The Star Pirate's Folly by James Hanlon Read Free Book Online

and made his exit.
    Bee thought again of Lee’s bounty and cursed herself for not
recognizing him. He’d been wanted for years in the belt—piracy, kidnapping,
murder. And now this. Slack Dog must have had something valuable in those cases
for Lee to have come all that way, but what? And why the bomb?
    She’d heard the pirates were growing stronger and bolder
every year, but Hargrove dismissed such talk as bad for business. This was
different. Brazen. They’d never come to Surface before. It was always quick
strikes on the shipping lanes, one or two vessels captured or looted, and then
they would vanish before anyone could respond. Or they’d blockade some outlying
moon base and ransack it. Why a bomb? He could have just shot, stabbed, or
strangled Slack Dog—the old fool was in no state to defend himself. It didn’t
make sense for Lee to broadcast his presence when he still had to get
off-planet.
    But then, Lee hadn’t been expecting anyone to see him. And
certainly not anyone who would recognize him. A bounty hunter wouldn’t be
looking for him where they weren’t expecting him—most of them stuck to the belt,
where the biggest bounties were. Maybe the bomb was supposed to be a
distraction, to allow him to escape.
    If that was his intention it backfired in a spectacular way.
There was no way he had time to get back up to the station where his ship was
docked. They’d flag it and alert the station’s guards that Lee was headed their
way. Most likely, if he hadn’t been caught already trying to get offworld,
Jensen Lee was stuck in the city somewhere— her city , she thought—with
his stolen suitcases.
    And he’d just kicked the hornet’s nest. Half the police
force would be after him. With its domed roof and airlocks, the city was
practically a prison already. The police would post guards at all the exits and
comb the city for him. It would only be a matter of time until Lee was caught. Bee
opened a browser window and searched for news on the incident.
    The local media was having a field day—this was the biggest
story in years, even bigger than the Fated Lovers. Bee swiped through news
video after news video, talking head after talking head, and learned nothing
more than she already knew. Then she landed on a live feed where the reporter
was standing with his back to one of the sealed-off airlocks. Two Overlook City
officers leaned against the airlock in the background, protected from the
gathering crowd by police barriers.
    Jensen Lee’s face leered at her from a graphic next to the
reporter, the same picture she’d seen on his bounty page. The one she failed to
recognize. Above his face: WANTED. Below it: 20,000 REWARD. They’d quadrupled the
bounty after the attack.
    “—also a two thousand credit reward for information leading
to the capture of Jensen Lee. Viewers, please don’t hesitate to call. This man
has been on the run from interplanetary authorities for more than five weeks
and Overlook City’s Commissioner Norton has warned us that the fugitive will
not hesitate to kill again. Until further notice, the city’s walls are closed
to pedestrian traffic, meaning the cancellation of tonight’s Fated Lovers
festivities. We can only speculate what will happen from here—perhaps this is
just the prelude to a larger, more devastating attack.”
    Bee closed the window and leaned back in her chair, bathed
in the cool glow of the projected monitor. She realized she’d been sitting in
the dark, and as she got up to turn on the lights Slack Dog’s datapad vibrated
in her pocket. She’d completely forgotten about it. Startled, she grabbed for
the pad and the screen lit up as she brought it out of her pocket.
    Bee saw with horror she’d answered a video call. An older
man with a red floral-print bandanna on his head squinted at her from the tiny display,
trying to make out her face. She covered the camera with her thumb, thankful
for the darkness. It looked like he was in a kitchen. She hovered a