“For the Bobsled,” Chase said, waving his hand. “You being actually knowledgeable at engineering was a bonus, but I would have done almost anything for the chance to build it.”
Danny scooted, putting as much distance between himself and Chase as the small vehicle allowed. “Does that include sleeping with me?”
Chase peeked over his shoulder, then scratched the dirt and leaves from his tangled hair. “You were losing interest when we weren’t even half done.”
Danny felt like dirt. The six months he’d spent with Chase building the Bobsled had been his first break in his decade-long search for Amanda. It used to play in his memory like a fairy tale, but now was taking on a sour note.
By the time Chase landed the Bobsled, Danny’s body felt numb. He saw the two black-suited figures by the open bay doors, and he reached around Chase, triggering the hatch release. The hatch slid back while they were still in the air and Danny fired his pulse rifle at the two figures.
“Volk! Danny! What are you doing!” Chase cried, bringing the ‘sled to a rocky landing.
“Letting Coro know I don’t appreciate him hurting my friends,” Danny said, vaulting out, landing hard on the ground. The impact made his knees ache, but he dashed into the potential danger, weapon at ready. “Computer, locate Alex Swift.”
“Alex Swift is on the bridge,” the computer replied.
Danny went for the stairs, sweeping his pulse rifle left and right when he passed into middeck.
“Danny, those goons are going to wake up,” Chase warned, hustling behind him.
“Then we need to be gone sooner rather than later,” Danny said, taking the steps three at a time. Alex lay crumpled on the floor under the console, his face so pale it looked blue.
“Alex,” Danny said, kneeling next to his friend, checking for head and neck injuries, then lying him flat to open his airways. “His leg looks broken. His ribs feel…”
“Normally, I’d say let’s call for an ambulance, but you just shot two people,” Chase said, grabbing the first aid kit from the wall. There was nothing in there that could help. Nothing was bleeding, and Alex couldn’t swallow any pain pills while he was unconscious.
“Help me move him,” Danny said. There was no time for splints or stretchers. The only confidence that he was doing the right thing came when Alex stirred and groaned. They moved as far as middeck and set down by the hatch.
“Bring the ‘sled around to the hatch. Go!” Danny ordered.
Chase dashed down the stairs, swearing. Danny laid Alex flat again. Alex’s head lolled and he made short grunts as he braced one arm against his side.
“What happened, friend?” Danny asked.
“Amanda,” Alex rasped. “She came back. Coro came for her.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Does Coro have her?”
Alex shook his head, his fingers twitching. Danny already had spots in his vision from the fresh dose of fear. Shaking his head, he stepped over Alex and pushed open the hatch. Chase rose from below, shifting up and down, his hands shaking on the controls.
“That knob labeled L4—rotate it a quarter degree. It’s like a park button. I have no idea how Sky wired it, but it’s easier than stabilizing manually,” Danny said. Chase nodded, and when he had the perfect level, he turned the knob and the Bobsled stabilized. While Chase kept his hands hovering over the controls, Danny lowered Alex into the back of the ‘sled, then dropped in behind him.
“Hospital,” Danny said, choking on the word because he didn’t trust the place. Maybe they could get Alex to Morrigan in Clover, but he didn’t think her concierge medicine could handle internal bleeding that Alex likely had.
“Just so you know, Tray never paid me to … do what we did… together. I do care about you.” Chase said, stumbling over the words.
Danny bubbled with incredulous laughter, relieved for the clarification. In the months they’d been together, they’d never acknowledged that their friendship had a physical component. Sex was their secret, and Chase could get adorably shy about being with another man.
“And on the front of other information I probably should have opened with, your friend Hawk left Oriana almost a week ago,” Chase said. “Saskia was worried; that’s why she sent me back to the house. That’s why I thought it was her who called you.”
“What?” Danny asked, hugging Alex a little tighter.
“Look, I’ll get Alex checked in at the hospital, and you can go pick up Saskia,” Chase said. “She thinks Hawk is in Olcott. She gave me an encryption for tracking her.”
“Chase!”
“It wasn’t an emergency. This is,” Chase protested. “Don’t be mad. It took both of us to carry him, didn’t it?”
