by Kate MacLeod
All three groaned loudly in protest, but Emma just poured herself and Scout another mug of tea.
“Your dogs are very well-behaved,” she said. Scout looked down at Gert, flopped down as usual right on top of her feet. Shadow was sitting at attention nearby, clearly hoping for a few table scraps and not deterred at all by no one paying any attention to him.
“They’re good dogs,” Scout said. “They’re my family.”
“Have you thought about your future once you’re done testifying in court?” Emma asked.
“Not really,” Scout said. “Bo Tajaki gave me an AI teacher, and I’ve been working on getting my education level up to where it should be. Or trying to work on it. Things have been chaotic a lot. But I know with an education I’ll have more options.”
“Yes, you will,” Emma said. “Of course, I’m biased. I’m a teacher as well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I teach science to kids between nine and thirteen. It’s a very exciting age.”
Scout nodded and tried for a smile that wasn’t too halfhearted. In her experience, that was a good age for molding kids into killers. But surely that wasn’t the only thing a kid could learn how to become.
Not that she knew herself. She had spent those years working for every meal and missing more than a few when work was scarce.
“When you’re done with your tea, I’ll take you out and show you where you’ll be sleeping,” Emma said.
Scout took a deep gulp of tea, lemony and sweet, then asked, “Out? I thought I was staying with you.”
“You can if you like—I can convert that couch to a sleeper—but I thought you’d like a bit more privacy. And quiet, something that’s in short supply here.”
Scout didn’t doubt that. Whatever tasks the boys had been assigned must still be waiting for them; it certainly sounded like some sort of throwing and tackling activity was going on its place at the moment.
Scout swallowed the last of her tea, then gathered up her dogs and zipped up her jacket while Emma put back on the layers of her own clothing.
Then they were back out in the cold night, although it didn’t seem so bad this time with a belly full of warm food and tea. They trudged through the snow around to the back of the cabin, then a little further uphill to a second, smaller cabin that stood on a rocky promontory, the door on the side facing the hamlet below. Emma punched a code into the lock and then opened the door, stepping aside to let Scout and the dogs in first.
It was definitely smaller than the other cabin, all one room with a little screen dividing the shower and toilet from the rest of the space. A bed piled high with thick blankets and an overstuffed chair sat on either side of a dark metallic box that looked like some sort of stove, and opposite the bathroom was a tiny kitchen with a single cupboard over a sink and just enough counter space for a little kettle.
“This was Gertrude’s,” Emma said, her voice going soft. “She was Liam’s partner, but she was my good friend.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Scout said.
“Thank you,” Emma said. “I can see why she liked you. At any rate, when her grandmother fell into a bad way, Gertrude gave everything she had in the world to take care of her until the day she died. Gertrude was left with nothing. Working as a marshal, she was always traveling, but when she was off duty, this was her place. Liam and I had to make her take it. Proud doesn’t begin to describe her. But I know she loved it. I think you being here is just what she would have wanted.”
“I hope so,” Scout said.
“You’ll see in the morning, when the sun comes up, why she loved it so. Whenever you’re up and ready, just come down the hill, and I’ll fix you something to eat. There’s tea and coffee in that cupboard. I’ll have to scrounge up something for the dogs to eat besides the scraps the boys were giving them under the table when they didn’t think I saw.”
“They what?” Scout asked. She hadn’t seen any of that. Emma laughed.
“Don’t worry, nothing dangerous for dogs or I would have said something,” she said. “I better get back before they destroy something. If you should go out, the code to get back in is just five-five-five-five. I can show you how to change that tomorrow. Good night, Scout.”
“Good night, Emma. And thank you so much.”
Emma smiled again before wrapping the scarf once more around her face and pulling the little door to the cloakroom closed behind her.
Then Scout heard the deeper boom of the outer door closing, and she and the dogs were alone.
8
Scout and the dogs curled up together in the little bed under an enormous pile of blankets. The dogs conked out at once, exhausted from their big day, but Scout lay awake for a long time listening to the sound of the wind whispering around the cabin walls. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed the sound of the wind. She wasn’t sure she ever really paid attention to it back on Amatheon.
The wind on Schneeheim never built up to the sort of gusts she was used to, just the soft sound of driving snow plinking against the walls. It was a cold sound, but she was warm and cozy in her thermal underwear with the dogs near her.
Scout woke with a start, both dogs fighting to get out from under the covers. She didn’t know what had set them off. They both ran to the door, barking like mad. Shadow stayed at the door barking his shrill bark over and over, but Gert came back to the bed and put her paws up on Scout’s knee as if requesting human assistance with the door.
Scout stumbled out of bed and turned the lights on. She didn’t know what they were so excited about. It was impossible to hear anything over Shadow’s noise.
“Shadow, hush!” Scout said. Shadow paused, but only for a moment. Scout heard nothing unusual in that little break before he started barking and scratching desperately at the door again.
Perhaps he simply needed to go out. Scout put both the dogs on their leashes, then led them through the inner and outer doors.
