Maelstrom of Treason

by Michael Anderle

  “You trust me, or you think I can’t seduce her?” he asked, looking mildly insulted.

  “I’ll leave that for you to decide.”

  Erik was blunt, but he wasn’t stupid. He would be around this woman for a long time, and she both carried weapons and was a weapon. Plus, he knew her mother.

  You don’t trifle with Lins.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  “I’ll wait out here,” Jia announced as Erik opened the door to the MX 60 and eyed the open front gate of Radira’s mansion. The leader of Prism Associates was, unsurprisingly, eager to meet Erik when he’d contacted her, suggesting he come over within an hour.

  “She’s likely to cut me off from the inside,” Erik explained. “But I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

  “Emma can still probably do a good job of detecting if a fight is happening,” Jia suggested. “But I’ll come knocking if you’re in there for more than an hour.”

  Erik smirked. “Only an hour? I can do a lot of things for more than an hour.”

  Jia glared at him. “And make sure you do those with the right people. Not that I’m worried.” She folded her arms and looked away with a harrumph.

  “You aren’t?” Erik shot her an impish grin. Perhaps he did have a suicide wish.

  “Tellvane wouldn’t know what to do with you even if she could have you.” Jia motioned for him to go. “Remember, we’re not here for fun. We need to find Sukorn while he’s still breathing or track down his killers before they hop a transport to the HTP.”

  “Good luck, Erik,” Emma offered. “Don’t do anything that will encourage Jia to use a grenade on you.”

  “She strikes me as more of a shears kind of a woman.” Erik nodded and closed the door, then headed toward the gate. Mr. Magenta walked down the path to greet him. The bruising and medpatch from the previous day were gone.

  “Welcome back, sir.” Mr. Magenta nodded toward the mansion. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you to Miss Tellvane.”

  “What’s your name?” Erik offered a feral grin. “I never got it when I was kicking your ass the other day.”

  “Felix,” the other man muttered through gritted teeth. “We should hurry. Miss Tellvane doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  “Don’t you want to know my name?” Erik asked.

  “Miss Tellvane told us to mind our own damned business about who you are,” Felix explained, walking up the path. “She said to steer clear of you, and when Miss Tellvane tells us to do something, we do it.”

  Erik followed Felix. “Is she that scary?”

  “She can be, but Miss Tellvane took our organization from nothing to something. She’s smart, and because she sees something in you, that means we need to show proper respect.” The front doors opened, and Felix passed through without slowing. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate disrespect of Miss Tellvane.”

  “If you want to go another round, that’s fine by me, but I’m here to pay my respects to your boss, so calm the hell down.”

  “Good.” Felix muttered something under his breath.

  The gangster didn’t take Erik to the library. Instead, he led Erik on a circuitous route through the mansion, including through a connecting covered walkway leading to another building. They arrived at a steamy spa, a bubbling hot tub taking up most of the room.

  Radira sat in the hot tub, naked but mostly submerged, a glass of wine dangling from her long, slender fingers. A bottle sat right outside the tub. Felix nodded once and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him after glaring at Erik one last time.

  “That was quick, Mr. Blackwell,” Radira purred. “I didn’t expect you to call me back so soon.”

  “You can call me Erik.” Erik folded his arms and did his best casual lean against the wall.

  “Thank you. Feel free to call me Radira.” She lifted her glass. “I can get you a glass if you want some.”

  “Nah. I’m good. Not a huge wine guy anyway.”

  Radira took a sip of her drink. “So I assumed. Unfortunate. There’s so much complexity in wine. Before, it was just dealing with Earth’s wines, but now we have all the different colonies with fundamentally different soils and different conditions.” She swirled the liquid in her glass. “A glass of wine is a snapshot of human ingenuity, a reflection of how far we’ve come since fearing the woods at night.” She licked her lips. “As much as I would like to believe you’ve come here because you find something interesting in me, I sensed that Miss Lin is far more than just your partner. Her possessive glare could kill a man…or a woman.”

