Omega Games by S. L. Viehl Read Free Book Online Page A

right. I had no evidence except that each time I looked at him, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
    “After trying not to walk on eggs for three months, let’s just say I’ll think twice before I board another breeding Tingalean,” Davidov said, ending another anecdote about difficult passengers he had transported. “But enough about the trade. I’ve gathered some information about the bounty on your wife.” He took a disc from inside his flight jacket and offered it to Reever. “Basically the signal source is untraceable; the originator used Bartermen channels to transmit the first relay. Whoever wants you, Jarn, knows how to cover his tracks.”
    His tone seemed odd—almost as if he admired the trader hunting me. “You assume a male issued the bounty?”
    “Figure of speech.” His teeth flashed. “I never assume anything. The Bartermen are also banking the reward and brokering the exchange and, from what I understand, they’re doing it for nothing. Free of charge.”
    Reever inserted the disc in the galley terminal and switched on the screen. “There is no such word as ‘free’ in the Bartermen language,” he said as he skimmed the data. “Is this all you were able to find?”
    The Terran nodded. “Not much, I know, but based on what there is, I’ll wager every mercenary in the four quadrants is out hunting your beautiful wife.”
    Davidov didn’t think I was beautiful. He might have wished me to think so, but his body language was projecting something very different. He didn’t like me and, for some reason, he resented me. Perhaps it was jealousy over my relationship with Reever. The two men had been friends long before I became involved with Duncan.
    Or it might be that Davidov didn’t like me simply because of who and what I was. A cloned Terran, created to be the perfect physician.
    “I would like to avoid the bounty hunters,” my husband was saying.
    “We could let it be known that I was killed by the grenade explosion,” I told my husband. “Squilyp and I can use a little of my DNA to salt some organic ash. Scanners would then read and identify them as my remains.”
    Davidov looked intrigued. “A grenade exploded and you weren’t killed?”
    “The Jorenians would never support such a deception. ” Reever took my hand in his and squeezed it before he looked across the table at Davidov. “What else have you learned?”
    Reever exchanged a quick look with me. “The Odnallak.”
    “That’s them.” Davidov turned to me. “I heard you had some problems with them on Vtaga.”
    I didn’t consider being choked with Odnallak bone dust or discovering that it had caused hundreds of deaths as “some problems.” “What do you wish to know?”
    “I heard an interesting story about them while I was passing through the N-Jui quadrant.” Davidov settled back in his chair. “A long-route hauler and I were having a drink together one night, and after he got pretty well sauced he told me that he’d met one. Spent several weeks onboard a ship with it, in fact. Never knew it was a shifter until the day it left.”
    “Where did the Odnallak disembark?” my husband asked.
    “That’s the reason I had you meet me here.” Davidov leaned over and tapped the view port. “The shifter got off right here, at Trellus. It’s still down there, too. Evidently it’s been hiding out on the colony ever since it was dropped off.”
    Reever frowned. “How could your friend be so sure that it disembarked on Trellus?”
    “He brought it here. Damn thing posed as a regularpassenger on his ship. He saw it change shape when it thought no one was watching, just before it strolled down the ramp.” Davidov grinned. “According to him, they’re the only species that can mimic other beings so exactly that you can’t tell the difference between them and the real thing.”
    Some of what Davidov said was true, but the Odnallak were not harmless, and neither was their ability to shift form.
    “We should