Cardinal, (Citizen Saga, Book 2)

by Claire, Nicola

  It wasn't why I was here. Harjeet hadn't mentioned it. But it was locked away with something the D'awan had considered worthwhile. And nothing Harjeet Kandiyar did was without purpose. I'd already planned to look into the flash-drive before I handed it over, aware the risks that move held could be quite fatal. But Harjeet was a dangerous enough man without me giving him more ammunition. And this flash-drive could be lethal in the wrong hands.

  But now I had another mystery to solve. Why lock a vid-screen up inside a safe drawer? What else was the Overseer trying to hide?

  I reached in and pulled the vid-screen out, then without thinking further, powered it on.

  It opened to an article; an internal memo from the offices of the Chief Overseer. I scanned the writing, feeling sicker by the second, as each new pronouncement was made. I was just about to flick the vid-screen to the next page, eager to find out what else the memo uncovered, when the door in the main room opened with a soft click.

  My head swung towards the door to the office and then just as quickly scanned the room for a place to hide. There was more than one voice out in the main room, which gave me reason to believe the bedrooms would be out. Unless Overseer Markham was having an affair and had stupidly brought his liaison to the hotel suite he was sharing with his wife.

  I jumped up, returning the drawer to its position as quietly as I could, blood thundering through my veins and making it difficult to distinguish the voices from out in the main room. The keypad cover took two fumbling efforts to replace and sweat had beaded my forehead when I made it to my knees to push the button under the desk again, hiding the keypad away.

  When I stood, it was as if I hadn't been there. Apart from the fact I had the flash-drive hidden in my handbag and the vid-screen was sitting on the surface of the desk.

  I swore loudly inside my head and swiped up the device, slipping it into my handbag where anyone who cared to check could see it, then crossed to the door and tried to decide if I had time to make it to one of the bedrooms.

  The voices were arguing. Both male, I realised, and still down by the front door to the suite. I took my chance and crossed the hall, entering the second bedroom. Hopefully not being used and a safe place to stay. Unless the second male voice was a guest of the Markhams' and I'd just entered his room. I scanned the décor and furnishings, relieved to not find a suit jacket lying across the armchair by the bed or any other evidence of the room being in use.

  A windowed ranch-slider led onto a deck. I ran across soft carpet, making no noise, to reach the glass and peered at the balcony. Clear balustrades gave the impression the room was floating high enough to reach the clouds, should they have been out today. But the balcony was self-contained, and one quick glance left and right told me it led nowhere that I could discern. I had no ropes with me. No climbing gear to try to scale the walls of this impossibly high structure. Jumping to another balcony would surely prove suicidal. So I crossed that escape route off my list and returned to the door.

  There was a cupboard. A wardrobe, that may or may not make a noise when I pulled the mirrored door aside. The bed, on closer inspection as I looked over my shoulder from the door, went to the floor, and offered no hiding spot beneath. I could crouch down behind it, but I may as well crouch behind the door if that was my only out.

  I closed my eyes, tried to still the rapid beat of my heart, and sucked in silent breaths through my opened mouth. I might be checking into The Quay Resort after all. And not from the front reception desk.

  I leaned forward and placed my heated forehead against the back of the door, and tried to listen to what was being said, now more restrained, out in the main room. At least they hadn't ventured down the hallway yet. The office was opposite, so I was certain that might feature at some stage. If I was lucky, they'd shut the door, and I could sneak out, down the hallway and out the front exit. Before Lady Markham arrived.

  I checked my watch. Five-thirty. Overseer Markham hadn't stopped for a quick bet. But who had he brought home with him?

  I fished out my bionic-ear amplifier and placed it in my ear, tweaking the volume and range so I could listen without distortion.

  A voice I didn't recognise was talking. It could have been Markham's. It could have been someone else's. But it wasn't happy.

  "You have no idea how it will go! You're putting faith in a machine that you cannot fully control."

