I snapped out of my stupor as quickly as I could to strike the third guard from behind while he was taking aim. Titan’s low g made me strong enough in comparison to send him flying. I pounced on him and punched through his visor, knocking him out and bloodying my fist.
Rylah bolted for her screens but didn’t get far before Zhaff kicked one of the rifles up into his hands and shot her in the calf. No hesitation. He sprinted over to her as she squealed.
“Zhaff, calm down!” I shouted. I ran to pull him off.
“It is only a flesh wound,” he informed me. He shrugged me off and knelt beside her. “Lock the entrance.”
“Dammit, Zhaff! You’ve got to warn me next time you’re about to do something like that.”
“She was going to have us killed.”
“I swear I wasn’t!” she moaned, writhing in pain.
“She’s lying.”
“You’re sure?” I asked. Without his eye-lens, I wasn’t sure how good Zhaff was at reading faces, but he seemed as certain as ever.
“They… they did it!” Rylah claimed. Pain seeped into her voice. She had to force each word out. “The Children of Titan have been holding me hostage. I had no choice.”
Zhaff leaned in to get a closer look at her face. “You are not a hostage,” he said.
The absolute certainty in his words made Rylah’s eyes widen. An information broker of her caliber wouldn’t have been in the dark when it came to the Cogent Initiative like most people were. Dread gripped her as she realized what he was.
“I was!” she said. “I swear!”
I took a deep breath before I finally decided to walk over and lock the room’s entrance. This wasn’t how I’d intended things to go when I messaged her. There was no unusual commotion outside in the club signaling that someone had heard us. The gunshots must’ve blended in with the music’s heavy beat.
“Mal…” she pleaded as I turned back toward her, attempting to wield her most seductive smile at me to rekindle old feelings. Her discomfort just made her look foolish.
“What are they paying you to work with them?” I asked as I approached her, struggling to keep my temper at bay. After all we’d been through, she’d tried to have me killed. It took every ounce of my being to stay focused on the job.
“I’m not.”
“Lying,” Zhaff said. He pressed a single finger down on her wound. She howled.
“Not officially!” she gasped. “They paid me to help with surveillance and dissemination. I’m just following the credits, same as you.”
Zhaff removed his finger and turned to me. “She is happy to aid them. This is not the first time.”
“I’m happy to earn credits helping my own people!” she said. “But I’m not one of them.”
That answered my question of where she’d really been born. Her job must have been lucrative enough for her to purchase all the proper immunizations to stay clean, considering we’d shared a bed and she’d avoided the q-zones.
“A few nights together, and you try to kill me,” I said. “I must have made quite the impression.”
“That was a long time ago, Mal,” she said. “It has nothing to do with that.”
It was difficult to stay angry at her with the way the light of her monitoring screens reflected off her silky, glistening skin. Attempting to end my life, however, had a way of tempering any of the feelings I may have ever had for her.
“Offworlders,” I said under my breath, with a few curses thrown in for good measure. I motioned for Zhaff to get off her. She grabbed at her bleeding calf the moment she was free.
“Look,” I said, “we don’t give two shits about your affiliation if you help us. There’s no bounty on you… yet.”
“If you’re after Kale Drayton, I can’t tell you where he is,” she replied. “Even I don’t know. They operate in cells. Most of their operatives don’t know anything besides their current mission. That’s the truth.”
“So this Kale Drayton isn’t their leader?”
She shook her head, then paused before shrugging. “I don’t think so. But they barely told me anything.”
I looked to Zhaff. He nodded. She was being honest.
“Fortunately for you, we’re not after Kale yet,” I continued. I reached down into my boot, pulled out the hacked hand-terminal with the symbol of the Children of Titan on it, and tossed it by her feet. “This device from the Piccolo is the only piece of physical evidence we have right now connected to what happened. So tell us what you know.”
She bit her lip noticeably but didn’t say anything as she attempted to avert her gaze from the hand-terminal.
“She helped them broadcast the recording,” Zhaff said.
“Did she now?” I couldn’t help but smirk. That was even better news than I’d expected. I turned my head toward Zhaff so I could gloat over how my decision to reach out to her had paid off, but I surprised myself by being unable to think of anything to say. It was hard to boast right after he’d saved my life. That wasn’t all, though. I guess after all we’d been through so far, I was starting to realize that Luxarn Pervenio was right. Zhaff and I made a pretty decent team.
“I swear, I…” she began before dropping her gaze to the ground, apparently deciding it wasn’t worth lying. “One hundred thousand credits, Malcolm. I couldn’t have said no to them. So I helped them program that device, but I didn’t realize it meant they’d leave it behind as a message and keep me under guard like I served them afterward. I didn’t even know what it was for when I first helped!”
“A hundred thousand? I don’t blame you.” I reached down and placed my hand on her slight shoulder. The wound in her leg had her whole body shaking. “So you invited us down here to destroy it and remove me from the equation. Smart. I guess I did rub off on you.”
“Mal, that’s not—”
I placed my finger over her mouth. “Save it. This isn’t about us. You or them, it doesn’t matter. Help us now, and I’ll try to pretend you weren’t part of a plan to have us killed.”
