“Paradise,” Holly said at the same moment that Gabe said, “Po.”
Holly stared at Gabe. “Why would you say Po?”
Gabe flicked his hand through his hair. “Oh, well, I hate Po. It’s a hell-hole. But you’re right. I think Paradise is actually worse. It’s likely Paradise.”
“That’s where I first saw more evidence of the human trafficking,” Holly said.
“Sounds like a solid lead, if you ask me.” Gabe finished his drink and threw it in the recycling. “What are you waiting for?”
Meg raised an eyebrow at Holly. “I don’t think you should just run to Paradise without more to go on, Holly.” Meg was familiar with Holly’s fear of space-flight.
“What then?”
“Gather more intel. Then go to Paradise. If the Heart is so clever as to be laying false trails all over the place, for as long as he has, then this is as likely to be another false trail. So get more information that gives you a better sense of where he is before you leap into something.”
“Meg always gives great advice. However, if it were me, I’d trust my gut. This chart has guts written all over it. So I’d go after him, Holly. Before he has a chance to get away.”
Holly nodded, feeling like both of them were giving sound advice. “Well, my crew might have more intel. I’ll see them later today or tomorrow. We’ll put our heads together. If one of them has something on the Heart being on Paradise, I’ll head there.”
FOURTEEN
It was near three in the afternoon. Snow fluttered through the city, sticking to the sides of the jade spires. The neon lights lining the buildings glowed brighter with the white snow filling the air. Holly’s next stop was training with Aeolionais. She briefly checked in with Darius and the rest of the crew over the comms, and reiterated that they were all supposed to be gathering intel on a very special someone. She also let them know that she’d narrowed down a location, but that she would be waiting to hear some of their results—if they had any.
As she hunched over and walked into the blustery flying snow, Holly called another contact.
“What is it? Is there no one else for you to call?”
“Lovely to hear your voice, Xadrian. How’s your wound coming? Still sore? Mine’s all better, thanks,” Holly said, grinning.
“It’s fine. But as I remember it, mine was much worse than yours. A good thing too, because I’m much tougher than you, HD.”
Holly laughed. The streets were crowded despite the snow, so she remembered to keep her voice low and to not name names. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed by the Shadow Coalition, before speaking again. “Are you still working for our employer, or did he let you go when he heard about your deplorable behavior with the tanker and all that?”
Xadrian let out a loud laugh. “Oh, no, I’m still his number one man.”
“Great, then please set up a meeting with him for me tomorrow.”
“Hmm, I’ll see if he has time for you, HD. You’re favor with him is diminishing. He was quite irate about you losing my tanker.”
She believed him at first, until he said that it was over the tanker. Holly wasn’t an idiot. “Oh, hang on, XT, I’m getting another call. I’ll call you back. Apologies.” She hung up on Xadrian before she heard his response, partly because she was irritated with him, but then realized that she was right. Another call was coming through. It had been meant to simply be bratty to the arrogant fool, but it was the truth. She answered and was greeted by Cosma Kenyon.
“Holly Drake, lovely woman, I believe we need to meet.”
“Hello! Of course. I always have time for you.”
“Wonderful. Then let’s not have small talk here. Let’s save it for our meeting tomorrow morning. Breakfast, at the diner in Analogue Alley. Our mutual non-acquaintances never frequent the alley. It’s beneath them.”
“Come to think of it, I never see any dignitaries there.”
“Precisely my point. It is, then an ideal place for me to meet outside my club. Sometimes better because they watch my club. They don’t watch the alley.”
Holly laughed, realizing her meeting with Cosma would put her near Iain’s shop.
“Must go, don’t be late,” Cosma said, hanging up.
As soon as the call with Cosma ended, another call came in. “Hello, XT.”
“Dave will see you tomorrow at noon. Don’t be late. You know the location, and HD, never hang up on me again or I’m afraid I’ll have to slap you when next we meet.”
Before Holly could apologize, or agree to his terms, Xadrian laughed wickedly and hung up.
Holly slipped her communicator into her coat pocket and lowered her hood over her eyes to keep the snow out. Snowplows moved slowly down the street. People jumped out of the way of the snow piling up onto the sidewalks. Holly took a side street. Halfway down it, she turned toward a side door and went inside. It was the Lion’s Training Center.
Holly found her locker in the locker room and took off her coat where she’d stowed her shoes and other gear. She changed into that as Aeolionaias came into the locker room and asked her what was taking so long.
“It’s been a long day and I didn’t sleep well last night. Can we go light today?” She pulled her shirt on and followed him back out onto the floor.
He found the aether whip and immediately began doing exercises with it. He was all business—no small talk. But then, he’d always been that way. He was a focused trainer. He began with rudimentary motions, simply swirling the whip over her head and then bringing her arm down to her side, which caused the tail to snap and crackle loudly. He instructed her to do that one one hundred times. She laughed inwardly, thinking that it was crazy easy. What was the point of this? She wondered. It was a whip, how hard can it be?
Around forty and her shoulder muscles were screaming with every motion.