  At a guess, he was talking about Shiloh. But then, there could have been more the Overseers were working on than just her. The memo on the vid-screen had my mind reeling at possibilities I'd really rather not entertain.

  "I will not support you on this," the same voice insisted. "It goes against all good conscience. This is not the vision we had for our Wánměi."

  He spoke with conviction and passion, and an obvious love of our country that all Citizens still had. Despite our society's restrictions. If I didn't know he was an Elite, I could have respected his words. But the Honourable in him rode out.

  "Being Elite was never meant to be exclusive. We are all capable of aspiring to such heights."

  So like my father. I lifted my head and took a step closer to the gap in the still opened door, hoping to get a look at the person talking. I couldn't, but the need to see his face, to determine if my father knew him, was acute. My hand gripped the edge of the door, forgetting to hide my presence. My palm was slick with sweat, making my fingers slip as I tightened them.

  "Surely, you of all people," the same voice went on, "understand that better than most."

  I held my breath, waiting for the second man to answer, knowing already I wasn't going to like what I heard.

  "Markham," a deep and familiar voice chastised. "You think Selena is behind these vandalising messages?"

  Oh, good Lord. This was a thousand times worse than just being trapped in an Overseer's hotel suite.

  "My fiancée is being coerced," Wang Chao advised, and my fists clenched.

  "So, you don't agree?" Markham pushed. "One Wánměi," he added.

  My heart skipped a painful beat inside my chest.

  "More than just that, Overseer," Wang Chao replied. I could practically see the sneer on his face at those sharply flung words. "I applaud my father's creation. In fact, I believe in it so fully I am prepared to sacrifice whatever is necessary for it to succeed."

  "What do you mean, Chief Overseer?" Markham queried, but I could hear the fear that had suddenly entered his voice. I felt a little sick to my stomach on his behalf.

  "You know what it means, Jeffrey," Wang Chao said, almost companionably. I shook my head, profoundly saddened.

  "I'm sure I don't." The Overseer attempted an Elite tone. I closed my eyes. It had fallen flat when his voice had cracked on the last word.

  "Tsk, tsk," Wang Chao reprimanded. I hated what I heard in his superior tone. "And I thought you were a good addition to the Overseers. Clearly your cowardice and socialist views were missed."

  "What are you...!" Markham managed to shout, and then was silenced by the electrical buzz and whine of a drone's laser gun, making me jolt against the wall in utter terror. Wang Chao was not alone.

  The noise went on for so long, and was at such a high frequency I had to pull the bionic-ear out before it ruptured my eardrum. A buzz set up shop in my right ear, making it hard to tell if it was coming from the drone, out in the main room with Wang Chao, or me.

  "That will do," the Chief Overseer advised and the drone cut off the laser.

  The smell of burned flesh could be detected even down my end of the suite. I think I could taste it, in the back of my suddenly very dry throat. It was choking me.

  "Guard the door," he instructed. "If the wife turns up, detain her, but get rid of any guest."

  "Do you desire for a wiping, Chief Overseer?" the drone asked, in Shiloh's High-Anglisc voice.

  My breaths stuttered to a halt.

  "Of course, but let me speak with her first."

  "As you wish," Shiloh replied, compliantly. Panic making her so
und more ominous than the robotic voice ever had before.

  "I won't be a moment," Wang Chao advised, his steps sounding closer on the wooden floor of the hall. A harsh breath left me as panic threatened to consume.

  I moved back from the doorway and leaned against the wall, my heart in my throat and my mind reeling. My body shaking with the knowledge that Wang Chao had just killed a man. That I was trapped in a hotel suite with a monster.

  I'd known he was capable of it, and maybe the drone had fired and not him, but it had most definitely been on his command. My childhood friend was a murderer. As much so as his father had been.

  I opened my eyes and stared across the room blindly. For a second not registering the movement out on the balcony for what it was.

  That deck had been isolated, I was sure. Getting on it from anywhere else would have taken an enormous risk. Not many people would have bothered unless their life was in danger first.

