Page 2 of The Last Hunt

“Oh - hey, Bladesbearer. It’s for Daik,” he says quickly. “Daik Montrose.”

Maeve’s heart begins to beat faster. “How much?”

Turik holds up his tab so that she can see it.

WANTED

ALIVE

DAIK MONTROSE

(smuggling, attempted murder, robbery, ship hijacking)

REWARD: 6 MILLION CREDITS

The picture of Daik shows him mid-stride and looking back over his shoulder. He’s wearing a beat up red jacket and a beard that Maeve knows is fake. His hair is slicked back over his head, and his eyes are narrowed at whoever is following him.

A slow smile spreads across Maeve’s face. That’s enough credits for the piece of land she’s been eyeing on Kespar-2, and more besides. Enough to set her up for the rest of her life if she plays it right. Normally, the biggest bounties are reserved for high profile serial killers and other murderers. Daik hasn’t murdered anyone - not that he hasn’t tried. So he must have pissed off one of the mega-corps to earn a bounty that high. All the better for her.

Maeve is distracted as she pulls Pen from the bar and out into the pedestrian tunnel. If she can bring Daik in - this is it for her. She can finally get out of the game. Being a bounty hunter has always been about survival. After her parents died, Maeve managed to scrape up enough credits to get off her home planet of Tellamar and start fresh. Anything had to be better than life on a gang-run world without any protection - even the unknown of life off-planet. She’d stumbled across the path of an old hunter - Harlan Yates - and helped him catch a murderer. Yates had taken her under his wing, and Maeve hadn’t looked back - until recently.

Six months ago Maeve had a confrontation with the very man whose likeness just popped up on every hunter’s tab on Brix-9. Daik Montrose. She was chasing him for a decent sized bounty he’d garnered for smuggling weapons, but the hunt hadn’t ended well. He left her unconscious and bleeding on the deck of Alpha Starbase - lucky to be breathing. He’d damn near shot her arm off.

The event had shaken her. Over the last fifteen years, Maeve had garnered a persona of being so untouchable that she’d started to believe it herself. The reality of the dangers of her job had made themselves known in a brutal way. This was never supposed to be her life. She’s sure of it. Her parents had always wanted better for her. She wants something better. An intensity rises up in Maeve’s chest like nothing she’s felt in a long time. She will bring in Daik Montrose. And with the credits, she’ll build a new life.

As Maeve makes her way to Two Roses headquarters through the clear tunnels set up all over the uninhabitable surface of Brix-9, she sees ship after ship taking off from the Stable. Danton Adder’s ship - the Manasa - slides through the traffic and zips away. Maeve recognizes Graceling Empire’s ship too - it’s Needle-class and smaller than most others, but she takes off in a completely different direction than Adder. Maeve shakes her head. It’s unlikely they have any true clues as to Daik’s whereabouts. They’ll be running the typical routes - visiting Daik’s known associates, his public haunts, researching, bribing, threatening, etcetera. Maeve doesn’t need to do any of that.

“You could just let me go,” Pen says. He nods his head toward three ships taking off at the same time. “My little bounty isn’t worth missing out on whatever this is.”

“Shut up,” Maeve suggests.

“Just an idea,” Pen mutters. He turns over his shoulder and smiles at her. Maeve can see he’s missing another tooth since she last saw him up close. She rolls her eyes and jerks him forward.

By the time Maeve brings Pen into Two Roses headquarters, locks him up, and collects his meager bounty, she knows that almost every hunter on Brix-9 has already gone after Daik Montrose. She strolls through the foyer of the building toward her rooms in the west wing. The Guild of Two Roses provides rooms to rent on Brix-9 for bounty hunters who want a home base at a convenient hub for space jump points. Maeve doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and the security is good. It’s a dusty, scorched sort of planet, but the convenience makes up for the lack of breathable air and beautiful flora. She’s had her rooms for years.

Maeve draws her tab out of her pocket. She takes another look at Daik’s weasely face and then taps a button to accept the bounty. Once she reaches her rooms, she switches over to a different app and logs in. A starmap opens, and a little red dot blinks in the Keidar Belt. Maeve smiles.

“What’s that smile about, Bladesy? Thinking of me?”

“My god,” Maeve mutters. She locks her tab and shoves it back into her jacket pocket. She turns to find Aethon Trell leaning on her doorframe. “What are you doing here?”

Trell narrows his eyes and takes a step into Maeve’s room. “Why aren’t you already off chasing Daik?” he asks.

Trell’s presence overwhelms the room. His hair is coal black and long on top, but cut nearly to his scalp on the sides and back. It falls artfully over his forehead. His eyes are upswept at the outer corners, and he has a spray of freckles across his nose and cheekbones that mislead the general public into believing he’s sweet and innocent. Maeve’s focus betrays her momentarily as she remembers how Trell’s freckles dot his skin in constellations all the way down that broad body of his. She also knows he’s neither sweet nor innocent. He’s cunning and ruthless. She knows it from experience and she can see it in the glint in his amber eyes. But last she heard, he’s been hitting walls bringing in his bounties. Hasn’t had a good collar in a while. He probably needs a win - which makes him all the more dangerous.

Maeve pulls herself up to her full six feet, though she’s still shorter than Trell. He always takes up too much space. Four years ago she’d been forced to share a survival pod with him in order to escape from a murderous bounty they’d both been chasing. That pod had not been designed for two people for an extended period of time - let alone two people over six feet. She tries to push that trip from her mind as Trell tucks a hand under his leather bandolier. Maeve clears her throat.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she replies. “Shouldn’t you be sprinting off after Daik? Or are you flush with credits that you’re keeping suspiciously quiet about? I thought you were on a dry streak.”

Trell raises one eyebrow. “I saw the Archer was still in the Stable,” he says, ignoring her jab. “And I thought to myself - why is Bladesbearer’s ship still here?” He takes another casual step closer to Maeve, but she doesn't move. “And then I remembered that little dust up on Alpha Starbase awhile ago. I know Daik Montrose put you out of the game for a good month.”

Maeve reaches up unconsciously and massages her shoulder. Her leather jacket hides a ragged scar from the fight she had with Daik. There’s still some tightness there, despite Two Roses employing some of the best doctors and surgeons for their hunters.

“And?” Maeve asks. She sweeps her braid back over her shoulder and Trell’s eyes follow.

He tilts his chin up. “I think you might have something on Daik. Maybe a hunch, or maybe even a solid location for him.”

“And why would I have that?”

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