  “We’re still figuring a lot of things out, but yeah, we’re that kind of together.” Erik shrugged. “That a problem? I didn’t come here to screw you in any sense of the word.”

  “How disappointing, but again, not unexpected.” Radira offered a lopsided smirk. “You know what I like about you, Erik?”

  “My dashing good looks and quick wit?” he asked, smirking.

  “Partially, but there’s something more important.” Radira set her glass next to the bottle. “It’s hard to be straightforward while simultaneously concealing the most important parts of yourself. It’s a skill I’ve cultivated over the years, and I can sense it in others.”

  “And you think I’m doing that?” Erik asked.

  “I know you’re doing that.” Radira’s seductive smile flickered into a sneer. “I know you have some sort of secret, but at the same time, the way you talk, I want to believe you’re not holding anything back. That you can make me feel that way is impressive.”

  “Is this the thing where you’re convinced I left the force because they caught me dealing Archangel or some crap like that?” Erik kept his tone light and breezy. He’d need to be careful around this woman. Just because she was attracted to him, it didn’t mean she couldn’t leak information to someone more dangerous. Kalei could gamble with her own life next time.

  “You’re an interesting man, Erik Blackwell.” Radira sank deeper into the water, her mouth barely above the waterline. “I’ve looked into you. I think something broke in you on that frontier moon. I don’t know why you chose to come back to be a cop. One theory I have is it was a way for you to kill terrorists to get revenge in your own way against the terrorists who killed your men.”

  Erik nodded slowly, pleased that Radira bought into the official story. If she’d mentioned something else, it would have complicated the conversation. Getting involved with a syndicate was dangerous enough without it having any clue about the conspiracy.

  “I really don’t have time for this shit,” Erik replied. “No offense.”

  Radira raised a delicate eyebrow. “My, my. That was unnecessarily harsh.”

  Erik dropped his arms and walked over to the edge of the tub. He locked eyes with her. “I came here because I think you can help me in a way that helps you. Win-win.”

  Radira moved back up, the bubbling water not doing much to conceal her ample chest. “That’s intriguing. Do go on. How can you help me in a win-win situation?”

  “Thomas Draven of the Dome Society.” Erik offered her another easy smile. “I want to know where he is, but I don’t want the cops involved. I’m hoping you can give me a lead.”

  “I thought you weren’t here to interfere with syndicate business?” Radira recovered her wine glass to take a sip. “And now you’re moving on the Dome Society?”

  “We didn’t come here for that.” Erik frowned. “But this is just like with your boy Felix. Draven messed with something he shouldn’t have, so I need to find him. There are two ways this can go down. You can help me find him, and I can go have a nice, pleasant conversation and maybe solve the problem in a nice, calm way, or I can do things the way I’m used to, loud and messy. I know there’s a bunch of shit going on right now between the syndicates, and if I do what I normally do, it might make things worse.”

  “You’re well-informed for a new arrival.”

  “Sure,” Erik replied. “But I also want to make it clear, I don
’t care. It’s not my problem, but Draven is my problem.”

  “You’re not a cop anymore, Erik,” Radira replied. “And this isn’t Earth. You can’t just shoot people, say they’re criminals, and get away with it. We’re more civilized here in our own way. Non-Reds don’t always appreciate the unique balance here.”

  Erik knelt by the edge of the pool, a huge grin on his face. “I might have been born on Earth, but I’ve traveled the entire UTC. I’ve dealt with more whacked-out terrorists and syndicates than you can imagine. One thing I have learned is, even the most corrupt local cops don’t care if a few enforcers here and there end up dead, especially when they’re afraid of the guy doing the killing.”

  Radira’s fingers tightened around her glass. “Are you threatening my people?”

  “Not at all. I don’t know all the ins and outs of crap here. Is this Dome Society an ally of yours?”

