Rogue Pursuit: A Space Opera Adventure (Shades of Starlight Book 1), page 20
When they reached the main street, they found a parade in full swing. Costumed people marched down the broad boulevard, dancing and playing music and waving ribbons.
Perrin didn’t know the festival’s purpose, but she guessed it was a tribute to the island. Lots of people were covered in giant fish scales that glittered a rainbow of silvery colors. Others wore enormous wings and headdresses of feathers in green and blue and red. Some were wrapped in tiny iridescent bubbles that resembled sea foam, some in palm leaves, some in tropical flowers.
The entire scene was colorful and vibrant, and she longed to plunge in headfirst and lose herself.
Then she remembered why they were here. She watched the ebb and flow of people, searching for Kel or anyone who looked out of place. Tai had a better chance of spotting him than she did. To her, everyone looked out of place, wearing fish masks and leaves for clothes. And they were all so tall.
Tai scanned the crowd with his comp-pad. Others would assume he was filming, but she knew he scanned the crowd hoping for a facial match.
After a couple blocks, he shook his head and put the comp-pad away.
She pointed to a repair shop, the first she’d noticed. Tai elbowed his way through the crowd toward it. She followed, but before she reached the door, a hand seized hers and pulled her toward the dancers.
She tugged back, but the grinning dancer wouldn’t let go. She looked back at Tai as he lingered in the doorway and shrugged. He pointed to the store, and she nodded, saw him duck inside as she allowed herself to be drawn into the street.
The music, the crowd, the energy—it was too much to resist. The excitement consumed her, and soon she was spinning and twirling with the rest. She couldn’t identify a specific dance or steps. People just let the music move them.
She laughed.
A minute later, Tai emerged from the store, standing still on the sidewalk, conspicuous by his lack of movement in the flowing mass. When the crowd pushed her toward him, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the street. He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t fight, though it took him a few minutes to relax and join the fun.
Soon his hair was mussed, eyes glittering, and he was smiling more than she’d seen in days. The crowd pressed her against him, thigh to thigh, hip to hip, so their faces were inches apart. His breath caressed her cheek.
Time stopped for a heartbeat before she was forced away again.
A stranger took her arm, and another. Her eyes met Tai’s from across a sea of dancers, and they smiled at each other. For a moment, they were a normal guy and girl, not on opposite sides of a conflict in an impossible, unsustainable relationship. He laughed once, and the deep sound rumbled in her ear through the comm.
Someone jostled her from behind. She spotted Tai several feet away, more people filling the space between them. But she couldn’t work her way toward him, as another person nudged her out of the way. She lost sight of him. Why did everyone have to be taller than she was?
With so many bodies pressing close, her chest tightened and a wave of lightness engulfed her head. The thick air and crowds held no hint of a breeze. The smells of food were overpowered by bodies, sweat. People buffeted her from every side. She gulped for air.
A hand grasped her elbow.
She spun, grateful, but it wasn’t Tai.
A cute guy a few years older than she was smiled at her. “I’d love to ask you to dance but you seem to need a break. Can I buy you a drink instead?”
Her brain needed a couple seconds to recover from claustrophobia mode, but then she returned the smile. “I make it a policy not to accept drinks from strangers.”
“Captain?” Tai’s voice came in her ear. “Where are you?”
“I’m Sam,” the guy said. “Is my name enough for me not to be a stranger?” With his curly brown hair and blue eyes, he definitely qualified as handsome.
Tai snorted in her ear. “It’s not enough for him to not be a creep.”
“Perrin,” she said.
“Pretty name. Is this your first time? At the festival?”
“Yep. What about you?”
One corner of Sam’s mouth lifted. “I’ve been around.”
“I bet he has,” said Tai. “Where are you?”
She should go back to Tai. They’d almost had a moment, if dancing in a crowd of thousands counted as a moment. But things with Tai couldn’t go anywhere. There was no harm in enjoying harmless flirting on an exotic world. On her birthday.
“Do you want to escape the crowds for a while?” Sam asked.
“Don’t tell me you’re buying this act,” Tai said.
Perrin smirked. “I might be tempted.”
“Oh, excuse me, miss—lovely costume,” Tai said. “Sorry, excuse me.”
Too bad Tai hadn’t told her how to deactivate the comm.
“Captain? Where are you? We should go.”
The press of the crowd lessened slightly, and her breathing slowed.
“What do you say to that drink?” Sam asked.
She briefly debated joining him, but the ship would be ready now, and odds were Kel had already left. “Thanks, but I should be going. I’m otherwise engaged.”
“Hopefully not literally. You’re too pretty to be off the market.”
Tai snorted. “Oh, please.”
“Just one drink. You can’t come to the festival and not try the bubble juice. Besides, you look warm. Can’t have you passing out.”
Sam placed a gentle hand on her elbow and steered her toward the food stalls, dodged a few people, his movements efficient and graceful. No wasted motion, people moving out the way for him without realizing they were doing it. His words and manner reminded her of Tai.
Wait.
Too much like Tai.
The realization sunk in right as Sam shifted closer and pressed a gun barrel into her side. “Sorry, but I need you to come with me.”
