Prime Deceptions
Page 31
A few other devices littered the desk, including a thin mechanical keyboard—her mother always had been old-fashioned. But before she could do more than glance at anything else, Regina was shoving her back out into the hallway.
“You can’t come in here,” Regina said coldly.
“Right, secret government stuff, discúlpame,” Eva said, raising her hands defensively.
“Classified, not secret,” Regina replied.
Eva furrowed her brow. “Same thing.”
Regina continued moving forward, forcing Eva to back up. “No, descarada, I’ll tell you what’s secret. Secret is your husband pretending he sells used spaceships when he’s actually running an organized-crime operation. Secret is having to tell your children just enough so they understand why you got a divorce and left the galaxy, but not so much that they might say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get kidnapped or killed or, god forbid, arrested.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely worse than killed,” Eva said, and her mother whacked her arm hard enough that it stung.
“No me busques!” Regina shouted, and now they were in the house’s common area, but clearly her mother didn’t care. “Tu sabes qué? When I took this assignment, I had to learn about the history of Garilia. As much as possible, because how else would I be able to see whether the people here were complying with regulations? And what do you think I learned about, hmm?”
Eva froze, her skin flashing cold and hot all at once. No, she thought. Please, not that. It was supposed to be buried, hidden . . . But of course, BOFA would have more than the official accounts.
“Ah, sí,” Regina said, staring at Eva’s face, her eyes wide with fury. “How dare you talk to me about secrets? Te conozco, mascarita. You call me out of nowhere asking for favors, you show up here and get invited to fancy parties when you’re supposedly some cargo-ship captain . . . I’ve been doing my research, mija. ‘The Hero of Garilia’? Qué horror. Qué vergüenza!”
Everyone around them was silent, watching the scene unfold. Sue had grabbed the power source and was crouched in the corner of the dining area, shielding it with her body. Min was on the floor between the couches with Mala clutched in her arms, the cat wisely refraining from so much as a quiet purr. And Vakar had retreated to the kitchen, smelling like a profusion of nerves and worry and anger, like someone had taken an awful crap and tried to cover it by burning incense.
Any other time, Eva would have lashed out, fought back, screamed at her mother twice as loudly until the two of them were inaudible to each other. But all she could think about now was Pink, still missing—Pink, who had been the first to reach out to Eva after Garilia, to recognize the depth of her sorrow and rage and regret, to join her in leaving Tito and Pete and everything else behind and starting over with something resembling scruples instead of the barest of ethical lip service.
And where had that gotten them? Right back in the same shitty place, and apparently Eva was none the wiser for all the time that had passed.
“Why are you smiling?” Regina demanded. “You think this is a joke?”
Eva hadn’t even realized she was smiling. She shook her head. “Canta y no llores, Mami.”
“No me diga,” her mother said, throwing her hands up. “After everything I’ve done, my own daughter ends up a criminal anyway, and she thinks it’s funny. Me muero.”
Eva wanted to defend herself, insist that she wasn’t a criminal anymore, but what was the point? She’d never get away from her past. She didn’t deserve to. She’d spent years trying to at least keep her own mother from knowing all of this, but it was like that old saying: you can never go home again.
“We’ll leave,” Eva said. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Regina repeated incredulously. “If you were sorry, you wouldn’t be here with your criminal friends looking for her criminal brother.” She gestured at Sue, who was crying all the tears Eva couldn’t, then at Min, still holding Mala. “A bank robber? A bot fighter? Qué rayo?”
Eva stalked forward and raised her finger, rage bubbling up to fill the void at light speed. “You say what you want about me,” Eva said. “But you do not talk shit about my crew. Ever.”
“It’s the truth.” She waved at Vakar. “Y tú qué? I could barely run a background check on you.”
Vakar, prudently, was silent. The last thing he needed to do was spill that he was a Wraith.
