The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material)

by Nicole Grotepas

Holly stared at her. She could almost see the cogs turning in her niece’s young mind. Holly laughed. “Not at all. But, now that you mention it, I’m really glad I didn’t have a kid when that happened. And you know, Graf was a terrible person.” Lucy’s gaze dropped like she had heard things and had maybe been told to not bring up Graf. “It’s no big deal, Lucy.”

  The front door opened and Meg came in, breathless. Gabe followed behind her.

  “Oh, good,” Meg said, walking over to her daughter and embracing her. “I got tied up with a case and couldn’t leave.”

  “Hey, Mom. I would have been fine walking home alone,” Lucy said, glancing at her parents. Their faces were ruddy from hurrying. “Hey, Dad.”

  Holly still wasn’t sure why they were so worried. Unless it had something to do with a shipping container full of kids on Paradise, but that was just a wild guess. Holly thought about some of the kids she’d taught and tried to imagine being incredibly worried about them. She felt worried for Lucy, occasionally, but knew that what a parent experienced had to be stronger than what she herself experienced.

  Gabe bent to hug Lucy and stood up, taking her with him. The girl was nearly as tall as him, but her feet still came off the ground two feet. He made a big show of the process. Lucy laughed and pummeled him on the back with her free hand, the other still clutching the bag of carrots she’d been snacking on.

  “How’s my little beanpole?” Gabe teased.

  “Dad, don’t call me that.” Lucy laughed as he put her back down.

  “Fine, I’ll stop, beanpole.”

  “Dad! I don’t even know what a beanpole is.”

  “Gabe, really?” Meg said, giving him a look, indicating that they’d been over this subject before, of respecting Lucy’s rights to have an opinion about what she was called.

  Gabe shrugged and went to sit down on the couch near Holly. “How’s your thing going?”

  How much could she tell him? “Good enough.”

  “That bad? I heard you went off-world.”

  “I did.”

  “What was that for?”

  Holly shrugged. Meg was still in the kitchen talking to Lucy about her day, but she kept glancing at Gabe and Holly as though she didn’t want to miss what they were saying. “I’m not sure I want to talk to you about this.”

  “Is it illegal?” Gabe asked.

  “I’m not sure. Seems to be a gray area.”

  “Leave it at that. I don’t deal in gray areas.”

  “You mean you don’t work in them or you don’t believe in gray areas.”

  There was a knock at the door and Lucy ran for it, skidding across the tile floor in her socks and grabbing hold of the door frame to catch herself. She punched her hand across the button and the door hissed open.

  “Lucy, next time check to see who it is before you just open the door.”

  “It’s just Charm,” Lucy said, her face lighting up.

  “This time, it’s Charm,” Meg said. A Druiviin girl a bit taller than Lucy, stood in the doorway. Her complexion was a soft, nearly imperceptible violet. Her silvery hair was done up into thick spikes like a star—an untraditional style. Holly figured that meant Charm’s parents were progressive and casual.

  Charm made a gesture as though to say, let’s go.

  “Can I go over to Charm’s?” Lucy asked, looking at Meg.

  “Charm, are your parents home? Or one of them, at least?” Meg asked, addressing the girl.

  “Yes,” Charm said in a soft voice.

  Meg looked back at Lucy. “Fine, but please think about giving your dad a hug before you go. He probably won’t be here later. I think he’s got work to do. Still.” Meg communicated with a glance at Gabe. He nodded and grimaced.

  Lucy rushed to her dad, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then fled, the two girls giggling as the door shut behind them. Meg went back into the kitchen and began rummaging through cabinets and the fridge.

  “No drink?” Gabe mentioned.

  “You’re still on duty,” Meg said, backing out of the fridge with an armful of supplies.

  “I don’t need one anyway,” Holly said.

  “Good. But I wasn’t thinking of you. Sorry. Just me.”

  “That little nugget there—exactly why we’re divorced.” Meg laughed. She opened a few containers from the fridge as she began preparing dinner.

  “Amicably. And she misses me.” Gabe grinned.

