Devon listened as the scrambling device was turned on and gave its distinct all clear ping before sitting on the couch and looked up at his old friend Stephanie Castle. " You're looking good for a wanted woman" said Devon.
" I try my best" said Stephanie, " sorry about the whole gun thing."
" Its quiet all right" said Devon, " I knew it was you the moment I smelled your perfume, so what did you do this time? Counting cards, or you lose too much?"
" It is worse than that" said Stephanie sitting across from Devon in the chair, " You know who Harriman King is?"
" Harriman King? Well let's see, owns six casinos on New Vegas, basically built the entire gambling business there, one of the ten wealthiest men in the universe, ah it sorta rings a bell, how much do you know him?" asked Devon.
" It is more complicated than that" said Stephanie.
" You always were a complicated girl" said Devon.
Stephanie shook her dark red locks, " Cut the usual sarcasm" said Stephanie, " I really am in deep trouble this time."
" Okay, what happened" said Devon.
" I had been playing in one of his casinos for awhile and I was winning, winning a lot" said Stephanie, " so one evening Harriman invites me to a private game, it is me, him, and two other high rollers. I did pretty good for myself for the first six hours or so then Harriman had all the luck. He won hand after hand, but I knew I could beat him I could just hang on long enough. But pretty soon all my chips were gone, so was my watch, pocket computer, mobile phone, and my underwear."
" Playing for keeps huh" said Devon.
" It gets worse" said Stephanie, " I was already in to him for almost 90 large and he said one hand winner take all."
" What else could he get from you, he already had your underwear, old goat like that couldn't need much else" said Devon.
" Well, there was one more thing he could get" said Stephanie, " I bet that if I lost he could marry me."
Devon's expression changed from that of mild amusement to absolute shock, " You lost didn't you" he said.
Stephanie sadly nodded, " He just couldn't be beaten" she sighed, " now he expects me to marry him."
" He knows you don't like men right?" asked Devon.
" You know he is 95 too" said Stephanie, " he just wants to own me, have me as his trained terrier than can play poker to amuse his billionaire friends. I took off and now I have to get to Mars."
" What's on Mars?" asked Devon.
" Max Selkirk" said Stephanie, " he is the only forger I know who can make phony Interspace Passports, I'm planning on trying to hideout in Rhallic space until he dies or I do."
" But why the Express?" asked Devon, " there are a million ways of getting to Mars that aren't so visible."
" I've tried" said Stephanie, " but Harriman is everywhere, this is the fourth time I've tried to get to Mars, but every time his goons close in and force me to flee somewhere else and last time it got rough."
Stephanie opened her vest and lifted her shirt to show a pressure bandage over a wound, " I don't think he wants to marry me anymore, I think he wants my head over the mantle" said Stephanie, " before they used stun guns, last time it was real bullets."
" Are you okay?" asked Devon.
" I'm a big girl" said Stephanie, " besides you know I can patch up wounds with the best of them. Devon I need your help, I need you and Nick to get me to Mars. I don't have any money but you owe me."
" No problem" said Devon, " I'll owe you until the end of time, come on we'll hide you in my quarters until we get to Mars."
" Third class?" she asked.
" They will never look for you among the serfs" said Devon.
" Okay" said Stephanie.
The pair carefully slipped out of the cabin and started down the hallway for the elevator. The click of the hammer sounded like thunder behind them. Devon shoved Stephanie to the floor and spun around drawing his Crusader out. The first bullet whipped past Devon and thudded into the floor, only inches from Stephanie. Devon leveled his revolver at the New Vegas goons and squeezed the trigger. The first bullet tore through the first goon's shoulder dropping him to the ground screaming. The leader, grabbed the wounded man as the other fired two more shots at them as they ducked back around the corner. Devon turned around, " You okay?" he asked Stephanie.
" Peachy" said Stephanie.
Moments later the train's security officers rushed on the scene, like usual after all the action was over, wouldn't want to scuff their pretty battle armour. " What is going on?" asked a thin man in a conductor's uniform, carefully positioned in the center of the guards.
" Case of mistaken identity" said Devon, " those goons must have thought me and my wife were somebody else."
" Not another incident with those awful bounty hunters" whined the conductor, " god this train is crawling with them and this is the third incident we've had. I don't want to even begin to estimate the repair for all these bullet holes. God, why didn't I take vacation?"