“We’re going back to our ship,” Eva said. “We won’t bother you again.” I won’t bother you again, she thought. Back to not being on speaking terms with both my parents.
“Fine,” Regina said. “Allá tú.” Without another word, she turned and stormed off to her room.
Sue muttered something, and her bots began scrambling over the table, collecting parts and loading them into tiny containers. Min carried Mala toward the spare bedroom, disappearing inside and emerging a few moments later with her backpack.
Vakar touched Eva’s arm, startling her. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask her anything, just stood next to her and smelled like incense and licorice. Well, at least he still loved her.
Within a few minutes, they were ready to leave. Regina stayed in her room, the door closed. Eva didn’t bother saying goodbye; there was nothing left to say.
Taking a deep breath, Eva opened the front door and stepped outside, into the warm night air. A few birdlike creatures flew through the sky, dark forms against a bright wave of stars, and in the distance the gentle shushing of waves against shoreline was broken by the cry of an unseen animal. They’d have to walk back to the ship, or call for a transport and hope the Watchers didn’t nab them instead, or nab them at the spaceport, or—
“I’m surprised you haven’t changed,” a voice said, coming up the walk. “Your clothes, I mean.”
It was Pink. The bag containing her sniper rifle hung from her shoulder, and she had already treated a cut to her lip and a blow to her temple, both pink from disinfectant. Jei trailed behind her, scowling as usual. He wore his helmet, but his arm weapon was either deactivated or had run out of power.
“Madre de dios,” Eva whispered. For a moment, she felt like her soul left her body, then came crashing back in as a shudder of pure relief. Pink was okay. She was here, and safe.
“I’m nobody’s mother,” Pink replied, smirking. “Speaking of which, what the hell happened here?”
Eva exhaled sharply, frowning. “What happened here? What happened to you?” Before Pink could answer, she held up a hand. “No, wait, we can talk on the way. We need to get—” She stopped. Get what? Where? Sure, they could go back to the ship, but they had no guarantee of being able to leave it again. It would mean giving up entirely and accepting that they would never find Josh, much less convince him to leave Garilia with them.
She couldn’t do that. They’d come too far, and they needed to get paid, and Sue deserved some kind of closure. And maybe the resistance wasn’t perfect, but they were right that Damaal and the Sylfe Company were engaging in dangerous shenanigans that needed to be stopped. Eva reached into her pocket and touched the psychic-imprint recorder the resistance had given her.
If she was going to be a criminal like her mom said, she might as well try to be a good one.
“Sue, a little help,” Eva said.
Sue fumbled the privacy-bubble device out of her bag and activated it. If any Watchers were in earshot or monitoring with remote devices, they’d be out of luck now. Someone might arrive to ask questions, but they’d pass through that Gate if it appeared.
Eva took a deep breath, then exhaled sharply. “You need to get back to La Sirena Negra. All of you. I’m staying here to finish what we started.” She inclined her head at Jei, whose eyes widened in surprise.
Pink raised an eyebrow. “All by your lonesome? Pssh, don’t even start.”
“It’s the best option,” Eva said. “The safest option.”
“I’m going to say this once,” Pink said, her eye narrowing as she stepped closer to Eva. “We ag
reed we were a team: co-captains, equal command. Y’all still keep falling back on old habits, and I’m finna bust your lip like a piñata if you don’t knock it off.”
“But I—”
“Stop arguing with me when I’m right, you entire ass.”
Eva stared Pink down for a few moments before looking away and nodding silently.
Vakar smelled more strongly of concern. “I do not believe we should leave you.”
Eva shook her head. “You, of all of us, definitely have to go. We can’t risk creating a bigger problem with your bosses. It’s bad enough that you came to the party. Things could have gone much worse, and we might not be so lucky next time.”
Vakar fell silent, warring scents rolling off him in a cloud. Licorice under it all, which she appreciated; she knew he loved her, and hopefully he knew she felt the same way, but sometimes love meant you had to make hard choices and be prepared for the consequences.
