Open Skies

by Yolande Kleinn

  Without taking his eyes off the more immediate threat, Kai asked the woman at the desk, "Are you Abigail Dantes?" He already knew the answer; he just needed to hear it aloud.

  In his peripheral vision, Kai caught the hard glare she leveled at Eleazar as she answered, "Yes."

  From Kai's other side, Ilsa announced dryly, "We've been looking for you."

  That earned them both a sharp look, surprise and confusion, and a moment later, Abigail rose from her chair. She was still keeping her hands visible—clearly she hadn't decided where Kai and Ilsa's loyalties would ultimately fall and wasn't in the mood to antagonize them—and she rounded the desk slowly. She moved to stand at Kai's side opposite Ilsa, though she didn't come too close. She kept just enough distance to prevent Kai reacting defensively to her proximity. This was clearly a woman who had made it through hairy situations before. Kai hoped that meant she'd keep a level head while they sorted out what the hell to do with this mess.

  Abigail wasn't looking at Kai. She was staring directly, furiously, at Dantes. But it was to Kai she spoke, her voice cold with rage when she asked, "Is he telling the truth? Do you work for this backstabbing piece of shit?" Abigail didn't take her eyes off Dantes with the question.

  "That's no way to speak of your own father." Dantes's retort simmered with malicious amusement, and the tone sent an alarmed twitch along Kai's spine.

  Fucking hell. Kai had held a slippery feeling about Dantes from the start, but he'd had no inkling of this. He and Ilsa would never have taken the case if Kai had seen such potential in Dantes's character. Now, too late, Kai wondered how he could have misgauged the man so severely. He wasn't accustomed to his instincts letting him down.

  "Shut your fucking mouth," Abigail snarled at her father. She didn't sound cool now. She sounded vicious and riled. But she wasn't armed. Only Kai and Ilsa held ready weapons. There had to be a way to pull this situation back from wherever it was careening.

  Dantes collected himself. His posture eased, and he crossed his arms imperiously. His gaze darted from Abigail, to Kai, to Ilsa, and back again.

  It was on Kai his attention finally settled, and Dantes offered a careless shrug of one shoulder. "I'll admit, I haven't been entirely truthful with you. When Abigail ran away, she absconded with an alarming amount of capital from my private accounts. All I want is what's rightfully mine."

  "You murdered my mother for her money, you sick fucking bastard. Did you honestly think I'd sit by and let you profit from what you'd done?"

  Abigail's words rang through the office like a gunshot, leaving ragged silence in their wake. The accusation hung there, awful and ugly, and again, Kai found himself wondering how he could have looked Dantes in the eye and seen anything good. There was nothing but selfish malice in the sneer twisting Dantes's face now.

  Silence clung through several taut seconds. The weight of Abigail's accusation hung heavy in the air.

  Dantes uncrossed his arms and let them fall once more to his sides. "The High Court dismissed those charges."

  There was an unmistakable sneer in Abigail's voice when she retorted, "That doesn't make you any less guilty."

  The conviction in Abigail's voice might well have convinced Kai she was right, but it was the answering smugness on Dantes's face that proved incontrovertible. Kai's gut twisted with a surge of nausea at the thought of a man murdering his own wife in cold blood, and for what? An inheritance? The thought that Dantes had not only done it, but had gotten away with it, was almost too much to stomach.

  Ilsa muttered a fresh curse, perfect counterpoint to the incredulous anger slinking beneath Kai's skin. Kai drew a breath and tried to steady himself. They needed to call the authorities. They needed to find a way out of here with their skulls intact, but also without letting Eleazar Dantes get away, or worse, succeed at what he'd come for. They had brought him here; it was on their heads if he harmed Abigail now.

  Heavy footfalls from the hall jarred Kai from his indecision, and he and Ilsa both turned toward the sound. They turned too late. Three Moranni stormed through the door with guns drawn, bringing the total count of Dantes's hired muscle to five. Their arrival gave the two hulks flanking Eleazar the chance they needed to draw weapons of their own. A flash of metal and practiced movement, and abruptly all five were sporting oversized charge rifles. The rifles were more like electrical canons than handguns, and Kai couldn't fathom how they had hidden those weapons beneath the drab lines of their jackets.

