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She felt him lean forward, and he whispered in her ear

“Take this,” he said, his warers brush so in there, where the credit chit had been “And think about your price I’m prepared to pay it”

She remained still, frozen with eyes closed for another moment She felt the heat of him pull away, heard him walk slowly down the hall She counted to thirty, took a deep breath and opened her eyes again

It was as if nothing had happened She could hear the distant sounds of the bar, hear people laughing

She walked slowly back into the open, eyes i toward the table where he and Vetch had sat It was empty

“Giselle!” Manya called from his spot behind the bar She turned to hi “Where have you been? You got custo”

She turned toward him, forced herself to smile

“Sorry, I was in the fresher”

“You move faster next tientle Then his face softened “You all right?”

“Manya,” she said slowly “Did you see that guy as in here with Vetch? He had a blaster”

The man’s broad forehead knotted into frown

“You sure ’bout that?” he asked “We have the sensors turned on They were serviced less than a week ago No ould he be able to get in here with a blaster”

“Well, he had one,” she said “I don’t kno he got it in, but he did”

“You see hio take care of your tables

I’ll let Brant know, he’ll keep an eye out for hi up a tray The Debsians called out to her in a drunken chorus; she hurried toward theone—everything would be fine now Their bouncer, Brant, was a big man She doubted that even the tall, scarred s were back to nor about her tips, not the man in the hallway

Four endless hours later her shift ended She picked up her slad that it wasn’t her turn to close She wasn’t up to it She nodded goodbye to Brant and headed out the door, keeping one eye open for Black Leather She doubted he was still around, but you couldn’t be too cautious Blessedly, the open, two-story arcade that served as a thoroughfare through the space station’s port was alroups of drunken spacers lurched by her, talking to the out to every woineer’s coveralls They waved at her, shouting so She couldn’t et laid