Read Danger Money for Free Online Page B

Could have fooled me! When's training for the next one start? In a week?"
    "Beats me, I just wait till they call me and tell me to show up. I don't look at the schedule anymore." I flicked my tail over and batted her nose with it while giving her a smile.
    "But this is slow. Back during the Leverage conflict I once stayed away from here for eight months. And training, if you got it, was short and simple. We were losing ten to eighteen people a month. It's a wonder I survived. Then one day after the end of the war, they locked us down completely and changed the rules. No more passes, no more going out even when supervised."
    "Why was that?"
    "Somebody got scared. Rumor has it that one of the group snuck off and iced one of our own V.P.’s, but it could have been another company that did it."
    "What do you think?"
    "Oh, just more bureaucratic B.S., that's all."
    "I meant about the V.P."
    "I really don't know," I lied. I had a pretty good idea who did it. And why. We're all very loyal and protective of our corporation. Raised that way I guess. The VP in question was not doing things in the company's best interests. At least we didn't think so. So I suspect that someone decided to do a little house cleaning. I just wondered if it had been official, though I doubted it. Thing's like that just don't go on 'in house'.
    "So do you get many visitors?"
    "No unfortunately. Very few people even know this place exists, much less who's here anymore. That's why no one messes with visitors, no one wants that privilege taken away."
    "Then why do you do it?"
    "It's my job. What else can I do?" I nipped her ear playfully, "And anyway, I don't have any say in the matter, remember?"
    We went and got some food then, and I brought her back to my quarters.
    "Looks like an office," she mused. "All standard issue."
    "Personal possessions are just a weight to slow you down." I chuckled, "and it makes it harder for the psych guys to figure you out."
    "You really are pretty paranoid, you know that?"
    "Wouldn't you be?" I laughed.
    We sat around and watched a movie that was being telecast from Earth. Then the news and a documentary. I loved documentaries and was pleased to find out she did too. Then the news again.
    I watched a lot of news, both to see what effects my work had, and to see where I might be going next. Corporate infighting was a major source of interest and entertainment on Earth. I had noticed that public opinion was finally getting sick of the bloodshed though. Too many 'innocents' were getting caught in the crossfire they claimed.
    It was here where I found out (as I often did), the reason for my last job and the identity of the unfortunate woman I had shot. She was a Senator of all things! Kind of funny when you consider that he was the biggest supplier of illegal drugs on Earth, where nearly everything is illegal. The newsies were having a field day with that one!
    It was suspected that he was trying to get the government to outlaw, or try to at least, many of the drugs on frontier worlds. Most frontier worlds really didn't care or regulate drug use, and as my corporation did a lot of business in that market, I could see where they stood to lose a fortune. Not as much as he stood to gain however, illegal drugs always cost more than legal ones, that was just simple economics.
    But I also found it a little trite. Time was we only hit targets to save lives, or in retaliation for loss of life. This should have been handled by the Dirty Tricks squad. I said as much to Azelett.
    "Maybe there's more to it," she said.
    "I don't know, nobody told us about any people he had killed, or if he even was planning to. They just stamped 'Secret' on it and sent us out. Makes you wonder."
    "About what?"
    "Just who's running the show."
    "Oh, you're just being paranoid again!" She grinned and scratched between my ears.
    I closed my eyes and rumbled contentedly. Life's little pleasures were priceless in my book.
    Azelett stayed till morning, and I escorted