Not Even Bones

by Rebecca Schaeffer

  Nita hesitated. Massive, and impressive, but she had to confess it didn’t look terribly secure. Certainly not enough to warrant the need for a thumbprint scanner.

  Kovit gestured for Nita to approach, and the two of them picked their way over. Kovit was sweating as much as Nita, and his hair was sticking to the top of his skull and forehead. He wiped it back, and the sweat slicked his hair back like pomade.

  They approached the front door, and Nita took out the thumb. “What do I do with this?”

  “Place it here.” Kovit flipped the wooden cover off a thumb scanner.

  Nita did as instructed, and the machine beeped. There was a click, and a small green light went on. Kovit then took out the fob and pressed it. A second green light went on. Kovit opened the door, which didn’t appear to be locked. Nita couldn’t even see a bolt hole in it where the locking mechanism would attach.

  “The thumb scanner isn’t for the lock?” Nita asked.

  Kovit shook his head. “No. The building’s unlocked. The thumb scanner and key fob are to disable the mustard gas release mechanism. It kicks in automatically when any door or window is opened unless the thumb scanner is used to disable it.”

  Nita opened her mouth, then closed it. Of course there was mustard gas. Tear gas was just so passé. Why incapacitate your enemies when you could murder them?

  Kovit led her in through the foyer. The room was sparse. A staircase led up, and other than that, there was a bookrack. Nothing more. It looked like a show home, brand-new and waiting for someone to fill it with life.

  Nita looked around. “Where’s all the stuff?”

  “Upstairs. Reyes never left anything down here because she didn’t want to get mustard gas in it if someone decided to break in.”

  “Has anyone ever tried?”

  “Not that I know of.” He shrugged. “Though I figure someone must have a long time ago—there’s too many contingencies in place for it to be entirely preventative.”

  Nita nodded absently, and then started up the stairs. Kovit followed.

  She immediately regretted going first. She didn’t like having Kovit where she couldn’t see him. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him—well, maybe a little—she just wanted him in her line of sight. This partnership wasn’t exactly the most stable dynamic she’d ever had. But then again, she’d only ever worked with her parents. That wasn’t a good baseline. Maybe everyone was scared of the people they worked with?

  Not likely. Most people weren’t working with people who reveled in the pain of others. Right?

  The steps creaked as she ascended. On the second floor, there were several rooms. A bedroom, bed made, clothes in drawers and hung neatly in the closet. Not a mote of dust out of place. A mosquito net hung over the bed, and an air conditioning unit perched above the window.

  The next room was a study, with a laptop and two screens. There were no papers, pens, or any other paraphernalia Nita associated with studies, though. The wooden chair had no cushions. Another air conditioning unit sat above the desk, though it wasn’t on.

  The third room was empty. Just bare wood floor.

  Nita turned to Kovit. “Start with the computer?”

  He nodded, and they retreated to the den. Nita flipped the laptop up, but was prompted for a password. She swore.

  Kovit leaned over and squinted at the screen. Then he typed something.

  You have entered the wrong password. Please try again.

  He tried something else.

  “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Nita asked him.

  “None.” He grinned, a cheeky, childish smile. “But I might as well give it a shot.”

  None of his guesses worked, and they were locked out of the laptop. Nita closed the top, unhappy. She’d been hoping she could get internet, see if there were messages from either of her parents. Maybe check the news to see what her father had been arrested for, or if he’d been transferred to INHUP custody.

  Nita frowned. She hadn’t thought of that before. Why were the Chicago police holding him, and not INHUP? If they’d found out about her family’s black market business selling unnaturals, then her father shouldn’t be in Chicago PD custody. Maybe something else had happened?

  Nita ran her fingers through her hair and gripped the strands just against her skull in her fists. She wished she knew. Not knowing was going to drive her crazy. She had no clue what had happened to her father, if her mother had done something to him, nothing. Once she escaped, how was she supposed to figure out what to do if she didn’t know?

