by Laurie Bell
A weight hit her in the back, pushing her onto her face again. Her shoulder erupted in pain. All breath fled her lungs. She gasped, searching for more oxygen, but it was as though her lungs had gone on strike. Shaking her head to clear suddenly foggy vision, she watched the goon step closer and raise his shock paddle for another strike. The rounded edge crackled alarmingly. Toni threw up both hands, blocking the intended blow. Fighting like a drunken spacedock worker, she kicked and punched wildly, but the goon was stronger and aimed more effectively.
In desperation, she caught his belt and pulled. He flailed forward, straight into the head she slammed into his stomach. His fingers loosened on the paddle, and she snatched it from his hand, reversing it back into him. The goon shuddered as the paddle’s full impact coursed through his body. With no mercy, she shoved him out of her way. He fell unconscious over the side of the machine, hitting the ground below with a heavy thwack.
Toni staggered, breathing raggedly. The last goon had disappeared. “Where …?” She couldn’t waste her chance. She sprinted for the exit.
The Crellik landed between her and the final row. Shenghi! She increased her speed, and the second before she collided against the mountain of bones, she grabbed hold of a Winner! sign dangling from the ceiling.
Using the momentum from her run, she swung on the sign, lifted her legs, and planted them firmly into the Crellik’s chest. At the apex of its arch, she released the sign and landed on her feet with barely a stumble. A scream split the air behind her. She didn’t look back. Sliding to her knees, she hooked her fingers around the lip of the end machine, swinging off before she hit the ground running. Skidding along the polished floor, Toni slipped through the arched doorway and into the open elevator car at the end of the hall. She hit the back wall and fell on to her butt.
Panting, she stared into the eyes of the elderly man standing beside the floor buttons. The doors closed gently. “Six please,” she said.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The lowest level of the casino complex catered to those seeking the seedier side of life. It was also home to The Reef, a bar one entered at their own risk. Knowing the type of clientele that now frequented the drinking establishment, Toni was prepared. She removed the star from her chest and wore her pistol slung low on her right hip, the safety catch unclasped. The strength of the vibration her shades gave off as she stared up at the façade of her old haunt told her there was serious anti-surveillance equipment inside. She pulled the shades off. The bar should be dark, the protection wouldn’t be needed. Heck, she could see better in the dim light anyway.
Let’s get this show started. She pushed open the old-fashioned hinged doors. So far, so good—no one had shot at her. Nevertheless, she kept her hand close to her holster.
As her eyes adjusted, she noticed two things; one, Jeri was not at the bar and two, the place smelt far worse than she remembered. There was an overpowering stench of alcohol, stale smoke and week-old socks. Two years ago, The Reef had been frequented by agents, Defenders, and STCT. Now, it had become a hole—and not a safe one—full of pirates and smugglers.
In tandem, every head turned at her entry. Her fingers twitched and touched her belt. Murmurs started as the drunken patrons took in her visage. She sauntered in and eyed a familiar table, still positioned three paces from the edge of the bar. Two men were there now, but two years ago, her informant sat at that very same table, waiting for Toni to make contact. She hid a smile at the memory.
Unfortunately, memories of those days brought back things best left forgotten.
Strolling to the bar, the tacky floor tried to cling to her boots. Whispers followed her. She was used to it, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept. Her skin crawled. She shot the patrons around her a narrowed stare, immediately wishing for Mate’s presence. A second set of eyes was needed in a place like this. The murmur rose as conversation around her returned and the drunks went back to their business of getting drunker in as little time as possible. She recognized a face or two, people who nodded discreetly but did not approach. A rodent Testell caught her eye, flirting with a sly grin, but Toni ignored him. A barkeep appeared at her shoulder and leaned down on one of his three arms, bringing his face close to hers. “Whatya have?”
“Hosdinn on Ice. Medium rare,” she answered.
With a last stare around the room, she turned back to the bar.
