by Tracy Lauren
“Perfect. Narron, equip V with a personal comm unit. I will send you both the details. And remember, this is V’s assignment. You are backup, not an active partner.” Narron grunts his acknowledgement. “And V?” The Oscillion continues. “Do not fail. I need the data in those devices.”
I nod curtly, waiting to be dismissed.
“Narron, leave us,” The Oscillion says. The look on my trainer’s face tells me he is just as surprised at the request as I am. But he doesn’t hesitate to leave. When I hear the door click shut The Oscillion rises to approach me once more. The look on his face is blank now. As far as I can see, he has no tells.
He comes so close to me that my heart begins to pound and I hope he hasn’t rethought his position on rape. When his hand finds the small of my back I startle violently and The Oscillion smiles. He leads me across the room and pulls back the curtains, showing me a view of all Quar has to offer.
There is the desert, sprawling out before us along with the dark shadows of the canyons in the distance. I can see the dots of the hangars that house the locals’ race crafts—where Dax kept his. Closer to the city, spaceships land at a steady rate along the airstrip. At the bottom of the mountain is the market, the heart and center of the city that has been built up around it. From here it all looks so still and peaceful, though I know the dusty streets are bustling with travelers all day and all night. I lose myself a little at the sight of it all, but I’m brought back when The Oscillion’s hand travels up my arm. His nails feel like razors against my skin and I try to pull away, but his fingers tighten like a vice.
“In a few short days this will be a sea of ships and tents. This race is what builds my fortune, my empire. Thousands of travelers will be here to enjoy the races. Thousands of sweaty sacks of meat who mean nothing to me save for the credits they wish to spend. But you, V, you are something special. I have great plans for you. You should be excited about that.”
I swallow and look out the window, searching for my voice. “Narron’s right. I’m not ready.”
“Explain yourself,” he says, releasing me to cross his arms over his chest and watch me with his penetrating gaze.
“I still can’t beat Narron, and I know he doesn’t use his full strength on me,” I confess.
From the corner of my eye I see The Oscillion cock his head at me. “For goodness sake, V, you have only just begun. Do you truly expect to be able to beat Narron in your first few weeks?”
“No. It’s just, you’re sending me out to do a job for you and I think if it came down to a fight, I still can’t win. Look, I’m telling you this because I don’t want to die.” I refuse to look at the monster next to me and I hate that this conversation feels like I’m expressing a vulnerability to him.
He puts his hand on my arm again and I venture a look up into those blood-red eyes. His grip on me tightens. It’s firm at first, but it grows tighter and tighter until it feels like his claws might pierce my flesh. I stare into his eyes, my own likely open windows to my fear. The bloody redness of his seems to expand, blocking out his sclera. And maybe I imagine it, but it almost looks like his sharp teeth elongate. My whole body tenses. There’s no way to hide the horror on my face.
“You belong to me, V. You do not have my permission to die,” he says. His hand still feels like danger pressed against me. “Remember that when you are out looking for my data chips and remember it the next time you think about lashing out at me.” I yank my arm and finally succeed in pulling it away from him. I feel my skin tearing as I do and cover the wound quickly with my hand. A pleasant and amused smile lights up The Oscillion’s face.
“Ease your concerns, V. I fully believe you will succeed in your task.”
“How can you be so sure?” I question dubiously. I really want to know. How can this evil man who has built up such a tremendous empire have faith in me?
His smile broadens. “Because you are capable of terrible things, all in the name of desperation,” he says warmly, causing me to recoil at the words alone. The Oscillion doesn’t seem to notice my discomfort, or at least he doesn’t seem to care. He makes his way back to his desk and picks up his tablet, resuming whatever work he does. “Believe me, V, you will come to love it here. Do you know why?”
“No,” I whisper.
“Because you are one of us. Here, you are home,” he says without looking up at me. “Now leave me and do not forget the lessons you’ve learned today nor the importance of your mission.” The Oscillion wags his finger at me, as a father would his child, and I back away quickly, hurrying for the door.
Outside Narron is waiting. He growls at me when he sees blood leaking between my fingers as I clutch at my arm.
“Yeah, like it was my fault,” I tell him angrily.
He gives me a swift smack to the back of the head. “It was. Come on. Let’s go get that cleaned up.” He grabs my braid and tosses me ahead of him, expecting me to lead the way.
“You’re a regular fucking Julie Andrews, you know that?”
Narron only grunts, giving me a shove to make me walk faster.
Chapter 35
V
“What do you mean you aren’t coming?” I ask, surprised. “I mean, you could guard the door and warn me if you see anything.”
“Do you not think it would look suspicious if Sucarm or one of his companions saw me lingering outside their room? Everyone knows who I work for. You, on the other hand…” Narron explains.
“Yeah. I guess that makes sense. What do I do if I get caught?” I ask.
“Don’t get caught,” he tells me.
