Inside the room, there was only one large bed. It left a lot to be desired. Though the bed was made, the duvet was worn and threadbare.
“One bed. The receptionist didn’t mention that. I thought both rooms were doubles.” Holly felt her cheeks flush, but she knew that it wasn’t a big issue. Grant was decent. Maybe he didn’t even want to sleep.
“The Mariner’s Bride is an in-demand spot, Holly. What could we expect?” He chuckled softly.
“I’m so tired, I don’t even care. You take a half, I’ll take a half.”
“Sounds fair.”
She dropped her luggage on a chair, removed her boots and many weapons, drew the shades, and fell onto the bed, not bothering with her clothes or the bedcovers. She wasn’t even aware of Iain laying down next to her, and then she was asleep.
* * *
She woke in a darkened room. Darker than it was when she’d fallen asleep. For a moment she didn’t recall where she was.
She reached out and touched a lamp, which flickered on just by her hand’s proximity to it. She was surrounded by a hideous hotel room. A terrible bed. And Iain next to her, asleep. He was still fully clothed, and like her, was on top of the bedcovers.
The memories came back to her. The zeppelin. The murders. The intermoon police. She sighed, rubbed her face, and climbed off the bed gingerly, to not wake up Iain, and went to the shades. She pushed them aside. It was dark outside. Ixion glowed yellow-orange overhead, and the city that surrounded her was lit up like a neon sign. She found her communicator and checked the local time. It was just after eight pm. They’d checked into the hotel around noon, so if they hurried, they could catch dinner before all the restaurants closed down.
And then what? Sleep again? Having slept half the day away due to the circumstances on the zeppelin really threw a wrench in the works.
She grabbed her toiletry kit out of her luggage and went into the bathroom, intending to freshen up before Iain woke up. She closed the door and got out her toothbrush and brushed her teeth, then splashed her face with cold water. Staring into the mirror, she saw how rumpled her clothes were. There was a shower, and she’d paid for the room, so she turned on the water, and undressed.
As she showered off, she recalled the way Iain had saved the Cold Blossom. Her whole team had done it—without Odeon picking the lock and Shiro helping at the helm, they’d currently be scattered across the moon system. She didn’t want to touch the memories of the dead bodies, or how similar it had been to the disaster that began her paralyzing fear of space flight. A chill passed through her as she realized how close she’d come to not having Iain along. What if Charly had come instead? Would they have figured it out?
The knock at the bathroom made her nearly jump out of her skin. Her thoughts had been in such a morose place, she wasn’t prepared to hear a knock.
“Yes?”
“Holly?” Iain’s voice came through the door.
Oh thank Ixion. It was Iain, and not another SC member.
“Who else?”
“Just making sure. I’ll be out here when you’re done.”
She wrapped up the shower, got out, and dried off. She eyed the clothes she’d changed out of distastefully, considering her options.
“Hello,” Iain said, as Holly strode purposefully through the room to get a clean change of clothes out of her luggage.
She glanced at him. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
He shrugged and gave her a small smile. “Time to get up anyway.”
“I’ll be dressed in a minute and the bathroom will be yours.”
He nodded, but didn’t pull his gaze from her.
Holly felt her cheeks flush. Though she had a towel wrapped around her, she suddenly felt nude. She cleared her throat. “I was thinking we could go get some food before the restaurants close.”
“Yes, should I wake the others?” He finally looked away, as though he suddenly realized he’d been staring.
“No, unless you don’t want to shower? Be back in a minute.” She returned to the bathroom, her pulse racing, and quickly dressed into a fresh pair of tight black trousers, a gray top that she tucked into the pants, and a clean velvet blazer. Her hair was wet, so she pulled it into a pony-tail and then left the bathroom, making sure her toiletries were organized and put away before exiting so that Iain could do his thing.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him to put on her socks. He’d propped up some pillows and was sitting against the headboard.
“Oh hey, now that I’ve had some rest, Iain, I just want to tell you that you were amazing back on the Cold Blossom. If you hadn’t been along, I’m not sure I’d still be alive.”
“Thank you,” he said from behind her. Her heart rate increased at the sound of his deep voice behind her. “I’m sure you would have managed something. You’re good at what you do.”
She laughed. “What is that? Letting others save the day?”
“No, I mean it. You’re good at delegation. Recognizing who will be best at what. And allowing them to do it—stepping out of the way so they can perform their duties. The things that leaders do.”
“You don’t think I should retire and move to the north and live on a lake or, barring that, stay in the city but hire a bodyguard to make sure nothing bad ever happens to me?” She couldn’t help the disdain that entered her voice.
“I think you’d be bored with a life like that. You’re good at what you’re currently doing. That said, I’d have to be an arrogant fool to think that I could tell another person what they should do with their life.”
She relaxed when she heard him say that. She finished buckling her boots, stood up, and turned to look at him. He returned her stare. His eyes felt like fire on her face.
“I’ll just get ready. Then we can all go eat.” He stood and went into the bathroom.
21
“Bring your weapons,” Holly said over the comm.
Shiro’s soft chuckle registered over Holly’s earpiece. “Am I ever without it? Is Odeon ever without his?”
