by M. D. Cooper
She was surprised Vaax hadn’t been able to find Harken using similar methods. Perhaps she didn’t have access to the right people, what with the GFF leadership so divided. Or maybe she was playing at some other game.
It was hard to tell with Scipians; their schemes had schemes.
Nadine would have to get a message to Petra soon, asking what to do about Lana. She hadn’t heard from Jason, and was worried he’d make another play for the girl—even though it would put her mission in jeopardy.
If Petra wanted Lana taken out so badly, she should have just asked Nadine to do it—the girl would be dead already. As it sat, Nadine didn’t want to rock the boat with Kylie by killing her rescuee, but if the opportunity arose in the next few days to tie up the loose end created by Tanis Richard’s nanotech sale to S&H, Nadine suspected she would take it.
There! Nadine’s NSAI routine spotted a log entry containing one of Harken’s tokens. There were two likely locations nearby that Harken could be staying at. Nadine checked over every piece of available data on the buildings.
One was a service automaton storage facility, and the other a middling quality residential structure. The residential structure was the more likely of the two—Harken was a creature of comfort, after all.
A quick review turned up a connection. One of the companies Harken sold her modded sex girls through had delivered something to a suite in the building two nights prior.
That was enough for Nadine to go on.
Sorry, Harken. Your time is up.
Nadine slid out of her seat. “You keep at it. If you find a likely ship, or a sign of Lana, contact me. I’ll come running.”
“You’re going somewhere?” Rogers glanced up with a scowl and leaned back in his chair. “Now?”
Nadine nodded. “One of the ships doesn’t have a good feed angle. There’s too much cargo blocking the view. I’m going to do a walk-by and see what I can see. It won’t take me long.”
“You really think that’s wise? We’re short Lana and we just got you back. If Kylie knew I let you out of my sight, she’d kill me.”
“I’ll just be thirty minutes or so. It’s down on Ring 4.” Nadine smiled.
Rogers stroked his chin. “Seems like a strange time to run off by yourself, Nadine.”
Inwardly she sighed as she leaned over and rubbed his shoulders. “You know me better than almost anyone, Rogers, and I appreciate your concern, but we have to follow all the leads. I’ll get you one of those little chocolate oranges you like so much. There’s a vendor on the way.”
“Two,” Rogers said with a smile before turning his attention back to his monitor.
“Thanks, Rogers. You’re the best non-big brother a girl could ever ask for.” Nadine rushed out of the security office and didn’t glance back.
* * * * *
The apartment Harken was hiding out in was located in the central spire, seven levels down from the GFF tower. Nadine slipped through the corridors leading toward it, using her micro-drones and hacked security sensors to avoid detection.
Before long she was approaching the door to Harken’s suite, where a guard stood, gazing at her impassively as she approached.
He ID’d her long before she reached him and greeted her by name. “Nadine Devonire?”
She nodded. “That’s me. In the flesh.”
“Just a second.” The guard blinked rapidly, and then she looked back at Nadine. “Harken will see you, but needs a few minutes to freshen up.”
Nadine nodded. “That’s understandable. It’s been a long day for all of us.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” The guard stepped to the side as Harken’s door slid open. Nadine walked inside, pausing as the door slid shut behind her. She reached back and touched the control panel, delivering a stream of nano that would lock it down and ensure their privacy.
The room was spacious, dominated by a large red sofa in the shape of a triangle and in front of it, a plas coffee table with silver edgings. Stylish, for Gedri.
“Nadine!” Harken said as she entered the room, arms spread wide. “It’s so good to see you without that little trollop you gallivant through the stars with!”
Gone was the elegant dress Harken had worn earlier in the day. Now, Harken gleamed in a red latex catsuit, complete with corset, and tall, heel-less boots.
You could take the woman out of the cage, but it seemed that the cage was still in Harken.
“As facetiously verbose as ever, sweetheart.” Nadine leaned in and kissed each of Harken’s cheeks as was customary on Nadine’s home world. Not that Nadine had ever been to the homeworld she claimed with this persona.
