They found a table near the open air where they could hear the noise from the street and watch the crowds passing by. Soon the three of them were chomping through tacos dripping with exotic sauces and speaking very little. Once in a while, Holly couldn’t help herself and muttered, “Oh my god. This is so fucking good.” She figured Meg and Gabe got the reference to prison food without her having to spell it out.
“Well, have you thought enough?” Gabe paused with a taco halfway between his plate and mouth. “In one way, I wonder if it’s even your choice to make, Meg. I’m part of the unit and I’m actually just slightly higher than you in rank. So. The choice should be mine. Isn’t that right? Correct me if I’m wrong. But since I’m not, it’s my opinion that we should give the lead to Holly and let her decide.”
Meg finished chewing a bite of taco and swallowed. “Now that you’ve said your bit, I realize there is no choice. We’re a team, Detective Bach. I’ve always been the voice of reason on our team. Reason says no, Holly does not get the lead.” Meg took another bite and flashed a devilish smile at Gabe.
“Fuck, Meg, that is so juvenile and immature,” Gabe said.
“About as immature as you pulling rank on me, when you know very well, we’re the same goddamn rank,” Meg said, leaning toward him, her eyes flashing. “We even got our pins at the same time.”
Gabe laughed. “There’s the horns. Now gut me,” he said, egging her on. “As I recall, and as history would support, it was three days apart. You got yours three days after me. Therefore, I am the ranking detective.”
“Look,” Holly began, “much as I enjoy the lover’s spat, you guys know that I hate being here for your foreplay.”
“What?” Meg said sharply. “This is not a lover’s spat. Or foreplay.”
Gabe was quiet, a smile on his lips, a glimmer of something in them as he studied his sparring partner.
“Well anyway, call it all whatever the fuck you want. Meg, give me fucking lead. If I have a bad feeling about it or don’t want to do it, I won’t. I don’t want a gun though. Surprise, I can make my own decisions.”
“Go Holly,” Gabe said, grinning and slugging her in the shoulder. He leaned back in his chair and began sipping a kasè.
“Thanks Gabe. But you were doing it too.”
“I was fighting Meg,” he said, realization dawning on him. He took another sip of the white Druiviin drink. “Yeah, you’re right. I was trying to fight your battle. Lesson-learned.”
Meg fumed and looked away from both of them. She sank lower into her seat and then muttered, almost inaudibly, “If I give you the lead, you’re taking a gun. Or no lead.”
Gabe clapped. “Bravo ladies. I never thought we’d come to an agreement.”
EIGHT
THE gun cut into Holly’s side underneath her blazer. She also had a jacket on, to hide it. She paused outside the location as the sky darkened noticeably. It had been a half-light for the past hour anyway, and now the eclipse was total. The temperature dropped fifteen degrees and the sweat that was creeping toward her hairline chilled. Holly shivered as she opened the front door of the Glassini Wine Bar, she matched it against the paper—yeah, Glassini. It was almost 10 am, two days after the lunch at Molten Taco.
It was a stipulation, bring the gun or don’t get the lead. But wasn’t it illegal for her to have a gun? Gabe and Meg both laughed at that. Does anyone follow laws like that in the City of Jade Spires? Holly wasn’t sure. She’d never wanted a gun. And she swore she wasn’t going to use this one. She’d rather take an aether gun to the gut herself and die than shoot another human being. Once was a enough.
Inside, the lights were dim and everything was organized around a central bar area which glowed with orange and yellow lights. Wine glasses and bottles hung suspended from an elegant overhead wooden display. A Druiviin bartender moved between clients seated around the bar on soft, faintly orange stools. Music came from a corner where another Druiviin man played a traditional instrument, filtered through a series of electronics that warped the music and his soft voice. Holly spared just a glance for him before seeking out the person she was meant to meet.
There, a man in a corner, seated with a glass of wine and a candle flickering in the center of the square table, his gaze scanned the room as though he was on guard.
She crossed the room and leaned close to him, “Meeting someone at ten?”
