by Rebecca Rode
She eyed the gaping hole in the door. “I still don’t like this.”
“Finley, it’s not like we can find another place to stay this time of night. Since it’s obvious my location has been compromised, the city may actually be safer at this point.”
“Fine,” she said. “But I’m waking everyone up the moment we get back.”
I was on my thirteenth route around the perimeter when I saw Treena’s light go out. It had been on a long time. Maybe she had been waiting for me to come in.
I couldn’t talk to her right now. Not with my settlement struggling and Ju-Long running loose. No matter how hard I tried to keep things together, my life insisted on crumbling apart.
“You keep getting in the way,” Treena had said. Like I was some street urchin tainting her ladyship’s reputation. I’d never forget the embarrassment on her face as she realized we were being watched. Her Highness was too good to be seen speaking with her lowly bodyguard.
I remembered my dream from a few nights ago and shivered. Treena kept using the word overprotective. But wasn’t that better than the alternative? I’d failed to keep her safe so many times. Now that I was finally succeeding, she resented me for it.
Whether she believed it or not, Treena needed me. The problem was that my settlement needed me too. We’d finally united our people under a new flag, a new leader. It wouldn’t take much for tensions to split them apart again.
A night patrolman, one of my guys, walked by and gave me a curious glance. I was supposed to be off duty. My shift began again in three hours, and tomorrow would be another long day. Tired or not, it was time for sleep.
I’d just climbed into bed with my clothes on when my pocket vibrated. I’d forgotten to take the receiver out.
I scrambled for it, but the vibration stopped.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered, holding it to my face as if I could make it ring again by sheer will. If they were calling me again already, it meant they’d found Ju-Long. I needed to hear that right now.
It vibrated again.
I switched it on. “I’m here.”
“Vance.” Selia’s voice. “Thank you for answering.”
“Where’s Ruby?”
Selia paused. My breath caught, and I stared at the receiver, willing it to speak back.
“She’s not doing well,” Selia finally said.
“But I just talked to her a few hours ago.” Usually her pain occurred in the morning. We knew by breakfast whether it would be a good or bad day. But it would be evening there now.
“Vance, the lake’s been poisoned.”
The receiver slipped in my hands, and I fumbled to catch it, yanking it back to my ear. “What did you just say?”
“Everyone is sick. The council, most of the settlers. Ruby.” A pause. “Your sisters.”
It felt like a punch to the face. I found myself sliding to the floor next to the bed. “Poisoned?”
“We don’t actually know it’s poison, but I can’t think of anything else that would do this. Everyone affected drank lake water today. Those who used water packets from storage are fine.”
I swore. “Some kind of bacteria?”
“We’re not sure yet. The lab is testing the water, and we’ve rationed enough water storage to last them a week. Hopefully they can find a cure by then.”
My sisters were sick. Alone. “Where are the twins?”
“My boys are caring for them. We had a little water stored as well. Not much, but enough for a few days. I’ve learned to always be prepared.”
My father’s favorite saying. What would he have done right now?
He wouldn’t have left his people alone.
“That’s not all,” she said. “They found Ju-Long’s body by the lake.”
The shock of it left me speechless. I’d been wrong, then. He wasn’t on his way back to China. Was there even a spy, or had the guy broken out of jail by himself somehow? If that was true, it seemed revenge was his only objective.
Anger burned hot in my veins. If the guy weren’t already dead, I would have killed him. “So he poisoned the lake and then killed himself.”
“That’s the strange part. He was shot through the head, but no weapon was found anywhere nearby. And the physician says the damage to the skull isn’t consistent with a suicide.”
“He’s dead, and he was at the scene of the crime,” I snapped. “That’s all I need to know. Ju-Long’s was our culprit.” I should have stayed. If I’d been there, I could have stopped this.
“I know how you feel about asking NORA for help,” Selia said. “I don’t think we could even make it there right now, not with two-thirds of the settlement sick. But we need to do something.”
We needed clean water, blankets, and uncontaminated food. Once the poisoned water got into the water table, it would affect all our wells. If the poison didn’t reach our crops, it would keep my workers from tending it. All our work, all those preparations. Gone. In one night Ju-Long had shut down our entire settlement.
“What do we do now?” Selia asked.
“You wait.” I grabbed my pants and slid them back on. “Keep everyone comfortable until I get there. I’ll bring as much clean water and medical supplies as I can.” I closed the call, then grabbed my shirt and pulled it over my head before remembering Treena.
I had put Finley in charge of her tonight, with orders to keep Treena in her room. The woman was infinitely better than no security and seemed capable enough, but well trained or not, the woman was still a NORA lapdog.
You keep getting in my way.
Maybe it would be better to find Jasper and tell him to switch gears, to stay with Treena at all times. She trusted him more than me these days. Probably wouldn’t even notice my absence.
It only took a moment to gather my stuff. I left the rented tuxedo on its hanger and tossed it onto the still-made bed, then headed for the dome. Four guards—two NORA, two English—sat next to the door. They stumbled to their feet as I approached.
