by K. F. Breene
“Is this Roe person enough to keep them away?”
“I’m enough to keep them away.”
“You know what I meant.”
He didn’t respond, which meant he probably didn’t know if Roe could or not. Soon it might get ugly down here, because she hadn’t made it this far to get robbed and killed. Blood might be shed, but it wouldn’t be from her crew. She’d make sure of it.
Chapter 22
Ryker stepped off his hover board and then flipped it over with his foot. He toed something. The board clattered to the ground, lifeless. His eyes always moving, he turned off Millicent’s board before moving on to Trent’s. When he was done, he stopped beside Millicent and stared at a low entranceway four people wide.
“He’s supposed to be in the back of this bar. You’ll go first. Just walk in like this was your department, and keep your eyes on people’s hands. Kill if you have to, but quietly. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes. Use a knife. I got it.”
“Good girl. Off you go. I’ve got the baby, and Trent will follow me.” She felt his firm touch low on her hip, and it set off that annoying tingling again.
She commanded a knife into her hand, then walked through the entranceway and did a quick scan. Small booths lined the walls with a few people sitting and chatting in each. A wall to her left cut through the open space, closing it down into sections, more or less, probably to promote privacy.
In the middle section, there was more room for standing. People clustered around the tables, often sucking off tubes hanging from a dispenser above the table or from the wall next to it. A woman’s hand drifted down to a man’s stomach before lingering below. She grabbed him before barking out laughter.
Millicent threaded down an aisle and between an opening in the wall, now entering the third section and seeing another doorway for a fourth. This room was different still, filled with large couches and lounging areas. No one touched in here. They lay like dead things, limbs spilling around them or off the arms of the couches. Eyes unfocused and staring at nothing, mouths hanging open. A woman at the end was lying on the floor, her eyes staring at the ceiling, sightless.
“OD,” Ryker said quietly. “Keep going.”
“I hadn’t planned to stop.”
The door at the far end of the next section promised they had not yet reached the end. There was movement everywhere. Shaking limbs, snapping fingers, and laughter assaulted her. A man danced completely naked, his skin red—probably from the cold of the room—and his eyes bloodshot. He moved in strange ways, marching and then jumping and then dropping to the ground and rolling around.
“This is what bad narcotics will do to you,” Ryker said, his hand now on her arm, steering her.
She grimaced as they went through the next doorway. Dark and still, this last section was all booths with two to four people sitting together, speaking quietly or not at all. Postures weren’t tense, per se, but they weren’t relaxed, either. A man at the door leered at Millicent, his eyes sparking with desire. A smile curled his lips as he leaned closer, about to say something.
Ryker’s big hand slammed him back against the wall. The wall shook along the length of the bar, nothing more than a partition, but Ryker didn’t seem concerned about taking it down.
“She’s off-limits, bub,” he said in a nightmarish voice. She didn’t need to see his eyes to know there was a killer’s edge to them. “Spread the word. Anyone who touches her dies. You doubt that?”
“No, bro-yo. No, sir. I’ll let everyone know. Yes, sir.” The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his shallow breathing audible.
“A little heavy-handed . . . ,” Millicent said quietly.
“You expected anything less?” Trent’s voice drifted up from the back of the line.
People glanced up as she passed. Eyes stuck. Millicent recognized the spark of intelligence and the scrutinizing assessments. These people didn’t belong on this level, nor were they what they seemed. Something was amiss.
She stopped and put out her hand to Ryker, looking at the tubes hanging from the table next to her. Different colors as well as different sizes, they were each for something, but their mouth pieces were unused. No pink lipstick had rubbed off from the woman, nor fluorescent green from the man. The tubes near them, mounted to the wall, were also unused. The screens on the tables in front of the patrons glowed, their surfaces sleek, the tech nearly up to date.
“What is this place?” Millicent asked, backing up. “Who owns it?”