The barkeep returned and placed a long, purple glass in front of her. The liquid frothed at the lip, smelling sweetly of cherry and bry-berries, mixed with the tangy scent of alcoholic dinn leaves.
Toni flicked two coin chips to the scratched wooden counter and emptied her glass. The bar was busy, and it was a while before the barkeep came back. As he refilled her glass, he leaned down on one forearm. Her eyes widened as recognition dawned. The barkeep was Jeri. She jerked back. Now rotund and bald, her friend’s top left foreclaw was gone. No wonder she hadn’t recognized him. A beard covered the lower part of his face, and a long pistol scar stretched down the left side of it. He looked like one of the clientele.
“What in Xendia’s name happened to you, Jeri?”
“So you finally recognized me, huh? Caught in a cross-fire.” He paused. “You know, girl, since ya been here last …”
“Things have changed. Yeah, I noticed.” She flicked her hand to the enhanced doorframe. “When did that happen?”
“New management.” Jeri’s southern Rikingsh accent seemed more pronounced than she remembered, each ‘n’ sound curling softly. “A year ago. It’s gone to hell since then.”
“No kidding. Listen, Jer”—she lowered her voice—“I need a job done. Simple retrieval, local setting. Anyone in tonight that can be relied on?”
“None yet. If I see one, I’ll send them your way.”
“We’re going to need some privacy.”
The big man leaned back and polished the stained glass in his hand. “There’s a booth up the back if ya want some quiet.”
She held his gaze. “I could do with another pair of eyes, too.”
“You got it, girl.”
Swallowing what was left in her glass, she headed for the back of the bar.
Toni was a step away from the empty booth when she heard the whine and pop of rifle-fire. She spun, pistol in hand, and watched the whiskerless Testell fall to his knees in front of her, the hole in his back still smoking. As he hit the ground, a small pistol flew from his hand across the floor. It stopped at the toe of her boot.
Xendia’s servants! Goosepimples exploded across her skin. Her gaze darted to her friend. Jeri stood behind the bar, the rifle grasped in his lower hand still pointed at the dead man. Toni thanked him with a nod and slumped down into the booth. Her hands shook. This was why she never left Mate behind. Without the use of her glasses, she relied heavily on her partner to see what she couldn’t. Without him, she was vulnerable. She forced her shoulders back and stretched out her short legs. Don’t let them see.
If she displayed any weakness the bar’s patrons would recognize a victim, and then the Testell wouldn’t be the only one who tried to attack her tonight.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
She knew the exact moment everything went to shenghi. Her leg started to twitch and a spike of remembered pain speared through her upper arm. Massaging the muscle, she searched the bar for the source of her unease. When she saw him, her eyes sprang wide. Her skin turned to ice and she ducked low in her chair. Don’t see me!
Raising her hand up to cover her face, Toni refused to look back at the door. In her mind, she pictured him as she’d just seen him, slouched in the well-lit doorway looking all mysterious and dangerous.
Curiosity was a curse. After a long moment, she glanced up just in time to see Daniel Colten fall into the lap of a Nymph sitting at a table in the center. The woman’s pale, lime-kissed skin looked burnished bronze under the bar’s lighting. The two fingerhorns on her forehead were painted with red tips. Colten leaned over to sip from her glass and whispered into her ear
, brushing long red tresses over her shoulder. The woman laughed, low and throaty, before passing him what looked like a key.
Figures. Toni sighed. Colten’s head shot up. He peered around as if sensing Toni’s presence. When he looked directly at her, his double-take was almost comical.
Khegh it! Her instincts screamed at her to jump to her feet and flee. But she wouldn’t let him drive her out of here. She could handle this. Besides, he’d probably do all he could to avoid her. Her stomach flipped as he stood. He excused himself from the flirty Nymph and walked straight at Toni, though walked was the wrong word. He never walked. Stalked was a better term. His casual air belied the alertness and strength in his tall frame. He hadn’t changed much. His body was covered head to toe in black, and his hair, now long enough to fall into his eyes, was tied into a tail behind his head. Toni glared up into dark eyes and spied a hint of uncertainty. Good, he didn’t know how she was going to act. Her hand twitched toward her gun.
