Belatedly, Jayne realized her phone was ringing, buzzing softly in her pocket. She fumbled it out and sighed as she saw the caller ID
“Hi, Mom,” she said, trying to sound less exhausted than she felt. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to see how you were doing!” her mother replied cheerfully. “You know I worry.”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Jayne said, smiling a little. “You don’t need to—”
She was interrupted by loud cheering. Cameron was getting a second wind and had started stuffing donuts into his mouth with terrifying speed.
“What’s all that?” her mother asked. “Are you on a date?”
“No, just out with friends,” Jayne said with a yawn.
“Did you finally catch that guy you were after?”
“No, we just came up with a decent plan,” Jayne scoffed. “These hooligans will celebrate anything.”
“Well, that’s good,” her mother said, surprising her. “I’m glad you have friends to cheer you up. You’ve been so down recently. I know you don’t think I notice, but I do.”
“I’m alright,” Jayne said quietly. “This case has just been… tough.”
“You can’t tell me about the details, I know. But you should have someone you can talk to. My friend Sophie’s boy—”
“Mom,” Jayne groaned.
“I just don’t want you to be alone, honey,” her mom said, her voice tight. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this by yourself. The way it wears you down… I think if you don’t have someone to ground you, this job is going to swallow you whole.”
Jayne couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t worried the same thing a few times. But she looked across the table at Merry, leaning on Fred’s shoulder and laughing while Fred struggled to finish another donut. Cameron, beside him, glanced at her and smiled as he grabbed another for himself. She smiled back, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
“I’m not alone, Mom,” she smiled. “Really. I’m going to be alright.”
A few minutes later, Cameron finally conceded defeat and their little audience cheered Fred’s victory. Cameron slid back into his seat beside Jayne as someone bought Fred a beer and he began passing out the remaining donuts to everyone around them.
“I swear he must have cheated,” Cameron chuckled. “That or he’s part black hole. Did you see the way he… ”
He stopped as he turned to look at Jayne and realized she was asleep, still propped up on one hand and snoring quietly. He didn’t wake her until he was ready to pick her up and carry her out to his car, where she dozed again until he laid her in bed. It was the best sleep she’d had in months.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Thermonuclear Supply Company, L45, Theron Techcropolis, Amaros
It took about a week to set up, which was honestly fast as hell considering all they had to do. Driving the illegal sellers underground alone was a feat that should have taken months. And Jayne was sure Stoneguard had paid a pretty penny to expedite the installation of all those security systems. But a week later it was ready and the waiting began.
Staking out three locations at once took some doing. They had Stoneguard’s employees on speed dial, ready in case they got wind that Burrett was making his move, but Jayne knew they wouldn’t be enough on their own. She needed to be there. Which meant patrolling a carefully planned route that ran between all three, trying never to be too far away from any one of them for long.
Merry was on cameras as usual, watching everything from above. Thanks to Stoneguard’s surveillance network she could see practically everywhere in the city. Vlad was helping her out, as there were simply too many cameras for her to watch on her own. Fred was camped out in front of a government run research lab. Cameron was watching the R&D department of a cosmetics company. Jayne did not want to know what they were using large amounts of cesium for, but it made her thankful that she bought high-quality eyeliner.
The last building, an oncology center that used it in radiation therapy, was being guarded by Cameron’s consultant friends, Bill and Madison. Jayne moved between all three, as worried about Fred and Cameron patrolling alone as she was about not being in the right place when it happened.
For several days, they fell into a routine, waiting for something to happen. Jayne was fairly certain she would know when Burrett started to move, but she didn’t want to risk being wrong. So, night after night, they waited struggling to stay alert as the boredom of the stakeout wore on them.
“Maybe we guessed wrong,” Fred said over the radio on the fourth night. “Maybe he doesn’t think it’s worth it to go after the caesium, or he found somewhere else to get it.”
“Or he found a replacement,” Cameron suggested, the connection tinny. Jayne kept telling him to update the comms in his car. “There are other radioactive isotopes he could use.”
“No,” Jayne said, frowning at the road before her as she drove her rented cruiser from the lab toward the cosmetics company. “He knows we’re guarding it from him. Challenging him. He’s too proud not to accept. Giving up or getting it from somewhere else would be admitting defeat. He’s just taking his time and waiting us out. Planning a heist on any of these places would be tricky anyway. We shouldn’t be surprised that it’s taking a little while.”
By the seventh night even Jayne was starting to feel uncertain. But something about the air told her this was it. She scrolled through Merry’s surveillance log as her cruiser glided between the buildings on autopilot.
“It’s tonight,” she said over the radio, breaking a silence that had been lingering for several hours. “He’s going to do it tonight.”
“What makes you so sure?” Cameron asked, his voice rough. They were all exhausted, strained by the long stakeout.
“It’s a high smog day. Better cover, low visibility for the cameras, lots of people in full face masks. And it just feels right. He’s going to make his move tonight, I know it.” Jayne asserted.