“Privately owned, I think,” Ryker said, his hand landing on her shoulder. “We’re in the right place.”
“That may be, but who are these people? They don’t belong on this floor.”
“This floor, if any.”
Millicent spun around at the gruff voice behind them. Ryker’s back was to her, Marie’s little arm around his neck as she straddled his hip.
It was the man she’d seen earlier, the one with the gray hair tucked behind his ears and the scar running across his lips. He still had a plastic stick between his teeth and was rolling it across his lips with his tongue. “Made it, huh? I didn’t think you would.” The man’s eyes roved over Ryker before he said, “You’re in no danger here.”
“I know that,” Ryker said.
The man huffed out a laugh as he passed by. His eyes swept over Millicent next, but he gave her a wide berth, humor flaring in his expression. Heavyset and with a slight limp, he made his way to the back booth.
“Do we go forward, or get the hell out of here?” Ryker asked. “Now is the decision-making time. We’ll have to fight our way out if we want to go back.”
“What would we go back to?” Millicent asked, looking over those working on their screens. Watching their movements, the way they interacted. They were fluent and comfortable with the tech, but didn’t use it like the knowledge was ingrained. She’d guess midlevel staffers, people who could learn, but had to work at it.
Ryker’s hand touched Millicent’s chin, turning her face toward him. His eyes were deep and serious, though the color was mostly lost to shadow. When he spoke, his breath dusted her face, and that feeling she actually liked warmed her middle. “We would lose Marie at first, that’s true. But we could easily find her again. We’d just have to wait. And we could stay together. The conglomerate would let us, I have no doubt. They’ll give you anything but that child. Anything at all. You need only ask, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll force their hand. You had a cushy life, Millicent. As did I. As will Marie. We don’t need to go any further. We don’t need to risk all of our lives.”
She stared up into his eyes, seeing the gravity. Seeing his seriousness. All this, all they’d been through, and if she gave the word, he’d throw it all away. For her. “Are you out of your mind?”
His brow drew tight over his eyes. His thumb paused in its stroking of her jaw. “What’s that?”
“We’ve nearly been killed. I’ve taken a ton of drugs. You’ll probably scar, and that’s a shame because you’ve got a great back. And here we are, almost there, with someone who can get us off this horrible planet before Toton unleashes whatever human-killing tech they’ve developed, and you want to go back? You want to just hand back our child, our child, and take what comes? Which will be extreme danger, I have no doubt. That’s what you’re proposing?”
He stared at her, his thumb still frozen.
“Dumb ass.” She pulled her face back and turned, nearly missing the delighted twinkle that lit up Ryker’s gaze. “Let’s get this done. And if all these people, who do not belong on this floor no matter what anyone says, try to kill us or send us back, I’ll kill them first.”
“Stubbornness. Huh. I don’t remember this being documented.” Trent bent to his wrist.
Chin held high, Millicent walked through the center of the aisle and then slid into the cushioned seat across from the grizzled man. Ryker handed the baby to her before sliding in himself. Trent stood next to Ryker, staring down. “Can I sit?”
&nbs
p; “Who is that?” The man pointed at Trent.
“He’s the lab staff who enhanced my daughter.” Ryker stared at the man, not motioning at Marie in any way. “He’s keeping her alive.”
“Well . . . not exactly,” Trent said. “As I told them, the human race is really very—”
“Shut up,” Ryker said.
“Right. Sorry.” Trent eyed the space next to the grizzled man.
“Jesse said you were a couple of natural borns.” The grizzled man moved over a little. Trent sat down gratefully. “I didn’t believe him. He didn’t mention that you are so far above the Curve you’re practically urban legend. And yet here you are.” His hard gray gaze pounded into Millicent. “What do you do?”
“I was a director in the major defense systems department for Moxidone, but my aptitude is—”
“You’re Millicent Foster. I thought as much.” The man blew out a breath and leaned back. His gaze switched to Ryker. “Gunner. Jesse wouldn’t give me your real names. He wanted to help you. Not hard to figure it out, though.” He bent his head to Trent. “What did you say you did? Carry their belongings?”
