City of Shattered Light, page 13
“I can’t seem to tear myself away from this death trap of a city. And you and I have a debt to settle.” Samir held an oversized coin between two fingers, inset with red symbols that shone like embers. “Will you finally let me get rid of this?”
Asa frowned. A life debt? She’d heard of the coins being traded on Laurizon, a sprawling satellite orbiting Earth. Favors were money there—and a life debt seemed to be the biggest denomination of all. Was Samir really using one to help her?
“Half expected you’d have thrown that thing out an airlock,” Diego said.
“Nah. Even if I had, you wouldn’t let me forget this life debt nonsense.” Samir set the coin on the table and flicked it. It skittered across the polished wood. “I’m sure Riven has told you we’re in need of a hideout.”
Diego turned the coin over. He gave Samir a look equal parts reverent and grudging. “Why now?”
“Oh, come on, Dee. Don’t I get to choose what to do with it? You refused my last request.”
Diego’s eyes flashed. “Because your last request was a crude suggestion of where I could shove the favor.”
Riven snorted. “All right. Can we agree this cancels out whatever other obligations you have to turn us in? Everything we’re about to tell you stays between us. Not Boneshiver.”
Something scathing in Diego’s and Samir’s gazes connected. They definitely had a history, but there was an undercurrent of suspicion. Of reluctant longing.
“That’s my favor, Dee,” Samir said. “You get us a place to stay and a ship out of here. Above all, you tell nobody. Sound fair?”
Diego slipped the coin into his pocket. “I will honor this. You have my word.”
“Perfect.” Riven chipped at her steel-gray nail polish. “Our friend Tripp here has a friend on Earth who might be able to fix Banshee. One of Almeida’s scientists. We just need to get that capsule out of here.”
Asa locked eyes with Diego. That’s right, she thought, trying to send a silent warning through her gaze. I’m a friend of theirs. And if you get too nosy, I’ll sink your networks.
Diego frowned. “Banshee doesn’t act like any virus I’ve ever seen. It seems strategically predatory in a way most algorithms aren’t—”
“Like it’s thinking,” Ty said.
“Something like that,” Diego continued. “Even Requiem’s best hackers can’t stop it. You really think you can shut it down?”
“It’s the best option we have,” Samir said. “Ty and I saw it creeping out of the quarantine zone. Even Federation tech is being hacked.” He pursed his lips. “So first, I want you to verify Tripp’s story.”
Asa’s blood turned to ice. Suddenly, all the eyes in the room were on her. “You don’t trust me?”
“It’s protocol. We’re not risking my crew’s necks until we confirm your story checks out.” Riven’s kohl-smeared eyes met Asa’s. “Show him the biocapsule.”
Asa gripped her backpack straps tighter. “It stays with me.”
“He’s not going to hurt anything,” Samir said gently. “He just needs to pull up some data.”
Diego returned her gaze, and it felt like a challenge. “She can come with me, if she wants. It doesn’t have to leave her sight.” He gestured to a doorway behind him. Waiting beyond the dark were blinking control panels.
If it was just her and Diego, she had a better chance at striking a deal. Asa let out a shuddering breath. She could do this. She had no other choice.
“All right. I’ll tell you everything. Alone.” Whether or not he knew her identity already was a gamble.
Riven gave her a hard look. What are you playing at?
“Protocol.” Asa tried her hardest to smirk. “For my sister’s privacy. And mine.” If Riven didn’t trust her, she wasn’t going to return the favor.
“I suppose that’s acceptable.” Diego inclined his head. “Follow me.”
Riven’s glare followed Asa inside, so fierce Asa half expected it to melt the door as it slid closed.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Asa said. “But it doesn’t leave this room.”
Diego’s eyes flicked over her, as if searching for weak points. Then he tapped a control panel to life. With his back turned, Asa parsed the lines of code and layers of security on her wristlet, still chipping away at his security systems. Even the tiniest piece of blackmail might be enough.
