She stood and took point with the others as they went past a set of stairs that led to the second floor on their left, then turned to look into a room on the right, which appeared to be an enormous office with a large desk in the middle. There was a single, soft LED light above the desk, shining down on it like a spotlight. Aralyn froze. She remembered when they’d called to convince her that Pris had killed Kragg. Eladia had been at a desk just like this one, staring out at her with smug satisfaction.
“I’m a goddamn shark,” Eladia told her.
The memory sent chills through Aralyn that she had to fight to keep from showing as she swung her gun around. “This is the place,” she whispered.
“How do you know?” asked Riordan.
“I can feel it.”
She didn’t have more of an explanation than that, but no one chimed in to suggest that she was wrong, either. Kragg had taught her to trust in her gut, and she wasn’t about to ignore those alarms going off. This was the big time. This was for real. Eladia was here. She wasn’t certain why she was so adamant about it, but there was a shock of something akin to electricity racing through her. Anticipation of the fight to come. And yes. There would be a fight. Eladia was right; she was dangerous. But Aralyn couldn’t wait to remind her that she wasn’t the only one who could hurt people.
They moved down the hall and passed a large kitchen on the left. Apart from a couple of cooking bots in sleep mode, the room was empty. Through the house came the faint wafting of cigarettes, like the ghost of Eladia was stalking the rooms angrily behind them. The door at the end was holo-paned, which Aralyn found surprising.
“Does this go back outside?” she asked.
The smell of cigarettes was growing stronger as they moved forward, and Aralyn wanted more than anything to kick in the door and start shooting, but she turned to Riordan, waiting for an answer as he checked the schematics they’d been able to pull before landing. He pulled up the blueprint page and then turned the tablet to show Aralyn.
“Sealed room,” he whispered. “Looks like the greenhouse we saw from outside.”
“Good enough for me,” Aralyn replied. “Everyone ready?”
Caden nodded. “Let’s get in there.”
Apollo, looking nervous, sighed. “May as well get this over with.”
Aralyn hoisted the gun, letting out a steady breath as she reached forward, willing her nerves to stay in line. She opened the door.
The “greenhouse” was no more garden than it was a veritable jungle, similar to the one that Kragg kept on Mars―although shipping dirt out this far from Earth had to leave quite a dent in the wallet. It was almost as large as the house attached to it, but the sensibilities of modern and sparse décor ended at the door. Enormous palms nearly scraped the top of the holo-panels while sagos nestled around their bases next to elephant ear philodendrons with leaves three times the size of Aralyn’s own head. There were flowering plants everywhere she could see and ivy that had grown straight up the holo-panes and taken root along the metal posts that kept the room together.
Through the middle of the walkway was a wide bridge over a small pond. Inside, koi and other goldfish swam lazily about while a stone fountain fed recycled water into it via a small waterfall from the rocks. Lotus flowers dotted the surface and rolled with the gentle rings of water. Above them was a projected simulation in the holo-field, just like they’d seen on Tethys. It was currently broadcasting a bright sun in the sky, a couple of clouds, and the sound of birds echoing around them.
On the other side of the bridge, in the very center of the room in front of a metal patio table and four chairs, was Eladia. Her hair had changed from the last time Aralyn had seen her; it was bright neon pink now, the sides shaved so that it left her a chaotic mohawk down the center of her head. She wore a simple black tank top, loose pants, and a jacket tied around her waist, as well as numerous earrings in each ear, a metal stud above her eye, and two rings on either side of her lower lip. Both of her bare arms were covered in tattoos, and Aralyn couldn’t tell if some were new or not. One black-banded tattooed hand brought a cigarette to her lips while the other held a wicked-looking gun.
At the other end of the barrel was Kragg, where he kneeled on the tile beside her, his mechanical eyes staring straight into the distance.
“I was wondering when you might show up,” said Eladia, taking another hit of the cigarette and blowing the smoke out in a ring. “To be honest, I was expecting you days ago.”
“Got a little sidetracked,” Aralyn said, stepping toward the bridge, but not crossing it. Caden and Apollo flanked her on either side while Riordan hung back near the door as if he was afraid to enter.