Devon and Stephanie quickly got into the elevator as a clean up crew hurried to clean up the blood and patch the bullet holes before any of the guests noticed.

Nicholas looked up and immediately smiled when he saw that Devon had brought a guest, and what a guest she was. She was about 5'7", athletic, nice dark red hair that was cut stylishly short, and such a wonderful busty chest. She was a work of art, Devon certainly had taste in women. " What's up?" asked Nicholas.
" We have a guest" said Devon, " this is Stephanie Castle an old friend of mine who is on the run from Harriman King and his goons. We just had a run in with them up on the second class deck. She is going to hide out here until we reach Mars."
" She can share my bed any time" said Nicholas.
Stephanie looked at Nicholas, he had the school boy charm to match his good looks. Stephanie could sense that Nicholas was once a cop, it was how he wore his tie. All cops wore their ties with the same knot. Devon was more of the rough and ready guy, he didn't spend much time with ties, anymore than he spent with his black hair. Nicholas was polish, from his gently wavy brown hair to his impish blue eyes. He was a lady killer all right. Stephanie smirked, " Sorry you're not my type" she said, " but thank you for the offer, I like to reinforce my opinion of men from time to time."
Nicholas looked over at Devon who simply nodded, " Then why do you know her?" he asked.
" I know her from my early days in the troubleshooting profession" said Devon, " I had a rather sticky encounter with a couple of Asteroid Pirates and a teenage girl hauled me half dead into her parents home where she patched me up. I've kinda owed her ever since."
" Troubleshooting?" asked Stephanie, " I love that, certainly sounds better than bounty hunter, or hired gun."
" Devon's idea" said Nicholas, " I personally like hired gun."
" So what's up with Kraus?" asked Devon.
" He was up in the luxury cabins, and managed to give me the slip. The guy almost has the case fused to his hand so getting him and the case won't be difficult" said Nicholas.
" Who?" asked Stephanie.
" Harold Kraus, some pencil pusher for Demos Tech" said Devon, showing the picture to Stephanie.
" Him?" asked Stephanie, " a wanted criminal?"
" You've seen him?" asked Nicholas.
" Yah, this little guy was sweating like a fountain" said Stephanie, " he had a briefcase in his hand."
" Where was this?" asked Nicholas.
" On Orion III when I purchased my ticket" said Stephanie, " he drove everybody in line up the wall because he had to order two tickets."
" Why two?" asked Devon.
" I thought he had an assistant or something, one of them was a third class ticket" said Stephanie.
" Third class?" both men said.
" Yah, I remember seeing the name, it was such a weird name is stuck. Harold Oliver, yah I thought it was his assistant" said Stephanie, " he got the tickets and almost ran for the train."
Devon took out his pocket computer and slipped the cord into the computer. " Harold Oliver, Room 415" said Devon.
" Well come on" said Nicholas, " let's go grab him."
" I'll stay put, with the door locked" said Stephanie.
" You think you'll be okay?" asked Devon.
Stephanie slipped a small Walter P01 out, " I'm a big girl with a nice gun" she said, " you know I'll be okay."
" Yah but remember don't shoot holes in the place, we can't afford the repair bill" said Devon.
Stephanie smirked, Nicholas understood why Devon liked her, great smile.

The pair exited their room, " Why I have I never met her?" asked Nicholas, " we've known each other for almost three years now."
" Stephanie and I haven't seen each other in about that long" said Devon, " she is a space gypsy, anybody would have a hell of a time keeping track of her."
" She is certainly easy on the eyes" said Nicholas, " any sisters?"
Devon smirked, the scar under his left eye turning into a thin line, " She is the reason for that?" asked Nicholas.
" Yep" said Devon, rubbing the scar, " Stephanie pushed me out of the way and the bullet went over her head."
The pair rounded the corner and came to 415. " Mr Vickers, if you will do the honors" said Nicholas.
" Certainly Mr Pike" said Devon.
Devon slipped his keycard decoder into the lock and listened as the cheap lock quickly clicked. Nicholas pushed the door open and they both slipped into the room. " Oh shit" said Nicholas.
Devon spun around and they both got their first glimpse of Harold Kraus, laying dead on the floor of the bedroom, two holes in his back. " Where is the case?" asked Devon.