“Drink? I must admit, I’m dying to know why you’re here. Has Kylie finally realized she’s backing the wrong side? Or have you come to betray her? Both would be delicious, but I think the latter would please me most.”
“Harken,” Nadine said softly, her eyes wide. “There’s no reason to be so unpleasant all the time. I’m not Kylie. And besides, holding that girl against her will wasn’t very nice of you.”
“What can I say,” Harken chuckled as she walked to the sideboard to pour two drinks. “I’m a bad, bad woman.”
“The baddest.” Nadine glanced at the window which overlooked a park, ensuring there were no good views into the room.
“She’s worth a lot of money. I’ve been trying to get people close to your ship, but Maverick has the docks covered with his own crews. But if you were to help me, I bet we could get the girl off.” Harken handed a glass to Nadine, which a quick sample with a nanoprobe showed to contain a strong truth serum and a time-activated poison.
Nadine neutralized the compounds and took a sip as Harken continued.
“…let’s just say if you turn her over to me, I’ll look the other way and let your little ship go. If I can have Rhoads, too.”
Nadine crossed her arms. “Really, Harken? You need to come up with something better than that.”
Harken laughed. “Well, I had to try, didn’t I? Maybe you should start explaining why you’re here.”
“I just wanted to make sure everything between us was all right. I mean, I was kidnapped over this girl, yet I hold no ill will toward you. I’m sure you can say the same?”
“I’ve never had an issue with you, Nadine. You’ve always been kind and sweet, especially for the type of girl that Maverick usually associates with.”
When Harken uttered Maverick’s name, her voice dripped with disdain. Nadine felt the same way. She loved Kylie, but could never understand Kylie’s soft spot for the slimy crime lord.
Nadine sipped her drink. “Maverick broke you and humiliated you. I know what he did to you.”
“Yet, here I am. Chained to him. Running his brothels and chop shops because he can’t be bothered. Treats me like trash, even though I built over half his empire. Why? Because of what he did to me.” At that Harken swept her hand down her body.
“He made me addicted to kink like this, mentally conditioned me, turned me into a thing. Do you know this isn’t my body, my face? He changed everything about me. When I worked myself free of the cage, and climbed his shitty ladder, I kept it all. Do you know why?”
Nadine shook her head. “Do tell.”
Harken grinned, a wide, toothy smile. “So when I defeat him, when I take everything of his and use it to destroy him, it won’t be some victorious return, it will be the broken husk that I am today, ruined by him, but still better than him. Even as a discarded sex doll, I can still defeat him.”
Nadine had to smile in appreciation. “That’s some cold, cold revenge you’re serving there.”
Harken nodded. “A decade in the making. More, if you consider the plots I set in motion even from within his cage. And tomorrow, I’ll get to watch his face when he realizes he’s lost his place in the GFF. Tomorrow, when Vaax is out and Ian is named president pro-tem, I’ll be there gloating as Maverick is strung up. Do you want to know the best part?”
“Do tell,” Nadine said.
“It’s over a girl, and not even one that he abducted!”
“You really will have supplanted him,” Nadine said. She didn’t mean it as a compliment, but Harken took it as one.
“I know! Well and truly. Ian has promised that I can be the one to kill Maverick too. Finally, I’ll hold the position I always should’ve. I’m no one’s number two, Nadine. You of all people, should understand that.”
Nadine took a slow, nonchalant step toward Harken. “Oh, I do. And you’re right. If you got to finish your testimony tomorrow, you probably would unseat Maverick and Vaax. Problem is, I need them where they are. And you, darling are the problem.”
She darted forward and Harken’s eyes widened. “What do you…” Her words were cut off as Nadine shoved the ice pick from the mini-bar up and beneath Harken’s ribs. One stab to puncture her lungs, and then another through the heart.
“Sorry,” Nadine whispered. “If you’ve tried to send for help, you’ll notice I’ve placed a Link suppressor by the door. You won’t be reaching anyone in time, darling.”
