Holly exchanged a look with Odeon, then Shiro. “Keep him talking,” Darius said in the earpiece. “Let’s find out as much as possible before you try to get away or actually kill him.”
“Hands. How many are there?” Shiro asked.
“Ah ah ah, I’ll never tell,” he said with a laugh.
Odeon interjected. “Why should we believe you that there’s any more than one?”
“I dare you to find out. By killing me,” he said leaning forward. “You know what? You can call me Hand #1. There might be nine. There might be two.” He shrugged exaggeratedly. “Then again, there might be just one Hand. Who loves to tease his victims. That’s right. You’re my victims. You’re in my territory. Now I own you.”
“Why are you doing this? To children? What kind of fucking monster are you?” Holly wanted to stall now, as she thought about how to get out of the situation. The longer they waited, the worse it became. The chances increased that soon they would be surrounded by SC thugs. Becoming outnumbered would be the worst possible outcome in that moment.
The elevator was only a few more feet away. The best choice currently was to get down to the main level where the SC were likely loathe to draw attention with a firefight. She suspected they were somehow flying under the Centau’s radar, and any attention currently would bring their scrutiny down upon the SC. The fact that they had stolen children doing their labor would draw the ire of the Centau. Probably. Sometimes it was hard to know what the Centau would think about things that would normally piss off humans.
“Why are you such a bitch? It’s a simple answer really.”
Holly felt a twist of rage corkscrew through her at his insult. It drew on memories of life with Graf and the sense of helplessness she felt at his so casually tossed out insults.
She fired a warning shot over the Hand and his thugs. The thugs jumped, the Hand laughed.
“Don’t fuck with me. Give me the answer.”
“Keep firing your little magical gun device and see how long you last out here with just me and my tiny cadre of brawn.”
“I know the answer,” Holly said in a ferocious whisper of suppressed rage. “It’s because you’re a soulless monstrosity that preys on the weak. Beneath your skin, beneath your insecure laugh, your fragile machismo, your flawed bravado, you are a vortex of greed. A black hole that wants to be fed all the light in the universe, eternally unfufilled no matter how much money or power you suck into your emptiness.”
“Whoa, lady, please. That’s flattering. You flatter me,” he said, laughing as though he was unmoved by her insults. But there was a twitch in his cheek and a flicker in his eyes that belied his true feelings. Holly had enraged him.
“Really my reasons are noble. You can’t see that yet, because you enjoy being a slave to the Centau and in a way, the Druiviin. Fucking Druiviin, right?”
Holly saw Odeon flinch as though he intended to charge at the Hand and take him out with his Ousaba.
The Hand laughed when he saw that he’d riled up Odeon. “Yeah, you know what, Holly Drake, I think you actually believe them, that they are better than us. That they deserve to be served. That all labor should be carried on the backs of humans and Consties. You believe that, don’t you? Isn’t that why you’re here now, just to rescue a piece of shit Druiviin? Who gives a fuck about her? Let her go. What about all the human kids in there? You just going to leave them behind?”
Holly had heard enough. He was scum. And he was only talking to Holly in order to hurt her, even lower, hurt Charm.
“Darius,” Holly muttered, “I’m through with this fucking monster. I hope you’ve had enough. Crew, get ready to go for the elevator. He won’t come after us on the main floor, I don’t think. On the count to three, rush them, I’ll call the elevator. Odeon, you protect Charm.”
“What’s that Holly? I can’t hear you. Making plans?” He leaned toward her, putting his hand behind his ear exaggeratedly.
“One, two, three.”
Charly charged at the Hand with a roar and knocked him to the ground with a body slam. Two thugs lunged at her with their knives slashing, but Shiro stepped between them with his sword drawn, flicking the tip between the two of them until they danced away.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” he said.
