Doom Star: Book 02 - Bio-Weapon Read Online Free PDF

Marten and Omi trailed behind.
    “Where were you headed?” asked Hansen.
    “Smade’s,” Kang said.
    “I should have known. It’s a rat hole. Just the place a Red Blade would want to go.”
    Kang put a heavy paw on Hansen’s shoulder and pushed him along. Then he peered over his shoulder at Marten. “You still owe me a round.”
    “I haven’t forgotten,” Marten said.

6.

    Smade’s Tavern was dim. An oaken bar stood in front a mirror where an ugly bartender hid like a troll under a bridge. Waitresses went to him and sauntered back with drinks on their trays. Booths and tables littered the gloom. Serious drinkers hunched over their glasses. A few nibbled on peanuts.
    The four of them sat at two mini-tables that Kang had shoved together. With his thick fingers, Kang twisted a vodka bottle’s cap, breaking the paper seal. The clear liquid gurgled as he poured into a glass filled with ice cubes. He lifted the glass and stretched out his lips, slurping.
    “Ah…” Kang said.
    Bushy-eyed Hansen grinned like a fox.
    Marten and Omi sipped spiced tea, a pot of it on the table. They had declined any liquor or party pills.
    “Do you know why Hansen is so happy?” Kang asked Omi.
    Hansen cleared his throat, shaking his head when Kang glanced at him.
    “They didn’t call Hansen sir back then,” Kang said.
    “No?” Omi said.
    “A moment, please,” said Hansen.
    Kang frowned as he poured himself more vodka. “You interrupting my story, you little maggot?”
    “You know me better than that, Kang,” Hansen said. “But why rehash bad feelings? I’m not that man and you’re no longer chief of the Red Blades.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kang asked.
    “Only that life has committed one of its constant pranks and rearranged our roles,” said Hansen.
    You calling me a mule, a drug runner?” Kang asked.
    “No, no,” said Hansen, holding up his slender hands. “Simply that once you ran a vicious—the most vicious—gang in Sydney. Who dared tread on your territory? None!”
    Kang stared at Hansen.
    “Now,” said the thin man with sly features, “I run Level 49, the Pleasure Palace.” He leaned forward, whispering, “Chief Monitor Bock is my only superior.” Hansen leaned back and crossed his arms, grinning.
    “They put a petty thief in charge of security?” asked Kang.
    Hansen shook his head. “Kang, Kang, let bygones be bygones. Otherwise I’ll—”
    Hansen stopped because Kang dropped a hand onto his wrist. “What’ll you do, you little maggot?”
    Hansen licked his lips, and he minutely shook his head.
    Marten, who had reached for the teapot, glanced around, trying to see whom Hansen had signaled. He spotted two big men at the bar. They wore silky shirts with billowing sleeves. One of them palmed a gun of some sort. The other slid his weapon back into a sleeve-sheath. Monitors! Marten realized. Secret policemen to back up their— Hadn’t Hansen said he reported to the Chief Monitor? Did he mean the chief preman monitor of the entire Sun Works Factory? As Marten poured tea, he noticed another pair of monitors sitting several tables over. They were a man and woman team, but too hard-eyed to be partygoers, too observant and tense, and too intent on watching Kang.
    “Listen up, maggot,” Kang told Hansen. “I know you got a few bully-boys around here. I’m not blind. But you’re in the last stages of syphilis if you think we’ve switched places. You still slink around sniffing people’s butts. I still kill.” Kang tapped the shock trooper patch on his jacket. “Even if you and your thugs could take me out—” Kang leered. “I turn up missing, you little maggot, this party-town gets trashed as the HBs search for me.”
    Hansen laughed, a trifle uneasily it seemed to Marten. “Oh, what does it matter? We’re all friends here, aren’t we?”
    Kang breathed heavily through his nose, let go of Hansen’s wrist and poured more vodka. After a stiff belt, he said, “Omi used to