“Yes, Grandma. Can we come in for a bit?” Wic asked, with a put-upon sigh.
Despite Wic’s attitude, Jack could tell he really loved his elder. They entered the small, one-room apartment. The main room consisted of a love seat covered in handmade quilts and afghans. Kitty-corner to the couch sat what could only be her chair. The seat of the deeply cushioned chair was covered in what looked to be a plastic lining. Beside the chair sat a little table, clustered by pill bottles, an extra set of old glasses, a large-print paper book that had seen better days—though Jack could plainly see the naked man on the cover—and a half-eaten container of liquefied tuna. Jack tried not to gag at the sight of the paste.
He sat on the couch next to Wic and wondered who his contact was. Before he could ask in a conciliatory whisper, Wic started a conversation.
“Grandma, did you know a Douglas Zandri? He would have moved out of the neighborhood just recently.” Wic glanced at Jack for confirmation, and Jack nodded.
“Let me think. Zandri. Zandri. Oh yes. A very solitary man. I knew him more by reputation than anything. I never got a chance to meet him or to set him up with any of the single girls. You know, Wic, Sasha is still single.”
Wic grimaced. “I know, Grandma. Where did Zandri move?”
“Oh, I don’t know. He never talked to anyone. Only ever saw him leaving or coming, or sometimes at the laundry mat. People talked about him, though. Said he was some big shot on his way up.”
Wic glanced at Jack. “You think he’s gone up the ritzy neighborhoods?”
“It’s possible. The company paid him well most likely.”
“Now, Wic, when will you come for dinner?” asked his grandmother.
“In a few days. I’m in the middle of a project right now.”
The woman nodded and waved them toward the door, keeping her seat in her plush chair. Wic led Jack into the hallway and gently shut the door, turning with a grin as Jack stared at him.
“Contact, eh?” asked Jack.
Wic shrugged. “Contact, grandma. Same difference.”
“Riiiight.”
They began walking down the hallway. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was a clean, tidy, and made of all the same material, painted a uniform color. Compared to Wic’s slums, they were a part of a palace.
“Okay, so we know Zandri was here,” began Jack.
“And we know he upgraded to one of the few really rich suburbs.”
“And we can assume Bit has somehow figured this out.”
Wic nodded. “But which neighborhood?”
“And has Bit left Alberton yet?”
“I think you’re right. It’s time to check with the doctors.”
They left through the back door, slipped around the crowd forming around the injured police officers, and skirted down a side street. At the first intersection, Wic led him into a small clinic, bustling with coughing patients and harried nurses.
Wic squeezed up to the counter. “Has a girl with blonde, ratted hair been in? Possibly with burn injuries.”
“We’re not equipped to deal with burn injuries,” replied the receptionist without looking up from her computer screen.
“She wouldn’t know that. Has she come in here?”
“Who?” sighed the woman.
“A petite blonde woman with ratted hair.”
The receptionist frowned in disgust. “No.”
“Thank you,” growled Wic before leading Jack back out. “One down, many, many more to go.”
“We should have tasked some of the others with this, too.”
“I’m sure some will think of it on their own.”
Jack grinned. “That will really annoy the receptionists.”
Wic grinned back.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“We’re not finding anything, Oden,” Reese griped as they walked down the same street for the third time.
Oden sighed, annoyed with the truth of Reese’s words.
“We should just go back to the hotel.”
“To do what? Sit? I’d rather keep trying, even if we turn up nothing,” Oden finally said, his eyes still roaming the street for any sign of Bit.
His eyes settled on the last person he expected to see.
“Is that…” began Reese.
Oden nodded. “Blaine.”
“I thought I heard the captain say he had escaped the ship, but I didn’t believe it.
Oden simply nodded again before taking off in Blaine’s direction.
“We’re going after him?” Reese asked.
“You want to leave him to find Bit?”