Holly spun around the other foot soldiers, dodging their outstretched knives, and punched the call button on the elevator. “Got it! Just a few seconds now,” she said to the crew, knowing her voice would carry into the ears over the commotion. She spun and saw Odeon protecting Charm with his staff as the thugs fought around Charly’s rough fists and sharp kicks. Voss was apparently terrible in a battle. She crouched near Odeon, a panicked look on her face. Clearly if it came down to it, she wouldn’t know how to defend herself.
For a moment it seemed like they were winning. As much as could be said about winning in an uneven battle between teams armed with knives, fists, and a gun. The Hand remained on the floor of the hallway, but he wasn’t unconscious. He was a coward. Probably waiting for the scuffle to move away from him so that he could get up and scramble away.
There was a moment of confusion and then Holly realized what was happening. The SC foot soldiers were pulling their guns out. At the same moment, a door down the corridor opened and a cluster of SC thugs appeared. This new batch of foot soldier’s shock only lasted a moment and then they were drawing their own weapons and beginning to fire their aether guns at Holly and her crew, carefully so as not to hit the Hand and their comrades. Holly turned—the elevator door was just opening.
“Get in, get in,” Holly ran for Charm, pulled her back toward the elevator, shielding the girl’s body with her own frame. Holly fired haphazardly back at the thugs who were shooting at them, to warn them off, and then she was in the elevator.
Shiro charged in, his cheeks red from breathing hard, then Voss appeared, Odeon, and then last, Charly.
Holly punched the main level button, and pressed Charm against the inside wall behind her, then fired another warning shot out into the hallway to again warn back their opponents.
“The hell,” Charly said. “That was close.”
“They’ll follow us,” Odeon said.
“They won’t fire on the main floor, though. They’ll be discreet. They won’t want the Centau to notice them.” Holly was sure of it. She crouched in front of Charm. “You OK? Did you get hurt just now? Did you get hurt ever? Did they ever hurt you?” The words tumbled out of Holly. She wouldn’t have been able to stop them if she’d tried.
Charm nodded. Odeon took her hand and pulled her up. “Holly, let’s focus on getting her to the ship. Then we can quiz her.”
“We move through the market area, go straight to the ship. Simple. Shiro, you take the back. Charly lead the way. Odeon, you’re still Charm’s guard. And I’m the free agent, but I’ll stay in the middle with you. Voss, you stay in the middle as well,” Holly said, almost as an afterthought. She nearly insulted Voss, but thought better of it.
The doors opened and Charly led the way out after checking to see if there was anyone waiting for them. She moved ahead and motioned for the others to follow. The market was as busy as before. The crowds were thick and easy to get lost in, for which Holly thanked Ixion and a host of other imaginary beings. “Trip, get the ship ready, we’re going to want to hightail it out of here as fast as possible.”
“Got it,” Trip’s voice answered over the comms. “Is everyone all right?”
“Thanks. So far, yes,” Holly answered, scanning the crowd ahead of them for SC thugs acting suspiciously. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“She’s powered up. The SC Olavia Apollo is at your service.”
“Fantastic. Should be there in less than five minutes.”
No one was more shocked than Holly when they reached the corridor that led to the internal landing bay. She looked over her shoulder as she moved through the doors, and spotted a cluster of Shadow Coalition soldiers sweeping through the crowd.
&
nbsp; “Go, go,” Holly said, rushing the team through the corridor. At her urging, everyone ran for it, pushing through the humans, Consties, and the odd Druiviin and Centau.
They sprinted out of the corridor and into the landing bay and followed the delineated path to the ship. A few casual walkers got in their way and Shiro excused the crew and pushed through. “Pardon us, a bit of a hurry here, ah yes, thank you. Apologies.”
And then they were at the ship. Back the way they’d come, the SC thugs had appeared in the landing bay. The team boarded. The last to get on was Holly, though Voss lingered with her.
“Get on, Voss. I’m the last to board,” Holly said. “Hurry.”
“I’m afraid this is where you and I part ways, Drake.”
“What? Stop joking, there isn’t time. Get the fuck on the ship.”
