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  And with that, Razia left a stunned and speechless Lizbeth in the empty diner.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Razia wasn't upset in the least that she deserted Lizbeth. Fists, she could handle. Pirates operating on the same playing field, she could handle. But when firearms were involved—outside of the realm of the pirate laws, that's when she decided she was over it. If someone was willing to shoot her over insurance fraud, then they could keep their money for all she cared.

  Besides, if Dissident approved of it, she wasn't going to poke the bear. It was bad enough that he could barely stand her; she shuttered to think what he'd do if she got in the way of him and a hefty payout.

  Also, she was sure he was still pissed at her for breaking into that meeting. She hadn't heard from him, so she was just hoping he'd forget about the whole thing. And if he hadn't, she'd make him forget by capturing another high-visibility pirate.

  The last time she'd updated this list, these pirates were in the top ten most wanted, but that had been over a month ago. She hadn't even been paying attention to see if any of them had been caught, or even if they'd risen up the most wanted list.

  She clicked on the name third pirate's name—Jarvis Loeb—linked to his latest activities in the pirate intraweb.

  She frowned. His latest activity was from over three weeks ago.

  She clicked on the aliases in her hit list, each one displaying the accompanying record in the Universal Bank.

  "Well that's odd," she muttered. Between the three aliases, she expected to see a transaction at least once a day, if not more often. But she was spying gaps as long as two days, and the last transaction on any account was over six days ago.

  In fact, she cross-checked the previous history of Arpad Bernal, Max Fried, and Relleck to the same result. None of them had made any transactions or had any activities on the pirate web in a week, to include a record of capture, which might have explained why they'd been dormant.

  She sat back, chewing on her lip as she pondered.

  Loeb and Fried were both in Protester's web, while Bernal and Relleck were in Contestant's web. Contestant's pirates weren't at the pirate meeting, but Lizbeth had said they'd been hijacking government shipments for months.

  She sniffed as she caught her train of thought venturing closer to Lizbeth's investigation. What did she care if they were hijacking government ships?

  Well, she cared if she couldn't find any pirates to capture.

  "Then I'll add a new pirate to my hit list," she answered, suddenly recognizing that she was talking to herself.

  With a growl, she returned to the pirate intraweb, navigating to the front page, and looking to see if any pirate caught her attention:

  Razia furrowed her brow. There was an awful lot of activity from pirates outside of the top twenty on the latest pirate news. Sure, those pirates popped up every once in a while, but the major stories were always about the top guys. There was also no mention of any government ship hijackings, even from the lower ranking pirates. She was sure that over the past week, all of those pirates who attended the meeting had been hijacking as many ships as were available.

  She searched on Jeam Bullock, a member of Dissident's web. He was most assuredly at the pirate meeting, and had voiced his support for the effort.

  Well, now she was curious.

  There was no way that he'd wait over a week to hijack one of the ships. That bald man had made it clear that the deal was only good until the next election, when General State would presumably win, and that was only two weeks away.

  She paused for a moment, wondering why General State's men even had connections in President Llendo's administration to engineer this whole operation. She then quickly dismissed the thought under the auspices of not caring.

  Besides, there was a curious mystery afoot. Pirates were told to hijack government shipments, but there was no record of the crime? Not only that, but every pirate on her hit list had suddenly vanished from the Universal Bank.

  She mulled over the possibilities. She knew from personal experience that the runners didn't post every transaction to the pirate web, but to not post any of their top pirates? That made no sense.

  And for all of them to disappear from the Universal Bank, too?

  She wondered for a brief moment if maybe Jukin had engineered a large-scale ambush of all of the pirates after she and Lizbeth had been kicked out of the meeting. After all, it would be a nice target—at least twenty of the top pirates and their runners all crammed into a single room. Jukin would salivate at the thought of—

  A new transaction popped up on Loeb's alias, drawing her attention.

  "Hmm…" She smiled. Maybe they hadn't vanished after all.