  Two of the muzzles were aimed eloquently at Kai. The other three at Ilsa. There was no room at all to maneuver. Dantes strode forward, all casual bravado, and Kai reluctantly relinquished the gun in his hands. Beside him, Ilsa unhappily surrendered her own weapon. She wore a sullen look, and her dark eyes were burning with wrath.

  "Thank you," Dantes breezed, satisfaction in every step as he returned to his position between the first two Moranni. "Now. Down to business, I think?" He turned on his daughter, and though he didn't raise either of the weapons in his hands, there was no subtlety at all in the way he held both his own gun and Ilsa's confiscated weapon. Casually, one in each hand. An obvious threat. "Abigail. I don't think I need to explain how disappointed I am in you. I've expended a great deal of time and money tracking you down, never mind the funds you stole."

  Abigail kept silent, and Kai couldn't guess what expression she wore. He didn't dare turn to find out. He was too concerned about the live weapons pointed directly at his head.

  "Given that every penny you invested in this company belongs to me," Dantes continued, letting his gaze take in the office with the assessing air of ownership, "it's clear that Roy Vis Medica also belongs to me. No court or arbiter could find otherwise. Therefore, I will be taking immediate control of my new holdings. And you will return home with me, under solitary guard." His eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned to a flat line. "If you are very, very lucky, you might see daylight again this century. If you continue to defy me, you'll learn first hand what became of your meddlesome aunt."

  Despite his wiser instincts, Kai turned to catch sight of Abigail's stricken face in the wake of Dantes's words. Wounded fury and a first hint of fear warred across her expression before settling into a seething mask.

  Kai's fists clenched uselessly at his sides, and even if he'd wanted to speak, he couldn't have summoned the means. His throat was too tight, his jaw firmly clenched. When he faced forward once more, he ached with how desperately he wanted to punch the smug sneer off Eleazar Dantes's face.

  Kai had never hated anyone before. It was a slick, oily feeling, and he didn't like it one bit.

  Dantes's focus shifted away from Abigail at last, sliding past Kai to land on Ilsa. "As for you two," Dantes murmured, voice softening unkindly. "I had intended to pay you for your services and let you walk away. But I'm afraid you've rendered yourselves expendable. A man in my position can't afford unnecessary liabilities."

  Protest choked unspoken in Kai's chest, and he struggled to swallow past the rage trying to climb up his throat. That sickly sensation of hatred intensified to a keen, vibrant edge. It felt all the worse for the weight of futility; there was nothing he could do as he and Ilsa were forced to their knees by Dantes's hired thugs. A surge of denial rose and left the bitter taste of bile at the back of Kai's throat. His hands were bound behind him, and he knew the same was being done to Ilsa close by. They were still facing down five guns between them. Dantes had made no move to take aim himself, but he damn well didn't need to. This was no intimidation ploy.

  This was an execution.

  Kai twisted his gaze away from the black-barreled muzzles. If he was about to die, he wasn't going to let Eleazar Dantes be the last thing he saw. It was a relief to find Ilsa doing the same, meeting his eyes with a steady strength Kai wished he could share.

  "Last words?" Dantes taunted. When neither Kai nor Ilsa gave him even a flinch of acknowledgment, he tutted, "All right then. Boys?"

  The five rifles hummed, charges cycling as power built in thei
r chambers. Kai's skin tingled. Ilsa looked collected and calm, and as quietly furious as Kai had ever seen her.

  Then all five guns clicked as the triggers were pulled, and Kai's entire body clenched.

  The explosive discharge didn't come. There was no rush of heat, no burst of pain and power and agony. Kai was still kneeling upright. Ilsa was still wide-eyed and whole beside him. They hadn't disintegrated in the simultaneous blast of five high-powered charge rifles.

  "What the fuck are you doing?" Dantes demanded of his thugs. "Fire."

  "We did, sir," one of them protested, his narrow mouth forming the Terran-standard syllables awkwardly.