“Chase, people are dying because of me,” Danny cried.
“People are dying because all these self-centered, fancy-gloved crime bosses think the world revolves around them,” Chase countered, a rye smile quirking his lips as they landed on the roof of the hospital. The hatch slid open, and Chase turned, leaning over the seat that divided them. His smoldering gaze entranced Danny and the desire to kiss was overwhelming. “The world does not revolve around you, Danny Matthews.”
Throwing mental buckets of cold water on himself, Danny shifted Alex’s body, so they could work together to extract him from the Bobsled.
“You should have told me the minute you saw me,” Danny said, feeling a headache forming behind his dry eyes.
“And miss our five minutes of bliss?” Chase teased, pinching Danny’s side at a spot he knew was ticklish. Danny nearly dropped Alex, but a smile lit his face, rising straight from the heart. He shot Chase a reproving look, but he couldn’t stop laughing. Their laughter was pointless, but contagious. They were a mess, and they seemed to laugh at everything when they were together.
34
On the boat ride to Olcott, Saskia looked up the Zara fan page that Kinzie mentioned. There were a few pictures from the trip to the fortress, and a lot of fan art. One sketch depicted her miserable and chained to a wall with bold lettering overtop that said ‘Free Zara.’ There was a poem about her silky, black hair and flowing, floral gowns. The discussion boards said that Tray had picked her up in the world, and there were a few passionate arguments about how she had to be Terranan. Kinzie’s picture showed up from an anonymous user. It was the only clear one, and thankfully she’d doctored the eyes and the chin to protect Saskia’s identity, but still match the long-distance shots already on the site. Since the picture didn’t capture the top hem of the strapless shirt Saskia had been wearing, it made her look naked.
Squirming in her seat, Saskia felt the brush of the coarse fabric she wore now. She was still traveling under Zara’s name, and she didn’t know how to feel like herself in Quin. She wished Kinzie had just unmasked her. Sky was gone. They could have blamed Sky for lying.
The ferry pulled into Olcott and Saskia hurried off the boat. The Genova siblings didn’t hide in the outskirts of the city; they owned the tallest domescraper that towered ten stories higher than the nearest neighbor. The slatted moonspun glass on the top levels shimmered in the dome light, giving it as much color as a festival projection. Communication spires littered the roof, but weren’t visible from the ground.
“Come on, Hawk. Where are you?” Saskia murmured, checking her Virp again. Not even a blip to track him by. It was possible his hybrid abilities had been enhanced by being in Boone.
The lobby of the Genova building had a giant portrait of the Genova family behind a gold-trimmed security desk, and a marble statue of a religious icon. The marble wasn’t native to this region of Aquia, which meant the statue pre-dated the closing of the domes. To display a relic like that in a lobby, as a decoration and not a museum piece, both flaunted Genova’s wealth and reflected complete disrespect for the history of the piece.
“Do you have an appointment?” a fancy-gloved young woman asked. Her chestnut hair was swept into a twist, showing off evenly spaced silver threads woven in. The Feather attached
to her ear was streaked with matching silver accents, turning the communication device into jewelry.
Saskia ran her hands over her canvas coveralls. She couldn’t say she had an appointment with Genova when she looked like a waygee. Even her ‘Zara’ outfits wouldn’t have gotten her past this front desk. “Yes, I’m here about the electrical outages,” Saskia said, taking a risk that Hawk had used his hybrid ability to attempt escape already.
“Already?” the lady asked. “I just called this morning.”
“It’s happening in other parts of the city, too. I’m doing a preliminary survey to see if the events are related,” Saskia said quickly. She had no equipment, and the lady seemed to notice that too.
“Please scan in,” she said, pointing to a retinal scanner that raised from the stone slab. Saskia hesitated. As far as she knew, her Zara persona had no documents attached. Since she’d never left the fortress, there’d been no need to doctor identification records.
“Ms. Genova asked that I keep my coming and going discreet. Can you please delete this scan once it shows I am not a terrorist?” Saskia asked, leaning forward, letting the device scan her. The security surveillance in the city had probably already cataloged her.