  Rage at her mother continued to burble just under the surface, but she pushed it away. It wasn’t productive to think about that now. Focus on escape. Then on everything else.

  “Nita? I think I found a safe.”

  Kovit had pulled out a drawer with a small locked box in it. It had a combination lock. Nita knelt beside it and listened. She heightened her hearing, trying to make it more and more sensitive. Then she turned the dial. She enhanced her hearing until she could hear the pins tumbling.

  She closed her eyes so she could focus better, stopped at the click, then turned the other way.

  A few minutes later, the lock box was open and the contents spread across the floor.

  They were disappointing.

  A list of sales ledgers that indicated Reyes was making a lot of money, but neither hide nor hair of said money. The printouts were dated the end of last month, and Nita wondered why Reyes even bothered with hard copies, until she realized they were in the middle of the jungle, which wasn’t really healthy for electronics or a good internet connection. Kovit’s passport was also there, but since it said he was born in Los Angeles, she figured it was fake. Kovit seemed pleased by its appearance and immediately pocketed it.

  There was also a list of names, as well as dates and amounts. This was all handwritten, not typed. Nita wasn’t sure what it meant. She showed it to Kovit, and he looked through.

  “Bribes.”

  Nita blinked and took the list back. “How can you be sure?”

  He pointed to the top of each page, where there was a single letter. One page was I, another PB, and another PP.

  “I is for INHUP. PB is Policía Brasileña. PP is Policía Peruana.” He flipped through a few other pages and paused on another one labeled F. “I bet this is FBI.”

  Nita ran her fingers down the names. “How can you be sure?”

  “This one,” he pointed to one of the INHUP names. “I know of him. He’s in the zannie division, I forget which branch.” Kovit gave Nita a crooked grin. “I like to know who to avoid. I track all zannie-related news and make notes on the agents involved.”

  “I see.”

  Of course there would be corruption in INHUP. There was corruption in everything. People had yet to design an incorruptible police force or government, or an incorruptible anything, really. You’d have to change human nature to do that.

  Nita knew that better than most. Her parents paid multiple bribes to ship their products in the US. Half the American customs agents were probably in her mother’s pocket. Not to mention the police officers and medical examiners she’d paid to let her take bodies. Nita remembered her mother paying a lot of money to a detective in Chicago when she was a kid to have a murder investigation go away after a job went wrong.

  Nita hesitated, eyes running down the list. Had she accidentally sent Fabricio into the lion’s den? She hoped not—it would make all she’d done for nothing.

  Her fingers ran over the list of names, and she wondered how valuable a list like this would be.

  Kovit sighed and leaned back. “There’s nothing helpful here.”

  “We should check the other rooms. Maybe there’s another safe or something?” Nita pocketed the paper.

  Kovit nodded, and they decided to split up. Kovit took the bedroom, and Nita took the empty room.

  She stood in the room, looking at the bare walls, the bare floor. She walked, listening for a change in the sound, indicating a cavity ben
eath the floor. But the boards were all uneven, and every step she took sounded different. It was hopeless.

  Nita sat down and realized for the first time since she’d shot Reyes, she was alone. No Kovit. No one to see her meltdown.

  But she couldn’t seem to cry. Her eyes prickled, but the tears didn’t come. Her chest constricted, and she folded over herself.

  Nita had killed Reyes. She’d held the gun, and in full knowledge of what she was doing, she’d pulled the trigger. She’d never thought she’d kill someone. She’d said she wouldn’t. What did anything mean anymore, now that she’d broken that rule?

  Her mind swirled with memories, Reyes’ blood on the floor, the look on the woman’s face when the bullet hit.

  You had to do it, Nita.

  I know.

  And she did, but it didn’t make it any easier.

  And then she was crying. It felt good to give the pain inside her a physical outlet. Not great wracking sobs, just sad, salty tears. She felt like if she could cry all her emotion out, the pain of what she’d done would flow out with it.

  It didn’t, but she still felt better afterward.