“Caught cheating at Duilk again?”
“I never cheat.” Brushing a hand over the bruise on her cheek, Toni refused to break eye contact first. He reached out to pull the closest empty chair away from the table. Childishly, she hooked her foot under the wooden frame, halting the move.
He snorted.
Hating that he made her feel so immature, she debated telling him to khegh off or just shooting him. Or … or, she could use him. It would be only fair, right? She released the chair and kicked it out from under the table.
He accepted the unspoken invitation and straddled it, meeting her stare with his own. “I might be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure you swore the next time we met, you’d shoot me.”
Squirming under his gaze, she’d love to tell him what she really wanted. Instead ground her teeth to remain silent.
Jeri appeared, placing two full clear glasses on the table. Toni’s head shot up. “Where on Marn did you get that?”
“Consider it a gift.”
“Jeri …” Toni didn’t finish the thought. Colten snatched up his glass and drank half of it down. Heathen. He should savor it. She raised her glass and breathed in the crisp scent of rain and mountain snow. Water. She took a sip and let the liquid fill her mouth. When she looked up, she caught Colten staring at her lips. She swallowed and barely held back her moan. Beautiful.
“I should really get into water distribution.” Colten muttered, his gaze locked on Toni’s mouth.
“Ha! Good luck with that. Water is too protected.”
“Robbery,” he murmured.
He wasn’t wrong. Water was insanely expensive. Finding a safe supply was just too kheghing rare. She cradled her glass and took another sip. Jeri nodded at Toni and rested a hand on Colten’s shoulder. She waved him away.
“So,” Colten said, leaning back in his chair. “Why are you here, Toni? This is not exactly an agent-friendly locale anymore.”
“I need your help.”
He cocked his head to one side, nostrils flaring slightly.
So she still had the ability to surprise him. Good. I don’t want to do this. She reached into her vest pocket and pulled out a yellow card, placing it in the center of the table. Colten stared at it.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she said, suppressing a grin. Okay, that looks pretty bad. “I need you to open a locker for me—I’ll pay.”
“A locker?” He looked up, his intense gaze fixed onto her face. “You want me to open a locker?”
She eyed him carefully. “And bring me what’s inside. You owe me.” She watched his face for any reaction. Her shoulder ached, and it was everything she could do not to clutch at it.
He didn’t blink. “I owe you?”
“You think you don’t?”
“I didn’t kill you.”
She hissed, a flame igniting in her chest. Words stuck in her throat, but she managed to get them out. “You do this for me and I won’t arrest you.”
He leaned back, a smirk playing at his lips. “You can’t. SPT waived the charge.”
“That wouldn’t stop me and you know it. Listen, it’s not difficult. Just go to the lower park storage bay, open the locker, and bring me back whatever’s inside. The number is on the tag.” She tapped on the key.
“Why don’t you do it?”
“Long story.”
“Your stories always are.”
She sucked in air slowly, struggling to hold onto her temper. “Something important is in that locker, and some big, very ugly gentlemen know to look out for me down there. I won’t even get close to the main bay. They don’t know you. I’m pretty sure they don’t know which locker I’m after. All I need you to do is empty it and come straight back to the Blackflame. I’m sure even you can handle that.”
“How do you know the key is for a locker here?”
She held up an identical card. “Booked one when I arrived.”
“All right,” he said.
“Look, it’s not that hard … Oh, you said yes? I mean, good. The Blackflame is in Bay Seven.” Gods! Stop it.
“Fine.” Colten stood. “What’s so important about this locker? What’s in it?”
“I don’t know, but it’s something to do with why the Cross got a temporary pardon.”
He pocketed the key and sauntered toward the exit. As he passed the Nymph, he winked. The woman tilted her head and blew him a kiss. When she glanced at Toni, her face lost all expression.
