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Zekk nodded warily.

Droq'l sighed and spread all three hands in a gesture of resigned acceptance. "Just as well. I might've been tempted to terminate Fonterrat myself for his incompetence."

Then, to Zekk's pleasant surprise, the bartender paid him in full.

"Glad to see a young trainee with some presence of mind," he said.

"You finished what I sent you to do, and you had the good sense to bring back proof of it.

That's more than I could say for some bounty hunters two or three times your age."

A thoughtful look crept over the bartender's blue-skinned face, and he drummed the fingers of two hands on the bartop. "Come to think of it, I may have another job for you, if you're interested. Got a client who's looking for a bounty hunter, wants someone who's resourceful and trustworthy, but unknown. That might just be you."

"You seem to be a good enough judge of character," Zekk said, crossing his arms over his chest. "After all, you judged me correctly."

The bartender chuckled at his bravado. "You'll take the job, then?"

Zekk didn't dare let his excitement show. "Of course.

May I speak to him?" He felt a sense of exhilaration.

He'd fully expected to come away in disgrace, without pay, after reporting his failure. But now, because of his own sense of honor--something he feared the dark side had stolen from him forever a new job had dropped right in his lap!

The bartender grinned. "He's pretty particular, even a little skittish I think he'll want to talk to you himself before you're hired."

Zekk could learn nothing for certain about his prospective employer.

Sitting at a low table in the shadow of a staircase that spiraled up the inner wall of Shan-ko's Hive, Zekk stared at the... creature in front of him.

"My name is Zekk," he offered. "I hear you need a bounty hunter."

"You come well recommended," the creature replied. "Call me... Wary.

Master Wary. Yes, that will do."

Zekk shrugged in amusement. "Whatever."

Wary's voice was masculine, but synthesized. His body and arms were engulfed in gray robes and furs that made it impossible even to guess the creature's species or probable shape. He wore a holographic mask set to randomize so that his features changed constantly. A reptilian tail coiled out from beneath the robes and furs, but this could have been part of a disguise. For all Zekk knew, he could be talking to a female Wookiee, a Jawa on stilts, or even his friend Jaina Solo.

The thought of Jaina made him smile again, and he patted his vest pocket in which rested two message packets--one from Jaina and one from old Peckhum; the bartender had found them for Zekk in the general delivery message area behind the bar.

"And who exactly do you want me to find, Master Wary?" Zekk asked, deciding on a direct approach.

Wary looked around, as if to be sure no one was listening in.

Zekk glanced unobtrusively toward the nearby tables. A Devaronian played Sabacc with a pair of disreputable-looking spacers; a Ranat consulted a Hutt information broker; a furry white Talz and a hammerheaded Ithorian drank colorful intoxicants and sang duets to the accompaniment of a nine-stringed wrist harp. No one paid any particular attention to him.

"I want you to find a man who's been kidnapped," Wary said beneath his mask. "His name is Tyko Thul."

Zekk's entire attention snapped back to the creature in front of him.

"Did you say Tyko Thul?"

The holomask blurred and shifted. "Yes, Tyko Thul," he repeated. "He was recently abducted by several assassin droids. I want you to find him."

"Every other bounty hunter in the galaxy is out looking for Bornan Thul,"

Zekk said. "Are you sure it's Tyko you want?"

Wary nodded. "The two are brothers. I have reason to believe the disappearances are... related--just as the two men are.

An interesting twist, Zekk thought. Finding one brother might lead to information about the other.

After failing to find Fonterrat, he had intended just to strike out on his own, looking for clues to Bornan Thul, hoping