“Not a joke, Drake.” Voss pulled out her own gun and pointed it at Holly. She wagged the barrel toward the ship. “Get on, and leave me here.”
“What the hell for?”
“I have business here.”
Holly stared at the other woman, frowning. She hated Voss. Why fight her if the woman wanted to stay? What did Holly care?
She knew immediately why she cared: she’d let Voss onto the team. Against her wishes, yes, in many ways. And though she didn’t like the woman, Voss was Team. And Holly would not leave Team behind.
“I can’t leave you here,” Holly said, quietly. She knew the thugs were getting closer. The entire mission was in danger now if Holly didn’t get on the goddamn ship right now and leave.
“You damn well better, Drake, or you’re going to lose all the work you just did saving that little girl.”
“I let you on the team. And now you’re betraying me.”
“This isn’t a betrayal. I’ve done nothing to betray you. I just ask that you leave me here. I have business to attend to.”
“What? What could you possible want here?”
“That is something I won’t answer today. Maybe not ever.”
“You’re infuriating, you know that? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“If you hadn’t, I would have been able to see the great Holly Drake in action. So, for myself at least, I’m glad that you did.”
“Don’t compliment me right now. I still don’t trust you one hundred percent, Voss. Maybe not even ninety percent. In fact, you’re losing percentage points as we speak.”
“Get lost, Drake. You’ve nearly missed your chance.”
She was right. Holly glanced toward the bay doors and saw that the thugs had closed half the distance.
“You’re the worst, Voss,” Holly said as she retreated up into the hatch of the ship.”
“Thank you. Oh and Drake?”
“Not another word, Voss.”
“Great job today, saving that little girl.”
“I’m not through, Voss. I’m coming for the others. Mark my words.”
“I hope you do!”
Inside the ship, Holly instructed Trip through the comms to get the hell off the fucking base.
“Without Aimee Voss,” Shiro said.
“You heard the woman, Shiro. Not my fault. And she better turn off her comms. Darius, turn off Voss’s comms.”
Holly leaned against the wall in the corridor as she felt she ship begin to move. She muted her own mic and sighed heavily and sat down, right there on the floor. Fucking hell.
THIRTY-FIVE
“GOT to admit it, Holly, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off,” Meg said.
“Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Meg,” Holly said. They were in Meg’s condo. Charm had gone home, much to her parents’ relief and pleasure. Lucy had been asleep for an hour and now the winding down began.
“Cheers,” Gabe said, lifting his beer toward the center of the table.
“Cheers,” Odeon agreed.
Holly copied them, and then sipped her beer.
“Hey kid, you know that I never doubted you for a second, right?” Gabe said. It had been a while since she’d seen her ex-brother-in-law smile. The light in his face seemed brighter than usual.
“Thanks Gabe. You know me better than my own sister.”
“That I do, kid. That I do.”
“Odeon helped, by the way,” Holly added. “It wasn’t much me. More my entire crew. But you don’t get to meet them. Sorry. I’ll totally tell them how grateful you are.”
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Odeon said, sobering the celebration with the truth. “No one should have to fear for their children.”
“You’re right, Odeon.”
“I know,” Odeon answered with a grin.
Gabe sighed. “Meg and I can’t help, still. The mole.”
“Find the goddamn mole, Gabe,” Holly said, gritting her teeth.
“Give us time, Holly.”
“Come on, Gabe,” she said, smiling faintly. “How much more time can it require? What’s the point of having a police force when they’re crippled by their own corruption?”
Gabe avoided eye contact and cleared his throat. “Meg and I have been working on it.”
“Keep working. I’m not giving up on those kids. The Hands. The Heart. They’re all going down.”
***
“I should have never trusted Voss,” Holly said. The lights were low in the Bird’s Nest. Holly had just divided up the small sum of novas that Dave had paid them for the work, even though he hadn’t contracted with them for it. Holly had delivered more information to him about the Shadow Coalition, and for that he was glad.
