointed at Krill. "Ah, they both die."
"Krill, why did you come out? Where's Luc?" demanded Mads, not daring to look away from the invaders. All around them, the few, conscious customers were sitting or standing very still, watching the scene unfold.
"Sorry!" wailed Krill. "Luc was out back."
Mads activated her wrist com by bumping her wrists together, never lowering the stun gun. A staccato triple-press sent a distress signal to the Peace Keepers.
She had to keep the invaders talking before they shot anyone else.
Alan spoke from the doorway. "Okay, I'll put the gun down. Just don't shoot!"
Mads heard the sound of metal on the floor, and she spared a glance in Alan's direction. The tall alien still had the air cannon leveled at Alan, but Alan's hands were in the air.
Mads looked back at the alien woman and her two guns. "Why are you here? What do you want? I told you we don't have anything." Anger was quickly overtaking her terror. "Who are you monsters?"
"Give usssss Jive, and we go," said the female, expressionless.
Mads opened her mouth, ready to spew any number of replies, but then the back door opened and Luc walked into the room. He was whistling (very off key), and wearing his apron. There was flour on his nose. Somehow, the shop grew even more silent.
Luc's eyes widened a bit as he took in the scene. "Ah," was all he said, somewhat stiffly. "Well, this is awkward."
Mads felt this was a terrible understatement, but perhaps it was Luc's way of emoting? People handled shock differently. Mads looked from Luc to the alien with a gun trained on Alan, and back again. The large alien was looking at Luc now, though his gun was still aimed in Alan's direction. Likewise, the female aiming at Krill was glowering at Luc, but her aim held steadier.
Luc spread his arms, palms forward to show he was unarmed. "Friends, please, let's be rational about this. It doesn't have to be this way. If I knew where Jive was, I wouldn't still be here myself . . ."
The female's hands finally started to tremble. "Sssay one more word fool . . ." she was cut short as four things happened simultaneously.
Alan's gun went off, Krill dove to the floor, Mads flung her stun gun at the female, and Luc produced two curved blades from his sleeves and threw them in the same moment. They went spinning into the big thug before anyone could react, and the meaty thud seemed to unleash a wave of sound.
Hit by Alan's rifle blast from behind, and with two knives buried in his forehead, the tall thug swayed unsteadily. His pink eyes flickered up, then settled on Luc as he fell to the floor, twitching. His air cannon crashed into the ground.
The female alien swayed, the impact from Mads' gun hitting her forehead enough to make her lower her guns. She jerked them back up, but not fast enough.
A third blade whistled through the air. Krill screamed as the blade lodged in the lizard alien's windpipe, causing the alien to stagger and drop right in front of Krill's hands.
In a sudden riot of noise, the customers fled. Slamming doors, breaking dishes, and overturned tables heralded the departure of the living. Moans, wails, and whimpers came from the injured left behind.
Mads stood frozen in horror, unable to believe what she'd just witnessed. The Last Coffee Shop was a disaster. Glass, blood, and splintered wood littered the floor. Mads could see someone's legs in a pool of blood, the rest was blocked by a heap of chairs. She didn't want to look, to see what friend or neighbor was lying dead on her floor. This had to be a nightmare, because things like this never happened here.
A few feet away, Krill was on the floor, weeping softly, her fingers inches away from the lizard woman's corpse. Orange blood was seeping onto the tiles around them.
Alan still stood in the doorway, holding a smoking gun and wearing a bewildered expression.
Luc, however, calmly strode through the detritus, pausing only to swipe up the fallen female's two guns before closing in on the final intruder. The human was still leaning against a table, his faint wheezing breaths the only sign of life. Luc bent down to speak to him, lowering his voice so all Mads heard was a throaty growl. And then, just as serenely, Luc rose and fired a killing bolt into the man's brain.
Mads jumped at the gun's report, and it jolted her back to her senses. "Luc, you killed them."
But Luc didn't spare her a glance. He was still kneeling by the body, and he seemed to be searching for something.
Alan finally stepped inside, his eyes wide as he glanced over the wreckage.
"Luc," Mads repeated, her voice shaking. She went to Krill, carefully avoiding the corpses and the leaking blood to reach her friend.
Krill grabbed Mads' hand and staggered to her feet. "Mads, that alien was going to kill me. I don't care if he killed them." Tears welled up in Krill's eyes, and her skin was so pale it was almost lavender.
