Hard Luck Hank: Prince of Suck by Steven Campbell Read Free Book Online

I stepped out into
the middle of the street.
    “Hong. Are you just out for a stroll
this fine evening?” I said.
    About a dozen men armed with pikes and spears
and other long hand-to-hand weapons stood in front of me bathed in the
flashlight glow from my Stair Boys.
    I had gotten a tip that the Totki Clan
was going to make a serious attack tonight. Apparently the information was
correct, as this was far from their home turf. It had been a quiet week since
my court trial and I wanted to keep things quiet.
    However, as I stood there feeling pleased
with myself, more and more Totki stepped into the light. They had been walking
a staggered distance apart.
    There must have been a hundred of them.
What, did they have some kind of breeding program?
    Hmm.
    I only had fifteen Stair Boys with me. A
small riot had broken out and the rest of my men were trying to put it down.
    My original plan had been to arrest all
the Totki, let them cool off a bit, and then turn them loose, confiscating any
weapons. But we couldn’t do that to a hundred.
    Hong was the second-in-command of the
Totki Clan on Belvaille. He was a small man and to assume the traditional Totki
ethnic appearance he had dyed his skin a bland yellow, had stretched his ears,
put a plate in the bridge of his nose to elongate it, shaved all his head
except for the very top in a circle, and wore blue caps on his teeth.
    Hong carried a long, metal, bladed
weapon, and I knew from reputation he was skilled with it.
    “Are you carrying any illegal guns?” I
asked him, assuming an official tone.
    Firearms were technically banned on the
city, though they were still common. Because of this, most gangs carried hand
weapons and trained with them. I suppose it was a bit safer that you had to get
murdered with a sword instead of a pistol, but it was a lot messier.
    “Why you always bother us? Why you
always say we break law? Why every time Totki move in our own system, we get
trouble?” he spat.
    Hong was a firebrand. Maybe not a great
orator, but he was energetic. And right now he severely outnumbered us.
    “You’ll shut your hole and answer the
Supreme Kommilaire when he asks you a question,” I heard Valia shout from next
to me.
    There was a pause as this surprised just
about everyone. Valia was unarmed. She was about the size of a baby’s eyelash
and twice as cute. And the Totki did not have an over-appreciation for women in
non-domestic roles.
    “This your new bodyguard?” Hong teased.
“Kommilaire grow smaller and smaller.”
    MTB was helping quell the riot. I hadn’t
thought this was going to be a difficult task.
    I had to handle this with tact. I was
not concerned for my safety. I was concerned for the safety of my men. We had
guns, but likely some Totki did as well. And they could just hack my Stair Boys
to pieces and scatter. Then I’d have to hunt them down for the next six months
and I just couldn’t do that.
    “You have no firearms?” I asked again.
    “No, these legal,” Hong said at the
wicked array of spears, the Totki’s favorite weapon.
    “Do you have a Type-B carry license for
them?”
    “What that? No such thing!”
    He was right. But I wasn’t sure how to
defuse this situation. Not only that, but I had to make it so we didn’t look
bad or they would take it as a victory and it would make dealing with them in
the future more difficult.
    The only reason anyone listens to our
orders is because they listen to our orders. If they simply stopped, we
wouldn’t be Kommilaire any longer.
    “Let me see that,” I said.
    Hong reluctantly let me take his pike.
It had some kind of triggering mechanism on it.
    “That pneumatic. Not gunpowder.”
    I activated it and the blade shot out
like a rocket-propelled cleaver. It clanged off the ground and people jumped
out of the way.
    Hong saw my expression.
    “What? That legal. You only bother
Totki.”
    “I search everyone. I was just in a
trial earlier, prosecuting your friends the Olmarr.”
    The Totki nearby