Honey, you can have him. Of all the people to run into here, why him? Toni should have picked someone else. She couldn’t trust him. What had she been thinking?
The truth of the matter was she hadn’t been thinking. His appearance had driven all rational thought from her mind. Giving him the key had been instinctual. See! I need a break. Look at the mistakes I make when I’m tired. A storm was becoming a tornado inside her belly.
She could feel the Nymph’s eyes on her back as she left the bar. Toni dismissed it when the doors swung shut behind her, her mind now focused on how to deal with Colten without shooting him.
CHAPTER NINTEEN
“Ah!” Toni fell into her chair and tapped her fingers against the armrest, glaring around the inside of the Blackflame. Her eyes traced the soldered crack in the wall, memories surfacing to suffocate her.
“Zach, what time is it?” she demanded.
“Four minutes since the last time you asked.”
“Khegh it. He should be back by now. It was just a little locker, for Xendia’s sake!” She threw herself out of her chair and stomped to the nav-link.
“Boss, if you do not sit down, I will shoot you in the knee,” Mate growled. “The smuggler has no doubt got into and out of plenty of trouble without your help. I am sure he is fine.”
“Of course he’s fine. Scum like that always survive.”
“Zach!” Toni snapped. Inwardly, she smiled. Both at the sentiment and the tone.
The CII had changed his voice again. He now sounded older, his words clipped and proper, like an old, two-dimensional holo-actor. It made his attitude against Colten sound even more judgmental. And he wasn’t wrong to think that way.
Zach didn’t like Colten, neither did Mate, and they had their reasons—as did Toni—but Zach made it clear he was particularly aggrieved Toni asked Colten for help instead of shooting him. The CII was taking out his bad mood on her. “You should not have requested his assistance.”
“I had no choice.” Liar.
Mate, as usual, stayed well out of the argument. He lowered his head to his paws and closed his eyes. Though he was not looking at her, she felt his disappointment. It radiated from him, hot enough to scald her skin.
“Of course you had a choice—how many degenerates were in that establishment? There were many others you might have chosen, why him?”
“How else was I going to get to that locker?”
“Bribed someone? Asked? There are so many ways. You chose him because you wanted to.”
“Zach!” she snapped, scandalized. Heat flooded her entire body
. She couldn’t look at the CII, instead stared at her feet. You know he’s right. Running into Colten was surprising, yes, but she needn’t have prolonged the encounter.
It was the best option—the only option. But even she refused to listen to her excuses. Fed up with Zach’s attitude and her own internal arguments, she paced again. This was what he did to her. Made her second-guess every decision. It was infuriating, but she refused to delve deeper into why that hadn’t stopped her asking for his help.
After she received the contents of the locker, she’d get rid of him. She couldn’t re-open the same damned wound or she’d never heal. Flutterwings danced in her stomach. Pressing her hand to her skin she told herself she was just hungry.
“Call him.”
“No answer.” Zach immediately replied.
“What? What do you mean no answer? Try again.”
Panting noises burst through the speakers and a familiar groan filled the air. “Colten?” Toni jumped to her feet.
“What?”
“Are you running? What’s going—” Gunfire sounded in the background. “Colten?”
“It appears they know about the locker. Hang on.”
Toni paced the length of the room—all eight steps. Mate and Zach remained silent. They all listened as the smuggler’s breathing grew quicker. There was a thud, like a heavy door slamming shut, then another groan.
“Colten?”
“Yeah, I’m here. You weren’t kidding. These guys are kheghing determined.”
“Where are you?”
“Hiding in a stairwell.”
“What?”
“Walked into an ambush.”
Feeling cold, Toni crossed her arms. “Why are you grunting?”
“I can’t walk through the casino with blood dripping down my arm. Lucky me, the flooring in this area is a lovely deep burgundy. I’ve got a few minutes’ peace. But I gotta keep moving. I can hear them at the other end of the corridor.”
