Dealmaking, The Bull's Head Way

[Joe Manning 0]

Two Lawman 'escorted' Joe into what looked suspiciously like an interrogation room, unnecessarily (he thought) maintaining a tight grip on his arms. Marshall Savoy was standing on the other side of a table at the center. "Is this the lounge?" Joe asked as the guards pushed him into the chair on the near side of the table. "Because I don't see a minibar."

 

"You've been lying to me, Manning," Savoy said. She nodded to the two guards to stand beside the door. "Your Orion slave girl told us everything. Not much of a slave if you ask me."

 

"Well, Pher has a certain naivete about her when it comes to Bull's Head. She's probably got it in her head that the Guardians can be trusted to honor a deal."

 

Savoy crossed her arms and stared across the table at Joe. "Yes, wherever could she have gotten such a wild idea?"

 

Joe glanced back at the two guards. "So, are you going to torture me now? Try to ... 'extract' the location of the control board? Is that how this works?"

 

"If only I had the time," Savoy allowed one corner of her mouth to upturn. "But your people are already preparing for their rendezvous with Minos, and we're minutes away from his deadline. I doubt he'll wait long for his ride out of here to show up. So it would seem that I'll have to listen to what you have to say ... and hope that I get the truth this time."

 

"Well," Joe grinned up at the Marshall. "You've hardly been a paragon of honesty yourself, Savoy. If you'd warned me that the Rainmakers were after my ship, we could have taken precautions ... and Nickles wouldn't be needing an impromptu conjugal visit in his cell right now. Unlike you, I had a good reason to lie. I couldn't have you getting in Pher's way while she was meeting Minos. And now ... we've got him. Which was just what you wanted, wasn't it?"

 

"Our deal was for you to make contact with Minos through Samus," Savoy replied.

 

"I told you ... Samus and I ain't on speaking terms right now. I doubt he'd have known how to find Minos anyway." Joe shrugged. "So I used my own means. And now I get to make a new deal."

 

"And you made sure you were sitting on the control board," Savoy shook her head. "Just in case your mercenary buddies tried to screw you out of the deal?"

 

Joe laughed, but was stopped by a brief fit of coughing. "I wish I was that forward-thinking. I tend not to account for my senior staff trying to screw me. But ... in retrospect ... stashing that board away turned out for the best. It disrupted Pher's best efforts to form a peace accord with you folks in uniform ... a development that no doubt would have ended with me in prison, my ship broken down for parts, and my crew stranded here without jobs. I know what the gratitude of the Guardians is worth -- enough to make sure to cash in on it -before- doing you any favors."

 

"Whatever history you may have with my organization, Manning, does not apply to me. I would have shown you and your crew great leniency if you'd delivered Minos. But if you must play it the hard way, fine ... what is it that you want?"

 

"Well, it should go without saying that I want all charges against me and my crew dropped. That goes for everything -- Pher breaking into the bank, Nickles running for your people at the motel, the mysterious disappearance of Mr. LaHaye -- everything that was done to get us to Minos tonight. And, yes, the bar brawl that started all this. Just like the deal went, I don't have to pay any damages or any of Duke's medical bills ... so I get to keep my ship."

 

"Given the list of crimes your crew has tallied tonight, you're pushing it." Savoy said. "Questions will need to be asked about how you accomplished some of the things you accomplished, and whether any of my people were hurt or killed --"

 

"Not by my crew," Joe quickly interrupted. "Even the bio-attack on Medical One was a Rainmaker op. In fact ... we rescued LaHaye from an assassin. Okay ... we mighta knocked a few of your people out. Maybe ... stolen a vehicle too. But we didn't leave no widows or orphans, so I think you'll find you can look the other way on our miscreant behavior."

 

"And if we let you all walk free and without any fines," Savoy said. "You hand over the control board and LaHaye's data cache."

 

"Mm." Joe quickly wrenched one eye. "The cache. I was hopin' Pher at least kept that to herself. Never mind that, though. My deal is you get the control board, and only the control board; we get freedom ... and ten thousand credits."

 

Savoy's jaw nearly dropped. She uncrossed her arms and leaned against the table. "You want us to pay you as well?!"

 

Joe shrugged. "I've got what you need, Marshall. It's not an unreasonable amount. We've incurred some expenses tracking down your terrorist leader ... and it would seem that handing over the most wanted man in Bull's Head should let us live comfortably at the Taurus Brothers' expense for six months or so. Regardless, I'm gonna hold onto LaHaye's cache for now."

 

"It's stolen property!" Savoy barked.

 

"Well ... " Joe put on a ponderous face. "Not quite. It was pulled out of Jerald LaHaye's bank vault ... by Jerald LaHaye ... then handed over to Pher willingly. We'd arranged such beforehand. So it's safer to say that it was entrusted into our care. Unless ... LaHaye has reported it stolen?"

 

"LaHaye has not been seen or heard from in hours," Savoy replied in a biting tone. "I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that? Since you didn't even know who LaHaye was twenty minutes ago?"

 

"I believe he and Pher ... parted ways when he gave us what we wanted. I'm sure a skilled PI like him has ... ways of disappearing. Though the Rainmakers -were- after him, mind you." Joe scratched his chin and surveyed Savoy's increasingly reddening face. "Tell you what. Ten thousand does seem a bit steep for the Guardians' budget. So ... have your port crews give our ship a good tuneup, refuel her -- and that includes a replacement dilithium crystal -- and waive the portage fee for this visit, and I'll consider the Guardians' debt to us paid. When we're in the black, we'll negotiate with the Taurus Brothers, find out how much they'd be willing to pay for LaHaye's information. After all, they're the filthy rich ones, ain't they?"

 

"And if I don't agree to this ... " Savoy stared daggers into Joe. "I ask you the same question you asked me on the way here. Are you willing to let the city burn, Manning? Are you that desperate to get what you want?"

 

"I give you the same answer you gave me," Joe stared back. "Minos is probably bluffing. I guess we don't have to wait much longer to find out ... if you really want to sit here doing the 'playing chicken' thing instead of making a good, fair deal."

 

"I've got riots on my hand no matter what," Savoy replied with a look of disdain. "Get out of here, get the piece we need, and make sure it's on your ship by the time Minos sets his meeting place. If it turns out that none of my personnel were killed or seriously injured because of your activities tonight, your crew can leave the planet without grievance."

 

"Now that's the gratitude I was hoping to hear." Joe stood up. "It was you who recruited us, after all. And we did get the job done for you."

 

"If I show gratitude for nothing else, Manning," Savoy replied bitterly. "It's for the valuable lesson you taught me tonight -- I will -never- turn to mercenaries to do a job for me again."