  Dantes muttered beneath his breath and tucked Ilsa's weapon in a pocket in order to take aim with his own gun.

  He concentrated on Kai first, leveled his shot, then exhaled and fired. Kai flinched—he couldn't help it—but again there was only the muted click of the trigger followed by dull silence.

  "No," Dantes snarled, throwing his gun to the floor and drawing Ilsa's from his pocket. The small weapon looked miniature in his large hand. It too failed to discharge.

  Dantes's face had gone violently scarlet in a few short seconds, and he looked to be choking on the force of his anger. He opened his mouth. To curse, to demand an explanation, to order his goons to finish them off the hard way. Kai honestly couldn't tell which was more likely, and no sound came out as Dantes's jaw worked in outraged disbelief.

  "Who's the idiot now, Father?"

  Dantes whirled, glaring so fiercely Kai was surprised the austere office walls didn't ignite under the assault. Kai risked a turn of his head, but Abigail was no longer standing beside him. She must have moved during Dantes's botched murder attempt. She stood behind her desk again, an implacable expression on her narrow face.

  Held straight out before her, steadied in both hands, was a weapon Kai recognized as a slug-loaded manual action firearm. Not an antique, but certainly outdated. Kai couldn't remember the last time he'd seen one.

  Abigail was smiling, an expression so grim Kai honestly couldn't decide whether to be heartened or terrified.

  In a placid voice she explained, "Energy-based weapons won't work in this office. Or anywhere else on this floor. There's a singh-stratum damping field preventing your guns from discharging." She aimed the compact piece in her own hand directly at Dantes, and her grim smile slipped away to cold rage. "The field isn't a physical barrier. It won't stop a bullet. And you're a goddamn fool if you think disabling my internal security squad leaves me helpless."

  With a shudder and screech, the narrow windows along the wall behind the desk shattered inward. The abrupt change of air pressure was painful in Kai's ears, and he clenched his eyes shut against the dusty glitter of vaporized material raining down. He opened them again to dizzy disorientation. Behind him, his wrists twisted futilely in their bindings.

  Each empty window frame was barely wide enough for a grown man to pass through, but an entire team was slipping through them all just the same. One by one, a dozen armed figures in protective gear appeared as if by magic. They slithered into the office, dropping from heavy cables and quickly surrounding the intruders. They moved with practiced efficiency, disarming and restraining the Moranni thugs without delay.

  At first, Kai couldn't place the howl of rage he heard cutting through the chaos. There was too much noise, too much movement crammed into too small a space. The large office seemed tiny now, full to bursting with the rescue forces Abigail had somehow managed to summon.

  By the time Kai picked the obvious source of the sound out of the crowd, Dantes was already in motion. He was lunging toward the desk—toward his daughter—and the glint of a blade flashed in his grip.

  Abigail's weapon was still in her hand, but she made no move to fire, even as her eyes widened and she tried to retreat out of range. There was only wall behind her as she stumbled backward. She had nowhere to go.

  A gunshot rang in Kai's ears and he saw Dantes fall.

  Dantes landed hard just short of the desk, a spray of blood glazing the floor in patterned red. He was dead by the time he hit the ground. Abigail's eyes flew to the security agent who had fired the shot, and the office fell instantly silent. Scuffling ceased, voices quieted, action halted in the wake of that single bullet.

  "Get out," Abigail whispered over the sudden stillness. "Everyone. Out. Right the fuck now."

  The security detail began to disperse, taking the Morann toughs with them. Two guards remained, Gaiminn women with clear eyes and uncertain expressions on their faces. They looked to Abigail with obvious deference.

  "What about those two?" one of them asked.

  Abigail glanced down at Kai and Ilsa with the obvious surprise of someone who'd forgotten there were still loose ends to deal with. Kai prayed her idea of tying up loose ends differed from her father's.

  "Cut them loose," Abigail answered at last. "And leave them. This is a private conversation."

  There was a brief commotion as the two security agents obeyed her commands. Kai flexed his hands when they were free, willing his circulation to dispel the painful pins and needles of returning sensation. When Ilsa was also free, Kai caught her in a crushing hug, drawing his first real breath since Dantes had ordered them shot. After an unsteady moment, Ilsa's arms wrapped tightly around his waist, clutching him back in turn. She was shaking almost as hard as he was.

