by Dan Moren
The professor’s eyes were darting everywhere, looking for threats in every shadow, but never stopping long enough to see whether any actually existed.
“It’s going to be OK,” said Kovalic. “Stay with me.”
Al-Kitab’s eyes landed on Kovalic, and though they were nervous, there was something beneath that: a steely resolve that surprised him.
Xi’s entourage had continued advancing; they drew to a stop about fifteen meters away from Kovalic and the professor. The gangster raised a hand towards Sayers and the security guard.
“I think that’s about far enough,” she said. “My tablet, if you please?”
Kovalic put out his own hand to stop al-Kitab’s advance. “Certainly. As soon as you hand over my officer.”
A laugh like glass breaking issued from Xi. “Come, come, major. You’re on my ship – show a little courtesy. I’d hate to have to shoot Adelaide here in the head.” She reached out and tousled Sayers’s hair; the soldier gave her a look that was pure venom.
“What assurances do we have?”
“Assurances?” said Xi, with a thick veneer of innocence. She draped a hand on her chest. “Don’t you trust me?”
Kovalic flashed a smile back. “Of course. Just as the frog trusted the scorpion.”
A matching smile curved on Xi’s lips. “I see we understand each other. Very well – once you have handed over the tablet, I will return Ms Sayers. You and your team will then be confined to a very nice stateroom until our arrival at Hamza in six hours, at which point you will all be able to disembark safely. You have my word.”
Kovalic trusted her to stick exactly to the letter of her word. Sure, they would disembark safely. Probably in body bags. Or maybe handed over to some law enforcement official in Xi’s pocket. Nice and safe – for Xi, anyway. He’d gotten better offers buying used hovercars.
Then again, a good deal wasn’t the point here. The point was time. Specifically, buying enough of it.
Kovalic made a great show of thinking the offer over, poking at it as if it were a piece of dough he was testing. “I want your word that none of my team will be harmed in any way.”
“You will be well taken care of. Now, if you please, I’d like to verify my property.” Suspicion had crept into Xi’s eyes, hardening them into flint. “Unwrap the package, major. Now.”
Kovalic glanced at al-Kitab. “Do it.”
Jaw set, al-Kitab began unfurling the cloth around the tablet. The artifact gleamed where the orange light hit it, the whole thing shining like the very idea of gold itself.
Xi scoffed. “I can’t tell from here.”
“Now you don’t trust me?” said Kovalic. “I assure you, Dr al-Kitab here has authenticated it.” Any time now.
“Very well,” said Xi. “In that case, you will hand over Dr al-Kitab as well.”
From Kovalic’s side came a sharp intake of breath and, if anything, al-Kitab squeezed the tablet even tighter to his chest.
“Hold up. That wasn’t part of the deal.” Kovalic’s heart thumped in his chest. It wasn’t supposed to take this long. Where was the signal?
Almost lazily, Xi reached out and ran a finger along Sayers’s cheek. “I’m renegotiating. You want your officer back, those are the terms.”
“Major,” whispered al-Kitab, “you can’t hand me over. She’ll never let me leave!”
Kovalic laid a hand on the man’s shoulder, trying to ignore the clock ticking away in his head. “It’ll be OK,” he said, more confidently than he felt. “She needs you. You’ll be well looked after.”
The professor shuddered and Kovalic swallowed his discomfort. Well looked after, perhaps, but still essentially a prisoner. If this didn’t work, he was condemning the man to an uncertain fate, trading one soul for another. Just like he’d promised Nat – and himself – that he wouldn’t. But Sayers was his responsibility. He needed to get her home.
He met al-Kitab’s eyes, found a mix of fear and hope. “Please.”
The professor swallowed, then let out a breath. “Very well, then.”
“Thank you.” Kovalic looked up at Xi. “Finally, you will ensure that Dr al-Kitab here–” a pair of clicks came over the comm in his right ear, about damn time “–is not mistreated in any way and that his freedoms will not be unduly impinged upon.”
“Fine, yes, whatever,” said Xi, her former impatience returning in full force. “Can we get on with this?”