The man sat back and studied her. His head was covered in dark blond hair, carefully mussed. His eyes glittered around the edges with pink eye-shadow. On his neck there were tattoos of four stars. He looked fierce but theatrical in some way, all at once. Holly almost thought she’d gotten the wrong man and began to leave when he spoke.
“Yes. Please. Sit.” He gestured to an empty stool at his table. “What would you have to drink?”
“Something dark and red.” Holly wasn’t going to pass up a drink. Those days were gone. They belonged in the past with her former life.
The man lifted a hand full of gold and silver rings. He had a slight accent, pale blue eyes, and a wide, expressive mouth. He appeared to be wearing more than just eyeshadow. Red lipstick, brighter than blood, and eye-liner as well. A server came to their table at the man’s gesture and he ordered for Holly. “One of your best glasses of red.”
Holly bristled, but figured it was his tab. He better know that it was. “Your treat?” Holly asked, deciding in a split second that knowing was better than wondering.
“Of course. Your name?”
“Why don’t you tell me yours, first?”
“You may call me Xadrian.”
He had a slight accent and an even slighter lisp.
“Fine, Xadrian. You may call me HD, for now.” She opted to keep her name to herself. For now. “Let’s figure out what’s going on before I give you more than that. Fair?”
“However you like it,” Xadrian said.
The server returned with a glass for Holly, which he placed in front of her. “Thank you.” The server bowed and backed away. She sipped the drink. It was almost overpowering. She cringed slightly but she knew the taste would simmer and then soften as she drank more.
“I take it you haven’t had a drink in a while?” Xadrian observed.
“What gave you that idea?” Holly asked, suspicious.
“First of all, your reaction. Second, I’m aware of some things, HD,” he remarked, his gaze intensifying like he had a secret.
She brushed it aside, but knew that it’d do her well to hang onto the idea that he had secrets and behaved as though he knew more than he let on. “So, Xadrian. What is it that you need?” Holly waited for something about blackmail or a request for her to tail and photograph some wealthy man in a seat of power who was potentially cheating.
“Ah, to business then,” he muttered and stretched his back and neck, and then cracked his knuckles. “Very well. This face you see before you? It isn’t the face of the one who requires your services. I’m here on behalf of someone else. Someone with money and power.”
Holly attempted to keep her face passive. “Obviously,” she said. Obviously. Obviously I wouldn’t be introduced to the actual client. Duh. It was probably like this a lot, in this business. Whatever this business was.
“Yes, I’m sure you knew that,” Xadrian said, a grin touching the corners of his lips. “My employer has had a valuable, priceless possession stolen: the Eye of the Colossus. And my employer needs it back.”
“Oh great,” Holly said. “It’s not a simple job.”
“It was stolen, my employer needs it back. Ms. HD, what do you know about the Eye of the Colossus?”
She shrugged. “Nothing, really. I don’t move in those circles. It’s not really my thing.”
“The Eye is a golden amulet with eleven priceless gems embedded within it—it was created by the famous Druiviin artisan, Ko Lapsong to represent the unity of the four races on the six moons, bestowed by the life-giving hydrantium found on Muibaus—aka the Eye,” he paused. “Sorry. You’v
e really never heard of this?”
Holly shook her head. “I don’t dig jewelry. But I get it, Ixion is the Eye. So one gem for each race, each inhabited moon, and then the biggest is Ixion?”
“Muibaus,” he nodded. “Ixion is the pedestrian term for the planet.”
That fit. The rings, the attention to appearance, the expensive wines. Xadrian was kind of a snob.
“Moving on. Eleven gems. The biggest is the Eye, exactly. The problem for us and therefore you, is that in less than two weeks it will be moved.” Xadrian studied Holly’s face as though to see if his words were having the right impact. She nodded once to give him feedback. “Once it’s moved, we won’t know where it is and will be unable to recover it.”
“An item, stolen, you need it back before it gets moved and you can’t track it. Great.”
