"Michael Stackpole "The Bacta War"" - читать интересную книгу автора

"Not before the fact, no. I had no idea. Afterward, though, it was rather
obvious." Karrde shrugged. "Melina Carniss sold you out."
Booster straightened up to his full height. "Have you killed her, yet?"
"No. I didn't want to precipitate action that could not be reversed."
Booster chuckled deeply. "You are studying her to find her connection to Isard."
"Actually I wanted to see how far she had spread Isard's influence in my
organization; but, yes, I have been watching her." Karrde folded his arms across
his chest. "Now that you're here, I thought I would allow you to determine how
you want to deal with this situation. Shoving her out into space would probably
be the most expedient method of kill-ing her. I heard about a renegade band of
Twi'leks who used to run electricity through a vat of bacta, torturing their
vic-tims to the point of death, then turning off the electricity and allowing
the bacta to heal them up."
Mirax swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. "Easier just to let the
word get out that Melina was a binary-agent: She sold the Imp ambush to us just
the same way she sold us to Isard. Let the bacta witch deal with her."
Karrde nodded. "I also have a Wookiee in my employ who could . . ."
Booster shook his head. "No, no Wookiees. Armpits are convenient for lifting
corpses and moving them to dump sites."
"I'll loan you any weapon you want to deal with her. I have things from all
over, including a recently acquired Sith lanvarok that promises to be truly
elegant, if I've figured out correctly how it's supposed to work." Karrde
frowned. "But you're not left-handed, so that will complicate things."
Mirax raised an eyebrow. "You really have a lanvarok?"
"Yes, do you have a buyer?"
"A collector."
"Good."
"And he's left-handed."
"Even better."
"If you will give me details on the lanvarok and authenti-cate its Sith origins
..."
Booster cleared his voice. "We have current business to discuss before you get
going on this deal."
"Of course, Booster, of course." Karrde smiled. "We can holograph the lanvarok
in use and that should help spike the price . . ."
Booster shook his head. "No."
"You prefer another method for dealing with traitors?"
"I do." Booster smiled broadly. "I want you to keep her alive and working."
Karrde frowned. "Why?"
"I have my reasons."
"Not good enough, Booster. You'll have to do better if you want her to stay
alive. She betrayed one of my customers to an enemy, causing harm to my
customer, my people, and my reputation. She has to die."
Booster's protestations confused Mirax. She looked up at her father. "Why do you
want her to live?"
Karrde's eyes narrowed. "I believe, for one thing, your father will suggest that
with Carniss still in place, Isard won't try to infiltrate a new spy into my
organization."
Booster nodded. "Better the Hutt you have tagged than one you don't."
"Agreed, Booster, but I'm still afraid I can't accommo-date you in this."