Breakeven

by Michelle Diener

  “I know. Karr's following them. He'll get her when they drop her in the settlement.”

  “Then what're you still doing here?” He hadn't exactly felt any warmth toward Dee from Darren.

  Darren winced as they pushed their way into the stairwell. “That was Dee earlier, in the maintenance uniform, wasn't it? Laschka worked it out.”

  Sebastian nodded.

  “She's obviously in trouble now, all for someone she doesn't know and for a cause that isn't hers. I understand why you didn't tell us she was with you and you had plans to get Lucia out, not after the things I said, and I'm sorry about that.” Darren rubbed a hand over the back of his head and ducked his gaze. “I want to help.”

  Sebastian stopped. Considered.

  It would be better to have help in rescuing Dee, but right now, he trusted no one. “Don't make me regret this.”

  Darren grimaced, and gave a nod.

  When they reached the correct floor, Sebastian eased the stairwell door open carefully and then stepped out.

  “Surveillance,” Darren whispered, and pointed to the tiny black sphere set in each ceiling corner.

  That's how they'd gotten to Dee.

  “It's not too late to run,” he told Darren, but the big man gave a sharp shake of his head.

  They moved down the passageway, walking normally, as if they were meant to be there; Sebastian in his Cores brat suit, the shirt sticking to his back with sweat under his jacket from his race up the stairs, and Darren all in black--almost indistinguishable from the guards.

  It might be the only way to stay invisible.

  Sebastian heard the sound of low-pitched talking, and opened a door and stepped inside.

  Darren followed, but Sebastian could see he wasn't happy.

  “They'll see that on the feed. It's suspicious that we got out of the way just as someone was coming.” His whisper was a hiss in Sebastian's ear.

  “I know.” He shrugged, and then crouched beside the door, leaving it open a crack. “We could be lucky and they're not looking now they have Dee. Either way, it beats meeting someone face to face right now.”

  He'd barely finished speaking when the sound of something being dragged became louder.

  “We should get some help,” a man said, and Sebastian could hear the whine in his voice. The breathlessness, too.

  “I don't feel like going to find someone. Last I saw, we were all there was inside. Well, us, Cutter and Harven. Everyone else is guarding doors outside.” The second guard sounded pissed off.

  The first one made a sound of frustration, and Sebastian heard a thump, as if something had fallen.

  He risked looking through the narrow crack, hoping the darkness in the room behind him would keep him invisible, and saw one guard had another under the arms and was pulling him along, and a second stood over another guard who was lying unconscious on the floor.

  Darren shifted behind him, silently resting a hand on Sebastian's back so he could look out as well.

  “Where do we even take them?” The first guard, who'd dropped his burden, straightened up and arched his back with a groan. “What did that woman put in their jah?”

  The second guard straightened as well, letting the man he was dragging's head bounce on the floor. He looked down on him with absolutely no pity. “I don't know, but it's something the boss got really excited about. Anyway, they're out because she hit them with a laz, not because of whatever she put in their drinks. That just made them behave like fucking idiots.”

  The first guard sighed, and then crouched down to get a grip on his guard again. “If it's just a laz hit, they can recover on the floor of the break room.”

  “I'd leave them right here if I didn't think the boss would have a problem with it.” The second guard grabbed the wrists of his man, instead of under his arms, and started pulling again.

  “Good idea.”

  Sebastian rose as they moved away, Darren stepping back so he could straighten up.

  “Hear that? No one is watching the feed. Those two are it.” Darren's voice was almost inaudible with relief.

  Sebastian smiled, and pulled out his laz. “Not for long.”

  She braced herself for something. A feeling of dizziness, a pounding of her heart, but there was nothing.

  She looked up at Hanran Fattal, blinking as she took stock.

  Was she simply unaware of the change?

  The guards whose drink she'd spiked certainly hadn't realized what was happening to them.

  “Where is the talu?” Hanran Fattal had come to stand in front of her, and he grabbed her shoulders.