Mads put a comforting arm around Krill, but she kept her attention fixed on Luc. He had risen from the human corpse and gone to that of the alien man. "Luc. What is all this? You have a lot of explaining to do."
Luc finally looked at her, his face blank of any emotion. He seemed completely indifferent to the situation, and all Mads could sense from him was the same, yawning emptiness.
"I saved your life, and your friends' lives," he said, his voice soft but audible as he searched the alien man's corpse. "They would have killed everyone in this shop, everyone in this town, if they felt it necessary."
"Who were they?" demanded Mads, looking at him and only seeing the way he had so calmly destroyed the intruders. Luc was obviously a trained and proficient killer, a fact he'd neglected to mention.
Alan seemed equally upset. His face was ghastly, and as he surveyed the wreckage, he looked like he was going to throw up. "More important than that, who are you?" He pointed his gun at Luc, but his hands were shaking.
"Yeah," said Krill, sniffling. "Who are you, Luc?" Her face crumpled and she couldn't restrain the tears any longer. "Mads, I'm sorry, I . . ." she choked on her tears and hid her face in Mads' shoulder.
Mads nodded and murmured something soothing, maneuvering her friend into an intact chair. "Sit there, I'll make you some tea." She grabbed three cups from behind the sagging bar and filled them with boiling water and loose tea leaves.
Luc wiped his hands on his trousers and stood up, not seeming to be bothered by any of their questions or Alan's gun. "I admit, I haven't been completely honest with you."
Mads snorted, "Obviously." She put the tea on a tray and brought it to Krill, her hands trembling and making the cups clatter.
Alan waved his gun, but kept it pointed in Luc's direction. "Then start talking. Who are you, why are you here, and what do you have to do with them?"
Luc sighed, "Please, put the gun down. You'll only embarrass us both. I'm not here to hurt you. And I don't owe you an explanation. Why don't you run back to daddy?" Luc bent to examine the final corpse, the female alien. He didn't seem worried about Alan or the gun, despite Alan's fear and shaking hands. The guns Luc had taken from the alien's corpse were carelessly shoved into his apron.
"I'll shoot you!" Alan slid his finger onto the trigger, his fear transitioning into anger at Luc's disdain.
Mads handed Krill some tea and stepped closer to Luc. "Shooting Luc isn't going to answer any of our questions. And Luc, you do owe everyone an explanation."
Luc sighed, then raised his empty hands and stood up. "Fine. I'm sorry for misleading you, but my mission needed secrecy to work." He sighed and looked around the trashed coffee shop. "But now . . . well, it's already turned into a hellscape. Anyhow, I'm a bounty hunter. This was my cover." He made a face. "And now I'm compromised. Looks like I'll have to start all over again."
Krill's eyes widened, and she wiped at her tears. "A bounty hunter? Here? Aren't they illegal?"
Luc shrugged, hunching inward a bit, as if uncomfortable. "Well, not exactly. But I planned to stay in town under cover as a man running from drama and a bad relationship. No one smart walks into a town like this and announces 'Hey everyone, I hunt people down for money, want to introduce me to your daughters and home cooking?'"
Mads blinked, trying not to laugh from the nerves alone. It was all lining up: the news reports, the strangers, the intruders, and Luc, with the single obvious thread that ran through them all. "So you're all hunting Jupiter Jive, right?" Her voice barely shook as she said it. Looking from Luc to the wreckage of her shop, Mads hated Jupiter Jive. She might have shot Jive herself, had he appeared just then.
Luc was looking at Krill as he continued, his eyes wide and sorrowful. "Obviously. Jive and I and Graynard go way back. Way back. As you know, sources traced him here, and I think they were right"
Mads crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling cold. "Then why did you pretend you thought he was somewhere else?"
Luc shrugged. "I wasn't sure. And Jupiter Jive, and his crew, are slick, smooth criminals. I didn't want them to know I was here."
Alan still had his gun up, and his hands were no longer shaking. "Did you plan to just stay here and take advantage of Mads' until you found him? What then? No one has been able to find any real trace of him. He's probably long gone."
Luc made a thoughtful humming noise. "Maybe, maybe not. There is substantial material collected by space travel advisors, traffic conductors, and spaceport heads to support that Jupiter himself landed in or near Springs Village. Remember that one-seater ship that crashed in your field? That's why I was so eager to examine it. But it was clean, no trace of the occupant. Still, every lead is a lead I have to follow, if I want to get paid."
