"This is a kidnapping. Come quietly and nobody gets hurt."

 

Sandy Burke was a spirited lass, but she knew there was no debating a blaster barrel in the small of one's back. Besides, here on the Grand Concourse in Luna City, bystanders might get caught in the crossfire. Better to just go along — and wait her chance. Not one to be taken lightly, our Sandy.

 

Eagerly though she watched, no opportunity came until the airlock. Her captor, anonymous in his hardsuit, was distracted by the controls, and she leapt for freedom — alas! Too late! The kidnapper had already sealed the hatch.

 

"That one's free," he said, peaceably enough. "Anyone worth their salt would escape given the chance. Don't try it again, and I won't have to stun you."

 

His ship's inner hatch cycled open, and they stepped inside. He held the gun, but she couldn't hide the triumph in her eyes. "You won't shoot me, Jack Walker, and you know it!"

 

He stiffened, then pulled off his helmet in disgust. "No sense denying it. Recognized my voice, I guess."

 

"Of course! We grew up together," she said. Her brow furrowed. "How could you do this? Our fathers were partners, best friends!"

 

Jack absently ran one gauntleted hand through his wild red hair, doing nothing to flatten it. "Dad thought they were, sure, but that's before your old man cheated him."

 

"Cheated?! My father never cheated anyone! He's the most honest man I know!" She would have continued, but something in his eyes gave her pause.

 

"I'm sorry, Sandy, but it's true. Your father sold that aluminum claim right out from under him, and the way he did it, the courts couldn't do a thing. When Dad died last year, he left fifty thousand in debts, and I figure his share of that claim would about cover it. That's what your old man's gonna pay me."

 

She flushed, perhaps at the thought of being priced so low. A good worker can make that in a year, and jobs outnumber applicants three to one. What she said, though, was, "It's a foolish risk you're taking, Jack. Dad's no man to cross. You'll never have a moment's peace, not if you live a hundred years."

 

Now it was his face that went red. "If I chicken out, do you suppose I'll rest easy?"

 

Sandy's heart went out to him. "Oh, Jack! Let me talk to him. I'm sure he'd be willing to settle the debts of his former partner, sure as anything!"

 

At that, Jack's eyes flashed. "I won't beg anything from the man who cheated my father," he snapped. "No, I'm going through with this."

 

"You'll never get away—"

 

"I'll lose myself in the Belt among four thousand antisocial miners. The whole Patrol couldn't track me down, much less your father — not even once you identify me."

 

She slapped him hard. "That's for saying I'd turn you in, Jack. You know better!"

 

He rubbed his jaw ruefully. "I guess I ought to at that," he said. "But you aren't gonna change my mind, so we'd best stop discussing it. Now, promise to not give me any trouble, and I'll give you the run of the ship until the exchange."

 

She thought it over and agreed.

 

* * *

 

"You didn't bring enough men," Burke complained.

 

Looks like a badly shaved bear in a tailored suit, mused Captain Craddock uncharitably. Burke's compulsion to take charge would have been less irritating were he competent.

 

"Every approach is covered, Mr. Burke. He was crazy to set the exchange here at your townhouse. We're in an isolated dome, totally sealed, every exit covered and hard vacuum outside. The only place I'd want more Patrolmen—"

 

"Yes, inside my home, I know. Lieutenant, my security is impregnable. I'll take responsibility."

 

Nothing's impregnable, thought Craddock. "Even so—"

 

A comm buzz cut him off. "Movement on the concourse, sir. Looks like our perp."

 

"Alone?"

 

"Yessir. No hostage."

 

They watched the hardsuited figure approach. Twenty feet away, he stopped. "The money," he called.

 

"The hostage," replied Craddock.

 

"Nearby. The money."

 

"You're not getting my money!" crowed Burke. "You can't escape. Arrest him!"

 

Craddock's mouth dropped open. "Burke—" he began, aghast.

 

"Do as you're told. Arrest him!"

 

A woman's voice sang out from behind. "Hold it right there, Patrolmen! I've got you covered!"

 

A gaudily masked figure had opened a window in the townhouse and was covering them with...

 

Strange weapon, thought Craddock. Massive barrel, but it almost looks...

 

The rich man sputtered, apoplectic.

 

"Stand down, men," ordered Craddock.

 

Burke threw his case down and cursed, long and loud. Craddock took it and tossed it to the kidnapper.

 

"I'll keep 'em covered, Boss!" cried his accomplice. The man detoured around the squad of Patrolmen, then straight through the inexplicably unlocked front door of the Burke house. The latch snicked behind him.

 

Ninety seconds later, when the Patrol bashed their way in, there was no trace of the kidnappers — or Burke's personal shuttle. A clatter from upstairs proved to be Sandy, breaking out of a utility closet, destroying an air circulator in the process.

 

"My dear—" began Burke.

 

"I can't believe you wouldn't pay!" she stormed. "You terrible, greedy old man!"

 

They left, shouting. Craddock stood staring into the wreckage-filled closet, his face inscrutable. He picked up a black plastic tube, sighting along it before tossing it back in. Then he retrieved the bright scarf she'd been bound with.

 

"Gaudy," he muttered. He pocketed it and left, whistling.

 

* * *

 

Officially, the Burke kidnapping remains Unsolved. Sandy Burke refused to identify her captors.

 

A year later, she disappeared again, leaving her father a note. Upon reading it, he went to his office safe, opened it, and fainted dead away. Within was none of his hoarded fortune, only two playing cards: a jack of diamonds and queen of hearts.

 

Sandy never returned home. When in the fullness of time her father died, her son came to claim his inheritance — a redhead named Jack Junior.