by Gwynn White
Ajian’s bright red eyebrows shot up, and she took a step back, her ruby red lips curling into a smile. “You look like you want to reach out with your bare hands and kill me. Do be careful with the intent of your expressions. Have you learned nothing in your time here?”
Keva fought to school her expression.
Ajian gave Keva a long, slow, seductive blink, ducking her head coquettishly. “I see. Did you plan a way out?”
Keva didn’t, and Ajian knew that.
“She hasn’t done the job yet.” Ajian raised her chin, her violet eyes flaring. “Let me raise the stakes for you as it looks as though you are going to bail on your commitment… again.”
Keva’s expression slid into unmistakable disgust. This woman cared more about the power she would wrestle away from the Zervek family than she did about Dothylian, a woman she put in danger’s way for personal gain. And she wasn’t going to save anyone. She had no intentions of doing that. No. She only wanted the power.
“Fulfill your end of the agreement.” Ajian leaned forward so that her words met Keva’s lips. “Do so in the next hour if you expect any assistance or leniency.”
Keva leaned forward just enough so that their lips touched. She didn’t kiss the woman, didn’t tease. She only wanted to whisper her question along the other woman’s lips so that she understood the depth of her threat. “Or what?”
Ajian took in a deep breath and lifted one eyebrow. “Oh, little kitten. I feel your claws.”
Keva wasn’t the kind of woman anyone backed into a corner. “You haven’t felt anything yet.”
“You’re right.” Ajian smiled as if she had bestowed some kind of gift. “Kill me. Hurt me. Even a kitten as big as you is still only a kitten.”
Keva blinked and pulled her head back.
Ajian took a small step away. “One hour. Or I blow your ship up.”
She wouldn’t.
Ajian shrugged and gestured with her hands. “I cannot help it that you brought something so archaic into my city. It malfunctioned and blew on its own. And…” She lifted a finger with a broader smile. “Thanks to the damage the city will incur from an explosion which will indeed be determined to be entirely your fault, your debt to me will increase.”
Keva turned away. She hated that woman.
9
ILO,” Keva said as she exited the celebration area. “We have one hour to get out of here and save Ghost Star.”
“What do you mean?” ILO asked.
Hadn't she been listening? “Ajian just threatened to blow you up.”
“Then, you need to get over here and find the devices she installed.”
She needed to do what? As much as she respected and even liked ILO, an AI wasn’t supposed to tell a human what to do, ever. They were programmed to place their owner’s needs and survival over their own. It was weird because even though ILO wasn’t like other AI, it was strange to think of her as panicking and it unsettled Keva’s already shaky confidence. What would affect ILO like this if she was human instead of AI, what would make a person lose their cool when they were normally so in control?
ARO. There was something about him that bothered ILO. What was going on with that AI?
“ILO, calm yourself, I need your help.”
Keva stopped in a spacious elevator lobby. “Scan for anything outside of normal parameters.”
“And then deal with them how?”
Keva didn’t know. Yet.
“That’s not the way out of the building.”
“No, ILO, it’s not.” Keva pushed the button to go up and left it there long enough for it to complete its bioscan. “I’m going upstairs to make sure the mission was successful.” This was one of those time when having an emotional AI wasn’t helpful. Keva needed ILO to have a cool head.
“You’re going back to save Dothylian.”
“I… am.” This was the first time she’d ever done anything based solely on emotion and not on a risk calculation of her own survival. This was reckless. Was it guilt over Odelle, for lying to Dothylian in the first place to get her to do what she wanted? That kind of thinking could get her killed.
But it was more than that. It was the right thing to do, and she wanted to do more of that.
All she had to do was ensure the mind worm was working because that was the mission. None of the rest mattered. “Is the link active?”
Keva stepped into the elevator, careful of what she said. The elevator was the one place where her jamming technology would not work. Jamming technology disabled the elevator’s ability to communicate and function. So, the anti-jamming technology around the elevators limited ILO’s response. Countermeasures within countermeasures. It also meant there were no other remote surveillance devices unless it was hardwired.
Keva wanted off that planet. She liked it better in the Black. Things were so much simpler there.
“He’s still asleep,” ILO said crisply. “But how are you going to get inside?”
That was a good question, and one Keva wasn’t going to answer inside the elevator. Most of the Elite towers hired people whose primary purpose was to listen. She didn’t think the Zerveks were any different. If anything, they probably had, even more, people listening.
The elevator stopped on the three hundred and eleventh floor.
Keva stepped out into a wide, dark hallway. The plasteel window was on the other end, but it still illuminated the hall with enough light from the rings and the moons that there was little need for additional lighting. The walls glowed in strips, making the black iridescent ceiling sparkle. As she moved down the hallway, the colors shifted from blue to green to pink.
There were no bioscanners this high in the tower. The Elite had no real need for the security this high. No one should be at this level who didn’t belong.
Or, at least, those were the assumptions she’d made by stepping into the hallway.
She spotted no cameras and saw no bioscanner panels.
There were no guards either. That was odd.
