by Elin Wyn
I shook my head and took another step. "So, taking the woman was all your idea? Part of your business?"
Sary's hand flexed, just a micrometer, but enough for me to react before he could complete the movement. The pellets of my phasor knocked the weapon from his hand, his short burst of fire striking the wall to my side.
I vaulted over the desk to smash his face against its heavy top. "I'd go easy on you, but, as you said, you run your own business. So, taking Kara comes back to you." I leaned a bit more, fighting to keep the rage down. "Where is she?"
"Filthy bitch stole from me," he grunted. "Fuck you."
I reached down and broke the pinky of his left hand. "Try again."
He hissed in pain. "You're a dead man." His low voice was still far too controlled.
"I don't think you're listening to me." I broke two more digits in quick succession and waited.
"You can't do this," he screamed, spittle flecking his lips.
I crunched the next finger, feeling it snap. "All day long, actually. Where is she?"
He glared at me from the corner of his eye but said nothing.
I leaned over to whisper in his ear. "You have two choices. Tell me where she is, and live. Or play this stupid game, and I'll carve you into pieces so small the Empire's best regenerator wouldn't know where to start."
Sary stared at the wall, silent.
"Time to start with larger joints, then." I moved my grip to his elbow, and finally, he flinched.
"I'll kill you for this," he gasped.
"You're welcome to try," I acknowledged. "But after I get the woman out."
In the end, it didn't take much to win his 'cooperation.' One thing we'd learned doing errands for the Doc was that most big men have very little trouble ordering others to take punishments but seldom can stand up to receive it.
I wrenched Sary to his feet, and with a little more encouragement, he showed us a secret panel in the wall that silently slid open before us.
"A hidden lift tube," Bani breathed.
Damn. I'd forgotten he was there.
Not that he was some innocent, but a part of me regretted he'd seen me do all of that. Not that my brothers and I had experienced some idyllic childhood, but I always thought kids should be left out of the work, if possible.
I glanced down to check on him, only to find see him glaring at Sary, eyes blazing with hate.
Well then. Maybe I was worried over nothing.
As we stepped inside the cramped space, Sary shielded the keypad with his body and entered a code. Amateur. Not even nine digits long, and he'd left the sound option active on the keypad.
I kept the older man's body in front of us as we stepped off, just in case of unpleasant surprises. But only the near-silent hum of machinery greeted us on the empty floor.
"What is this place?" Bani asked.
"My secret, little rat. You and your enforcer friend picked the wrong side." Sary laughed, the sound oily and grating.
A yelp broke off the noise as Bani kicked him in the knee.
"Dammit, kid, he's already a pain to carry."
Sary pointed to one of a line of doorways. "She's in there."
After the keypad and hidden lift tube, I was surprised that a simple biolock was the only security by each of the doors. I guess he thought if you got this far, you were supposed to be here. Definitely an amateur.
He slapped his palm against the plate and a blast of foggy cold air rolled out as the door slid open.
"She's inside," his voice whining now. "Take the bitch and go."
My mind blanked. I threw Sary against the wall, no longer caring what the kid saw or didn't.
If the old bastard had left Kara in here, if she'd been in the freezing cold for the hours since Bani saw her taken...
"Stay here," I grunted. "Watch that the door doesn't close behind me."
The shock on Bani's face let me know he'd realized the grim possibilities.
Inside, I searched through the freezing fog. A small room, easily missed in a search, if there had been a police force or any sort of authority to look. Crates and boxes all about as wide as my forearm lined one wall and part of the other.
Nothing. Across the back of the wall, a shelf held more of the boxes. I turned, ready to wake Sary by any means necessary, make him show us where she really was, when I saw it.
Just the toe of a leather boot sticking out from under the shelf, behind a row of boxes.
I swore at myself, knocking the boxes to the side, spilling small bags of some greyish powder in my haste to reach her.
"What?" Bani yelled from the doorway.
"Stay back." Kara looked so small, curled under the shelf, stripped of all her life and energy. Mottled purple surrounded one eye, giving her face the only color.
I laid my hand gently on her neck. Damn, she was like ice. And although I waited for a pulse, nothing. I bowed my head, still crouched over her. Sary, Xavis, they would all pay. It would be a delay, but she was worth it. She'd died, getting information for me. Avenging her would be my honor.
I blinked. The faintest of movements.
There it was again.
A heartbeat, weakened and thready, but there. With no more time for thought, I stripped off my jacket and wrapped it around her, then lifted her in my arms.
"Come on, kid," I said softly. "Let's get her home."
One more fucking hassle. The tube had slid closed behind us, the shock of finding Kara in the cold had distracted me. And instead of the keypad I'd so helpfully memorized the code for, another biolock mocked me next to the opening of the tube.
Bani looked between me, the lock, and the unconscious form of Sary.
"I can't carry her," his voice was harder than it had been ten minutes ago. "But I can do this." He roughly dragged Sary's unconscious body to the lift tube and wrenched the torso up until the man's palm was flat against the plate.
A soft chime congratulated him.
Bani dropped Sary back to the hard floor without a second glance.