“Is that what we’re calling mental breakdowns these days?” Eladia asked, flipping her spent cigarette to the ground.
Aralyn tried to keep her focus, but all she could see was Kragg. There were bruises on his arms―had she been beating him? Rage poured through her, but she forced herself not to show it.
“Let him go, Eladia,” said Aralyn. “We’ve got people posted all around this house. The UDA is in orbit outside of Jupiter, and they can be here in fifteen minutes.”
“Is that so?” Eladia asked, staring him down. “Doesn’t sound true to me.”
Sweat broke out along Aralyn’s back. How? How had Eladia known to expect them? How had she known to have Kragg here? Aralyn couldn’t fire on her, as long as he was in danger, and she knew it.
“What does it matter?” Aralyn said. “You want to bargain with us, right? That’s why you’re here alone, without your crew.”
Eladia laughed. “I’m here alone, you bitch, because you have been a thorn in my side in a way that no one else in this entire solar system has ever been. In a way, I guess you should be proud of that fact.” She smiled. “It’s time that I show you, personally, just how much I appreciate the business that you’ve made me lose. The smugglers. The drugs.” She shook her gun at Kragg.
“No!” Aralyn said, stepping forward.
Eladia put both hands on the gun. “Take another fucking step and I will paint the floor with his insides!”
Aralyn backed off only a foot, but kept her gun trained on the other woman.
Eladia turned and spied Apollo, and a flare of genuine surprise seemed to cross her face momentarily. “Apollo van Dien,” she began warmly. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Apollo, gun drawn, gave a nervous, almost feral smile. “It has, love. Years, in fact.”
Eladia’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll have a nice long conversation, you and I, when this is all over.”
Apollo merely offered her a graceful bow with a flick of the tail of his coat. “Of course. I would expect nothing less.”
Aralyn found herself side-eyeing the informant. Had he been double-crossing them this entire time? Had he fed information to Eladia about where they were and what they were up to? With frustrating agony, Aralyn realized that her hands were tied. There was nothing she could do if Apollo was a traitor; as long as he kept his gun on Eladia, she’d keep her gun off of him. Getting Kragg was all that mattered. She readjusted her stance.
“All we want is what you have connecting Proctor Madigan to your operation,” Aralyn called out, hoping that her bluff was solid.
“Oh, is that all?” Eladia asked, pulling another cigarette from her pocket and lighting it with her free hand. “But aren’t you the scrappy little detectives who uncovered my datastick?” She feigned innocence. “Don’t you already have allll that dirt on me and mine?” She pressed the barrel of her gun into Kragg’s head.
“Give us the info on Proctor and we’ll see about giving you a head start before we call in the Spectors,” Aralyn spat, trying not to lose sight of her goal.
Eladia grinned. “It seems I’ve hit a nerve,” she said, wiggling her gun. “Let’s try something new, shall we?” She kept the weapon pointed against Kragg’s head, but walked several steps to the right of him, so that he was partially between her and her attackers. “Th
is is how it’s going to go: I’m going to blow your precious daddy’s brains out. And then, when I’m done with that, I’m gonna really make you suffer, right up until you die, which won’t be for very much longer, I promise.”
Rage and feared pumped in equal measure through Aralyn; she couldn’t tell where one emotion started and the other began. “You wouldn’t dare kill him,” she demanded.
“And why is that?” Eladia asked. “Because I should be af-waid of you?” She pursed her lips out into an exaggerated pout.
“Because that man having a heartbeat is the only thing keeping me from tearing you apart, limb from limb with my own two hands,” Aralyn seethed, her voice a growl.
Eladia laughed, loud and long, like a braying donkey. “That’s sweet, really. I bet you think you’re fearsome, don’t you?” she asked. “I already told you how this was going to go, yeah?” She waved the gun and then pointed it at Kragg again. “I’m going to teach you a lesson about knowing your place. But first…”
She leaned over and whispered something to Kragg, too low for Aralyn to hear. He suddenly moved his head, as if waking from a trance, and looked around the room in wonder.
