“How can I—”
“And stay off the dole line. I won’t stop them next time,” Coro said, walking off, taking his people with him. Alex blinked in confusion, shocked to be alive. The pain of the mob attack washed over him, and he scrambled to retrieve the bag of medical supplies. He needed stronger painkillers than anything he’d picked up, and he was pretty sure no sleep aid had the potency to knock him out tonight. There was blood on the bag. Probably his. His face was bleeding. The woman who’d tried to take the bag was gone. Alex didn’t know if she’d been executed or had run off. He’d been so focused on Coro, he didn’t know what happened to the rest of the mob, but he knew that some of them were dead. And Coro wanted Ketlin to know.
Roland was glad Lois’ latest list was full of duds. Three names, three souls already written into the book of losses. He didn’t even care that he’d wasted the day tracking them down, he was just glad not to deal with a new prisoner or a dead body. It was early enough that he might even catch Kristy for sex and supper!
He was surprised to see smoke coming from the porch so early, and when he heard Trina’s sobs, he picked up pace. Trina was the chubby sister, and she carried the weight like baby fat. She had smooth skin and silky hair, and she was short enough to pass for ten. Trina sat on the dented wooden deck, a brace on her leg.
“What happened to you?” Roland gushed, squatting next to her and giving her a hug. She coughed as she exhaled a sweet-fragrant smoke.
“Coro. It’s broken,” she said, gnawing on the mouthpiece of her vape. Desperate for comfort, she burrowed under his arm.
“Coro? What were you doing in Pierce?” Roland frowned. Pierce didn’t have the kind of money that Clover did, and Kristy always gloated that she’d never go that far for a job.
“Stirring the waygees,” Trina sniffled, taking another drag of her vape. “Know how Lois got that grudge against Matthews? Well, we can’t get to him, but there’s this dole in Pierce, used to work for him.”
“If he works for Coro, he’s not a dole,” Roland said, a sinking feeling in his gut.
“He was as scared as the rest,” Trina shrugged. “It was just me and Kristy stirring. Lois said use the locals. Those Pierce waygees got a fierce hate. They was ready to burn him!”
“Coro broke your leg to send a message to Lois,” Roland reasoned.
“Coro wanted to kill us,” Trina sobbed, her tears soaking through the front of his shirt. “I ran and hopped a train, but I knew he’d have someone waitin’ at the Olcott stop, so I jumped in the midlands. Broke my leg.”
“What happened to Kristy?” Roland asked.
“She gave me a chance to escape,” Trina whispered, gasping with regret. “She’s dead, Roland. My sister is dead.”
Trina clung to him, but Roland felt a fire of rage in his body. Lois had gone too far. Freeing himself from Trina, Roland stormed down the block to Lois’ house, his blood boiling when he saw her step out on her porch. She met his eye as though she’d anticipated his coming.
“Lois!” he hollered, clenching his fists.
“You stop right there and talk to me like a person,” she ordered, her voice sounding quiet and threatening, even though it carried easily across the street.
“You reckless, senile bat!” Roland raged, keeping his charge. She came to the front of the porch, stretching her hands to the post on either side to block him rising to her level.
“You got a lot of rage for her dying, but don’t you take it out on me,” Lois said calmly. Her eyes were dilated, like she’d already smoked out her cares. “There’s gotta be a reason Swift ain’t storming the fortress to get to Matthews.”
“You’re killing our family for this grudge, and Matthews don’t even know you’re fighting him!” Roland shouted. He looked to the neighboring stoops, but everyone seemed to have gone inside and shut their doors. “You’re a cockroach! He’ll crush us by accident. Won’t even notice.”
“He’ll notice,” Lois smiled, sauntering into the middle of the street, daring him to attack. “It’ll be coming together in his field of vision very soon.”
Fuming, Roland charged her, but she turned her hand and tossed a ball at his face. The ball was soft and exploded with gel on contact. The gel chilled him like a blast of liquid nitrogen, and he was momentarily dazed. The chemical burned his eyes, and smoked at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t even feel the impact of falling, but he knew he was on his back when she nudged him with the heel of her shoe.