Her heart pounded. What have I gotten myself into? Going toe to toe with an underworld informant was a bad idea. Still, she had to show him who he was dealing with.
“I’ll confess . . .” Diego swiped a holoscreen, and a familiar face appeared on it.
Asa’s face.
Dolled up like a perfect heiress, on the cover of Eon Magazine.
“I’ve foreseen a lot of things happening in this city,” Diego said. “But I never expected you, Asanna Almeida.”
chapter 13
SPIDER
There it was.
Asa’s boots froze to the floor at the mention of her name. Of course Diego knew. Still, she searched his face for any trace of uncertainty.
He fixed his eyes on her with perfect clarity, like she was a scarni caught in a snare. “I’ve known since the moment you stepped into my lobby.”
The heiress-Asa on the magazine cover—with her windblown hair and pouty red lips—seemed to taunt her. Asa pushed for a final lie. “You don’t seriously think that’s me.”
“Don’t be so modest. You’re a prodigy.” He held up the spider she’d hacked, dangling it by one metallic leg.
Filthy curses threatened to spill from her lips. She had to pull her only ace. A bluff. “So we understand each other.” She fought to keep the quaver out of her voice. “I’m sure you know, too, that my dad’s security systems are far more advanced than your flimsy networks. I’ve already found a backdoor.”
He chuckled, as if threats were as normal for him as the sirens blaring through the apartment walls. “I expected as much. You don’t need to prove yourself to me, Miss Asanna. It really is a pleasure.”
She stopped short of threatening to leak his files—the Boneshiver syndicate’s data—all over Requiem’s streets. She’d expected him to blackmail her. Not this. “What do you want from me?”
“I want to know why you’re lying to them. I’m sure they know you have a bounty. So why the false name?”
She clasped her shaking hands together. She’d lied to protect herself when she’d woken up in a den of smugglers. Plus, her name was on Project Winterdark, and if Riven thought she’d helped with whatever test killed Emmett—
Maybe Riven would rather kill Asa than turn her in.
“I’d be a target,” Asa said. “Riven hates my dad, and I’m just trying to survive.”
“At least you’re being honest now.”
He was silent for a while, scrolling through web pages and reports with the Almeida logo stamped at the top of the page. Asa breathed deeply, her own sweat chilling her as she focused on the tangy smell of the oxygen converters in the vents. Was he considering whether to tell them? Had he found anything on Josiah?
Then Diego spoke again. “You’re lucky your information checks out. A certain scientist by the name of Josiah Herron has left Almeida Industries recently. And Banshee’s origin is traceable to a ship from Cortellion.” His gloved hand maneuvered over the keys with soft clicking noises. “From what I can see, you’re telling the truth.”
“So you won’t tell them my name?”
“For now, it’s your secret to tell, not mine. But you realize the longer you wait, the deeper you’ll be digging your own grave?”
She said nothing. Riven couldn’t find out. Not ever.
“I’ll still be monitoring you. Samir’s crew is risking a lot to help you, and I owe him my life.” He whirled toward her, his face suddenly fierce. Asa backed away until the light switches dug into her back. Diego pressed his hand to the wall next to her ear, his voice like honey laced with venom. “So if your identity starts to put him in danger . . . I’m going to test just how much of your threat is a bluff.”
Without taking his eyes off her, he snatched a datapad off a table and sauntered out.
Numb and quaking, Asa scooped up the biocapsule. She wondered what Diego’s word was worth—for him, information was liquid gold poured between powerful hands. But if he was keeping his oath to Samir, maybe he’d protect her identity.
“Her info checks out,” Diego announced.
The other three tore their attention away from the GravSphere battle on the holoscreen. Ty grinned at Asa, as if he’d trusted her all along. Guilt settled deeper into her gut.
“And this Josiah guy?” Riven said.
Diego tapped his wristlet, and a picture of Josiah appeared on the holoscreen. Just as Asa remembered him, with bruise-colored bags under his eyes and the unkempt beginnings of a graying beard.