“Pearls of wisdom,” I say, frowning at him. “Shouldn’t I at least have a weapon? A gun or a knife or something?”
“No. You would have a greater likelihood of having it taken from you and used against you.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence.”
“I am more confident in your ability to throw something and run.”
“Oh my god, Narron. How did I get myself into this? I shouldn’t even be here,” I sigh, rubbing my palm across my forehead.
“That is right. You should not be here. You should not be on Quar and you should not be in The Oscillion’s guard. You should be wasting away on an ugly blue planet, in a lonely little house, safe and away from all that is bad, and scary, and dangerous. You will have no objections from me in that matter. Unfortunately, you are here and our master has decided I will help train you into something vaguely useful.”
“You’re a real dick, you know that?” I tell him, but he ignores my words and hands over my new personal comm.
“Study these faces,” he says, showing me the small screen. “These five pilots are favored for winning the Rally. The Oscillion needs those data files to formulate statistics.”
“Men and sports,” I ridicule.
“Padrones and money,” he corrects, taking another small device from his pocket and passing it to me.
“Fit that over the entry pad, wait until it turns blue and then you may enter. The hotels and room numbers are all listed in your personal comm unit, with the exception of Drykn. He has not yet arrived on Quar. Now go. Get to work.”
“Sure you don’t want to come along?” I can’t believe I’m desperate enough to ask Narron to buddy up with me. I’m met with a cold, blank stare. “Fine.” I frown, pushing away from the wall and turning to head out of the alley and back to the streets.
“Where are you going, princess?” Narron asks me.
“Into the hotel so I can break into this guy Sucram’s room and steal his shit.” I shrug. “I’m not into the trick questions, Narron. If you have something to say, then hurry up and say it.”
He gives me a half smile that looks so old and rusted from lack of use I’m surprised his face doesn’t crack from the effort. “That is your entrance,” he tells me, pointing up to a small platform on the third level of the building.
“Oh, fucking great,” I say, assessing the building with my hands on my hips. There are a series o
f pipes along the outside of the structure, I guess that will have to be my route.
“I know you can dance, princess, because I’ve seen it, but they also say you can climb,” Narron says behind me. I throw him one last angry glare before I grip onto the pipe and start climbing up. He laughs as I try to find my footing. This isn’t like ascending the silks. Regardless, I still make the climb quickly enough. By the time I’m halfway up I don’t hear Narron laughing anymore.
To reach the balcony from the pipe I have to stretch a little farther than feels safe, but I grip the solid railing and transfer my weight over to it, tossing my legs up and over. Down in the darkness of the alley I can see Narron’s shadow and I flip him the bird.
The balcony itself is small. A cozy place to enjoy a cup of coffee or watch the sun set, if one were on vacation that is. And there are many more spiraling up the side of the building, all the way to the top floor for all the happy vacationers here on Quar to enjoy. I roll my eyes.
The only notable feature the balcony has to offer me is the door leading in. It slides open as I near it, dumping me out into a hallway. Each room has an electric panel by the door, and above each panel is, I assume, a room number. I scan the hall, paying close attention to the symbols. Slowly but surely my translator kicks in and I’m able to make sense of what they say. Sucram’s room number is 364. All the numbers in this hall begin with a 3. Thank goodness. For a minute there I thought Narron was just being a jerk making me come up this way, but he actually put me in the right place.
Quickly I find room 364 and do the only thing I can think of. I knock. “Room service,” I call out loudly. There’s no response. I knock again. I figure if someone opens it I’ll just say I have the wrong room and come back later. But the seconds pass and still there is no answer. So, I fit the square device Narron gave me over the panel. I hardly have the chance to blink before it flashes blue and the door glides open. I grab my electronic skeleton key or whatever it is and return it to the safety of my pocket.
Inside the room the lights click on in response to the opening door. The place looks empty enough. I can see the bed and no one is in it, nor does it look slept in. I venture deeper into the room and poke my head around the corner to get a view into the bathroom. I do the same with the closet. Then, for good measure, I look under the bed. Hey, there are aliens, there could very likely be boogeymen too. I’m in no position to assume otherwise. Declaring the room safe (safe enough anyway), I begin my search.
I’ve never ransacked a room before. It almost seems like it should be fun, and maybe it would be, but the idea that someone could walk in on me any second makes me so nervous I have to pee. I squeeze my knees together as I dig through drawers, I rip up the bedding and even search methodically around the toilet. In the closet are a number of still-packed bags. Two are duffle bags and one is a hard-sided suitcase. I feel around the outer pockets of the duffle bags, but nothing is really jumping out at me. I grab the suitcase and set it on the bed, snapping it open.
Lo and behold, inside lies not only the data chip, but also a stack of cred readers. I look down at it all for a second. Too bad I don’t give a shit about alien money, otherwise I’d take the whole case and run. I grab only the data chip and plug it into my personal comm, just like Narron showed me. A circular “loading” light comes on, blinks a few times and then goes dark. I suppose it’s done. I toss the data chip back into the suitcase and slam the thing shut, putting it back into its place in the closet.