“This is the groundwork, Holly Drake. If you don’t have these techniques down, the whip is a pointless tool. You may as well stick with your gun. It has no finesse. It blows holes in things. The whip can be delicate. The whip can be brutal. The aether whip is many things.”
Holly gritted her teeth against the pain and continued. The motions were getting sloppy. She didn’t know if she could keep it up, but she tried. In her mind, she shouted something nasty at Aeolionaias for making her do this. But it wasn’t his choice—Holly was doing this for herself.
She finally completed the prescribed number of the exercises.
Immediately, the Yasoan was beside her, showing her the new movement and telling her how to do it. Once he felt she had the motion down well enough, he moved out of the way and let her do it. She made it to twenty five this time before her arm burned and roared in pain and begged her to stop. This was pointless. Why was she working on a new weapon that required so much to learn? Why not stick with the Equalizer. She could continue to shoot baddies in the feet when they refused to cooperate.
Holly focused on all the ways she could quit and reasons to give it up as she fought through the motions her trainer had assigned her. At least this time Aeolionaias had gotten quiet and merely watched, giving her corrections when she needed them, rather than lecturing her about the glories of the aether whip as a weapon.
When she was done with the rudimentary exercises, Aelionaias told her that she would now engage in either the hand to hand training with him again, or if she preferred it, they could work on the knives again.
“Why not more with the whip?” She asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
“Your muscles are too weak now. Let them rest for a day, and then we’ll break them down again tomorrow, and then let them rest. Soon you’ll be strong and the motions will be more natural.”
While what Holly really wanted was to never use the knives again, she went to the practice area for knives and she worked with them for thirty minutes, and then Aelionaias sparred in the ring with her, reminding her of the many techniques he’d taught her to disarm others and dodge knife at
tacks.
After two hours, she was drained and tired. On top of her lack of sleep the night before, the physical training had wiped her out. It would be dark soon, and she had her mind set on an early night. They were finished then, and so she gathered her things, said goodbye to Aeolionaias, and left.
The walk home was cool and refreshing until the perspiration dried and the cold set in, chilling her to the bone. She wished that she’d changed out of her sweaty clothes before leaving. But the location of the Lions of the Spires training center wasn’t too far from home, so she pressed on.
By the time she arrived at her condo, all she could think about was a hot shower and a hot kasé.
She turned on some music at the wall panel interface and it played through her whole condo, then she took a long shower, brewed a cup of hot kasé and drank it while wrapped in a blanket on the overstuffed armchair.
She was about to get in bed and see if she could fall asleep, though it was still relatively early. Her communicator buzzed and she answered it.
“Ms. Drake?”
“Hey Shiro.” A whole list of possibilities marched through her brain for why he was calling her.
“I’m just outside your condo. May I come in?”
She sighed. “I was about to go to sleep.”
“It’s 8:30.”
“I know. I didn’t get enough sleep last night and your trainer friend Aeolionaias doesn’t know what a light training day is.”
“He’s a hard one. The best. But I have no wish to disrupt you too much,” he said. “So I’ll just be a moment, then I’ll do the chivalrous thing and let you go to sleep at 9:30. If you really wanted to go to sleep, you wouldn’t have answered.”
Holly let him in. He looked her up and down as they both stood in the small entry way.
“I’m not changing just because you decided to come by unannounced. Yes, these are my pajamas.” She wore a silky top that hung to mid-thigh and thick fluffy socks and just a pair of boy-style boxer briefs. “Now what’s so pressing that you dropped by? My curiosity got the better of me.”
Shiro cleared his throat. “It’s a fine outfit. Very lovely,” he said, pulling his eyes away and sauntering into her living room. He put his cane on the armchair in a casual, practiced motion like he was very comfortable in her home. “I wanted to tell you what I’ve learned.”
“That’s it? That couldn’t wait till tomorrow? It better be good.” She grinned, but underneath it was the rumblings of irritation.
“Well, I wanted to tell you before I told everyone. My sources say the Heart is on Paradise. Well.” He paused and took off his bowler, which he placed on the armchair near his cane. He also began to remove his long black coat, pacing around the living room furniture. “There’s also evidence he’s on Itzcap. But my money is on Paradise.”
“Voss? Is she your source?”
“No, not at all. I have other sources.” He put his coat on the armchair with his other things. “I am a man of many sources. I feel that it keeps the information more pristine. It overlaps and checks itself that way.”
“Well, that’s good. We can go over the details on what your sources told you tomorrow. I’m also currently thinking the Heart is on Paradise.”
“Lovely. Then deciding where to focus next should be easier,” he said, smiling. “Well, since I’m here now, shall we have a drink?”
Holly hadn’t moved much beyond standing beside the runner table behind the long couch. Though she’d been strong about not putting on more clothes when faced with this unexpected late night company, she was feeling self-conscious about how much of her legs were visible for Shiro to ogle. So she’d placed the long couch between them to hide a bit.
“I’m in my pajamas.”
“Perfect, I can match you if that’ll make you feel more comfortable,” he offered. “I’m wearing something similar underneath my suit.”