“Um . . . no. Well . . .” Trent shrugged, his gaze swinging to Marie. “Kind of. I guess.”
“Kind of. You guess.” The man crossed his arms over his chest and rolled the plastic thing around his mouth.
“There a problem?” Ryker asked.
“Yeah, I’ll say there’s a pretty damn big problem. You are legendary natural borns. Not just in your conglomerate, in all conglomerates. You got a lab slave with you who can enhance humanity—that’s gotten all the conglomerates’ attentions, too. Including Toton, so I’ve heard. And you got the winning product of his proven formula with you. That little kid who has got this whole damn place up in arms. There is not one kill order out among you. That is unheard of. Know what that means? It means they are going to put out all their resources to get you back. It means that if I help you, I’ll have a pretty damn big notice on my head. On my whole operation’s head. Yeah. It’s a problem.”
“Then why go through with this meeting?” Ryker asked.
The grizzled man minutely shook his head, his gaze falling on Marie. Then Millicent. “Word on the street is, that kid is yours. As in, both of yours. Exclusively . . .”
“Yes,” Ryker said.
“And she’s just as smart as you are.”
“Smarter. She’s four clicks in a couple—”
“In most all categories—” Under Ryker’s stare, Trent put down his finger and tightened his lips.
“You thinking of turning us in for a profit?” Ryker leaned forward. His large arms bulged against the table.
The man’s eyes didn’t waver. If he wasn’t intimidated, he was the only one in the world. “They’d torture me for information if I tried to turn you in, then they might or might not kill me. No. I’m wondering if I want to brave your conglomerate to help you. We got a ship leaving in two days. Even a couple days might be too long of a window. From what I hear, they’re throwing everything they can into capturing you.”
“She can command electronics with her mind,” Ryker said. “She doesn’t need an implant to unlock a door. And Ms. Foster and I can both still breed. We plan to make more. Mr. McAllister is on hand to oversee this.”
Millicent tried to hold back her annoyance at Ryker’s assurance, but when the grizzled man’s eyes flicked to her, his humorous response told her a scowl had slipped onto her face.
The man sobered quickly. “We don’t have a lot of tech off-planet. It’s a whole different sort of living. If you want to wear something, you reach into your closet and pull it out. You wash it yourself. You hang it back up. You make your own food. No hover technology. You’d be the smartest people there, but . . . your sort of intelligence might not be useful.”
“I’m sure we could figure something out,” Ryker said evenly.
“I could program one hell of a pirate network that you could easily install planet-side,” Millicent said quickly. “I can design weapons you’ve never seen. I can design tech, not just work it. I’ve programed implants, too. Changed identities. I can hack into any system. I can work around any situation—except, maybe, my daughter’s. When these conglomerates finish ruining this planet and they get more serious about colonization, where do you think they’re going? You think you can hold them off forever? Not without Mr. Gunner, who dreams of security protocols. And with the two of us working together, you’ll have a chance to keep them away for a little longer. Not to mention I am three clicks above the Curve, with proven success in creating a smarter, more advanced child—with the help of Mr. Gunner and Mr. McAllister, of course.” A flare of indignation took over. “Are we really having this conversation? You are wondering if my crew is worth the hassle? I can run circles around anyone in this room. You want proof?”
It took her less than five minutes of silence to make a dancing fat man holding a monkey appear on all the screens in the establishment. “I meant that to be more spectacular,” she mumbled. “You need to beef up your security.”
“It seems so . . .” The man was frowning at her.
“And Mr. Gunner can probably kill everyone in the room, with just his hands, in the amount of time I used to cripple your systems.”
“You crippled my systems?” His gaze dipped to the screen in front of him.