“All right. Your terms are accepted.”
Xi gave a sharp flick of her fingers to the security officer, who pushed their prisoner forward. Sayers stumbled and shot a glare at the guard as she started walking to the middle of the room.
At a nod from Kovalic, al-Kitab started forward as well, the tablet still clutched closely to his chest. He looked smaller as he walked, hunched over, with his shoulders approaching his ears. A pang of regret stabbed at Kovalic’s heart, but he pushed it down. Now was not the time.
They were nearing the midway point now, Sayers and al-Kitab both trudging towards the room’s center. Kovalic could see the specialist still straining against her manacles, as if she thought she could slip out of them.
“One moment,” said Xi, contemplatively, as Sayers and al-Kitab came abreast of each other. “It occurs to me that perhaps in addition to the Aleph Tablet, there is something to be gained from ransoming not one but two Commonwealth intelligence officers back to their government.” She raised a finger and tapped her lips.
Kovalic’s grip tightened on his weapon, his finger sliding onto the trigger. But even as he moved to raise it, he heard a chorus of high-pitched whines from overhead: weapons being charged and, in all probability, pointed in his direction from the balcony.
Called it.
“So, please kindly drop your weapon, major.”
Sayers and al-Kitab had slowed to a stop at the sound of the weapons; they both looked toward Kovalic.
Too many shooters. Not enough time for him to target more than a couple. Xi had learned her lesson from last time, and compensated with overwhelming force. He was going to need some serious backup.
“All right, Aegis,” he murmured. “On my mark.”
Hell of a day, Addy thought blearily. Kovalic’s appearance had left her awash with feelings, primarily anger that he’d showed up with the tablet; the whole point of giving herself up had been so the team could escape with it. That. Had been. The mission. But beneath that, something warmer was melting away at her cold fury.
He’d come back for her. Despite her many fuck-ups since she’d joined the team, they hadn’t just cut her loose, even though she would have deserved it. Something stung at her eyes and she raised her manacled hands to brush at them.
Then she’d been shoved forward by the security guard and started the long walk across the room.
As they approached the midway point, Addy’s gaze met Dr al-Kitab, who she hadn’t seen since that first meeting in Xi’s quarters. His eyes widened as he recognized her. When they came abreast, she heard him murmur something under his breath.
“He said be ready.”
Despite the ordeal she’d been through over the past several hours, every adrenaline gland in her body suddenly pumped whatever it had left into her bloodstream; her eyes widened and muscles tensed.
Through the blood pounding in her ears, she faintly heard Xi tell her to stop, then order Kovalic to drop his weapon. The balcony, she thought, her eyes skimming across it, trying to pick out dark shapes against the even darker background. This is why you weren’t supposed to come, Kovalic.
For a moment, everything was still, except for Addy’s heart.
Then the room exploded.
A needleshot zipped from directly over the observation deck’s lift, lancing into the shoulder of the security guard standing next to Xi. He grunted and went down.
Then tremendous bursts of light exploded on both sides of the balcony, blanketing the room in a bright whiteness that had Addy throwing up her arms to shield her eyes. Shots rang out, needles and concu
ssion blasts; blinking her eyes against the glowing red afterimage from the flares, she made out a dark shape that she was relatively certain was al-Kitab and did the only thing she could think to do: knock him to the ground.
They went down in a heap, a surprised squeak coming from the professor as the tablet flew out of his hands and slid across the deck.
“Keep your head down,” said Addy, trying to shield the man.
“The tablet!”
God, that stupid thing. Her vision was still flashing, but she peered around in what she thought was the direction the tablet had gone. A dark shape was crouching not far away and, as her eyes started to return to normal function, she thought she made out a sparkle of jewelry around their wrist.
Xi. Oh, I definitely owe her one.
“Stay here,” Addy said, putting one hand on al-Kitab’s back as she got to her feet.
Xi was rising, the tablet clutched in both hands, when Addy’s running tackle caught her mid-section, sending them both to deck. The tablet slid away from them.
