Breakeven

by Michelle Diener

  “What happened?” Ruanne pressed her face against the bars.

  “Leo had someone in his corner who was able to temporarily disable the gravity and environmental generators on the Deck. Everyone not in a ship was sucked into nearspace.”

  Darren gave a long, low whistle.

  “So, you were obviously in a ship.” Ruanne was watching her with interest.

  “Leo was able to warn me, and hopefully most of the Deck crew, about what was coming, and I got into the first ship I could find with an open door. It just so happened to belong to Rina Fattal.”

  “You're here by accident?” Vahn couldn't hide his surprise.

  “It wasn't in the plan, no.”

  “And the talu?” Ruanne asked.

  “Found her in Rina's suite. She took to me, and I took to her.” Dee shrugged. “I didn't know anything about her special abilities until Jamari told me.”

  “If the Cores learn what happened on Garmen, surely they'll kill this deal with the Caruso?” Darren leaned against the door. “If the Caruso attacked one lot of Core Companies, they'll attack another.”

  “I already told Hanran Fattal what happened on Garmen. He claimed he didn't believe me.”

  “What?” Darren straightened up from the wall beside the door, mouth open. “But that's why I came back to Dar Raca from the pipelines this morning. The Caruso are already out there. I got word from a source they were diverting the gas at the Sunir extraction point straight onto their own traders. They've built a landing pad there. I managed to get close enough to confirm it was true, but I almost didn't make it back out. They've set up a security perimeter. You're telling me the Cores don't know about this?”

  It was Dee's turn to stare. “Hanran Fattal's attitude would suggest that, yes.”

  As he opened his mouth to respond, the door opened suddenly, and he spun toward it.

  Dee stepped closer to the wall, out of the line of sight.

  Hanran Fattal stepped in and then jerked back in surprise at the sight of Darren, and there was a flash of laz fire.

  Darren fell, holding his side, and Hanran Fattal took a step closer to him, his back to Dee.

  She guessed he'd gotten off a lucky shot and he raised his laz again, aiming at Darren's chest.

  She shot him at close range in his raised arm, and then stepped right up to Fattal and put her laz against his neck.

  “Hold still.” She put her hand into his jacket pocket, remembering where he'd put her vial and the tiny syringe he'd used on her, and sure enough, there it was.

  “Vahn and Ruanne, could you cover me?”

  Vahn was already pointing his laz at Fattal through the bars, and Ruanne did the same.

  “Don't move, or they'll shoot you.” Dee pocketed her laz and drew a small amount of venom into the syringe, and plunged it into Fattal's neck before putting her laz back in place against his spine.

  “Now you're going to open the locks on the cages.”

  Fattal was shivering, and she didn't know if it was with worry about how much venom she'd given him, or if his reaction to it was that fast. He moved, though, opening the locks, and flinched back when Vahn stepped out.

  “Why did you inject me?” He tried to turn his head to look at her.

  “Because I want some answers.”

  She stepped back a little and he moved to the wall and leaned against it, then slid down to sit on the floor.

  “On second thoughts, Vahn and Ruanne, you've earned the right to ask the questions.”

  Ruanne gave her a regal nod, then stepped closer to Fattal. “Where are the Caruso?”

  “Some are at the hover base.”

  “And the others?” Ruanne's voice was sharp.

  “The big ships,” he seemed to struggle for a moment, and then he shrugged. “The three big warships are hidden on the three moons.”

  “When are they planning to come down?”

  He rubbed his face, scowling. “When I give them the okay. But my fellow execs are cowards. Cowards and idiots.”

  “Do you know the Caruso are already out by the pipelines, taking gas directly?” Vahn asked. He had crouched down beside Darren, and helped him sit up.

  “No.” Hanran Fattal pursed his lips. “That's very . . . naughty of them.” He waggled a finger, then blinked up at Dee. “If the idiots on the Cores Exec find out about that, they'll say no for sure. And we only have a week left. Just one week.”

  “One week left until what?” Dee crouched in front of him, grabbed his wrists and clamped them in the manacles.

  “The treaty.” Vahn rose to his feet, and Dee saw Darren rubbing his side. He looked better, which meant Fattal's hit had been a glancing one. “One week left until the treaty with Bodivas has to be renegotiated.”

  Hanran Fattal clicked his tongue and pointed a finger at Vahn. “The Bodivas are being pushy. Pushy, pushy, pushy. They have spies. Spies!” He almost shouted the word. “And they told us they know we've taken people's businesses. Broken our agreement with the gen-pop. They're threatening to intervene. To take Lassa away from us.”

  “Is that so?” Vahn looked like he'd been hit between the eyes.

  Dee had the sense from everyone that they thought Bodivas had abandoned them. She'd thought the same way about Arkhor. That they'd left Garmen to rot.

  Obviously, that wasn't the case in either situation.

  “Yes, it is so.” Fattal nodded slowly. “So we looked for new trading partners. Especially after a few missteps with the VSC made them less inclined to deal with us. Now that the Faldine War is over, they aren't as dependent on us for our raw materials, but the Caruso, well, they were willing to buy everything we had to sell, in exchange for a few military bases here.” He shrugged. “It's less lucrative than the deal with the VSC, but comes with no strings, no minimum standard of how we treat the gen-pop, and frankly,” he glanced at them with a sly smile, “most of the gen-pop won't be needed. The Caruso prefer to work with their own.”