Luc reached into his pocket, causing Alan and Mads to tense. But he only pulled out something small. "Here, it's my actual card." He held out a slim smart card in Mads' direction.
Mads took the card quickly, not wanting to touch Luc's fingers. She flipped it over to read aloud "Luc Louvel, Bounty Hunter. Will find your mark in half the time. Satisfaction guaranteed, silence is a policy." It was discreet and simple, with a one-way com chip embedded for discretion.
Mads chucked it onto the bar, disgust filling her gut. "Louvel, huh? So you do know your last name?"
"Yes, but I really am a foundling." Luc's green eyes were wide and innocent looking.
"Good for you." Mads pulled her stun gun out of her pocket, where she'd shoved it when she made the tea. "But I'll let security decide." She glanced at Alan. "Alan, I'll take it from here. Better not to hurt him."
"Let's be reasonable," said Luc. He looked from her to her stun gun, his eyes going wider still. He seemed more alarmed by the stun gun than Alan's real gun. "Do you know how many rewards there are for the capture of Jupiter Jive?"
Mads shook her head.
"No? Well, it's enough to buy half a planet, maybe a whole one. I know you're struggling to pay the bills on time. Even a piece of his corpse might get you a few thousand Galactics." (31)
Mads blushed, annoyed that he'd bring up something so logical. The thought of all that reward money was tantalizing. "What makes you think I'd trust you? You've lied about everything since you got here."
Luc shrugged. "Nothing, you've been too smart for that from the start. But you've seen my work, and that, at least, is honest and straightforward. If I can get Jive, I'd pay you handsomely for the trouble, and your hospitality."
Mads studied Luc's innocent face, seeing nothing good or bad, and no emotions. She reluctantly lowered her stun gun. He was right about the money. "I suppose."
Outside, the whirring sound of Peace Keeper hovers drowned out any reply Luc was going to make.
Alan looked from Mads to Luc, his gun still trained on the latter. "Mads you can't trust him, you shouldn't do this."
Alan flicked the safety off his gun and glared at Luc. "I don't care who you are, but I do know the rules and laws applying to bounty hunters. You're not welcome here. Springs Village has a recommendation against them."
Luc's hands remained up, his face neutral, but Mads noted how his eyes strayed to the approaching hover beams. "Look, Mr. Dekker, a recommendation isn't the same as a law. I can practice here, but I knew you people were hostile, so I adopted another identity."
Krill sighed, wiping her drying tears. "A baking bounty hunter? So why are you such a boring date?"
Luc gave her an apologetic shrug, ignoring Alan again. "Krill, you're a lot of fun and a great dancer. I like hanging out with you. But I really am boring."
Krill wrinkled her nose. "Not boring. Just a boring date. Different."
"Look," interrupted Alan again. "Right now, that squadron of Peace Keepers is going to take 'Luc' here into custody. Then we are going to clean up the unholy mess he made."
Luc frowned. "It wasn't me. I just saved your lives. Those mercenaries were going to kill you."
Alan shook his head. "They were living, thinking beings, and they deserved a fair trial for their crimes."
Mads shuddered, the horror of everything making her stomach lurch painfully. She needed to sit down. "Alan, Luc has a point, even if we don't like his methods. They killed people." She could hardly get out the words; they lodged in her throat like a stale piece of scone.
Alan was still talking, but he sounded like he was underwater. "You brought this, you caused this." Mads heard him saying as she swayed, watching the shop spin in her sudden double vision.
Luc shook his head. "No, I just saved your sorry a—" He stopped abruptly, springing to Mads' side and catching her before she collapsed, his other hand closing over her stun gun. "Hey, close your eyes, breathe. It's okay."
Mads felt his hand gripping her arm, an anchor to reality. She blinked down at his other hand, blearily processing that he was swapping her stun gun for one of the real guns still stashed in his apron. He kept it pointed at the floor, and his grip on her was firm and strong, holding her upright against his side.
I will not faint, she told herself, trying to control her breathing and still her racing heart. Despite her lightheadedness, she realized that Luc had just gained a position of strength. Alan wouldn't risk shooting anywhere near Mads.
Alan must have realized it too, as his voice had gained a new urgency. "Let's be reasonable. Let the authorities take you in for questioning, and then you can take them to Jupiter Jive."
