Had the man changed his mind? Whatever the case, it was time to accelerate this. Maddox slid his pistol through his belt, smiled, and stepped directly in front of the desk.

That must have made Lucas uneasy. The man grabbed for his laser.

Maddox proved faster, plucking it from the desk. With his other hand, he took the communicator. “Just what I need,” he said.

Lucas swatted at Maddox’s forearm. For just a second, the captain saw something glitter underneath the tungsten ring, a tiny spike aimed at his flesh. He snatched his forearm out of the way. The hand swept past. Abruptly, Lucas stood, trying to prick Maddox a second time by swinging once more. The captain was too fast for that. He flicked his arm out of the way, and backhanded the back of the smuggler’s hand with his other hand.

The undoubtedly poisoned tip must have caused Maddox to hit too hard. Lucas’s hand continued the swing in a parabolic arc, propelled by the blow. The smuggler ended up pricking the side of his own arm. Lucas jerked his hand away and stared at Maddox with an accusing glance.

The color drained from Lucas’s face. He took a step back, then a second one. He opened his mouth to say something. Instead of completing his thought, his eyelids fluttered and he crumpled onto the carpet. His legs twitched. His entire body thrust up spasmodically. Then, he moaned and his body stilled as he quit breathing.

Maddox watched the display with fascination. That could have been him. Why had Lucas tried to murder an Intelligence officer?

Abruptly, Maddox punched an emergency code into the communicator. He put it to his ear, hearing a harsh buzz from the speaker. The communicator worked, but something or someone jammed the signal. This was getting complicated.

Maddox studied the dead smuggler. Could the man have a jamming device on his person?

Walking around the desk, Maddox knelt beside the corpse, feeling inside the jacket. As he did, people entered the room. Hadn’t Lucas said he’d summoned others?

Maddox looked up, his eyes widening with surprise. Three Spacers regarded him.

The Spacers were short and slender with deep-space tans, wearing blue uniforms that were tight around the throat. Each wore dark goggles and skintight gloves. They were the last people Maddox would have expected here.

A Spacer woman stood in front of two men. She drew a projac—a stubby, hand-held weapon—aiming it at Maddox.

“Hands up,” she said. “You are under arrest for assaulting and possibly murdering a Spacer national.”

-3-

Maddox regarded the woman’s impassive features. It was difficult to get a good read of her because the goggles hid her eyes. Why would Spacers be here?

A premonition of having made a terrible miscalculation struck the captain. He was in Shanghai. This couldn’t be the…

“Is this the Lin Ru Hotel?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “This is our Earth embassy.”