★ Evelyn ★

  The man took his time making his way back. Drake had been right—while the majority of their customers made the most of the time they’d paid for, this one didn’t seem to care. Evelyn sat there waiting for a good ten minutes before he finally entered the room with a smug expression, sat down, and sized her up as if he was already unimpressed.

  She had plenty of reservations, and she liked him even less when it was just the two of them sitting across from each other. She’d grown accustomed to tolerating terrible people, but her disdain for this one was a bit harder to mask. She tried anyway, though, praying it would be worth the effort.

  “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” she said in the best faux-welcoming tone she could muster. He was as sharp as he was arrogant, though, and saw right through it.

  “You don’t have to pretend to like me, hon,” he said as he leaned back in the rickety chair and lit another cigarette.

  Her smile disappeared. “Fine, but don’t smoke in here.”

  He stared at her, then leaned forward and looked directly into her eyes. “You work for tips, don’t you? What’s that saying? Customer’s always right?”

  She scowled. “Put it out.”

  He held her gaze, and after a long pause, shrugged and leaned back in the chair.

  “Suit yourself.” He dropped the cigarette to the floor and ground it out with his shoe.

  New shoes. Luxury brand. Probably worth more than I make in a month.

  She decided there was no point mincing words. “I was told you asked for me by name, but I’ve never seen you before. Who referred you?”

  He inhaled deeply, and for the first time since he’d walked in, he seemed unsure of what to say.

  “Would you believe me if I said I’d just come here to talk?” he finally asked.

  “That’s some expensive talking, given our hourly rates. And you didn’t answer my question.”

  “Money’s no object. There’s a reason I’m here today, and it’s not what you think.”

  With these words, he shifted in the chair and dug around in his pocket. Evelyn sat up straighter, but curiosity got the best of her, and she leaned a bit closer. As she looked on, he withdrew a clenched fist and opened it to reveal a handful of gold pieces and finely cut jewels—peridot, fire opal, and black diamonds with nary an imperfection to be seen.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her mouth from hanging open. This was the true currency of the outer regions, and he held more wealth in his hand than she’d ever seen in one place.

  “You’ve probably inferred that I’m here for a bit more than a dance,” he said.

  She took a deep breath. “I’m… not doing more than that.”

  “I don’t think you understand, Sweetheart. I don’t give a shit about the dancing, or the drinks, or anything in this place. But these look familiar, don’t they?” He tumbled the coins and gems in his hand, and they sparkled beneath the neon lights. “Every so often, a man comes in here and gives you one if you report information to him. Matty, I think you call him. That’s not his real name, of course, but what’s impressive is that you’re remarkably observant, and all of your reports were verified to be accurate. You don’t lie for a payout. If you didn’t hear anything that week, you tell him as much, and that’s commendable.”

  Evelyn stared at him. “Who are you?”

  “Matty’s boss.”

  They were both silent for a while, and he leaned back in the chair and sighed. “I think we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves. First things first. The person you know as ‘Matty’ is an undercover informant for the Space Corps. He wears a variety of uniforms and goes by a range of aliases, but he’s actually an officer working for an intelligence-gathering unit. Those teams each have their own specialties and different regions they monitor, but the one thing they have in common—all of them—is that they report to me.” He took a deep breath. “Now, I think it’s high time I introduced myself. I’m General Moore, director of Space Corps Intelligence, and I’m here today, Evelyn, because I’d like to ask you some questions.”

  Evelyn thought this over. “A general?” she finally said. “Prove it.”

  He seemed taken aback by this. His face flashed through a range of emotions, but then he shrugged. “That’s fair, I guess. Here, hold these.”

  He motioned for her to hold out her hand, and she did. He poured the gold coins and loose gems into her outstretched palm, and she reflexively cupped her hands together, cradling the treasure as if dropping it might cause grievous injury. Once she held all of it, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a badge. “There,” he said as he showed it to her. “I know you’ve seen military IDs before, but I doubt you’ve seen one that looks like that. If you’d like to verify it, you can look me up in the Corps’ public directory. I’m in there, picture and all.”

  Evelyn studied it for a moment, then nodded.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Now, with that out of the way, there’s a matter I’d like to discuss with you,” he continued, “and if you’re willing to help me, you stand to become rich enough that you’ll never have to work again.”

  She took a moment to process this information.

  “Talk,” she finally said. She’d meant to say more, but that was the only word that came out.

  He laughed. “Straight to the point. I like that.” But then his smile faded as he leaned forward in the chair again, as if carefully considering his next words. “I’m here today because I’m recruiting informants. I’m filling specialized roles, and I need someone who’s both reliable and approachable. You’ve proven yourself, and I’m willing to make you an offer.”

  He paused again, then reached into his pocket, pulled out a lighter, and lit another cigarette. And this time, she didn’t stop him.

  They both waited as he inhaled deeply, then exhaled a cloud of smoke and leaned back in the chair. “Everything you’re holding right now could be yours, but there are some conditions that need to be met.”

  Evelyn smiled. “Of course there are,” she whispered under her breath.

  He pretended not to hear. “The first is complete secrecy. I’m not here on official Corps business; as far as Headquarters is concerned, I’m en route to the Borealis Summit for a goodwill trip, and I’ve stopped down here because my shuttle was delayed. If anyone’s keeping track of me, they’ll see me walking into a club, paying for drinks and a dance, and leaving an hour or two later. So I’m requesting your discretion in this matter. Whether you take me up on my offer or not, this conversation never happened. You hear me?”