We stepped into the lift tube and left the house, silent and grim.
"Lead on, kid," I asked him, forcing my eyes away from her too-still face, willing her to wake, to move even the slightest bit.
"What?" he stopped on the pavement, face blank.
"I don't know where she lives. We need to get her home."
"You mean, she's not..." His voice cracked, and I swore at myself again.
"No, she's not dead." Yet, the evil voice in the back of my head chimed in. "But we need to get her warm and safe, as soon as possible."
He slumped against the wall, his breath in long gasps. "I thought I was too late, that I should have gone in without finding you, that because of me she'd died."
"Knock it off," I growled. "You did good. Now, keep it up, okay?"
He nodded and headed through the side streets.
I mapped our path with only half my mind, watching her for any growing signs of life, to no avail. For the second time in one long day, I carried her through the streets of Ghelfi. I wanted her angry, even hating me, rather than so cold and still.
We turned into a dark building I would have thought long abandoned but for the faint rustling in the farthest rooms of the ground floor.
Then up a flight of stairs so cramped I had to pull her in closer so her legs didn't hit the walls.
“Sorry,” Bani muttered. “The lift tube has never worked, long as I remember.”
At the top floor, the air was stuffy. Only one closed door faced us, the rest opening onto storage rooms.
"Can you take her hand," I asked him, eyeing the grimy lock plate.
Bani laughed. "No need." He lifted a small, thin piece of metal from where it had lain hidden under debris at the bottom of the wall facing the stairs, and slid it between the edge of the door and the frame. A series of twitches, and then a click. He pulled the metal shim out as the door jerked open, the mechanism groaning.
I shook my head, but he just shrugged. "The lock's nev
er worked, either. She always said she didn't want to waste money on it."
Jaw clamped firmly shut, I stepped through, eyes sweeping the room for any other threats.
But what greeted us, I'd never have anticipated.
Deepest black covered the walls and ceiling, studded with tiny lights. The positions were all wrong, but if I didn't know the charts, it would have been easy to imagine I walked under a night sky.
A click, and a soft pink column glowed. Bani stood next to a narrow bed. I glanced around.
Other than the bed, the room was almost empty. The only furnishings were painted in the same deep black, fading into the wall. But I could make out a small dresser and, next to it, a table. From the stylus and tablet placed carefully in the middle, I assumed that she used it as a standing desk. The cleansing booth and other necessaries were in the far corner, partially blocked by a half-wall.
And that was all.
I lowered her gently onto the mattress and eased off her boots. Her feet were blue-gray and when I held them gently between my palms to try to get some warmth back into her, their coldness sent ice through my hands.
"Where're her things?"
Bani moved next to me to watch as I alternated between her feet, hoping for any reaction.
"She's never had any. It's always been this way."
I glanced around again. No family mementos, no trinkets. Nothing that made the space her own, other than the painting of the night sky.
How long had she scrimped and saved to get off this planet?
Her feet began to show the first tinges of blush, signs blood flow was returning.
I tucked them under the covers and carefully laid my jacket on top, adding its weight to the thin blankets.
Her hands didn't look quite as bad. Maybe she'd had the presence of mind to try to keep her fingers moving before the cold took her. Still, the tips were waxy as I held them.
"She may need more than this." I reached into my jacket and pulled out a credit spike.
I held it out to Bani. “Take this. Find Artin, find a medkit, get some of that soup he makes that she liked so much."
"How much is on it," he asked but didn't hesitate to take the spike from my hand.
"Enough." More than enough, really, but I would use what I needed to get this fixed.
"Does Artin know how to get here with the soup?"
Bani shook his head. "She doesn't like people knowing where she lives. She's had a couple boyfriends here, I think, but otherwise, I don't know of anybody else."
I brushed the lock of hair back from her face, surprised at how much the thought of boyfriends bothered me.
"I'll tell her I had to beat the location out of you, okay?"
"Honestly, I'd rather her be mad at you than me." He headed for the door "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Within seconds, he had done whatever to the door to force it open and then closed it again. Next time I’d have to watch him, have him show me the trick of it. But for now, I didn't really care.
"So cold," Kara murmured, her hand wrapping around my wrist, seeking my body heat.
My shoulders slumped with relief at her words, and I allowed myself the first full breath I'd taken since Bani told me she'd been captured.
I eyed the bed warily. There was no way it would hold both of us. To be honest, it didn't look like I would fit at all, even on my own.
We’d have to make it work. I shifted where I sat on the mattress next to her, then gently lifted her, nestling her upper body against my chest. After swaddling her legs in the blankets, I wrapped my arms around her.
"You're safe now," I murmured. Leaning back against the wall, I rested my cheek against the top of her head and reveled in the feel of her warming, coming back to life.
“And even if you hate me for it, I'll do whatever I need to do to keep you out of danger.”
Kara
My dreams were of cold and fire. Cold stealing my breath, taking the movement from my limbs, dragging me into an endless darkness.
Only cold, and pain, and terror.
And then, it was gone.