The lady behind the counter cocked her head at the readings she received. “It says here you’re dead.”
“But not a terrorist or a criminal,” Saskia pointed out, crossing her arms.
The lady rolled her eyes, but pressed a button. A moment later, a burly guard appeared. He had a bald head and a bulging exoskeleton under his black suit. Both he and the lady looked bored and unthreatened.
“Cleaner’s here. Where’s the new waste?” the lady asked him. They thought Saskia was an assassin for hire.
“You’re in the wrong location,” the man said, giving Saskia half a look, then turning back to the door he’d come through.
“Havernaughts?” the lady asked. The man grunted and glared at the lady.
Havernaughts was the public hospital in Olcott, having specialized wards for long-term inpatients. Remembering Kinzie’s ominous description of people drained of blood, turned to vegetables, Saskia’s chest tightened. She hoped she wasn’t stumbling onto the body of someone she’d rescued before.
“I’ll check my information,” Saskia said, hurrying out before they decided she shouldn’t have heard that tidbit. She hustled several blocks, and while the guard didn’t chase, she kept catching sight of a grungy, gray-clothed man, hiding the bulge of a stunner under his sleeveless vest.
Without knowing the Olcott terrain, she couldn’t choose a high ground, so she chose the public ground. Stopping dead in the street, she turned to face the middle-aged, bearded stalker. The man wrinkled his nose, and the way he held out his hand told Saskia he had other soldiers backing him up.
“Who are you?” Saskia demanded.
“Saskia Serevi,” he said, his hand reaching into his jacket as he approached. “Also known as Zara.”
Saskia rested her hand on her stunner. “You’ve seen my fan page?”
“You can say that,” he sneered, showing the brown-stained and missing teeth indicative of Zen addicts.
“Who are you?” she asked again.
“You’re looking for a man named Hawk. So am I,” he said. When his hand emerged from his jacket with a small ball, it only confirmed her suspicion that the man worked for Ketlin.
Saskia fired her stunner and ran, zig-zagging her path so that he couldn’t get a clear shot. She didn’t make it to cover before she felt the soft smack on her shoulder. Gray goo covered her skin. Her body went numb and her legs gave out.
Saskia’s Virp stopped transmitting before Danny made it into Olcott, and his fear escalated to near panic. There was no safe place to leave the ‘sled on the street, and Danny hadn’t thought far enough forward. He’d assumed Saskia would have Hawk and he’d just be picking them up. Roosting on top of the hospital building, Danny hopped out, looking for a sign. Saskia had disappeared a few blocks from the Genova tower. She’d gone there first, so she must have suspected that Hawk was with Genova.
“Talk to me, Hawk,” he murmured, tapping his Virp for the millionth time. “You set Boone on fire with a thought. You could send me a sign if Genova hurt you.”
Of course! Hawk had been fixing the ship with Chase. They must have gotten machine parts from Genova. Danny had been to the workshop before; it was a Hawk paradise! Hopping into the ‘sled, Danny flew to the giant Genova warehouse and landed by the dry docks where the small boats were stored. The Bobsled didn’t exactly blend in, but it didn’t stand out either.
He entered through a sliding metal door and scanned for Hawk, but the aisles were tall and he could only see down the center one.
“Can I help you?” a young woman asked, hooking her thumbs in the pockets of her bright yellow coveralls.
“Yes,” Danny said. “I’m looking for a friend. Bright red hair, golden skin.”
“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“Captain!” Hawk squealed.
Danny reached for his pulse rifle, but Hawk’s tone carried excitement, not fear. The warehouse filled with the buzz of excess electric charge, and a moment later, Hawk came barreling from one of the side aisles and tackled Danny in a bear hug.
“Careful, Douglas! The machines!” the woman warned.
Hawk lifted his head and squeezed his eyes shut. His cheeks reddened to match his hair, and the buzz of electricity faded. Then he buried his face in Danny’s shoulder again.
“You’re all right?” Danny asked, hugging him with relief.
“I thought you’d never come back,” Hawk murmured. “I thought I was alone.”
“I’m sorry,” Danny said, pressing his cheek to Hawk’s head. “I see you made a friend.”
