Dragon's Promise

by Natalie Grey

  “If it has something to do with this, I need to know.” Nyx held her gaze. She could feel the warmth in her chest as she stared at Mala, feel the memory of those lips, those hands….

  But she was not going to run from this secret any longer.

  “It’s….” Mala looked down, considering. She shook her head miserably. “There’s a reason they think I’m Eve. And Eve was caught up in this, I’m almost sure of it now. It’s the only way any of this makes sense. Please, that’s all that’s important right now.”

  Nyx stared at her silently. The shuttle juddered and twisted down through the atmosphere, descending into what felt like a raging blizzard that only got more powerful the closer they got to the ground, and Mala was looking around herself worriedly with every gust of wind. Esu tried opening the view screen once and gave up on that with a muttered oath, guiding the shuttle into the landing pad by instrumentation alone. It was clear the instant they were within the bay, the sound of the wind fading at once, and Mala unclenched her fingers from the back of the chair.

  “Tell me one thing.” Nyx stepped closer, heedless of the Dragons who could not help but see.

  “Yes?” Mala’s eyes were full of worry.

  “Can I trust you?” Nyx asked her, voice low. “Are you intending to betray us out there, or can I trust you?”

  “I would never!” Mala’s answer was immediate, reflexive. The horror in her eyes showed the truth. “Of course you can trust me!”

  “Then why are you worried?” Nyx whispered.

  “Because I did a stupid thing.” Mala was shaking her head. “And this is all my fault.”

  “Sounds like it’s all Eve’s fault.”

  “If I hadn’t—” The shuttle landed with a thud and Mala looked over at the rest of the Dragons. Her hand shot out, closing over Nyx’s wrist. “Let me go out alone.”

  “What?”

  “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be involved. Let me go fix this myself.”

  “Mala.” Nyx took her by the shoulders. “This is what we do. If we weren’t here, fighting Ghost, we’d be somewhere else fighting someone just as bad.”

  “But if something happens to you—”

  The door of the shuttle opened with a hiss and Nyx stepped back, squeezing Mala’s arm reassuringly.

  “They mistook you for someone else. That isn’t your fault.”

  “But it is.”

  “Let’s go get Ghost.” She could feel the adrenaline rising in her veins. “Then we’ll talk, you and I.” She stepped out of the shuttle, looking up at the windows high above that showed the raging blizzard. In the brief seconds it took for the shuttle to descend through the doors above, enough snow had fallen into the shuttle bay to form tiny drifts against the walls.

  “Ms. Orion!”

  Nyx looked over to see a man in a black uniform. She stepped back, gesturing to Mala as the woman climbed reluctantly out of the shuttle.

  “This way, ma’am.” The guard beckoned at her. “You’ll have to leave your guards here, however.”

  “I don’t go anywhere without my guards,” Mala said simply. To see her now, Nyx never would have known that she had grown up on Dobrevi.

  “Then I’m afraid I won’t be able to allow you into the complex.” He was deceptively mild-mannered in tone, for Nyx could see steel behind that calm demeanor.

  “Well, then, I guess Ghost doesn’t need to know about Grose’s plans. Pass along my best.” Mala turned back to the shuttle.

  “Oh, let her in.” The female voice was back, echoing from one of the comm speakers on the side of the landing bay. “Ms. Orion, you may bring two guards. Will that satisfy you?”

  A flick of Mala’s eyes was enough to catch Nyx’s faint nod.

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Let her in, Gurney.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The guard beckoned Mala along, and Nyx and Loki fell into step behind her.

  In the hallways, her visor tipped up, Nyx tried to hide her amused smile as Mala gaped at the finery around them. Nyx had seen more ostentatious castles in her career than she could number, criminals by and large not being a subtle group of people, but Mala had clearly never seen anything like this. Her gaze lingered on each priceless painting and gaudy statue, and she even stared wide-eyed at the plush carpets beneath their feet.

  They wound through the corridors, making for what Nyx guessed was the study. A few taps on her microphone and a cleared throat signaled the rest of the team to begin streaming through the corridors after them. Nyx had agreed to the limit of two guards, but she had no intention of abiding by it. It would take the team combined to get Ghost out in chains, she was sure.