“From what I’ve gathered,” Diego said, “Luca Almeida and Josiah Herron are probably the only ones who can stop Banshee. And I doubt Almeida will be inclined to help.”
“Well?” Riven said. “Can you get us that ship?”
“Already booked you a meeting with the captain of the Duchess’s fleets.” Diego’s eyes were glued to his datapad. “Unfortunately, it’ll be hard to make a case if they discover you have what Banshee’s after. Likely they’d confiscate it and hand it off to a Requiem hacker.”
Confiscate it. Nobody in Requiem would know what to do with it. They’d pick it apart. “They’d destroy it,” Asa said. “Josiah’s the only one I trust to run tests while keeping my sister safe.”
“Right,” Diego said. “So, offer them your smuggling services. Convince them you can navigate contraband around Federation ships.”
“The Duchess?” Riven blurted. “Shit, Sokolov is already threatening to steal our organs. Is the Duchess going to demand ritual sacrifice if we sneeze in her court?”
“This is your only shot. Unless you’d like to steal a ship from one of the matriarchs.”
“That plan sounds more fun.” Riven sank deeper into the embroidered couch.
Diego ignored her, furiously tapping his wristlet. “Your meeting’s at the next Falsedawn. So rest up. There’s couches and blankets in the spare room, if you need to sleep.”
Another night in paradise, Asa thought. Falsedawn probably meant the next Earth-morning. It would take a few more sleeps before the sun rose here. She intended to be gone by then.
“I think we’ll hang out here for a while.” Riven kicked her purple polycarbon boots onto the floor, and Zephyr eagerly sniffed them. “If you don’t mind.”
Diego grumbled something about new clients and disappeared into one of the side rooms.
Asa felt impossibly tired, now that death and blackmail weren’t breathing down her neck. She peeked through the solar blinds at the dark patch looming beyond the glowing spires. Banshee was cutting a vicious path as it hunted her. Sirens blared in the distance, and when panic threatened to close her throat, she had to turn away from the window.
Riven and Samir sat together on the couch, flipping through holoscreen channels and laughing as they mocked the actors on a bad holiday soap opera. Ty crouched by Samir’s leg, re-dressing his wound and grumbling at him to hold still. Riven had been angry only minutes ago, but with her crew, some of her hardness melted away. They were broke and had lost their hideout, but they had each other.
Asa was alone. And her secret was a barbed-wire fence separating her from them.
“I’m going to bed,” Asa announced to nobody in particular, heading to the spare room Diego had pointed out. “Still have a headache from that sedative.”
“That’s not a good sign.” Ty unwrapped a fresh bandage. “Do you need me to look you over?”
“You’ve been looking her over enough already.” Riven nudged him with her foot. “You’re going to run out of gauze, with all that drool.”
Ty’s face was flushed, and his gaze lingered on Asa as she left, but her eyes were already blurring with tears and she couldn’t make herself care. Only once she’d closed the door to the spare room did the fatigue crash over her like a wrecking ball. She collapsed onto the couch, and the momentary relief racked an ugly sob from deep in her chest.
She missed home—the privacy of her own bed, the scent of cheese pastries wafting from the kitchens, the comfort of seeing her face on a magazine and knowing she had a future.
But that future had gone up in smoke. Her best friend was in pieces, a constant reminder her father could do whatever he wanted. Cortellion was no longer home.
Through her tears, she saw a fuzzy gold shape on the floor. Zephyr had followed her. He looked up, cocking his head inquisitively.
“Do you want to know my name?” Asa whispered. “You wouldn’t care, would you?”
His collar jingled as he leapt onto the couch, nuzzling into her lap. She buried a hand in his soft fur.
She couldn’t make friends here. Maybe never again, since she’d be keeping secrets for the rest of her life. And for the first time ever, her money was running out. Where would she work? What the hell was she doing?
This city would eat her, if Riven didn’t get her first.
