The other's eyes flashed. "Don't push it, scum," he warned harshly.

"You're in enough trouble with us as it is."

"Must be with Zekka Thyne," Maranne said ruefully.

"Must be," Riij agreed, his heart pounding a little harder. So it was definitely to Plan B now. "It's that dirt-brown one over there."

Two of the approaching thugs veered toward the land-speeder, the rest forming a loose but competent enough guard circle around the prisoners and their two escorts.

A double-sided circle, Riij noted with interest, with as many of their members facing outward as inward. Expecting trouble, maybe?

The thugs had the storage compartment open now and with grunts of satisfaction hauled out the two sleight boxes. "Got 'em, Grobber," one of them said. "Couple of sleight boxes, just like the man said."

"All set to fill up, huh?" the heavyset man said, throwing a dark look at Riij. "I guess Kast wasn't blowing smoke rings after all."

Riij threw a glance at Maranne, got the same look in return from her.

They'd been right; Kast was definitely playing some crazy double - or triple-edged game here.

"Kast told you about this?" he asked.

"Sure did," Grobber assured him. "So what were these for, the first payment?"

Riij shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't help you. We were hired to deliver the boxes and that was it."

"Sure," Grobber growled. "Just deliver the boxes: And if Criskjust happened to fill them up while your back was turned-well, hey, that's none of your business, right?

Promk, what the frink are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" one of the men at the land-speeder retorted.

He had carried one of the boxes around to the hood and was in the process of popping the seal with a knife. "A couple of wise guys, a couple of empty boxes; I figured it might be fun to send 'em on to Crisk with their heads inside."

Riij was suddenly aware of his collar pressing against his throat.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," he said, striving to keep his voice even. "You don't know where the rest of the boxes are."

"We don't, huh?" Grobber sneered, digging out a comlink and thumbing it on. "Skinkner? Hey, Skinkner, look alive."

"Funny, Grobber, funny," a twisted voice came back.

"What d'ya want?"

"You at the Dewback Storage Warehouse yet?"

"Yeah, 'course we are. If you were hoping to report us to Thyne for slogging off, you're out of luck."

"Wouldn't think of it," Grobber said, sending another sneer toward Riij. "Still think we don't know where the rest of the boxes are, hotshot?"

Riij felt his stomach tighten. So much for Plan B. So much, too, for any leverage they might have had against Thyne and his mob. Any chance of rescuing Pairor and Trell was now squarely in his and Maranne's laps.

Assuming they were able to find a way out of this, their own private mess. Carefully, keeping his movements ca sual, Riij looked around the ring of thugs, trying to formulate some kind of reasonable plan-"Mother of smoke/" Riij jerked his head back around. Standing beside the landspeeder, Promk had finally gotten the sleight box open.

.. and even in the faint light Riij could see the stunned look on his face. "Grobber-you gotta-what the frinkingm?"

"Have you gone dust-happy?" Grobber demanded, striding toward him. He got two steps, and then suddenly his face changed, too. "What the-.>" he gasped, all but leaping the rest of the distance to Promk's side.

Riij sniffed the night breeze carefully, caught the faint odor of spice. "You were saying something about empty boxes?" he asked.

Grobber ignored him. "Get the other one open," he ordered, pulling out a knife of his own and probing delicately into the spice.

"Selty, get over here. The rest of you, watch for trouble."

Seltyjoined his boss as Promk brought around the second box and set to work, and for a moment the two thugs conversed in low voices over the spice box. The debate was interrupted by the crack of breaking duraplast, and the two joined Promk by the second box.

Someone whistled in awe. "Grobber-are those-?"

"Durindfire gems," Grobber said, lifting his eyes like twin turbolasers to Riij's face.

"Let's have it, pal, and let's have it straight and fast. What the frink kind of game are you playing, anyway?"

"I told you before: we're not playing any games," Riij told him.

"We were sent to deliver the cargo, and that's it.

If there's a game going on, someone else is running it."

"Kast," one of the other thugs snarled.

"Or Kast and Crisk," Grobber snarled back, yanking out his comlink again. "Skinkner? Wake up, Skinkner."

"What d'ya want?" the other's voice demanded. "Frink it all, Grobber-"

"Shut up and listen," Grobber bit out. "You looked in any of those boxes yet?"

"'Course not. Thyne said to just watch them until Crisk's blaster-boys came to fill them with-"

"You idiot-they're already full," Grobber snapped.

"Which means the contract's already been filled."

The voice on the comlink swore. "Kast."

"That's my bet," Grobber said. "Start getting your boys together-I'm going to raise Control." He keyed the comlink again.

"Control? This is Grobber. Control?"

