by S A McClure
“What war was he talking about, Morta?” she asked. She was too tired to care if she was pushing her luck.
Morta tucked a lock of Amber’s hair behind her ear as she said, “That? It was just the ramblings of a man afraid to die. It didn’t mean anything.”
Amber took a step back. Clenching and unclenching her hands, she tried to stifle the anger coursing through her. Here she was again, lying to her. How many times in her life had Morta told her bold-faced lies? How many times had Amber blindly followed this woman?
“I can’t believe you’re still doing it!” she screamed. “I had thought—” she paused, unable to grasp the words she really wanted to say. “—I can’t believe that I trusted you all these years. That I did your bidding. You’re just like everyone else. You’re lying to me!”
Morta held up her hands in a placating fashion. It was too little too late. Amber was already past the point of being calmed by the woman she viewed as a mother.
“You don’t even have the decency to tell me the truth now, do you?” she hissed. “I saw what Spade’s been doing. I saw them. The dead. Were you ever going to tell me that we were buying a front for murder in this little acquisition of yours? Do you even care that we’re purchasing death along with the casinos?”
“Alright, I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding—”
“Misunderstanding!” Amber shrieked. “Are you kidding me? Come on, Morta! I know you know about the medical trials. The experiments. The dead bodies dumped into that abandoned house.”
“You’re right,” she replied, still holding her hands up. “I do know about that.”
“And you didn’t tell me! You let me go into those negotiations not knowing what the LaRues have been doing to people. People like us, Morta. What in the stars!” Her voice broke as she was unable to control her emotions. She couldn’t believe that Morta had been willing to be a part of this. It was the only logical reason as to why Morta hadn’t told her. She wanted to continue the transactions. She wanted to feed innocent people into the research pipeline to collect what? A little cash? The idea made Amber’s stomach churn.
“You betrayed me. You betrayed everything I thought we stood for!”
Morta didn’t try to stop her as Amber turned from her and stormed out of the room. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She swiped at them angrily. What in the stars was wrong with her? She hated crying. She hated feeling this weak.
There were too many thoughts rattling around in her brain and she was too exhausted to process any of them. All she knew was that if Morta intended to feed NAs into a pipeline for illegal research, she would leave. She refused to take part in it.
Even if she had to make her own path again, she would do it. She’d left Earth at fifteen. She could leave now.
She didn’t even bother stripping the red dress off before curling into a ball on her bed and letting sleep consume her. The last thing she saw as her mind shut off were the girl’s unseeing eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
A bouquet of black roses stood on Amber’s nightstand when she woke the next day. A card featuring Morta’s wax seal stuck out from the blooms.
“What in the stars!” Amber groaned as she flopped over and ripped the card from its holder. She didn’t know what she more disturbed by: that someone had been in her room without her knowing or that Morta had the gall to send her flowers in the first place.
Her hands shook slightly as she pulled the hand-written note from the envelop and quickly scanned its contents. Not an apology. Of course not. She had never known her employer to apologize for anything.
It was a summons.
She crumpled the paper and tossed it into the waste bin, quickly followed by the roses. She didn’t like flowers anyway. They were a waste of resources. Especially since this particular species had to be shipped in special from Earth.
Her wrist dinged as a message appeared on her bracelet. Rolling her eyes, she depressed the button on the bracelet to cast a projection of the message in front of her.
“I need to see you.” Unknown transmission.
She tapped her finger on her chin as she read and reread the message. She had been anticipating a summons from Morta. This was something else. She could guess who had sent it.
J.
She couldn’t think of anyone else who would contact her like this without wanting his identity known. She didn’t even know his real name. Her mind immediately went to the sub-context of the message. Did he need to see her because every time he thought about her he tingled? Heat rushed to her abdomen at the thought.
She clicked respond and sent a single word in response. “When?”
She stumbled to her bathroom as she waited for him to reply. Dark streaks ran down her cheeks from where her makeup had run. Her hair was matted in some places, tangled in others, and essentially looked like a hurricane had stormed through it. She sighed. Yeah. If he could see her now, he would definitely stop thinking about her at all.
Slipping out of the dress, she took a quick shower. The hot water did little relieve the queasy feeling lingering in her stomach. She’d fallen asleep thinking of the girl and awoken to the memory of the stench of that place.
And Morta would soon be a part of it.
She couldn’t forgive her.
She wouldn’t.
Her bracelet dinged again. “30 minutes” with an address following.
Shutting the water off, she did a quick search for the location and discovered that he wanted to meet in a small coffee shop close to Spade’s headquarters. Well, if he wanted to go to the belly of the beast, who was she to deny him?
She pulled on a black shirt and matching pants. Combat boots and her pulser pistol completed the look. As an afterthought, she slipped the NBS onto her arm before leaving. She didn’t want to take any chances. Someone had already tried to kill her once. And she really didn’t want to die.
