High Flyer (Verdant String)

by Michelle Diener

“They've found us.” As he said it, he felt the icy touch of the numbing gel on his skin. When she inserted the knife tip, he was aware of it as it dug in, but the gel had done its work. He felt no pain.

  His hands were braced on either side of his head, and she tapped the back of one. He turned it over and she put the bloody tag in his palm.

  He heard the crinkle of the wrapping on a healing gel strip, and then felt the warmth of it going on.

  As soon as it was in place, he felt her blow out a breath, as if she'd held it in, as if she'd been far more rattled at what she'd had to do than she'd let on.

  His hand closed in a fist around the tag, and when she pulled his shirt back down, he rolled carefully to his side to allow Hana to swing one leg over his back and lie down beside him again.

  “Do you think it'll float?” He tried to have a good look at the tag, aware that the runner was circling their camp site now.

  “No.”

  He nodded. It would be useless to simply throw it into the water. If it sunk, it'd lead Lancaster's people to right in front of them.

  Hana twisted again, rummaging around in her pack, as the roar of the runner's engines seemed to be right on top of them. She pulled out a derpra, the long, smooth-skinned fruit native to Faldine.

  “It floats?” he asked.

  She nodded. Took the tag from him and pushed it into the soft fruit completely, then dropped it into the water running right below them.

  Iver watched it for a moment. It bobbed in the choppy water and then swirled away, disappearing into the darkness.

  The runner revved its engine, like a predator after flushed prey, and took off down the river.

  “They think we're making a run for it.”

  She shook her head. “They think you are.” Her voice was barely audible. “They don't know whether I'm alive or dead.”

  He was about to respond when she put a finger to his lips and then pulled herself up on an elbow, head cocked, listening. The runner was still just audible over the sound of the river.

  From further downstream, he heard a loud splash, and the drift of voices shouting.

  “Time to go or we'll be trapped.”

  He waited for Hana to pull herself out of the narrow opening first. She maneuvered until she could step down into the water.

  He passed her the pack, and she stepped to the side to give him room to get out.

  With her and the pack out of the cave, he managed to swing around to come out feet first, but as he pushed out, the bank around him suddenly collapsed.

  He landed hard in the water, with rocks and large chunks of clay coming down with him.

  A light was suddenly on him from the bank above, someone was shouting, and without looking in Hana's direction, he let the current take him further from her until the loud splash of someone running toward him forced him to find his feet.

  “Who's there?” he demanded. “Show yourselves.”

  There was a sudden pause, as if whoever was chasing him was startled to be challenged. Was startled Iver wasn't behaving like a fugitive.

  Time for them to adjust their thinking.

  The person running toward him from downstream slipped on a rock, went under and then came up fully drenched and swearing viciously.

  Iver vaguely recognized him. Maybe he worked security at VSC headquarters. He had a stocky build and short, spiky hair, and now that he'd regained his feet, he was moving toward Iver with singular focus.

  Iver made the choice to ignore him, shading his eyes against the light that blinded him from above. “Is that you, Lancaster?”

  The light lowered. “I'd like to say it's nice to see you alive, boss.”

  He'd expected it, but it was still a shock to hear the voice of a man he'd thought was his friend as well as the best head of security he'd ever had.

  “But you can't, is that right?” He tried to keep the bitterness of betrayal out of his voice.

  “No.” Lancaster had the temerity to sound regretful. “It really would be so much easier for me if you were dead.”

  Chapter 6

  “Where's Hana?”

  Hana was about to duck under the water to hide when she heard Lancaster's question, and she paused with all but the top half of her head submerged, grateful the moonlight didn't penetrate the shadows beneath the riverbank.

  “Hana's dead.” Iver's voice sounded flat.

  “No, I don't believe you.”

  Linnel's shout made her suck in a breath. She hadn't thought he'd come back with Lancaster, although why she'd assumed that, she couldn't say. She supposed logically he would have been useful in guiding Lancaster to where their Sig had originally gone down.

  “That woman is indestructible.” Linnel didn't make the statement sound like a compliment.

  “If you don't think she can be killed, why did you try?” Iver stood, legs braced against the current, hands on hips.

  “I was told to kill you, asshole. I didn't know Hana was the one flying you until after the first two missiles. How did she supposedly die?”

  “She was grabbing gear out of the Sig, and I was off to the side, talking to Lancaster, when the third missile hit.”

  “No. You asked her what missiles were used, and she answered you.” Lancaster spoke slowly.

  “I called to her from where I was standing.” Iver didn't even blink as he lied.

  “She has a way of dodging death.” Linnel sounded petulant now. “She came through situations no one could come through, most often with barely a scratch.”

  “You're saying that she could somehow survive a direct hit with an SD3?” Lancaster's voice was harder to hear, as if he'd turned his head.

  “I'm saying she went through a war, with people trying to kill her every day, and walked away unscathed. One time, just to test my theory, I sabotaged her Dynastra's engines, and she not only landed it, she worked out what the problem was and fixed it before flying home.”

  “You sabotaged a fellow military officer's runner while you were both fighting in a war on the same side?” Lancaster's voice dropped an octave.

