Unedited snippet of Family Law 8

“Mistress, we have another courier from a service with a card for you.”

The front desk man didn’t sound happy. The last courier she received ended up leaving on a gurney after making a mess on her best rug, leaving bullet pock marks on the walls, and disrupting the kitchen service. Lee wouldn’t blame them if they found having her as resident was losing its luster.

“I’ll have my security meet me down there to receive his message,” Lee told him, terminated that call and made another to arrange it.

“Strangelove, do you have a man near the hotel? I have a courier with a message at the front desk. After the last one I’m not inviting him up to my suite. I’d like some security presence to receive his card.”

“Well, gods be kind to me for once. I’m thankful you stopped doing that. I always have a man there and he’ll pull in a hotel security man to help. They’ll be there by the time you can ride down.”

“Thanks Strangelove. I’ll be armed too.”

“Of course!” Strangelove replied gruffly.

When Lee exited her elevator, the courier was still at the check-in desk but turned to face the elevators. Strangelove’s man was beside him and just a step back. He was about as big as male Derf get and had a possessive arm draped across the poor fellow’s shoulders. His hand was laid lightly over his shoulder but was it was the size of a dinner plate. The hotel’s security ‘man’ looked to be a petite female to Lee’s eye. She had an almost black coat of short fur and was about two thirds the size of Strangelove’s man. She had a security wand and sensor suite in hand, apparently used already.

Lee stopped short, slightly out of arm’s reach.

“I’m Lee Anderson,” she informed him. “From whom do you have a message?”

“Ma’am,” he said with a diffident nod. “This is from Kir Ambassador.” He offered the envelope cautiously, two handed. “I can return your answer.”

“Allow me,” the hotel security said and plucked it out of his hands. She felt it carefully with her true hands for lumps or wires and looked mildly surprised.

“It’s scented,” she said. “Something strong and unfamiliar.” She held it away from her body and slit it open with a claw. Satisfied there was nothing inside but a card, she handed it to Lee.

The scent was spicy. It reminded Lee of cloves but with a touch of something hotter. The card itself was a single sheet, not a fold over, and embossed with a botanical design around the edges. Perhaps that plant pictured was the source of the scent? The message was printed in English using a green ink that matched the decoration.

Kir Ambassador invites your presence to celebrate the completion of her embassy residence and the arrival of my personal furnishings and supplies from home so I may entertain guests in comfort. Three days hence on the fifth day of the Derf month on the day Humans style as Wednesday in the local rotation. From the fourteenth hour until dawn of the next day.

“Inform Kir Ambassador I’ll be delighted to attend,” Lee said. The poor courier was worried by this heavy security so she tipped him one of the new one-gram gold coins she was having made instead of a dollar Ceres. “Excuse our caution. A previous courier turned out to be a would-be assassin.”

The courier’s expression changed from concerned to a totally unexpected fierce look.

“Please tell me that story had a happy ending,” he said through bared teeth.

Lee laughed. “I’ve never heard it put quite that way, but yes it ended well, for us.”

“Good. That sort makes it tough for people who just want to make an honest living.”

“What is your name?” the female security asked. “If you come again tell the desk your name and we’ll have a gentler response.”

“Allen, ma’am. Working for Fast Runners. And thank you for the tip,” he directed to Lee, excusing himself.

“There’s more to that one than meets the eye,” the hotel security lady said. “I might recruit him after a little investigation. We’re short on Humans.”

“Indeed,” Strangelove’s soldier said, “but I suspect you’ll find he has been out on the point of the spear and happy to be done with it.”

“That’d reading a lot of depth to it,” she said.

“No. He’s right,” Lee said.

When both of them looked surprised at the firmness of her conviction, she explained.

“I’ve been taking lessons.”