“Get off me, you bitch.” A claw slashed at Addy’s face, and she ducked back fast enough that only a couple of the nails scratched her cheek, gouging it with bright red flashes of pain.
Addy caught Xi’s wrist, pulling her arm back against the joint, but Xi lashed out with a knee to her mid-section, knocking the wind out of her. Struggling against the manacles that still bound her hands, she tried to grab hold of Xi and pin her, but the gangster shimmied out from underneath, and reached for one of the bangles on her arms.
“Forget the ransom,” Xi spat, “you’re all going to die here.”
“Promises,” Addy tried to say, but it came out as more of a wheeze. So much for the snappy lines. Catching her breath, she settled into a combat stance, or as much of one as she could manage with the cuffs on.
“Oh, how cute,” said Xi. “There’s still some fight left in you.” She pulled a bangle from each wrist over her knuckles, then touched them together. Blue energy arced between them.
Oh come on. Stun-gloves weren’t uncommon amongst street muggers or hired thugs looking to dole out a little extra damage, but Addy had never seen them miniaturized into bracelets before. Trust Xi to have all the fanciest toys.
She barely had time to process that before Xi’s hand was swinging towards her, crackling with electricity. Dodging left, Addy just caught the sharp whiff of ozone as the fist zipped past her.
But she’d focused too much of her attention on that hand; the second punch caught her by surprise as it glanced off her hip.
The searing shock elicited a yelp and Addy stumbled as her left leg turned to jelly, her knee rebounding off the deck; if there was pain from the impact, she didn’t feel it, still preoccupied with the burning from her hip. She gritted her teeth.
Then there was a leg swinging through space, heel towards her face. She hit the deck, the breeze from Xi’s foot ruffling her hair.
Feeling was starting to return to her left leg, along with spiderwebs of pain radiating out from her knee. Groaning, she rolled onto her back, just in time to catch an axe kick off her manacled forearms. Jesus, she’s vicious.
Addy scrambled to grab Xi’s ankle and use what little leverage she had to twist it and put the other woman off balance. She saw Xi hop and stumble, her expression startled, then rolled to one side to take the other woman’s ankle with her.
There was a thump as Xi hit the deck and Addy tried to scramble back to her feet. Elegant this fight wasn’t. She launched herself at the gangster, trying again to pin those dangerous hands to the ground.
Xi wriggled in her grip, growling and trying to free her arms. Surprisingly strong too. Addy felt the gangster pushing off the deck, even as the bracelets around her knuckles spat and sparked. Come on, Addy, do something. Use your head.
Without a second thought, Addy smashed her forehead into Xi’s nose, knocking the other woman’s head back against the deck. The gangster went limp, loosening her grip on the bracelets, which sputtered and died.
Addy slowly released her hold on Xi’s arms, and toppled backwards on the deck, cradling her own head. Her hip and leg were still stinging from the shocks, but she didn’t have time to take an inventory of every little ache and pain.
Stumbling to her feet, she caught sight of the tablet a few feet away. Al-Kitab was still cowering on the floor where she’d left him, though every once in a while he would look up from where he was curled, as if he were assessing the safety of actually getting up.
Addy limped towards the artifact, and hefted it in the awkward grip of the handcuffed. Not for the first time, she wondered whether or not a stupid slab of metal was really worth all of this. But it didn’t really matter, because it was the mission. Way above my pay grade.
Click. A safety disengaging.
“Adelaide. Give it to me.”
She turned to find Xi standing, if somewhat shakily – one of the gangster’s shoes had gotten lost in the scuffle, her hair was bedraggled and there was a livid bruise across her nose and eyes. With the back of her free hand, Xi wiped away a stream of blood on her upper lip. But all of that was secondary to the weapon leveled at Addy. It wasn’t a KO gun – no, this was a good old fashioned slug-thrower, small enough that Xi had been able to conceal it somewhere about her person, even in a dress that hadn’t left much to the imagination.
“I don’t want to have to kill you. But I will.” Xi put out her hand, palm up. “This isn’t irreparable. My offer stands: come work for me. You’re everything I’m looking for in a partner: uncompromising, ruthless, and sharp. We could take this all so much farther. Together, we could be running all the organized crime in the galaxy. Just hand over the tablet.”