  “No,” Radira replied, her expression softening. “Nor are they enemies. You’re correct that there is currently a mild disagreement going on among several different organizations, but I’m not actively feuding with the Society. Their primary sources of income and influence are different from my organization’s. If I make a move against them, I risk multiplying my enemies at a critical time.”

  “You wouldn’t be making a move against them.” Erik pointed this thumb at this chest. “I would be, and you might not be messing with them right now, but you syndicate types always end up fighting in the end. Best-case scenario, I end up taking them down for you, and you can go take over all those rackets they control.”

  Radira laughed. “Take them down? You and Miss Lin by yourselves?”

  “We’ve got other people helping us, but I think our record speaks for itself. What did you say the other day? Oh, right. Death and destruction. You help me here, and I’ll remember you did me a favor.”

  “But you’re not going to let me call on repayment whenever I want.” Radira shook her head. “I can see it in your eyes. What good is a favor that won’t be reciprocated?”

  “It’s all about how you ask.” Erik stood. “I’m not going to beg, and I’m not going to offer anything more than I have. All I want is Draven, and after that, I’ll handle everything. No matter what else happens between us, this ends with the Dome Society either gone or at least keeping a low profile.”

  “Cultivating useful allies is the path to long-term success.” Radira threw back her glass and gulped down the rest of the wine. “I’ll have my people look into it, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

  “I didn’t ask for a guarantee.” Erik stood. “I’ll show myself out.” He headed toward the door.

  “Wait,” Radira called.

  “What?”

  “You sure you don’t want to take a few minutes to relax?” she asked, her voice husky.

  “Nah. That few minutes would cost me too much, and I can’t be sure there aren’t shears on my ship.”

  Radira blinked. “’Shears?’”

  “Don’t worry about it. Thanks for your help.” Erik tapped the access panel. Felix was waiting on the other side. “Let’s go.”

  Erik side-eyed Jia.

  She’d been smirking since he returned from talking with Radira. He’d relayed the conversation, and they were now on their way back to the hotel. The lingering expression forced words out of his mouth.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I was just thinking that didn’t take long.” Jia snickered.

  Erik scoffed. “When you know what you’re doing, you don’t need to take a long time.”

  “Some women might disagree.” Jia’s smirk softened into a normal smile, and she looked out the window.

  Erik let it drop. If she could make jokes like that, she was fine.

  Chapter Fifty

  November 15, 2229, Unity City, Mars, Hotel Caldanza

  Jia rubbed her bleary eyes and settled on the edge of Erik’s bed. She’d been thinking before about not being alone on the ship, but they’d ended up in separate hotel rooms, and she’d not even thought about it until their second day there.

  Spending so much time training and hunting down syndicates was having a negative effect on their burgeoning relationship. The memory of their last kiss warmed her body. She needed to push more, but that Martian morning wasn’t the time for it, especially given her cloudy head.

  “This planet is messing with me,” she declared. “It hates me.”

  Erik looked up from the data window he was examining. “How does a planet mess with someone?”

  “If Mars is going to have a different day, it should have the decency to have a day much different than Earth,” Jia complained. “Not close to forty minutes. I’ve felt off since yesterday, and it’s only getting worse.”

  “Yeah, that can be annoying.” Erik dismissed the window. “A lot of dome colonies just fake an Earth-like day/night cycle, but all this terraforming and the few half-decent ones we can find that don’t need domes are going to mess with people. You can always take something to reset your rhythms if you need to. That’s what we did a lot in the Army.”

  “I’ll live.” Jia rubbed her eyes again. “It’s amazing how many little things you don’t think about when it comes to traveling to different planets.”

  They both looked over when there was a light knock on the door.

  “It’s an unidentified teenager,” Emma explained. “He doesn’t look nervous, but I can’t tell if he’s armed with the camera I’ve borrowed.”