“Maybe if I hadn’t said it, there’s a chance that neither of you would have brought them.”
“That is doubtful, Holly, after the things that have happened. I’ll never be caught off guard again.”
“Moving on to more important matters, when this is over, are we doing the statue job? While I agree that this shadowy character needs to be taken care of, a chap has to pay the bills.”
“Oh we’re doing it, Shiro,” Charly interjected over the comm. “Holly has reassured me many, many, times and in many ways that we are.”
Holly felt her ears go hot. Iain was listening and she still wasn’t quite sure how above-board that job was. The justifications seemed slim. “We can discuss it after,” she said. “Yes, we need to pay the bills. But I’m also not going to rush in on shaky ground and steal just because a deal looks good for my bank account.”
“Charly, isn’t it four a.m. there?” Odeon asked.
Holly double-checked that she had her knives and her aether gun.
“What about this?” Iain asked, picking up the aether whip handle from where it lay on top of her luggage.
“Uh,” she muted her mic. “Yeah, that. I don’t feel confident enough to bring it along. I just barely started training with it. So. Better to rely on something I know. The old gun.” She patted her back where the Equalizer rested in its holster beneath her blazer.
“A whip has different applications. Plus it’s less lethal. You’re sure you don’t want to take it?”
“Yes. But if you’re weaponless, you can bring it along.”
“I don’t now how to use it,” Iain admitted.
“I know the feeling. But how hard can it be?”
He stuck the handle in a pocket on his coat. “I’ll bring it for you.”
“Thanks but let’s not deny that you can use it if you need to,” Holly said.
They left their room and headed for the lobby. As they walked through the corridor and
took the lift, the conversation continued, with most of the interchanges occurring between the others over their comm link. Holly glanced at Iain, indicating that he ought to mute his mic.
“Sorry. Crew banter.”
“No apology needed. You’ve got a good team. They sound like they all like each other.”
“For the most part, they do.”
They watched the floor indicator slide through various neon hues of light as the carriage dropped to the ground. A few more people entered, and Holly lowered her voice accordingly. The discussion between the crew continued in one ear, but she focused on her conversation with Iain.
“Regarding that job they’re gunning for, most of them come from more morally ambiguous backgrounds.”
Iain raised an eyebrow.
“I was a schoolteacher. They’re all thieves.”
“Ah,” he said.
“I know that bothers you. You’re former military.”
“Don’t be so sure. I’ve always thought teachers were a necessary evil.” He smiled when she checked his expression. “No, honestly. I’m a criminal, according to the Centau. But not so criminal that they think I should be locked up.”
“They don’t seem to think anyone should be locked up. They’d rather just establish a civilization on the backs of the underprivileged.” She dipped her head, “Well, they reluctantly allow humans and Consties to indulge in their former barbaric practices of putting some people in prison. Makes me wonder just how little they actually don’t like the idea of punishment.”
They reached the lobby and searched for Odeon and Shiro, who were waiting by the exit. The room teemed with people, most of them Consties and humans. There was a bar nearby, which was crowded and throbbed with music.
“If you look at it that way—that they build the upper echelons of their structure on top of the lower classes—well, it’s difficult to decipher what’s wrong or right.”
Holly exchanged a look with him, and indicated that she agreed by tilting her head. Then they crossed the lobby, weaving between bodies sweaty with revelry.
“Bread and circus,” Grant muttered in Holly’s ear.
“What does that mean?” Holly asked, leaning toward his ear.
“Sorry, obscure reference.” He laughed, then explained. “I studied powerful old Earth empires. The Romans provided bread and circus—food and entertainment—to the lower classes so that they didn’t care about real matters.”
“Sounds like they spoke my language.”
When they joined with Odeon and Shiro, the other two told Holly that they’d found a place to eat. Why hadn’t she heard them telling her about it over the comms?
Shiro flashed Iain a suspicious glance, then led the way out into the street and to a nearby diner. Dinner was a quick affair, comprised of a fusion of Constie and human food. During the meal, it was agreed that waiting much longer to check out the coordinates would be foolish. They were all rested and freshly fed, and so they arranged a plan and found a taxi service that would carry them past the location. If needed, they could stop a short distance from it and then move in on foot, after they’d scoped it out from the safety of an auto.
The coordinates carried them past what appeared to be a defunct spaceship landing zone. It was cold and wintry on Paradise, currently a bit colder than Kota. Wintry winds blew debris around the platform. There were lights lining the perimeter of the zone, shining down on the grounds. Derelict ships lay exposed to the elements, portions of their bodies stripped away, revealing exposed metal framework. Their driver stopped just at the perimeter of the zone and Holly signaled him through the glass to wait.
“Is this it?” Shiro asked, his voice heavy with meaning. “Let’s not rush in there.”
“It’s probably OK,” Holly said, attempting to put a sunny face on it.
“If you’re going to scout it out, I think I should wait here,” Shiro said. “It’s cold. It’s dark. Who knows what’s in there?”
Darius came on over the comms, using the video derived from the tech on their earpieces. “You’re not quite there. Up ahead, can you see the hangar? That’s the precise coordinates.”