Reese didn’t reply, but Oden could practically feel the security guard’s shaking head. They weaved through the crowd, easily keeping track of Blaine’s tall form. At five foot eleven, Oden had never felt inferior to taller men. Now, as Blaine stuck out above the crowd, he felt downright thankful for his shorter stature.
They began to near the elevated train station, and Oden wondered if Blaine was leaving the suburb. If Blaine boarded the train, should they follow or just let him leave the area? Oden glanced at Reese when Blaine mounted the stairs.
“Keep following,” Reese replied to his unspoken question.
Oden nodded as he allowed a few people to head up the stairs before them. Compared to the slums, the train station was nearly empty, with only twenty or so people waiting for the next ride. The unusual lack of people made it hard for Oden and Reese to stay hidden. They tried to take up a stance in the back of the platform, but it did no good.
Slowly, deliberately, Blaine turned around and stared straight at him. It wasn’t hard for Oden to realize Blaine had been aware of them all along.
“What do you want?” Blaine demanded across the small crowd.
Heads turned back and forth between Blaine and Oden and Reese. Oden could only imagine what was flitting through the heads of their audience as they backed away from a powerhouse like Blaine. Oden and Reese weren’t exactly normal, middle-class people either. Reese, with his myriad of scars, looked like something out of a horror film, and Oden and his tattoos belonged with the gangs of the slums. On top of all that, all three of them were in clothing a few battles past laundry day.
“You’re supposed to be on the ship,” replied Oden, unsure what else to say to Blaine’s dumb question.
“Not while she’s in danger.”
Reese let out a bark of laughter. “You’ve made up most of the danger that gal has come across. Go back to the Lenore and let us take care of her.”
“Not on your life. I’ll find Bit, and I’ll protect her.”
At that moment, the train arrived, swishing to a sudden stop at the platform. The crowd gave them one last look before boarding the train, mostly on cars farther from the upcoming action. Blaine gave them a disgusting grin before turning and jumping onto the train.
Oden and Reese followed, as if of one mind. They rushed through the closing doors, Reese’s arm nearly taking a pinch.
“Are you following me because you think I know where she is?” Blaine asked, standing in the aisle and holding onto a strap hanging from the ceiling.
“We’re following you to make sure you don’t get anywhere near her,” replied Oden, sickened by the unfamiliar light in Blaine’s eyes. “You’ve hurt her before, and she wants nothing to do with you. Besides, you’ve proven to be a killer.”
“Oh, and you two aren’t?”
“There’s a difference,” argued Reese. “We don’t torture innocent women to the point of death.”
“It was for Bit!” snapped Blaine.
Oden felt his stomach heave at the notion of Blaine doing anything for Bit. “And she’ll hate you for it.”
“So long as she lives.”
Reese shook his head, grabbing a handhold as the train took off. “Even she would say ‘she’s not worth that’!”
“You don’t love her like I do.”
“You don’t know the meaning of the word,” sighed Oden.
He was thankful
the train car was nearly empty. The three people occupying seats were enjoying the show, though the rise in Blaine’s voice began to make them squirm. Oden looked at them pointedly before nodding toward the door. They took the hint and ducked around Reese and Oden to reach the door leading into the next compartment.
Blaine gave them a wide grin. “Worried about the locals?”
“Preserving human life,” replied Oden. “Something you don’t seem to be too worried about.”
Blaine’s grin morphed into a glower before he launched himself at them. Reese took the brunt of the impact, falling backward, his head hitting the next seat. Oden managed to jump out of the way. He spun and grabbed the back of Blaine’s shirt, dragging him off Reese and bashing his foot into Blaine’s shoulder at the same time.
The tall man jumped up before Oden could kick again. At the same moment, Oden jumped up onto one of the seats, giving Reese more space to climb to his feet. From Oden’s elevated position, he could see blood mixing with Reese’s hair and knew the security guard’s head must be spinning, but it would take a lot more than that to put Reese out of the fight.
