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"I told you," she said, sounding as understanding as she could. "It's okay, Heidie."

The other woman had called her as soon as Marty had managed to escape her, and Katherine spent five minutes figuring out if she needed to send anyone to hunt the weasel down. In the end, she decided he was more useful to her running around. The more he was sighted, the easier it would be to use that to gain access to security feeds.

Unfortunately, Heidie had seen this incident as a failure on her part, and she'd been apologizing since returning. She'd get over it, all she needed was one good fight, but it wouldn't be now. For the moment she needed to cool her heels, like the others, while Katherine went and talked to these people.

"I don't like this, Boss." Loren said. "Some of us should be going with you."

"We scare them and we lose any information they might have. Keep everyone ready, if I give the signal, come in."

"You want us to come in without any weapon drawn, that's like getting a ship with no engines. Not good."

"Loren, these guys aren't going to respond well to any kind of threats. If I need you I want a show of force, not an escalation."

The man smiled. "Hey, you're the boss. I'm just the troupe commander. My job is to tell you I think you're screwing up. Yours is to tell me I'm a dumb ass for doubting you."

She looked at him. "You do know that kind of attitude is why the force kicked you out, right?"

He shrugged. "We weren't a good match. They didn't have any sense of humor."

"Keep them in line. This shouldn't take too long." She didn't wait for him to respond. His idea she had a sense of humor was the one thing about the man she didn't get.

She stepped around the building and walked toward the other warehouse. What was it with criminals and warehouses? It seemed like every other one she'd had to deal with was holed up in one of these. It wasn't that she thought it was a bad idea. They provided space for troupes and whatever equipment they needed, but security was always horrible in these places since they went for abandoned warehouses.

She shouldn't be able to walk up to it like this, bang on the door and have a surprised woman stare at her through the partially opened door.

"I want to talk to your boss."

"We're not--"

Katherine pushed the door open and shoved her out of the way. If what she'd heard was correct, it wasn't like she had anything to fear from this bunch. They might be among the big shots on this planet, but they'd just suffered a major blow.

As she walked into the central space, she saw people on cots, most showing signs of having been injured in the attack that brought her here. Brad had intercepted the alert over the Law's comm about the fight. The report had made it sound like two of the big gangs had gone at it, but when it was all said and done, the witnesses said it had been two people who'd done it. The descriptions weren't consistent, but she didn't care. Only one being she knew of could do this kind of damage, and since he was now accompanied by his pet human, that made two.

She made her way through the injured and the people caring for them until she reached the two she wanted to talk to. She'd seen the pictures of them the Law had, the files, the warrants. Right now they looked nothing like the crime bosses the Law said they were. They looked like nothing more than the thugs she suspected them to be. Still, she would treat them as they were used to.

She had to admit this was a first for her. She'd never dealt with crime bosses before, plenty of underlings, independent operators, even the occasional mad scientist, although that was more during her time as a corporate stooge. She didn't have those kind of resources anymore, so she had to settle for the fringe coercionists and smugglers. At first she'd been surprised at how effective they were, now she was used to them, they did what she paid them for, and moved on.

These two she'd have to be more careful with.

The man was lying on a cot, his chest bandaged and bloody. His color looked good so he'd probably taken heal boosters. The woman seated next to him was the one who worried her. She was pale and had a bandaged stump where her right hand should have been.

Katherine realized she should have gone through 'channels,' have one of her underlings talk to one of theirs; arrange a proper meeting. If she had more time, she would have done it, but when Tristan was involved, time was one thing no one had.

The woman noticed her and Katherine stopped where she was. She tried not to look menacing, but with half her face scarred almost to the bone, it was no longer a look she could easily pull off. Instead she moved her hands away from her body. The motion exposed the gun clipped to her belt, but she couldn't draw it easily.

"You must be Liz."

The woman was on her feet a gun in her off hand pointing at her. She wobbled then steadied herself.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"My name is Katherine. I'm after the person who did this to you." She motioned around, and then to her face. "As you can see, I've faced him too. I think we could--"

"Get out."

"No, listen to me, we can help--"

"I said, get the fuck out. If you think I'm letting anyone else get him, you're dead wrong. That asshole is mine. No one hurts my Flynn or my people and just walks out. I'm going to rip his head off."

"Listen, I get that you're angry, but you can't just kill him, I need him to suff--" she closed her mouth as the gun's barrel almost touched her face. That girl was fast when she wanted to.