“If I catch you sitting again,” I told them, “I’ll throw you off this building myself. Is she asleep?”
“Yes, sir,” one said stiffly.
I pushed through the door, which should have been locked, and made my way through the blackness of the giant living room. The massive tree stood dark and silent in the center, eerie without the sound of wind rustling through its leaves. One glance toward the bedroom and I knew Finley wasn’t standing outside the door where she should have been.
I bounded toward the door and fumbled in the darkness for the knob, swinging it open. Moonlight brightened the empty white sheets, which were all askew.
Treena had snuck out into the city again. If she thought bringing Finley made that okay, she was dead wrong.
The rising anger wiped my doubts aside, and I knew my decision was right. Treena obviously didn’t trust me, which meant there was nothing more to do here. Time to go where I was actually needed.
I stalked to the kitchen to find the notepad, the one Treena had used to lie about taking a walk. It sat on the middle of the table. I turned on the backlight and began to write.
The guard outside the Royal Pauper gaped at me. “I—I’ll have to check with my superior, Ambassador. This is highly irregular.”
“Skip them and go straight to the prince,” I told him. “I know he’s up there, and he’s probably half drunk.”
He must have been a captain, because he barked some orders to a younger guy next to him, who ran inside. Ten minutes later the guy returned, breathless. “The prince asked me to bring the girl—the, uh, ambassador—straight to him.”
The remaining guards reluctantly stepped aside, and the runner held the door for me. The captain wore a scowl as I went in.
I was right about the lift. It took us up dozens of floors to the very top. I wondered what was on all the other floors. Surely people didn’t live in this building, not with an active all-night pub on their rooftop. This was such a strange city.
The lift d
oors opened into a mayhem-filled lobby. People spilled out of the large double doors, talking and laughing. Loud music pumped from inside, and wall screens changed their displays every few seconds. There was so much going on I didn’t know where to look.
“He’s inside, waiting,” the guard said, nudging us forward through the crowd.
Finley stood to block my way and turned to our escort. “The ambassador won’t be secure in there. Tell the prince to come out and speak with her.”
It was something Vance would have said. I grinned at Finley. She hid a smile.
The guard grumbled and pushed his way into the crowd, disappearing in the mass of bodies.
So this was where Augustus felt comfortable. A stuffy prince by day and a partygoer by night, it seemed.
The crowd parted, and Augustus stumbled out, his shirt collar askew. His eyes went wide when he saw me. “Ametrine—uh, Ambassador. What are you doing here? Where are my guards? This is an outrage, you wandering the city alone at night.”
“She’s not alone, Your Highness,” Finley said, her voice clipped.
I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “I need to speak with you.”
His cross expression melted away, and he smiled, but his eyes were dull. The right one gleamed, meaning his implant was turned on. “Let me guess,” he said loudly for everyone listening. “The gala’s plonk wasn’t enough for you either? Join me. I intend to get completely legless before the night is out.”
Fates. I couldn’t talk to him like this. Not here, with all these people around and Augustus swaying like he’d fall over any second and smelling of strong liquor. But this couldn’t wait.
I steeled myself and kept my voice low. “Someone tried to kill me tonight.”
“They did?” Augustus repeated, his words slurred. “Now why would they do a thing like that?” He chuckled, and his companions laughed on cue. The guy was absolutely wasted.
Finley frowned. “An assassin drone snuck into her room, Your Highness.”
“Those drones,” Augustus said. “Such fickle things. And when was this?”
I raised an eyebrow. Fickle things? What kind of reaction was that? “About an hour ago. Who else knows where I’m staying? You said it was a secret.”
“Only the royal guard and the queen know. You still have the drone, then?”
An uneasy feeling pricked my skin. Augustus shouldn’t have known that.
Vance had said to trust my instincts. Everything inside me was screaming that something was very wrong here. Your enemy is the one with the widest smile.
I had to talk to Vance. We had to get out of the dome and move somewhere else like he’d wanted all along, and we needed to break free of Augustus’s guards. For good.
Finley felt it too. She watched the prince suspiciously, her expression guarded. Her hand hovered over her belt where her stunner usually sat. We’d ditched it in an alley, knowing weapons weren’t allowed inside. Now I wished we’d snuck it in somehow.
“It’s in pieces,” I found myself saying. “You can retrieve it in the morning. It will wait until then.”
Augustus scoffed. “You’re joshing. What kind of host would I be if I allowed you to go back with killer drones on the loose? Well find you a safer place to stay and double the guard.”
The dark feeling deep inside me only twisted my stomach even more. “I’m going back to grab a few things, then, so I’m ready to move. Don’t worry, Finley here will keep me safe until new quarters are found.”
“Stay and relax for a bit. Send your girl to get your things. You’ll be safe enough here.”
My shoulder pain began to flare up again. Not to mention the churning in my stomach.
“Thanks, but no. I’ll see you tomorrow, Your Highness.” I turned my back on the prince, causing a murmur among his guards, and summoned the lift. Finley, her lips pressed together, watched the crowd until the lift doors closed behind us.