  ***

  Eamon's had become, if possible, even more popular with the top pirates than when it was being used as a clever trap for the most wanted by the runner Insurgent. The runner had been allowed to keep his nightclub open, as long as he stopped trying to discover the aliases of pirates in other webs. He then upped the ante by hiring even more security and beautiful women to serve drinks and flirt. It was the place to be seen by anyone who could get through the heavily guarded front doors.

  Razia hadn't frequented this place in a long time, as she didn't see the value in watching other pirates get laid.

  Also, technically she was still banned since she busted Insurgent's pirate shake-down.

  But tonight, she needed to get inside, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Lucky for her, she had made a new friend the year before who would be more than happy to help her out.

  "LEMME GO!" VJ whined, struggling against her as she twisted his arm behind his back. She had been waiting in the alley where they had first met and pounced on him when he walked outside for a smoke break.

  "Get me inside," she ordered.

  "Leveman's, Razia. You know I can't!" She twisted more, his black curls falling in front of his face. She began to realize why he was more at home running a bar than being a pirate.

  "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Razia whispered. "I would pick the one that doesn't result in a concussion."

  "C'mon, don't get me in trouble," he moaned, pushing at her arm. "Man, I didn't hear the end of it last time—Pops was furious at me for getting caught. Leveman's, I'm still on probation—"

  "Concussion it is."

  "No, no, no!" He winced as she reared her fist went backwards. He quickly handed her a key card. "Here…Leveman's…take it…"

  "Pleasure doing business with you," Razia said, releasing him to a heap on the ground.

  With the influx of new business, the bar had been expanded to the surrounding buildings and now sported a dance floor for uncoordinated pirates to dry hump dancers paid to be there, a gambling room for pirates to give even more money to Insurgent, and a huge new bar space to accommodate the top pirates and their crews.

  She spotted Eli Stenson, a fellow pirate in Dissident's web, who did his best to ignore her greeting. Same went for Jeam Bullock, who completely left his table when she walked over to chat with him about his recent activity. With nowhere else to go, she went to stand against the wall, scanning the faces of everyone in the bar for those she recognized.

  "Where's your little maid outfit?"

  "Baggy pants again? Come on girl, I wanna see your ass!"

  She grimaced, spying Linro Lee and Gunnar Bodhi, two of Contestant's pirates, goading her from a nearby poker table. She tossed them a rude gesture and continued scanning the bar.

  "See? That's why we all like your friend more than you."

  "She's better to look at, too."

  Razia's eyes widened. "Friend?"

  Snarling, she marched over to the two pirates, who suddenly seemed much more concerned for their well-being than when she was on the other side of the room.

  "Whoa, whoa, we were just kidding!" Lee babbled, sitting back.

  "Y-you can't capture us in here!" Bodhi shook his head, his face paling.

  "What friend?" Ra
zia hissed.

  "Y-your girlfriend over there," Lee said, pointing past Razia. She whirled on her heel, scanning the bar for-

  Her eyes narrowed and her blood pressure spiked.

  Lizbeth leaned across the bar and smiled at Zolet Obalone, whose young cheeks flushed bright red as two drinks appeared at his hand. Lizbeth winked at the kid, flirtatiously playing with her straw and very sexually sipping it. Obalone was babbling and rubbing the back of his head.

  Razia was over to the bar in three strides. "What in Leveman's Vortex are you doing here?"

  "Excuse us, honey," Lizbeth cooed at Obalone, who looked relieved to have an escape. When Lizbeth whirled on Razia, she was back to her normal, no-nonsense self. "What do you mean, what am I doing here? You may have ditched me, but I'm still investigating this insurance fraud."

  "By coming to Eamon's?" Razia asked.

  "Yes," Lizbeth replied, giving her a look. "What are you doing here?"

  "I'm a pirate," Razia said defensively. "Of course I'd be here."

  "I've been coming here every weekend for over a month and I've never seen you here," Lizbeth said with a stupidly satisfied smile on her face.

  Razia's face reddened.

  "I knew you couldn't stay away from this!" Lizbeth grinned knowingly. "I heard from a pirate that you're nothing if not up for a challenge."

  "Oh yeah?" Razia drawled, looking around the bar. "And which of these idiots have you been talking about me to?"