  “I heard you talking about your trip, Holly. What did you tell Gabe that you didn’t tell me?” Meg asked.

  “Not much. I don’t think I told him anything.”

  “But she was about to. I think something’s bothering her,” Gabe said.

  “This job you’re doing. You’re not hurting anyone?” Meg asked.

  Holly shook her head, no, but Meg didn’t see it. She’d begun to chop vegetables on a cutting board. The soft clack-clack echoed around the large room.

  Meg focused on her task but asked, “You’re not robbing a bank?”

  “God, no.” Holly laughed.

  “You’re not murdering anyone?”

  Holly paused. She had wanted to. But that didn’t count because she hadn’t. “No.”

  “You hesitated, which worries me,” Gabe said

  “Still, no.”

  “You’re not kidnapping anyone?”

  Holly sighed.

  “Oh god,” Meg said, swallowing. She’d stopped chopping, the knife poised above the board, and stared at Holly from across the counter and the sofa separating them. Her eyes widened.

  Holly deliberated—but it seemed there was no way out of this. “No, I’m not. But, the job took me to Paradise. And we uncovered, by accident, something to do with kidnapping. Maybe a human trafficking ring? There was,” she hesitated, feeling sick at the memory, “a shipping container full of children.”

  “Oh my god,” Meg said.

  Gabe stared at her, his eyes hard, his mouth a line. “Give me the name. Give me all the information.”

  “Gabe, Paradise—way out of our jurisdiction.”

  “They’ve got to be connected, Meg.” His voice was firm, devoid of emotion. Holly knew Gabe enough to know that that tone meant he’d walled off his rage behind a barrier of cold calculating logic.

  “Connected to what?” Holly asked looking back and forth between them.

  “We’ve seen hints of it, Holly. Which is why Meg and I are both so paranoid about Lucy’s safety right now.”

  “Wait you mean, here?”

  “Yes, kids have gone missing,” Gabe said.

  “Damn.” Holly covered her mouth. She knew it. She should have done more. She should have killed them.

  “What else happened?” Meg asked.

  Holly shrugged. “The police got involved. The men were arrested. Probably”

  “Probably?”

  “Well, we left before we had a chance to find out everything. We had to leave. The ship was leaving for Kota and we couldn’t wait.”

  Meg’s questions were sharp and quick, like her chopping motions. “But the kids were safe?”

  “When we left, the police were there.”

  “Police aren’t always safe.”

  “Says my police officer ex-brother-in-law,” Holly said. She got up and went into the kitchen to help Meg. “I know. But I didn’t have many options. I couldn’t adopt all the kids.”

  “Mmmm,” Meg said, absently. She’d gone back to chopping.

  “I mean, maybe some of them could have stayed with me. If I had a house for children. Or I guess there’s room here. Right? You wouldn’t mind, Meg?”

  Gabe joined them around the kitchen counter. “We’ve been busy with this. There are some other related cases that we’re working on at the moment, in conjunction with a few divisions in Spire City.”

  “So you guys were aware of something happening to kids, and you didn’t tell me? How long has this been going on?”

  Holly’s communicator rang. “Hang on, gotta get this.” She turned and
sauntered toward the windows. “Hello?”

  “HD. It’s Xadrian. I won’t bother you with small talk. Bad news, we’ve gotten word that the jewels will be moved sooner. Tomorrow afternoon. You’ve got to move as soon as possible. Tonight, if you can swing it.”

  “What? That’s not . . .”

  “There are no arguments, HD. It’s imperative that my client get the jewels. They’re rightfully his.”

  “Alright. Alright. Yes, we’ll move tonight.” She hung up, stunned.

  “Everything OK?” Meg asked.

  “No. I have to go. That job, it’s been changed.”

  “Is the job robbery?” Gabe asked, standing. “Sorry. Just curious.”

  “Does stealing back something stolen count as robbery?” Holly asked, meeting his gaze with her own.

  He laughed and shrugged. “Not sure I believe a line like that. Especially from a known thief.”

  “I’m not a known thief.”

