Tempered

by Britt Ringel

Despite the foreboding insinuation, the Tory Boys cautiously shuffled back down the alley. Kat took three strides to stand in front of the father. She pushed the jar into his gut. “Yours for honest information.”

  “Got no reason to lie to you,” the man answered. He opened the jar and inhaled deeply. His mouth settled into a hungry grin. “Oh, that smells good… Got even less reason now.” He took a long swig and swallowed without coughing up his intestines. His older son took the jar from his father and drank. The teen’s face cringed but he held the liquid down. His little brother pestered him for a taste and, to Kat’s disbelieving eyes, was handed the jar.

  “That stuff will kill you, kid,” she said gently.

  The boy thrust his chest out as he held the jar with both hands. “I’m big enough,” he answered defiantly and proceeded to take a large swallow. The alcohol jetted from his mouth and nose an instant later as his body wracked itself in spastic coughs. His brother burst into fits of laughter.

  The father grabbed the container before his boy could drop it. “Joseph, you waste that again and I’ll whoop you good.”

  The boy’s coughing spell wore itself out. “Sorry, Dad,” he croaked.

  “First,” Kat began, “have any of you noticed strangers watching this alley? People trying to look like they belong but don’t?” She watched them closely, satisfied when all three thought about her question instead of responding too quickly with whatever answer they might think she wanted.

  “No,” they replied eventually. The father hemmed a bit. “Well, Frankie and Jessie are hanging around like vultures but we know the bastards from way back.”

  “Good.” Kat had returned to Rat’s alley believing it would be safe. Even though Peecho’s disposal team had discovered her here, Lolz had seemed unaware of the psychometrist’s exact whereabouts that Monday night. She tucked her revolver into her waistband. “Okay, gentlemen, here’s the deal. We will share ownership of this alley. Anyone who tries to take it from us will answer to me.”

  All the Tory Boys nodded enthusiastically.

  “In return, each of you will keep an eye out for strangers. Plus, on the rare night that I spend here, you all will act as my lookouts.” She patted the revolver at her waist. “You do a good enough job and maybe I’ll even give you one of these. You don’t do a good enough job and maybe I’ll just give you the bullets.” Her eyes shifted to the little boy. “Can you keep an eye out for strangers, Joseph?”

  The boy had recovered from his ill-fated drinking attempt. He looked up at Kat and smiled proudly. “Me and Tommy scope people out all the time. We know just what to look for. Someone who’s carrying something nice but easy enough to snatch it from.”

  The man cuffed his son hard on the head. The boy was either stoic or smart enough not to complain. “We can watch out for you, lady.” His eyes ran over her body. “What’s your name, anyway?”

  “You can call me… Missy.” Her first name in this alley seemed as good an alias as any.

  The man brought a grimy hand to his forehead in a sloppy salute and he nodded curtly. “I’ll send my boys out right now, Missy.” He grabbed Joseph with one hand while drinking from the jar with his other.

  Kat watched all three exit the alley.

  “Can we trust them?” Teki asked.

  “To not kill us in our sleep? No,” Kat answered matter-of-factly. “We’ll be sleeping in shifts tonight.”

  The sun touched rooftops. Soon, it would dip behind the brick buildings lining the alley and slip under the horizon. Kat walked to her usual side of the alley and slid against the wall to the ground. She’d slept here only last week yet it felt like eons ago.

  “He’s not going to be very observant if he drinks that entire jar,” Sadler pointed out as he dropped to the earth next to her. Teki seemed content to use the overturned fire barrel as a worktable for inspecting her Ani-10.

  Kat leaned against Sadler’s side. “He’ll also be less likely to slit our throats tonight if he’s passed out.”

  “Good point.”

  He wrapped his arm around her. “What are we doing, Missy?”

  She searched Sadler’s eyes. She’d turned his life upside down in more ways than one. He’d gone from dayshift assistant foreman at a coal mine to fugitive wanted by a secret society in a week. The thought that she’d never be able to return his life to normal gnawed at her. He’d given her his love. She’d taken much more.

  “We’re going to make things right,” she answered. “We tried to just live our lives. All we wanted was to be left alone and they couldn’t even do that.”

  “They’re not going to give up.”

  She reached across her body to place a hand on his broad chest. She could feel his steady heartbeat. “Neither are we.”

