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    Playing with Fire
    Playing with Fire
    Playing with Fire
    Ebook55 pages51 minutes

    Playing with Fire

    By Lazette Gifford

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Tar is desperate to save his junk shop from tax collectors; frantic enough to dare something illegal with the help of an old acquaintance. However, Dela hasn't told him all the facts about her scheme and the trouble he has to deal with when things go bad.

    Originally published by Yard Dog Press in Honor Bound

    Includes about 4,000 word preview to the novel Ada Nish Pura.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA Conspiracy of Authors
    Release dateAug 19, 2013
    ISBN9781936507382
    Playing with Fire
    Author

    Lazette Gifford

    Lazette is an avid writer as well as the owner of Forward Motion for Writers and the owner/editor of Vision: A Resource for Writers.It's possible she spends too much time with writers.And cats.

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      Book preview

      Playing with Fire - Lazette Gifford

      Playing with Fire

      By

      Lazette Gifford

      Copyright 2013 Lazette Gifford

      An ACOA Publication

      www.aconspiracyofauthors.com

      ISBN: 978-1-936507-38-2

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Copyright 2013, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved

      Cover Art copyright 2013, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved

      Cover art created with Carrara Pro and Adobe Photoshop

      Published by A Conspiracy of Authors www.aconspiracyofauthors.com

      Previously published by Yard Dog Press

      Table of Contents

      Playing with Fire

      About the Author

      Preview: Ada Nish Pura

      Playing With Fire

      Look, Tar, we're just talking about a few stolen comp chits, Dela said as we sat in Perin's Place, a loud Rat Maze dive near the Edge. She looked annoyed when I glanced around to see who might be listening. People made deals here all the time.

      But not me. I didn't like being party to trouble, but desperation kept me listening to Dela's plan. I leaned forward, the battered table wobbling. Dela hastily grabbed her sloshing drink and smiled. I'd been drawn to her when we were younger, but we'd taken different paths since then. Now we talked strictly business.

      Tell me the plan, I said.

      I can grab the chits and I know a little gutter tramp who is a wiz with reworks. She leaned closer as well, black hair falling across the table. Her gray eyes flashed with excitement. We set him up in your backroom, he makes some changes, and no one can trace the things again.

      So why do you need my shop?

      Because we need a place with the right equipment for him to work and I can't peddle chits on the street corners, idiot. Look, if you don't want in, fine. I'll grab the chits, take the gutter boy, and we'll go on our own. But I thought you needed the money, Tar.

      I do. And don't try to play this like you're doing me a favor. You never helped anyone unless there was something in it for you.

      Her grey eyes narrowed with anger this time. She must have forgotten I wasn't far removed from the Maze. Besides, I'd known her most of my life.

      My junk shop sat on the Edge, a dangerous stretch between the Rat Maze and the Portside shops. I had run it with Dack for ten years before he died in the rebel riots. I hadn't thought much of the rebel's tactics before then, but Dack's useless death had changed my Rat-honed ambivalence into an active dislike. Not that I loved the Citizens any better though.

      Dack had taken me in off the street when I was fifteen and left me the shop when he died.

      I did fine, alone . . . except I didn't know about the Inheritance Tax until they brought me the paperwork. Rats didn't worry about those things, not being Citizens and having no possessions the fine people of Tempest would want. The notice said I owed more credits than I could legally get in half a year.

      And that's when I started listening to Dela. I was damned if I'd let the Citizens of Tempest take Dack's Shop after all his years of hard work.

      Who's going to want these chits? I asked, trying not to sound desperate. How can we sell them quickly enough to get me clear of this tax debt?

      I can always find buyers, she said. Plenty of people want empty chits with no way to trace them. You, me and Ranen are going to supply them. And if this batch goes well, we might get to do more.

      I don't want to get in that deep, I said, sitting back in my chair again, trying to put distance between us and any more trouble. I just want to save the shop.

      "Whatever. With the creds from this

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