Ket loomed in the
doorway with at least a dozen uniformed Nobeks at his back. Wekniz drew in
fresh air, the relief of doing so momentarily overriding the danger he was in.
Then he looked over his visitors and his protective instincts rose. He glowered
at the hardcase group before him.
“What the fuck do
you want, Ket? Your brother isn’t here.”
Wekniz was pretty
sure Falinset must have gone on one of his beach walks. If he’d been home, he’d
have been in the middle of the bedlam.
Ket gave Wekniz an
unimpressed look, not concerned with the man’s obvious displeasure. “Hello, Wekniz. I caught your scent in the
woods on our way over.”
“Good for you. I
like to hunt at night on my property.
Got a problem with it?”
“Funny, since I
smelled your stench on Dramok Maf’s land too. As for any problem I might have
with your trespassing, it depends on what you may have caught.”
“Not a damned
thing.” Wekniz looked over the deadly faces ranged behind Ket. “Speaking of
trespassing, what’s with the big crowd you’ve brought to my doorstep? What are
combat troops doing in this area?”
“We’re looking for
someone. But you know that, don’t you? The trail we followed says you weren’t
alone.”
Wekniz played dumb,
though he and Ket both knew he was lying through his teeth. “I was by myself.
As I told you, Falinset is out. He wasn’t with me on my hunt either, so you are
obviously mistaken.”
Ket grinned, a
thoroughly unpleasant sight. But then anything to do with Ket’s face was an
unpleasant sight to Wekniz. “If you’ve brought nothing home of interest, then
you shouldn’t mind if we have a look around.”
Wekniz folded his
arms over his chest. “As a matter of fact, I do mind.”
Ket’s grin turned
into a sneer. He looked back at his men. They all raised blasters and aimed
them at Wekniz.
Ket said to Wekniz,
“Let’s try this again. Do you mind if we have a look around?”
International Version
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