Entropy

by Jess Anastasi

  The male slave had led her out of the hall and into what she was calling the concubine wing. It was like a cheap, unkempt brothel and she didn’t let herself look into any of the rooms they passed because she didn’t want to know what was happening inside them.

  The slave had shown her to an almost-empty room that was closer to a prison cell with nothing but a bare, stained mattress on a metal framed bed and a single plastic chair. He’d shut the door behind himself, and she hadn’t been surprised to find herself locked in. Right away, she’d tried to override the scanner, and probably would have succeeded eventually if she hadn’t been thwarted by whoever was out there.

  She backed up a few more steps, praying Galton hadn’t changed his mind about their schedule and come for her now. But when the door opened, it was a girl around her age, the same one she’d seen in the hall refilling Galton’s glass.

  “You’re required to spend the afternoon preparing,” the girl said, keeping her gaze on the floor as she spoke. “First you are to bathe and then—”

  “Sure, I’ll get right on that,” she said quickly, eyeing the open door behind the slave, debating on simply making a run for it. Except running around searching for Dareon would take too long. She needed help. “Maybe you can tell me something first.”

  The girl finally looked up, appearing uncertain. Apparently, no one had told her what to do if Cami didn’t follow the plan to spend the afternoon preparing. Ick.

  “I’m looking for another slave. He’s my half brother, and I was told he was here.”

  The girl glanced over her shoulder, as though she was thinking about leaving or going for help. “I’m not sure—”

  “His name is Dareon Zhao.”

  “Dare?” The girl’s expression creased slightly.

  Her brother went by Dare for short? She probably shouldn’t have expected anything less from Rene Blackstone’s son. “I think that’s him. Can you tell me where he is?”

  The girl backed up a step, and Cami cursed under her breath.

  “Please,” she all but begged. “I haven’t seen him for years.” Or try ever. But she couldn’t explain that to this timid girl. “I’ll do whatever I’m supposed to. Just let me see him for one minute, and then you can take me to bathe or whatever.”

  It was clear, however, the girl was too scared to do anything other than what she’d been ordered. “I’m sorry, but I must take you to bathe, if we go anywhere else—”

  “Never mind.” Cami waved a hand dismissively, feeling bad she’d upset the already nervous slave. She could only imagine what kind of punishment Galton would dole out for being disobeyed. “I’ll go with you.”

  Anything to get out of this locked room. She didn’t want to get this poor girl in trouble, but once they were out in the hallway, she planned to lag behind and find somewhere to slip away so she could search for Dare on her own. Rian hadn’t managed to tell her anything except to find her brother, so she had no idea how much time she had before they came back for her. It could be a few minutes or it could be hours. But the faster she found Dare and convinced him they were escaping, the better, especially if it turned out he was as broken and timid as the rest of the slaves she’d come across.

  She pushed the unsettling thought aside as she followed the girl out of the room and trailed her farther away from the main room where Galton was holding court, the raucous noise echoing eerily in these otherwise quiet corridors. There were many slaves rushing back and forth, but they all worked practically in silence with their heads down and their shoulders stooped.

  Cami studied each one as closely as she could from the picture she’d seen attached to the file her father had sent them. The problem was, she didn’t know how old the photo was. Dare could look completely different now. Plus, it was hard to get a good look at the features of the people rushing past with their faces averted.

  The girl she’d been following had drawn ahead of her, and as they passed an interesting corridor, Cami darted down it, breaking into a run and taking several turns, not caring where she ended up as long as she lost her escort. She came out in the kitchen and pulled to a halt, nearly bowling over a woman balancing a tray stacked with dirty dishes.

  She took a moment to get her breath back and regain some equilibrium. She was running on nothing but adrenaline and dread, but if she was going to find Dare, she needed to calm the hell down and not worry about anything else.

  Once she’d studied all the faces of the kitchen staff, she asked a few if any of them knew Dare. Mostly they didn’t answer her, either shaking their heads or simply turning away. Frustration started pulling her shoulders tight. She got the sense maybe some of them did know him, but weren’t willing to risk getting involved by answering. She only hoped that fear extended to not mentioning her nosing around for the same reason.

  The kitchen and adjoining rooms proved fruitless, so she steadily expanded her search, but kept away from the front of the building where she’d last seen Galton in that large room. When she found a set of steps leading to a second level, she climbed quietly, no idea what she was going to find up there. Most of the rooms turned out to be empty or scattered with shambled furniture. A few were intimately occupied with couples or groups and though she really didn’t want to look, she had to check Dare wasn’t involved.

  By now, over an hour had gone by and every minute ticking away was like another stone landing in her guts. What if Dare had been in the main hall with Galton and his men? How the hell was she supposed to go back and search there without being noticed?

  Just as she stepped out of the last room on the second level, she was roughly grabbed by the arm and flung into the wall.

  “There you are, sweet thing.”

  She pressed back, away from the hulking man leaning over her. He was bald, his clothes ripped, muscles and bulk stretching the material.