“I’ve disabled the security systems,” ARO’s voice said in Keva’s ear.
“You did what?” That was always the first tipoff in the military that someone was infiltrating an area. Just like on the asteroid.
“But only for so long,” ARO continued, “so I recommend haste. She’s at the end of the hall.”
Keva picked up the pace and jogged to the end of the hallway, passing closed doors with obsidian black handles. “What are the security measures?”
“This floor is riddled with bioscanners,” ARO said. “And you are walking through the laser grid.”
She had been wrong. The Zerveks were a particular kind of paranoid. But at least the lack of guards made sense.
A FROG system, or a field response ocular grid. Even she wouldn’t be able to dance her way around a FROG. A standard laser grid? Yes. Almost with her eyes closed. But this was much more sophisticated. It moved with her.
“Thanks, ARO.”
“Thirty seconds before it comes back online.”
“And when I get Dothylian?”
“I’ll disable it again, but can only keep it offline for a brief time. Each deactivation will trigger a security algorithm if they remain offline for too long.”
It shouldn’t be a problem if Dothylian was able to walk. “I need to know if that worm is working.”
“Did you want to wake Wilmur up?” ILO asked, her tone clipped.
Realistically, she should. Dothylian should not be a factor in this mission. Her safety shouldn’t be a concern. She should wake Wilmur up, or stay until she knew that the worm had lodged itself deeply enough into his brain to transmit the data she required. The other option was to wake him up and beat him senseless again to make her escape. The idea had merit.
“No,” she said, slipping into the room and closing the door.
A flash of red filled her peripheral vision as the FROG lit up. “ARO,” Keva whispered, surveying the room. “I thought you said thirty seconds.”
<
br /> “From the moment the elevator door opened.”
“You’re going to need to specify that next time.”
“Understood.”
The room was massive and not well lit. Heavy curtains had been drawn across the window allowing almost no light in. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the intense darkness. She crept to the massive bed on the far end of the room.
Wilmur snored on the far side of the bed.
Well, he was alive, so the worm hadn’t killed him. That was a positive sign.
Dothylian moaned from her place on the floor, her blonde hair in knots around her head.
Keva wasn’t going to wake Wilmur, so she needed to get Dothylian and go. She went to the crumpled woman and knelt beside her, lightly touching her shoulder.
Dothylian jerked back from the touch, the wide whites of her eyes reflecting the minimal light of the room.
“It’s me,” Keva hissed. “Can you walk?”
“You came for me?”
“I told you I would.” Even though she hadn’t planned on it. “Is everything set?”
Dothylian nodded. “I cannot leave.”
“Yes, you can.”
“He will be suspicious. He will know I planted the device on him and then ran to save myself. These things are not done in our society.”
“Trust me,” Keva grunted as she stood, pulling Dothylian to stand with her. “They’ll just think I rebelled again. He’ll be so distracted following you—” which wasn’t a great thing for her. “—he won’t even think about sabotage.” Which she could use as a viable reason for saving the woman.
“Will he be able to perceive the worm?” Dothylian leaned her weight against a bureau, her eyes drifting shut, and her words slurred.
“No.” Keva looked at the girl’s ragged hair and smelled blood. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Can you handle yourself? I can’t carry you.”
Dothylian’s eyes lit on Keva for a long moment.
A much longer moment than they had.
Finally, she nodded.
If they were going to make it out of there, Dothylian had to keep up. She was at her limits as she struggled to pull her dress on.
At least she was moving. “ILO, what did your scans say? Are you compromised? Is Ghost Star safe?”
“We’re handling it,” ARO’s voice said.
They were handling it? She didn’t know what that meant, but she didn't have time to ask twice either. Well, she would be expecting a lot of answers out of the AIs. Just… later.
“Are you ready?” She wasn’t asking if Dothylian had the ability. She had no other choice.
Dothylian nodded and then slipped her shoes on. “We are really leaving?”
Only if they escaped without dying first. “ARO, I need that system down again.”
“Be ready,” he said.
She went to the door and put her hand on the handle. “Ready.” She turned to Dothylian. “If you don’t run when I say run, if you don’t move when I say move, you will die. I will leave you.”
Dothylian nodded her understanding, her lips set in grim determination.
She had a fighting spirit, and she would need it.
If the girl made it, Keva could leave her on Kalamatra with a new identity. Let her start over and try to build a life of her own. She wasn’t cut out for the type of life Keva could offer her.
“The second elevator from the right is ready,” ARO said. “The lasers will be down for twenty-six seconds.”
“Starting when?”
“Now.”
Keva grabbed Dothylian’s hand and ran for the door.
Dothylian stumbled, slowing them down before they’d even gotten into the hall.
“I am not watching the camera inside the room right now, Kadira,” he said. “Unless you would rather I look at you instead of everything else.”
Keva wanted to reach through her earpiece and strangle the AI.
“Fifteen seconds.”
They were out the door and into the hallway.
“Ten seconds,” ARO said.
Dothylian slowed. Her feet twisted around themselves and her body swayed.