I almost expected the prince to send his guards after us, but he didn’t. When we arrived at my building, any thought of sleep had fled.
Vance was right. I knew that now. What I didn’t understand was why. Augustus might not be the murderer—I still couldn’t think of an explanation as to why he would be—but he knew something about all this.
I went to Vance’s quarters first. He wasn’t there. Last night’s tuxedo lay across his bed. I searched the grounds around the dome and asked the guards, who seemed surprised that I was outside at five in the morning. They had just changed shifts a few minutes before, and nobody had seen him.
Heart quickening, I went inside and listened. There was no sound. I hadn’t seen him since our disagreement at the gala last night. Had something happened?
Defeated, heart pumping in my throat, I slunk down into a chair in the kitchen.
“I wouldn’t worry about Hawking,” Finley said, sitting down next to me. Exhaustion lined her eyes. “He must be wandering the city. He’s done that the last few nights, buying clothes and such. Don’t worry, Ambassador. I won’t let anything else happen to you.”
The notepad across the table caught my eye. Vance’s handwriting was scrawled across it in several neat lines.
Relieved, I scooped it up and scanned it, then sat bolt upright.
“What?” Finley asked. She craned her neck to look at it.
The world tilted around me. Then I read it again, slowly, as the letters faded in and out of focus. After I’d read it the third time, the pad slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor. I sat there, stunned. Shocked. Betrayed.
Vance had gone back to NORA.
It was ironic, going from ambassador’s bodyguard at an international peace gala to common criminal in a single night. Even as an outsider in NORA, I’d never actually stolen anything. Transports were rarely locked because they required a techband scan to run. Food pills were easy enough to steal, but not enticing at all. Yet here I was, on the docks of Liverpool, searching for the perfect aircraft to swipe.
I wasn’t sure how these air transports worked, but from the occasional power modules here on the docks, they had to be electric. I chose one that was still plugged in as if its owner were preparing for a trip. It appeared smaller than the other vehicles but still large enough to carry a heavy load.
Bike Boy would be livid when he found out I’d charged sixty-eight boxes of water packets and supplies to his account. If they had poison treatment pills, I would have bought those too. A huge pile of boxes stood on the docks behind me, right where the store employee had delivered them. Now that she was finally gone, it was time to steal some transportation.
Examining the air transport, I felt along the hatch door for some kind of hold, but it was smooth and cold to the touch. There had to be some way to force this thing open. I slid my fingers along the outline. Nothing. Probably responsive to some kind of clicker belonging to its owner.
“If you’re going to steal an air transport,” a man said, “choose one of the older ones.”
I whirled and prepared for a fight, but it was only Jasper.
He pointed at the vehicle I was trying to steal. “The smaller ones are tighter than rocks. The older ones are bigger and clunkier, but they’re pretty easy to break into.”
“You steal aircraft in your spare time, then?”
“No stealing yet, but I have been practicing in case Treena needed to get out of here quick. Even rented one the other day and flew it along the coast to get the hang of things. Pretty fun, actually.”
“You can rent air transports?”
“Don’t get any ideas. They’re heavily tracked. Go a kilometer farther than they think you should, and they’ll assume you’re stealing it and send the forces out after you. Nah, you’re better off just taking one, and the older, the better.” He walked along the dock, examining each vehicle in the darkness. “Ah. This one’ll do.”
“How did you find me?”
“Been following you all night. See now, this one’ll be easy. Watch that crevice there.” He pushed the door
backward, then swung the hatch open. “Pull on it, and it’ll resist you all day long. But push it, and there it goes. You’re welcome.”
I didn’t move. “Why?”
His voice went hard. “I’ve been watching your building the last couple of nights. I don’t trust the prince’s guard—they seem inexperienced. Always sleeping when nobody’s looking. I saw you sneak out with that duffel bag and figured I’d better see why my daughter’s head of security was abandoning her as she slept.”
I sighed. “You seem awful eager to get rid of me if you think I’m abandoning her.”
“If you’re going to break her heart, I’d rather you do it sooner than later.”
“Treena means a lot to me,” I said. “Nothing has changed on my end.”
“I know about the fight between you two at the gala. Running away won’t solve your problems. In fact, I can’t think of a single time when running away hasn’t caused more of them. You’ll just have to trust me on that.”
“I’m not running away. If there wasn’t an emergency at home, I would stay and see this through. It’s just—it’s complicated. She doesn’t want me here.”
She wanted a different version of me, someone who could handle her throwing her life aside and plunging into danger. Someone who wasn’t terrified of losing her like he’d lost everyone else.
She wanted someone I could never be.
Jasper looked at my pile of supplies and released a deep sigh. “And this is your big emergency?”
“Someone poisoned our lake.” He’d never been to the settlement, so that statement wouldn’t mean much, but I didn’t feel like elaborating. Instead, I pushed past him and studied the aircraft’s interior. Plenty big, although it stunk like wet animal fur. I didn’t want to know what the owner’s trade was.
“This may actually work,” I muttered, looking underneath the nose to see if it was plugged into the dock’s electrical system. It was, and the light on the cord was green. Fully charged.