The pair started to search, as they began to exhaust the logical options, the closet, the drawers, under the bed and furniture in the living room a sense of dread was falling over the pair that they weren't going to get their reward.
" Anything?" asked Devon, looking inside the bathroom.
" Not even a change of underwear" said Nicholas, " I think we're screwed."
Nicholas walked into the living room straight into the barrel of a pistol. It was being held by a woman with black hair and deep green eyes dressed in an all black suit with an orange tie. " What did you do to him?" she asked.
" I just found him like this" said Nicholas.
" Give me your gun" she said.
Nicholas carefully drew his pistol out of his shoulder holster and she took it from his hand. " Why did you kill him?" she asked.
" I didn't kill him" said Nicholas, " I know the bounty is for him alive."
" Where is the case then" she said.
" Its not here" said Devon, putting his gun against her head, " now let's all put our guns down and talk like rational people."
The woman hit Nicholas in the face and spun around and put her gun into Devon's face. " You first" she said, " for all I know you killed Harold Kraus when you found the briefcase was missing."
Nicholas grabbed her and she swiftly kicked Nicholas. Devon grabbed her arm to wrestle her gun away. She spun around Devon but the confines of the room made her long legs smash into the wall. She and Devon crashed into the table in the room with a loud thud. Nicholas grabbed all three guns which laid on the floor and stuffed two into the pockets of his jacket. Devon slowly got to his feet, " Ouch" he said, " I didn't think those tables were that sturdy."
They both looked down at the woman, she was laying on the floor, a large bump on her head. " She look familiar to you?" asked Nicholas.
" I've seen her before but I can't place her" said Devon.
" She can fight" said Nicholas, rubbing his jaw, " let's get."
" We can't leave her in the room with a corpse" said Devon, " I don't her any more pissed at us than she already is."
" Okay, you search her" said Nicholas, " find a room key and we'll take her back."
Devon leaned over and was immediately punched in the face. She leapt to her feet and kicked hit at Nicholas. Nicholas caught her leg against his side and pulled her back. This time she hit the chair and dropped limp on the floor. " You okay?" asked Nicholas.
" Ouch" groaned Devon laying flat on his back, " I've been hit by a lot of women in my day, but that was the first time it really hurt."
Devon sat up and looked over at her, " You check her this time" said Devon, " I've been suck punched too many times today."
Nicholas grabbed her leg and dropped it on the floor. It thumped on the ground convincingly enough to prove to Nicholas she was unconscious for good this time. He carefully opened her jacket and checked the inside pockets. He next checked the front pockets, " Goody, it must be in the back" said Nicholas.
" This must be real familiar, grabbing an unconscious girl's ass" joked Devon.
Nicholas patted the two back pockets and found a wallet. He drew it out, " Oh fuck" he groaned.
Nicholas held the wallet open over his shoulder and showed her bounty hunting license. It read Naomi Winters, better know as Silent Phantom. " We just beat up one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy" said Devon, " god this job can not get any worse."
" Hey we held our own with no problem" said Nicholas, " that has to count for something. Here we go, one room card. Wow luxury, she must be doing good."
Nicholas and Devon picked up Naomi off the floor and slung one arm over their shoulders and carried her out of the cabin, making sure to close and lock the door behind them. They rode the elevator all the way to the luxury cabin deck.
They laid her on the bed and Devon picked up her pocket computer. He wrote a quick message: No Hard Feelings - Devon Vickers and Nicholas Pike.

" So now what?" asked Nicholas.
" Kraus must have stashed the briefcase" said Devon.
" We're on a train, there are about two billion places to hide it" said Nicholas.
" Yah, but if you want to hide an elephant where do you do it?" asked Devon.
" Behind a fat lady" said Nicholas.
" No in a herd of elephants" said Devon, " after some dinner we get to go digging through the luggage."
" Crap" said Nicholas.
The pair walked into their cabin just as Stephanie has stepped out of the bathroom dripping wet. She glared at the pair from underneath the towel as the pair stared at her nude body. She grabbed one of her boots and threw it at them. Devon managed to dive into the hall but Nicholas caught the heel of the boot in the nose. The pair stumbled into the hallway and listened to door lock. " Nice boot" said Nicholas holding up the boot, " she has taste."
The door opened and Stephanie snatched the boot back. Devon laughed at Nicholas, " Drink?"
" Sure" said Nicholas, " I am in need of some serious painkillers."