  She felt . . . no compulsion to speak whatsoever.

  “In . . .” She wet her lips, pretended some reluctance. “In the forest. I wasn't lying.” She blinked again, fluttering her lashes.

  “Where in the forest?” He shook her, angry.

  “Not far away from the settlement.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “Near the house where your guards came looking for me.”

  “What does it eat?” He shook her again and her eyes flew open.

  “Chopped fruit. And energy bars.” She made her lips form a thin line.

  “I can't believe you let it get away.” He shoved at her and the chair tipped back, forcing her to throw herself forward as a counter-balance.

  “You're the one who put me on the run.” She mumbled it, looking down. “It wouldn't have gotten loose if you hadn't forced me into the forest.”

  He made a sound of disgust. “Where are you?”

  She raised her head slowly, trying to work out what he meant, only to see he'd turned his back on her and was talking into a comm unit.

  “Well, get off the front entrance, go buy some fruit and energy bars, and set a trap for . . .” He hesitated. “For a rare animal my daughter bought which has escaped.” He spun back to face Dee. “Is it tame?”

  She lolled her head, as if it were too heavy for her neck and he stepped up to her and shook her shoulders. “Is it tame?”

  “Very . . . tame.”

  “Kaspar, wait. I'll come down and explain what I want.” Hanran Fattal spun on his heel and strode out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Dee waited a beat then slid off the chair, turning as much as the manacles tying her hands to the back of the chair allowed. She lifted her arms and grabbed the top of the chair back as best she could and lifted it, turning toward the wall.

  “What are you doing?” Ruanne hissed.

  “I thought I'd try break the chair against the wall.”

  “No!” There was panic in Ruanne's voice, and she saw Vahn move reflexively, too.

  “It'll be too loud. Come here, I'll try get you free.”

  Dee nodded and made her way over to Ruanne, who reached through and grabbed the chair through the bars.

  “I see you aren't in fact affected by the talu venom.”

  Dee tried to shrug. “No. Not sure why.”

  “Did it scratch you?” Ruanne was right up against the bars now.

  “It did.” Oh. Well, well. Fluffy carried the antivenom with her. How handy. She shot Ruanne a look. “How did you know about that?”

  “I run a shipping company, remember? You hear things. And let me just say that was a good bit of acting.” Ruanne's voice purred with approval even as she struggled with the chair back, trying to snap the spoke, but eventually she stepped back.

  “I can't break it.”

  “My turn.” Vahn had propped himself up against his own bars with a shoulder and was watching them.

  Dee glanced at him, saw he was built similarly to Sebastian. He certainly looked like he had the muscle to do some damage.

  “Sure.” Her shoulders were on fire from the awkward angle by the time she got to him.

  “How did you know who I am?” he asked.

  “I'm a friend of Sebastian's.” She grunted as he moved the chair, nearly overbalancing.

  She managed to look back to see what he was doing, and he had positioned one of th
e chair legs between the two bars at the corner of the cage.

  “Fall over to the right,” he said.

  She hesitated, but she'd get nowhere chained to a chair, so she centered herself, and then threw herself hard to the right. For a moment, the chair leg held, holding her at an impossible angle--she could feel the strain of it, and then it snapped, and she landed hard on her shoulder.

  She went up on her knees with a wince and looked at the damage.

  “So now I just have a three legged chair.” That had been very painful for no apparent progress.

  “Come back here.”

  She shuffled on her knees, and then managed to get awkwardly to her feet.

  “Press the back of the chair to the bars.”

  She did it, and Ruanne made a sound of approval as Vahn threaded the broken chair leg through the spokes of the chair back.

  She got it. But she didn't have to like it.

  “Lean forward?” she asked, voice wry.

  “Sorry.” There was humor in Vahn's tone.

  She tipped forward, her arms straining back, her angle easily 45 degrees, with no hands to shoot out to protect her face if she fell.

  She could hear Vahn taking strain behind her, and then with a crack, the spoke gave.

