“So you’ve been delivering specialist equipment shipped in from Arkania,” Boss said. “And you don’t have a permit for it.”
“I don’t need one. Do I?”
“You’re from Ryloth, so you’re a Republic citizen, and that makes trading in cloning equipment illegal.”
“I’m not trading in anything, and I don’t look in the crates…”
“Arkania. They don’t export fruit, do they?”
“I’m a delivery boy, like you said.”
“Your name showed up in a list we happen to have.”
“Okay, arrest me, then.”
Boss turned his head slowly to Sev, his silent cue to play the heavy. Jusik just watched, impassive.
“We don’t do arrests,” Sev said. “We get answers. Give us one and we’ll go away.”
“Or… ?”
“Or I’ll be very upset.” Sev could make his knuckles crack alarmingly just by closing his fist. “Tell me where you took the consignment.”
Leb’s gaze wandered to the hatch as if he was calculating what he’d have to do to escape. Maybe it was just a reflex. His lekku were moving slightly in some wordless reaction. “Why’s everyone so interested in this stuff? Is it really glitterstim or something? The Mandalorians asked me the same thing-where I took it. I thought it was just vats and permacrete and stuff.”
“What Mandalorians?”
“Three of them. One young, two older, judging by the voices-‘cos they have helmets like you, don’t they?-and they were wearing-“
Jusik cut in, suddenly very intent on the question. “Green armor. They wore dark green armor, didn’t they?”
Leb blinked. “Yeah.” He defocused for a moment as if he was trying to visualize something. “Yeah, they wore dark green. How did you know?”
“A hunch,” Jusik said. Sev was almost pushed aside now. Whatever Jusik had on his mind, whatever intel he had, he hadn’t shared it with them. He’d busted a gut to get here, though. “I can work out who they are. Now tell me where you took the equipment.”
“Dorumaa.”
Jusik leaned back as if he had his answer, as if the identity of whoever else had shaken down Leb mattered more to him than the delivery destination-Ko Sai’s likely location. Sev was distracted by that, trying to construct a scenario in which that information mattered more.
“You want to pin that down?” Boss asked, and indicated Sev. “Or do I let my colleague ask you?”
“Tropix island resort.” Leb sounded fluent, as if he’d rehearsed it, or at least given the same answers before. “You want the coordinates? Here they are.” He put his hand inside his tunic and froze. “Hey, it’s just a datapad… take it easy…”
Sev realized he must have looked as if he was going to hit him. He wondered how he managed to give the impression of being more violent than his brothers, because any armored commando with a Deece looked like bad news. He wasn’t trying to act like a psycho, whatever buildup Boss gave him, but folks didn’t feel comfortable sharing a space with him, and whatever he intended didn’t seem to affect that.
“I’ll take the data,” Jusik said quietly. He held his hand out for Leb’s datapad, tapped the controls, and keyed something into his own device. Then he handed it back.
“Hey!” Leb stared at his datapad in horror. “You erased it!”
“I’m so clumsy,” Jusik said. “Come on. Let’s see you safely on your way, shall we?”
“But my data…”
Jusik crooked his finger at Sev to accompany him, and they bundled Leb out of the TIV so fast that he almost fell out of the hatch. The two of them held on to an arm each and steered him toward his freighter.
“Don’t I get some creds for my trouble?” Leb said.
Jusik slapped something into his palm. “Not just that, citizen, I’ll make the problem disappear, too.” He stared into the Twi’lek’s face and put his hand flat on his chest for a moment. “In a few minutes, things will be back to normal for you. Now off you go.”
Leb stood at the foot of the ladder up to his cockpit and seemed to be contemplating the contents of his palm as Jusik and Sev jogged back to the TIY There was a small anonymous-looking shuttle a little distance from it, one that Sev had seen Jusik use before.
“What did you give him, sir?” Sev asked.
“A few hundred creds and a spot of amnesia.”
“What?”
“I mind-rubbed him.”
“Oh, you can do that, too, can you?”
“No point deleting the records on his datapad if he remembers them and remembers us.”