  “You know I’m in your corner.” He placed a hand over hers.

  A smile formed on her lips despite herself. “And I’m in yours.” She rested her head against him and closed her weary eyes. She felt safe beside him. Whether in a citizen’s apartment with a citizen’s security or camped in the dirt on an alley floor, her sanctuary resided where he was. The tension drained from her body and she slipped into her first peaceful sleep in a week.

  Epilogue

  The moon cast pallid rays, bathing the darkened side street in a murky glow. Kat had slipped away during her watch over the alley, pleased to find an alert Joseph Tory maintaining his vigil near the alley’s mouth. She spoke briefly to the boy before slinking into the ethereal light to find privacy. She walked for ten minutes, putting time and distance between herself and Sadler. Only when she was confident that enough corners isolated her did she power up Teki’s FLAT. The device overflowed with urgent messages. Kat ignored them and scrolled through Teki’s contacts. Her finger pressed a name.

  The wait was short. A woman Kat estimated was in her fifties appeared on the screen. Her hair was straight, grey and cut short, parted on the left into a fashionable bob ending near her jaw. Wrinkles radiated from hazel eyes nestled under a dark, knitted brow. “Teki, what the hell is going…” The woman’s face slackened and her mouth dropped open.

  “Good evening, Em.” Kat was certain to whom she was speaking. The woman’s face burned brightly in her mind. She’d endured multiple psychoanalytical sessions with this face, benchmarking and monitoring Kat’s sanity during her lengthy trip through puberty. The Society had given her special treatment, just as Lolz had stated.

  “Pre-Cat,” Em answered in a cold voice filled with dread. The woman stared at her screen before rallying. “Listen to me. You’ve suffered a break from reality during a standard trigger test. You need to come in. We can help you.”

  Kat snorted. “You thought I’d buy that?”

  The corners of Em’s mouth pulled downward, the expression deepening the creases around her lips. “We’ll never stop looking for you.”

  Kat exploded in anger and, for once, she welcomed it. She rode it. “I damned well know that by now!” She brought the screen closer to her face as if she could reach through it to strangle the woman at the other end. “All you had to do was let me go. I made it easy for you. I wanted none of this.” She glared at Em and jabbed a finger to the screen. “But I’m done running, Em. Now, I’m coming for you all. And I’m not fighting only for myself but for every little boy and girl you’ve torn from their crib!”

  Em leaned away during the tirade. She looked physically ill. “You don’t have to do this.”

  Kat let her fury twist her countenance into a sneer. Her voice roughened and she husked, “But I want to do this, Em.” The tightness in her throat gave her a guttural growl. “Pre-Cat is coming back to the campus and she’s going to burn the entire place to the goddamned ground.”

  Em’s cringe only pulled Kat’s grin wider. She shot the woman a wink and bid her farewell. “I’ll see you soon,” she said sourly. “And I’m going to enjoy cramming those damned psych tests down your fucking throat.” Kat snapped the FLAT in half over her knee and walked into the darkness.

/>   * * *

  Thank you for your readership and be sure to watch for the series finale,

  Reforged

  Coming in 2020.

  For updates on future books, visit http://www.thiscorneroftheuniverse.com. If you liked Tempered, consider leaving a review where you bought the book. Positive reviews really help independent authors.

  You already know about the Scorched series. Here are some other books by Britt Ringel:

  Chasing Blue Dots

  Keeva Burke infuriates Jake Marshall the minute he meets her, yet she commands space traffic like no other. Their nights together may be destined, but their future depends on Jake seeing beyond the blue dots on his scope.

  Confidence Game

  A scheming captain builds a crew of smugglers to forge a new future, but the ship he’s stolen has a terrible secret. If Captain Lochlain’s con jobs don’t get him killed, the Zanshin’s haunting past just might.

  This Corner of the Universe

  No Way to Start a War

  The Wrong Side of Space

  Loyalty to the Cause

  Last Measure of Devotion

  This five-book series follows Captain Garrett Heskan from his first command. He’ll need to survive pirates, mutiny, epic fleet battles and encounters with deadly aliens to secure a new home for his crew.

  Hero of the Republic

  Heroism and revenge intertwine in this epic start to The Parasite Initiative as Caden Twist joins the Brevic Navy right as war breaks out with the Hollarans.