Page 94 of Owned By Two

“How about we get down to business?”

He motioned for me to take a seat on one of the leather armchairs on the other side of his small desk.

I sank into it and could have fallen asleep right there.

“Comfy?” Qeyel asked.

“Very,” I said, stroking the upholstery. “Where did you buy it?”

“Not all my clients have the funds to pay with money, so some pay in trade, wares, things of that nature. It’s often the best way to do business. I provide a service to them and they provide one right back. It costs me little to conduct my business, just as it costs them little to build their wares, and so we both end up with something far more valuable than we would otherwise have had to pay for with cash.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll have to bear that in mind in the future.”

Qeyel picked up a pen and tapped it between his fingers. “So, how can I help you?”

I reached into my pocket and came out with the tablet device.

I leaned over and handed it to him. “I need to know who owns this ship.”

“It was decommissioned?”

I nodded. “Yes. But I don’t know who to.”

“If you wanted to know that, we could have used the network. Then you would never have needed to concern yourself with traveling all this way.”

“It’s no bother.”

Qeyel glanced up and held my eyes for a moment, reading my true meaning in them. “I see. Well, let’s boot it up and see what we have.”

He plugged the tablet into a small device that would scan it to check it didn’t contain a virus or any other malicious software.

A green light blinked and he unplugged it and attached it to his main computer terminal.

He didn’t activate the holo-screen and instead used an old model with a solid back.

The reason was simple: he didn’t want me to see what was on his screen.

A holo-projector was fine if you dealt with unimportant materials but when it came to sensitive information…

That was another story.

He ran his eyes over the information but didn’t say anything for a moment.

I didn’t ask if he’d found it — healwaysfound what he was looking for — and instead I watched his expression in an attempt to read what I could from it.

I might as well have been trying to read the face of a brick wall.

He pursed his lips and let out a deep breath. “Well, I found it. It’s an M1 Xiac Class-2 Fighter. A pricey piece of kit.”

“Do you know who bought it?” I asked.

“Sure I do,” he said. “It was me.”

Things were getting darker for sure.

“Who was the buyer?” I asked.

Qeyel leaned back in his chair. “That, I’m afraid, I am not at liberty to divulge.”

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