  “Galton has a whole bunch of people looking for you. Would have done it himself, but he’s too busy punishing that slave girl who let you go.” The man gave a sickeningly lascivious grin, making her stomach lurch, both at the look in his eyes and the fate of the poor girl she’d gotten in trouble by slipping away. “Heard you were looking for Dare. What d’you want with that asshole?”

  She pressed her lips together, eyeing the weapons on his belt. Would she be quick enough to get her hands on one to use before he stopped her?

  Before she could decide, he seized her again. “You’re so hot over Dare, I think we should get the two of you together.”

  The man yanked her away from the wall, making her stumble, his grip on her arm nearly dislocating her elbow.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  He sent her a savage look over his shoulder. “I’m giving you what you asked for. You and Dare can get together just like you wanted. In the cage.”

  The cage? Her heart stuttered to a stop. Did he mean that cage they’d passed on the way in, the one where people had been viciously fighting each other? Her instincts screamed at her to fight her way free. But he was twice her size and the grasp he had on her wrist was already going to leave bruises. She’d have to bide her time and be ready to take the first opportunity to escape.

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the man’s hand loosened a little and she seized on it, twisting her arm and yanking free. For all his size, the man was faster than she’d expected and she’d barely taken a step before he lunged at her. He caught her hair and jerked her back. She swung a fist at him, but couldn’t put much momentum behind her attack because of the way her body was contorted. It only left him laughing and dragging her against him, grinding his groin into her. The effect her efforts were having on him was clear. She swallowed down a rising burn in the back of her throat and went still, hoping if she gave in—for now—he’d be less likely to rape her. It made no sense, but nothing about this situation was logical.

  Using his hold on her hair, the man dragged her from the manse. Just as they got outside, she pinched a nerve in his forearm that forced him to rel
ease her, but that made him angrier.

  He closed his arms around her and hauled her over his shoulder, bruising her stomach when she landed hard. She kicked his chest and pounded her fists into his back, but it didn’t do any good. By the time he threw her down, they were inside the cage.

  She rolled over and climbed unsteadily to her feet, abdomen feeling tender. As she pressed a hand into her middle, a crowd started gathering, jeering as a man was hustled in almost as roughly as she’d been. However, when he was shoved through the door, he only stumbled a few steps before rounding on the door slamming in his face and hurling an inventive string of insults at the people who’d forced him inside.

  “Dareon?” she called, taking a few halting steps forward.

  His shoulders stiffened before he slowly turned to face her. Both of his graceful, dark eyebrows shot up as he took her in.

  “Camille? Is that you?”

  “Well, at least you know who I am,” she muttered, for some reason not finding it surprising that her half brother knew her on sight despite the fact they’d never met. At least not officially. “And it’s Cami.”

  “Dare,” he replied with a nod, closing the distance between them. His gaze was taking in her slave tattoos—almost identical to the marks he had inked up and down his arms. His were slightly different, denoting him as some other type of slave. “What the hell are you doing here? Did Galton—”

  “No, he hasn’t touched me.” Not yet, she added to herself. And Rian better frecking come through before he did, or her father wouldn’t be the only one looking to get a little revenge. She shifted closer as the crowd around them roared. At least it would cover up their conversation. He started circling around her, as if they were taking each other’s measure. “I’m here with some others. We came to get you out…among other things.”

  He shook his head, expression shuttering. “Our father has sent other men to help me escape. And I’m still here. Galton is formidable.”

  “Yeah, well none of them were Rian Sherron and Qaelan Forster,” she muttered, glancing around at the gathering crowd getting larger and more raucous by the second.

  “You came with Rian Sherron and Qaelan Forster?” Dare repeated incredulously. “How—”

  “It’s a long story, but Rian and his crew have been living on the Belt for the past year and my—our father isn’t one to waste an opportunity to get what he wants out of something.”

  “True,” Dare returned distractedly, taking in their raucous audience the same way she had a moment ago.

  “So now what?” She shifted backward, putting herself in the middle of the cage, trying to avoid the fresh blood on the floor at her feet. “Are we supposed to fight each other? Because that is so not happening.”

  “I don’t think we could possibly be that lucky,” he muttered as a hulking man wearing only a pair of stained cut-off pants entered the cage, flexing his biceps.

  After him came a woman who was a bit shorter than Cami, but stocky. Something about her seemed completely savage.

  “And who are these charming people?” she mumbled under her breath as the two of them backed up.

  “The man is Leon. And the woman, they call her Feral Cheryl. Both of them are undefeated. Galton uses them when he wants to guarantee their opponents get dead fast. Obviously, he’s decided now he’s got both of us, he’s going to finally hurt our father the most effective way possible.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Someone slammed the door to the cage shut and the crowd closed in.

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  They’d almost reached the wire barrier, and Dare put a hand on her lower back to stop her getting any closer. “Careful, it’s electrified. Not enough to be deadly, just enough to daze you and give your opponent the upper hand.”

  “This gets better and better.” If someone had told her this wasn’t a planet, but they’d actually crossed into a hell dimension, she would have totally believed them.

  A bell rang, and the crowd began cheering. The hulking guy grinned, cracking his knuckles.

  “I’m assuming you can hold your own in a fight?” Dare asked as they started circling their rivals.