“Oh, you’re kidding me.” She scoped out her surroundings. To everyone else, she was a girl leaving with a cute guy. Her stunner rested on her thigh, but there were too many people to draw a weapon. She recalled the self-defense moves Kel had taught her, how to escape various holds. But with the crowd, she had no room to struggle.
“Captain?” Tai sounded concerned now. “Is everything okay?”
“Where are—”
“Shh.” Her captor jammed the weapon into her ribs.
And she couldn’t call for Tai without this jerk shooting her.
Sam nudged her away from the main avenue toward a cross street with fewer people. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said in a low voice. “I just need your help.”
“Perrin?” Tai again. “Cough if you’re in trouble.”
She coughed.
“Shades. Where are you?”
“Where are you taking me?” she asked Sam. Which was most certainly not his real name.
“To my ship. You’re going to help me, and then you’re free to go. I need your skills.”
She eyed the street. They’d moved to a less crowded area with more room to maneuver.
“You want skills?” She bent her knees to lower her center of gravity. Stomped his foot with the heel of her boot, brought her fist back into a particularly sensitive spot. When he hunched over, she slammed her elbow into his chin. “Take that for skills.”
Shoving his now-loose arm away, she bolted.
She would’ve loved to stay and beat the starlight out of him, but Kel had taught her to break free and run.
“Tai, you there?” She skidded into a curve at the end of the street.
“What happened?”
“Flirted with the wrong guy.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No. Think he knew me.”
A pause. “Early twenties, dark hair, slim but muscular?”
“Yeah.”
“Probably the Cobalt agent. Where are you?”
She darted down a side street, pushed her way between a few booths, slipped through an alley, and hopped a wooden fence. The crowds and businesses gave way to small homes. “Side streets. Residential.”
“Can you make it to the food cart we stopped at?”
“Maybe.”
“Hang on, I’m on the way.”
She glanced behind her. The guy had recovered remarkably quickly and was pushing his way through the booths, no longer trying to be subtle, narrowing the distance between them.
“I don’t have that long.”
Up ahead she spotted a square where a man was pulling to a stop on a hoverbike. The vehicle had see-through anti-grav thrusters at the front and back, with a seat in the middle that forced the rider to lean forward.
She charged at the driver as he prepared to park and knocked him off.
“Sorry,” she called over her shoulder as she straddled the bike and gunned the engine.
The vehicle roared with more power than she’d expected. She shoved the handlebars all the way forward and raced down the street. The bike responded to the slightest touch. She wobbled, dodging pedestrians, carts, booths, and other vehicles, before getting the hang of it. She cut toward the parade, pulled sideways along it, scattering costumed people who cursed at her in several dialects.
People leaped out of her way. She clipped a cart and sent flowers flying.
A rumble growled behind her. She peeked under her arm. The Cobalt agent had found a similar bike and was using the wreckage and the path she’d cleared to catch up.
She whirled away and sped up again, whipped around a corner. Skidded sideways to avoid a person. Knocked over a stall. This time, strings of beads scattered. One whipped her in the face. She winced but kept driving, moved into a different part of town, past the crowds and toward the outskirts. Water spread before her.
“Heading toward the harbor,” she told Tai. “On a bike.”
“Copy that.”
Distant sirens joined the cacophony of shouts.
A green bolt whizzed past her.
The jerk was trying to stun her. She took one hand off the controls, drew her weapon, and fired backward under her arm. She didn’t expect to hit him, but she could keep him off balance.
It struck her that this was a true hover vehicle. No road necessary. She jumped a curb, wove around docked boats, and flew over the water. The thrusters kicked up spray in her wake.
An engine roared, and the Cobalt guy drew even beside her. “It doesn’t have to be like this. I need your help. Just come willingly.”
“You lost the right to ask that when you pulled a gun on me.”
He lifted his gun; she aimed hers.
Then she dropped back and spun, spraying him with a wave, and headed toward shore.
Almost there, almost—
A bolt hit her arm. From shoulder to fingertips, she went numb. Her grip slipped. And she tumbled into the water.
Sam the Lying Cobalt Agent stopped above her. Reached down and grabbed her under the arm. She struggled, thrashing and swinging, but with no feeling in one arm, staying afloat was challenge enough. He dragged her onto the bike in front of him.
Another bike raced toward them at high speed, coming from shore. Tai. She’d never been so glad to see someone.
Several more vehicles followed him, but those had flashing green lights, sirens, and people in black uniforms. A row of three-wheeled cars followed.
Tai pulled up next to them. Perrin fought to escape the circle of Sam’s arms as Tai bumped the bike, reached for her, locked an arm around her waist. After a tug-of-war with her as the rope, she tumbled onto Tai’s bike. He steadied her. Feeling was returning to her arm, and she took over the controls so Tai could exchange shots with Sam. She veered away, then toward him. Nudged the other bike once, twice.
How easily she went back to trusting him. They needed each other this moment, but this moment was fleeting. Trust was earned in her world, not gifted. Same for his. And while she trusted him not to let her get kidnapped, she knew better than to extend that trust to the real world when it came to Kel and the revolution and everything else that awaited them.
