Cat and Company Read Online Free PDF Page A

him, dropping her body weight back so she could drive her knee into his crotch with as much power behind it as she could. Her knee sunk into soft tissue to a satisfying depth.
    As he sagged over from the hips, his hands going to his genitals, she brought the heel of her hand up, connecting with his chin as it dropped down. It lifted him up off his feet. He slammed against the steel wall and slid to the floor, gasping and wheezing. His fingers were making weak, protective motions around his crotch.
    Catherine crouched down next to him. “If you tell anyone about this, if I hear even the smallest whisper about you and me, then I am going to come back and find you.” She plucked one of his greasy hairs from his head. “And now I have your DNA to track you with. Don’t make me use it.”
    She shoved the hair into her pocket, kicked his feet aside and opened the door. It was dim outside the quarters, with the oily machinery smell that came from unaired areas inside a station. Catherine looked along the length of the narrow aisle between the individual living units. There were old paper lanterns lighting small areas, lots of washing hanging on rails and projections and lines strung between units. Litter on the floor, broken and scratched chairs parked in front of units here and there. The drip of moisture from condensation on the roof, far above, was a steady background noise.
    There was no one to be seen, or to ask for directions out of here. Of course not, it was the middle of the day shift. They were all at work.
    Catherine patted her pockets, checking for her credits and ID, then picked a direction. Any direction would do, as long as it was away from here.
    Like most of the more modern stations, Tordis looked like a rambling, multi-level structure bristling with docking stations on the exteriors. All the spacer amenities were around the same edges, leaving the administration and maintenance staff and workspaces to fill up the middle while the bottom levels were kept for the least important functions and people.
    So Catherine looked for stairs or drop shafts that would lead her upward. The escape stairs were about where she thought they would be and she climbed as high as they would take her. It bothered her that she was forced to stop after a few flights and catch her breath, while her head thumped and her stomach protested.
    By the time she stepped out into warm, artificial sunlight and air that felt considerably fresher than on the lower decks, her temper was simmering nicely. She looked around at the passing traffic. It was a typical station crowd—spacers and local employees, scammers and drifters.
    There was a terminal screen on the wall opposite the stairs, which was also a standard placement. Thankfully, she tapped through the screen, orienting herself. The top deck had been a good guess. The Hana Stareach was here, just a kilometer away.
    Catherine hurried through the crowd, moving faster than most of them. A few con artists tried to waylay her with appeals for assistance and some locals flashed trinkets at her. She ignored them all. Her heart was hurrying from her quick pace and because the Hana really was due to leave in…about five minutes, now.
    She might not be the security chief on the ship, but that didn’t mean the ship would wait for her if Devlin wanted to leave. She didn’t like to let him down.
    The ship was still there when she reached the dock, although all the station personnel were already gone and everything battened down inside the dock for departure. Even though the Hana was a Varkan ship, it still needed old-fashioned engine power to move away from the station before it made the jump. Moving such a large vessel took big engines with lots of exhaust fumes, venting and noise. Not much had changed in docking procedures even though Varkan ships were now so numerous.
    Catherine made herself smile a thank you at the attendant waiting to retract the steps into the ship and seal the doors. She