Hard Luck Hank: Delovoa & Early Years Read Free

was
like he was in quicksand. I feared his legs would completely separate from his
body if I pulled too hard.
    Organa Dultz reached back with an arm and
grabbed hold around my neck, proving he was still alive and wanted to remain
that way.
    I managed to drag him out and lay him on the
ground next to the tub. I didn’t have anything to put on him and I was sure if
I used the emergency showers that would be even worse.
    “Your funeral, kid,” I heard from behind me.
    Blam! Blam! Blam!
    “Ow! Ow! Ow!” I said, after being shot.
    I looked at Tamshius holding his pistol. His
eyes were huge.
    “Why did you say ‘Ow’?” He asked.
    “Because it hurt!”
    “Yeah, but why aren’t you dead?”
    “Because I’m bulletproof.”
    Blam!
    “Ow!”
    I stood up and took a step toward Tamshius,
ready to shove that gun down his throat.
    He dropped it immediately and put his hands up.
    “Sorry! How are you bulletproof?”
    “I just am.”
    I picked up Organa Dultz and put him on my
back. I needed to get him to a hospital, fast. I headed back the way I came.
    “Then why are you working here?” I heard Tamshius
yell after me.
     
    Two days later I was still in the hospital
sitting by Organa Dultz’s bed.
    They said he would make it, but both his legs
had been amputated because of severe frostbite. He hadn’t regained
consciousness yet.
    I wasn’t sure why I was here. I guess making
certain no one came to finish the job.
    “Hey, kid.”
    Tamshius was leaning against the doorjamb
looking cool and deadly.
    I stood up, ready for a fight.
    “Stay back or I’ll punch you in the stomach,” I
said. Not having any experience threatening people.
    “Easy pago, I’m not here to get dusty. My boss
wants to give you a job.”
    “Sure. What is it, being shot by you guys? Or
as soon as I leave, you kill him?”
    “He got the message. We’re done with him. No,
my boss wants you to collect debts for him. I take the bets and if they don’t
pay…that’s your job. Things are too busy, I can’t go chasing everyone.”
    “Well, sorry to hear that. I’m not going to
throw people in freezing sewage.”
    “That’s the good part, kid, you don’t have to.
You’re bulletproof! Use whatever method you want. Hell, just talk to them if
you like. They got to listen, they can’t shoot you.”
    “Doesn’t sound like something I’d be good at,”
I said.
    “First job pays 5,000 credits.”
    I couldn’t conceal my amazement. Was that even
possible? How could anyone make money paying someone else that much?
    “I’ll think about it,” I said.
    Tamshius gave a little salute and sauntered
off.
    I sat down, scratching my head.
    “Hank…” I heard the weak voice of Organa Dultz.
    I got up and went by his bed.
    “I’m here.”
    “Take the job.”
    “You heard him? Is it for real?”
    “Of course. You don’t want to be working in the
sewers the rest of your life. End up like me. You got a lot of potential.”
    I smiled despite myself.
    “Besides,” he added, “it will make me feel
better to know the next time they won’t send some animal after me. It will be
you.”
     
MY FIRST
MURDER
     
    It was ten years after Belvaille had opened and
the city no longer resembled its earlier version.
    The vast majority of economic activity on the
city now came from illegal sources.
    There had been a criminal element on the city
almost from the start, catering to the needs of the explorers who were given
monthly checks from the Colmarian Confederation yet had nothing to actually
explore—other than the bottoms of liquor bottles. But those criminals had
always been of a minor sort, half entertainers, half businessmen.
    Now real criminals were here and operating in
earnest.
    However, if you could set up a successful brothel
in regular Colmarian space there wasn’t any reason to relocate to Belvaille.
The population was a fraction of a large planetary city.
    So Belvaille attracted a very particular kind
of criminal.
    Those with money to invest in