  Meg backed away from the stove where a pot of water was boiling, and interrupted. “Knock it off, Gabe. We gave the lead to Holly. Too much nasty shit is happening right now. Let’s clean out the unit ourselves and then we won’t be passing leads on to civilians.”

  Gabe gave Holly a measuring look. His voice lowered a pitch as he spoke next. “Be careful, Holly. You’re Lucy’s aunt. You’ve dealt with enough bad shit to last a lifetime. I don’t want anything to happen to you that we can’t fix.”

  37

  “I’m a rookie. Is any of this normal?” Holly asked Darius. They were back at the Surge bird’s nest, preparing to move. Odeon reclined on the sofa, still looking tired from their trip. His silver hair was back down, let out of the traditional-looking bun and just grazing the tops of his shoulders. He seemed to have recovered, at least, from the gouge into his psyche that came from seeing his parents. He wore his old style of clothes again as well—a white shirt with a black jacket over it, and black trousers, and boots with a small heel. It was a roguish look that still struck Holly as distinctly un-Druiviin. Shiro was in the corner that overlooked the bar out the glass windows, talking to Charly. It appeared they were conspiring or planning—hopefully Shiro had figured out how he would draw the attention of security.

  Darius shrugged. “There’s no normal in this line of work. You make a plan knowing it will probably change.”

  “Then why make a plan?”

  Darius looked up at her, and winked. “No plan is a plan to fail, Drake. You just got to make sure you add enough cushions in the timeline so that if it changes, you can adapt. Always got to make sure you’re flexible.”

  Darius turned the Skelty Key over and over in his hands, inspecting it. His tweed blazer had elbow patches and rather than a top hat, today he wore a driving cap that complemented the soft tan of his blazer.

  Holly watched. “How does it work?”

  “It’s beautiful,” he said, holding it up. It was black and bronze, shaped vaguely like a skull, with a small multi-toothed protrusion. “So, when you come to the lock, this key will adhere to it. This part here attaches, and infiltrates the mechanism with little Trojan horse programs. They search through all the files, and piece together the information that unlocks the device. It figures out the code, alerts you, then you activate it and the lock opens.”

  “Sounds simple enough.”

  “Only because this machine is genius,” Darius said with a short laugh. He lifted an orange canvas bag off the table where all his v-screens sat, placed the Skelty Key in it and draped the bag loop over Holly’s shoulder. “You’ll be running that, Drake.”

  “Did you make it?” Holly asked, hearing a note of pride in Darius’ voice.

  He grinned. “I wish.”

  “If it’s that easy to get past the locks, why aren’t there more of these out there?”

  “Because it runs on hydrantium. The way it’s refined makes it one of the most costly forms out there. The only people who want it are going to be rich enough to get it in the first place, and they’re not going to spend their time breaking into small time places, or even caring to do that. Because they’re already wealthy.”

  “Who was the woman who we took it from? Or tried to?”

  Darius shook his head. “I don’t know her.”

  “Wait a minute, you’re telling me there’s someone in this business who has enough money to own this Skelty Key and you don’t know her?”

  “Well, yeah. I’m obviously lying, Drake. Ask again later. For now, we need to get moving if we’re going to finish this job before it’s too late.”

  He was right. And as much as Holly wanted to stand there, prodding him about it till he gave in and explained who that woman really was, they needed to finalize their plans and move out.

  “Shiro, you know what you’re doing?” Holly asked from across the room. Charly stopped whatever she’d been saying as they both turned to face her.

  Shiro cocked his head. “Definitely, Ms. Drake. When the three of you are in position, I’ll begin.”

  “Charly and Odeon, you’re both with me.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” Charly said.

  “Charly, please,” Holly said.

  “I have several plans for the safe, Holly Drake,” Odeon said. “Because we lack insight into what model it is, I’m prepared for most eventualities.”

  “Great, Odeon. Darius is on comms and he’s got the escape plan on the back burner, for now. I’ve got the Skelty Key,” she said, trying to quell her racing heart. “That just leaves one thing.”

  “Which is?” Charly asked, a perplexed look on her face. “There’s nothing else.”

