by R S Penney
Keli rose and turned to face the other woman with a cool expression, allowing her eyebrows to rise ever so slightly. “You wish to thank me?” she asked. “And what have I done to deserve such an honour?”
Anna went red, closing her eyes and bowing her head in what seemed to be a show of respect. “Maybe the fact that you saved our lives yesterday?” she said. “We wouldn't have gotten out of there if not for you. Don't think I don't know it.”
“I only wanted to help.”
“And I'm really glad you did.”
“Thank you.”
The other woman crossed her arms, fidgeting nervously and refusing to look up. “I know I've been hard on you,” Anna began. “Maybe too hard. I still don't agree with some of your decisions, but I haven't lived the life you've lived.”
“Thank you,” Keli said, choosing her words with care. Images sprang up around the other woman, but they were only wispy clouds of gray, unrecognizable to her. It bothered her that she couldn't know at a glance whether Anna was sincere. But she had committed herself to working with these people. “It means a lot that you said so.”
“Maybe we could try being friends?”
Keli hesitated for just a moment. She didn't like this woman. Did she really want Anna's friendship? Well, she had come this far. “I'd like that.”
Anna stepped forward, throwing her arms around Keli in a tight hug. It was an odd experience, unnerving. But at least she was fairly certain of the woman's sincerity. When Anna pulled away, she wore the warmest smile Keli had ever seen. “You should come out with us sometime. Or maybe we could just stay in! I know public places can't be much fun for you with all the…background noise.”
Keli shut her eyes, trying to calm herself as she searched for the words. “I don't…I wouldn't want to offend…It's a very kind offer…”
Backing away with her hands raised defensively, Anna shook her head. “I get it,” she said softly. “One step at a time. Just know that you're welcome anytime you want to stop by.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“Okay,” Anna said. “I'll talk to you soon.”
When she was gone, Keli felt the tension in her chest evaporate, and it wasn't long before that tension was replaced with a sense of pride. Hunter's suggestion had proven to be a good one, and Keli was feeling downright proud of herself. If she could allay Anna Lenai's suspicions, she could do the same for anyone else.
Maybe these Justice Keepers would finally stop scrutinizing her every move. That would make it easier to do what she had to do. Yes, she would play the good little soldier if it helped her achieve her goals. She would even tolerate Anna Lenai's presence. In small doses. Her time on Ganymede had taught her to survive, and she would do whatever-
A very loud mind distracted her, and she turned to find Gabrina Valtez coming up the steps. Images swirled around the woman, some coalescing into figures of men in tactical gear, others becoming students sitting in a lecture hall. There were sounds as well: half-formed words in voices that Keli didn't recognize. She could look directly into Gabrina's mind, but doing so would get the woman's attention, and she wasn't about to make that mistake so soon after earning Lenai's trust.
Gabrina looked up at her with pursed lips, blinking slowly as she chose her opening words. “She's incapable of deceit, that one.” Clearly, the woman meant Anna. “Wears her heart on her sleeve, tells you exactly what she's thinking.”
“So I've been told.”
Shutting her eyes, Gabrina took a deep breath and took a step forward. “Yes, that's our Anna,” she said. “Open and straightforward. You always know where you stand with her. She's not at all like you and me.”
“Excuse me?”
The images floating around Gabrina darkened as she stepped forward and looked Keli up and down. “I know what you're doing,” the woman said in a soft voice that was far more menacing than it should have been. “It wasn't hard to figure out. Ben was your only ally, and now that he's gone, you're clinging to any lifeline you can find.”
“I don't know what you're-”
“It's the little things, you see,” Gabrina interrupted. “The sly smiles that don't quite touch your eyes, the slight curl of your upper lip when Anna hugged you. Asymmetrical expressions are almost always a sign of contempt. Did you know that?”
How was this possible? Keli felt like an icicle had been shoved through her heart. The other woman smiled, almost as though she could read Keli's thoughts, and her aura radiated satisfaction. “No,” Gabrina said, “you don't have to be a telepath to figure out what someone else is thinking.”
Gabrina turned to go, descending the steps and then pausing there for a very brief moment. “Just know that I'll be watching,” she said. “And if I don't like what I see…Well, I might just have to tell someone.”
Keli shivered.
Just when she thought things were getting easier!
When she entered the small office on the top floor of the safehouse that Slade was using as a secondary base, Valeth drew in a shuddering breath. And she felt no shame at her display of anxiety. Not one bit of shame.
Grecken Slade turned in his chair to face her, setting his hands upon the desk and showing her a smile that could make a lioness back down. “Did you make sure that they took our data files?”
Pressing her lips together, Valeth closed her eyes and tried to remain calm despite herself. “We wiped almost everything on the mainframe,” she explained. “It had to look authentic. But as per your request, certain files were left intact.”
“And you can be certain Lenai took them?”
Shrinking away from him with her arms folded, Valeth tried and failed to meet his gaze. “I did not witness it with my own eyes,” she admitted. What would she do if Slade decided to punish her for that? “Leo claims to have fought Lenai in the server room, and the access terminal was left open.”
“I suppose that will have to do.”