“I got this,” Tai said. “Don’t stop. Meet me at the ship.”
“What?” she asked.
“Go.”
Sam’s engine roared as the hoverbikes reached land.
Tai leaped from their bike onto the other, and both men tumbled into the street, rolling to a stop at the feet of a line of police officers.
21
Tai wasn’t used to being handcuffed to a table. Although given the handcuffs—old-fashioned metal ones—he wouldn’t need long to be un-cuffed. But if he could convince the authorities to hold the Cobalt agent for a few days, the delay would be worth it.
Success seemed unlikely, given the way these guys were eying him.
He could’ve left Perrin to fend for herself with the Cobalt agent. She obviously had far more skills than she’d first let on. Before the cops cuffed him, he’d seen her blend into the crowd and disappear on the street littered with goods and destroyed booths. But no matter what he’d learned about her, she was here because he’d asked for help, and it was his responsibility to keep her safe.
So he’d raced to rescue her, and now he would wait for his moment. And hope she hadn’t decided to steal the ship and leave without him, which was a distinct possibility.
The jail’s interrogation room—if you could call it that—consisted of nothing more than a plain space, several feet square, with one door and no windows. The table and chair were of wood, and he suspected he’d have no trouble breaking them. He didn’t spot any cameras. When the cops had brought him in, they hadn’t even run an ident scan.
Now he faced two officers, one in his fifties and one not much older than Tai, who were playing the classic good-cop, bad-cop routine.
The younger one placed Tai’s gear on the table—his comm, his gun, his comp-pad. The fancy comp-pad might’ve given away his job, but sat in contrast to the ancient pulse pistol.
The man leaned against the table, looming over Tai. “Who are you?”
Confed law required people to carry identification at all times, but Tai had decided at the beginning of the mission that it was safer not to.
“No one important,” Tai said.
“Would you care to explain why you were endangering citizens on a public street?” He crossed his arms.
Tai debated telling the truth. But he had no proof he worked for the Confed, or that the other guy was from Cobalt. And there was no guarantee they’d help if they did believe him.
“It was the girl, wasn’t it?” The older cop jumped in, smiling kindly. “It’s always a girl.”
“Where is she now? Bystanders indicated she started it, stole a bike.” Younger one again.
“Is she safe? Were you trying to help?” Older one.
When it became obvious Tai didn’t intend to answer, the younger cop scowled. “Y’all caused significant property damage, and people were injured.”
Tai did regret that. But it wasn’t his or Perrin’s fault.
“Why don’t you take us through what happened?” Another reasonable tone of voice from the older one.
Enough being patient. “Look, I know you guys are doing your jobs. But you need to brush up on your interrogation skills.”
“You’ve been in this situation before?” The young one grunted. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Have you?” Tai asked.
The man didn’t answer.
“That’s what I thought. Don’t see a lot of trouble around here, do you?”
“You brought plenty.”
Time to show off his observation skills. “Lots of your guys out there weren’t wearing uniforms. Half the vehicles were civilian ones. Was everyone off-duty for the festival? No, you’re a mostly volunteer force, aren’t you?” He turned to the older cop. “You’re official. But you?” he asked the younger one. “Shop owner, right? Filling in here for extra money? New baby?”
The man’s eye twitched. “We’re the ones asking the questions.”
“And you’re doing a fine job,” Tai said. “I admire your effort. Because of that, I want to help you. I realize you have no reason to believe me, but the other man you brought in is dangerous. He tried to kidnap my friend. And he was carrying a weapon in the middle of a crowded festival.”
“So you were you.”
“Mine isn’t lethal. Per Confed policy,” Tai said. “A word of advice. When you question a suspect, don’t jump straight into what you want to know. Make small talk, be friendly. Force the suspect to wait while you do some research. Bring them water. Works better if you have the upper hand, and if they trust you.”
“You know what else works?” The man formed a fist and leaned toward him.
Tai had been trained to withstand all standard, and some quite creative, methods of torture. He doubted anything this guy tried would make him break a sweat.
His bored expression must have conveyed that.
The older cop stood. “That’s enough, Sergeant. Let’s leave him here for a day to consider his options.”
The younger one glared a minute longer but snatched Tai’s belongings and followed his boss out.
Tai gave them ten minutes, during which time he examined the room. His hands were cuffed together and to the table, but the table wasn’t secured to the floor. Moving slowly to avoid making too much noise, he dragged the table with him to the edge of the room. A lamp sat on another, smaller, wooden table. He used his chin to topple the lamp toward his hands and dismantled it. Perfect. He extracted a long, skinny wire. Five seconds later, the handcuffs were unlocked.
He reassembled the lamp, replaced the table and chair, and relocked the cuffs and set them on the table.
When he tested the door, he found it secured from the outside. He could kick it open. Or detach the hinges. Or wait for—
The side wall burst inward with an explosion of wood and concrete.
The force threw Tai against the door and blasted him with a shot of heat and a shower of stones and splinters. He stumbled, fell to the ground.
His head rang. Cuts peppered his entire body. He sat a minute until the room stopped spinning.
What the shades?
