The Colossus Collection

by Nicole Grotepas

  “Hello, Gabe,” Odeon said, finishing his bows with Charm. Then he gave her a big hug, lifting her feet off the ground and twirling her around. Holly caught herself grinning widely. Odeon put her down, and the two girls ran back to their spot on the couch. Odeon strolled over to Gabe’s side. He slapped Odeon on the shoulder, but Odeon moved in for a more traditional beso-greeting, delivering the detective a kiss on each cheek.

  “Can I grab you a drink?” Gabe offered as he recovered from the greeting.

  “A drink. Yes. Please,” Odeon said, following Gabe into the kitchen area. “Hello, Meg.”

  “Good to see you, Odeon. Are you staying for dinner?” Meg asked. Odeon gave her a beso and Meg laughed awkwardly. They still weren’t quite used to Odeon’s un-self-conscious approach.

  “Holly,” Odeon said, standing beside her where she was finishing up the tofu.

  “Hey, Odeon,” Holly said. “Did you know that Gabe and Meg were going to be here tonight?”

  “You’d mentioned it. So I came to see them,” he said plainly. “And you.”

  “Of course, me. Two hours ago at Surge wasn’t enough.”

  “It never is, Holly Drake,” Odeon said.

  Gabe handed Odeon a bottle of beer he pulled from the fridge.

  “Make yourself at home, Gabe,” Holly said.

  “You know you never need to ask, kiddo. What are you having?”

  Holly hesitated. She’d begun to wonder if she was relying too much on drinking, and with all the inter-moon travel, there were times that she really needed it. Like medicine. Otherwise she had to lean too heavily on Odeon’s singing to calm her. But this was a social occasion. “Just a standard ale. Whatever I have in there, Gabe. Thanks.”

  The chopped tofu on the flat of her blade slipped into the hot oil with a hiss. She slid the knife under the remainder and transferred the rest of it into the wok. She left the knife on the cutting board and grabbed the handle of the wok and shook it to toss the tofu in the oil. Gabe passed her the open bottle of ale and she sipped it while she cooked. She turned away from the stove and moved to the island counter.

  “Gabe. You were about to tell me the real reason you and Meg wanted to come by tonight.”

  “That. Right. Yes.” Gabe took a long drink of his ale. When he finished he glanced at his ex-wife. There was a glimmer in his eyes. “Er, Meg? You want to take this one?”

  Meg shook her head. “It’s not that crazy, Holly. We’ve narrowed down who the mole is. Moles are. The traitors. We have a couple people we think it is. And we’re low on manpower. Plus they know me and Gabe. So we wondered if there was someone on your team that could put in some hours tailing one of them.” Meg turned to check on the tofu and then lifted the cutting board over the wok and dumped in half the vegetables.

  “That’s it? Have someone on my crew follow your dirty cops?”

  Gabe tilted his head as though embarrassed that he was asking for something. “Still, we hate to ask for a favor.”

  “You hate to,” Meg said. “Gabe thinks it’s a sign of weakness to ask for help.”

  “And Meg has never had a problem asking for help,” Gabe pointed out, his tone laced with sarcasm.

  Holly cleared her throat. “Get a room. And not one of mine, thanks.”

  “That’s always been one of my favorite human expressions,” Odeon said. So far he hadn’t touched his beer.

  “Odeon, did you want some wine?” Holly asked, noticing his untouched beer.

  “I couldn’t ask you to spoil this perfectly good beer for me,” Odeon said, his gaze landing on the beer. He’d been avoiding it like a dead fish.

  “It won’t be spoiled. I’m sure Gabe will be happy to finish it off.”

  “Not really finishing it, when he hasn’t even started it.” Gabe laughed and leaned across the table to snag Odeon’s unwanted beer.

  “Meg, you got the stir fry?”

  “Wouldn’t be very much of a sister if I didn’t,” Meg said. Checking the wok again. They’d grown up cooking together, especially when they were older and their parents worked so many hours. They’d learned to split up the duties and tag-team meal preparation. If they hadn’t learned some basic healthy dishes like the stir-fry, they would have been stuck eating toast and jam for their entire lives.