“I have been seeing some unusual activity in the lower twenty,” Merry reported. “Nothing definite. But something seems off… did you hear about that homeless guy?”
“What?” Cameron replied as Jayne groaned.
“A homeless man somehow managed to get all the way up to the two hundred levels and collapsed in the middle of a public square,” Merry reported. “He refused to be moved or given medical treatment. Just died there, right in the middle of everything.”
“Yeah, I did hear about that,” Cameron said quietly. “Black lung. Horrible way to go.”
“The city likes to pretend it doesn’t have a homeless problem,” Merry said, slipping into the tone she used when she was about to launch into a prepared speech about the injustices of the system. “But that’s just because they force the poor and the disenfranchised down into the smog bank. That’s why they won’t take any real action to clean up the pollution, you know! They use it to execute the poor so they—”
“Merry,” Jayne cut her off impatiently. “As right as I know you are, how relevant is this right now?”
Merry made a small annoyed sound.
“It’s just…” she hesitated. “I’m seeing less and less of them lately, down in the lower twenty. People who have been sitting on the same street corner for years just aren’t there anymore. They were all over the place a few months ago and tonight those levels look like a ghost town.”
Jayne frowned, the thought causing a coil of unease to wind slowly through her stomach.
“They’re probably just indoors somewhere,” Cameron said. “Hiding from the smog. God knows I would be. I heard there’s going to be visible smog on level fifty tonight.”
“Let’s just stay focused on Burrett,” Jayne said. “If he doesn’t try something tonight, I’ll kiss Fred.”
But the hours ticked past and there was no sign of Burrett, or of anyone else attempting to break in. Jayne’s doubts returned as she leaned against the window of her cruiser, staring up at the oncology lab.
“Midnight,” Merry
said over the radio. “Everybody sound off.”
“Here,” Jayne said, frowning at the time. She’d been so sure.
“Present,” said Madison from his cruiser parked near Jayne’s.
“All accounted for,” Bill added from the passenger seat. “With the exception of my dearly departed ass, which went numb near an hour ago and shows no signs of ever returning.”
“Same,” Cameron chimed in with a yawn.
A few seconds of silence passed as they waited for Fred to check in. Merry sighed in frustration when he didn’t.
“He probably fell asleep again,” she grumbled. “Fred! Wake up! If you turned your radio off, so help me god—”
“Do you have eyes on him?” Jayne asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah,” Merry huffed. “I have a street camera pointed right at him. Bet you anything he’s drooling on the window pane. Hang on, stupid smog…”
Jayne heard her muttering sullenly under her breath for another few seconds, and then suddenly silence.
“Merry?” Jayne sat up, anxiety beginning to creep in under her skin. “Merry do you see him?”
“How close are you to the lab?” Merry asked, her voice tight as piano wire.
“I can be there in ten,” Jayne said, already starting her cruiser.
“He’s not in the car,” Merry reported, wavering as she tried to stay calm. “He probably just went to get food or something stupid but… ”
“But?”
“He left the cruiser door open.”
Jayne stepped on the gas.
“Hang on lass, we’re coming with you,” Bill said, Madison already starting their cruiser.
“No!” Jayne snapped. “Stay on guard! Burrett could be trying to lure us away! I’ve got this.”
Her heart hammering, Jayne flew at reckless speed all the way to the lab, doing her best not to panic. Merry was right. Fred was probably just standing in line at a food truck or something. Everything was fine.
She reached the lab less than ten minutes later. Fred’s cruiser was parked exactly where she’d last seen it. The door stood open, smog drifting over the interior. There was no sign of Fred.
Jayne parked next to his cruiser and grabbed her smog mask, holding it to her face rather than take the time to strap it on as she climbed out onto the walkway, scanning the smoggy street around her for the man. She leaned into his car, looking for some kind of clue. There was no sign of struggle, just take out trash and a stack of comic books. Their covers were wet and warping from the heat and humidity of the smog. The door must have been standing open for almost an hour.
Jayne’s heart was beating like a drum in her ears, fear gripping her so tightly that when the radio in Fred’s cruiser let out a burst of static she jumped like it was gunfire.
“What was that?” Cameron asked over coms.
“I don’t know,” Merry said quickly. “It looked like—I think someone just cut into our comm feed.”
Jayne’s blood ran cold as ice.
“Good evening, Ms. Austin,” said a familiar voice, slightly tinny, like the connection was imperfect. “How is the search treating you? I hope you’ve found the hunt entertaining. I did try to make it as engaging as I could for you.”
“What do you want, Burrett?” Jayne said, forcing her voice to stay even. She dared not demand to know what he’d done to Fred. There was still a chance he wasn’t responsible.
“Oh, just saying hello,” Burrett said casually. “Checking in on a friend. Actually, I thought I might invite you to dinner.”
“I have plans,” Jayne said tersely.
“What a shame,” Burrett replied. “I suppose Mr. Baggins and I shall be dining alone then.”
The last of Jayne’s hope that Fred had just wandered off drained away and left her feeling hollow with fear and guilt.
