by E J Frost
nerve. Doc Gray wasn’t kidding about the
pain. I exhale to keep it off my face, and put
it to my growl. “I failed.”
“On the contrary, Sergeant. You passed.
You asked the right questions. And when you
discovered the truth of your employment, you
avoided any further entanglement with my
organization. You are the only one in the past
several years to do so, in fact. It would have
been a clever move, and protected you from
further notice, under other circumstances.
Under these circumstances, of course, it
made you stand out from the crowd.”
“Tough luck,” I say.
“Indeed. Even when Miz Kerryon began
showing such an interest in you, and I have
been watching you, Miz Kerryon, for a very
long time. Even then my network failed to
identify you.” Another dark glance at Mike-
the-Merc, who I’m guessing has lost a few
pay-grades over the last couple of days.
“Fortunately, I received a call from a . . .
concerned citizen. She’d had a recent
encounter with you. A very distressing
encounter, I gather. It left a strong
impression, and made certain connections in
her mind. She is a devotee of violent
entertainment, you see, and she recalled
something she’d seen on wanted men. Your
exploits on Tje Dhos featured prominently on
this program.”
Ma Quaak. I figured I’d be outed at some
point in this fucking charade, but not by her.
Feels like a blow to the solar plexus. If I
walk away from this, I’m going back and
having a long, sharp talk with Psycho
Granny.
“No,” Kez whispers. I stop in the middle
of drawing the other knife, slide my hand
around the nape of her neck. Hold her the
way a mother cat holds a kitten. This stopped
being her show as soon as Tyng said my real
name, and became mine.
“Once I realized who you were, Sergeant
Hauser, I made enquiries. Discreetly, of
course. I have no interest in exposing you.
Not yet, at any rate. Your record is very
interesting. You’re a killing machine.
Extremely effective when unleashed. How
unfortunate that those who trained you did
not discover the correct mechanism to
control you.”
“Not for lack of tryin’,” I say mildly,
keeping the pain of drawing the other knife
out of my voice.
“Military minds always underestimate the
value of leverage. Violence is what they
understand best. But you understand
leverage, do you not, Sergeant?”
I nod. He’s done a good job of getting
leverage. He’s got Kez nailed down nice and
tight, and from the way his dark eyes drift
down to her and then back up, he’s figured
out what she means to me.
“So, Sergeant Hauser, back to my
original question. Is there something you
would like to offer me?”
“Looks to me like you already got plenty
of hired help.” I flick my eyes to Mike-the-
Merc for emphasis, but I’m really gauging
distance. Angles. Once I’m sure I’ve got
them, I begin rehearsing the movements in my
mind. The angle of my arms. The flick of
each wrist. The amount of force to put behind
each throw.
“Ah, true. But none of them have your
level of investment. As I mentioned, my
organization suffers from high turnover. A
problem which plagues all organizations.
Training can only get you so far. Financial
incentives are worthless. Some competitor
can always offer more. Loyalty is illusory,
easily shattered under the right pressure. No,
Sergeant Hauser, it’s blood. Family. The ties
that bind. And you, conveniently, have allied
yourself with my blood.”
His statement wipes all calculation of
how to kill him out of my mind. There’s a
long moment during which Kez and I both try
to figure out what the fuck he’s talking about.
Kez gets there a second before I do. “But Chi
wants nothing to do with you.”
Tyng snorts delicately. “What does it
matter what Chiara Mae wants? It’s what she
will do to protect those she loves. Her
family. Your brother. What she can be
compelled to do. Just as I can compel you by
threatening your brother, and Sergeant
Hauser by threatening you.” A slow,
satisfied smile spreads across Tyng’s
skeletal face. “Chiara Mae will succeed me.
You, Miz Kerryon, with your contacts
throughout Kuseros, will assist her in
promoting my family’s business interests.
And you, Sergeant Hauser, will protect them
both. That is the flesh I require.”
“You got it tied up nice and tight, don’t
you?” I ask, focusing again on angles and
distance and force. I begin moving into
position, sliding my hands down Kez’s arms,
holding the bone blades between us. I feel
her trembling under my hands, whether it’s
with fury or fear, I don’t know. Probably
both.
“An example to you, Sergeant Hauser.
Remember this, in the months and years to
come. This was not my first succession plan,
or even my second. But I saw the possibility
months ago. All that was required was that
the bond between you and Miz Kerryon be
sufficiently cemented, which it has under the
trying circumstances of the last several days.