“Well, I mean, I can patch it up . . .” She smoothed her hair against her head. “Regardless, we’ve evaded them again and again, and we’ll continue to evade them. We just need the location of this ship and we’re good. We don’t even need your guidance.”
Silence descended slowly, those hard gray eyes staring at Millicent. She stared right back. If she had to, she would make Ryker torture the information out of him. She intended to leave this planet, and he would help them whether he wanted to or not.
Finally, after a long moment, the older man cracked a smile. “Your reputation does not do you justice, Ms. Foster. No wonder they want you even more than they want your daughter. You’re something.” He pulled a tube from the wall and sucked. After three swallows, he used it to gesture toward her. “Fancy a drink?”
“No, she wouldn’t. But I would.” Ryker reached over his shoulder and pulled out a tube of the same size and color. He grabbed a plastic piece from a dispenser and attached it to the end of the tube. He took a few more gulps than the man had.
“Actually, I would,” Millicent said, indignation still riding high. “This can’t be worse than a bunch of drugs.”
“Come again?” the grizzled man said.
She took the tube from Ryker.
“You don’t want your own mouth piece?” he asked with a smirk.
“I’ve already been in contact with your spit. I don’t think this is much different.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
Millicent sucked in. A bitter liquid filled her mouth. Before she’d thought it through, she swallowed it down. Fire scraped her throat and then made war in her chest. It felt like she was being pierced with needles. Finally, it hit her stomach as an acidic burn coated her mouth. Her belly rolled. Then gurgled.
“That is horrible,” she said, bringing the back of her hand up to her mouth. “Horrible. Why? Why would you willingly drink it?”
“I’m Roe,” the man said, extending his hand to Ryker with a laugh. “I’ll take you.”
Trent’s loud exhale drew eyes as he slumped against the seat.
Millicent beat on her chest. The flame wouldn’t go out. She drew more eyes.
“I honestly didn’t think you’d make it this far,” Roe said before sucking down more of that horrible concoction. He held the end of the tube out to Trent, who shook his head. “That you did is impressive. I really want to say no, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have access to people of your intelligence.”
“Then why all the rigmarole with the indecisiveness?” Millicent eyed the tubes hanging over the table. “What are these?”
“Because I
need to be able to use your intelligence, not just breed it.”
“Don’t start talking like him,” Millicent said, pointing at Trent.
“Those are various forms of narcotics and hallucinogens,” Ryker said, his hand sliding over her thigh. “I wouldn’t advise them.”
“Roe.” A woman from the next table over slid out of her seat with a finger to her ear. “We’ve got trouble.”
Roe didn’t give any outward sign that he was worried; he just stared up with a blank face, waiting for more.
“They’ve called in a director.” The woman’s gaze darted down the aisle. “Landed in the upper middle. Working his way down. Doesn’t look like they have a clear picture yet, though. Just hunting.”
“That’ll be Mr. Hunt. His name was chosen for a reason.” Ryker’s hand squeezed Millicent’s thigh before he took it away. “He’ll find his way down here eventually.”
“No one down here will talk to an upper-level staffer.” Roe clasped his hands on the table.
“They’ll talk to Mr. Hunt,” Ryker said with a dark surety in his voice.
“Or they’ll die,” Trent said, his lips thinning.
Roe’s eyes hit the woman before he pushed Trent out of the seat. “Give him a distraction. Half-truths. I’ll get them out of here. Message me.”
“Yes, sir.” The woman brought a small device up to her mouth and spoke into it.
“Do they not have implants?” Millicent said as Ryker helped her out of the booth. She hefted Marie into her arms.
“No. We remove those before we go off-planet.” Roe motioned them after him. “This way. I have a safe place for the night.”
“Wait.” Ryker stopped them. “Assume there is no safe place. It’s best to keep on the move.”
Roe stopped in front of a back door that blended well, if not perfectly, into the wall. “I always assume there is no safe place. That’s why I’m still alive. C’mon.”
