But she needn't be worried now. They had finally gotten a name from the assassin. As soon as they had, Marla had mercifully put an energy slug into his head, not that he deserved any mercy. He had confessed to being completely unaware of Sorah's former life, meaning he hadn't had any qualms about killing an innocent waitress just to make a cred or two.
Marla had always despised bounty hunters. Despite the code of honor some of them claimed to live by, in the end they were all scum.
She looked back over to her friend who was still chewing on her nails. "You don't think that it's... ," she began but trailed off without finishing the thought.
Sorah looked over. Marla didn't have to finish. They both knew exactly whom she was referring to. "No. Not him. No matter how angry he might have been at us disappearing, he wouldn't send a bounty hunter to do the job, he'd come himself."
They sat in silence for a moment. "Does he know about Karla?"
Sorah didn't hesitate. "No. And he never will. And she's better off never knowing what her real father does for a living. As far as she knows, he's dead, and that's how it will stay."
Marla reached over and took her friend's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I think you've made a smart decision."
-------------------
A short while later they set down on the landing dock at Initech Security. It was after hours and not many people were around at this time of night. The two women entered and made their way to Marla's desk, where she opened a drawer and removed a passcard. She tossed it to Sorah. "See that door on the other side of the room. Grab what we're going to need while I check with some of my contacts in the police force and see if I can get a quick rundown on this name."
Sorah Kavel smiled and headed for the room her friend had indicated. When she arrived she swiped the passcard. It asked her to input a password. She almost went back to ask what it was, but instead decided to take a guess. She smiled as the screen informed her the password was accepted and the light on the lock switched from red to green. Some things don't change, she thought to herself.
When she entered the room she stood gaping for a moment. The room wasn't just a storage room but a whole armory. Racks of weapons ranging from small hold-out blasters to large, long-range energy slug throwing sniper rifles. There was armor ranging from light-weight Echani made body armor to full body battle armor to personal energy shield generators.
She grabbed a bag and started loading what they thought they'd need, but several times she caught herself just wandering around and looking at everything. She couldn't recall ever seeing a more complete array before.
Apparently she had taken longer than she planned. "You going to camp out in here or what?" Marla chuckled as she entered.
"Sorry, I just didn't expect all this," Sorah replied. "What in the worlds do you guys need all this stuff for?"
Marla began packing a bag for herself. "We don't just do small-time body guard stuff or corporate security. We also do major security jobs, augmenting the government at times during political events."
"They're not going to mind you borrowing this stuff?"
"No, lots of the folks here do freelance side jobs in their off time," Marla explained. "They let us have access to this stuff for a nominal fee... as long as it comes back in good condition."
As they finished packing Marla explained what she had found out about the name. Her contacts in the police had been able to tell her that the being was a Rodian male who was known mostly as an information broker, paying for tidbits of information that he thought he could make a few creds on to the right buyer.
"It's nobody I've ever heard of," Sorah said, puzzled. "And he doesn't sound like the kind of being that normally deals in hits or bounties."
"I agree," Marla said, checking the load on her blaster before holstering it. "Let's go see what this Deevam has to say for himself."
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