  Holly went to the buffet and opened a cabinet. She withdrew a bottle of Centau wine. “Sorry, Odeon. I’m out of Druiviin wines.”

  “I’ll take whatever you have.”

  “So,” Holly began, drilling the corkscrew into the wine top. “If catching the traitors on your squad requires a tail, then I can ask my team if any of them would be willing to spend time following the moles. I’m not sure if any of them will want to. Jace might. But I know the others won’t. They’re too busy.” She pulled on the cork until it popped. Then she took a glass down from the shelf where it hung upside down from the stem, and poured the dark blue wine.

  “I would do it, Holly,” Odeon said, accepting the freshly poured glass of wine.

  “There you go, Gabe. A volunteer.”

  Gabe spun on his stool to study the Druiviin. A grin flickered at the corner of Gabe’s lips. “You sure, Odeon?”

  “As I understand it, one reason Holly and I have been working on this kidnapping case is due to the leaks at your work? If you had a squad that you trusted, there would have been no trouble in rescuing the children on the Ixion base yourself?”

  Meg shrugged from her place tending the stir fry. “Sort of. Maybe, yes. We would have been able to do more on that case.”

  “Then helping you is worth the sacrifice.”

  Holly grinned at Odeon, studying her friend’s face. He was a brilliant thief, she was learning. But his honor was still beautiful, all the more so because he had a sense of when his honor didn’t follow the traditional codes. He thought about it. It didn’t simply run through him like blood, oblivious to its role in his life.

  “Jace might be willing to help as well,” Holly said, glancing at Gabe. She caught the faintest suggestion of bristling from Odeon when she said this. “Seems smart to have two people doing it.”

  “Jace?” Gabe echoed. “Who’s Jace?”

  “Jace is an alias. Don’t try to guess who’s on my crew, Gabe. You’ll fail. And then I won’t do your favor.” Holly grinned cheekily at her ex-brother-in-law. “Speaking of favors. If I do this for you, would you guys be willing to do some snooping into what is known about the hierarchy of the Shadow Coalition? The Hands. The Heart.”

  Meg turned from the stove to glance at Gabe. He nodded. “We can.”

  “But don’t get yourselves killed doing it. I know I don’t have to say that, right?”

  “You don’t. But thanks for the reminder, Holly” Meg said, lifting the wok from the heat and moving it to a cool burner. “This is done. Let’s eat.”

  4

  The bartender at Glassini was becoming a familiar, friendly face. A female Druiviin with bright green eyes, she smiled and waved at Holly as she strode toward the table Xadrian Tyanne currently occupied. Holly sighed. Xadrian Tyanne. The go-between separating Holly from Dave, the government official. The man with a plan.

  “They should start charging you a table tax,” Holly said as she sat in the tall stool across from Xadrian. He looked up and gave her a cursory smile. It vanished quickly.

  “They appreciate my return patronage.” He pursed his lips at her. They were cherry red and his eye shadow was night blue. His white, sequined cowboy hat glittered and winked in the soft amber lights. Gold and silver sequins covered his long dress coat. Being next to Xadrian always made her feel underdressed.

  “I don’t doubt that,” Holly said.

  He lifted the three-fluted wine glass to his lips, and paused. “Why are we here, HD?” He took a sip of the wine, using the pet-name he’d given her from their first meeting, which she’d of course riffed on herself and now teasingly referred to him as XT.

  “I think you know,” Holly said. She tilted her head to one side
and gave him an expectant look, tempering it with a grin.

  Xadrian groaned. “You want me to buy you a drink?” His voice sounded chipper as he asked it, but there was a sarcastic bite to the tone.

  “Go for it, thanks. I’d take a glass of wine,” she said, leaning back in her seat, stretching. She touched her pony-tail and adjusted it slightly. The worry that Xadrian wouldn’t give her what she wanted niggled at her. And if he didn’t, then what would she do? Just show up at Dave’s office? “But I want something else.”

  Xadrian waved for the bartender and gestured at Holly when the Druiviin looked at him.