Sometimes standing by each other meant one of you had to walk away.
Pink spoke up, then, shifting her rifle to her other shoulder. “Vakar, you’re technically freelance so we can’t tell you what-all you should do. But as co-captain, I’d like to request that you escort our pilot back to the ship and keep her safe there while we finish this job.”
Min perked up at hearing she was being sent back, then deflated with a guilty expression. “I could stay, too,” she said stubbornly, inching closer to Sue.
“Min, it’s okay,” Eva said. “Worst case, you come pull us out of whatever fire someone lights under our asses.” It was a white lie, and Eva felt uncomfortable telling it, because she had no intention whatsoever of making Min violate dozens of airspace laws to extract them. Better to have Vakar get her off-planet and back to something like safety.
Then again, they were already violating dozens of laws in helping the resistance, so what was a few more?
Vakar continued to smell like a perfume store on fire, but finally he shrugged in the quennian equivalent of a nod. “I will see that Min returns safely to La Sirena Negra,” he said. “We will wait for you to finish your business here, and then we will all depart.”
Eva smiled at him. His optimism was more stubborn than anything, but it was one of the many things she loved about him. She knew a little about stubbornness, after all.
“I’m going with you,” Sue said, shouldering her pack of disassembled Pod Pal components.
“The hell you are,” Pink replied.
“It’s not safe!” Min exclaimed. Eva wrinkled her nose in confusion at that one.
“He’s my brother,” Sue said.
Eva sighed. “And we’ll have a better chance of finding him and getting him out if we’re not busy worrying about you.”
Sue shook her head, an uncharacteristic scowl warping her features. “I know you think he’s doing bad stuff on purpose, but I don’t believe it. I need to talk to him.” Her frown deepened. “And if he is . . . if he knows what he’s doing, maybe I can convince him to stop. You’ll just kidnap him, and then he might not want to help later.”
“You can always convince him later,” Pink said.
“Maybe,” Sue replied, doubt tingeing her voice. “But what if you can’t kidnap him? What if he fights back and you’re dealing with a bunch of bad guys? I could help. Besides, I’m the one who knows how these things work.” She gestured at the bag she carried. “And I’ve got my bots to help us, too.”
Eva pursed her lips as she thought. Sue wasn’t wrong. It might be useful to have someone who dealt in the tech they’d be facing. She might even be able to come up with some useful countermeasures before they infiltrated the lab.
“Fine,” Eva said, with a glance at Pink for approval. “But you follow orders and stay out of the line of fire, got it?”
Sue grinned, then frowned at Min, who stood there hugging herself. “I’ll be okay,” Sue said.
“Yeah,” Min replied faintly.
Eva hugged Vakar as tightly as she could manage, and he returned the gesture. If things went wrong, if the lab infiltration was a bust, if she got arrested . . . There were a hundred ways they could be separated from each other indefinitely, but that was true most of the time.
Maybe that was why it had gotten harder and harder to let him go. Probability was a hell of a downer. But right now, she could hold him, and there was no sense ruining the moment.
“Be careful,” Vakar said quietly, smelling so strongly of licorice she could taste it.
“Careful is my middle name,” Eva replied.
“I thought it was Caridad?”
She raised an eyebrow at him and he tickled her face with his palps. He was teasing her. “Real funny. Get out of here before the cops decide we’re suspicious enough to hassle.”
Pink and Sue climbed into the transport with Jei, and Eva followed them, leaving Min and Vakar standing near the entrance to the house. As they flew off, the light in Regina’s bedroom flickered out, the colored walls darkening with uncomfortable finality.
Chapter 20
History Repeating
Nara brought them to a different rebel hideout from the last one, at the base of one of Rilia’s home-trees in a structure made from colored bark that had been curved so that its overlapping pieces formed a dome. Instead of a door it had an energy curtain that not only kept out the mist forming in the damp darkness but also worked in tandem with the visual and audio fakery to hide the people inside. Eva, Pink, and Sue stepped out of the transport, shoes squelching in loamy mud that smelled of rain, and Eva tried very hard not to think about how Vakar and Min were faring without her.
