"Joanna Wylde - Saurellian 5 - Jerred's Price" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wylde Joanna)

breath and opened her eyes again.




8
 Jerred’s Price


It was as if nothing had happened. She could hear the distant sounds of the bar,
hear people laughing. She walked slowly back into the open, eyes immediately turning
toward the table where he and Vetch had sat. It was empty.
“Giselle!” Manya called from his spot behind the bar. She turned to him, and her
boss looked over at her, frowning. “Where have you been? You got customers waiting.”
She turned toward him, forced herself to smile.
“Sorry, I was in the fresher.”
“You move faster next time,” he said, his words harsh but his tone gentle. Then his
face softened. “You all right?”
“Manya,” she said slowly. “Did you see that guy who was in here with Vetch? He
had a blaster.”
The man’s broad forehead knotted into frown.
“You sure ’bout that?” he asked. “We have the sensors turned on. They were
serviced less than a week ago. No way would he be able to get in here with a blaster.”
“Well, he had one,” she said. “I don’t know how he got it in, but he did.”
“You see him again, you let me know,” Manya said, frowning at her. “Now go take
care of your tables. I’ll let Brant know, he’ll keep an eye out for him.”
She nodded, picking up a tray. The Debsians called out to her in a drunken chorus;
she hurried toward them, pasting a bright smile on her face. Black Leather was gone—
everything would be fine now. Their bouncer, Brant, was a big man. She doubted that
even the tall, scarred man would be able to get by him without a fight. Things were
back to normal, and she should be thinking about her tips, not the man in the hallway.
Four endless hours later her shift ended. She picked up her small bag from Manya’s
office and headed out the door, glad that it wasn’t her turn to close. She wasn’t up to it.
She nodded goodbye to Brant and headed out the door, keeping one eye open for Black
Leather. She doubted he was still around, but you couldn’t be too cautious. Blessedly,
the open, two-story arcade that served as a thoroughfare through the space station’s
port was almost deserted.
Here and there groups of drunken spacers lurched by her, talking to themselves
and calling out to every woman they saw. Ahead of her were three men dressed in
engineer’s coveralls. They waved at her, shouting something. She couldn’t make out the
words, but she knew the tone. They wanted to get laid. She laughed, shaking her head
at them. Typical spacers. They were no threat to her, years of experience had taught her
how to distinguish between men who were truly interested and those simply going
through the motions.
She doubted the engineers would be capable of making it with a woman at this
point anyway. They could hardly walk, yet two of them peeled off from the group and
lurched toward her. She rolled her eyes and waved them off with a short, shooing
gesture. A dark shadow detached itself from a narrow passageway between two stores.
She sensed him right before he took her arm.