Reese lunged at Oden, using the space provided by Oden’s jump. The smaller man couldn’t take Blaine to the ground, but he did back him up against a pole, driving his fist into Blaine’s jaw. Oden jumped to the opposite row of chairs, ducking at the same time to keep himself from bashing in his own head. He hobbled across the seats to where Reese was keeping Blaine pinned—at the cost of a few blows to his gut. Oden tried to wrap his arm around Blaine’s throat from his elevated position—something he would never have been able to do from the ground—but Blaine ducked out of the way just in time, escaping Reese’s blows with minimal damage.
The large security guard spun around and raced through the door, heading toward the back of the train. Reese raced after him with Oden on his tail. They crossed into the next compartment, to the surprise of the commuters. Blaine pushed through the crowd, the aisle dotted with people who either couldn’t find a seat or chose to stand. They cried out in indignation, but when they caught sight of the blood seeping from Blaine’s nose and the growing shiner on his eye, they made way.
Oden and Reese followed in his wake. Oden was tempted to yell for someone to stop him, but anyone who got in Blaine’s way would likely end up dead with a snapped spine. The commuters seemed to come to the same conclusion, some even ending up in the laps of others in an effort to get out of the large man’s way.
They continued to chase him through the train. Oden began to wonder what Blaine’s end game was. Though the train was long, it would end eventually. What does he plan to do?
Eventually came sooner than Oden would have guessed. They reached the last car, mostly full like all the others.
“End of the line,” Oden called to Blaine, feeling like a walking cliché.
Blaine pushed a woman out of his way and reached the final door.
“Nowhere left for you to run. This ends now!” Reese yelled over the grumbling passengers.
The large security guard tossed them a grin over his shoulder before yanking the final door open and launching himself out of the speeding train. Oden and Reese raced to the open door—though what they could have done, Oden had no idea—just in time to see Blaine’s final roll.
Blaine staggered to his feet, looking as though he’d just lost a fight with a bear. As the train zipped away and his figure shrunk, Oden thought he saw Blaine sink to his knees.
“What, is he crazy?” Oden asked no one in particular. “The trains come every few minutes. Where’s he got to go?”
Reese shrugged. “Well, I guess that solved that problem.”
Oden nodded, feeling only slightly placated.
Bit stood in the entryway of a small shop, having been pushed into it by a sudden increase in the crowd. She suddenly felt grateful for the crowd as a familiar voice cut through the general hubbub of the mob.
“How could she have not been to any of the doctors around here?” asked Jack as he and his companion neared the shop’s door.
Bit longed to run out to him and throw her arms around his neck. Her burned arm and hip screamed at her, her bruised knee pulsed with her heart beat, and fresh tears of pain and exhaustion spilled out of her eyes. She needed her captain. She needed her friend. She needed someone else to bear the burden for a little while.
But if you’re gonna have the care of a child, the burden will always be on your shoulders, her brain told her.
And Captain Jack Macleef… would he ever help her bear that burden?
“If she’s as stubborn as you say,” replied Wic, “then it seems in character that she wouldn’t seek help.”
Bit frowned. They were talking together, working with each other. How had that happened? Would Jack turn her into Rudy? Was she not running from her crew for the sake of time so that she could encounter Zandri on her own? Was she running from them for the sake of her life?
Bit had no doubt that Rudy would kill her for the shame she had caused him in front of his man. Did Jack not understand why Rudy wanted her? Did he think she wasn’t worth the fight?
The tears trickling down her face increased into a steady flow and Bit’s brows furrowed. She couldn’t imagine Jack doing such a thing, and yet she had the proof right in front of her. Jack was working with Wic, and Wic wanted her so he could win favor with Rudy.
Bit waited in the alcove for a number of minutes—waiting for the crowd to thin and for Jack to put some distance between them. Finally, she limped out of her spot and headed down the street. She staggered along, hoping to avoid another delay and fearing the rest of the crew was searching the suburb for her.