“Yeah,” he sniffled, rocking back on his heels, unable to let go. Turning so they were front to back, he brought one of Danny’s arms around his chest, and the other to his cheek. “This is Wanda. She saved me.”
“Ketlin is after him,” Wanda warned. “Maybe because she hates Tray. Maybe because…”
“I broke the Ferris wheel,” Hawk confessed, twitching with guilt.
“Did you at least ride the Ferris wheel first?” Danny chuckled.
Hawk nodded sullenly, but shifted foot-to-foot, restless. “Wanda’s letting me practice so I don’t break things by accident.”
“Douglas,” Wanda admonished.
“He knows I’m hybrid,” Hawk said. Danny reeled at the exchange.
“I guess you’re just telling everyone,” Wanda muttered. “Vimbai, Ketlin, Sikorsky.”
“They all know?” Danny asked.
“And Chase,” Hawk said, looking back at Danny with open innocence.
“Vimbai are the least trustworthy with that knowledge, Douglas. They’re worse than Ketlin,” Wanda said, her nostrils flaring. “His family killed dozens of endemics.”
“My name is Matthews,” Danny said, his face getting hot.
“And mine is Genova,” she said, her manner changing. She seemed to grow three inches with the threat. “Douglas Hwan is not for sale.”
Danny took a step back, his grip on Hawk loosening. If her intentions were as honest as she claimed, then he had no reason to worry. A few apologies strayed through his head, and he fumbled with the words he wanted. Wanda won the staring contest.
“Saskia came looking for you,” Danny said to Hawk. “Did you see her?”
“My people saw her,” Wanda spoke up. Hawk shot her a look, and Wanda shrugged. “They sent her to Havernaughts, so she could see what Ketlin was doing to your inventory. What they would have done to Douglas had I not intervened.”
“I don’t understand,” Danny said.
“I don’t believe you,” she said. The machines in the room buzzed to life and Wanda tensed. “Douglas?”
“I’m looking for Saskia,” Hawk said. A moment later, the power in the building shorted and the facility went dark. Hawk slumped in h
is arms and Danny guided him to the floor. Danny heard Hawk murmuring Saskia’s name, and then his Virp light came on, casting a bluish glow on his face.
“I never get tired of that,” Wanda smiled, crawling to Hawk until her face caught the glow of the Virp. “They must think you’re a god in Rocan.”
“They want him dead. That’s why I saved him,” Danny remarked. She shot him a look, and Danny jeered back. It didn’t matter since there was no light on his face.
“You don’t have to help him,” Wanda said, dropping her voice, leaning her forehead against Hawk’s. “All he’s done so far is drag you where you don’t want to go.”
“But?” Hawk prompted, hearing a hesitation that Danny had not.
“But he has a ship,” Wanda said, glancing at Danny and shaking her head. “My boats can’t get you home. Can’t cut through ice and can’t move on land.”
“He’s not going to sell me to Ketlin,” Hawk assured, taking her hand.
“Call me if he tries. Call me any time. Don’t be a stranger,” she said. Danny half-expected their lips to meet, but Wanda raise her chin and kissed Hawk’s forehead instead. “Can I have my lights back?” she whispered.
35
Hero squealed with delight, bouncing after a cricket in the backyard, corralling it into a jar without squishing it. Tray was glad for the new activity, for the sunlight on his son’s face, and the genuine laughter that followed. His six-year-old son had none of the cleanliness and propriety that Tray remembered having at that age. He liked to roll in the dirt, dig holes in the yard, and unearth the grubs. When Tray told him about the giant bugs Oriana’s crew had been forced to live off of out in the wild, Hero seemed sad that his little friends would get eaten. But he also wanted to know which ones were edible. The crickets would probably get roasted and turned into a snack later.
Tray rolled onto his side, trying to get comfortable on the patio couch. The weatherproof cushions didn’t have much wear, but they also weren’t designed to support a man recovering from a gunshot wound and a grav-therapy assault. At least he knew why Mikayla didn’t show when they took the boat out on the water. She’d been busy tracking down Danny and getting herself arrested.
The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5) Page 28
