“If I’d wanted you dead, I could have looked the other way when you had that spot of trouble with the Vong.” He still hadn’t holstered his blaster. “I need you as bait.”
“Terrific.”
“No risk to you.”
“It’s the word bait I tend to notice.”
“My daughter accepted Sal-Solo’s contract on your family. I shouldn’t get in a fellow bounty hunter’s way, but I need to find her and you’re the best way to do it.”
“Can’t you call her like a regular father?”
“She’s sworn to kill me.”
“She’s a chip off the old block for sure.”
“So I’m going to sit on you until she shows up. You can do it the easy way or the hard way.”
“I remember your easy way.”
“You can do it dead if that’s easier.”
“You must want to see her real bad.”
Fett perched in the edge of a desk between Han and the door, one boot on the seat of a chair. He glanced toward the door as if waiting for someone to show up. Han calculated whether he’d be able to charge whoever came in and make a run for it before Fett fired, and he realized he couldn’t. Then he heard rapid footsteps-too light for a man-and wondered if Leia was going to rescue him again. Her timing was usually great.
But it wasn’t Leia.
A very young girl with short brown hair, cold dark eyes, and an earnest, humorless face ducked into the cabin and closed the doors. She was wearing armor; not a full set like Fett, but armor all the same, and that meant another bounty hunter.
“She’s still not answering,” said the girl. She stared at a comlink in her hand as if willing it to melt. “If she doesn’t know Solo’s here, she won’t come.”
“You don’t usually work in a team.” Han was getting worried now. Fett doing things that were out of character scared him more than the alternative. “You need hired help these days?”
“This isn’t a team,” said Fett. “This is an arrangement.”
“Okay, if I help you out, what’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?”
It was worth a try. Fett was the master at this kind of thing. “Help me assassinate Thrackan Sal-Solo.”
Han could have sworn Fett actually sighed. “Too late. One of his political rivals already booked me to do the job.”
“Well, that’s just great. Who? No, let me guess. Nice young man with dark hair? Dur Gejjen?”
“Might be.”
“He gave me a few tips on how to whack Thrackan, too. Looks like he isn’t sure I can do the job.”
The girl stared at Han as if she’d have to clean him off her boots sooner or later. “Can you?”
“It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?”
“It is,” said Fett. “Now, about my daughter.”
Han thought of Jacen’s comlink message, which he had read several times but not answered. Bounty hunting was a small world. He took a chance. “Is your daughter called Mirta Gev by any chance?”
The girl’s hand went to her blaster as she fixed Han with an unblinking stare. “I’m Mirta Gev, Granddad.”
So this was it. It was Fett’s double cross after all. He was working for Thrackan. Han decided to go for it. “Just my kriffing luck-“
He exploded out of the chair, head down, and charged the girl. She was a lot heavier than she looked and that armor plate on her chest really hurt, but nowhere near as much as the stock of Fett’s blaster against the back of his head. He fell on all fours and the girl brought her knee up in his face just as he pitched forward. That hurt a lot, too.
“Solo, you forgot a few things since we last met.” Fett hauled him to his feet and shoved him back in the chair. “Don’t take on two bounty hunters at once. Now, how come you know Mirta’s name?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because I’m going to kill your sleazebag cousin. Show some gratitude.”
Fett meant it. Han couldn’t work out what was going on, except he wasn’t dead yet, and Fett wasn’t the man to indulge in long gloating speeches before he claimed his bounty.
“My son says they picked up a hitwoman in Galactic City called Ailyn Habuur and that-“
“Osik!” the girl hissed. Her face was instantly white and shocked.
“-and if you’re Mirta Gev, then you two might both be after me and my family.”
“I’m not hunting you, old man.” Mirta was upset: that was clear. “I was looking for Habuur.” She took a breath. “I recovered some items for her.”
“She must owe you plenty, judging by the look on your face,” said Han. He looked at Fett, but a man with a helmet betrayed nothing. He was just very still.