“Lesson learned, eh, Drake?” Darius said from his desk. For once he wasn’t preoccupied with work. Instead he was slowly swirling a deep purple wine around a glass goblet, pausing only occasionally to sip it.
“I’m sorry I encouraged the team to trust her, Ms. Drake. I feel,” Shiro said, hesitating. He was positioned looking out the window down at the bar where someone performed on stage. He held a cocktail in one hand and had the other crossed behind his back. His lionhead cane dangled uselessly from his fingers. “I feel that I am somewhat to blame that we were nearly ruined at the last minute due to Ms. Voss’s unexpected actions.”
“How noble of you, Shiro, to take the blame,” Odeon observed. He sat in a chair near Darius. His gaze shifted between Holly and Darius repeatedly, as though he were trying to make a decision. Holly only noticed it vaguely. She was having another celebratory drink. Charly sat beside her and gave her another cheers, and they both drank.
“Thank you, Odeon, though I daresay that it isn’t noble at all,” Shiro continued. “If I hadn’t been selfish about wanting to work with Voss initially, we could have avoided that delay in the first place.”
“Seriously, Shiro, knock it off. It’s not your fault. I made the decision. And we needed Voss. She got us through the locks. But I can tell you all one thing, I’ll trust non-team-members even less. Who knows if I’ll ever even let any outside people help out.”
“You can’t just give up on everyone, always, girl,” Charly said. “That’s boring. Trip has been great so far. And we might need help from someone else. Right, guys?”
“She’s right, Ms. Drake. Indeed you cannot just stop trusting people altogether. Giving up on everyone, always, that is a terrible idea.” Shiro turned from the window and gazed at Holly from over the rim of his glass.
Holly caught the look, and held back what she was about to say to him—a retort, telling him to mind his own business. His look lit her gut on fire.
She tore her gaze away, searching for anywhere else to settle, and bumped into Odeon, watching her carefully, a measured look in his eyes.
Darius stood up suddenly. “What’s next, Drake?”
Holly sighed, thankful for the distraction from whatever the hell she’d just seen. “Good question. I think, in addition to everything else, we need to get the kids back. Then take down the Hands and the Heart.”
The End
Thank you for reading! Preorder book 3 here.
A Not
e from Me
So, here you are. You have finished book 2 of the Holly Drake series. How do you feel? I hope it felt amazing. That was my goal. If it didn’t feel that way, damn!
Well, honestly, this was a hard job for me, so I’m immensely grateful to you if you got all the way to the end.
Why a hard job? I mean, I love this book. I love Holly, Odeon, Charly, Shiro, Darius, Cosma, Meg, Gabe, Lucy, Trip…I mean, I really do. Writing the story isn’t a chore and when I’m doing it, I’m in love and it’s a fucking blast.
But this is a new pace for me. As you might notice, there are mistakes in the book. A few . . . or a LOT depending on which version you get. I hope you get the version with the least number of mistakes. But you might have gotten the version with the most and yet you still finished the book! I definitely apologize for it if that happened to you (and know that you can always email me at grotepas [at] gmail and ask for a replacement version and I’ll send you one—just let me know what your purchase date was).
This is a new method for me and I’m still ironing out the scheduling and preorder dates. So I’m bumping into deadlines and it’s too late to change them. So I persevere and keep working hard and I’m not giving up. Even if it means I make some mistakes. My hope is that you’ll stick with me through the rough patches because the good shit is so damn good.
And if it’s not, that’s totally OK. It just means we weren’t meant to be together. No hard feelings.
But if we’re meant to be BFFs and we’re MFEO, hell yes!
Because I’m going to keep going. And soon I hope to have dates better solidified so that I’m not submitting my “final” upload to Amazon before I’ve been able to fix all my proofreader’s edits. And then you’ll get a near perfect manuscript emailed to you and we can both be as happy as two birds on a rhino’s back.
Hands of the Colossus Page 22