  “Drink ordered. Now, what is the purpose of our meeting? And don’t tell me that I should just know.”

  “XT. Come on. I only ever want one thing.” She waited for him to nod in acknowledgement. When he maintained the baffled look he’d adopted seconds before, she continued, “I need to seem him.”

  He made a frustrated gesture. “I’m beginning to feel like you don’t appreciate the time you get to spend with me.”

  “I don’t.” She shrugged and winked to soften the insult. Why push her luck? He still had what she wanted.

  “You do remember that there are parties interested in hurting him? And I am the protection against that, and when you repeatedly ask to bypass the safety measures he’s put in place to keep himself and his other interests—and don’t make me say who they are—out of harm’s way, you actually put him in harm’s way?”

  Holly knew that Xadrian was right, and it actually sounded like he was simply concerned for Dave and his son Malcolm—who had already been kidnapped once before—and not just being petulant about Holly wanting to keep him out of the loop. She didn’t like the idea of compromising anyone’s safety. The issue was that Xadrian was a middle-man. He didn’t know everything that was happening. He didn’t have access to Dave’s knowledge, or Dave’s money.

  Did she show a softer side to Xadrian to get what she wanted or was it better to play hardball with Xadrian? She still wasn’t always certain which tactics would work with such an ostentatious human. There was something unpredictable about him—the only thing she could rely on with Xadrian was that he was going to surprise her.

  She opted for hardball. “I know. Yes. My goal isn’t to put him in danger. But you’re a middle-man. And this is something I need from him.”

  Xadrian scanned the room. His gaze settled on the small three-piece band performing on stage. Their music was slow and sultry. Patrons at their tables swayed gently, almost absently as the number meandered on. When Xadrian looked at her again, there was an intensity in his expression. “If you want me to scratch your back, HD, then you’ll need to scratch mine.”

  Holly held back a laugh. She cocked her head at him. “What is it that you want, XT?”

  Xadrian first took another small drink of his wine, then leaned across the table and beckoned with a heavily ringed finger for Holly to get closer. “You might have heard that I dealt in hydrantium, the aether trade?”

  She nodded. His breath was heavy with the sweetness of his wine.

  “I know what you’re next move is. What I want from you is the left overs.”

  “The what?” Holly looked askance at him.

  “The hydrantium that remains after you deal with the coalition.”

  “XT. Seriously, I have no idea how I’d even do that.”

  “So you won’t?” He jerked back as though she’d stung him.

  “Not saying that, no. I just have no idea how to keep a promise like that.”

  He raised an eyebrow and looked sidelong at her. “Are you asking me to tell you how you could do it?”

  “No. I’m telling you to spell it out for me.”

  He leaned forward again. “Wonderful. Well, my dear HD, if you succeed in your mission, I will have parked a ship in the landing bay full of a team that could load the SC’s remaining hydrantium.” He pantomimed with his large hands a visual representation of a ship scooting into the base. “They’d be ready to round up the element and get the hell out of there, before the Centau can swoop in and confiscate it.”

  “That’s it?” She was skeptical. “That’s everything? The only thing required of me, then, is an answer? You want me to say it’s fine with me if you take the spoils of war and make a run for it?”

  He nodded and drained his wine glass. “That’s it.”

  “Then yes. Now get me my meeting with him, XT.”

  “Do I have your word, HD?”

  Holly shook her head, a soft laugh escaping her. “You’re unbelievable. Yes. You have my word.”

  He lifted his cowboy hat at her. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “You’re ridiculous, XT.” Holly couldn’t help but grin at his excesses.

  * * *

  Dave’s satellite office was the location where Holly could meet him without arousing suspicion or leading the malevolent forces behind the Shadow Coalition directly to his doorstep. Or, at least, that was the idea behind the ancillary locale. It was several districts away from the Centau Syndicate governmental offices—the megaron, a cluster of exquisite spires at the very center of the City of Jade Spires. The Shadow Coalition knew where he was anyway, because he used to be dirty, and they still believed that he was. The spare office location was really just window dressing, then, because the SC knew where he was. Its purpose then was in shielding him from the prying eyes of the government as he dealt with his shady business contacts.