“It’s slightly more complicated than that, however, some of the details that you will need, we’ve got.” He tapped a dark green folder sitting on the table beside his goblet of wine. He paused and swirled the drink around in the glass. He sniffed it and then took a sip. “This folder contains an image of the jewels and the location. We can provide some other tiny bits of intel. For the rest, you will need to scout it out, sneak in, and try to get it back without it being damaged in any way. Or, without your being arrested.”
Holly pursed her lips. “Makes total sense. But before you go on, we should address the elephant in the room. Payment. So far I’m not feeling inclined to do such a dangerous-sounding job.”
Xadrian dipped his head in satisfaction. “You’ll be paid, rather handsomely if I do say so myself. The money will be based on tiers. So, for example, you get the package before it’s moved, the payout will be better. The package is returned to my employer undamaged, more money. None of this is leaked outside yourself and whatever team you assemble to help—and that includes your sister and her ex-husband—you get paid more.”
Holly nodded, “Wait, you know my sister?”
“I went through her to get to you. Yes, of course, bloody obvious, isn’t it?”
“Then why can’t I talk to her about it?”
“A lot of reasons. Think about it for a few minutes.”
“Don’t be such a smart dick. You want me to work for you. I don’t have to take this.” She said it to establish a boundary. It sounded like a flash of anger, but that was calculated. It was an alpha move, to say, I’m not some weak puppet. Xadrian leaned back and breathed deeply, like he understood what the move was.
“Fair point. But I’ve got the money. And you want the money.”
“But how much money? And a team? I need a team. How hard is this going to be?”
Xadrian shrugged. “You don’t have to use a team. That’s up to you. You are allowed to make decisions like that as events unfold. If you consider the parameters of the job, you’ve got a limited window of time. The place is full of security guards and other security measures and I assume you don’t want the package damaged. So, I’m thinking, could be a good idea?” His bright lips turned up as he spoke, revealing straight white teeth.
“Where’s the package located?”
“I’ll give you that info once you agree to the job.”
“What other information haven’t you given me?”
“You’ll know when you accept the job. I take mine and my employer’s security very seriously,” Xadrian answered.
Holly sipped her wine again. This was fucking a lot more serious than she thought it was going to be. Forms. A team. God, why were they even asking her to do it? What did she know about breaking into a place and stealing something? “Isn’t there someone . . . better suited for a job like this?”
Xadrian stared at her, his face immobile, his gaze sizing her up. “That’ll make sense to you someday. For now, my employer believes you’ll be the best person for this job.”
“Your employer? Does that mean you disagree?”
Xadrian grinned. “My opinion doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Oh I don’t know. You seem to have superb taste in bars and drinks. I’d trust you with one or two big decisions.”
He laughed. “Do we have a deal?”
“What’s the pay tiers, so I have a concept of what kind of carrot to dangle in front of a potential team?”
“Bottom tier, just to give an idea, would be 2.2 million novas.”
Holly took a long drink of wine to mask her surprise at the amount. Rent in a decent jade district tower for a month was around nine hundred novas. The package must be invaluable. Worth possibly ten million if that was what they’d be willing to spend to get it back. She coughed. “OK. Now give me all the other details. I have very little time to do this job, as you remember. Can’t spare any more minutes lounging here with you.”
Xadrian gestured to the bartender and ordered another drink. He raised an eyebrow at her in question, but she turned down another drink. She wanted to keep her wits long enough to hear this, and was already feeling a bit fuzzy from the first glass, which was only half gone. While he waited for his next drink, Holly turned and checked out the rest of the room, letting the ideas she’d just heard mull around in her head. The performing Druiviin was nearby, his hands on multiple instruments as he played. He caught her gaze and held it. There was something in his expression—though members of the race were notoriously hard to read as a general rule, Holly thought it was perhaps curiosity in his eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to be noticed, or wondered about so she turned back in her seat to face Xadrian. Then she closed her eyes and listened to the music being played and let the sounds relax her.
