But who are the wrong people? Apart from my own cousin, the biggest risk is political embarrassment to my in-laws. There’s no real danger here.
He kept Leia in sight, sometimes losing her chestnut braid in the sea of people. It had come to Han as a surprise that the Solo family could be anonymous in public, but nobody seemed to recognize public figures unless they were holovid stars. Chief Omas could probably walk around here without anyone thinking he was more than just a vaguely familiar face they couldn’t quite put a name to. Maybe he was the guy who read the evening holonews bulletin.
Han slipped into the lobby of the apartment building a little behind Leia and found her waiting at the turbolift. It was seedy compared with the apartment back on Coruscant. Seedy was just fine right now.
“Now, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when we get in?” she said.
“Call Jacen.”
“Good. You catch on fast. Don’t shout at him, okay?”
The lift doors opened onto the fifty-sixth floor and a dull beige-carpeted hall with a few stained patches. Leia took three strides toward their apartment door and paused, left hand held out to her side to stop Han in his tracks. The fact that her other hand slid into her tunic and emerged holding her lightsaber prompted him into drawing his blaster.
“Hear something?” he whispered, confused.
They approached the apartment door with slow, careful steps.
“Felt something,” said Leia.
“Threat?”
“No, but something isn’t right.”
They stood to either side of the door and looked at each other, sharing a thought: Who knows we’re here? Leia ran her palm down the door frame, not quite touching it, and shook her head.
“Nobody inside.”
“Stand clear.”
“But somebody’s been here …”
“Booby trap?”
“I can’t sense any immediate danger, just a feeling that someone was very nervous when they came here.”
Han touched the entry pad, blaster ready. “Maybe they knew what a warm welcome we give uninvited visitors.”
The doors slid open and they paused at the entrance, seeing only the apartment as they had left it days before, and hearing nothing except the faint sounds of the environment controls. Leia looked down and bent to pick up something from the carpet.
“That’s nice,” she said, examining it, and then handed it to Han. “Nothing like a happy family reunion .”
It was a small sheet of flimsi. Someone must have slipped it through the gap under the doors, and that took some doing. A strange way to leave a message: but it was one that could never be traced electronically. Just a few words, scrawled on a surface that was rippled as if someone had struggled to force it through the gap.
Han stared at it.
SAL-SOLO HAS PUT OUT A CONTRACT ON YOU IN REPRISAL FOR YOUR SON’S ACTIONS AT CENTERPOINT. CALL ME.
GEJJEN.
Leia raised an eyebrow. “Has your cousin threatened to kill you before? Formally, I mean. Random acts of violence don’t count.”
She always made light of things. Han knew that the cooler she became, the more worried she was. He joined in the mutual reassurance. His cousin was to be loathed and avoided, but he refused to fear him.
“Thrackan hasn’t got what it takes, Princess. He’s all talk.” But Han’s stomach still churned. It wasn’t the prospect of assassination that worried him: he reckoned he could handle that. It was realizing that they were being watched by someone, and not knowing how and where. “And I don’t know any Gejjen.”
“So how does anyone know we’re here?” Leia took the flimsi from his fingers and smoothed it out between her palms as if she was trying to sense echoes of whoever had written it. “Different names, new ID, no droids, no Noghri … are you sure you don’t remember the name?”
“Should I?”
“Maybe not. I knew a man called Nov Gejjen who was very active against the Human League. He loathed Sal-Solo.” She referred to Thrackan as she would a total stranger. It was touchingly diplomatic. “But he’d be long dead now.”
“He had kids?”
“I don’t know, but it’s time I found out. Gejjen didn’t bother to include his contact details, so he thinks one of us will know where to find him.”
“Or her.”
“Okay, or her. I’ll see what I can find out while you call Jacen.”
Life used to be so clear-cut. Han missed clarity. He opened his comlink, entered a code to conceal the origin of the signal-for all the good it had done-and waited for Jacen to answer.
Another contract out on me. I thought I was done with Thrackan but he just keeps popping back up.