"Suffer? Oh he's going to suffer. I'm going to cut him up. I'm going to skin him alive. I'm going to pull out his entrails, show them to him and then feed them to that fur bag he had with him. And if you think you're going to take that away from me, you're going to suffer right along with him."

Katherine had trouble saying the words. "You're after Alex?" that couldn't be right. Sure, he was a menace, but next to Tristan?

"Crimson, yes. He'd had it coming for years and I'm going to be the one to make him pay."

"The human? He did this? Are you sure it wasn't the alien?"

"He helped, but he works for Crimson."

"I think you got this wrong."

The gun waved in Katherine's face. "Lady, I'm not in the mood for some stranger to come in my house and tell me I'm wrong."

"Alright, I understand."

"Good, now get out."

"I can't do that. I need information."

"Go to a kiosk. Now leave before I shoot you."

"Please, calm down. I am not here alone."

As the rest of her people came crashing through doors and windows Katherine grabbed the gun out of Liz's hand and threw it away.

People panicked, guns were drawn by many, but not her people, although Loren was looking at her expectingly.

"Liz, I'm not here to cause you or your people trouble. Please tell them to lower their weapons."

The woman looked at the discarded gun, at Katherine's gun, still at her belt with her hands away from it. She looked around the room.

"Stand down everyone. Whatever this is, it isn't a takeover."

"Boss?" Loren said after a moment when no one moved.

"You have your orders," Katherine replied. Katherine didn't see the gaze directed at Liz, but she could infer them by her nods. Slowly the tension in the room lowered.

"What do you want?" Liz took the gun one of her people handed her, but didn't raise it.

"Boss, come on, at least let us hold our guns."

Katherine ignored him. "I want the alien."

"Him? Why?"

She fingered the scarred half of her face.

"You said Crimson did that to you."

"I thought Tristan had done this." She pointed to Liz's hand and the man on the cot. "We had a miscommunication."

Liz narrowed her eyes. "Okay, let's say I believe you. Then what?"

"I expect they didn't seek you out just to hurt you. They wanted something."

"So?"

"Did they say what?"

"Why do you care?"

Katherine took a breath. Not a flunky, she reminded herself. She couldn't simply hurt her until she told her what she wanted to know.

"I told you, I want Tristan, the alien. If I know want they want, I can arrange to be there before them and catch him."

"And kill him."

"Eventually."

"And Crimson?"

"To be honest, I figured he was going to die in the crossfire." Katherine looked around, a lot of them were hurt, but if these two were bosses that meant they had more people. There was no such thing as too many people when going up against Tristan, if the only price was Alex, she had no problem paying it.

"But, I'm thinking that if we work together, your people and mine, we increase the chances of both of us getting who we want."

"Don't move." Liz went to the cot and sat on the edge. She spoke quietly to the man. When she came back she nodded. "What do you have in mind?"

"He's your partner?"

"Husband."

Katherine looked over Liz's shoulder. "How is he?"

"Look, if you're going to waste--"

"Tristan killed my husband."

Liz closed her mouth. "I'm sorry." She looked over her shoulder. "He's okay. Crimson slashed his gut open. The only reason he didn't do worse is that our people jumped him to protect Flynn. He's taken as much Heal Alls as is safe, but gut wounds are never easy, and that one was bad."

Katherine nodded. "My medic's here. She can look at him if you want. She has some things that will help him."

"We don't need your charity."

"Liz, this isn't charity. I don't want you to lose him. Heal-Alls are great at knitting bones and tissue, but gut wounds get infected real quick. Heal-Alls aren't as effective there. If it helps, this is me making a goodwill gesture toward our partnership."

Liz worried her lower lip and Katherine had to suppress a smile. The gesture made the crime boss look much younger.

"Fine, but if she does anything to him I'm going to gut her and you."

"Liz, I don't double-cross my partners."

"Yeah, you'll forgive me if I don't take you at your word."

Katherine nodded. She located Jasmine and indicated the man. "His gut was sliced open. He's on the maximum dose of Heals. Make sure the infection is taken cared of."

"Liz, I'm going to be frank with you. Tristan is much more dangerous than Alex. Going against him will result in a lot of people dying, your people and mine. They know that, we've been chasing him for years, but you need to know it too."

The woman leaned forward and lowered her voice. "You think I'm afraid of sending my people to die?"

Katherine smiled. "Not anymore." She indicated the stump. "Can you get that fixed."

"I have someone on his way with a replacement."

"Good. Now, tell me what Tristan is after."