The Ramal Extraction by Steve Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

insults, stings, disputes over the demarcator through the Inland Sea—never quite worthy of full-scale retaliation, but constant and irritating. This time, he has crossed too far the line. This time, he will pay with his blood in the dust!”
    Cutter said nothing, but if there was going to be a war, he wanted to renegotiate their contract if they were going to stick around and be part of it. Kidnapping was one thing; war rates were much steeper.
    “We could crush him,” the Rajah said. “Our combinedarmies outnumber his by three or four to one; however, a precipitous attack might cause the death of my daughter. We would win, but I and Rama would lose.” He paused a moment. “And war is expensive.”
    Cutter almost grinned but held it. The old man had orbited the local sun a few times.
    “Perhaps, a smaller incursion,” the Rajah said. “A surgical strike that cuts through to where my daughter is…” He paused. “Once we locate her.”
    Rama said, “Now that we know who is responsible, my agents will find her. And once she is recovered, we will deal with Luzor once and for all.”
    Cutter said, “With the proper intel, we can make such a foray.”
    He sensed that the meeting was done. He nodded and stood. Rama also came to his feet. Rama said, “Honored Rajah, I will go immediately to harry my spies to greater action.”
    The Rajah waved one hand toward the door as he, too, stood.
    Rama headed out. Cutter made to follow him.
    “Colonel, bide a moment, if you would?”
    Cutter paused.
    Once Rama was gone, the Rajah spoke. “My future son-in-law is young and full of himself. His blood runs hot, and he is quick to righteous anger. His feelings for my daughter and his sense of outraged trespass might…cloud his judgment.”
    Cutter nodded.
    The Rajah stared past him for a moment, then pulled his focus back to Cutter. “The primary goal here is the safe return of my daughter, who has always been the jewel of my heart. That Rama would wade through rivers of blood to slaughter her killers in a white-hot rage would be of little comfort to me.”
    “I understand.”
    “You have children?”
    “I had a son.”
Had.
    “Ah. So you do understand. Rama is a good boy and his intentions honorable, but I engaged you because I want a cool and experienced hand guiding this affair. Please do not hesitate to do whatever you think is necessary to achieve the goal. Accept Rama’s help or not, that’s up to you. If he gets in your way, be as diplomatic as you can be to go around him, but…” He trailed off.
    Cutter got that, too. “We will do our best, sir.”
    “Who can ask for more? Thank you, Colonel.”

NINE
    In the still-chemical-smelly conference room:
    The colonel looked around the room at his core team. “So that’s it. Questions? Comments?”
    Gunny said, “So we are standing by to see what Rama finds out?”
    Cutter glanced at Jo. She said, “No, we are gathering our own intelligence. No offense to the locals, but they have axes to grind and might be a bit on the subjective side in that arena.”
    There were a few chuckles at that.
    “You all know how this game is played,” Jo continued. “Wink can talk to the medicos; Formentara will check with the augmentors—”
    “On
this
planet?” Formentara said. “They have augmentors?” Zhe offered an expression of mock amazement. “Using what? Abacuses and pickaxes?”
    Jo shook her head, grinning. “Gramps, go find the money. Gunny, there are bound to be working-class pubs. Buy somebody a drink, get the view from the street.”
    “There are other nonhuman species here,” Kay said. “Perhaps they might have information. I will seek them out.”
    “See if you can do that without killing too many of the locals,” Jo said.
    “I have killed none of them yet, save that guard.”
    That was good for a few more laughs. They’d seen the vid starring Ganesh the Incredibly Stupid. And that tag:
yet…
    Part of the standard CFI contract was immunity from local