  Funny. He'd just tried to kill Iver, but he was getting morally outraged at Linnel's sabotage?

  Hana had known the damaged engine was Linnel's doing right away. She hadn't reported him, though. There wasn't any evidence, and she knew the fact that she had found it, fixed it, and then never reported it freaked him out.

  It was revenge of sorts.

  She had never turned her back on him again, though. Nor left her Dynastra unprotected.

  “Why the outrage? I thought you were pro-rebel.” Linnel's voice was a sneer. “And what are you doing right now but stabbing your fellow colleague in the back?”

  Lancaster didn't respond immediately, and Hana saw Iver decide to take the opportunity to start wading toward the river bank.

  “Where the hell are you going?” The thug that had been standing in the stream with Iver lunged for him, but Iver had already moved out of reach, and he stumbled.

  “The water's too cold to stand around in, listening to you and your friend bicker about who's the bigger traitor.” Iver reached the bank and a hand came down to help him up.

  Lancaster literally giving him a hand.

  Hana didn't understand the dynamic, but for whatever reason, Lancaster hadn't chosen to shoot Iver in the stream where he stood.

  Probably scared to leave too much evidence for whoever the VSC sent to investigate Iver's death.

  Iver was head of planet and an Arkhoran. The Arkhorans didn't let things like their people being killed slide. There wouldn't just be ripples at his death, there would be tsunamis.

  She assumed it would be a lot less trouble for Lancaster if Iver could have been found burned to a crisp in the Sig, but that chance had already pinched to the black and was long gone.

  “You want to tell me why?” Iver asked.

  “It's complicated.” Lancaster sounded genuinely regretful.

  Remembering that's just what she'd said to Iver herself
earlier that day, Hana's breath hitched.

  Lancaster and Iver walked away and the man still standing in the river stared after them. Hana repressed a shiver, and not because of the cold water. Iver had better watch himself around that one.

  Lancaster, too, if she was any judge.

  He was not happy at being left like a flunky and ignored.

  The man made his way angrily to the bank and scrambled up on his own. Linnel had either gone with Lancaster or wasn't prepared to help him.

  They were a cohesive, friendly group, all right.

  She waited, crouched low in the shallows, until she was convinced they'd moved back to where the runner had landed.

  She didn't know if they planned to take Iver away or kill him right here. She couldn't let them do either.

  She carefully moved upstream, keeping to the shallows and the dark edges, until she could climb the bank without any fear of being seen.

  She was shivering by the time she found a large rock to hide behind. She rubbed herself down with a towel from her pack and changed into dry clothes, feeling immediately better. She ate an energy bar while she dressed to give herself the calories she needed after time in the freezing water, then she hid her pack and stood for a moment, eyes closed, centering herself.

  The upgrade, as she called it, the thing that had somehow become part of her since she'd been shot down during the war, stirred inside her. Not at full strength, but the magnetic field was far enough below the ground here not to interfere too much.

  These days, it was so much a part of her, she barely thought of it, but when she focused like this, it seemed to amp up her advantage.

  She deliberately connected to it, wanting what it had to offer.

  The warm, friendly exuberance of it flowed through her. Blowing out the breath she'd held in, she stepped out from the rock and embraced the night.

  Hana crept a little closer to the fire burning next to Lancaster's runner, Iver finally in her sights.

  “So, how are you going to kill me?” Iver leaned toward the fire as he spoke. He hadn't shaved in over a day, and the shadow on his jaw, illuminated by the dancing flames, gave him a harder, edgier look.

  “That's a problem, to be sure.” Lancaster's voice was calm. “But whatever the method, I'm afraid it'll have to be soon.” He stood up, moving out of Hana's view. “Unfortunately, I can't retroactively burn you in the Sig. Whoever the VSC sends to investigate will see through that in seconds with the kind of equipment they'll have at their disposal, even with the magnetic field issues. I'll have to transport you back to where the Sig went down, have you make hard contact with a rock in the river and then let you float down a little way, making sure you drown.”

  “Harsh.” Iver's tone was slightly amused.

  “Shut the fuck up, Iver.” Lancaster's sudden venomous hiss made the guard beside Iver jerk a little in fear and surprise. “You don't know how much trouble this has been.”

  Iver threw back his head and laughed, and Hana heard Lancaster swearing, and then the thud of boots as he stamped off.

  She slid a little further to the side, managed to see the silhouette of what she guessed was Lancaster as he disappeared into the Dynastra.

  That wouldn't do.

  There was no way she and Iver would be safe unless they took the Dynastra and left everyone else behind.

  She didn't want anyone's blood on her hands. She'd seen enough killing to last a lifetime, and she'd made a promise to herself when she resigned from the military that she wouldn't do it again.

  If it was a choice between life or death for her or Iver then she'd break her vow, but first she would try to find another way.

  Leaving them behind would work best.

  The hostile guard from the river came into view, no longer in wet clothing. Hana guessed he had been in the Dynastra changing and had been sent back by Lancaster.

  “We're all accounted for now except Lunn.” He spoke to the guard beside Iver, not looking at Iver at all. “Get him into the Dynastra, ready to go.”