She laughed. “Fine. One drink. But keep your clothes on. Then you go. Actually,” she said, thinking now would be as good a time as any, “I have something for you. Let me pour the drinks and then I’ll get it.” Once they both had a glass of red wine, she went into her bedroom and found the watch that Shiro had given up, which Angelo had fixed for her.
When she returned to the room, Shiro was sitting casually on the big sofa and sipping his drink. Without much ceremony, Holly self-consciously hurried to sit on the couch near him and handed him the watch.
His expression faltered as he stared at the watch. “But . . . it can’t be.” He turned it over in his hands. “But it is.”
She swallowed. “I have a friend who fixes old things like that.”
“You must. Because it was beyond repair. I threw it away. It was crushed.”
“Yeah, Angelo works wonders.” She grabbed her drink and took a long sip, hardly tasting the wine.
“I was crushed, as well. I had little hope that it could ever be the same again.”
“It’s probably not completely the same. But it ought to work. And, according to Angelo, it’s worth a lot.”
“I know. It’s a treasure. A family heirloom.”
And then, without warning, Shiro was kissing her. Holly melted into him. Months of tension that so much time working together had built between them crashed down in a rush of blood and heat.
She hadn’t even realized how badly she wanted this and it felt easy and nice and in so many ways, precisely right. She let the kiss go, let it last, allowed herself to feel it and be present in it. There was only a little wine affecting her, so she didn’t doubt herself or what was happening.
She pulled away, suddenly.
“What is it?” Shiro asked. “Is it terrible?”
“No, it’s nice,” she said honestly, biting her lip. “I’m just not quite sure about it. So much has been happening.”
“I’ve wanted you for so long, Holly.”
“Yes, I’ve felt something similar. But—we’re on a team together. We rely on each other. I have your back, you have mine.”
“Then, isn’t it perfect in some way?”
“I would think yes, but in other ways, no. I’m also looking out for Odeon, and he has to look out for you.”
Shiro sat back with a frown. “Odeon is always coming between us.”
“See? That’s exactly what I mean. I love Odeon, like a brother. And I can’t worry that you won’t have his back on our jobs.”
“These sound like excuses, Ms. Drake. Or fear. Fear of the unknown.”
She bristled at that. He was right. But she was also right. The truth was answers were rarely easy. The correct course of action very rarely seemed to divide from the wrong in a simple straight line. There was overlap. That was what made it so hard to decide. A person had to choose and stick to it despite the way the edges frayed.
“I won’t argue that, Shiro. But there are many people involved and because I’m unsure what I want, I don’t want to run around damaging the things I’ve built,” she confessed. “Besides, I know one very damning reason I don’t want to get my heart mixed up in you.”
He sat back and looked at her, frustration in his face, irritation clouding his normally clear, brown eyes. “What is that?”
“You know what I’m going to say.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Voss. While she remains an unknown variable for you, you’ll never be settled that she couldn’t be yours.”
He patted her leg, then stood, and put the watch in his pocket. “Thank you so much for this. It’s a gift without measure.” He put on his hat, his coat, and grabbed his cane.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I finally gave it to you.”
“I’m glad as well.”
Holly watched him go to the door, feeling a cold in her heart to rival the cold outside.
“Then I shall see you tomorrow at the Bird’s Nest.”
She stood and followed him to the door. An urge to say something to smooth things over built behind her teeth. She opened her mouth to say whatever would co
me out, but she stopped herself. There was nothing. The only thing she could say would make it worse, would be an offer to rethink her decision to take things further with him. She was right about what she’d chosen. It was a lonely place to find herself—putting her crew before her personal desires. But being the leader meant hard decisions like that.
FIFTEEN
Time with “Dave” was always a fun way to spend part of her day.
Training with Aeolionaias was earlier, because the morning spot opened when Cosma called and canceled for reasons still unknown to Holly. So she found herself sauntering around Dave’s office earlier than planned and feeling irritable as she contended with the annoyances that were getting to her regarding the night before. And though she didn’t want to admit it, the aether whip training was kicking her butt and that bothered her. She was sore all over.
“Will you help, then,” Holly asked, trying to move the conversation in the right direction.
“No drink today, Holly?”
“I’m too burned out. Beat up. I don’t feel like indulging, sorry.”
“It’s never fun to drink alone,” Dave said mournfully, looking down into his tumbler of golden brown liquid. He slipped one thumb beneath a suspender, changed his mind and leaned it against the frame of the window to prop himself up, and sipped his drink.
“I agree. But I have too much on my mind. Someday maybe all my troubles will go away, you’ll be able to out yourself as the puppet-master, I can tell everyone your real name, and we can have a real drink at a pub together.”
He laughed and shook his head, giving her a sidelong glance. “A school in the north, eh. It’s more of an orphanage, isn’t it?” He returned his stare to the city beyond the window. “Snow. Always feels so comforting. The way it blankets everything and muffles sound. I would think, though, that the good old Centau would’ve figured out a way with their magical science powers to avoid irritating seasons like winter. Don’t you think?”
“I haven’t actually. It’s what it is. Winter, spring, summer, fall. They’re just there.” There was a symmetry to the seasons anyway, she thought. “Are they something that can be done away with?”
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