  When the man in black stopped, gesturing at a door, Nyx felt the first prickle of unease. On their last mission, they had brought a non-Dragon with them into combat situations, but it had been different—Tera was a trained assassin, capable of fighting her way out of almost anything.

  The cold, analytical part of Nyx’s mind told her that Mala was the perfect bait, and the only way they could have reached Ghost. Every other part of her screamed to turn around and take Mala back. The woman was a civilian; she shouldn’t be here.

  But Mala stepped through the door bravely, shoulders squared. She stood still as Nyx and Loki joined her, and the three of them looked around at the books on the walls and the empty desk as the door clicked closed behind them. A hologram was sliding into focus in the seat behind the desk, a ridiculously expensive affectation, and Nyx moved her fingers slightly to check the video feed coming from her helmet; Tersi would know to being tracing the hologram’s signal. And then it came into focus, and Mala actually gasped aloud. Nyx heard Loki swear under his breath, and she felt a surge of something that could only be rage.

  It had been a trap all along. It must have been, for the figure sitting in front of them was no drug lord decked out in the most expensive jewelry and suits.

  It was Senator Samuels.

  34

  Mala whirled and yanked at the door, panic rising in her chest as the metal shook against the frame. It was all too bright with the emergency lights flashing, and far, far too loud—she could hear the senator’s laughter ringing in her ears, and Nyx was yelling something into the comm in a code she didn’t know. When Nyx pulled her close, Mala realized she had started to cry. Good God, what must the Dragon think?

  “Follow my lead,” Nyx murmured.

  “But—”

  “Follow my lead. We’re going to get out of here.”

  “How did she know we were coming here?” Mala felt her lip trembling.

  “I don’t know yet. I don’t know why she’s doing this. But she’s a senator, and there are ways to make sure she backs down.” Nyx squeezed her arm. “All right?”

  Mala bit her lip and nodded.

  “Is your little tete-a-tete done?” The senator was watching them, eyebrows raised. “Charming, really, but we don’t have the time for it.”

  “You lured us here.” Nyx’s voice was harsh. “Why?”

  The senator did not deign to respond to that. Her eyes were fixed on Mala. “I have to hand it to you, my dear—coming here was a bold move. Unexpected, even.”

  Unexpected? Mala looked over at Nyx and saw her own confusion mirrored there.

  “Didn’t you want me to come?” she asked finally, her voice shaking. The Dragons clustered around her gave her some security, but not enough. Not nearly enough.

  “Well, of course.” The senator looked amused. “But I never expected you to do so. You must have let your pet Dragons make the plan, hmm? They always favor going in headfirst. No subtlety.”

  Nyx snorted, her fingers tightening on her rifle.

  “So, I really must know. When did you figure it all out, my dear?” The senator leaned forward in her chair, eyes intent.

  Mala tried not to look as lost as she felt. “Grose told me,” she tried.

  “Grose knows?” The woman was alert now. “How? How does he know?” They saw her fingers dig
into the arms of the chair. “Who else have you told, you little bitch? I should have come for you the moment you dropped out of contact, and I definitely should have done it when you turned my own people against me.”

  “Listen.” Nyx’s words burst through the silence, and she stepped between Mala and the hologram. “We don’t have time for your games. Intelligence has already been informed of your activities. They’ve been informed that we went here. Any hopes you have of getting out of this with your career intact are going to be shattered if you decide to off an entire Dragon team and a civilian. So you stop acting as if Mala’s your problem. She got caught up in this—”

  “Mala?”

  Oh, no.

  “Mala,” Nyx said, waving her hand at Mala. “Grose clearly thought she was someone else, but you could have done your own research. When you get back to Seneca—and I will bring you back myself—you are going to stand trial for torturing her without even checking who she was first.”

  “Without what?” The woman was beginning to smile. “Oh, this is too rich.”

  “Nyx….” Mala heard her own voice, high and panicked. “Nyx, please. Don’t listen. Please, don’t listen.”