Somewhere south of the mountain, the sun was rising. She could see the gray light lighting the world around her, although the actual sunrise was blocked by the mountain itself. The dogs pulled on their leashes, barking over and over, and Scout took a step forward before remembering that she needed to be wearing a lot more clothing to be comfortable outside.
She started to take a step back, and in that moment’s distraction, the dogs got away from her. The leashes whipped out of her hands, and both dogs charged across the snow. Scout saw a flicker of motion: some small, gray, furry animal running for cover. It disappeared inside a rocky prominence jutting out of the snow. Shadow desperately tried to dig after it, ignoring the chill of the snow on his paws in his desperation to get at the animal. Gert stood behind him, not looking at anything in particular.
Scout knew this procedure well. Shadow would be tenacious, never giving up until he had what he was hunting for. Gert would seem not to care much one way or another, or even to really understand what was going on, but half the time she was the one that ended up with the small animal in her jaws. Scout was never quite sure how that happened.
The wind from the night before had died down, and the dogs didn’t seem uncomfortable, so Scout went back into the house to put on the rest of her clothes before joining them outside. She didn’t bother sorting through her bag, just put on what she’d been wearing the day before and then all her outer gear. She wasn’t sure how long the dogs would be safe alone, and she didn’t want to dawdle.
When she got back outside, the gray had become brighter, but the sun was still out of sight. The mountain seemed to have a glow, and Scout suspected that the sun would emerge soon and maybe warm up the air a little. The two dogs were just as she had left them, Shadow whining to himself as he spun round and round the promontory of rocks trying to find a way in, Gert looking around in a way that didn’t really suggest that she was protecting them from possible ambush so much as reacquainting herself with the world, getting distracted by the occasional snowflake.
Scout walk
ed over to the two dogs, and Gert rushed up to greet her, landing on her hard with both of her front paws. Scout staggered but didn’t fall. Gert, tail wagging madly, moved to jump on her again, but Scout dodged away. Gert charged back to Shadow’s side.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, stuck out here on the lonely mountainside. She really needed to put the time in to train Gert better, or at least to teach her not to jump up on people, and now she’d have it. And she needed to get going with her AI education as well. She might as well start both today.
“Scout!” Emma called.
Scout walked to the edge of the cliff to look down at Emma, waving to her from the door of her own cabin. Scout waved back, then whistled until both dogs came running to her. Shadow skipped sprightly over the frozen top layer of snow. Even with the weighted vest on, he was light enough not to break through the thin layer of ice.
Gert, on the other hand, had no such luck. She tried again and again to hop up top where Shadow was making such good time, but she kept crashing through the hard layer and had to just plow her way back to Shadow and Scout. It might have been a lot more work, but judging from the wagging of her tail and all the snow clinging to her nose, she loved every bit of it.
Scout caught hold of their leashes and led them down to where Emma was waiting for her.
Emma was standing out in the cold with her coat open and no scarf covering her face. That was the first clue that something was wrong. That and the deep furrow between her eyebrows.
“What is it?” Scout asked. Emma’s cheeks were bright red from the cold, but she didn’t seem to notice. She must be very worried.
“We have a call,” Emma said.
“The Torreses?” Scott asked.
“No, Bo Tajaki,” Emma said.
“Bo?” Scott asked. “How could it be Bo? He’s supposed to be in hyperspace now.”
“I think that’s why he’s calling you,” Emma said, letting Scout and the dogs through the door first before shutting it behind them.
Scout dropped the leashes and opened the inner door, and the dogs rushed inside to the excited squeals of three boys in the middle of breakfast. Scout loosened her scarf and unzipped her jacket, then went into the cabin and looked around for whatever served as communication equipment. Willem saw her looking around and pointed even before his mother emerged from behind Scout to lead the way.
There was a little desk in the wall, set into a little nook. Scout slid into the seat and saw that the surface of the desk was a screen set at a comfortable viewing angle. A look of immense relief eased the tight anxiety of his features, but only for a moment. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days.
“What is it?” Scout asked.
“The kids are gone,” Bo told her.
“The assassins?” Scout asked. Emma nudged Scout’s shoulder, and Scout moved the chair closer to the desk so that Emma could pull a screen across the opening of the nook. Scout understood; her kids didn’t need to hear this.
Bo had flinched at the word again but said, “Yes, the assassins. And worse, I don’t know when they escaped. They spoofed the video feeds. We found the bodies of the guards that were supposed to be watching them stuffed in a utility closet. We were nearly two days into our five-day journey, but there is no sign of anyone hiding on this ship, and none of the shuttles are missing. The logs for the airlocks say no entry or exit since you left, but of course, those must have been tampered with. I’m afraid they left before we ever even went into hyperspace. I’m really afraid they left with Shi Jian, and none of us noticed because we could still see them on the security monitors behaving perfectly normally. But Scout, I think they’re coming after you.”
Scout nodded. She wasn’t shocked or surprised. In a way, it was really a relief. She’d been waiting for this hammer to fall for quite some time. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. They can be like ghosts. That was how they picked us off before. They’re invisible to security measures. You never see them until it’s too late.”
“I believe you,” Bo said. “Can you get somewhere safe?”