  She fell, but was able to twist to her side at the last moment.

  She lay, panting through the pain, and then forced herself to get up.

  With slow, aching movements she got to her knees, hands still behind her but no longer caught in the chair. She sat back and threaded her feet through her arms so her hands were now at the front, not the back.

  The feeling of relief, of an increase in control, was almost giddying.

  “Now we need Hanran Fattal's finger to open the laslocks,” Ruanne said, and Dee decided she was dead serious.

  “I don't think that's going to happen, so we need another plan.” She glanced at the door. “Let's see if I can open it from the inside.”

  “Just . . . careful--” Ruanne clutched the bars. “In case there's someone out there on guard.”

  Dee looked around for her weapons, but they were nowhere to be seen. Most likely the guards had taken them with them.

  She saw Vahn was tense, too, standing with his hands in tight fists.

  Dee moved to the door, slowly depressing the handle, and felt a shot of adrenalin when it turned silently under her hand. She eased the door open a crack, and then stared in shock for a moment.

  “What is it?” Ruanne's voice was hoarse.

  Dee let the door swing open completely, her eyes on Sebastian, drinking him in as he strode toward her.

  “Looks like we have some help.”

  Chapter 31

  Dee was alive, and she was safe.

  Sebastian took in the room, the cages, Vahn and Ruanne staring at them from behind their bars, and when Darren slipped in behind him and closed the door, he gave in to impulse and drew Dee into his arms.

  Her hands were manacled, and he could see the remnants of a wooden chair lying near Vahn's cage, but she rested her head on his chest and when he ran his hands down her back, she seemed completely unharmed.

  Vahn caught his eye over Dee's shoulder, and raised his eyebrows in question.

  “You'll have time for sweet hellos later.” Ruanne rattled her cage.

  He brushed a kiss on Dee's forehead and stepped back. “What do we need to open the locks?”

  “Hanran Fattal's finger.” Ruanne smiled her cutthroat smile. “Please go fetch it for us.”

  Darren stepped around Sebastian and grasped Vahn's hand, pulling him in for a brief one-armed hug through the bars. “We thought you were dead. You've been here all along?”

  “No. We were held in a facility in the forest until a few weeks ago, on one of the pipeline routes. I don't think Fattal told anyone we were still alive, so I guess he was keeping us as backup.”

  “Backup for what?” Dee stood close enough to Sebastian that her shoulder brushed his, and he slid an arm around her.

  “The last couple of weeks, he's been asking me to give up the resistance spies in sensitive Cores operations, and asking Ruanne for her trade routes.”

  “You think he brought you here because he'd sent Rina to buy a talu and he was hoping to get you to spill your secrets?”

  “I think so, but I think he was also planning to use some of the talu venom against the other Cores executives.” Ruanne bumped a shoulder against the bars in frustration. “He spoke freely to someone on his comm set a couple of times while he was in here, and now I know it was a talu he was waiting for, some of what he said at the time makes more sense. I think he was planning to slip them some venom in their drinks and find out who was with him, who was against him, and make those against him go away.”

  “We were hiding the guards we knocked out in an office when Fattal walked past,” Darren glanced at Sebastian. “We just let him go.”

  Sebastian shrugged. “I'm pretty sure he'll be back, and if Ruanne is right, most likely on his own. He wants to control the information, and he doesn't want anyone to understand how he's getting it.”

  Vahn held his gaze. “Things have been rough, I take it?”

  Sebastian gave a nod. “Bit hard to move forward when someone's telling your enemies your every move.”

  Vahn's lips twisted. “Yes, I discovered the day I was taken that we have a mole. Someone sold me out.”

  “And from the sounds of it, my own people are spilling my secrets to the Cores every day. Fattal knew way too much about my routes already. He just wanted me to fill him in on the details only I know.”

  “Not all of your people.” Dee straightened. “Jamari escaped and she's in hiding.”

  Ruanne's face lit up. “You've seen her?”

  Dee nodded. “She helped Sebastian and I get in here.”