  “So what are they planning to do with everyone who lives here? Will you let them leave?” Dee wanted him to spell it out. She also hoped Sebastian was still in the control room, and he was getting every word of this.

  “Leave?” he laughed. “No, that won't do. Even if we don't have to comply with certain standards, I'm not foolish enough to think the VSC might not feel compelled to act if some people get out with stories of their friends starving and living in squalor.”

  “If they can't leave, and there's no work for them, what do you think will happen to them?” Ruanne asked.

  “Do I look like I care?” He giggled, and then put a hand over his mouth. “They'll die, eventually. The Caruso may pick some off, some will starve.” He shrugged. “If they get too difficult, we'll have to do something about it.”

  “What'll stop the Caruso from doing away with you, especially if they have their own workforce here?” Dee asked.

  “Won't happen. As long as I and the other Cores execs are here, and own the resources, the VSC has very little grounds to attack. The Caruso won't harm us. In fact, it's in their interests to make sure no harm comes to us.”

  “And your guards, your official Core Companies workers?” Dee extended her hands, palms up.

  Ruanne shot her a look at that, and gave a faint smile. She had worked out what Dee was doing.

  “They're gen-pop, when it comes down to it. They'll have to accept a change in circumstances.”

  Ruanne gave a decisive nod. “Time's wasting.” She grabbed Fattal and shoved him into her cell.

  It was more or less meaningless, as he was the key to the laslock, but he sat in a corner obediently enough.

  “Stay there.” She closed him in.

  Vahn opened the office door, and looked down the short passageway, then glanced back at Darren. “You good?”

  Darren nodded and limped out, and Dee let Ruanne go next.

  She moved as if she was hurt, and Dee guessed the bruises on her face only told part of the story.

  She close
d the door behind them, and followed as Darren led the way back down the passage to the lift.

  “Sebastian is still up there.” And she wasn't leaving him. “None of you are in the best shape, so I suggest you go ahead, and I'll get Sebastian, and either catch you up, or see you back at headquarters.”

  Vahn hesitated, then gave a nod. The lift suddenly hummed to life, and everyone froze for a moment, and then turned to the stairwell door.

  They didn't have the run of the place anymore.

  Chapter 32

  Dee heard voices as she leaned against the stairwell door one floor up from where she'd left the others.

  Two men, she guessed, exiting the lift.

  She swore under her breath, then waited for them to pass, forced herself to count to five, and then opened the door just enough so she could slip through, and stepped out into the foyer.

  The men were guards, walking side by side ahead of her, and she eased the door closed silently behind her and followed them.

  They stopped outside a set of double doors made of flexiclear, and she could see their demeanor change. They went from relaxed to killers in a blink. One stepped forward, forcing the doors open, and he pulled his laz and fired.

  Dee started to run.

  The one who'd fired flinched back, holding his shoulder, then collapsed as the doors closed.

  The second one stood, perfect shooting stance, she could only assume pointing his laz at Sebastian, but he couldn't fire with the doors closed. He'd need to get closer for them to reopen.

  All guard number two needed to do was wait Sebastian out until backup arrived.

  At that thought, she moved even faster, but the guard was already on his comm, talking in the coded language of security officers.

  She was almost upon him when he realized she was coming, and turned, laz still raised, in her direction.

  She'd drawn her own laz, but had it tucked against her left side, and she focused her gaze on the guard who was down. “Is he all right?” She made her voice high-pitched and shocked.

  She saw him take in her maintenance uniform, her demeanor, and then turn away from her in dismissal.

  “Get off this floor. Now!”

  She shot him in the middle of his back and he went down like a felled tree.

  She stepped over him, but Sebastian was already at the door, and she realized he must have run toward it the moment he'd seen her.

  “Will there ever be time for sweet hellos?” he asked her as he grabbed her hand and started running with her toward the stairwell.

  She gasped out a laugh, but didn't get the chance to answer, because the door of the lift began to pivot and they both dived through the door at the same time.

  He gestured her ahead of him, and she went because there was no time to argue.

  When she reached the next floor, she left the stairwell and ran, heading for the other side of the building.

  “Good idea.” Sebastian caught up with her, although he kept glancing back.

  “I think whoever was in the lift probably went to help their friends first. If we're lucky.”

  It seemed like they hadn't been followed. But the guards could see where they where through the feed . . . “Are the cameras still working?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “All destroyed.”

  She grinned at him as they burst into the foyer at the far end of the passage, and dived through the door.

  “The others?” he asked as they started taking the stairs, two, sometimes three at a time.

  “Headed back to headquarters.” She barely had the breath to answer.

  They reached the bottom without meeting anyone else, and she took a moment to catch her breath before she stepped out into the small hallway that led to the side entrance. They both knew there was most likely two guards outside the door in front of them.

  “You go first,” Sebastian said. “I'll wait. If there's trouble, or they get suspicious, they'll bring you back in this way.”