  Of course, with Trent Masters, it didn't need to be his life that was in danger for him to take a monumental chance, such as this. No. For the rebel leader, he'd look out for more than just himself.

  He'd even look out for me.

  And I really wasn't sure how to take that.

  Chapter 27

  What Else Could I Fucking Do?

  Trent

  From the moment I'd realised Lena was heading up to the Markhams' suite, which happened to be on the penthouse floor, I'd known things were going to be bad. No wonder she'd spent four hours on the SkyPark deck waiting for Lady Markham to arrive. Gaining access to the highest security level The Quay had to offer its guests would have taken more than her usual arsenal of tools.

  But somehow she'd done it, because there she was, standing in the spare bedroom, face white, fists clenched, eyes closed, and body trembling as I watched from the balcony I'd just fucking hauled myself up to.

  And that had not been one of the better decisions I'd ever made.

  Two hundred metres up, a thin fucking rope my only hope of survival, sweat coating my skin and making my gloveless hands slip as I'd gripped the glass balustrade. Twice I was certain I'd fall to my death. Or, at least, fall as far as Alan would have let me.

  Which, even now, made me all kinds of fucking nervous looking out over the balcony railing. Climbing down to here had been out. The SkyPark too highly guarded to allow us to set up an abseiling anchor. Besides, it cantilevered out over the edge of the towers, making gaining access to the balconies a hard ask.

  But climbing up, from the fire-break level directly below the penthouse floor, was possible. If you packed laser guns, decoders and small plastic explosives, that is. I was still covered in concrete dust, which, what with the sweat, had just stuck to me like glue.

  My dinner suit was fucked.

  But I didn't have time to regret that, something had happened inside the suite to make Lena jolt against the wall. Then I heard it. Through the glass, over the noise of a distant busy Quay Street way the fuck down below, a different pitch to the wind in my ears, loud enough for me to discern what it was.

  A drone's laser gun being fired.

  I'd known Lena was no longer alone. I'd seen Overseer Markham walk through the hotel foyer with Cardinal Chew-wen and his complement of drones.

  Fuck, Chief Overseer Chew-wen. I don't know why I still had trouble calling Chew-wen Wang Chao that. It wasn't that I didn't recognise the man had taken his father's spot, I had been there when General Chew-wen had died. But Chew-wen Wang Chao had been a Cardinal for as long as I'd been aware of who he was. It was impossible to forget the uniform of cream suit and blood red cape he used to wear. The role I had impersonated on many occasions dressed as he'd always been.

  And now his drone was firing a laser gun. It could only mean one thing.

  Lena's eyes snapped open, and for a second I was sure she couldn't see me. Then those beautiful pale blues locked on my frame and widened. Immediately narrowing once she'd had a second to understand I was real.

  I'm not sure what she was thinking, but confusion might have been hidden in amongst it all there.

  I waved her towards the ranch-slider; it was locked from the inside, so I couldn't open it and go to her. Besides, getting out now was the main goal. Whether she'd managed to get what she came for or not, she needed to leave. Now.

  But the infuriating woman just shook her head. Then signalled for me to hide. I hesitated, annoyed she wasn't just fucking leaving already, and then I saw him. Stopping outside the door to the room Lena was in. Back to us, looking into a room opposite.

  I slid sideways, my heart thundering away inside my chest. I was too late. He was searching the suite. Did he already suspect Lena was there?

  "Si," I whispered into the earpiece.

  "Yep?"

  "What's the room opposite the one Lena's in?"

  "Office."

  OK. Maybe Chew-wen was after something and Lena was still safe. For now.

  I pulled a mirror out of my pocket and checked around the side of the window, seeing if the coast was clear. Lena was still standing in the same place, behind the partially opened door. I could see directly into the office opposite; Chew-wen had left that door open, making any move Lena made to cross this room to the ranch-slider visible from where he stood at what had to be a desk.

  I saw Lena start to lean forward, but held up a hand to signal for her to wait. The second Chew-wen turned I'd get her to move. But even though the Cardinal bent down to do something, his face never went lower than the desk's surface. He'd still see her move.