When he spied Aralyn, a smile blossomed on his face. “Ari, my girl,” he said. “Coming to check up on an old man, eh?”
Aralyn, despite her resolution to stay focused on Eladia, found tears prickling at her eyes. How long had it been since she’d heard his voice? She lowered her gun. “Kragg―”
A small explosion ricocheted through the greenhouse. Aralyn watched in sickening paralysis as Kragg froze and then stared down at the bloody hole in his stomach. Even without organic eyes, the confusion was still clear on his face.
“No!” Aralyn screamed. “No!” She scrambled forward, running for him, his body almost seeming to fall toward the ground in slow motion.
Vaguely, she could make out Eladia’s threats for her to stop coming any closer, but she didn’t care. A bolt bit harshly into her thigh, but she kept going. Her body was so numb she could barely feel the pain. She dove to the ground, sliding to her knees and catching Kragg’s head just before it hit the tiles. Return fire rang out over her head and Apollo screamed for her to take cover, but she couldn’t pay him any mind. She stared down at the viscera. Blood everywhere. There was so much blood.
“No, no, Kragg, please,” Aralyn whispered, crying as she cradled him. “It’s okay, we’ll get help, it’s okay―”
“Ari?” Kragg said, his voice dry, weak. “You did it.” He reached up with a shaking hand to trace the clouds projected above them. “You got us to Earth.”
Aralyn wept, pressing her hand to his stomach, trying to staunch the bleeding. The wound was too large; blood seeped around her fingers and kept oozing out no matter how much pressure she applied. His face was already so pale, but more red liquid began to flow from between his teeth.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kragg asked, looking at the wild greenery around him. “Never thought I’d get to see it again.”
Aralyn forced a smile she didn’t feel, wiping the blood from his mouth with a trembling hand. “Yes, it is,” she began, unable to speak above a whisper. “Just wait until you see the house. There’s a little pond and everything.”
“And you’ll be home with me now.” Kragg touched her face with his hand and she pressed her cheek into his palm, trying to commit every last detail to memory, afraid to look away and afraid to see what she knew was coming next.
“Yes, Dad,” she whispered. “I’ll be home with you.”
Kragg leaned his head back against her lap, smiled, and said, “I love you, girl. I know I haven’t said that enough.”
Kragg’s hand went limp in her grasp, and the mechanical eyes stopped moving. Aralyn clung tight to him, alternatively whimpering and screaming his name, beating his chest with her bloody fist.
“Don’t leave me,” she sobbed. “Please.” For a brief moment, she even tried to will the life back into his body, but ultimately, her pleas fell on deaf ears.
“How very fucking touching,” Eladia said, clapping slowly, her sharp eyes rolling as she spoke.
“Aralyn!” Caden cried out, devastation plain on his face.
On the other side of the bridge, both Apollo and Caden were tucked behind large potted plants bearing singe marks on them, clearly having tried to give Aralyn cover while she’d run forward in abandon. Riordan had disappeared, but the door leading into the house was closed, so Aralyn assumed he had fallen back and was hidden somewhere on the other side of it.
“Get up,” Eladia said, unfazed, kicking a boot into Aralyn’s side. “All this over an old blind man? Pathetic.”
She grunted at the pain, staring down at Kragg’s slack mouth, which was still leaking blood. Unlike the last time when she’d been taken over by the fury on the auction ship by surprise, she was prepared for it this time; welcomed it. The rage that poured through her veins may as well have been a drug. The blood drying on her fingers deepened the burning storm tearing her brain apart.
Aralyn stood to her feet in one smooth motion, lifting her modded hand gun from the holster and pointing it at Eladia’s head, slipping it from legal voltage to lethal with a flick of her thumb.
“Aralyn, don’t!” screamed Apollo.
But she ignored him; pulled the trigger. Her gun only clicked, and Eladia’s smug smile never once wavered from her face.