Her bracelet dinged again as she entered the elevator. She didn’t read it, knowing it was from Morta. Her employer was predictable, if nothing else. Amber didn’t care what she had to say. Not right now. Maybe not ever again. All she knew was that she had promised that girl that she would make amends for what happened to her.
Live music echoed from the coffee shop. Synthetic sunlight had been added to all the windows, giving the place an even more whimsical feel than it already had from the decorations. Flowers grown in a greenhouse outback were at every table and fresh baked goods made Amber’s mouth salivate when she entered the small shop.
She glanced around the room, expecting to see J lounging at one of the tables. From what she could see, he wasn’t there. In fact, she didn’t recognize a single person in the shop, which wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering she didn’t socialize much beyond the Underworld. But still, someone had known her direct line. She would have thought she’d know who it was.
Not wanting to be too conspicuous, she ordered a hot chocolate from the barista and took a seat at a booth in the rear corner. She leaned back and watched the door as she sipped at the hot drink. To her surprise, it tasted as if real milk had been used in it. Another rarity. She wondered how the shop stayed open if they used real goods instead of the cheaper, synthetic ones readily available on-planet.
Her bracelet dinged again. And, again, she ignored it. If it were the mysterious stranger trying to connect with her, they knew where she was and could find her. If it was Morta, she didn’t want to see what she had to say. Not yet, anyway.
“Excuse me, miss.”
Amber jumped at the voice above her and looked up to see a boy about the age of twelve standing beside her booth. How he had managed to sneak up on her without her noticing was beyond her. Maybe she really was far more distracted than she realized.
“Yes,” she stammered. She took another quick sip from her mug, trying to disguise the uneasy feeling the boy gave her. Her stabilizers didn’t buzz beneath her skin and her hair didn’t prickle on her neck, so she doubted he was a threat. But, she
couldn’t be certain.
“Come with me, please,” he said.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “What for?”
“He said for you to come with me, miss. I was told I wouldn’t be paid until you came.”
“Of course he did,” she said. The little prick didn’t even have the balls to show up when expected. She rolled her eyes at the boy. “How far is it?”
He pointed at a door behind the counter. “It’s just through there, miss. He said you’d be wary of going with me and to tell you that if you want everything to go smoothly with your deal that you’ll meet with him.”
Tilting her head at him, she pondered his words. Why would J want to discuss the negotiation between Spade and the Underworld with her? Especially in this place. It didn’t make sense.
“Who sent you?” she asked.
The boy shrugged. “Don’t know his name, miss. Just know that he offered to give me six hundred credits for bringing you to him. That’s a whole year’s worth of money in a single day.”
The excitement in the boy’s voice left her feeling a bit guilty that she was delaying him. Sighing heavily, she drained the remains of her drink in a single gulp. She didn’t know if it was the quick drinking or the stress, but her stomach tightened as she rose and followed the boy through the door.
He led her past the shop’s office and around a corner. The back rooms clearly extended farther than she had anticipated, and she couldn’t help but wonder just how far the tunnels stretched. They seemed to extend on for eternity.
They turned down a series of paths that Amber couldn’t track before finally coming to stop in front of a tattered and cracked metal door. An insignia had been spray painted onto it, but had long since faded into something unrecognizable.
“Good luck, miss!” the boy shouted. He bumped into her as he sprinted back the way they’d come.
She frowned after him. Weasley little ingrate. Who did he think he was leaving her like that? Well, it was too late now to do anything else other than find out who was on the other side of the door.
She rapped smartly on it. Her knuckles ached, but she ignored the fleeting discomfort.
“Hello?” she called.
Her voice echoed down the metal hallway, but no one responded.
“What in the stars?” she whispered as she rapped on the door again. She hadn’t come all this way just to be ghosted on. Who even did that, anyway, other than cowards?
A loud clicking noise drew her attention. She turned just in time to see a set of piercing blue pinpricks of light illuminate the hallway. Taking a step back, she lifted her left wrist to engage the ballistic shield.
“I don’t know who you are or what you want, but stay right there and I promise I won’t hurt you,” she called.
She reached for her pistol, only to grasp empty air.
She stilled. When was the last time she’d seen it? She knew she had it when she left her room this morning. Then she remembered that the boy had bumped into her.
“No,” she whispered. She hadn’t felt anything. It wasn’t possible. Her abilities wouldn’t fail her like that. They never had before.
Whatever was down the hall moved towards her slowly. She imagined she felt the way a mouse did when it saw a cat stalking towards it. She wasn’t sure what she could do. If there was anything at all.
The shield wouldn’t hold for long. Sure, she’d had it repaired following the shade’s attack, but, without her pulser pistol, she didn’t know how she was going to defend herself. She still had her baton, but it was a melee weapon. She would need to be close to use it, which didn’t seem like the best idea.
She began to inch her way towards the coffee shop. She waited for the hum of her stabilizers to engage, but they remained silent. Tendrils of fear crept around her heart and squeezed.
“Alright then,” she said, to no one in particular. She pulled the baton from its holster and increased its damage to full power. She would have fewer attacks available with that much energy coursing into it, but hopefully she wouldn’t need more than a couple of strikes.