  I watched him, through the small reflection of the mirror, my hand steady, my breaths anything but. Then saw the moment things really went FUBAR.

  His face stilled, all emotion tightly coiled. His head cocked to the side as though listening for a telltale sign. If he hadn't have suspected someone was in the suite before, he suspected it now.

  He said something; it was too muffled for me to hear. But Lena lifted her eyes to mine in the mirror, and I knew. I just knew. This was going to be so much worse than just bad.

  "Go!" she mouthed, desperately waving at me to leave. I shook my head. She scowled at me and continued to use two hands in a pushing motion to get her message across.

  But I wouldn't leave her. No way would I leave her. Not with him.

  Then a ranch-slider, down by what had to be the lounge of the suite, opened, and a drone stepped out. It was looking away from my end, but there was little for me to hide behind once it turned its attention towards me.

  I stepped out of my spot by the wall, facing the room Lena was in, willing her to come to me while she still had a chance.

  Open the door, Lena. Run!

  I held up the spare rope I had for her, the carabiner rattling as I shook it to make her understand. Then pointed over the edge of the deck purposely.

  She stared at me.

  I stared back.

  Then Chew-wen lifted his head from where he'd been looking at something along the edge of the desk, a frown still on his face. And his eyes met mine.

  I smiled. What else could I fucking do?

  He shouted.

  And then the drone down the end of the other balcony opened fire.

  Chapter 28

  We Were Out Of Time

  Lena

  "On the deck!" Wang Chao called out. He'd seen Trent.

  And then I watched as a laser beam missed the rebel leader by centimetres out on the other side of the sliding door. Footsteps sounded out from over in the office. Without another thought I slammed the door to the bedroom shut, hopefully in Wang Chao's face, and braced a chair under the handle, keeping him out.

  It wouldn't hold for long, but I raced over to the ranch-slider anyway, and hauled it open, feeling the heat of an approaching thunderstorm meet me as the wind rushed in, followed by the rolling body of Trent.

  "What the hell?" I called out, frantically moving to shut the door again.

  "Don't!" Trent barked, coming to his feet, apparently unharmed, and starting
to wrap the rope he still held around my chest, under my arms. "This is gonna hurt like fuck, but we had to improvise."

  "You expect me to go out there?" I yelled over the drone's continued firing of its laser gun and the sound of a very irate Wang Chao shouting outside the door to the room, which he then followed up with a solid thump from his body. He'd move on to a gun next.

  "The balcony is too far away for the drone to make it over here," Trent yelled back. But he was right, this balcony had not been attached to the main one. "You are going to have to make a run for it, though, to avoid its lasers and throw yourself over the side."

  He was mad.

  A gunshot sounded out behind us, obliterating a small section of the wooden door.

  "Selena!" Wang Chao shouted through the hole.

  I stared at the door that would only last another few seconds.

  I stared at the balcony that was lit up like a laser light show.

  "You can do it, Zebra," Trent said softly, right by my ear so I could hear. "A walk in the park for you."

  "And you?" I asked, incredulously.

  "I go where you go, or hadn't you figured that out yet?"

  Yes, well. We'd be discussing him having me followed later. For now we had no choice but to jump.

  "Ready, Alan?" Trent asked, clearly using his earpiece.

  "Selena, don't run!" Wang Chao called through the door, his hand working the chair I'd placed free, through the hole he'd created. He seemed desperate. Frantic. As though it was his life he was trying to save. Not us running for ours.

  "Now!" Trent called, giving me a push in the direction of the balcony.

  "Selena!" Wang Chao again, then, "Cease fire!" as I sprinted across the deck and leapt over the balustrade, for a second suspended in nothing but air.

  I could tell Trent was running right behind me, a foot or two, no less. But the door splintering loudly from back in the room, the buzzing escalating over on the other balcony, and then the rush of air as it whipped past my face, meant I couldn't hear his whoop! But I knew he'd made it.