I shook my head, unable to suppress my smile. “Vokyr works for you?” I asked. “One of the big bosses in Acrov's criminal underground works for the Prime Minister?”
He shrugged. “We enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship,” he said. “I sometimes have a need for information and he always has a need for good coin. Plus, he's not averse to selling out some of his rivals. He calls that an added bonus.”
“And in exchange, aside from the money,” I said. “You look the other way when it comes to him.”
“More or less, yes,” Kysos replied. “As I've learned, politics can indeed make for strange bedfellows. That is a saying on Earth, is it not?”
“Maybe?” I asked. “I'm not really plugged into political culture there,” I said. “But, if Vokyr told you I'd contacted him, I assume you know what I was contacting him about.”
“I do. And I've done some digging, as requested,” Kysos said. “Dyra is second in command of one of the leading criminal syndicates on Etros.”
“That much I already know.”
“From everybody I've spoken to, she's as ruthless as she is intelligent,” he said. “And incredibly ambitious. Some think she's a revolutionary who's going to change the very culture and society on Etros.”
“Yeah, I kind of got that impression when we met.”
“But, she's also apparently, very reliable,” he says. “Straight forward and a woman of her word. She keeps her promises and doesn't have a reputation for stabbing people in the back.”
“No, she seems the type to prefer stabbing them in the front.”
“Indeed,” he said. “She's not somebody to be trifled with. But, from everything I've gathered, she's also not somebody who is going to screw you over. She's a straight shooter who follows through on her word.”
“Wow,” Theron said. “An honest criminal. Who would've thunk that?”
“Indeed,” Kysos said. “But Dyra apparently doesn't consider herself a criminal. She considers herself a businesswoman. Hard-nosed and tough as nails, but a businesswoman nonetheless.”
“A businesswoman who deals in drugs, stolen goods, and weapons,” I said.
Kysos shrugged and grinned. “Not a lot different than some of the business people and politicians I'm forced to deal with, strangely enough,” he said. “Only, their deals are considered legal.”
“Are you going soft on crime, Mr. Prime Minister?” I asked, unable to keep from chuckling.
“Just making an observation,” he replied.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, given what you've learned, do you think I can trust her?”
Kysos paused for a moment, a look of concern on his face. “If you made a deal with her, I'd expect that she would honor it, yes,” he said. “From that perspective, yes, I think you can trust her.”
I looked at Kysos' face on the screen and it seemed strained. In fact, he looked downright scared. Which was something I never would have associated with Kysos before. I know that fear is a normal reaction, but I'd never seen it in Kysos and was beginning to believe that nothing scared him.
“What is it?” I ask. “You look – pensive.”
“Having learned everything I have about Dyra, I have a feeling I know what your side of the deal is,” he said. “And it makes me nervous for you.”
I forced a laugh that sounded fake even to my own ears. “That makes two of us.”
“I wish you didn't have to do business with Etrosian gangsters at all,” he said. “If this all goes sideways – ”
“Trust me, I wish I didn't have to deal with them either,” I said. “But, this may well be the only chance I have to get to Boygan.”
He nodded. “I know,” he replied. “Which is why I'm not pressuring you to decline.”
“This could be the end of this all,” I said. “No more raids. No more hunting.”
“And no more dangerous suicide missions,” Theron said wryly.
“That too,” I said and smiled.
“I know this. And I know that you're more than capable. If anybody can pull this off, I know it's you,” Kysos said. “But, I'm still nervous for you.”
“And I appreciate that.”
“Do what you have to do, Gemma,” he said. “And then come back to Acrov. I look forward to finishing our – discussion.”
“As do I, Kysos.”
“By the way,” Kysos said. “When you do come back to Acrov, could you please stop blowing up buildings? I know Old Town needs a little refurbishment, but there are less costly ways to go about it.”
“I didn't do anything,” I said. “It wasn't my fault. Why is everybody acting like it's my fault?”
Kysos started to laugh and then the screen went blank, our communication ended. Grumbling under my breath, I slipped the data pad back into my pocket. Theron stood there grinning at me like a fool.
“What?” I asked.
“Discussion, huh?”
“Yeah, discussion,” I said. “It's what two people do – they talk.”
“Uh huh,” he said. “Does this discussion have anything to do with confessing an undying love for each other and plans to make lots of babies?”
I felt my cheeks flush despite my best effort to avoid reacting. Like I really wanted to feed that beast.
“Shut up,” I said and turned, walking up the ramp to get away from him.
But Theron followed me up the ramp, laughing and teasing me the whole way, despite my repeated threats to cut off certain parts of his anatomy with my shiny, new dagger.
It was good to have him back.
Chapter Thirteen
Another day passed with no word from Dyra. And although what Kysos told me he'd found about her had made me feel a little more at ease, I still couldn't shake the paranoid feelings that lingered in my brain. Paranoid feelings that had only grown stronger in the wake of the assassins almost killing me.
Could I really be blamed for feeling a little paranoid?