  “Open the door.” Erik stood. He had his holster on, but not his jacket. It’d work for intimidation. He doubted the kid was so hardened, he could quick-draw on someone like Erik.

  The door slid open, and the teenager nodded politely. “I’ve got a message to deliver. May I come in?”

  Erik nodded to the boy. The teen stepped inside and closed the door. He looked at Erik and Jia, no nervousness on his face.

  “What’s this about?” Erik asked.

  “I was paid to come here and tell you an address,” the boy explained. He rattled off the information.

  “And what’s at that address?” Jia asked.

  “I don’t know, ma’am. I was paid to give you that address and tell you to hurry up.” He turned around and opened the door, leaving without further comment.

  Erik chuckled after the door closed. “That was rather complicated. Why didn’t Radira just send it directly?”

  “The kind of woman who jams communications in her mansion is the kind of woman who appreciates how easily information can get intercepted,” Jia suggested with an approving look. “Emma, what’s at the address?”

  “According to public records, it appears to be a small deli,” Emma explained. “I’ll route some drones there. It’s relatively close to here.”

  Erik grabbed his duster from the closet. “I’m assuming Draven’s there. Let’s go say hello.”

  “Are you sure we should trust info provided by a horny criminal?” Jia asked.

  Erik shrugged. “In this case, yes.”

  Jia tapped the data window, changing drone feeds to a short man with a vulpine face eating a sandwich.

  Emma’s facial recognition had matched the man at the deli with Thomas Draven at over ninety-nine percent accuracy, which was good enough for Erik and Jia. They sat in the MX 60 about a half-kilometer away, in a parking lot.

  “We can’t go after him in there.” Jia pointed at the data feed.

  “Yeah.” Erik frowned. “This isn’t a good sign.”

  Jia thought a moment about her reasons but wasn’t sure Erik’s were the same. “Why do you say that?”

  “I figured he’d be hiding somewhere after gabbing Sukorn, but he’s sitting here stuffing his face with a damned ham sandwich.” Erik grunted in frustration. “Radira helped us find him quicker than we could by having Emma scouring the city, but this ups the chance that Sukorn’s already dead.”

  “We should follow him,” Jia suggested.

  “Yeah. He might end up somewhere we can
ask him questions and not disturb the neighbors.” Erik leaned back in his seat. “I feel more of what you were bitching about. Not being a cop has its drawbacks. It would have been nice to stroll on in there and drag him to a police station, but nothing we can do about that now.” He checked the camera feeds. “Looks like no one is nearby. Emma, change the color to something boring.

  “Like the blue of Jia’s old flitter?” Emma asked.

  “Hey!” Jia complained.

  “Tell me she’s wrong.” Erik grinned. “And adjust the transponder. It’d help if this guy didn’t see us coming.”

  Thomas Draven’s sandwich-eating process was surprisingly and agonizingly slow, but twenty minutes later, he finally emerged from the deli and strolled to a tacky yellow sports flitter. Erik was in the air before Draven’s vehicle left the ground. Emma’s drones circled the yellow flitter, occasionally changing course so as not to be too obvious.

  Draven’s flitter finished rising and sped away from the deli. Erik kept a fair distance between them as he trailed him. It would have been easier in Neo SoCal to blend in with heavy traffic, but there were a sparse number of vehicles separating the MX 60 and Draven.

  “The drones are having a hard time keeping up,” Emma reported. “But I already spread several throughout the city, anticipating this issue.”

  Erik accelerated, his hands tightening around the yoke. “We should have planted a tracker on his flitter.”

  “That would require us to have something like that.” Jia opened the storage compartment beneath her feet and started pulling out magazines for her gun. “That’s the other thing. It’s not just about not being cops. We also lack the entire NSCPD surveillance system to rely on.”

  The MX 60 closed the gap, passing other vehicles on its way to the yellow flitter. Draven slowed down, forcing Erik to slow.

  “What’s he up to?” Erik asked.

  “He might have made us.” Jia grimaced.