The Peace Keeper radio chatter drifted in and Mads felt Luc stiffen. "I told you, if I knew where Jive was, I wouldn't be here. This attack wasn't my fault; I'm on your side. Put your gun away, and no one else gets hurt."
Krill's voice sounded a little shrill. "Alan. This isn't all his fault, he's just a killer bounty hunter guy. And he did save our lives. Put the gun away, and we'll all talk to the Peacekeepers together."
They were interrupted by a shout from outside. "This is the Ithirn Peace Keeping Squad! Put your hands up and leave your weapons on the ground!"
Luc didn't drop his gun, and neither did Alan.
Mads forced her eyes open and tried to focus on Alan. She knew him so well. He'd be impossible to dissuade.
Alan leveled his gun again. "I'm a crack shot, you know. I may hate the sight of blood, but I can hit you no matter where you stand."
Mads blinked at the empty threat. Couldn't Luc hear the lack of conviction in Alan's voice? No matter what kind of shot he was, she and Alan both knew he wouldn't shoot.
But Luc didn't know Alan like she did. Luc tightened his grip on Mads, his arm pressing her shoulders into him, making her feel even more lightheaded. She could feel his heartbeat through his shirt, and it was surprisingly steady.
Shit, she thought. She didn't dare move now.
Luc aimed his gun at Alan, his arm steady despite the one-handed hold. "I didn't want it to be this way," he muttered. Then he repeated it, louder, for Alan and Krill. "I didn't want it to turn out this way. I tried to warn you. I have a job to do. And it's more important than you know." He whipped the gun up, pressing the cold barrel to the side of Mads' head.
"I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have threatened me," said Luc, and his voice was even colder than the gun barrel.
Krill whimpered softly, but she stayed put, frozen.
"Hold off the Peace Keepers, or I shoot," growled Luc. "And you've all seen how well I can shoot."
Alan's face had drained of all color, and he dropped his gun. "No! Let her go!"
Mads was more troubled by the anguish in his voice than the steady gun to her head.
Luc's tone was dangerous. "Call off the Peace Keepers."
"Will you let her go?" Wasn't it obvious that Alan was stalling?
Luc sighed, Mads felt it against her back. "I'm sorry," he said, quietly, for her ears, but he kept the gun planted firmly against her temple. "But I guess you're coming with me. So move it."
Gun to her head, head still spinning, Mads took shuffling steps toward the back, and the back door. She felt strangely distant from the situation, like she was watching a play or reading a scene from a book.
Alan turned away, shouting back to the waiting Peace Keepers with a ragged voice. "He has a hostage! Don't come in!"
"Not good enough," muttered Luc, forcing Mads forward at a faster pace. "Move."
Mads wished she could strangle him, but she walked anyway, to avoid the indignity of being dragged. Behind her, Krill let loose a low wail.
Luc 's grip was stronger than it looked, and Mads had lost most of the feeling in her arm before they got outside the back door.
"Where are hazard suits for the waste?" he demanded, all silk gone from his tone.
Mads paused, torn between the truth and self-preservation, or a lie and certain death. She chose the former. "There's a border station, it's about a mile away. That's where the suits are kept.
"You better not be lying to me," growled Luc, his grip viselike. "I will shoot you somewhere, or I'll knock you out. There are countless ways to incapacitate a person without killing them."
"I know," Mads spat back at him, restraining the urge to bite, kick, and claw. That wouldn't help anyone now. "I almost had a career in boxing."
Luc continued to move her along at a pace faster than her head liked. "If you say so."
Mads glowered into the distance, hoping that the Peace Keepers caught up soon. "You're a real piece of work."
"I warned your boyfriend. He made the call," said Luc, sounding more weary than offended.
They skirted the outbuildings and cut through the field, falling silent as Mads tried to see straight and Luc kept her going forward.
Once they had given the Peace Keepers a far enough berth, Luc led Mads out to the street. He looked both ways, then made a face at the blinking CCTV before dragging Mads to a line of parked hovers. It was early evening, so most of the owners were probably eating dinner inside.
Luc spun Mads around to face him, the gun now pointing past her right shoulder. His eyes were wide and green and cold as gemstones. "We're going to borrow this hover, which means I'll need both hands, so, I'm sorry."
Mads blinked, but before she could register what he said, he'd dropped the gun and produced a syringe from somewhere. She flinched away, but his other arm was like a steel brace, pinning her to his bony ribs. A slight sting in her neck, and she remembered nothing else.
END OF PART I