  Dave’s extra office was outfitted like the posh, fattened politician that he played. When Holly walked in, he was standing in that spot he favored at the window, staring out at the twinkling city, glittering beneath the afternoon sun. He leaned against the frame of the window, his body balanced against one hand, the other hand in the pocket of his suit pants.

  “HD,” he said without turning. He had a slight, interesting accent that Holly could only hear occasionally. A carry-over from their Earth ancestors. “What is it this time?”

  He was annoyed. Holly could tell immediately from the way his shoulders bent around the window, around his body as though he were holding something in. Her own ire rose to the occasion. Did he want to hide in his ivory tower, far away and safe from the frontline, where she put her own safety, and that of her crew, on the line to clean up the shit-show that his previous dirty ways had helped to grow? Was he so irritated with her for wanting to see the face that sent her out into the fray, seeking guidance from him? It irked her, but showing that wouldn’t help matters.

  She bit her lip, adjusted her blazer, felt the Equalizer against her back and took several small breaths to distract herself from the frustration. Taking Dave’s mood in and adapting to it, that wasn’t her role. His feelings were his own. Holly was stressed, anxious, and worried about the children still out working as slaves for the Shadow Coalition. But she could try to be in a decent mood.

  “Dave,” she finally answered.

  He turned and looked at her. “There you are.”

  “Yes. Here I am.”

  “Summoning me for meetings. Is that your new pastime?” He moved to the slate gray, stone side table where a selection of alcohol and liqueurs was on display. He poured himself a drink of honey brown liquid. He held the tumbler up. “Bourbon? We might as well get to it. No more beating around the bush. We both love an expensive bourbon. Would you care for a glass?”

  “Not today, thanks,” Holly said.

  He frowned at her.

  “I already had something. With Xadrian.”

  He nodded and took a swallow, watching her thoughtfully. “It’s wise to not bury yourself in alcohol. But sometimes it’s necessary.”

  Holly cocked her head to one side and sat down at the chair next to his desk. “Is that what you’re doing?”

  “Maybe. Maybe,” he mused.

  “I’m not here to judge, Dave.”

  “When are you going to stop calling me that?”

  “Never. When you’re out in the open. When we’ve got nothing left to h
ide.”

  “I don’t anticipate that happening soon.”

  “Neither do I.” She stood up and went to the window. She was anxious and he was grumpy. The atmosphere was thick with their respective moods. It was clouding her thoughts, her intentions. Maybe when the alcohol burned through his blood, he’d loosen up. She waited at the window, silent, unwilling to back down simply because he was wielding his mood like a shield, blocking her out.

  Overhead, Ixion waxed, its yellow-orange boundaries peeking out around the spires to the west. The afternoon sun winked like a thousand lights across the jade spires, flashing messages at Holly that said absolutely nothing. She sighed, appreciating the freedom to be wherever she wanted. Sometimes she almost forgot that she’d spent over a year of her life in prison, falsely convicted of murder. She hadn’t thought about that for a while. She didn’t want to think about it now. If Dave would get his shit together she could be thinking about the reasons she needed to see him.

  She’d had enough of this. She turned to face him. He stood at the other window, nursing the tumbler of bourbon.

  “How can you help me? You know what I’m about to embark on. Am I in this alone?”

  He turned his half-lidded gaze on her. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m getting pretty tired of this. I hate traveling in space. Since I started doing this, it’s almost all that I’ve done. Rescuing kids. Putting myself out there in dangerous situations. I don’t think you even know all the times I’ve nearly been killed. I’ve been dealing with traitors, murderers, violent criminals, and you’re up here in your luxurious tower, drinking bourbon, ensconced in swaddles of safety. I’m about to just walk away. Maybe start stealing high value shit and selling it on the black market. Because I don’t need this.”

  He blinked at her, then moved closer to her as though he would give her a shake or a hug. She took a step back.

  “Good lord, Holly, what are you afraid of? I’m not going to touch you.”

  He called her Holly, she noted. Not HD. Or Drake. She blamed it on the alcohol.