Valeth breathed a sigh of relief.
Rising gracefully behind the desk, Slade nodded to her. “It should take Lenai and her friends several months to break that encryption,” he said. “And by then, we will be ready for them to do exactly what we want them to do.”
He flowed around the desk to loom over her, then touched a finger to the underside of Valeth's chin and turned her face up to him. The grin he offered belonged on a demon. “You are to be commended,” Slade murmured almost seductively. “Your little project was a complete success.”
He thrust his hand out to the side, projecting a hologram from his multi-tool. News camera footage showed Jeral Dusep behind a lectern as he spoke to a crowd. “We will not allow the security of this planet to be compromised by naive politicians offering the same brand of inept leadership!” The crowd cheered in response to his words. “Sarona Vason is so inept. I'm telling you, people; she is so inept.”
Dusep leaned forward, gesticulating as he spoke to the crowd. “Her tame security measures are so ineffectual, she may as well give our enemies an open invitation to land on this planet and take whatever they want.” This time, there were more than a few boos mixed in with the cheers and whistles, but somehow Valeth knew that the jeers were not meant for Dusep. “It's not open treason, folks, but it may as well be. That's why I call her 'Traitor Sarona.' ”
When Slade let his arm drop, the hologram vanished. For half a second, Valeth felt the urge to ask what he had been planning, but she had always been the sort to let caution take precedence over curiosity. Better to watch and wait. She would know exactly what she needed to know and nothing more.
Slade chuckled as if he could sense what she had been thinking. “You kept Hunter and the rest busy while we put our people into key positions,” he said softly. “Leo can be quite the distraction.”
Valeth nodded.
“Everything is proceeding on schedule,” Slade said. “Now, if you will excuse me, my dear, I have to return to Ragnos. There are…matters that require my attention.”
Chapter
29
This white-tiled hallway beneath a Ragnosian military bunker was lit by long bulbs in the ceiling. The air was musty, but what could you expect from an underground base? Oh, the Ragnosian elites loved their floating cities, but when you wanted to train soldiers, well…That was what the surface was for.
Dressed in black pants and a gray jacket cut in the Ragnosian style, Slade moved through the corridor at a brisk pace, shaking his head as he chuckled. “I promised you a way to counter the Justice Keeper's abilities, and I intend to deliver.”
He turned around.
Two men had been following him, and they both came to halt when they felt his eyes upon them. One was Pel Arandeli. The governor of Aviala Province looked nervous, his forehead shining with the sheen of sweat.
Next to him, a man in a black military uniform with yellow epaulets that indicated his status as a general showed only a thin frown. “And just how does a man like you get his hands on military hardware?” he asked. “A man who makes his money transporting Rathalan goods so they can flood our markets?”
“I asked the same question, General,” Arandeli cut in.
It was hard not to sneer at the man. Now that the governor had put Slade in touch with the right people, his presence had become exceedingly redundant. Perhaps there was a way to be rid of the man. Dead or gone: Slade really didn't care.
General Tareas turned his head to scowl at the other man for thinking that he had anything useful to offer. “You're only here, Governor, because you brokered the deal,” he said. “So, keep your mouth shut.”
In a true display of idiocy, Arandeli opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and snapped it shut again. Slade was tempted to laugh. Men who thought themselves important often learned to their sorrow they were nothing but dust to be ground beneath the ever-turning wheels of an uncaring universe.
With a flourish of his hand, Slade bowed low. “I think we've established,” he said, rising to favour them with a smile, “that I am more than I appear. The point is this: I can give you what you need to be secure.”
“Visgasa,” Tareas muttered.
“I beg your pardon?”
The general wrinkled his nose as he studied Slade, then shook his head. “And now, I know that you aren't what you appear to be,” he said. “Every child on this planet knows the story of Visgasa the Tempter.”
Pel Arendeli stood with fists balled at his sides, slowly retreating up the corridor. The man's face was bone-white. “You have my sincere apologies, General,” he said. “My people vetted this man, but-”
“Shut up!” Tareas bellowed.
Taking a step back, Slade spread his arms wide and bowed his head. “I have what you need,” he said, turning to gesture to the door at the end of the hallway. “The question is whether you will be wise enough to take it.”
He went on his way as if he expected them to follow. It was a lesson he had learned early in his life: behave as if a man's obedience was a foregone conclusion, and he would most likely obey. This time was no exception.
He saw their ghostly figures in his mind, following him through the corridor. Soon, everything would be in place. Once he delivered this next boon to Ragnosians, the board would be set for-
Pushing the door open made him stop in his tracks. Four men in full tactical gear stood inside the Science Lab, all pointing assault rifles at him. Quickly, he scanned his surroundings, looking for options.
This room was fairly spartan except for some canning equipment along the white-tiled walls. The weapon he had planned to deliver was lying undisturbed on a metal slab, hidden under a white sheet. Could he activate it in time to save himself?
Slade turned around.
Arandeli and Tareas stood side by side in the doorway, though it was clear from the governor's gaping mouth that this development was as much of a surprise to him as it had been for Slade.