“Ain’t you right. Jellied Blaze goes great on a donut,” she laughed. She’d used his own creation against him, incapacitating him with the drug. His arms twitched, then his legs. His head spun with the wallop the balloon packed. He hadn’t been this high since he was a teenager.
“Can’t go back to Pierce, but Swift ain’t staying there forever. You’ll have your chance,” she promised, giving him one more tap, then leaving him on the street. His skin smoked from the mixture of Blaze and sweat. It felt like a hot iron on his skin. He was moderately aware of people stepping over him as they went about their business. He was lower than a cockroach. He was someone that even the cockroaches crawled over.
The sky darkened and Jennifer pulled her prayer cloak closed for warmth as she and the small band of Ziven followers arrived at the Sanshin temple. She’d never been to this temple with Danny, but her father used to bring her here, and a generation apart, Danny’s mother used to bring him. She’d met Danny at a multi-faith center on Terrana, and they’d often talked of coming here together, but when he landed in Quin, she could never talk Danny past the spaceport. If he was alive and hiding as Alex suspected, he would have come here.
Danny was damaged when she met him, coping with the rejection of his stepfather, but he was still an idealist. She’d watched the Revolution change him. Not the war itself, but the torture he experienced at the hands of the Guard. Every time they caught him helping a Patriot, he’d come back with another broken bone, and another scar on his soul.
The path lights to the temple glowed orange and the smooth path became rocky as they climbed the hill. When the group approached, the roof parted, sliding over the pillars, leaving the meditation room open to the sky. The Kessler cloud rained ancient satellite debris onto the atmosphere, creating constant streaks of light that blocked out the stars.
A few people were already at the temple, kneeling on meditation mats. Jennifer scanned, but didn’t see Danny among them. There were only eight people total and no place to hide. Taking a seat on one of the benches, Jennifer sat through a song, a light show, and a discussion about the creation of the Kessler cloud and what its chemical composition could reveal about pre-Dome society. The moderator halted the discussion when the debate about weather satellites vs. weapons satellites circled the third time through.
When the quiet meditation started, Jennifer stepped outside. The night air was chilly and she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She circled the building, frowning at the trampled garden. Then she heard a moan. Following the sound, she found Danny sprawled on the green patch underneath the retracted roof.
“Oh, Zive,” Jennifer murmured, rushing to him. He wore a soiled prayer tunic, and Jennifer could smell the Zen on him. “Look at you. You’re a mess,” she chuckled, relieved to find him alive. He’d never tried Zen before he met her, and now she felt bad for introducing him to it.
“Tray,” he murmured, a stream of drool coming from his mouth. His body contracted and he coughed up clear liquid.
“I know you’re hurting,” she said, using his tunic to wipe his beard clean, then covering him with the cloak he’d left at her house so many years ago. She’d come expecting to puff some Zen with Danny, but he’d had too much already, so she slipped a Detox tab from her pocket and laid it on his tongue.
“Be careful,” a woman said, her voice emanating from the shadows. “The Zen makes him strong. Violent.”
“I gave him an antidote. He should sober up soon,” Jennifer replied, holding Danny’s lips
closed so the medicine wouldn’t leak out with more drool. “Young man, you should know better,” she chided.
“Do you know him?” the woman asked.
Chills ran down Jennifer’s spine, her fear of being associated with Danny almost overwhelming her desire to help him. “Look, he needs help. I’m helping. I—”
She turned to confront her accuser and froze. “Amanda!”
For as much as Alex insisted Danny had her, Jennifer hadn’t expected to find her alive, let alone walking in full gravity. Amanda’s tunic was covered with scuffs, dirt, and grass stains. Her brown hair was tangled, her skin pink with scratch marks. “You know me?” she asked.
“Aren’t you the spitting image of your mother,” Jennifer whispered, stepping closer to get a look at her. Amanda had her mother’s green eyes and rounded chin. “Did you take the Zen, too?”
Amanda shook her head and took another step closer. Her feet were bare, and she had a bad limp. “Are you Jen?”
“I guess you don’t remember me as well as I remember you,” Jennifer said. “Yes, that’s me.”