  “There is.” Holly went to the windows looking out on the bar and stared down at Torden where he was removing bottles of liquor from a box and stacking them on shelves in preparation for the evening club scene. “It’s that shipping container.”

  Holly turned. Oh yeah. The team nodded as though they understood implicitly.

  “You guys have any thoughts about it?” she asked.

  Odeon looked at everyone individually, his vivid gaze alighting on each of their faces, unabashedly. The rest of them avoided eye contact. Shiro removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. His foot started tapping a beat like there was pent up energy in him associated with the topic.

  “Shiro?” Holly asked.

  “Yes, what? It was a goddamn deplorable debacle, Ms. Drake. Pardon the expression.”

  “You never have to apologize to me for cussing,” Holly said.

  “I know. I’m apologizing to myself.”

  “Look, this whole thing got weird the moment we saw that container. Shit got real. The job seemed trivial. We’re thinking about a goddamn necklace. A trinket, basically. While helpless children are being traded like goods.” She took a deep breath and tried to relax. The thought of it. Those kids, they reminded Holly of her students, of her days back in school, trying to help kids just like them find their voices, to develop themselves and not be afraid of the world, to embrace it so that they could mold it into what they wanted. “Anyway, the job is . . . strange, now. I’m not sure about it. I’d like to do something about what’s happening in the city, which we didn’t really know about till the dock on Paradise. But we have this job. So I’m going to finish it. And then maybe I’ll change my focus. I just want you guys to know that you don’t have to finish with me if you don’t want to, because of what happened on Paradise. Everything seems different now. Xadrian hasn’t told me everything—the Shadow Coalition is obviously after him, and anyway. It’s a mess. Anyone want to back out, now’s your chance. And I won’t hold it against you.”

  She finished and glanced at the others. Darius had his arms crossed and a bemused expression on his face.

  “You done, Drake?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Good, because I’m not quitting.”

  “Neither am I, boss. You joker,” Charly said with a laugh.

  Holly glanced at Odeon. He shook his head in a human gesture. “I’m
not leaving Holly Drake.”

  Darius continued. “This is the job I want to do right now. And if you’d like, I can put some feelers out to see if I can get a read on what’s going on with this human trafficking shit.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Holly said. “But just give it a minute. I know some detectives are looking into it. I don’t want us to draw attention and get mistaken for being part of something we’re not.”

  “You mean your sister?” Shiro asked.

  “You know about my sister?” Holly shot back at him.

  “What kind of terrible criminal would I be if I didn’t research the people I work with?” he asked in an affronted voice. “Anyway, Ms. Drake, I’m still in.”

  “Even you, Shiro? Really?”

  “Is that a reference to something?” Shiro asked, standing and swinging his cane in a short circle.

  “You almost left once,” Holly said.

  “Shiro just likes drama, right Oahu?” Charly said.

  “Yes, that’s true. I devour it. But not this time, about this serious matter.”

  Holly relaxed a little. They were still a team. She had been worried the whole day, knowing that she’d need to address the figurative Centau rangebeast in the room, and dreading it. What if they’d backed out? Even just one of them backing out would have made the job almost impossible. Perhaps they could get by without Charly, because Holly could fight, but not as well as Charly. And she had her gun, which she’d been starting to call her Equalizer in her head. But it would be harder to complete the job without Shiro. Odeon too, for the safe.

  So they were all in. That was good. She was glad, then, that she’d done that thing she’d dreaded—it turned out better than she imagined. She still felt uneasy about the whole job, but that was probably just nerves.

  Holly laughed, an I-can’t-believe-I’m about-to-do-this-laugh. “Well, then. OK.”

  “Go time?” Charly asked.

  “Go time.”

  38

  Holly sat on a bench and waited for the signal, while Charly had positioned herself facing the entrance to the tower from the Spireway platform. She wore tight black pants, boots, and a cropped blazer over a tank-top. Holly was dressed similarly, except that her blazer was nicer and made her look like she belonged in the rich spire, a contingency that could save them from being confronted openly if anyone questioned their presence. Odeon stood lookout with a view of the plaza where Shiro had gone.