Holly sighed. “Of course, a hangar. Why wouldn’t it be an abandoned hangar.”
“I think we should begin chasing after people who stage everything in resorts. Remember when we had to stay in a resort for a job?” Shiro sat back, smiling.
“For what it’s worth, I agree with the others that this doesn’t bode well, Holly,” Iain offered. “Appears to be a trap. At least, this is the sort of location best suited for a trap.”
“I see that. However, there’s only one option here. Check it. Which may mean springing the trap. So let’s work out how we’ll do that—there’s a reason we insisted on bringing you, Iain. We can work together to avoid being caught. We’re heading into it expecting a trap and I think that makes a difference. Are you OK with that?”
“I signed up for it,” he answered, plainly.
“Sort of. But you didn’t know it would be quite like this.”
“Would you settle for ‘danger is my middle name’?” He laughed.
“Mine too, chap. I think that happens to also be Odeon’s. Odeon Danger Starlight.”
Their nervousness came out in their laughter. With that, they created a plan that would prevent all of them from being in danger all at once, while also venturing in and checking it out. Since they had no solid idea of what to expect within the hangar—and Darius had repeatedly tried to learn more as they were en route to the location with no luck—they would play it safe.
Once they had outlined how to proceed, Holly tapped on the glass dividing the front of the vehicle from the rear where they were riding in four seats that faced each other. The human driver rolled the partition down. “Yep?”
“Can you drop us here and come back in an hour?”
“It can be arranged. For more money.”
Holly exchanged looks with her crew. “How much?”
“A hundred novas on top of the fare.”
Holly bit her lip, then haggled him down to fifty novas. “If you don’t make us wait, you show up a bit early, I may do more than that.”
The driver nodded and the crew climbed out of the auto. Once they’d closed the doors, he sped away.
“Seems the lad was in a hurry,” Shiro observed.
“Don’t take it as a sign. I’m sure this former spaceship airstrip isn’t haunted or anything.” Holly touched her nose, catching a rank odor on the air. “Though it smells worse than I was expecting.”
“What is that?” Iain asked.
“A dead rodent, probably,” Shiro said.
Grant chuckled. “I hope.”
“Same here, lad,” Shiro agreed.
Odeon sniffed, then stopped. “I hear something.”
“Let’s get into cover and put our plan into action,” Holly said, ducking behind a derelict ship. The hull was rusted and decaying. Odeon crouched beside her. “What do you hear?”
“Voices. They’re coming from the hangar.”
Iain and Shiro took a different course toward the hangar, while Odeon and Holly made their way from ships to broken down containers, to stacks of crates. They continued on their way, communicating using their comm systems. Occasionally Darius checked in, offering his services and whatever he could do. He gave them a quick run down on the history of the defunct landing site. A massive fire had burned half of the hangars, and rather than rebuild, the powers-that-be moved to a new location, leaving it behind to simply deteriorate.
“Really Darius, lad, this is hardly the time for a history lesson,” Shiro teased, softly. “You’re safely ensconced back in the Bird’s Nest, while we’re trying to be quiet and not get murdered.”
“Checking in Holly,” Iain said, ignoring the repartee. “We’re almost to the side doors.”
“Good. Odeon has only been able to make out two distinct voices. So we’re beginning to wonder about this scenario. Grant, you have the aether whip, righ
t?”
“Yes,” he said. “I apologize. I should have given it to you.”
“Not necessary. Use it if you need to.”
“I swore off weapons when I left the military.”
“Er, Ms. Drake, you didn’t tell me you’d assigned me the pacifist of the team. I take issue with this,” Shiro interjected.
“I have your back, Mr. Oahu. Fists, if nothing else.”
“Well,” Shiro said. “That’s something. Better than standing idly by while I get skewered or thrown into a vat of acid. We can all agree that this location screams acid vats and table saws and lasers for dismembering prisoners, can’t we?”
“Good Ixion, Shiro,” Holly said.
“I’m with Holly, Shiro. Besides, nothing I hear leads me to believe that these people will engage in torture. As it becomes clearer, it sounds a bit like an argument or a discussion.”
“We’re nearly to our doors,” Holly said, moving from shadow to shadow, stepping as stealthily as possible. Frigid winds blew against her cheeks, bringing with it odors of decay and occasionally the smell of rot.
“We’re at the doors,” Iain said over the comms. “Shiro is looking inside through a window.”
“Come over here and give me a boost, chap,” Shiro said.
“I’m boosting Shiro,” Grant said, a note of mirth in his voice.
“Good work, guys. Odeon and I are nearly in position. Let us know what you see.”
There was a pause as Holly and Odeon made it to the side door. Odeon immediately tried the door access panel. It wasn’t working. He ripped out some wires and touched them together, and the door opened quietly.
Inside, the hangar was full of more crates and charred remains of ships. “All these ships, just wasted…” Holly said, feeling strangely hollow, considering how they were so empty and forgotten.
“We have eyes inside the hangar,” Holly said to the others over the comms.
“Only two voices, Holly. I can hear them now. A man and a woman,” Odeon said, peering around the door frame.
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 80