A shoosh sound made her open her eyes. Xadrian had slid a folder in front of her. “Most of what you need to know is in this folder. Please don’t let this information go beyond the two of us. Your discretion is of the utmost importance—my employer will be seriously unhappy if anything befalls his valuables due to your negligence. Remember, this must be done before the goods are moved. We don’t have a way to track them once they leave this tower.”
Holly looked through the folder. There was a photo of the location—in one of the jade towers, a top level suite. There was a note inside written in pen that they had confirmed that the valuables would be moved in twelve days. And there was a photo of the amulet with the eleven jewels in it.
“This is it? A photo of the location and that it’s going to be moved? Nothing else? What kind of security, how many guards, is there’s a safe inside that I’ll need to open? None of that?”
Xadrian smiled. “That’s part of the job. Once you’ve signed the decided, I will give you a few more details to add to your folder. The rest, you’ll have to figure out on your own. If I did it, then it’d be my job and I’d take the money.”
Holly sat back and sighed.
“My number is in there if you need to reach me. I suspect I’ll be seeing you again quite soon, HD. Otherwise, please limit contact with me until the job is done. I can’t have the thieves and thugs who are constantly tracking me, putting together that someone is going after the package.” He took a long drink of his wine and then stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other tasks to do today. Thank you for the meeting Ms. Drake.”
Holly started. “Wait a minute. You knew my name all along?”
“Of course I did. I work in intelligence. How else do you think I secured this job?”
He laughed and walked away, buttoning up his blazer and putting a long coat on, covered in pink and dark green sequins and feathers.
NINE
AFTER Xadrian left, Holly sat alone for a moment absorbing what she’d learned. She drank the final bit of her wine, wondering what her next step should be.
Apparently she couldn’t involve Gabe or Meg, and if she did, she suspected Xadrian would find out. He knew her name though he’d kept that hidden from her till the end. They had intentionally sought her out, which meant that they knew things and had contacts in places that might alert them to her actions. God, for all she knew, they were the people with a
mole in Meg’s unit.
“Hello,” a voice beside her said. “Can I join you for another drink?”
Holly started, her heart racing, her hands itching to lash out and defend herself. She turned to see the Druiviin who had been performing, standing beside her. His instruments were all packed up and in cases at his feet beside him. “What the fuck? You shouldn’t just sneak up on people like that.”
“I thought you would have noticed the music stopping and then hear me approaching.” He smiled, his teeth startlingly white in the midst of his face. His skin was the color of a deep rose wine, perhaps a shade darker.
Holly blushed, realizing she might have over-reacted. “It’s fine. Er, sorry for biting your head off.” There wasn’t the same sort of skepticism or suspicion for a Druiviin that Holly felt for a human. There seemed to be no barbarism in the Centau or the Druiviin, as though they’d bred that out of their races, or maybe the elements of their society that had it were left behind on their home planets.
The Druiviin sat down in the seat Xadrian had just vacated. “I’m Odeon Starlight.”
Holly stared, unsure what to say. Why was he introducing himself? She wasn’t in the mood. Men were the last thing on her mind. “Odeon. That’s your real name?”
“Obviously not. I’m not human, as you might have noticed.”
“Oh I did. I did notice that. Kind of hard to miss. Violet skin. Silver hair. Some kind of—” she leaned closer to him, “multi-hued eyes, whatever kind of evolutionary phenomenon would select for that eye color. Intriguing. I’ve never seen that one, even on a Druiviin.”
“It’s rare for a Yasao. And by the way, thank you for making me feel incredibly self-conscious.” He grinned like he didn’t hold it against her. The jab was an unexpected one on a Druiviin.
Holly laughed to hear it from him. “Strange choice for a name, though.”
“My real name is unpronounceable for humans.”
“Oh right. That’s very thoughtful of you, to make it easier for us human idiots.” She was trying to be rude a little. It was a test. If he failed it, she’d win by getting him to leave her alone. If he passed, he’d put up with her teasing and moodiness enough that maybe he’d pass for a friend. But he was having nothing of her crap, it seemed. He thought she was funny. And to be fair, he’d made her laugh as well.
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