That your competition within my
organization be neutralized, which Miz
Kerryon’s sister has finally accomplished.
And that I survived to this moment, which
you have facilitated as well, for which I
thank you.”
“No, no.” Kez starts shaking her head,
muttering under her breath. “This wasn’t all
a set-up.”
“Of course not,” Tyng says, proving his
hearing hasn’t been affected by his illness.
“It was an exploitation of circumstances. Far
more powerful. A lesson to you, Miz
Kerryon. You need not twist those around
you. Leave them to their own devices. Their
natural weaknesses will give you the keys to
control them. You, for example. I could have
brought you under my thumb at any time.
Your brother is one key. Your sister another.
And your addict friend, yet another. Why
would I ever need do something so crude as
set you up? I have held the keys to control
you for a long time.”
I clamp down on Kez’s arms to keep her
from launching herself out of her chair at
Tyng. She twists against my hands, her breath
coming in sharp bursts of anger and
frustration.
Tyng looks up at me slowly. The roll of a
predator’s eyes right before the kill. “I
believe our business is concluded.”
“Not if I tell you to go fuck yourself.”
Tyng chuckles dryly. “That would be
most unwise. Miz Kerryon still owes me
flesh, which I will collect, one way or
another. Acquiescing will spare Miz
Kerryon a great deal of pain.” He taps his
fingertips against his chin. “You might also
consider the benefits of my offer. I have no
illusions about my daughter’s abilities. The
two of you will control my organization.
That you have no love for the business will
make you better stewards of my family’s
interests. And, finally, I suggest that you
consider inevitability.”
“There’s nothing inevitable here except
your death,” I growl.
“On that, Sergeant, we are in complete
agreement. As I have allowed you to learn, I
am dying. Today, tomorrow, or next year, it
makes no difference. I am going to die.” He
waves his hand and I see I was right. Erin
did pick up that gesture from him. “The
inevitability of my death has become yet
another problem of corporate turnover.
Sergeant, you know what will happen on my
death. You warned Miz Agosante to flee to
avoid its repercussions. Wise counsel, which
I am sorry to say she hasn’t heeded. But then,
she lacks her sister’s humility.”
I don’t need Tyng to spell out what will
happen on his death. His enemies won’t just
target the higher-ups in his empire like Erin.
They’ll go after his family. And after Kez’s,
since Baby Tyng is now part of it. This isn’t
about revenge, or at least, it’s not all about
revenge. It’s about something far more
powerful.
I lean down and kiss the top of Kez’s
head. “A man can be measured by how he
cares for his women,” I say, repeating
Acker’s phrase.
She twists to look up at me. Blinks
tearily. “What?”
“Remember what you said? How you
knew who it was on that black box? He
called Chiara by name, an’ he said her name
—”
“Like a father would.” Kez frowns and
shakes her head as what I’m saying sinks in.
She turns to stare at Tyng. “You’ve done all
this to protect Chi?”
“I have four surviving children, Miz
Kerryon. They are all equally worthy of
protection. I trust you will remember that,
Sergeant Hauser.”
I could torture him. Shrug or something,
to show my indifference. But torture’s never
been my bag. “Yeah, I’ll remember.”
“Then I repeat that our business is now
concluded. You may kill me now if you like,
Sergeant Hauser. With those knives you have
transported in your own flesh. That was
extremely resourceful, by the way. You will
make an excellent Chief of Security.”
Mike-the-Merc starts in surprise, and
that’s all the trigger I need. Before he moves
out of position, I flick my wrists. Hard. Mike
sees the movement. His eyes, no longer quite
so inscrutable, widen. He twists, shivers his
body elegantly to one side and claps his
hands in the air beside his cheek. Neatly
catching the bone blade between his palms.
He turns back to me with the beginnings
of a smug smile.
My second shiv hits Tyng square in the
eye. Slides into his brain. He smiles, very
slightly, before his head rocks back against
the bundle of tubing rising from the back of
his wheelchair.
Mike-the-Merc drops the first knife with
a muttered curse and plucks the second out of
Tyng’s eye. But Tyng is beyond saving.
They never expect the second one.
Kez half-rises from her chair. “Hale—”
“S’okay, kitten.” I step around the chair
and hold my hand out to her. She takes it and
tucks herself tight against my side. I wrap my
arm around her. “It’s over.” Her nightmare’s
over. Not the way I anticipated, and the
consequences won’t be anything either of us
expected. But it’s done. “So, Mike.” The
merc’s head snaps up from where he’s bent
over Tyng. “Looks like you work for us
now.”
