DusktoDust_Final3 by adrian felder Read Free Book Online

need a room. ”
    The man bowed. “ Yes, we have vacancy. Cost twenty notes. ”
    David reached in his pocket and pulled out various bills. He counted fifty notes and placed it on the desk. “ For our privacy. ” He hoped the man understood his subtlety. Hotels like this catered to those who didn ’ t want to be found. They were off the grid. No network connections. No names taken. No records.
    The man looked at the cash. Slowly, he picked it up, bypassed the cash register, and placed it directly in his pocket. “ Wait. ” He then disappeared into the back room.
    He emerged a minute later carrying a key. “ Come, ” he said and started up the stairs. David motioned to Alana, who had been waiting outside the door, and the two of them followed the old man.
    At the top of the stairs, the old man led them down the hallway and stopped at a door labeled ‘ STORAGE ’ . Apparently, this hotel was well accustomed to serving those who didn ’ t want to be found.
    The old man handed David the key. “ One night. No more. ”
    David nodded. “ We will be gone by morning. ”
    “ Domo arigato, ” the old man said, uttering the words of a nearly forgotten language. And then, with a final bow, the inn keeper left them.
    The room was nicer than David expected. There were two beds, a vid screen, and even a small window. The bathroom had a tiny shower and a semi clean toilet. On the whole, it was nicer than any garrison camp billeting David had ever had.
    They made themselves at home. David felt exhausted after the long day of traveling, so after a shower he stretched out on one of the beds. He knew he could use some food, but they could deal with that in the morning.
    He was almost asleep when Alana emerged from the bathroom, still damp from the shower, and flopped down on her own bed with an audible sound of exhaustion. “ TV on, ” she said to the vid screen. Suddenly, the relative silence in the room was shattered by the sound of a cheering crowd coming from the vid screen ’ s speakers.
    David rolled over, away from the noise. “ Damn it, ” he groaned in aggravation. “ I was almost asleep. ”
    “ Oh come on, you can fall asleep to thundering artillery but a little Arena Combat on the vid is gonna keep you up all night? ” Alana taunted.
    David looked up at the vid screen. She was watching her favorite sport, Arena Combat; gladiator style martial arts fights, minus the copious amounts of blood that was seen in Roman times. It all looked staged to him, but Alana was a zealot for the events. “ Artillery is soothing. This crap is just loud, predictable, and trashy. ”
    She ignored his jab. “ Give me ten minutes. I just need something to calm my nerves. Thanks to you they got a little excited today. ”
    That fully woke David up. “ Hey, you have no right to get pissed. How was I supposed to know there was a Peak camera in that bar? ”
    “ I ’ m not pissed about that. Hell, the Peaks would hide a camera in a rat ’ s asshole if they could catch one. I ’ m pissed about this job overall. We have never gone through the Skylift before. Why are we starting now? ”
    “ Because those were the terms of the Windcorp contract. What was I supposed to do, decline the contract? ”
    “ Maybe. ”
    “ The Katana is not going to pay for herself. I don ’ t know if you know this but we do these jobs to get paid, not just for the thrill of it. And when Windcorp offers a small fortune for us to fly a ship from one end of the galaxy to the other I tend to say ‘ yes ’ , no questions asked. ”
    “ Maybe you should have asked questions, ” Alana said simply.
    That set David off. It had been two years since the two of them had left the service, and now their business model was more of a partnership than military hierarchy. He was fine with her asking questions and assisting in decision making, but there was a time and place.
    And this was not the damn time. “ Maybe I should have asked more questions, ” he said