Rylah shot me a pained scowl. “After this, the Ring isn’t going to see me for a long time. All those fanatics have brought to my life are problems. You aren’t the first collectors they tried to shoot down in this room.”
“Malcolm, that is impossible,” Zhaff said. “She is in violation of—” I hushed him before he could finish. His single eye stared at me, but I urged him to trust me, and he remained silent. I needed Rylah on my side for the time being, no matter how I felt.
I lifted my hand off her and rose to my full, unimpressive height. “I’m guessing you heard about the bombing back in New London. A group of Ringers with the Children of Titan used it as a distraction to smuggle Pervenio equipment here from Earth. We need to find them. Considering your relationship, I’m figuring you might know something about that.”
“I may have helped them here, but I had nothing to do with what happened on Earth,” she asserted. “Titan is my only concern.”
I looked to Zhaff quickly. He didn’t shake his head or say a word, which had to mean she was being sincere.
“And I believe you,” I said, “but whatever they’re planning, it’s about to concern all of the Ring. All you have to do is tell us where they may have run off to and we’ll patch you up and be gone. Maybe you make the right decision afterward to stop helping these crazed Ringers, and this is done with, or maybe you don’t, and I see your pretty face again all too soon.”
Rylah stared at me, then at Zhaff before closing her eyes and breathing out. “All I know is that there’s a Venta Co agent helping them. I’ve never seen him myself, but they call him the Doctor. That’s it.”
“The Doctor?”
“Yes. Like I said, I’ve never met the man. He only deals with the Children of Titan directly, so who knows what he’s gotten into. Can’t be good if you’re here.”
Zhaff validated her story with a nod.
“And you’re sure he’s working with Venta Co?” I asked.
“Th
at’s what I hear,” she said. “Venta’s been selling discontinued weapons parts to the people of Titan for years on the black. Those rifles over there, you take them apart, and you’ll see that every piece came from them at one time or another.”
“Even if that’s true, helping with smuggling goods from Earth… that’s a little more direct.”
“Anything to cripple their rivals, right?”
“Yeah…” It wasn’t the news I was hoping to hear. The definite involvement of another prominent USF-sanctioned corporation meant things were only going to get messier. We’d wind up handcuffed in our assignment while the real battle went on in boardrooms. We’d have to act quickly to avoid that.
“Well then, do you know where we can find this Doctor?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” she said.
Before I could say anything, Zhaff was already bent down over her leg. He extended his finger and lowered it toward her wound. Rylah tried to scramble back out of the way, but I placed my palm on her chest and held her down with ease. She was no match for my Earther strength. I couldn’t look her in the face as I did it, though. Apparently, there was still a heart beating in my chest.
“She knows where he is,” Zhaff stated.
“I said not exactly!” she squealed before Zhaff’s finger could get any closer. “I could tell you what I know, but only if you—”
Zhaff correctly predicted she would try to cut a deal, and had one of her guards’ pulse-rifles pointed at her head before she could finish. “The price is your life,” he said with the utmost sincerity.
Rylah swallowed hard as she stared down the barrel of the gun. She glanced over to me but found an equally unyielding expression forced onto my face. She exhaled.
“There are two Venta-owned hangars in the Darien uppers,” she said. “I’ve heard about a special shipment coming into one of them sometime today. I’m not sure which, but I’m guessing it’s what you’re after.”
I glanced over at her wide array of surveillance screens. “Can you show me?”
“Venta’s very careful. I don’t have cameras in the hangars.” Zhaff moved the rifle closer to frighten more out of her. “But I can show you the outside!”
I brushed Zhaff aside and wrapped my arm around her. “That works for me. Zhaff, watch her hands and make sure she doesn’t try to alert anybody.”
“I’m not stupid, Mal,” she groaned as I lifted her. I helped her over to her seat at the console that controlled the screens. I’d seen her operate her setup back when we were together, but it never disappointed and had doubled in size since. Her fingers flew across the keys as quickly as Zhaff’s could, and all the images shuffled. She was tapped into so many views of the colonies of Titan, it honestly amazed me that there were hangars beyond her sight. I wouldn’t doubt if she had an eye in every bathroom.
“Here’s one,” she said. “Hangar thirteen.” The screen in front of her shifted to display a hangar entrance back at the docks. The door was wide open and the guard waiting there was with the USF. Paragraphs’ worth of information popped up on the console in front of her. “Charter says the ship inside belongs to a USF assemblywoman and is being rented.”
“And the other?” I asked.
Again, her fingers danced. “Hangar twenty,” she said. The second hangar was larger, and we had a view within the adjoining lobby. Inside sat a receptionist as well as two guards in Venta Co blue posted by the sealed hangar entrance. The feed didn’t offer the best angle, but I thought I recognized one of them. I leaned in over Rylah’s shoulder to get a better look. She was breathing heavily.
“Trevor Cross,” I said, sneering. He wasn’t wearing his hat, but there was no question in my mind it was him.
“The Venta Co collector?” Zhaff asked.
“Yup. Man’s useless in a fight, but no way they would waste credits putting him on guard duty unless it was important. How much do you want to bet he didn’t run into us on Earth by accident?”