  The quiet click of the door reminded Kai that they still had uncomfortable business before them, and he unwrapped himself from Ilsa with reluctance. The office was a disaster, but it was empty of armed personnel. Dantes's body was gone, too. Only the darkening scatter of blood on the floor gave any indication of where he had fallen.

  Abigail Dantes had emerged from behind her desk and was staring at that bloody spot. She looked entirely composed but for the silent tears streaking her perfectly blank face. After a moment, she wiped her eyes with one sleeve. She turned to offer a hand up first to Ilsa, then to Kai.

  She regarded them in pained silence for so long Kai started wondering if she was waiting for them to make the first move.

  Finally, Abigail spoke. The measured pragmatism in her words was belied by the sheen of tears still gathering in her eyes. "You'll do me a lot of damage if you share this story publicly."

  "It's not our story to share," Ilsa answered for both herself and Kai. She spoke the words with an honest intensity that Abigail Dantes surely must have heard and believed.

  Just in case the simple assertion wasn't enough, Kai added, more quietly and with enormous care, "Miss Roy, all our cases are confidential. No matter the outcome." The use of her chosen name was a calculated concession, a promise of complete discretion. From the softening of Abigail's stern face, she took his meaning as he intended.

  "Thank you," she said. "But you might as well call me Miss Dantes. I've got no reason to hide now, and every reason to wish myself recognized as my father's heir."

  "I'm sorry," Kai murmured. He meant it sincerely. His own anger at Dantes's betrayal—his own moment of genuine hate—didn't diminish his sympathy for a woman who had just lost her father, monstrous as the man might have been.

  Abigail regarded Kai without speaking for several seconds before drawing a deep breath and declaring, "You can both go now. I won't keep you any longer. I'll signal security to let you leave."

  When Abigail turned her back on them in dismissal, Kai followed Ilsa to the door. The floor crunched strangely beneath every step, granulated matter caught in the thin carpet. They reached the door, and Kai's legs went shaky with relief at the revelation that they were going to make it out of this building whole and unhurt.

  Abigail's voice stopped them at the threshold, calling after them, "Send me an invoice for your services. I'll see my father's debts settled."

  Kai turned. He didn't bother to keep the surprise from his face. "You're going to pay us? After all this?"

  From her desk, seated once more in the stiff-looking chair with its tall back and shiny upholster
y, Abigail answered levelly, "Yes. I am."

  Chapter Seven

  Ilsa reclaimed her gun from Abigail's security detachment, then handed over her visitor's badge. She assumed Kai would do the same, but Ilsa was already hurrying for the lifts, moving as quickly as she could without looking like she was running from a crime scene. She knew Kai was following despite the silence permeating the hall. She trusted that he would be at most a step behind her. The scant few employees they'd passed on their way in were long gone, warned off or scared away by the ruckus.

  She stubbornly didn't speak as she and Kai navigated the building. Behind her, Kai kept equally quiet.

  On the ground floor, at the front doors with their fractured-looking panes of colored glass, Ilsa paused and gave Kai a wordless once-over. Her eyes ran him up and down, checking for blood or any other evidence of the ordeal they'd just walked away from. The thorough sweep of his eyes told her Kai was returning the favor, and a moment later, the tiny shake of his head confirmed that she was clear. Ilsa tucked her gun out of sight and stepped forward, triggering the door, then strode stiffly across the threshold.

  It wasn't raining anymore.

  They walked three blocks before waving down a cab, then asked the driver to take a circuitous path back to their hostel. Seated and finally still, Ilsa could feel excess adrenaline turning sour beneath her skin. Her limbs, already shaky, trembled fiercely in the cool cab.

  Kai was restless in the seat beside her. She could sense a familiar protectiveness in his posture, and in the way he kept throwing her furtive glances. At the slightest invitation, he would slip an arm about her shoulders and tuck her against his side. He'd done it a hundred times before, in situations far less overwhelming than this.