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eBook Category: Erotica/Romance
eBook Description: Professional thief Isa Araye has a bad feeling about her current job, and the dead body she trips over near the safe proves something is terribly wrong. Catam of Mardu, a successful bounty hunter, is bored with his life, restless for reasons he cannot explain. So when his peacemaker brother needs his help, he readily agrees. How hard can it be to track down a murdering thief hiding on his own homeworld? But things are not as they seem, and Catam's boredom turns into something else entirely as he and Isa set out to prove her innocence. Rating: Contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and mild violence.

eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, Published: 2005
Fictionwise Release Date: June 2005

139 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [880 KB], eReader (PDB) [152 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [140 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [126 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [139 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [184 KB], hiebook (KML) [373 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [193 KB], iSilo (PDB) [115 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [144 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [182 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [185 KB]
Words: 42180
Reading time: 120-168 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 1586085816

Catam of Mardu rolled his eyes and wondered for the fifth time that morning if a person could actually die of boredom.

"I'm not goin' to Jintak and you can't make me!" Rantak Borsham's breath lingered in the air like a cloud of poison, the noxious fumes fouler than the offal lying in the alleyway beside the bar.

"I can't, hmm?" Catam's unconcerned reply further enraged the wanted murderer, causing Rantak to froth at the mouth, literally.

"You shouldn't aggravate him, Catam." Nu Fas shook his head.

Rantak, now armed with a knife, shouted obscenities, drawing attention to himself and the three men intent on capturing him.

"You really shouldn't have," Set, Nu's brother, agreed. "You know Captain Mara specifically ordered us to pick Borsham up quietly."

Several barbarians painted for war and wearing wicked swords joined the quarrel, raising questions Catam and the Fas brothers didn't want to answer, not with so many hostile gazes now centered on them.

In Kweg's Bar, authority and law were the exception to the rule. Unfortunately, to collect the hefty bounty on Rantak's murdering hide, Catam and his crewmates had no choice but to enter the eastern province's most dangerous drinking establishment.

"I asked you a question, drun." One man sneered and waved his sword in Catam's face.

A tingle of anticipation feathered Catam's belly and he smiled eagerly, relieved to finally feel something. His grin widened when he noted the confusion darkening his adversary's face.

"Nu, Set, grab Rantak while I take care of this idiot and his friends." He nodded to the four barbarians frowning ferociously. From the distinct set of their bushy brows and light colored hair, he guessed them to be some type of relation to Rantak. Perfect.

Nu shook his head and Set sighed, but since Mara had ordered them to behave, they did so. Nu grabbed Rantak and disarmed him with ease, then nodded to his brother and disappeared with Rantak in tow, courtesy of Captain Mara's new teleporter.

Set leaned against the bar and crossed his massive arms over his chest. "I'll wait here until you're through."

Catam's opponents eyed Set warily. No one openly challenged a citizen of Ragga--a planet that bore men with inhuman strength--with hopes of winning. When his opponents realized Set had no intention of interfering, they grunted with satisfaction.

"When we're done I might just take that pretty face and mess it up nice and proper," one of the men growled at Catam and crudely grabbed his crotch. His friends laughed and shouted obscenities while they spread around Catam in a circle.

The other patrons had quieted when they realized a brutal battle was about to take place. Money furtively changed hands until Set declined to fight. Once he leaned back against the bar, a shout sounded and the crowd erupted into a betting frenzy.

Set grinned. "I'll take five to one on the drun in the middle."

Catam frowned at the large man. He eagerly anticipated the coming fight, but being called a shit for the second time, and by his crewmate no less, irritated him to no end.

Taking advantage of his distraction, one of the barbarians rushed Catam with his sword drawn. Unarmed except for the dagger tucked into his boot, Catam dropped low and whipped out his leg, tripping his rushing attacker easily. The man hit the ground with a solid thump, and Catam finished him with a measured strike intended to produce both nausea and dizziness.

Sure enough, his attacker began vomiting and held his head, groaning.

Seeing their comrade downed so quickly, two more of the barbarians attacked, the leader waiting cautiously behind.

Catam ducked and rolled to avoid a near decapitation. He wanted to laugh out loud at the thrill coursing through him. The battle made his blood hum. He felt alive and subconsciously tapped into his extrasensory awareness that hovered just under the surface.

His eyes glowed and he noted the sudden wariness of the opponent nearest him. Catam feinted left. He pulled back as one of the men lunged with his weapon, then pivoted and used the man's momentum to crash the rushing barbarians into one another.

The thrown barbarian unfortunately had his sword at the ready when Catam threw him into his comrade, and he skewered the man through the stomach.

Cheers went through the crowd and Catam glanced behind him to see Set's amused expression flatten, indicating another assault, this one too close to miss.

Catam leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow while suffering a minor wound. Blood trickled from the shallow cut in his shoulder, the pain stinging him to life once more.

With a grin at his crewmate, who rolled his eyes and huffed at the ceiling, Catam sank to the floor and rolled left, knocking the surviving barbarian to the ground. Unlike his skewered friend, this man recovered enough to regain his feet, but Catam had tired of the play.

He dodged the next blow and went in hard. A punch to the gut and a chop to the man's throat had the third barbarian incapacitated.

Then the leader advanced, a raging menace of fury as he commanded not one but two Cortami class swords with blurring velocity. Catam briefly noted Set's alarm and shook his head to stop the Ragga's intrusion.

Whirling left and right, with inherent speed and using Xema distortion techniques, Catam confused his enemy to the point of dizziness. The man swayed on his feet, trying to keep up with the hazy image of Catam surrounding him.

Catam knocked his adversary unconscious with a sharp blow to the man's temple. Still pulsing off an adrenaline high, it took Catam a moment to remember the crowd watching him.

He blinked at the sudden silence and joined Set at the bar. "What?"

Set shook his head, looking disgusted. "Show off. Come on, we have work to do."

In a flash, Catam faced an angry Captain Mara aboard the ship, the teleporter an unwelcome reminder that he did indeed have a job to do, and that like it or not, the boredom would find him once more.