She covered Harken’s mouth as she lowered the woman to the floor, not so much to suffocate her, but to make sure she couldn’t scream for help—as unlikely as that was.
Harken was bleeding out and Nadine willed her to get on with it. She had to get out of there before someone decided to check in on them.
Harken started to gulp for air while blood poured out of the corners of her mouth, pumped into her lungs through the holes inside her.
“Try to relax. You’re choking on your own blood. If you don’t try to fight it, it’ll go easier on you.” Nadine removed her hand and Harken’s whole body shook. Her mouth opened and she wheezed a word.
Nadine couldn’t hear it, but noted the surprise and pure hatred in Harken’s eyes. Nadine got that a lot when people figured out what she really was. She wasn’t looking forward to Kylie finding out, but she should still be able to stave that day off for a little longer.
But with this killing, Nadine would be just barely keeping ahead of discovery. Things were on the move. Kylie’s brother showing up proved that.
Before long, Harken became still, and Nadine touched her hard-Link port, connecting to the woman’s dying brain, triggering a wipe of all the stored data in her memory augmentation systems.
No one needed to know about what Harken had learned of Lana—though Nadine was surprised to find out who Harken’s secret buyer was for the nanotech. That was intel Petra would be most interested in.
Once she was satisfied Harken’s brain harbored no dangerous secrets, Nadine Linked to the room’s security and altered the records to show a fight between the two, where Nadine killed Harken in self-defense.
Then she took the murder weapon and used it to slice open her dress and cut a long gash in her stomach.
She dropped the ice pick, placed a hand over her bleeding stomach and screamed.
“Help! Help! She attacked me, help!”
LIES
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Futz, Central Spire, Freemont
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie was on her way back to the Dauntless to don her stealth armor when the call came in over the Link.
The news was so shocking, she stopped right in the middle of a maglev platform and the man behind her almost walked right into her.
“Damnit, lady,” he muttered, but Kylie barely heard him. Her mind was too busy trying to process what it had just learned: Nadine was being held at Harken’s apartment under suspicion of murder.
It didn’t make any sense. There was no reason for Nadine to see Harken and she certainly couldn’t hurt anyone.
Kylie sprang into motion, boarded a different train, and ten minutes later pushed her way past a pair of cops toward the entrance to Harken’s apartment.
“Kylie!” Nadine cried from her spot on the sofa. In her hand was a crumpled tissue. Her face was splotchy and streaked with tears. Just to see her that way, tore at Kylie’s heart and drove her forward.
When she tried to push past the guards at the door, they held their hands up. “This is an active crime scene. Harken was murdered.”
“That’s my girlfriend,” Kylie said angrily. “You let me by or there will be serious trouble, do you understand?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand. If you’re not compliant you’re the one who is going to be thinking about your recent choices in jail.”
Kylie watched Nadine rock forward with a sob. Every part of Kylie needed to be with Nadine, to comfort her. “I don’t care what I have to do…”
“Let her by.” Maverick’s voice came from behind Kylie. It took her by surprise, and she jumped. She glanced back and saw that he looked almost as angry as she felt. He might be a scumbag, but at least he was a scumbag who occasionally cared.
The guard gave Maverick a long look and nodded to his partner. They parted and Kylie raced in and sat beside Nadine. She touched Nadine’s shoulder softly but firmly. “It’s going to be all right.”
Nadine shook her head and folded against Kylie’s chest. “I’m so glad you came. I didn’t…I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just came…”
“Why did you come?” Kylie wasn’t angry at Nadine, rather she was angry at the situation she’d put herself in. “Damn it, Nadine…Harken is dangerous.”
Was dangerous. Past tense now that Nadine had killed her—which had to be wrong. Nadine had never killed anyone.
