Read Slip Point for Free Online Page B

contact. She knew that behind her, Creeds was similarly sitting down with a nonchalant air where he could watch her.
    She was careful not to drink so fast as to blur her judgment, but the sooner she neared the end of this glass the sooner contact could be made, and she was already a little weary of this clandestine way of meeting. And she wasn’t sure how to look believably approachable without attracting people other than her contact. She settled for engaging the bartender in conversation, regaling him with outrageous tales of her father she disguised as hearsay.
    He laughed in amazement when she finished her story about the Galatian glass theft. “Wily old bastard, isn’t he? I think he’s been around for decades now, and not caught once.”
    “Maybe we’re just hearing stories of his exploits after he died a peaceful death on some resort planet,” Shayalin said. She liked to muddy the waters.
    The bartender shook his head. “Haven’t you heard about his daughter, Lin Bailey? They say he taught her everything he knows, and she’s as tough and sly as he ever was. If he’s gone, it’s because she took him out to get all his treasure.”
    “If she did, it was to have one less person to rat her out—just like he taught her!” She grinned and drained the last of her drink.
    “Care for another?” the bartender asked her, taking the glass as she set it down.
    She opened her mouth, not sure what she was going to say, when a man deftly inserted himself between her and the person next to her. “Actually,” he said, “if I may?”
    She looked him over, glad to have an excuse to be obvious about it. He was easy enough on the eye, with blond bangs and an open smile. Too open. He didn’t seem like a secret contact, but she supposed if he were blatant about it, she’d be even more concerned.
    “Thanks,” Shayalin said with a nod.
    He turned to the bartender. “Two End of Days,” he ordered.
    She gave him a smile of her own. “So, stranger…”
    “Grayson,” he said, offering his hand and her drink.
    She took both. “Shayalin.”
    His smile grew warmer. “So, Shayalin, what do you do?”
    “I’m in the trade business,” she said vaguely. “And you? What brings you to the Ionia ?”
    “Trying to set up some meetings,” he said. “Sometimes it’s easier in person.”
    That fit in well enough without giving anything away. Naturally neither of them would reveal their true purpose. She’d been hoping he’d at least give her a clue, but she couldn’t detect anything behind his interested expression. She’d talked over the details of contracts in her share of bars, and it made her wonder what business he was involved in that required such secrecy.
    “So you must be on the Ionia often,” she said. “Thoughts?”
    “It has at least one passable bar,” he said judiciously.
    She quirked a brow at him. “It has alcohol, which is all I need. You must have higher standards.”
    “I do,” he said. “This bar normally wouldn’t rate a mention, but when you average it out with its patronage…” He smiled at her.
    He certainly moved quickly. She decided against making this too easy for him. “Why, thank you. Unless you’re flattering yourself?”
    “I’m trying to flatter you,” he said. “And my taste. Certainly not that hulking fellow in the booth behind us who’s been glaring at me since I came to sit by you.”
    She propped her chin up with both hands to hide her surprise at how easily Creeds had been spotted. There were other people in the bar, but her second-cum-bodyguard had been singled out among them. “He’s just jealous he didn’t work up the courage first. So where does a man of such refined tastes come from?”
    “Albarz. Have you ever been to the Atian spoke?”
    “I’ve passed through a time or two,” she said easily. She wasn’t about to admit she’d been born on one of its Rim worlds, nor that she regularly smuggled goods through Albarz’s quarantine these days. “I