She considered taking the smaller, less crowded streets, but the ugly truth was, even in the empty streets, she could do little more than hobble. She might as well stay in the crowds, where she would be less noticeable. She pulled her scarf out of her bag and wound it around her hair, ignoring the dirt ground into the fabric. Even after her stop at the cantina up north, she was filthy.
Bit stayed with the crowd, doing her best to keep track of her surroundings without looking nervous. Finally, when she felt the need to sit down, she turned onto the street where Zandri had called their ship from. She scanned the tall apartment buildings and business, noting a few that appeared to be offices—a rare commodity in the crowded city.
She checked her scrap of paper again, though she knew the address by heart, and spotted the building. It was perhaps the lowest rent on the street, though the differences were subtle. Where the other buildings had two or three different colors on the edifice, Zandri’s building only had one. Even the door was the same, dull color. While the other apartment structures were lined with windows, Zandri’s only had a sparse splattering of windows.
Bit noted the differences and kept walking. She entered the building and dragged herself up the stairs to the rental office. She knocked on the door and a man with a rounded belly and a bald spot answered the door.
“Yeah?” he asked.
Bit spotted a little girl playing on the floor; she gave her a small smile before responding, “Do you have a resident named Douglas Zandri?”
“Who wants to know?” asked the manager, his gums smacking with excess wetness as he talked.
“I’m his niece. Been trying to track him down.”
The man grunted. “And what’s that to me?”
Bit knew the man wanted a bribe, but she didn’t even have enough money to feed herself with. As it was, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten.
“Look. You help me find my uncle and I’m sure he’ll reward you.”
“Eh. A promise tomorrow ain’t as good as payment today.” With that, he shut the door.
Bit felt her anger flare in her chest. She wanted to kick the door down and shove her knife into the man’s belly, but between her knee and the child present, she knew she wouldn’t. One, she didn’t have any “kicking” power. Two, she wouldn’t torment the child like that. She wasn’t
Blaine.
She turned, hopped down the stairs using the banister, and retreated to the curb. Not sure what to do next, she took a seat on the seldom-used sidewalk and stretched out her legs, content to watch the crowds pass by for now.
Is this the end? Is it time to find Oden and see what fate—and Jack—have in store for me? she wondered as she watched a group of women pass, gossiping about this and that.
“Excuse me,” came a soft voice from her side.
Bit looked up and eyed the little girl from the manager’s office. She reached out, grasping a large chunk of homemade bread.
“For me?” Bit asked as she reached out to take the offering.
The girl nodded. “You want Douglas?”
Bit had already taken a large bite out of the bread in her starvation. She turned back, trying to shove the bite to the side of her mouth, and nodded.
“He used to give me sweets.”
“Do you know where he is?” Bit asked around the wad of wet bread.
“Yes. He moved north. To Hartbeespoort.”
Bit smiled, stretching her cheek over the food. “Thank you. What’s your name?”
“Chelsey.”
“I’ll find him, and I’ll tell him you said hello.”
The girl grinned at her before turning and scampering away. Bit let out a sigh. It was luck, pure luck. The girl had not only given her the location, but enough calories to get her there. Bit stayed where she was until she had finished the generous portion, then she climbed to her feet and headed for the train station. It was far enough, and she was tired enough, to make a wait for a train worth it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Oden eyed the large man who had joined their ranks. He didn’t trust Wic. The man had been chasing Bit, and while he could believe Bit’s charisma could change Wic’s reasoning, he doubted Wic was so inconsistent. You didn’t become the leader of a slum’s gang by being swayable.
But Jack seemed to trust him, and they had spent the whole day together, searching for Bit. The crew had broken up into pairs and, to his annoyance, Jack and Wic were the only ones to come back with any tangible information. All he and Reese had found was Blaine, receiving a number of bruises for their efforts.
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