  “Sure I can.” The words were confident, but her tone not so much. She’d been in plenty of fights, but never a death cage.

  “Stay alive long enough for me to take care of Leon, and then I’ll help you out.”

  Dare moved, springing forward and leaping into the air to land a punch in Leon’s face that had the whole weight and velocity of his body behind it, sending the solid man stumbling back a step and making the crowd roar.

  Whoa. Her brother had some serious moves. But she didn’t get any time to appreciate Dare’s swift attack, because Feral Cheryl was bearing down on her. She widened her stance and prepared to duck the first swing.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “What do you mean she’s in the cage?” Qae must have heard Tannin wrong. Cami was a pleasure slave. Why the hell would Galton put her in the ring to fight?

  Tannin pointed to the screen on the wall of Rian’s office where he’d hacked into Alvar’s security feeds. “There. Look for yourself.”

  He stepped farther into the room, having just come down from the bridge with Rian in tow to see how Tannin’s hack was coming along, and whether Varean and Kira were in position yet with the sedative gas.

  Sure enough, Cami was in the cage they’d seen in the courtyard of Galton’s manse, facing off with a stocky woman who was an inch or so shorter than her. A few steps away, a hulking man was getting his ass kicked by a tall, leanly muscled guy with dark hair. Cami’s half brother? Well, it seemed she’d found him. But christ and cookies, ending up in the fight cage had definitely not been the right way to go about it.

  “We have to go get her. Now.” He looked at Rian, since this was his brilliant plan.

  “Kira and Varean are ready with the sedative gas,” Tannin said. “But minor problem. All those people in the courtyard are out in the open. The sedative gas that we’re about to pump into the house won’t affect them.”

  Rian crossed his arms, watching the screen for a long moment as the fight intensified. Qae was just about ready to tear his own hair out if he had to stand there any longer and watch Cami inside that cage from here on the Imojenna where he couldn’t do anything to help her.

  “So we send a message to all their comms telling them the compound is under attack,” Rian said, turning away from the screen.

  Frustration had already been smoldering beneath the surface of his calm, but now it was turning into outright aggravation. “And how does telling them we’re coming help anything?”

  Rian hooked his thumbs into his belt, expression giving nothing away. “Once Kira and Varean have released the sedative gas, we get Tannin to send a message to all comms telling them there’s been an incursion and it’s all hands inside at battle stations—”

  “And they go running inside and get knocked out like everyone else,” Tannin finished with a grin. At least some people enjoyed Rian’s particular brand of crazy.

  Who was he kidding, he usually would have as well. But his worry for Cami was going off the charts, leaving his chest aching and his stomach churning. Once they got her back and he assured himself nothing had happened to her, then he’d be able to breathe properly again. And be entertained by Rian’s usual wacky, giving-death-the-middle-finger adventures again.

  “Fine, that should work.” He glanced at the screen. The hulking man had regained some footing against probably-Cami’s-brother, while his girl was still holding her own and looked like she might get the upper hand. Didn’t make a difference to his burning need to get in there and help her. “What are we waiting for?”

  Rian sent Tannin a nod, who flicked the security feed off and started working the enviro system of Galton’s house.

  “The others are waiting. Let’s head out.” Rian turned on his heel and strode out of his office. Qae took one last glance at the screen, even though it didn�
��t show Cami any longer, silently praying she could hold out for just a few more minutes.

  Down in the cargo bay, Jase was handing out gas masks. An open crate in the middle of the deck was overflowing with all kinds of spec weapons and guns Qae had only ever heard about, never seen.

  “Whoa, baby.” He picked up a specialized TK-79er. With its internalized compression field, it could shoot in any atmosphere or conditions—zero grav, in the vacuum of space, even underwater. “Where did this stash come from?”

  “They belonged to Callan.” Rian passed a glance over the goodies, but didn’t help himself. “Anything you take better come back in the condition it left here in.”

  He put the gun back down. Seemed wrong, picking over the weapons of a dead man like a scavenger on bones. “Think I’ll be fine with my usual kit.”

  “Callan wouldn’t want them to sit unused in a crate for the rest of forever.” Lianna apparently didn’t have the same qualms. She’d helped herself to a sonic sniper rifle. “I’ll find a high position and give you coverage in the courtyard.”

  The comm attached to Rian’s shirt collar pinged. The small devices were routed to the Imojenna, and all of the crew had one—easier and more efficient than the commpads, as they could be activated by voice or motion. They’d been useless while the ship had been out of Rian’s possession. But now the ship was online, they were live again.

  “Go ahead, Tannin,” Rian said.

  “The sedative gas is doing its thing. Everyone inside the house will be out of it by the time you get there.”

  “Give it a minute or two, then send the blanket message to get Galton’s men inside.”

  Rian headed for the ramp.

  The crew split—he, Jase, Lianna, and Zahli followed after Rian, while Ella was staying back with Tannin on the ship. Lianna had found a way to patch the engine, while Tannin was working to upload a virus to Galton’s systems which should scramble everything, including the gunnery satellites on the outer edge of his territory. By the time they rescued Cami and Dareon, hopefully they’d be able to launch immediately.