  “It occurs to me,” the senator said, smiling widely now, “that perhaps you’re not aware of what’s going on.”

  Nyx had gone still. She looked at Mala, who felt her breath coming in tiny gasps, and then back to the senator. She looked away for a moment, and Mala felt a sob welling up. She pressed her hand over her mouth, and only vaguely heard Nyx’s quiet words.

  “Oh, I think I do understand. You’re Ghost, aren’t you?”

  35

  The world seemed to flip. Mala’s head jerked up in time to see the senator’s face go flat. This, then, was the truth she thought they’d known. The senator had not lured them here with the promise of Ghost. She had been fleeing from them, afraid they would realize the truth. Because why, after all, hadn’t anyone been able to figure out when Ghost visited that warehouse? Why hadn’t anyone been able to figure out how Ghost had infiltrated the Intelligence networks? With a jolt, Mala remembered typing out the words in her email, and then deleting them: Some members of the senate had been involved.

  She’d been such a fool. This whole time, she’d been a fool.

  “So you hadn’t known, then.” The woman’s nose flared. Her voice was clipped. “But it doesn’t matter. You were always going to die here.”

  “I think not.”

  “Oh, I think so. But I’ll give you a gift, Dragon.” The woman smiled. “I’ll give you the truth about her…if you want it.”

  “No,” Mala whispered. Nyx couldn’t know, not like this.

  God, she would give anything to go back in time. She’d had a hundred chances to tell the truth, and she could see now, with terrible clarity, that it would have been better if she had done so herself. Nyx was never going to forgive her for the fact that she’d find out like this.

  “Do you know just who you’ve gotten in bed with?” The senator’s gaze was locked on Nyx’s. “I don’t think you do. I don’t think you have the first idea. What did she tell you her name was? ‘Mala?’”

  “Her name is Mala.” Nyx seemed to be taking refuge in that one unassailable fact.

  “Oh, of course. And you know that how?”

  There was a certain amusement to be had from the fact that the woman was wrong, but it wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for what was about to happen. Mala thought she was going to throw up. She wanted to say something, anything, to keep this from happening, but there was nothing that would stop it now. And in any case, her throat didn’t seem to work.

  “I’m not going to argue with you.” Nyx’s tone was just as clipped as the senator’s. “If you don’t know who she is—”

  “My dear, you really should listen to this. I might call her the weak link, but in truth even I would be a fool to underestimate Ms. Orion.”

  Nyx blinked, and Mala shook her head.

  “It’s not what you think.” She was speaking half to Nyx, half to the senator. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking her head. “I’m not who you think I am.”

  “It’s a little late for that.” The tinny voice sounded bored. “I don’t hire people with no qualifications. I hire people who are, quite simply, the best. I knew some of them would turn on me, of course. Professional hazard. I never expected, however, that it would be you.”

  This was her only chance to say it herself, and Mala seized it. “But you didn’t hire me.” Her voice was shaking. “Please. What happened was—”

  “Was that I made it clear what I needed.” The voice was ugly now. “Someone who could pass as an analyst. Someone who could wait until I was ready to move. Someone who could feed me anything I needed from the Intelligence networks.”

  At Mala’s side, Nyx’s mouth had dropped open. Her face was horrified.

  “Listen to me. I am not—”

  “I didn’t need you to develop a taste for justice!” The woman slammed her hand down on the arm of the chair, a curiously humorous gesture when no sound accompanied it. “’Orion’s Algorithm?’ Were you mocking me? I was hearing your name in my meetings, I was waiting for updates and you were sending me nothing. You took the job I got you and you thought you could run away from me. Well, I have news for you. No one outruns me. What happens to you will end up on every broadsheet in New Arizona. You are going to pay for this. And you are going to beg for death before it is over.”

  The hologram vanished and the alarms blared on. The sound of boots came from the hallways, soldiers taking their positions, and Mala grabbed at Nyx’s arm.

  “Nyx.”

  “No.”

  “Nyx.”