“I do not gamble, Malcolm, but it is a logical presumption.”
“Well, if Rylah is right about what’s behind there, then we’re about to catch Venta red-handed backing the Children of Titan. Director Sodervall will be thrilled.” I sat on the console so I was facing Rylah and patted her on the shoulder. “Now was that so hard?”
She gazed at me with her big brown eyes, hoping to win back my affection. “I told you what you want to know,” she said. “Please don’t hand me over. For old times’ sake. They’ll put me away for life for this.”
“Sorry, Ry, but that’s not up to me.” I gestured toward Zhaff.
“She is already in violation of seven regulations that we are aware of,” Zhaff stated. “She must be detained.”
“Malcolm, please!” She turned to face me too fast, causing her to flinch in pain from her leg.
“I never thought I’d hear you beg,” I said. “I’ll tell you what.” I rubbed my chin for a moment, just to keep her on edge. Zhaff’s single eye focused on me. His lips cut a straight line, yet somehow I could tell he was displeased with the fact that I was even considering letting her go. But I had a fate in mind for her that was the nightmare of any person in her line of work. Something I felt would make us even for her trying to have me killed.
“We’ll let you go,” I said, “but only on these conditions. We’re going to have you placed under constant surveillance. Try to flee the Ring, and you’ll be put away for life. Try to warn that hangar we’re coming or charge me for information ever again and you’ll be put away for life. You work for Pervenio now in the operation against the Children of Titan insurgents, and if you let anyone else in on that secret, guess what happens.”
“I get put away for life,” she finished for me. I could tell by the way her voice uncharacteristically cracked that she was completely deflated.
“What do you think, Zhaff?” I asked. “The intel she can gather for Pervenio is far more valuable than having her sitting in a cell.”
“Under those terms, I approve of the arrangement,” Zhaff said, surprising me. I’d expected to have to explain more to him how having leverage over informants could be a collector’s most useful tool. I like to think he was beginning to absorb a thing or two from being around me.
“Provided her information checks out, of course,” I added. “Thanks, Ry. It’s always fun when we get together.” I stood and rolled her on her chair far away from her console. Then I used one of my bands to fasten her to a pipe. I also bound her legs.
“Really?” she grumbled, glaring at me with rancor as I stood.
“Hey, I could have gagged you.” I’d considered it, but gunshots were louder than screams and nobody had heard those earlier. She’d had enough.
“You’d like that.”
“Safety first.” I threw a wink her way, then headed toward the exit. Zhaff followed, though he kept his gun aimed at her the entire way. I stopped to pick up the compromised hand-terminal.
“Pervenio will be holding on to this,” I said. As I rose, I noticed the bodies of her unconscious guards in my path. “Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to borrow the armor from two of your friends here.”
“Screw you, Mal.” She spat in my direction. I suppose I deserved it, so I let her have that one little act of defiance. I always did enjoy her fire.
EIGHTEEN
Zhaff and I changed into the white armored suits Rylah’s guards had been wearing. Mine had a fairly loose fit since it had belonged to a lanky Ringer, and the nano-fiber inlay had good flex to it. On such short notice, it would have to do. They were going to help us get as close to Trevor Cross and the Venta hangars as possible.
With the helmets on, it was also much easier to avoid the distrusting gazes of the Ringers throughout the lower ward. The disguise also got the Foundry’s bouncers to hand over our hand-terminals with ease. I didn’t even have to throw a punch. There was no question that the Children of Titan were the new, unspoken power of the lower ward.
As we walked, Zhaff
used his hand-terminal to send in a report to the station about monitoring Rylah. Given his usual efficient manner, a team of officers were already entering the lower ward to head to her suite by the time we reached the lift. He was also able to ensure that no Pervenio security officers would bother us when we reached the upper ward, despite our suspicious suits.
We waited until we were back at the hangar we’d arrived in to update Director Sodervall about what had happened. The situation was extremely sensitive, and Zhaff wisely didn’t want to risk any other brokers like Rylah listening. Venta Co had full jurisdiction over their own hangars, even if Darien was Pervenio-run, and searching through their property wasn’t exactly permitted.
“Not sure how we got lucky enough to stumble onto this one, but it seems Venta Co has definitely been helping the Children of Titan with their smuggling,” I said to Sodervall as soon as his wrinkled face popped up on my hand-terminal. “My contact thinks the goods might be in one of their hangars here right now.”
“As if I didn’t have enough to worry about already,” the director replied, exhausted. “That will surely complicate things. Our relationship with Madame Venta is rocky enough, considering her ongoing efforts to colonize Europa. Hold off until I speak with Mr. Pervenio before you do anything.”
“He has already provided us with permission to proceed,” Zhaff put in before I could say anything.
“You spoke with him?” the director questioned.
The fact that he didn’t believe Zhaff let me know for certain that he didn’t know who the Cogent really was. I wasn’t usually keen on superseding a director’s authority and causing myself trouble, but I had no desire to let anybody else in on Mr. Pervenio’s secret and risk breaking my promise.
Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set) Page 20