  “And then?”

  “And then I'll be waiting for them.” He gave her a smile and she saw the ruthlessness in his eyes.

  She knew he wanted her to go first in case he needed to protect her, and she considered fighting it, but like going first in the stairwell earlier, she didn't think they had the time. And one of them had to go first.

  She straightened her maintenance uniform, hunched her shoulders as if she was weighed down by her cares and a long night of hard work, and pushed through the door.

  The two black-clad guards turned as she stepped out into the dawn light. The sun had just risen, and she shielded her gaze as the angle of the rays hit her directly in the eyes.

  It put her at a disadvantage, as the guards were backlit by the sunlight, and she dipped her head, and stepped between them.

  “Hey. You're Rina Fattal.”

  She shook her head and kept going, but she had a sinking feeling she knew who the guard was who called out to her.

  He was one of the two who'd tracked her and Sebastian down in Dar Raca and then eaten with them at the restaurant. The one who'd shot Sebastian with his laz.

  Bauer.

  “You are.” Bauer's hand came down hard on her shoulder, and he jerked her around.

  “Don't touch me.” Her voice was icy.

  “Looks like you're sneaking out again, all dressed up like a cleaner and all, and your daddy will be very pleased to have you delivered back.”

  “Bauer . . .” The other guard looked uncertain.

  “Me, Travi and Haber had to go out and get her just a couple of nights ago.”

  “I'm a free person. I can leave if I want.”

  Bauer shook his head. “This place is owned by the Cores, and your father is the head Cores exec. You are not a free person. None of us are.”

  He was quite right, but what she found startling was the gleeful way he said it, without pausing to consider what that meant for him as well as her.

  His grip slid to her arm and he hauled her back toward the door.

  She relented, letting him pull her along as she put her hand into her pocket.

  The other guard went through the door first, looking back over his shoulder as he stepped inside. “What are we going to do? We can't leave our post.”

  He went down almost immediately, but Bauer didn't notice the laz hit because he was shoving Dee in behind him.

  She stepped to the side, pulling her hand from her pocket, fist closed around her laz, but the door was already swinging shut, and Sebastian was right there, pinning Bauer back against the door.

  “We meet again.” He smiled, holding Bauer's gaze, and then shot him in the torso.

  From the stairs behind him, they both heard the sound of running footsteps.

  “I think the other guards have finished checking on their friends.” He used his boot to shove Bauer aside so they could get the door open and then they were running through the lush gardens that surrounded the Tree.

  Sebastian heard a shout go up behind them, and guessed the guards on the other entrances had been ordered to hunt them down.

  Dee kept up with him, and when he looked back, her face was focused and calm.

  She'd told him before she was used to playing against high stakes, and she hadn't lied.

  Laz fire flickered to his right as someone took a shot, and without conferring they both started to zigzag as they headed for the first line of buildings that surrounded the gardens.

  They had a head start, but Sebastian knew there would be guards up ahead of them, as well as behind. There were guard stations along the wall separating Dar Raca from the settlement, and at the gate, plus guard patrols in Dar Raca itself.

  The guards at the Tree entrance were only a small part of the whole.

  He took the first alley they reached, and Dee followed. They had to slow down, because the alleys were a maze of boxes, refuse bins, storage lockers.

  He took them south east, toward the building with secret tunnel access, and because dawn had just broken,
it was still quiet and the streets were empty.

  It worried him that there were no guards to be seen patrolling, and when they were forced to cross the bigger streets, no one was to be seen in either direction.

  “Too quiet?” Dee whispered when he hesitated before they crossed the final road to get to the building.

  He nodded.

  They were pressed up against a building one street over from their destination, and she pointed to the back door. It was open slightly, prevented from closing by a small block of wood wedged into the frame.

  Someone had wanted to come and go without signing in, he guessed.

  “Go up to the roof and look?” she whispered.

  He nodded, and they slipped through the door.

  He was planning to take the stairs, but Dee shook her head, and called the lift.

  He finally noticed the dark rings under her eyes, and she leaned back against the lift wall and closed her eyes as it seemed to heave itself laboriously up to the roof.

  “How about now?” he murmured.

  “Now?” She didn't open her eyes.

  “For those sweet hellos.” He drew her into his arms, kissed her forehead, her closed eyelids, her cheek, the corner of her mouth, and finally her lips.

  They curved into a smile under his.

  She leaned into him, and he could feel the exhaustion weighing her down.

  “We deserve a holiday.” She snuggled closer. “I haven't had a holiday in nearly two years.”

  Sebastian had never had a holiday. The possibility of it was tantalizing.

  “Where would we go?”

  “Somewhere warm, with a clear pool to swim in, and no one else around.”

  He brushed his lips on the top of her head. “I can do that. I'll even throw in a comfortable bed.”

  She laughed, low and throaty. “It's a deal.” She pulled back as the doors opened. He saw her laz was in her hand, but the lift opened into a tiny hallway space, and it was empty. A door was set opposite the lift, and he stepped out into the still, cool morning air.

  At this height, he could see the golden sunlight play over the treetops and the stir of life beyond the wall in the settlement.