Data chip secured, I head back to the balcony and climb down. Narron waits against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks like a damn gorilla. “It’s all taken care of,” I tell him and study his expression. Adeptly, he catches the reason for my interest. I want to know if he’s impressed I actually got the job done.
“Don’t be too proud. You still have four to go,” he says. “Come, the next hotel is down the block and we are taking the long way.”
“Wait! I can’t—” I begin.
“You most certainly will,” he snarls.
“No! I mean, I don’t think I can do that again without going pee first,” I explain.
“Oh…can you just go here?” Narron asks, suddenly looking flummoxed.
“No. I don’t have a dick, it’s not like I can just point and spray.”
“You can…uh, squat. Like a female neyala,” he tells me, actually mimicking a squatting motion. He looks so silly doing it I’d laugh if it weren’t for the fact that I hate him so much.
“Ugh…” I groan, rolling my eyes. “Fine. Turn around,” I tell him.
“I will block you,” he says, putting his back to me and standing at attention. I pull down my pants and start to pee, giggling just a little at the absurdity of it all.
“What is funny?” Narron gruffs out.
“Nothing. It’s just, well, you kind of remind me of an older brother. An annoying, terrible, older brother. With really poor judgment. That I hate.” I could add more, but I stop there.
“It is best to not think of family left behind,” he tells me.
“No, I never had a brother of my own. You’re just the big brother I never had and never wanted,” I explain, finishing up and pulling up my pants. “Okay, I’m ready for my next super-stealthy mission now. Lead the way, brother from an alien mother.” My lame attempt at humor.
Narron is stiff for a moment and his jaw twitches. I’m about to ask what the problem is when he turns and leads me down a back alley, zig zagging behind buildings, past underground shops, and toward the next hotel.
Chapter 36
V
The next two ransackings go exactly the same as the first. I find one data chip stashed behind the toilet and I silently thank American action movies for all the things they taught me that I never thought I’d need to know. I literally find the other data chip under the bed in the next hotel and can’t help but laugh and shake my head. “What, did a thirteen-year-old girl hide this?” I scoff as I head back out into the hall. All of them are now loaded onto my personal comm. Three down, two to go.
The fourth target is here at the same hotel, just on a different floor. I take the elevator up a few levels and wait until a spindly little alien man clears the hall before I start searching for the door I need.
When I find it, I knock and call out that I’m from room service. I’m shocked this time when the door swings open. The man who opens the door is clearly young, probably about my age if not a year or two younger. He has messy hair and a baby face marked with delicate tattoos along his cheeks and neck. His big, sapphire-blue eyes go wide when he looks at me. A sincere grin spreads across his face, making him look even more boyish. Something about the ease and openness of that smile makes me think of my Dax.
“You are looking for some type of service?” he questions.
“Uhhhhh. Wrong room! Sorry!” I call over my shoulder as I high-tail it back down the hall. When I get on the elevator I look back only to see him still watching me. But the look on his face is flirty, not suspicious, so I give a polite wave and am grateful when the elevator door closes me in and sends me down to the bottom level of the hotel.
I hurry down the filthy and dim hallway that leads out to the trash bins in the alleyway where Narron waits in the shadows.
“I couldn’t do the last one. He was in his room,” I tell him.
His expression is blank and he grabs me by the top of my head and turns me to face the building again, before giving me a firm shove to my back to send me back in. I slap at his hand.
“Hello! Didn’t you hear me? He’s in his room, I can’t do it.”
“There was no expectation that the other three would not be in their rooms. You still must retrieve the data chip.”
“What do you want me to do? Ask him if I can borrow it?” I say sarcastically.
“Detain him and search the room,” Narron shrugs his mammoth shoulders.
“Detain him? You have to be kidding. How am I supposed to do that, with my invisible ray gun
?”
“If The Oscillion had tasked me with this job, what do you think I would do?” he questions.
“Well The Oscillion didn’t task you with this job. He tasked me with it and I can’t just knock on the door and say, ‘Excuse me, sir, prepare to be detained.’ I don’t even have a weapon to threaten him with!”
“That is undoubtedly for the best,” Narron tells me.
“Regardless, I need a plan.”
Narron cocks his head at me. “Fine,” he says, resigning himself and grabbing me by the shoulder to lead me out in front of the hotel.
“What are we doing?” I hiss, but he doesn’t respond. Instead he takes me inside the hotel and I follow him to a restaurant across from the elevators. We take a seat and he enters some information into a tablet attached to the table. Not thirty seconds later a young woman, clearly the same species as the children from the market place, delivers our food. It is some type of noodle dish, tossed with meat and vegetables. I watch as Narron uses his single chopstick to somehow swirl the noodles and bring them up to his mouth.