  When Kovit barged into the room, Nita stumbled in her effort to stand up quickly and wipe her eyes, trying to hide what had happened. But he didn’t seem to notice, his eyes wide with worry.

  “We have a problem.”

  “What?” Nita’s voice choked.

  “Jorge and Renzo are here. They’re walking up to the building now.”

  Nita ran over to the shutters and peered out in time to see Reyes’ two guards approach the door and knock.

  Twenty-Four

  NITA SPUN AROUND, eyes wide as she faced Kovit. “What do we do?”

  Kovit’s eyes darted around the empty room, as though searching for some clue that would tell him how to proceed. “I don’t know.”

  “If we don’t answer the door, maybe they’ll go away?” Nita hedged.

  He shook his head. “We disabled the gas. The security is green, and they’ll be able to see that on the thumb pad. They’ll know someone is here.”

  Sure enough, there was a faint scrape and the thunk of rubber boots on wooden flooring as the guards entered the house below.

  Nita swore. What should they do?

  Kovit pulled out his switchblade and eyed the gun in Nita’s pocket. Nita’s hand hovered over it protectively.

  “You’re not thinking about killing them, are you?” Nita asked. “I’m not a great shot.”

  The footfalls were starting up the stairs, and Kovit hesitated before shaking his head. “It might work, but they’re both armed and know how to use their guns.” He looked pointedly at Nita’s pocket, where her gun rested. She took it out and handed it to him. He shook his head. “I prefer my knife.”

  Nita snorted. “Are you really going to take a knife to a gunfight?”

  “Yes.” He fingered his switchblade. “I’ve never been good with guns. They lack finesse.”

  Nita rolled her eyes and kept the gun.

  “If we attacked and even one of them got away, we’d be absolutely screwed.” Kovit frowned. “Once he gets into the market . . . well, let’s just say pieces of us would be for sale within an hour.”

  Part of Nita was relieved, and part of her was panicked. It would be so much easier if they could just get rid of the guards, once and for all. Eliminate everyone who might notice Nita’s escape.

  It wouldn’t help with the long-term problem of the online video. You can’t escape the internet.

  That can be dealt with later. The guards are here now.

  Kovit made a decision, snapping his switchblade closed and pocketing it. “I’ll find out what they want.” He took a step toward the door, and then turned back to Nita. “If it looks like they’re not buying it, shoot them.”

  Nita nodded, but her hands shook.

  The first one is always the hardest. Her mother had said that about dissections, but surely it applied equally to murder. Lorenzo and Jorge should be easier, right?

  Nita felt like everything was crumbling inside her. All the pieces that made her herself had been shifted, moved out of order, and while she was scrambling to pick them up, life continued, and everything seemed to scramble them up more. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This was never how it was supposed to be. Nita was supposed to save up enough money to buy herself a new identity and go to college, and leave her mother. She wasn’t supposed to become her mother, killing everyone in her way.

  Life seemed to have different ideas for her.

  Kovit’s voice came strong and clear as Nita edged to the door, gun in hand. “Jorge, Renzo. Have you seen Reyes?”

  “No,” one of them responded. Lorenzo, she thought. It was clear from his voice he wasn’t comfortable with something. Kovit? Using English? Nita didn’t know. “We looked too. She’s not here?”

  Nita peered through the door, hoping she could see what was happening. The angle was sideways, so she could make out the profile of Kovit and part of his face, and the backs of the guards.

  Kovit shook his head, shoulders loose, creepy smile set across his face like a weapon at the ready. “No. She called me, but wasn’t here.” His smile widened, and he leaned forward, body language screaming predator. “What about you?”

  Lorenzo flinched and took one step back, then straightened himself and gave Kovit a challenging look, despite his still shaking hands. Kovit chuckled and leaned back, loose grin crooked like a shattered picture frame.

  “Yes. She asked us to pick up the package.” Lorenzo turned to Jorge and slipped into Spanish. “Fuck, Jorge, I can’t deal with that monster. You talk to it.”