  "That handsome guy over there," Lizbeth said, pointing behind Razia.

  She turned around and immediately rolled her eyes. "Figures."

  "Well, if it isn't my favorite curmudgeon!" Sage grinned, walking over to the two of them. "Look at you making friends. I'm so proud of you."

  "Not quite," Lizbeth said, giving Razia a searing look. "She hasn't quite warmed up to me yet. Left me to figure out my own way back to civilization."

  "Don't worry, she left her little brother alone on an undiscovered planet for three days last year," Sage snickered, his eyes not leaving Razia's snarling face.

  "Go away," Razia huffed, cutting him off before he could say anything else.

  "Oh, get sucked Lyssa, he's not here to talk to you," Lizbeth said, turning to Sage. "So, any new information for me today, Mr. Teon?"

  "Only that my runner is pretty pissed that Little Missy over here ruined his party," Sage said, much to Razia's chagrin. "Other than that, nothing to report."

  "Do you know if any pirates are hijacking ships?" Lizbeth pressed. "Or if anyone's getting paid?"

  "Nobody's getting paid," Razia replied, feeling the need to show up Sage. "And nobody's been hijacking anything either, because it hasn't been showing up in the pirate intraweb."

  "Oh-ho, Lyss," Sage winked at her. "You obviously missed Conrad Conboy boasting about the new ship he bought with his payments. And Bullock over there, he's just bought himself a new mansion on R-3633. Said he's gonna retire."

  "What in the…?" Razia said, her mini-computer in her hands.

  "It's not in there," Sage said, before she was halfway to searching on the first pirate. "Runners agreed that all government ship hijackings would be under the table."

  "But if they're under the table, how are they getting money?" Razia asked, before she could stop herself. "The ship is reported stolen to the insurance company, the insurance company puts out a wanted notice, bounty goes up."

  "And that's why nobody's moved in about a week," Sage replied, knowingly. "Or did you, in your infinite genius, miss that little tidbit?"

  Razia waved her hand, feeling like she was on the edge of something important. "But if there's no insurance claim, there's no payment to the company, so how are they paying the pirates for their work?"

  "Well, as you said you were out, I don't see how it's any of your concern?" Lizbeth smiled. "So why don't you go away while I continue my conversation with Sage here."

  "No need to fight over me, ladies," Sage laughed. "Plenty of me to go around."

  Razia gave him a stare so cold it could have frozen lava.

  "Hot damn." Lizbeth licked her lips, interrupting Razia's death stare. "Who is that?"

  Razia followed her gaze and felt sick. "Please don't."

  "Girl." Lizbeth grinned madly, like a cat about to pounce. "Tell me right now if you're hitting that."

  "Depends on your definition of hit," Razia mumbled as Sage's eyes were on her again.

  "If it isn't my favorite pieces of garbage from Dissident's web." Royden Relleck smirked as he stood in front of them. He was handsome, with short buzzed hair and high cheekbones, so it was no wonder that Lizbeth had latched onto him.

  Razia shifted uncomfortably as Relleck's eyes passed over her. She still hadn't forgotten the way he had propositioned her, nor the way that he and Dissident had conspired to capture her for Pymus. Then again, he hadn't told anyone what really happened between the two of them either—so perhaps he was worried that she'd tell everyone that she nearly captured him.

  Lucky for her, his attention was directed immediately at Lizbeth, who was giving him the most obvious pair of come-hither eyes Razia had ever seen.

  "And what's your name, sweetcheeks?" Relleck cooed.

  Razia vomited a little in her mouth, but Lizbeth giggled and tossed a curl behind her shoulder. Razia finally noticed that she wore a very short skirt and a shirt that showed more than a little bit of cleavage. It was no wonder that Relleck and almost every other man here were acting like morons.

  "Lizbeth," she said, girlishly sipping her drink. "What's your name, other than handsome?"

  "Name's Relleck," he said, leaning against the bar. "I'm one of the best pirates out there."

