Chapter 1: Casey's Flight

My birth name was Peter Simon Wolf. I was "Sergeant Casey," a security consultant on assignment to a backwater world beyond the borders of the Consortium. It was cover for an operation as Agent Kasai—I'm told that my code name means "uncontrollable fire." I was in deep trouble because I had thwarted an assassination attempt by a member of the nobility. My client: Minister Sunday, chief of the planetary police force. Still, a commoner laying hands on a noble was a capital crime.

A valid question: why did the chief of a planetary police force need an off-world security consultant to upgrade his estate security? I don't know the answer, only that I had derailed three previous assassination attempts. They were all commoners, though. E2 was Minister Sunday's nephew.

Despite my crime—committed in the presence of Minister Booksmith, the justice minister, I retained my sidearm and wasn't restrained. They bade me to wait in the Grand Reception Room. I waited but an hour. It could have been longer. Force professionals have four functions: we use force in the name of others, we are bullet magnets (trouble has to deal with us before trouble can get our patrons), we are scapegoats (we used force and take the blame or we failed to use force and get blamed for that), and we wait. Force professionals wait more than any other function. Being a scapegoat is usually a one-time thing, and then we die. An hour wait wasn't unreasonable. Besides, I was fairly comfortable and hadn't been executed yet. I could wait. I still had the pistol, a fifteen-shot slug thrower, with two spare magazines.

"OY! OY!" announced the estate herald, rapping his staff on the floor. "ALL ATTEND! MINISTER SUNDAY AND MINISTER BOOKSMITH!"

The few people in the Grand Reception Room stood a respectful distance from the dais. Both ministers were in formal robes of office. When they both sat on their respective thrones, the herald bade me to come closer. I marched to my mark, stood at attention and snapped a salute. Minister Sunday acknowledged my salute with a wave.

"We are grateful for your service, Sergeant Casey," Minister Sunday said. "We cannot ask for more faithful service. You completed your contract ahead of schedule and under budget. If more of our contractors were as faithful—but that's why we needed your services. You went beyond the contract, saved my life four times. For that you've earned a bonus. Bring out concubine Yums."

"BRING OUT THE CONCUBINE!" the herald announced with a rap of his staff against the floor. I happened to have instructed the herald in using his staff as a weapon. A trained man can do a lot of damage with two meters and two kilos of staff.

It was rumored that the harem master and his assistants were eunuchs. I cannot verify that. It was none of my business. I wasn't even permitted access for a survey. The harem master brought out a figure in a hooded cloak. The harem master stopped the concubine in front of me and whipped off her cloak, leaving her naked. She knelt, head bowed.

"I leave you with your just reward, Sergeant Casey," Minister Sunday told me. "Take her and go with the gods. Forever seek their mercy because Man has none."

That was a coded message to leave immediately. Hopefully, I didn't show any reaction when I received my coded orders from an unexpected source. That would really be awkward, and unprofessional, too.

"I thank you," I saluted. "May the gods find me worthy."

The herald announced their departure and then it was proper for me to leave. I started down the corridor to my assigned quarters, but ducked into a utility closet with silent Yums. The closet was an access point to the secret passages of the estate. Yums shied away until I applied pressure to a point above her elbow.

"This is a shortcut," I said as I opened the hidden doorway. The inside of the secret passage was dimly lit. "I want to hurry. I burn with anticipation."