  “No, I can’t speak English, remember? Just ask him if he has the package. That’s obviously why Reyes called him over.”

  Lorenzo said, “Give us the package, and we’ll go.”

  Kovit’s smile never fell as he shook his head. Slowly. Patiently. Nita had never seen a headshake that menacing. She felt like when he stopped, bad things would happen. Even though she knew he was playing them, she still felt her heart rate spike with each motion he made. “I can’t do that without Reyes’ approval. I’m not willing to risk her wrath.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He won’t give it to us without Reyes’ say-so.”

  “Fuck. The boat is due to arrive any minute. Given how much the customer is paying, I don’t think Reyes will want us to keep him waiting.”

  Lorenzo swallowed, hands twitching, sweat glistening on his forehead. “What do we do?”

  “Call Reyes.” Jorge’s voice was firm. “Get her to tell him to give us the arm.”

  “We should just take it.”

  “I’m not going against that pain-eating psychopath if I don’t have to. Are you?”

  Arm. They wanted an arm. They assumed Kovit had brought it. Reyes had been going to see Nita at an unscheduled time.

  Fuck, had someone bought Nita’s arm overnight? Or Mirella’s?

  Shit shit shit. This was not good. They weren’t leaving without an arm.

  Wait—how was this person paying for the arm? If it was cash, then maybe Nita could take some of it. After all, the guards would bring it back to Reyes’ house, right? But it might be bank transfer.

  Either way, if the guards didn’t show up with Nita’s arm, then there’d be an angry client, who sounded rich enough to have his own guards. Guards who might come up to see what was taking Reyes so long.

  Nita needed more time. She needed people to stop sniffing around right now.

  They wanted an arm. A woman’s arm, presumably—but how would they know who the arm belonged to?

  Nita had a bad idea.

  But it might work.

  “We’ll call Reyes.” Lorenzo’s voice was a little too high, and Nita could hear the beep as he pushed a button on his phone.

  Nita peeked through the door and tried to signal Kovit. He didn’t see her, his gaze focused on creeping out the second guard. He was doing a good job too, as
Lorenzo’s whole body was stiff with repressed terror.

  Damn it. She needed to get Kovit’s attention.

  She looked down at her hand. There was one way.

  Did she want to do this? It might set a precedent—she didn’t want Kovit assuming that this was okay. But when she thought about it, she realized that for the moment, she wasn’t too worried about Kovit deciding to hurt her. They needed each other to get out of here.

  So she switched on her pain circuits in one finger—just one, she couldn’t cope with the level of pain she’d have to endure by turning all of them on.

  It hurt.

  Nita clenched her teeth to keep the whimper from escaping her lips and doubled over, pressing her finger against her stomach as every single nociceptor in her pinkie tested to make sure it was still working. It felt like her finger had been dipped in lava, and everything was melting off.

  There was a sharp intake of breath in the other room, followed by Kovit’s voice. “Good plan. I’ll take a look and see if there are any messages on my phone.”

  Nita backed away from the door as Kovit slipped through. Nita’s finger throbbed.

  Kovit gave her a tight smile and seemed to suppress a shudder. “I gather you wanted my attention?”

  “They came here to get my or Mirella’s arm—it’s been sold. They won’t leave without it, no matter what.”

  Kovit’s hand reached into his pocket for his switchblade. “No other way?”

  She grabbed his arm, stopping him. His skin was as sticky with sweat as her own, and she quickly peeled her hand away. Kovit stared at her, one eyebrow raised.

  “I’m going to get an arm.” Nita opened the shutter on the second-floor window, pushed aside the mosquito netting, and looked down at the ground. She let out a breath. It wasn’t too far a jump—she could heal any damage it might cause. Then she turned back to Kovit. “I’ll pick up Reyes’ phone when I get there. She has your cell number, right? I’ll call when I’m back—you pretend it’s Reyes calling and then give them the arm. Stall until then.”