General Tareas, on the other hand, wore a cheeky grin as he chuckled and nodded slowly. “Did you really think we were that stupid?” he asked, pushing his way into the room. “Did you really think we wouldn't look into you?”
The man paced a slow circuit around Slade and his four armed opponents. “Maybe this is typical Leyrian arrogance,” he said. “We don't know much about your people, but all of our reports say that Leyrians are ludicrously naive, willing to trust anyone.”
“General?” Arandeli said. “This man is-”
Tareas produced a small pocket computer and flipped it open to project a hologram into the air, a two-dimensional image of a news broadcast. Slade recognized the image immediately. This was footage of the day that Veila Tyrol – Sarona Vason's immediate predecessor – was sworn in as Prime Council.
That had been eight years ago, when Slade was still head of the Justice Keepers; so, it was no surprise at all to see himself standing tall and proud on the steps of the Hall of Council. His appearance hadn't changed much in that time.
“Funny thing about Leyrians,” Tareas said. “They actually send us data-streams of their major news events. They honestly seem to think that if they just tell us enough about themselves, we'll leap at the chance to be friends. That's you, isn't it, Mr. Tirasso?”
“It seems you've found me out,” Slade replied.
“And your real name,” the general continued, “is Grecken Slade, former head of the Justice Keepers.” Of course, Pel Arandeli gasped at that; the man was a simpering fop.
Tossing his head back, Slade roared with laughter, an outburst that made each of his four opponents choke up on their assault rifles. “My real name?” he exclaimed through a fit of giggles. “Oh, General, I've had dozens of names! Hundreds! So many names, I have forgotten which one seemed most real to me.”
The hologram shifted to display footage of Slade slaughtering guards outside the anti-gravity generator on Racada Island. It brought him a small amount of satisfaction to relive those events.
“That's you, isn't it?” Tareas inquired.
Slade nodded.
The general made a vexed expression and glanced toward his team of commandos. “Take him away,” he snapped. “Put him in a cell. We'll question him later. I'm sure the boys at Sorassi would love to examine a Justice Keeper up close.”
“Keeshak!” Slade shouted. “Vinja ziar tavalo!”
The four men in front of him all backed up, each one lifting his rifle to point it right at Slade's chest. Not one of them attacked, however.
Activating the weapon he had brought saw to that.
Less than five minutes later, General Tareas was cowering in a corner with fingers laced over the top of his head, shaking with every breath he took. There were smears of blood on the white-tiled walls, wet stains that dripped onto the floor.
Each of the four men had fallen.
One was lying spread-eagle on his back, staring up at the ceiling with vacant eyes. Another was flat on his stomach with his head twisted around too far. One had fallen over the metal slab. And the fourth was slumped against the back wall with his own belt knife sticking out of his throat.
Pel Arandeli was dead as well; the man had been stupid enough to involve himself, and now he was sprawled out in a rolling chair with blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Slade couldn't say that he would regret that fool's passing.
“Did you really think I was that stupid?” Slade asked, looming over the frightened general. “Did you really think I would come here without a contingency plan? Stand up, General; this is unbecoming.”
The man looked up at Slade, his mouth a black hole in a face as pale as fresh-fallen snow. “What is that thing?” he whispered. “What did you bring onto my base? What kind of demon are you?”
Slade dropped to one knee next to the man, smiling and shaking his head. “It is the weapon I wanted to show you,” he explained. “A weapon that will allow you to counter even the power of a Justice Keeper. I am still willing to give it to you, assuming you don't try to kill me.”
Tareas shuddered.
“Come,” S
lade said. “Let me show you.”
With some reluctance, Tareas stood and took a shambling step forward. He righted himself quickly enough – men like him did not attain their positions without emotional discipline – and paced across the room to inspect the thing that had slaughtered his men.
A shirtless bald man without a single hair on his fair-skinned chest stood in the middle of the lab with his eyes shut. Seemingly asleep. He was dormant now that all of his enemies were dead.
“What is it?” Tareas asked.
“Vinja!” Slade shouted.
The bald man opened his eyes, and Tareas gasped, backing away instinctively with a hand over his mouth. “What…What…” he asked. “That thing isn't human!”
Slade didn't disagree with that assessment. Oh, this fellow might have been human once, but now he was at least half machine. Silver eyes stared out of the bald man's face at nothing at all.
Spinning on his heel, Tareas glowered at Slade and shook his head. “I must know,” he said, striding forward at a brisk pace. “You said you were a man of many names. No Justice Keeper would create something like this. So, who are you? Who are you really?”
Slade moved in close to whisper one word in the other man's ear.
“Gao.”
Chapter 30
The car Jack had rented settled to a stop with the soft crunching sound of gravel under tires, he wondered for the twentieth time why Anna would ask him to meet her at this random address about an hour outside the city. He didn't think it had anything to do with Leo or anything else along those lines. His girlfriend – it was still strange to think of her in those terms – could be a little impulsive, but if she had found trouble, she would have alerted the rest of the team.
Jack sat in the passenger seat in jeans and a simple black t-shirt. Of course, there was no such thing as a “passenger-side” when this car had no steering wheel, but he was an Earth boy, and he would think in Earth terms, damn it!