“What have you done with him?” Jayne demanded, gripping the leather of the cruiser seat so tightly her hands ached.
“He’s quite unharmed, I assure you,” Burrett said with a chuckle. “For the moment.”
“If you hurt him I swear—”
“Did you really think such an obvious trap would work?” Burrett interrupted her, sounding slightly offended. “That I would be so stupid as to walk right into an ambush because you challenged me? As though I were so desperate, I would take the risk of challenging you directly on a battlefield you designed? As though caesium was not one of the very first things I acquired when I set this plan in motion?”
Jayne’s guilt grew to painful levels. How could she have been so stupid?
“Well, let’s see if you’re as foolish and desperate as you seem to think I am,” Burrett went on. “I’ve arranged a little party for the both of us, down on zero level. Your friend Mr. Baggins will be in attendance of course. I’ll send you the address. This invitation is for you only, of course. Oh, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but I would suggest you hurry. I intend for this party to go out with a bang.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Abandoned Factory, L0, Theron Techcropolis
The carnival came to town when Fred was nine. He was thrilled. For weeks, Fred counted down the days until the Planet Faire that promised excitement, shock and awe would deliver a dose of adventure to Fred’s dull life in the suburbs of Theron Techcropolis.
Fred’s parents dropped him off on the first day. They gave him 20 credits, told him to be home by 10, and that they’d be just around the corner at the mall doing some shopping. Fred was already out of their hovercraft door and sprinting toward the main gate before they had a chance to finish.
Fred had a mental list of every carnival mainstay that he had to experience. First things first, he knew he had to get some disgusting carnival food into his belly. He had practically starved himself the previous two days, barely eating anything at all. He wanted maximum room for some fried goodness.
He started off with two fried funkle blocks on a stick. Next, he grabbed a donut-burger and a honey glazed turkey leg. For desert, some nuclear roasted cookie dough balls. The cookie dough was placed in a lead lined oven and flash-fried by a tiny and contained nuclear blast. The entire process took less than 1/64th of a second. Any longer, and the cookie dough came out charred, ruined, and contaminated with enough radiation to make whomever ate them grow a third arm.
They were delicious.
Thirty minutes later, Fred redecorated the anti-gravity funhouse with his vomit. Fred’s barf floated throughout the topsy-turvy maze until carnival technicians finally shut it down and blocked the entrance.
Fred felt awful and profusely apologized to every sanitation worker who walked into the funhouse with scrubbing brushes and bleach.
With a hollow feeling in his gut and an acidic burn at the back of his throat, Fred decided it might be a good idea to avoid rides for a while. He drank several cups of water to clean the gravelly sour taste from his mouth. After looking over the carnival map, he decided to head over to the Academy of Freaks, a winding labyrinth of freaks, kooks, and slights against nature.
The actual participants in the Academy of Freaks were, for the most part, impoverished alien immigrants that Amarosians had never seen before. Most of the freak show exhibits were humanoid enough, except for a distinct feature like a giant nose or one hundred toes on each foot.
One freak show participant with two heads later went on to play a doctor on television, but few of the freaks had a happy ending like that.
Fred paid his remaining three credits and walked into the dark, catacomb-like entrance of the Academy of Freaks.
The first freak was Ned the Nose. Ned had a six-pound nose that extended one foot in front of his face with six-inch nostrils. In truth, Ned was from Fantilly, a planet with such a thin atmosphere that smell was nearly non-existent. Over millennia, the native species developed huge noses to accommodate. After a war ravaged the planet, the nearly extinct species fled to far-reaching promises of a better life on Amaros. But the carnival was the only home they could find.
>
The next booth was populated by Bicentennial Bertha, the woman with two hundred toes. She sat upside down on a chair with her toes in the air. She reenacted the major events of each preceding year with her triple-jointed toes, going two centuries back.
Bertha was not an alien, just a human born with two hundred toes.
Fred found the tiny, wiggling digits absolutely unsettling. Her toes, most of them wearing little hats, seemed to have minds of their own. He fled into the next room.
The next ‘freak’ was hidden behind glass in darkness. Fred saw the name on a placard: Faceless Fred. The hair had already begun to rise on the back of his neck when a small man, perhaps a boy, stepped out from the darkness and into a spotlight. The figure appeared human except for a plain, featureless face. A smooth terrain of skin that Fred, in a deep, nearly unreachable corner of his subconscious, feared was actually himself.
The cups of water Fred had chugged earlier reappeared in the form of warm liquid down his pants leg. Fred screamed and ran out of the freak show, shoving other paying carnival-goers aside.
As soon as Fred was outside he called his parents on his comm. Through sobs he told them he wanted to go home.
What Fred did not know was that the faceless freak was a member of one of the friendliest alien races in all the universe, Amiavexans. Unlike Fantilly, Amiavax had such vibrant smells, tastes, sights and sounds that the species evolved into a nearly featureless form. They absorbed nutrients and expelled waste through their skin, and their senses were so intense that eyes, ears, noses and mouths were unnecessary.
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