Read Ruthless for Free Online Page B

quietly after a while.
    "There might be some more places to try outside town?" suggested Wulf.
    "No," said Johnny, "just being here is wrong."
    Wulf and the Gronk waited patiently.
    "We're too far out on the edge," said Johnny.
    "Okay," said Wulf, not sure if his companion was speaking astronomically or psychologically.
    "Wulf," said Johnny. "You saved my life this morning. I forgot to say thanks."
    "It's my duty," said Wulf. "As a true son of Odin, I am obliged-"
    "I know," said Johnny. "But we're getting strung out."
    He was right. Vaara was a backwater in the back end of nowhere. Pretty much everyone was up to something illegal, and that meant that bounty pickings were plentiful, but hotly fought-over. The five bandits were the best they had done for a while, and now even they hadn't been worth the effort.
    "You think we should head back towards der Core?" asked Wulf.
    Johnny nodded.
    "I've had enough of nickel and diming it over jaywalkers and tax dodgers," he said.
    "Me too," admitted Wulf.
    "Let's go back towards civilisation. Get ourselves on a shuttle out of here," said Johnny.
    Two streets back, they found the Hack Shack, a tiny ten-seater diner dwarfed by the massive dish on its roof. Johnny was out of the car and through the front door before Wulf could help the Gronk out of its seatbelt.
    "I need an uplink," said Johnny without waiting for a hello.
    The shack's sole occupant was hunched over the counter reading the desert world's equivalent of sci-fi - an old gardening magazine. He blinked at Johnny through eyes tormented by a lifetime of drinking too much coffee. Johnny pretended not to notice the skin grafts that snaked across his cheekbones and along his nose in a strangely symmetrical patchwork. Someone had once worked outdoors in the forty-hour sun.
    "It's ten creds an hour," Patch said.
    "Fine," said Johnny, digging in his pockets.
    "But we're closing in ten minutes," he added. "You can come back tomorrow, or-"
    "Here," said Johnny. "Just take the ten."
    "Mister Wulf?" said the Gronk. "Where is the computer?"
    Patch stared in mild panic at the furry non-human creature by the side of the imposing Viking.
    "This is a cybercafé," insisted the server. "No cyber without the café part. So you better order something."
    "Okay," said Johnny, not wanting to argue. "Three coffees."
    "We haven't got any milk."
    "Three black coffees."
    "Fine."
    The man turned away and then looked back again.
    "Actually," he said, "we're out of coffee as well."
    Johnny stared into the man's brain, looking for the telltale red glow of someone trying it on. Just the faintest tinge at that end of the spectrum and he was ready for a fight - it had been one of those days, and on Vaara it had gone on significantly longer than usual.
    But there wasn't a whole lot going on inside the man's head. His concerns were cleaning the counter before closing time, remembering to lock up properly for once, and a niggling concern that the white furry creature with the two strangers was a Gronkus Laxativus . But the man was on the level. There really wasn't any coffee. He might be stupid, but he wasn't malicious.
    "Three cups of anything you have that you can make with boiled water."
    "Tea?"
    "Fine."
    "Johnny, make sure it is boiled," said Wulf.
    "He heard me the first time," said Johnny, ushering Wulf over to the single grubby workstation.
    Johnny hesitated. He had a problem with viewscreens. Focussing his mutant eyes on a cathode ray tube, LCD display, or a holographic projection really screwed him up. He had a habit of seeing the inside of the machine rather than the illusion it transmitted.
    "Don't worry," said Wulf cheerily, cracking his knuckles. "Wulf can be doing der typing."
    "All right," Johnny said. "Just don't start complaining about-"
    "These runes are unfamiliar," said Wulf. "There is no 'ö' key, for a start."
    "You'll just have to work around it," said Johnny diplomatically.
    Wulf began typing carefully into the keyboard, pressing each key