Theron and I were sitting in the common room aboard the Umbra, leaning back in our seats, our feet up on the table. Relaxed. And bored. Bored as hell, to be honest. All of this waiting around – especially with people out there gunning for me – was making me more than a little antsy.
“I say we give her a call,” Theron said.
“Already thought about that,” I said. “But, the commlink her guy gave me is one-way. No way to use it to contact her. Keeps anybody from tracking her location.”
“Damn,” Theron said. “She's as paranoid as you are.”
I shrugged. I hated to say it, but Dyra and I actually did seem to have a lot in common. Probably more than I was comfortable admitting. Even to myself. Once upon a time, I could have taken the moral high ground and claimed that the biggest single different between Dyra and me was that she was a criminal and I was not.
Unfortunately, that was a moral high ground I obviously couldn't claim anymore. I was a criminal. I operated in the shadowy underbelly of society across multiple galaxies. I'd stolen. I'd destroyed property. I'd killed. And I'd justified it all by saying that I was simply doing what I needed to do.
Which, I was sure, was the same thing Dyra would say if asked why she did the things she did.
“I prefer to think of it as being cautious,” I said. “There are, after all, assassins running around out there trying to kill me.”
“Yeah, there is that, I guess.”
I let out a loud, long breath, trying to figure out something to do to keep me entertained. I had no idea how long we were going to be waiting for Dyra to get in touch with me.
“Want to go blow up a building?” I asked, chuckling.
“And here, I thought you'd be tired of doing that by now.”
“Gemma,” Xavix said as he stepped into the doorway. “We have visitors.”
“Visitors?”
Xavix nodded and a cold chill swept through me. We never had visitors to the hangar and for good reason. The business we conducted there was not for everybody's eyes. A
nd the fact that whoever was out there was popping by without an invitation or prior notice was disconcerting. To say the least.
“Who is it?”
Xavix shrugged. “I do not know,” he said. “They are waiting outside the hangar's side door though. Two men and one woman.”
I sat up straight, taking my feet off the table at Xavix's words. Two men and one woman. Could it possibly be Dyra? I dismissed the idea as absurd. There would be no reason for risk coming to my hangar out in the open like that. She wouldn't risk exposing herself.
But, if it was her out there, how had she found me? I hadn't told her where the Umbra was docked. Nor had I invited her to stop by for a chat.
I reached down to my hip and unbuckled my holster, giving me quick access to my gun. Seeing my alarm, Theron stood up and ran out of the common room, heading toward his quarters. He came back a moment later armed to the teeth.
“Planning on taking on an army, kid?” I asked, chuckling.
He shrugged. “Can never be too prepared,” he said.
“That's true.”
“Okay, let's go see who's stopping by.”
“Gemma,” Xavix said.
The tone of alarm in his voice made me perk up and take notice. The droid stepped to the side and Dyra walked into the common room, her two men close behind. I just stared at her, completely dumbfounded.
“The door to the hangar is electronically code-locked,” I said. “How in the hell did you get in here?”
Dyra laughed. “As you are coming to learn, Gemma Sage,” she said, her voice low and sultry, “you learn to never wait for permission. You simply take what you want.”
“Well,” I said. “I guess, welcome aboard the Umbra. Have a seat.”
Dyra's guards looked Theron up and down, no doubt, assessing the level of threat he posed. Apparently not thinking him much of a threat at all – even bristling with weapons, as he was – they turned and ignored him, taking up a position right behind Dyra.
For his part, Theron couldn't take his eyes off of Dyra. He stared at her with an inscrutable expression on his face. If I had to call it anything, I would have called it lovestruck. Yeah, she was a beautiful woman, but come on.
I drew his attention and gave him a sharp look. Color rose in his cheeks and he cleared his throat while managing to tear his eyes away from her. I could tell it was a Herculean feat for him though. Men. Even though he had a perfectly lovely woman waiting for him, he still couldn't control his hormones in the presence of a beautiful woman.
I just shook my head and sighed as I took a seat at the table. Dyra sat down across from me, looking at me evenly.
“To be honest, I expected something a little more grand,” she said. “I mean, the Scourge of Deep Space has an ominous and yet, extraordinary ring to it. And yet, your ship doesn't appear to be anything special.”
“Because it's not the ship that makes it lethal,” I said. “It's the crew. My ship is always underestimated. And so my crew is even more so. And yet, here we are, still putting notches in our belt after each successful takedown of one of Boygan's ships.”
“True enough,” Dyra said. “True enough.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, a small smile playing upon her lips.
“You sure took your sweet time in getting in touch with me,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “I've been waiting around here for days.”
She shrugged. “Seems like you found ways to keep yourself entertained,” she said. “I heard about the incident in Old – ”
I held a finger up to silence her. “That was not my fault,” I said. “Not my doing. That was one of Boygan's assassins.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I like you, Gemma Sage,” she said. “But, we have business to discuss. I trust everything you learned while researching me satisfied your questions?”
I looked at her, stunned that she knew I'd been digging into her. But then, perhaps I shouldn't have been. After all, if Kysos found out, what are the odds that Dyra wouldn't have?