“I guess I’m as safe here as I can be anywhere,” Scout said.
“I’m changing course,” Bo said. “I’m coming to get you.”
“No, don’t do that,” Scott said. “I have everything I need here. I have people who will look out for me. There’s nothing you can do for me here. You need to get Galactic Central, to get your father’s people on the case, and not keep getting sidetracked.”
“This is all my fault,” Bo said.
“You met Shi Jian when you were quite young, right?” Scout asked. Bo nodded. “She got inside your head. She knows how to do that. She knows how to work kids at that age. It’s what she does. I think it’s pretty much all she does. Aside from killing people, of course.”
“I will do as you ask,” Bo said. “But tell me again, are you sure you will be safe?”
Scout nodded, she hoped with more surety than she felt.
“We’ll be going back into hyperspace then. Three more days. So I’ll call you again in three days. If I can’t reach you, I will be coming for you. If it means that I have to take a little ship and come just on my own, I’ll be coming for you.”
“Understood,” Scout said. “Be careful too. I don’t think Shi Jian would do you any harm, but I’m not sure if she’s working alone. She might have a partner, and who knows what that person might do. They might not value you the way she does.”
“I’ll know more when I get to Galactic Central,” Bo said. “I’ve sent as much information as I could through secure channels to my father. I haven’t heard back from him yet, but that’s not unusual. When he is working on a thing, he doesn’t communicate about the thing. But, as I promised, I’ll talk to you when I get back home.”
“Safe travels,” Scout said.
“You too,” Bo said.
The image flickered to a dull gray, and Scout sat back in the desk chair. Then she opened the screen to find Emma waiting just outside.
“The assassins are kids between ten and fourteen,” Scout told her. It wasn’t hard to keep her voice lower than the chatter coming from the breakfast table. “More than two dozen of them. If they do come here, they will be noticed, right?”
“Yes,” Emma said. “We’re close with the people in town, and they know the broad strokes of your situation. If any of them see anything, they’ll send a warning right away. We can lock down this cabin like a fortress. You do realize, Liam is a fifth-generation galactic marshal. Sometimes trouble follows a marshal home. His family takes all the precautions, always have.”
“Good to know,” Scout said.
“Are you hungry?” Emma asked, guiding her back to the kitchen. “I have something for the dogs now, and there’s porridge. If you want it.”
“And brown sugar and raisins and pecans and dried cranberries too,” Trevor said.
“That all sounds really good,” Scout said. She sat down at the table, laughing along with the boys as the dogs jumped all over Emma before she could even lower the two bowls to the floor. The dogs tucked in with great gusto.
Scout dug into her food, not much more slowly. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. She was just finishing a second bowl when a beeping sound from the desk behind her had her turning in her chair. It sounded like a warning.
Emma held up a finger to let her know to stay where she was, then crossed the room to sit down at the desk. She leaned close and whispered with the screen. Scout looked down at the remains of the porridge in her bowl, no longer terribly hungry. But she might need the energy later if things got bad. She spooned more into her mouth.
A moment later, Emma came back to the table. She poured herself a large mug of tea with extra milk and sugar, then another for Scout.
“It’s bad?” Scout asked.
“It’s not . . . what’s concerning you,” Emma said. “It’s the weather.”
“Storm?” Trevor asked. He sounded entirely too excited about it.
“A bad one
,” Emma said. “They’re evacuating the town.”
“Evacuating the whole town?” Scott asked.
“There’s a possibility that the storm will take out the tramway,” Emma said. “That’s happened before. It’s procedure to evacuate the population of possibly affected villages beforehand, just in case. It’s probably nothing, and we have a little place inside the city for just such contingencies. We’ll just have to find a way to hide you. Keep you all bundled up in your coat and hat and scarf and you’ll blend in with my children. If we’re lucky, no one will notice you. Once we’re safely inside the apartment in the city, we can just keep you hidden indoors there until this blows over or the Torreses can come get you.”
Scout didn’t know what to say. It felt like such a coincidence. And yet there was no way that Shi Jian and her assassins could be controlling the weather. It had to be a coincidence.
But it felt more like a trap, driving her back into the city. The warm city, snug under its protective dome, but full of dangers just for her. Shi Jian and her assassins might not have created the storm situation, but they were surely prepared to use it to their advantage.
And there was nothing Scout could do about that.
9
It was midmorning when they were finally ready to head down to the village. Scout didn’t bother to hold the dogs’ leashes. They both came when she whistled, and there were no other people around to object to dogs on the loose.
The sun emerged from behind the mountain, shining dazzlingly bright off the snow. Scout dug through her pockets until she found the pair of tinted goggles she had put there the day before. She hadn’t known what their purpose was except possibly for fashion when she’d put them in that pocket, but it was obvious now. Looking around for more than a minute or two at that snow would be blinding.
This time there were people in the public square. Not many, maybe not even so much as fifty, but they were all heading to the tramway station. Scout looked up the mountain towards the city and saw the tram swinging on its line as it made its way down the slope to them. It seemed to be empty, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the inside was teeming with young assassins bristling with knives and murderous intent.