Windswept Read Free Page A

decided that their lives were worth more than their Indentures to the Big Three. It sure as hell beat holing up in Thronehill on the corporate side of the fence with the office drones, all of them breathing triple-scrubbed air and never getting a noseful of this. I breathed deep, forcing myself to relax, tamping back The Fear. I would not let it get out. Not today.
    Big Lily walked up with my tea. “One of these days, I really will call Soni to bust that twerp,” I said.
    “I would think Captain Baghram would be busy fighting real crime,” said Big Lily, setting down the mug. “Besides, you’d have to catch him doing something illegal, and I don’t think even Bloombeck is stupid enough to try that in here.”
    “Soni and I are good enough friends that she’d do that for me,” I said. “Especially if I paid her off.”
    She made a face. “I’m sure she’d charge you a pretty penny to lock him up. Save your money. It’s not worth dipping into your budget for the likes of Bloombeck.” She got a fresh bottle of Nelson’s Column from underneath the bar. “You want a little extra?”
    “You know I don’t drink until after six o’clock.”
    “Yeah, though I’ve never understood why.”
    “Girl’s got to keep some mystery.”
    “What’s the fun in that?” she said, opening the bottle. She gagged, and some of the rum splashed on the bartop.
    “What?” I said, and then the smell hit me, like mustard and raw sewage. My eyes watered as my throat tightened. “Christ, Lily!”
    People ran for the windows, and someone hit the massive fans that kept the place cool during the peak of summer. The air freshened, though the stink lingered, the puddle staining the bartop’s finish with yellow streaks. “You ought to tell your friends in the Co-Op about that,” said Big Lily as she capped the bottle and tucked it into a trashcan.
    “What, you, too?” I said, eyeing the stain. What looked like steam rose from its lightening surface.
    “Me, what?” said Big Lily.
    “Everyone thinks I have some magic pull with the Co-Op, just ’cause I’m talking with Tonggow,” I said.
    She grabbed a rag to clean the bar, eyeing the now-fizzing discoloration. Then tossed the skunked bottle in the bin and pulled up Beaulieu’s Blend instead. “Well, I hope you work things out with her. You’ve been talking about buying her place as long as she’s been talking about retiring. And better you than someone else. She makes a hell of a rum, and I’d like it to stay that way.”
    She didn’t know the half of it. I eyed the Beaulieu’s and blinked up the clock. Four twenty-seven. Jesus.
    I blinked up the two numbers that ruled my life: the number of people I’d recruited into the Union, and my cash reserve. I knew both numbers by heart, since they hadn’t changed in the past six months: 467 and 120,300. I’d fought like hell to get those people included in my headcount, and I’d scrimped to keep that bank account as filled as possible. It was enough money to buy out Tonggow now, but I needed the pension and completion bonus to get through the first few years of production. And I wouldn’t get there until I’d recruited five hundred people. It was so close I could taste my first batch of Old Windswept. Those mining ships would come in, those people would emerge from the can with my name on their lips, and I’d never have to deal with this crap ever again.
    “You looked at your numbers again,” said Big Lily.
    “You bet I did,” I said.
    “Just don’t go crazy with it,” she said, pouring a splash of Beaulieu’s into a rocks glass and giving it a swirl. “Take it from a Shareholder who’s been in your shoes: what you do for the Union is important, but being your own boss? That’s more important.” She took a sip, then nodded. “At least Bill Beaulieu is still up to standard.”
    “I’m sure he’d be thrilled,” I said.
    “Hey, he was a Breach once, just like you, just like me,” said Big Lily. “He came