Addy’s hands clasped the artifact; she could feel her sweat making the surface slick and hard to hold. All this trouble over a big hunk of metal. When she could have the galaxy at her fingertips. It was a no-brainer.
“Thanks,” she said. “But I’ve already got a job.”
When Nat’s needleshot lanced out from above, Kovalic bolted to one side, hitting the deck and sliding back behind one of the observation couches. A few shots followed him, pitting holes in the plastiform furniture.
In the middle of the room, Sayers had pushed the professor to the ground, then turned to take on Xi. The tablet slid to the middle of the room, unaccompanied for the moment. Kovalic might just be able to get to it.
A breath stirred behind him, enough warning for his combat senses to flare and for him to juke to one side as a fist hurtled through the air. He rolled, the bouncer sliding from his grasp, and found himself on his back, looking up into the face of the man who had helped Mirza grab him outside the stateroom. “Oh. Hey.”
The IIS operative scowled, then lashed out with a kick at Kovalic’s face. Didn’t seem like he was one for conversation. Kovalic rolled again, coming up into a crouch.
There really wasn’t time to be doing this whole mano a mano thing. He risked a sideways glance at the tablet. Sayers and Xi were still sparring around it. He suspected the specialist had only escaped being shot by the snipers around the balcony because she was too close to the boss. Hopefully that gave Nat more time to pick off the shooters.
More pressingly, the IIS operative charged towards Kovalic. He blocked the first punch, then ducked under the second strike, coming back with a jab at the man’s gut. His hand connected with soft tissue, and he heard a muffled oof. Pressing his advantage, Kovalic followed up with a kick to the man’s ankle, forcing him down to one knee, then brought his clasped fists onto the back of the man’s neck.
With the IIS agent down for the count, he tapped his earbud. “Aegis, you ready for stage two?”
“Still a little busy up here, Corsair,” Nat grunted, between shots. “Gonna need a minute.”
Kovalic looked over to see Sayers had recovered the tablet, but Xi got to her feet and produced a slug-thrower from somewhere under her dress.
“I don’t know if we have a moment, Nat,” he said, scooping
up the bouncer and raising it to his shoulder. At this range, the weapon’s accuracy wasn’t great; there was a good chance the concussion blast would hit both Xi and Sayers. “We’re in now-or-never territory.”
“You always want everything now!”
“I’m demanding, I know.”
One more shot flashed overhead, and Kovalic watched as a woman with a gun tumbled off the balcony above him, felled by Nat. “All right, I’ve isolated the local grid. Standby, Corsair. In three… two… one…”
The tackle from behind caught him unaware, sliding both him and his assailant across the deck like so many hockey pucks, and knocking the bouncer out of his grasp. He had just enough time to register the face of the IIS operative he thought he’d knocked out before he careened, head first, into one of the observatory couches.
Addy watched Kovalic and the other man grapple even as Xi was lining up her shot, and she held her breath. The thump of the two men hitting the couch was loud and sudden; Xi whirled, gun still outstretched.
In that split second, Addy charged forward to take advantage of the opening, swinging the tablet into Xi’s arm as best as she could with her hands still bound. The artifact hit the gangster square in the forearm, sending the gun spinning from her grip and across the room. Xi howled, clutching her arm, and Addy swung the tablet again – this time at Xi’s head. The gangster hit the deck and stayed there.
Addy stood over her, breath heaving, tablet still clutched in both hands.
“Stop,” said a voice. “That’s enough.”
She blinked and looked up to see the man who’d tackled Kovalic, the light from the observatory gleaming off his shaved head. He’d scooped up Xi’s slug thrower and was pointing it down at Kovalic’s limp form. “Give me the tablet, right now, or I will kill him.”
Jesus, this is getting old.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“It doesn’t matter. All I want is the tablet. Then you’re free to go.”
Yeah, sure. I’ve heard that one before.
Addy’s eyes narrowed; she’d heard his description from Kovalic. “You’re Eyes.”