Were they going to die in the fucking hall? Keva pulled harder. “We have seconds to get to that elevator. Move your…” She pulled harder, glad she’d chosen a shoe with a good grip on the sole. “…ass!”
The elevator door slid open.
“Five,” ARO said.
They weren’t going to make it. Keva had a chance alone, but Dothylian’s weight slowed her down.
“Four.”
Keva pushed harder with her legs, feeling the burn in her lungs.
“Three.”
“Two.”
Dothylian threw her body forward, running and leaping as she tried to help their progress.
“One.”
Keva leaped into the cab of the elevator, pulling Dothylian with her.
The lasers lit up in the hallway.
Dothylian cried out as she fell into the cab. The back of her dress smoldered and smoke rose from her hair. She clung to the wall, glaring at Keva.
“Are you able to move?”
“I feel like I was burned.”
“Because you were.” Keva gripped Dothylian’s shoulder and turned her around, patting the last embers of burning fabric out. It wasn’t bad. She turned to face Dothylian again and put a finger to her lips and flicked her eyes up to the vidcams. “You are fine. We need to get you back to your party.”
“You’re not going to the party, are you?” ILO asked.
Keva couldn’t answer that. Not in the elevator.
“They need an exit plan,” ARO said calmly. “Something without bioscanners or FROGs.”
“And you know of something?” ILO asked.
“I might.”
The elevator moved, but instead of going down, it went up.
Keva wanted to ask what he was doing but didn’t want to tip off the people listening.
“There are guards at all the exits,” ARO said.
Keva knew that.
“And bioscanners at levels two-hundred and thirty to the ground floor, which would register Dothylian’s departure.”
That had come up in her research as she’d been scouting the job on the way to Terra Qar.
“But there’s one floor without bioscanners or laser grids.”
That sounded promising.
“And it has a balcony.”
How was a balcony supposed to help her? ARO had a shuttle, but how was he going to get through the air support guarding the tower?
The elevator door opened to a wide-open area. Several people milled about, in outfits even more outrageous than the ones she’d seen below.
Keva stepped out, her gut twisting as she realized just how out of place they were. They weren’t supposed to be there.
Dothylian groaned. “The groom’s party.”
“The what?”
A woman walked up to them as the elevator door closed. “Dothylian,” she sneered, taking in Dothylian’s disheveled appearance and loose hanging hair. “Why are you here?”
“Madame Zervek.” Dothylian’s voice practically quivered.
Keva tightened her hand on Dothylian’s arm and put herself between the two women.
The mission had decidedly gone wrong. What had Keva been thinking going up there to rescue Dothylian? Well, she’d wanted to do ‘the right thing,’ and she was committed. So, the only thing to do was to stick with it.
“Dothylian fulfilled her responsibility as the broodmare. Your son,” Keva spat the word, pushing the boundaries of etiquette as far as was acceptable, “is sleeping off his rutting.”
Madame Zervek’s hard gaze landed on Keva before her lip curled up in a sneer. “You. I am glad your blood never entered our bloodline.”
“Likewise.”
“You do not belong here,” Madame Zervek hissed.
“And you will not cause a scene,” a deeper voice said fr
om behind them. “Either of you.”
Keva would not turn around and give that man the satisfaction of even the appearance of her respect. She’d met him before. Wilmur’s father.
Madame Zervek bowed her head, but her eyes and lips remained tight. “What are you doing here?”
“After your son’s premarital amusements,” Keva said grabbing Dothylian’s arm and shoving her sleeve up to display the angry bruises, “I thought it best to get her some fresh air instead off to the party below to display your son’s trophies of affection.”
“She will make herself presentable.” Madame Zervek raised her chin and refused to look at Dothylian’s injuries. Her eyes oozed icy disdain.
“And if we had the accommodations for that, we would. But since such hospitality has not been extended...” Keva pinched her eyes closed and opened them again.
The people nearest to them had stopped talking and stared at the two women with a combination of disgust and fascination as if they were watching exotic creatures who had escaped the zoo.
“Your kind does not belong here.”
Her kind. Even in the Elite, there were classifications. “Of course.” Keva beamed a smile and turned toward Wilmur’s father. “Sir Zervek, if you would prefer us to mingle with our own, I will take Miss Solvei to the lower-class party where we can parade your son’s prize in front of the masses. Show the world the evidence of what kind of a man he is.”
Someone nearby whispered and she made out Wilmur’s name. Their presence was causing a scandal, something people like the Zerveks avoided at all costs.
“You push my patience, Kadira Saqqaf,” he growled.
He was an intimidating man, but Keva steeled her nerves by mapping out the point in his neck where one strike would cause instant death. “I am looking out for my friend, and your son’s interests at the same time. You would not want her too damaged too soon.”
“Beware, Kadira,” Sir Zervek cautioned, his tone flat as he leaned forward. “I am a man of significant power.”
“Real men of power do not need to remind others of it, or use it to inflict injury,” she said just as softly. “Are we free to find a quiet place where I might freshen your new daughter? Or do we go to the party?”