Nadine sat up and dotted at her eyes with her tissue. “You and Harken always had problems, but she and I have been civil. I thought I could talk to her. Reason with her and avoid all these complications, you know? We were having a drink. I turned my back and she had an ice pick. She attacked me. I tried to defend myself and look…” She held up her hands and Kylie could easily see the lacerations on her hand and her stomach.
She was hurt, really hurt, and they were just holding her here? “Have you received any medical treatment?”
Nadine nodded. “They stopped the bleeding and closed the wounds with biogel. They said I’ll be fine but I’m not allowed to go.”
“You’re lucky to have gotten out of this alive, Nadine. Please don’t you ever go see someone like Harken again in secret. We’re supposed to have each other’s backs for a reason. We’re a team. A crew.”
“I promise.” Nadine quickly nodded her head. “I won’t act on my own again like this…but with everyone looking for Lana, I didn’t want to distract anyone with my crazy ideas.”
Crazy was right. Kylie hugged Nadine again, stroking her blue hair back as a man in a fancy suit strolled up. A query over the Link identified him as Chief Detective Lawrence. “Can I take her out of here? She’s really shaken up.”
His narrow face and beady eyes didn’t deviate from Nadine’s. “I’m sure she is, but we’re going to have more questions.”
“More questions?” Nadine’s eyes widened. “How many more ways can I tell you what happened? Harken and I were friends once.”
A bit of an exaggeration, Kylie thought.
“I certainly didn’t expect her to attack me when we were having a civil conversation,” Nadine continued.
“We’re going to take you down to the detention center. We’ll let you stew overnight. See if you change your story.”
“Excuse me?” Kylie rose from the sofa. “Do you see how upset she is? Do you see she’s wounded?”
“I see exactly what’s going on. Maybe clearer than you do. She’s not leaving here until we get to the bottom of her story.”
“Do you have any idea who she is? She’s a dignitary. A princess and if her homeworld hears about how you’re treating her—”
The detective held a hand up. “You angling to get a cell near hers? Because I can secure a very small one for you. Very cozy with no window, not even a door. We’ll drop you in a hole, Rhoads. You’ll never get out.”
Kylie held her breath and glanced back at Nadine. The dete
ctive was far more upset than he should have been. She noticed he kept clenching his left fist, and twisting his ankle back and forth like he was going to pivot and strike her.
It was probable he was on Ian, or Harken’s, payroll. She couldn’t leave Nadine with a man like this, but she still had to find Lana. There were too many choices and too many directions. Kylie didn’t like it one bit.
“You backed the wrong person,” the detective whispered to Kylie. “And now you and your missus are going to pay for what’s happened here.”
Kylie felt rage build within her. Strong and nearly uncontrollable. She rapidly assessed all the threats in the room, possible weapons, egress points, escape probability.
She catalogued twenty-two ways to kill the officer and make it out alive—though only two of those allowed for Nadine, and neither had her getting out unscathed.
The feeling was robotic, mechanical, but when no viable options materialized it faded and she took a step toward the detective. “If you hurt her, I’ll end you. Every single one of you.”
The detective laughed. “Sure, you will.”
Maverick approached from where he had been standing by the bar, hands in his pockets. “I’ll see to it that Nadine is treated well and fair. Nothing will happen to her while I’m overseeing things. Right, Detective?”
The detective gave Maverick a cold look, but sank back. He even appeared to shorten, like an accordion. Maverick asked again only louder. “Right, Chief?”
He nodded. “Yes, fine. Right you are, Maverick.” The detective motioned for Nadine to follow him. “Come with me.”
Nadine stood and gazed up at Kylie. “I’ll be okay. I’m sorry, Kylie. So, sorry.”
Kylie kissed her and held her close. Funny, she felt closer to her now more than ever, especially since Nadine was kidnapped. “Keep to yourself. Keep your head down.”
Nadine nodded, and gave a frightened look at the detective as he pulled her away. “Don’t leave me too long, Kylie. I’m scared.”
Kylie bit her lip and watched as Nadine left with the detective. She hated seeing that fear return in Nadine’s eyes.