  Nyx didn’t even move, but the fury in her eyes was so fierce that Mala took a step back. It took a moment for her to find words.

  “It wasn’t me.” She could not look up and see that look on Nyx’s face. She stared at nothing, tears blurring her eyes. “I swear, I’m not Eve.”

  “You’re not?” Nyx’s voice was low, half-growl. “She hired you. She got you a job. It doesn’t matter if you thought better of your bargain later. You still made it. You agreed to feed Intelligence information to a fucking criminal.”

  “It wasn’t me!” Mala took her by the arms, and at long last, she spoke the words. “I was never Eve. Eve … she died. She was on my flight to Seneca, and she got sick. I took her name. I took her ID card.”

  The alarm lights flared over Nyx’s face, illuminating the eyes in bursts of red. “You what?”

  “Eve died,” Mala repeated. She saw the woman’s face in a flash, black hair and laughing eyes. “She and I had talked a lot on the flight and one day when I went to look for her…” Her throat closed off, voice disappearing in a squeak. She gathered her courage. “She had an apartment set up. When I got the call for her interview with Intelligence, I…I knew I shouldn’t go, but I didn’t have anywhere else. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t have anywhere to stay. I didn’t know who she was. But it’s my fault. All of this is. I’m so sorry.”

  The Dragons stared, all those pairs of eyes assessing, watching, and Mala knew miserably that they were looking at Nyx. Nyx, who had taken Mala aboard. Who had gone to save her time and again. Nyx, who she’d managed to shame in front of everyone.

  The Dragon looked at her for a long moment, and Mala could see the betrayal there. She remembered running on the sunlight lawns, through the brambles in the forest, trying to catch up with Kiran and Melissa and never being able to, never being welcome. She saw herself in Nyx’s eyes, gangly and always in the way.

  But never someone to worry about. Always a good kid.

  When Nyx spoke, her voice was curt, trembling with fury.

  “We’ll talk about this later.” She flipped her visor down. “All of you, follow Tersi’s instructions. Left as soon as we get out of here, and Esu will bring the shuttle around.”

  “Nyx?”

  “You stay out of the way.” The woman’s tone was
clipped. She pushed her way away, through the crowd, and looked at the soldiers to her left and right, giving a decisive nod before she threw one leg up to kick the metal door out of the way.

  The gunfire was immediate and deafening. Mala sank down into a crouch, hands over her ears as the Dragons cleared the targets directly outside. A hand caught her arm, hauling her up as they ran. One group swung right, laying down cover fire as the rest pounded down the corridor to the left. Mala was pushed into an alcove as a group of soldiers exploded out of a side corridor. The air was heavy with smoke, with screams, and Mala could hardly hear any longer.

  It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.

  She was running, but how she managed it, she did not know. She could not feel her feet hitting the floor. Impact sent the Dragon behind her stumbling back, and the man rallied to go on, but with an incendiary round burning its way through his armor. Mala could hear her own crying, sobs of terror. She had dreamed about being a Dragon—almost every child did—but she had never imagined it would be like this.

  At the head of the group, she could see Nyx moving with deadly precision. There was no excess movement as the rifle swung one way and then the other. Where it pointed, enemies fell, and Nyx moved on without a second glance. She was everything Mala had imagined, graceful in the set of her feet and the way she chambered her weapon, and it was all the more horrifying for that. When a round caught her in the side, her cry echoed over the comm links and she forced herself back into motion, shrugging off Mala’s hand and pushing her back behind the front line. Not even a glance lingered between the two of them. There was no time in combat…and she would not even have wanted to look at Mala if this was a quiet moment.

  “Boss, we can’t get through!” Loki’s voice rang out over the crowd. “Tersi reports fifty in the next hallway. They’ll be through that door in a second, we have to go back!”

  “If we go the other way, there are two hundred between us and the shuttle!” Nyx’s yell was punctuated by a burst of gunfire.

  She was still swinging her rifle to point at the double-layered door as Mala burst into motion. These controls, she knew. The door, heavy enough for fire-control, worked on one of the same piston-controlled systems she knew inside and out.