Trouble Magnet by Alan Dean Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

establishing a presence in the capital city. Humankind’s closest and most important allies within the Commonwealth, the insectoid thranx had a similar appreciation for affluence.
    But to scrim one—or in this case, two—that was something Subar had never even imagined. As he sat pondering, his thoughts whirling, it was Zezula’s turn to press Chaloni further.
    “Why thranx?” she inquired huskily. “I mean, I don’t have anything against it: a boost is a boost. But why bugs instead of bipeds?”
    Chaloni nodded patiently, his body language showing that he had clearly anticipated the question. “Well for one thing, nobody’ll be expecting it.” His grin returned, twisted this time. “Show the media that we here in Alewev don’t discriminate. Bugs won’t be expecting it, either.” He fixed her with a mixture of sloe-eyed lust and testosterone-fueled dominance. “I told you, I
scoped
it. We’ll be in and out before anybody can raise an alarm.” Leaning back on the mist-chair, he folded his slender, muscular arms across his chest in a posture of youthful bravado.
    “Thranx are always loaded with the latest stuff from Evoria and places like that. You know what we take off scrimmed locals. Imagine what we’re going to be offered for out of the ordinary offworld gear.”
    “Weapons?” Missi sounded half thoughtful, half hesitant. She did not want to appear to be challenging Chaloni’s competency.
    He took no offense. “Scoped the bugs three different mornings. Didn’t see anything like that. Doesn’t mean they’re not carrying. But if they are, the stuff’s not patent. It’s kind of hard to tell. They both wear the typical everyday bug body pouches across the lower thorax. No heavy gear, since near as I can figure the morning walks they take are just for exercise. Then they call private transport to take them back to their hive-hotel. But the packs look like they’re always full.”
    His eyes glittered as he continued. “One morning, I saw them stop on the trail. The attending male kept pulling gear from his pouch and passing it to the female. Communications, body gloss sprayer, all kinds of stuff. All of it new and the latest. Probably a lot more stuff in each pouch. I hope he
is
carrying a gun. A bug weapon would be worth as much as everything else put together.” He took a long draft from his glass. “Just two bugs. Should be easy to take down.”
    Startling everyone, Sallow Behdul spoke up. His tone was as mournful as his perpetually sorrowful expression. “You ever scrim a thranx, Chaloni?”
    It took a moment for the gang leader to recover from his surprise at hearing Behdul voice a question. “Uh, no. So what? As long as we surprise ’em and make sure to cover the exits, it shouldn’t be any different from scrimming a human. C’mon, Sallow—you know bugs as well as anybody. They’re smaller than us, don’t weigh near as much. Grab one by the antennae and they’ll do anything you want.”
    Behdul looked less than completely satisfied, but under Chaloni’s even stare elected not to comment further.
    “You sure it won’t bring extra attention down on us?” Dirran inquired.
    Chaloni shrugged. “What if it does? Alewev is where we live, Alewev is where we hide. We’re crossing district lines anyway. The police won’t know where we’re from. It’s not like we’re scrimming Quillp or some neutrals. These are just
thranx,
people. Our blessed friends. No bug deal.” He leaned forward again, obviously pleased with himself.
    “And the best part of it is, being from offworld, they’re unlikely to hang around to help with identifications or testify in person. Visaria isn’t a tourist destination. This female’s probably on business here. That means she’s likely to have more business elsewhere. They’ll probably just take the loss as part of the cost of doing business on a less civilized human world and get on with their lives.”
    Subar had to admit that Chaloni seemed to have