The same cell of rebels that had met them before was present now, with a few additions. Dr. Lucien was once again tinkering with the robot dog while Felsira reclined in a hammock, and Sapri quietly discussed something with a pinkish-furred xana whose Attuned clung to his back like a round, fuzzy monkey. The creature glared at Eva when she entered, its pig-snout of a nose turning up as if she smelled offensive. The xana glanced sideways at her, broadcasting confusion and dismay, which caused Sapri to stop midsentence and favor Eva with his own sour psychic emanation.
“Why have you brought her here?” Sapri asked.
“The mission was compromised,” Nara replied. “We escaped and were not followed.”
Sapri’s hostility increased. “How was it compromised?” He was speaking to Nara, but looking straight at Eva.
“Put some water in your wine,” Dr. Lucien said, his tone gently chiding.
Eva sighed. She wasn’t even going to bother answering. The fight with her mother had sapped her of any desire to engage with hostility that was, given its source, entirely warranted. Mala clambered down from her shoulders and leaped to the floor, exploring the room with her tail primly straight.
Jei answered, removing his helmet as he spoke. “Everything was proceeding as planned until it was time to locate the third target. Then Nara was alerted to the approach of several Watcher squads from multiple vectors. Dr. Jones disabled two of their vehicles with her own special ammunition, while Nara destroyed another. Our transport was undamaged, but we were forced to engage in aggressive maneuvers that caused injuries to all of us, which Dr. Jones treated.”
Pink snorted. “And what did I tell you to do when we got here?”
Jei ran his hand through his short black hair, which must have been sweaty because it spiked up in random directions. He stepped over to Dr. Lucien and held up his arm with the cannon. “Could you please examine my prosthetic interface?” he asked, his voice surprisingly meek.
“But of course,” Dr. Lucien replied warmly, his dark hands gently removing the weapon to expose the socket connecting it to Jei’s residual limb. Eva looked away from the examination, which seemed to warrant some privacy, and was surprised to find the xana also turned their attention to Nara and Pink.
The Attuned, meanwhile, had climbed down and was trailing after Mala, making a low keening noise. Mala ignored it, her tail shaking like a rattlesnake’s.
“You accepted without consulting anyone?” Felsira asked, still lounging in the hammock, her psychic tone dry and detached.
Nara shrugged, her green ponytail bobbing slightly. “She needs us more than we need her. We can use that.”
“Gracias, muy amable,” Eva muttered.
“De nada,” Nara replied.
“Additionally, we now have Joshua Zafone’s sister,” Jei added, inclining his head at Sue.
All attention turned to her, and Sue’s face flushed. She ducked behind Eva, and Pink also moved to stand in front of her, arms crossed.
“That could be an advantage in negotiations, should they prove necessary,” Sapri said, his psychic emanation thoughtful and darkly eager.
“She’s a person, not collateral,” Eva said. “And we’re here to get Josh, not to negotiate with whoever you’re thinking, so maybe we can move on from debrief to the plan for getting into the lab?” Silence replied, along with a psychic shift to low-grade hostility once more.
Mala, naturally, took that moment to saunter into the middle of the room and flop down, her tail lashing up and down as she extended her claws and began to lick them vigorously.
“Innocente gave me the imprint recorder,” Jei said, pulling it out of a pocket in his suit. Sapri took it and inserted it into another device, like a multicolored cube.
“I only got two imprints,” Eva said apologetically. “So I’m not sure how we’ll get into the lab now, but—”
“We had already planned to enter in another manner,” Sapri said, then he emanated surprise. “There are three imprints. The mission was not a failure.”
Pink raised an eyebrow. “I only tagged two of the targets.”