“He said you’d come,” Amanda shuddered, reaching out a hand. “Please be real.”
Danny convulsed, then sobbed and rolled onto his side, sobriety hitting hard as the Detox neutralized the Zen in his system. Amanda scampered back, dropping into a crouch, covering her head.
“Hey. Welcome back,” Jennifer cooed, feeling a fever rise on his skin.
“Danny, it’s Jen,” Amanda said, keeping her distance. “She’s come to help us, just like you knew she would. I’m not hallucinating am I? Danny, help…”
“You came,” Danny rasped, digging his fingers into the grass.
“I did,” Jennifer said, taking Danny’s hand. “I’m going to take you home and get you warmed up, cleaned up, filled up.”
“Is she real, Danny?” Amanda panted, leaning against the pillar. “I can’t tell what’s real.”
Jennifer cringed. She could have taken something from the hospital this afternoon, if she’d believed for a second that Amanda had survived. “What about the others on your crew? Are they here?”
“No, it’s just us,” Danny said, choking on a sob. Jennifer whispered a prayer of gratitude. It would be much easier to hide two.
“Take him; not me,” Amanda said, tears falling down her face. “He gets paranoid when he doesn’t have Zen. He hurts me. I know that part is real. I can’t keep running away from him.”
The roof moved, startling them both. The meditation was over.
“You must be hungry. Zen always makes me hungry,” Jennifer fussed, rubbing Danny’s shoulders, trying to wake him up.
“You can take care of him, and I’ll disappear,” Amanda said, her voice getting softer. “I don’t want you to be in danger.”
“Amanda, wait,” Jennifer said, jumping to her feet, rushing over to hug the girl. “Don’t disappear. Don’t ever do that to us again.”
Amanda quivered and sobbed. “I need help.”
“I’ve come to help you,” Jennifer assured.
“Excuse me!” someone called, peeking around the side of the temple. It was one of group she’d walked in with—an older gentleman. “Are you ready to walk back?”
Jennifer put Amanda behind her and pointed to Danny. “Can you send a cab? Somebody smoked a little too much Zen?”
“Yeah, he was here yesterday, too,” the man grumbled. “I was going to call Enn and have him removed.”
“That’s not necessary,” Jennifer assured. “I’m a nurse. I can get him into a rehab. Just send the cab, please.”
She checked her Virp. There was no word from Alex. That didn’t mean it was safe to go home.
12
Alex twiddled his cane and stared out the front window, his heart still thundering. Even though he’d showered, his nostrils burned from the smell of alcohol. He’d gotten word from Jennifer that she was coming by cab, and he warred with himself over whether to warn her away from the house. He’d shuttered the windows, paranoid that Coro’s people were watching. Or the dole-haters. He’d been complacent before, but the mob attack left him terrified. As Patriots on Terrana, he and Jen had lived through their share of vandalism and terrorism. Would dole-haters burn the whole house down? He nearly told Jennifer to find some place else.
It was long past dark when the pedicab rolled up. The driver hopped off the front, arms crossed, a scowl on his face. Tucking a pulse rifle into a hip holster, Alex went to the front porch and waited, but no one got out, and the driver’s scowl deepened. Sweat stung Alex’s eyes, and he smelled a trap.
“What’s going on? Are they waiting for me to join?” Alex asked. Pedicabs were a Quin solution to the need for clean transportation and low-skill labor jobs. The pedal-powered carriage had so many gears, it took barely the pump of an ankle to move it.
“They’re getting out, and someone is paying for the cleaning of my cab,” the man replied.
Alex nearly choked, feeling the sting of poverty. He needed to relax. Jen still had income, and they could make it work. Extending his cane, he hobbled the five steps from his front door to the cab, then pressed his thumb to the pay scale, feeling sick at the money transfer. Jen wouldn’t have ordered the cab if they didn’t need it. He had to trust her.
He opened the cab’s door and Danny fell out, knocking Alex to the ground. The man was delirious, his stench obviously more than the air purifiers in the little cab could handle.
“Careful,” Jennifer said, grasping Danny’s tunic to keep him on the seat. She sat in the middle of the bench seat, Amanda asleep on her shoulder. It was just the three of them in there. No Saskia; no Corey.