“Everything about you seems to check out satisfactorily, yes,” I said. “Provided the information I received was true and accurate.”
“It seems an odd thing to say, but you can trust me, Gemma Sage,” she said. “You and I are not that different.”
“I actually had the same thought a few minutes ago.”
That smile touched her lips again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a data pad, sliding it across the table to me.
“What's this?”
“All of the information you will require to complete your mission,” she said. “And once you do, I will have give you the key that will unlock the special file on the data pad. The file with the information you desire.”
I scrolled through the information on the data pad. It listed out times and places her boss, an Etrosian named Gyrn, would be. It listed his typical security measures and any other piece of minutiae I could think of. It was actually more information than I needed.
“You've certainly put together a thorough dossier,” I said.
“I tried to anticipate all of your needs,” she replied. “Gyrn does not go into public often and his meeting on Thysis seemed like the perfect opportunity for you to, as your human saying goes, kill two birds with one stone, if you so choose.”
I cocked my head. “Two birds?”
“Gyrn will be meeting with some rogue elements of the Thysian military leadership,” she said. “You were inquiring about the source of the weaponry Boygan was outfitting his smuggling ships with. Now, you have it.”
“What a lucky break,” I said.
“Indeed,” she said. “You will have a very small window when they will all be together, however. So, if you are going to try and take out the whole kit and kaboodle, as you humans say, then you will need to have a plan and you will need to be on point.”
“I honestly don't know anybody who says kit and kaboodle, Dyra,” I said.
She looked at me for a moment and shrugged. “It's a phrase I happen to enjoy saying,” she said. “So, I will continue using it.”
I couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped my lips. Dyra was an odd woman, there was no question about it. But, I didn't get the sense that she was pure evil. She wasn't like Boygan in that way. There was a definite method to her madness.
“Tell me something,” I said. “When this all goes down and you're at the top of your organization, what are you going to do with all that power and influence.”
A mysterious little smile touched her lips. “As I'm sure you heard from your sources,” she said, “I plan on reshaping Etrosian society. It won't be easy, nor will it happen overnight. But, once I have power, I am going to start blowing up old patriarchal institutions like you blow up buildings.”
I stared at her open-mouthed for a long moment. “I do not blow up buildings,” I said.
She laughed, obviously knowing it was a way to get under my skin. We looked at one another for a moment and I had the strangest sensation wash over me – respect. As I looked at her, I realized that I had a deep respect for the woman.
“So, you are a revolutionary,” I said.
She shrugged. “More like a woman tired of putting up with men's shit.”
And like that, my respect for her only deepened. And I found another reason to make this happen – aside from my burning quest to destroy Boygan – to help her change the culture on her home world.
“I'll get this done, Dyra.”
“I know you will,” she said. “I have every faith in you. But, if you are going to get to Thysis in time, you are going to need to leave soon.”
“We're on our way.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Do you have visual?” I asked into my comm.
We'd made it to Thysis
“Targets acquired,” Theron's voice came back through my headset. “We have an even dozen heading into the execution chamber.”
I sighed. “Can you not call it that?” I asked. “It just sounds s
o – ”
“Cold and ruthless?” Theron asked, the note of amusement evident in his voice.
“Yeah, exactly,” I said. “That.”
“Forgive me for interrupting,” Xavix's voice came through the comms. “But, isn't that what this job requires us to be? Cold and ruthless?”
He had a point. We were carrying out an execution. Though, I preferred to avoid thinking of it in such bleak terms. I wasn't a cold-blooded killer. I was just doing what I had to do.
“Yeah, fine,” I said. “But, let's not call it that.”
“Okay,” Theron said, sounding like he was practically holding back his laughter. “I suppose we can call it the sunshine and rainbows room. What do you think, Xavix?”
“I actually quite like that. It has a much more pleasant sound,” he replied. “It conjures an image of happ – ”
“Okay, you both can suck it,” I said. “We're not calling it anything.”
“Testy, testy, Gemma,” Xavix said.
“How in the hell did I get stuck with a couple of clowns on my ship?” I asked and sighed.
“You get what you pay for, I suppose,” Theron said.
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I was already tense about this mission and was having plenty of misgivings and doubt. Mostly because I wasn't an executioner. I wasn't a cold-blooded murderer. But, then I thought about all of the men I'd shot out the airlock of their ships and started to second guess my doubts and misgivings. Not to mention, my perception of myself.
It was the very first time since I'd launched this crazy crusade that I stopped to look at myself in the mirror – metaphorically speaking. But, it was the first time I'd really seen what my thirst for blood and desire for vengeance had made me become. And I couldn't say that it was something I was proud of.
Was I a monster?
“No, you're not a monster, Gemma,” Theron said.
I looked at my comm device, startled, not realizing I'd just spoken aloud. I felt my cheeks flush and I looked off into the distance, trying to collect myself.
“I'm not so sure about that,” I said.
“Theron is right,” Xavix chimed in. “You've endured an unthinkable tragedy, Gemma. One most people could not begin to imagine.”
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