For the first time since I couldn't remember, I felt safe. Warmth pushed away the last tinges of the nightmare that had held me, but the odd feeling of safety ran through it like threads in a blanket.
I stretched, luxuriating in the feeling. My muscles were stiff, as if I'd been in one position for far too long. Through half-cracked eyelids, I drowsily traced out the secret constellations on my wall, known only to me, since I'd painted the room without reference to any charts.
My breath hitched. What was I doing back home? I'd been out working, looking for something, when...
I shivered, curling in on myself, icy fingers stretching back out of memory to pull me back. My eyes squeezed tight, fighting against it.
"Stop that," rumbled a low voice, so close it startled me despite the quiet tone.
Fully awake now, my eyes flew open. I was home, but, more importantly, why was I lying on top of Davien, and, most importantly of all, why was he in my bed?
His arms tightened around me, and I realized what I thought had been a comfortable blanket over my chest was him. I'd felt safe, and with him. And we're not going to think about that now, I decided.
"What's going on?" I managed.
"I don't know, but you got all stiff again. I've been telling you, everything's alright now." He tilted his head to look at me, eyes searching over my face.
I scrubbed at my cheek, unsure of what he was looking for. "I don't remember much, other than the cold."
His lips pressed into a grim line for a flash, so quickly I might have missed it, then softened again. "Not much to remember. Bani saw Sary's soldiers take you. He was smart and came and found me. It's all been taken care of."
My turn to search his face, looking for what exactly he meant by 'taken care of.' Nothing good for Sary's men, I was sure. But how bad? That was an obligation I wasn't sure I could take on.
"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to do that, not for me. That wasn't our agreement."
The lines around the corners of his mouth harshened. "What are you talking about?"
"This wasn't related to Helmet Head. Sary's after me for a stupid job that went wrong.” He shrugged, as if wanting me to drop it, but I couldn't. I paid my debts. “You shouldn't have had to get involved."
"Figured you're still worth more to me alive."
I laughed, maybe a little shakily, but it was my best effort. "Most folks wouldn't kill to protect their investment. Not such a questionable one, anyway."
He lifted me up just enough to turn me on his lap, facing him. "Who said I killed anyone?"
"Not sure how else you would have convinced Sary to let me go,” I half shrugged, not comfortable with any of this.
His lips twitched. “Wouldn't have minded. Not really built to care. But....” What was that expression crossing his face, could it be for the first time since we met, Mr. Arrogant was looking a little sheepish?
“But…” I coaxed.
“I didn't. Just roughed them up some.” Of all the things to be embarrassed about, this? “The kid was watching.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed at his sour expression. “You pulled your punches because of Bani's delicate sensibilities?”
He shrugged, looking anywhere but at me. “You seem to care about the kid. Didn't know how much you wanted him to see.”
Now I was the one embarrassed. “That's sweet. Possibly a bit misguided, but sweet. Mavi's right. You're one of the good ones.”
He looked away, obviously uncomfortable.
I lowered my voice. “No, really, you are.” Tempted, I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his. “Thanks for rescuing me.”
“Always.”
A dark hunger underlay that one word, a passion and relentlessness.
His eyes fixed on mine, unreadable. In that moment, the habitual smirk was gone from his lips, replaced by firm resolution. And a promise I didn't understand, but want
ed to.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as I darted forward to taste him again, and this time he enveloped me in a crushing embrace.
Heat seared through me, scorching trails left by his hands as they roamed over my back, pulling me even closer. I ran my hands through his short hair, then ran one finger against the edge of a pointed ear. His tongue speared me, and I opened to him without question, moaning against him.
The sound spurred him harder, as his hands ran lower on my back, grabbing my hips, grinding me into him. Through my pants, I could feel the hard length of him, a wave of need clawing through me.
And then I heard a cough from the door.
I froze, and he pulled me to the side of the bed away from the door, twisting his torso between me and any oncoming threat.
But he couldn’t block the daggers that went through my heart at Bani’s shocked expression.
Bani held a gray insulated bag limply at his side. He shoved it in front of his chest, face wooden. “I got this for you.”
I came around the side of the bed, moving slowly, unsure of myself, of him, in this new tension between us.
“Oh, Void, is that from Artin’s?”
He didn’t answer, just moved around me to put the bag on the desktop, then dug in his pocket for a chip. “He wouldn’t take payment.” He didn’t look around, but put another box beside the chip and the gray bag. “Best I could find at this time of night.”
“You did good, kid,” Davien answered him, while I just blinked. Obviously, I’d missed a few more things.
But that didn’t matter, not now. I wrapped one arm around Bani’s stiff shoulders. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
He shrugged me off and stepped away. “I didn’t do anything. Gotta go.”
“You got me food,” I tried to keep my tone light. Since when did I care who went where? “Stay and eat at least.”
“Nah.” He backed away. “Hoyt said he wanted to scout out a place for the littles to crash, figure I’ll look him up.”
He moved out the door before I could stop him.
Davien squeezed my shoulder. “Eat now. You can fix it tomorrow.”
“But…” I sputtered.
“He’s had a hard night, too. And now, he went and got you food. You don’t want it?”