  She nodded.

  “Good.” He took a long drag from his cigarette, and she noticed that his hands were shaking. “Now, here’s the nature of the work I’m recruiting for. The Corps has fallen victim to a series of, how to put it… disturbing incidents lately. I won’t bore you with the details, but I expect to be called into a private meeting with our chief of staff very soon. He doesn’t scare easy, but I haven’t seen him this jumpy since the war. It’s my job to know about these things, which is why I suspect he’s going to seek out my advice, and I’ve got nothing to tell him. You can’t even comprehend how embarrassing that’s going to be.”

  He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and stared at the wall. “I’ve built my career on knowing everything. I’ve got informants like Lieutenant Meyers—or, excuse me, ‘Matty’—everywhere. You can’t drop a pin on the floor in this region of space without me finding out about it. And yet, I’m going to have to look our chief commander in the eye and tell him that something’s going on, and I don’t know what it is. This is beyond me. So, Evelyn, here’s where you come in. I suspect—although I can’t prove—that we’ve fallen victim to internal sabotage. Someone’s deliberately undermining our leadership, and they’re doing it from within our own ranks. To what end, I can’t say, but it’s nothing good. No one can be trusted, which is why I’m looking for my own personal informant—someone who works in my office in a close capacity. I need a set of eyes and ears that report to me, and only me. So here’s my offer.”

  He raised the cigarette and inhaled deeply. “You’d join my staff and get hired on as a personal assistant. You wouldn’t work for the Corps; you’d be classified as a civilian contractor, and your salary would come out of my payroll. Not only that, but all of your housing and basic expenses would be taken care of. And if you help me root out the traitors,” he nodded at the pile of gold and gems, “that’ll be yours.”

  Evelyn took a deep breath. “You want a honeypot.”

  He shrugged. “That’s one way to put it. You’re a strikingly beautiful young woman, and you’re more well-known than you seem to realize. We’ve been monitoring this place for years, and your name keeps popping up in street-level gossip. The men talk about you, and more importantly, they talk to you.” He took another long drag from the cigarette. “So there you have it. That’s why I’m here. I thought this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

  Evelyn thought this over. “How long would this… assignment last?”

  “As long as it needs to. Could be a few weeks, months... maybe even years. I’ve got no way of knowing what level of sabotage we’re dealing with. But if you want the full payout, I’d expect you to stay for at least the length of a standard contract, which is about six months.”

  Evelyn was silent for a while.

  “You don’t have to make a decision right away,” he said. “If you need time to think it over, that’s fine.”

  “Good, because I’ll be doing exactly that. I’m curious, though—what happens if I reject your offer?”

  “Nothing. Your life will continue as it has. But let’s imagine that, shall we?” He leaned forward again, with ribbons of smoke lightly framing his face. “You’ll stay here for a while, but I’ve got no doubt that someday, a man will come in and offer you something more—probably a wealthy man. That’s the goal, right? And unlike all the lowlifes you see every day, this one will actually mean it. He’ll be so impressed by what he sees, he might even take you on as his long-term girlfriend. I know how it works—girls like you don’t play around with someone who’s just spending their extra drinking money. If you can land a good one—a really good one—you can travel all over, stay in luxury hotels, attend exclusive events, and dine at the finest restaurants. Maybe you’ll even get married. It would be purely transactional, of course, but I doubt that bothers you.” He studied her closely. “The problem, though, is that the likelihood of that happening is very low. Men of that caliber don’t frequent these establishments—not out here, anyway. Of all the girls who worked here within the past few years, only a handful left under those circumstances, and the men they took off with were, let’s just say, less than desirable. It might’ve been a slight upgrade, but not by much.” He stared into her eyes. “You’re too good for this place, Evelyn. If you want better, there’s places for you to put your skill set to work. Places that value and appreciate everything you have to offer.”

  “I’m already putting my skills to work,” she said, “and I’m doing quite well, all things considered.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself. It’s completely up to you.”

  With that, he reached over and extinguished the cigarette against the wall. “As I said, this is an offer, and nothing more. I want to make that abundantly clear. You’re under no obligation to accept. You can go back to your life here, save up enough money to leave, rent a shitty room in an equally shitty port town, and work a job that’s slightly less shitty than this one. It’ll take years, but you could do it.” He leaned forward. “Or, you could go to the shuttle bay at 09:00 next Thursday. Make your way to the lower platform near the arrivals area, right before you go through security. Wait by the blue benches—that’s the meeting point. From there, you’ll be escorted upstairs. All of your clearances will be in order, and you won’t have to worry about being stopped or questioned like you normally would. They’ll handle your luggage and all of your belongings, and once you're up there, you’ll be formally briefed on your assignment.”

  He took a deep breath, then stood up. “That’s all.”

  It was an abrupt departure, and Evelyn sat up straighter. “Wait,” she began. “Here.”

  She extended the handful of gold and gems in his direction, but he shook his head.

  “Keep it,” he said. “Consider that an advance. And if you decline, it can be a gift. Either way, there’s more where that came from, and I think you need it more than I do.”

  Evelyn stared wide-eyed as he turned around and walked out.

  “Don’t be late,” he said over his shoulder as he pushed the curtain aside and disappeared into the hall.