"Grobber!" a new voice half barked, half gasped.

"We've been trying to raise you for half an hour-where the frink are you? "

"At the Mynock's Haven," Grobber said. "Listen-"

"No, you listen," the other cut him off. "We're under attack here, skrag it-you've got to get back right away."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Grobber said. "What attack?

Who's attacking?"

"Who do you think? The frinking Imperials, that's who."

Grobber threw a startled glance at selty. "The Imperials?"

"Started out as some anti-Rebel operation," Control said. "At least, that's what they told us. Then someone took a shot at them, and suddenly here they are, burning their way through the east wall."

"Skrag! Where's Thyne?"

"I don't know-we can't find him."

"Must have gotten out," Selty muttered.

"Or ducked into some private bunker," Grobber said.

"All right, Control, we're on our way. Skinkner?"

"We're packing up, too," Skinkner's voice confirmed.

"You want us to do anything with these other sleight boxes?"

"To blazes with the boxes," Control snapped. "We need you here."

"No, pack 'em up and bring 'em along," Grobber said.

"Grobber-"

"They're worth a fortune," Grobber growled.

"Thyne'll have our heads if we leave 'em behind. Come on, how much trouble can a few Imperials be?"

Faintly over the comlink came the sound of a distant explosion.

"That answer your question?" Control snarled. "Get the frink back here."

And with a sudden hiss, the comlink went dead.

"They're jamming it," Grobber growled, shoving the cylinder back into his belt. "Selty, you take Promk and Bullkey and get these two and their landspeeder back to the fortress. Everyone else, back to the airspeeders. Move it!"

The others scattered. "Don't get any ideas," Grobber warned softly, glaring from under creased eyebrows at Riij and Maranne.

"We're a long ways from being done with you two yet."

With that he stomped off after the rest of his mob, disappearing just as they had appeared back into the shadows again. "Get over here," Selty snapped, Waving Riij and Maranne forward. Somewhere in the distance an avian or insect whistled, sounding strangely out of place in the urban setting. "Bullkey?"

"I'm on 'em," a deep voice came from behind Riij, the confidence backed up by a blaster nudge in the back.

"Com on, move it."

Riij started forward; and as he did so, Maranne veered slightly toward him and nudged him with her elbow. "Get ready," she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear.

At the landspeeder Promk, under Selty's direction, had picked up the box containing the Durindfire gems and was carrying it back toward the storage compartment.

The strange avian whistled again; and suddenly, inexplicably, one of the bottom edges of the box split open, spilling the gems out onto the ground.

"Promk!" Selty squeaked, aghast. "You stupid idiot."

He jumped forward, grabbing at the box as Promk tried to turn it upside down. For a moment they both fumbled with it, the prisoners temporarily forgotten - And from behind Riij came a short gurgle and a muffled thump.

Beside him, he sensed Maranne preparing to charge.

"Not yet," he muttered, touching her warningly as he lengthened his stride. Preoccupied with the spilled gems, Selty and Promk hadn't yet noticed what had happened over here. Another four paces... three... if they'd just fight with the box another few seconds... one....

"Now," he murmured; and jumping forward, he put his left palm down on the landspeeder's hood and leaped over the vehicle to slam both feet hard against Promk's chest.

The thug didn't even have a chance to gurgle as he hit the ground, the sleight box spinning out of his hands into the darkness. Selty did have time for a startled curse and a grab for his holstered blaster before he went down with Maranne on top of him. A savage jab with her knee, and he went limp.

"Are you injured?" Pairor rumbled from behind them.

"No, we're fine," Riij assured him, regaining his balance and turning around. Behind the Tunroth, the third thug was lying in an unnaturally crumpled heap. "Nice job with Bullkey," he added.

"Not to mention the box," Maranne added, retrieving their appropriated blasters from Selty's belt and tossing Riij's back to him.

"How'd you manage that one?"

"That was mine," Trell said, stepping out from behind one of the other parked landspeeders and crossing to them. "Just an exquisitely well-thrown molecular stiletto."

"A whistle code and a molecular stiletto," Riij said, shaking his head wonderingly. "You two are just full of tricks, aren't you?"

"The stiletto was a gift," Trell said, crouching down beside the sleight box. "Blast-the blade's broken."

"Never mind the blade," Maranne said, crouching down beside him.

"Get the gems."

"Forget the gems," Riij told her, peering off in the direction Grobber and the others had gone. The rescue had been remarkably quiet, but if Grobber took it into his head to fly over this spot on the way back to Thyne's fortress, the four of them could still end up fertilizing a patch of razor grass. "Let's just get out of here."

"But-"

"No, he's right," Trell said through clearly clenched teeth.