A burst of laughter erupted from the other side of the door, and the pang of jealousy came back. Asa curled onto her side, the capsule a steady pulse against her chest. There was only one person she wanted to talk to right now, and she might never hear her voice again.
She and Kaya had never been apart for more than a few days. Even when grounded, they’d sneak into AbyssQuest and meet virtually—
An impulse snapped some of the fog away. Was it possible?
Asa tapped her wristlet, finding she could still link remotely to her AbyssQuest server. She dug through Diego’s closet, found a dusty old scan-glass, and slipped it over her eyes.
On the screen, AbyssQuest’s horizon stretched and rendered before her—the feverish sunscapes and distant castles taking shape. The stormy oceans and quiet villages. The world given life by Kaya’s art. A world that felt like home.
There was only one thing missing.
Asa plugged the biocapsule into her wristlet and held her breath.
“Kaya,” she whispered to the petals on the false breeze. “Can you hear me?”
The sky flickered from sunset to night in an instant. Her breath caught. She wasn’t alone.
“Come find me,” Asa said. “I need to talk to you—”
Something was wrong. The stars in the sky shifted, pulled inward by a gasping void. The edge of the horizon disintegrated as blackened veins crept over the landscape, like something out of a nightmare.
Kaya’s mind was taking control.
No. Why was she reacting like this? “Kaya. Please, wake up.”
But the nightmare spread like an infection. The trees were dissolving to pixelated messes, and the grass beneath her twisted to ash. What had Asa been thinking? Her sister was probably terrified, wondering where her body was.
She couldn’t wake Kaya up. Not here.
Asa pulled the cord and tore the scan-glass off her eyes, heart racing. Zephyr’s rough tongue was flicking over her fingers, scrubbing away the grime from traipsing the abandoned tunnels and weaving through Gnosis.
And she was well and truly alone again.
Getting Kaya to Earth was the only way to pull her from those nightmares. Asa had evaded death and lied to get this far, and she’d have to do more still. She had no other choice.
She wrapped her arms around Zephyr. With any luck, she’d be out of the galaxy’s darkest gutter tomorrow.
But as she settled under the thin blankets, pursuing sleep, Diego’s words rang in the back of her mind.
The longer you wait, the deeper you’ll be digging your own grave.
chapter 14
ADVERSARY
Riven didn’t need to watch the news to know they were running out of time.
The spike of fear had trickled through Gnosis’s crowds last night, the reek of nervous sweat and desperation even stronger than usual. Something was sweeping through the wires, and not even a well-placed gunshot could stop it.
“Bringing me will only increase our odds of screwing up,” Riven complained when Samir and Tripp woke her up early, too early, and crammed her into the front seat of Diego’s speeder. “I’m no good at diplomacy.”
“That’s why you’re going to speak softly and carry two guns.” Samir punched the destination into the nav console. “Right?”
“No promises on the first part.”
Stay sharp, Riven, came a message from a private number on her wristlet. You might have an advantage here.
She frowned. It was probably from Diego. What the hell is that supposed to mean? she messaged back.
Diego still hadn’t replied as they parked the speeder and strode up to the wrought-iron gates of the Duchess’s palace, metal guardian lions snarling down at them.
“It definitely looks like a palace,” Tripp muttered. Beyond the gates were grassy hills covered in red-leafed trees, and the towers rose like teeth sinking into the dark sky. The palace was modeled after some ancient Earth style, so gaudy it almost hurt to look at. A relic of some tourist hotel from Requiem’s heyday.
“Doesn’t all of Cortellion look like this?” Riven said.
“Not quite.”
Riven found her eyes lingering on Tripp’s pretty, deep-gold eyes and feathery hair so dark it seemed to absorb the light from the street lamps. Tripp had been cagier than ever, after holing up in the guest room by herself last night. Riven hated how it made her curiosity flare, pulling her in like a void. Raw determination flickered beneath Tripp’s surface—the girl had more guts than she gave herself credit for.