“Oh, Zive, what happened to you?” Jennifer asked, noticing Alex’s bruised and swollen face.
“I’ll tell you inside,” Alex said, hoisting his uncooperative body off the ground. Leaning on the door of the cab, he tapped Danny’s cheek, which was padded by a thick beard.
“Alex?” Danny groaned.
“Hiya, kiddo,” Alex said. “Please tell me you can walk. My legs are about to give out.”
“Where’s your exoskeleton?” Jennifer asked, then shook her head. “Never mind. He can walk. I’ll carry her.”
“I’m thirsty,” Danny moaned. “Hungry. Tired.”
“Filthy,” Alex added. “On your feet. You’re going straight to the shower.”
Danny stumbled out of the cab, but he moved on his own with about as much stability as Alex had left.
“Are you okay?” Danny asked, lifting his cheek from Alex’s shoulder. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m excited to see you,” Alex lied. Danny didn’t buy it, but didn’t question him either. Alex directed Danny upstairs, where they had a bathtub large enough for a man his size to stretch out in. Alex trailed behind, taking one step at a time, the pain in his knee getting worse to the point he thought he’d pass out. In the bathroom, Danny slumped in the empty tub, still wearing his boots and ill-fitting prayer tunic. Alex sat on the edge of the tub and removed the boots, but figured the tunic needed a wash as much as Danny did. He started the warm water running, then filled a cup of cool water from the sink and handed it to Danny. While sitting took the pressure off Alex’s legs, the twisting and reaching agitated his back.
“Thanks,” Danny said, chugging the cup in one gulp. “What happened to you?”
“You mean this?” Alex asked, pointing to his black eye. Stalling for time, he took Danny’s cup and refilled it, trying to think of a glib brushoff, but his bruised muscles throbbed, and he felt like he was being punched and kicked again.
“Jen! Jen, help!” Danny cried, rising out of the tub, catching Alex before he pitched. Dropping the cup, Alex grabbed the sink for support. The feel of Danny’s sopping wet tunic against his body kept him from blacking out.
“What’s going on?” Jen hollered, jogging in with Amanda at her elbow. “Alex.”
“I got dizzy. I’ll be fine. Let’s get them settled,” he said, waving her off. The bathroom wa
sn’t large enough for four people, even with Danny standing in the tub.
“You don’t seem fine,” Jennifer said, raising his chin.
“Where are the first aid supplies? I can help,” Amanda offered. She wore a ratty tunic as well, but had refreshing strength in her movement.
“Linen closet next to this room. Lower shelf,” Jen said. Taking Alex’s elbow, she pulled him to standing. “Come on. Let’s move you to a bed.”
“I need to sit a little while longer,” Alex gasped, seeing sparkles in his vision.
“We’ll get your legs,” Jen decided, letting him sit on the edge of the tub, but not letting go.
“They’re broken,” he said, frustrated that he was taking her attention from Danny and Amanda. The more he told himself that he was safe at home, the less safe he felt.
“Those men that followed you—they jumped you?” she asked.
Alex nodded. “I can’t stop shaking.”
“Any broken bones?” she asked, kneeling in front of him.
Alex pointed to his knee, and gagged when she put pressure on it.
“There’s not enough space in here,” she decided. “You walked this far. Let’s get you to bed so you can lie down.”
“Lean on me,” Danny offered, coming under his shoulder. “Come on.”
They stood together, Danny leaving puddles of water when he stepped out of the tub. Alex’s entire left side was soaked by the time they laid him in his bed. By habit, he glanced out his window to gaze at the wind turbines, but he’d shuttered the windows to protect them from stalkers.
“Thanks,” Jen said, cupping Danny’s cheek affectionately. “The door on the left is your room. You can change into something dry.”
“I’m not clean,” Danny said, crossing his arms, starting to shiver.
“If you start to feel sick from the Detox, get out of the tub. I don’t want you drowning,” Jennifer said, walking Danny to the door and closing it behind him. When she turned around, she looked angry. “Alex, who were they?”
The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5) Page 10