“My-my contract is with Tyng
Enterprises,” Mike stammers, clearly trying
to think his way around the ramifications of
what’s just happened.
I wave that off. “You heard him. You take
your orders from me now and I’ve got a job
for you. Here.” I take the Marie’s master
control out of my pocket and toss it to Mike.
“I want you to find Erin Agosante and give
that to her.”
“Hale,” Kez says reproachfully.
I tilt my head to look down at her. “We’ll
buy another ship tomorrow. You an’ me. One
thing we don’t gotta worry about anymore is
our credit.”
“Hale!” She’s not yelling at me for giving
away the Marie. She’s yelling in alarm. I
glance back towards Mike-the-Merc. Find
him turning towards me, leveling a small
plasma cannon he must have drawn from
behind his back.
A writhing line of light whips past me. It
snicks across Mike’s wrist. Burns through
skin and bone like a laser. His hand and the
gun clatter to the floor. Mike stares for a
second, then falls to his knees clutching the
cauterized stump of his arm. His mouth
stretches in a scream that never quite makes
it out of his throat.
I leap forward and snatch up the gun.
Train it on Mike and keep it there while I
speak to him. “Call your backup right now. If
they’re fast, they might get here soon enough
to reattach your hand. Then get yourself as
far away from Kuseros as you can. Your
contract’s fucked. And if I ever see you
again, I’ll put a shiv through your eye, too.”
Mike’s mouth snaps shut. He rocks on his
knees over his injury, but after a moment, he
reaches for his fallen spectacles.
I back away from him, grab Kez’s hand
and push her behind me as I back towards the
exit. There’s nothing more dangerous than a
wounded predator. I want Kez well away
from him. I watch him struggle to put on the
spectacles. He’ll hate me, even more than
Kez, for seeing his weakness. Maybe that
will balance out owing me his life.
I hear the warehouse door snick open
behind me, then Kez pulls me out into the
cool night.
I wait until the door closes before I turn
and sweep the empty dock with my eyes. Kez
had my back and she wouldn’t have dragged
me out unless it was clear. All I’m doing is
double-checking. The guard that let us get
past him with the bone-knives is gone. The
surrounding warehouses are dark and quiet.
My trike sits a couple of meters away. Right
where we left it. The protective cover’s still
down. Security holo shimmering on the front
wheel lock. Looks untouched.
Kez picks up my left hand and inspects it.
“We need to get you to a medcen.”
I glance at it. Shake my head. Blood has
smeared across the back of my hand, but it’s
just where the absorbent wrist guard has
overspilled. The bleeding’s stopped, and the
accelerated healing that G.D.F. built into my
ancestors’ genes to make them more efficient
miners has already started closing up the
holes. If I eat well for the next couple of
weeks, the grooves will even fill in. “Your
place or mine?”
“Mine. We need to tell Chi her father’s
dead.”
“And that she’s the new head of the
family.”
“Yeah, and that.” She shakes her head.
“Fuck, I never saw that coming. What are we
going to do?”
I smile up at the night sky. The Broken
Moon hangs low over the industrial blocks
and high-rises of Hemos. Tyng’s city. And
for the foreseeable future, our city. I should
be resentful of how he manipulated us. But
I’m not. We’re alive. Kez is safe. And our
future is back in our own hands. Even better,
out there, far beyond the Broken Moon,
there’s a pleasure planet with our names on
it. “First thing we’re doing is bookin’ a five-
day on Yrillo. Then we’re buying the boat
that’ll get us there.”
Kez snorts. “You finally managed to give
away your ship.”
“Yeah, I did.” Hopefully Erin’ll be smart
about using it. “C’mon, kitten. Let’s get out
of here before Mike’s backup arrives.” I
lead her to my trike.
She stands beside me, shifting from foot
to foot while I unlock the trike and retract the
cover. “Are we really going to do this? Run
things for Chi and her family?”
“Maybe.” In the short term it’s the best
way to protect Kez, and the people she cares
about. Doing that thing I do best will be a
fuck of a lot easier with the resources of
Tyng’s empire at my command. In the longer
term, I suspect that Kez’s feelings on the
subject will prevent either of us from making
Drug Baron a permanent career. Besides,
we’d both miss flying. But that’s a worry for
another day. Tonight, we should be
celebrating our strange, unexpected victory.
I swing onto the trike. Reach back and