  “So what now?” Darren turned to Sebastian.

  “One of us goes and gets the feed from this room, which I'm guessing shows both of you getting beaten.” Sebastian could see swelling on Vahn's cheek and bruises around his eyes, and even though Ruanne's skin was darker than Vahn's, she had obviously been hit. “Darren and I overheard the guards say there's no one up there at the moment, so now's the time.”

  “What does it matter that they beat us?” Vahn flexed his hands. “No one will be surprised by that.”

  “It should matter. The deal every adult who came here fifteen years ago agreed to was that the Cores owned the planet, but that everyone had a chance to make their fortune if they worked hard enough and took advantage of unchartered territory. That isn't what happened, and now, the Cores have reneged on even that original deal. You and Ruanne were our unofficial leaders until six months ago. And since then, everything we have has been taken, or stolen, or ripped from us. We're at a point where if we don't mobilize everyone, and soon, there won't be anything to save. The Caruso won't wait too much longer, and Bodivas has never shown an inclination to help us before. I don't see why they would now.”

  “How would we show the feed to everyone, though?” Darren frowned.

  “The announcement board.” Sebastian shrugged.

  Dee turned to him with a huge smile. “That would be sweet, sweet irony. Your friend could put it up?”

  “I hope so.” He sent her a small smile back.

  “I'd rather you get Hanran Fattal.” Ruanne rattled her cage again.

  Darren nodded. “Seb's right, he'll be back, and most likely alone. I can wait here while Sebastian gets the footage.”

  “Then you need to go now, in case you bump into him and he runs.” Vahn's agitation was evident in his jerky movements. “And be careful on your way back.”

  “I'll come with you as far as the room you left the guards in, see if the keys to my restraints are still on them.” Dee tilted her head. “You didn't happen to get back my weapons, did you?”

  Sebastian pulled out a spare laz and handed it to her, then gave one each to Ruanne and Vahn.

  Ruanne smiled in appreciation, and
Vahn gave a sharp nod, then bent his head over the settings immediately.

  Sebastian left them to it, going ahead of Dee as they stepped out of the room.

  The passageway was still empty, and Sebastian hesitated outside the office where he and Darren had left the guards.

  “Go.” Dee tapped her bound hands on his chest. “As Ruanne says, there'll be time for sweet hellos later.”

  He bent and kissed her, hand cupping the back of her head, and then he turned and jogged toward the stairs. If he and Darren had overheard correctly, the control room was on the floor above, and while dawn was still half an hour or so away, someone could come off guard duty from below at any time.

  He needed to move.

  Dee found the electronic key to the locks in moments, and made her way back to the others as fast as she could.

  Darren opened the door cautiously at her knock, and then stepped back to let her into the room. She'd brought the restraints with her, and Ruanne gave a sharp nod of approval when she saw them.

  “Pity the chair is smashed, or I'd have liked Hanran Fattal to feel what it's like to be tied to it, getting asked uncomfortable questions.”

  “You and Ruanne obviously know each other.” Darren looked between them.

  “Ruanne and my boss on Garmen have entered into a few joint ventures together.” Dee kept her answer neutral.

  “Who's your boss on Garmen?” Vahn was watching her with eyes that gleamed.

  “Leo Gaudier.”

  Vahn folded his arms, and from the way his eyebrows rose, she guessed he'd heard of Leo. “What are you doing here, then?”

  “I was on the Felicitos Deck, trying to pass on some information to the captain of one of Ruanne's traders, when the Caruso, who the Cores were hiding in plain sight in one of their warehouses on the Deck, launched an attack on the Cores and everyone else who happened to be docked there.”

  “They attacked the Cores, not helped the Cores in an attack?” Darren stared at her, mouth open.

  “The Cores already owned the Deck, they hardly needed to kill everyone on it to take control of it.” Dee kept her tone neutral. “No, the Caruso must have decided if they took the Deck, they'd have control over Felicitos, and by extension, the whole of Garmen.”