The Lost Ship of the Tucker Rebellion - Marie Sexton Page 0,22
saw by Poppy’s face that she understood that he’d let the intel slip, but she only shrugged. “What you do with the info you buy from me is your own business. I’m sure you had reason for giving it away so cheap.”
“Didn’t feel like I had much of a choice at the time.”
Again, Poppy shrugged, glancing quickly at the clock on the wall. She had other clients to attend to, and probably a line of ships queued up for repair. “I assume you didn’t tromp halfway across the docks to tell me about that shitheel Tonlet. The Jiminy needs work? You take some damage out there?”
“No,” Denver said, exchanging a worried glance with Marit. “The Jiminy’s fine. But…”
“We found something,” Marit said. “Something big.”
Denver almost kicked her for blurting it out. Then again, he hadn’t come up with a better plan. He rested his elbows on his thighs, hands clasped between his knees, and met Poppy’s eyes. He took a deep breath and made a choice.
He’d worry later about whether it was the right one.
“We need to find a buyer,” he said. “A fence.”
Poppy’s eyes flashed, and she put her elbows on her desk to lean closer. “What kind of goods we talking about here?”
“Biologicals.”
Poppy sat back and let out a low whistle. “Damn, Denver. That ain’t no cakewalk. The import regulators haves a tight rein on what comes in and out. The kinds of contacts you need, they’re not exactly easy to find. Why not go through the legitimate channels?”
“We can’t,” Denver said, lowering his voice even though he knew there was nobody listening in. “They’ll seize everything, and we’ll be left high and dry.”
“You’d be in for a finder’s fee. You know that.”
He shook his head. “It’s more than that.”
“More than biologicals? What the hell did you stumble across out there?”
She leaned closer in her eagerness, which only made Denver’s heart pound harder. He rubbed the back of his neck and licked his dry lips. The small office suddenly felt claustrophobic. What he wouldn’t have given to have Laramie’s calming influence in his mind right now.
He took a deep breath and thought about that. What would Laramie say?
He’d say “do what you have to do to get our business done.” Laramie wasn’t usually as picky as Denver, not when it came to getting what they needed. Remember, we’ve got the goods. That gives us the upper hand.
Denver sat up straight to face her, forcing himself to stop fidgeting. He imagined Laramie lounging next to him, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“We’re gonna need a decrypter as well. Something that can read files encoded in Frontier 3.8.”
Poppy hummed speculatively. “That’s a bit easier to come by, but not by much. Any machine that old would take more maintenance than most people want to pay for. Again, you’d have an easier time going through a government agent. So really, tell me: why the secrecy? What’s worth so much that you need to keep it dark?” Her eyes narrowed. “Or is it that you’re afraid of what they’ll do to you if they know you have it?”
She’d hit the nail on the head, but it didn’t really matter. “I’m not using the official channels. My reasons are my own. So can you help me or not?”
She leaned back in her seat and propped one booted heel on her desk. “What’s in it for me?”
Marit jumped in at that, her voice heavy with sarcasm. “How about the good feeling that comes from doing a favor for a friend?”
Poppy laughed. “I don’t think so. Feelings don’t spend on Titan, but for you…” She let her eyes rove blatantly over Marit’s compact, trim body. “How about you spend the night with me and we call it even?”
Marit squirmed. Poppy had certainly expressed interest in the past, but never as part of a business arrangement. And Marit’s obvious discomfort only made Poppy’s teasing smile grow wider.
“Ten percent,” Denver offered. “I’ll give you ten percent of the score for the biologicals.”
Poppy turned her attention back to him, her teasing grin giving way to pragmatism. “How will I know you’re playing me square?”
“You’ll know the fence, won’t you?”
“Sure, but he’s a lying bastard who’d cheat me in a second flat and come after me if he thinks I’m trying to play him. You’ll have to watch your step around him, or he’ll do way worse to you.”