  He turned away, but instead of going back to the runner, he turned toward the river, his gait impatient and self-important. He'd been tasked with rounding up the last straggler, Hana guessed, and the thought of wielding a little more power than someone else excited him.

  She followed him into the darkness, leaving the glow of the campfire behind her.

  When she caught up with him, he was standing on top of a rock in the water, an easy jump from the bank. He called to his missing teammate with hands bracketing his mouth.

  “Lunn!” There was an anger in the guard's voice now. His mission had gone from being a power trip to being boring.

  Life on Faldine, which often had no working comms, gave most Verdant Stringers a newfound appreciation for what they'd taken for granted on their home planets.

  And places on Faldine like this one, where the magnetic field wasn't very strong but had enough juice to interfere were the worst. Everything was temperamental, cutting in and out. Working and then not working.

  It was something the scientists were still looking into.

  A strong magfield wasn't good for whatever was responsible for her upgrade, either, though. She felt much more like her old self, pre-upgrade, when she was in an area with a strong magfield.

  It had given her a theory about just what had managed to invade her body, but there was no way she was prepared to get someone to test it for her.

  And while the plains around Touka weren't the worst on the magnetic scale, they were strong enough to dampen her advantage.

  But only dampen it. She was still more than she had been.

  “Lunn!”

  Obviously the comms weren't working for Lancaster and his team. Which meant the guard couldn't signal someone for help if she didn't manage to take him down immediately.

  At last someone called back, a faint call from downriver, and with a huff of impatience, the guard put his hands on his hips. “We're waiting for you.”

  He was fully focused on looking downriver, peering into the darkness for a sign of his colleague. It was easy for Hana to jump onto a rock downriver from him undetected.

  There were two rocks between them, and she didn't hesitate. She accelerated to full speed, jumping from one to the other, pushing off the last one to get herself airborne and landing right behind him. She shoved him down, her hand going straight to his SAL, holstered on his hip.

  She pulled it out as he shouted in rage, and then shot him in the back. He twisted, trying to see who'd attacked him, then collapsed on the rock.

  Hana leaped down and started downriver, the guard's SAL still ready in her hand.

  Lunn walked toward her in the darkness, making no effort to be quiet or stealthy.

  She couldn't blame him. He had his colleague bellowing for him to hurry, as if it were all wrapped up.

  These people truly were amateurs. They should never had taken Iver's word that she was dead. Even Linnel, who didn't want to believe it, hadn't carried out even the most perfunctory search for her.

  They would pay a price for that.

  She considered hiding and waiting for Lunn to pass her, but he was moving too slowly, walking in the river itself rather than making the more dangerous jumps between the rocks sticking above the waterline. She didn't have time.

  She ran straight at him, leaping rock to rock. She expected him to react in some way to her speed and the fact that she was clearly a stranger, but he kept his head down, looking at where he was putting his feet on the uneven riverbed.

  Sometimes she forgot how well she could see at night. Forgetting things like that would trip her up in the end. It was inevitable.

  As she got closer, she could see Lunn was soaking wet and had a bleeding cut on his forehead. He must have slipped and fallen into the river, which was why he was the last one in, and why he was being so careful of his footing now.

  “I said I was coming, asshole.” Lunn looked up as she made the last jump onto the rock he was about to
wade around.

  His eyes widened when he realized she wasn't his colleague, and then his hand went to the cartridge she'd just shot into his chest. As soon as his fist closed around it, he lunged forward, trying to grab her.

  She jumped straight up, and when she landed back down, he was sprawled over the rock, unconscious.

  His feet and lower legs were still in the water, though, and the current was already moving his body from side to side.

  He'd fall in if she left him like this.

  She stood staring down at him for a moment, wrestling with herself, but in the end, on a sigh, she jumped down beside him and maneuvered him carefully over her shoulder.

  She didn't have to go far--the riverbank was close, but it was steep and Lunn was heavy and a good head and shoulders taller than her. With a surge of effort she reached the top and dropped him to the ground.

  The night was cool but not cold. And he would wake in two hours.

  She gulped in air.

  Even with her upgrade, she felt the strain. She ate an energy bar, wriggled her toes in her boots, and commiserated with herself about getting her socks wet again.

  She shook out stiff shoulders, and then started back for Lancaster's camp and Iver.

  Two down. Four to go.

  Chapter 7

  “Where's Nuness?” Lancaster asked as the guard pushed Iver into the Dynastra.

  The old VSC fighting ships had a larger hold than his Sig, but they didn't maneuver as well. Some of them had been recommissioned after the war for more commercial purposes, but their blades made them an oddity, useful on Faldine only. This one still looked like the troop carrier it had been designed as, and he wondered who owned it.

  “Nuness went to get Lunn.” The guard prodded Iver deeper into the hold, obviously meaning for him to sit on one of the benches in the back.

  Instead, Iver did a slow turn, taking in the whole runner.

  “Nice ride. Yours?” he asked Lancaster.

  “Sit down and shut up, Iver.” Lancaster stood up. “Oniba, go out and kick Lunn and Nuness' asses, they should be back. We need to go.”