“I’m giving you one last chance,” she yelled down the corridor. “Leave me alone, or else I will ensure that you won’t make it out of here alive.”
She hoped her attacker wouldn’t pick up on her false bravado. Without her ability, she wasn’t sure how strong of a fighter she really was.
The shadowy figure morphed into a humanoid shape as it sprinted towards her. It was clearly a woman, her hair tied into a long braid that swung from side-to-side as she ran towards Amber. Her eyes gleamed brilliant blue, and she carried a pulser pistol in one hand and a blade in the other. Not many people carried swords anymore. Not when there were other, more advanced weaponry available.
“What the stars!” Amber cursed as she held her shield in front of her as the woman released a spray of darts at her.
She continued moving backwards. She didn’t want to turn her back on the woman for fear that she would attack her from behind. Because she thought she’d be meeting J, she hadn’t worn any of her armor. She was lucky that she’d chosen to wear the ballistic shield.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, her voice pitched.
Her bracelet dinged again. This time, Amber issued the command for the bracelet to read her messages to her.
“Amber, please come to my chambers. There is much for us to discuss.”
“I’m not going to wait for you forever. Stop being a petulant child. I promise I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
“Honestly, I thought you were more mature than this. Perhaps I was wrong. Don’t make me ask again.”
“Time’s up.”
The last one wasn’t from Morta. It was from the same, unknown number as the mysterious ones from before. Great, she thought, I’m dealing with a sociopath. Just how I always wanted to die. Being tormented by someone who takes pleasure in harming others. Perfect.
“Call Morta,” she commanded her bracelet. It glowed gold before flashing her number in a holograph with the call sign.
Amber slipped an earpiece into her ear and waited as the call rang several times before clicking to voicemail.
“Seriously!” she grunted as another spray of darts struck her shield. She dialed again.
Something heavy clanked against the shield, and her entire arm reverberated from the force. Peeking her head around the edge of the shield she looked to see what had struck her. The woman had thrown the sword at her.
She was so close that Amber could see her facial features. Her expression was lax and her eyes, despite their brilliant blue light, were expressionless. It was as if the woman were little more than a robot following someone else’s commands.
Trusting her instinct, Amber dashed towards the woman and jabbed the baton into her side. She flinched, clearly registering the pain. Her body seized up, and she foamed at the mouth slightly before Amber pulled the baton away.
She backed up quickly, trying to put as much space between herself and the woman as possible. She wasted a split second to pick up the sword and shove it into her belt. Although she only had melee weapons, she prayed they would be enough to at least get her back to the coffee shop.
“Call Morta!” she screamed at her bracelet as the sound of the woman’s feet thundered down the hallway behind her. She slammed into Amber’s shield with such force that Amber stumbled backwards several steps before tripping over her own feet and falling to her butt.
More darts clanked against the shield as Amber continued to use it to guard against the woman’s attack. Clearly, she had pissed off whoever was controlling her, because she was attacking much more aggressively now.
“Pick up!” she cried.
“You better have a good reason for ignoring me earlier.”
She was so relieved by the sound of Morta’s voice in her ear that she nearly dropped her arm. Lucky for her, she didn’t because at that moment, the woman released an armor piercing dart into her shield at close range.
&
nbsp; The shield popped several times as the metal twisted and bent from the impact. So much for the protective coating. Of course, it had absorbed so many rounds, she was surprised it had lasted this long.
“What was that?” Morta demanded.
“I’m in trouble.”
“I can hear that. Where are you?”
Amber grunted as the shield began to heat as the woman released another spray of stun darts into the damaged shield. She flexed her fingers as the hair was singed off her knuckles.
“If I don’t make it back, I’m sorry I avoided you,” she said. She meant it, too. Despite how angry she was, Morta had always been there for her.
“What do you mean, ‘if I don’t make it back?’” Morta hissed.
“I’m sorry,” Amber said. “I truly—”
The line went dead.
“Void!” Amber cursed.
She clicked the button to withdraw the shield into itself. It crackled as it forced itself to fold up and retract. At least it wouldn’t be in the way. Her baton hummed beneath her fingers as she brandished it at the woman.
She fired, and Amber ducked. She didn’t know how she avoided the darts. Pure dumb luck, if she had to guess, since her stabilizers still weren’t humming with the onslaught of her power.
She lunged for the woman, who sidestepped her. It seemed like such an effortless motion that Amber wondered just how modified this woman was. Her eyes were clearly bio-enhanced, but she also seemed to sense movements just a shade quicker than the average person.
Amber didn’t really have time to think about it as the woman pointed the pulser pistol straight at her head. Red light glowed from the darts ready to explode from it.
Cursing, Amber swiped her baton at the woman and somehow managed to connect with her hand. The pistol steamed as the electrified baton met with its barrel. The woman didn’t seem to notice the melting metal as she dropped the weapon. Instead, she simply reached into her belt and drew her own baton.