To hell with it all, she thought to herself, listening to a laugh come burbling out of the other woman’s throat. I’m not a fucking Spector. I want blood.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t have a dampener field in place?” Eladia giggled, like she’d let them in on some witty inside joke. “How stupid can you―”
Aralyn raised the gun over her head and sent the butt of it whipping into Eladia’s face with as much force as she could muster. The woman’s sharky smile vanished as she stumbled backward, crashing to the floor, cradling her black and blue eye socket. When she looked back up at Aralyn, it was only with one good eye. Blood pooled in her left one and ran down her cheek like tears.
“Do you think I wasn’t prepared for that?” Aralyn asked, dropping the handgun and reaching for the short barrel shotgun in the holster beneath her coat.
The satisfaction at seeing fear crown in Eladia’s face was the only thing she could focus on. Aralyn lifted the gun, aiming it directly for Eladia’s head.
“I’d say you should pray to whatever god you’d like for redemption,” Aralyn said, “but I’d rather that you just enjoy your time in hell.”
She tightened her grip on the trigger when Apollo came running at her, waving his hand furiously. “Don’t kill her!” he screamed, leaping into a flying tackle that took Aralyn by surprise.
She barely had time to register what was happening before his shoulder caught her in the side, sending her shot wild and the shotgun tumbling from her grasp.
“You can’t kill her!” Apollo said, trying to get himself off of the ground.
Aralyn gritted her teeth and kicked him straight in the groin. “Traitor bastard!” she screamed as Eladia scrambled to her feet once more.
Apollo coughed and grabbed for his crotch, doubling back over onto his knees. “You can’t―”
“What the fuck is this shit?” Eladia screamed, flailing and kicking. “Caden! Get over here, now!”
Aralyn looked up to see Dror clinging to the orachal king pin for dear life, his baby teeth deep in her forearm, his legs wrapped around her thigh like the world’s tiniest judo champion.
“Dror!” Kita screamed. “Get away from her!”
In the doorway, Riordan had grabbed ahold of Kita’s arm and was trying desperately to pull her back to safety, but with one last final shout, she tore herself from his grip and ran forward, leveling the Remington on Eladia. Aralyn saw the concern flash across her face; she couldn’t shoot―not so long as the boy was still latched on. She wouldn’t risk hitting him by accident.
Eladia clobbered Dror in the forehead with the but
t of her gun, screaming as he bit deeper and held on for dear life. She tried to pry him off but then seemed to suddenly realize that Kita was aiming a gun that would actually work. Dror clinging to her left arm like a lamprey, she lifted her right arm, took aim with her weapon, and fired.
Kita went flying backward, slamming hard against the wall near the door. Riordan shouted and headed straight for her, but all Aralyn could see was the dizzying amount of blood seeping down her chest. Eladia hammered Dror’s head with the butt of her gun and he went down, lying still on his back, the cuts on his head bleeding savagely. His blood joined with Kragg’s darker stain and made Aralyn’s breath catch in her throat.
The rise and fall of his bird-like chest was the only proof he was still alive; it was still more than she could say for Kragg, or possibly even Kita. Riordan was nearly as pale as Aralyn as he pressed a hand over Kita’s shoulder to staunch the flow, babbling incoherently, visibly fighting off the urge to vomit at the sight of her blood. Kita took in a deep breath, screamed at the pain, and passed out again.
And it was at that precise moment that something struck Aralyn’s mind as she desperately tried to play through how everything had just gone so absolutely wrong.
Did she just call for Caden… to help her?
The sound of a gun cocking from behind her―her shotgun, she realized belatedly―brought the world back into crashing focus, the chaos around her so overwhelming for a moment that she couldn’t breathe. She turned in time to see Caden raise the Old-Earth gun and cock it, holding it steadily in line with her head.
“Caden?” Aralyn croaked out, her voice hoarse from screaming and crying. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Don’t you just love this?” Eladia said, walking around him like she was inspecting a prize horse at a fair. “You have no idea how badly I’ve been wanting to test out this new formula in person. I’d say my R&D team nailed it exquisitely.” She leaned an elbow against Caden, and he remained, like a statue, pointing the shotgun at Aralyn.
“What did you do?” Aralyn demanded, her brain unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
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