James Katt read the bounty notice twice before he believed it. The station wanted Thuldark dead or alive, and they were paying a million credits for it. James wanted the same man, but not for money. Thuldark was the closest thread to the crime boss who ran the station's black market. Six years the man had hunted James across four systems. Now he'd raided the station's cargo ships and put a price on his own head. Telari leaned over James's shoulder in the cramped cockpit of their corvette. She had served beside him longer than either of them counted. "You're not thinking about the credits," she said. "I'm thinking he hit those ships for a reason," James said. "The boss uses those cargo runs to move product. Thuldark just made himself useful to me." "He made himself a target for every gun on the station." Telari checked the scanner. "Including us, if we're near him when the bounty crews close in." James pulled the corvette toward the coordinates of the raided ships. A wrecked hauler drifted there, hull split open. Thuldark's small craft clung to the wreck like a tick. James matched speed and cracked his comm. "Thuldark. It's Katt." The reply came flat and quick. "I know your ship." "You've got half the station hunting you now," James said. "You raided those ships for the boss's cargo. I want the boss. Give me what you took and I'll get you off this station alive." A pause. "You want to save me." "I want the man behind the cargo. You're bait either way." "Come aboard," Thuldark said. "Alone." Telari grabbed James's arm. "He's wanted you dead for six years." "And he's never gotten closer to it than now." James checked the sidearm on his hip. "Watch the scanner. If bounty crews come, you leave." He crossed to the wreck. Inside the hull, Thuldark stood by an open crate, small and armored, orange fur catching the emergency light. His yellow eyes tracked James without blinking. "The cargo," James said. Thuldark kicked the crate. Data slates spilled out. "Shipping ledgers. Routes. Names." He said it like weather. "The one who runs your black market signed these." James knelt and pulled a slate free. A routing manifest glowed on the screen, stamped with an authorization code he didn't recognize. Real proof. A trail straight to the boss. "Why give me this?" James said. "I hunt you alone," Thuldark said. "I finish it my way. Not shot down by strangers for coin." His voice went final. "Take the ledgers. Live long enough for me." The scanner crackled in James's ear. Telari's voice, tight. "Three ships inbound. Bounty crews. Move." James grabbed the crate and ran. Thuldark's craft peeled off the wreck and burned into the dark, gone before the hunters arrived. James hauled the ledgers into the corvette as Telari pushed the engines hard. He had the crime boss's routes in his hands now. And the boss would soon learn they were missing.