  "Oh?" Lizbeth said, playing with the straw on her drink and biting her lip. Razia couldn't see why Lizbeth didn't burst into laughing fits, as Razia was about to. "I didn't see you at that party last week. I thought that was for top pirates." She punctuated each word with a sultry glance.

  "Heh," he laughed, touching her hand on the bar. "Well, you see, I'm too good for those idiots. I got my own deal worked out. Going tonight to make another run, in fact."

  Razia's eyes bugged out of her head, and beside her, Sage's mouth fell open in surprise.

  "Think I could distract you from that?" Lizbeth asked, letting him gently rub her hand.

  "Baby, not even you could get me to miss this run tonight." Relleck grinned before licking his lips slowly. "Though, maybe…if you make it quick."

  Lizbeth then laughed girlishly. "Slow down there, big boy. You gotta buy a girl a drink, first. So what's this big deal about, huh?"

  "Baby, you're going to have to promise a lot more than a drink to get me to talk about that," Relleck said, his hand intertwining with hers. "Working with some big movers and shakers. Can't just spill my secrets over a drink…"

  "Well, why don't you buy me that drink, and we can," she laughed and gave him another come-get-me glance, "talk in private."

  "You got it, baby," he said, brushing his finger on her cheek as he turned to find a bartender.

  "Well, that was interesting," Lizbeth said, dropping her sexy glance.

  "Sickening is what that was." Razia made a disgusted face.

  "Oh please, like you've never sweet talked your way into a bounty," Lizbeth said, before stopping to look Razia up and down. "On second thought, I don't know if you know how to be nice."

  "I dunno. She did let him go last year," Sage mumbled.

  Razia snapped her head around so fast it nearly cracked. "Ex-cuse me?"

  "I'm just saying. First with VJ, and then all of a sudden—"

  "Oh, do you think I just showed him my boobs and he let me go?" Razia seethed with anger.

  "I didn't show him my boobs," Lizbeth said sounding offended, but she was obviously not a part of this conversation.

  "I'm saying that you let him go," Sage retorted. "And there's no good reason why you should have done that, so I can only assume—"

  "Assume what?" Razia's face heated up in
anger and embarrassment.

  Sage's face also turned red. "I'm just saying that you fight with him a lot."

  "I also fight with you, asshole," Razia growled, pointing her finger at him. "I seem to be surrounded by people who piss me off!"

  "So you're not…?" Sage sputtered.

  "Not what?"

  "Ugh, forget it!" He stormed off, leaving Razia completely confused.

  "Where'd she go?" Relleck said, standing in front of them with two drinks in his hand. Razia looked around and realized Lizbeth had disappeared during her tête-à-tête with Sage.

  Razia got a whiff of one of the drinks and coughed. "God in Leveman's Vortex, Relleck, why don't you just skip the alcohol and drug the poor girl?"

  "Yeah, and maybe if you'd get drunk, you'd quit being such an annoying bi—OOF!" Relleck wasn't able to finish his taunt as her fist connected with his stomach.

  ***

  Razia very quickly found herself lying face up in the street, having been unceremoniously dumped there by the two bouncers.

  "Worth it," she smirked, pulling herself upright.

  She dusted herself off and turned back to the club. She still had questions, such as why the runners weren't posting the announcements of the government ship hijackings and where the money was coming from. But at least she'd figured out why she hadn't seen any activity in the intraweb.

  She stuffed her hands in her pockets and began the walk back to her ship when she heard a familiar voice.

  "Yo," Lizbeth said, walking out of a dark alley with a grin on her face. "Have fun in there?"

  "What are you still doing here?" Razia asked. "I thought you'd be long gone by now?"

  "I'm waiting for Relleck to come out. I want to see what kind of 'special deal' he's got."

  "So why don't you go wait at his ship?" Razia asked, unable to hide the disgust on her face.

  "If I could find it, I would," Lizbeth said. "But since my bounty hunter quit on me…"

  Razia sighed and unhooked her mini-computer, making a dramatic show of finding Relleck's last parking transaction. This was the last bit of help she was going to give this Lizbeth woman, especially if she was going to sleep her way to getting what she wanted.