Hero Code

by Lindsay Buroker

  Casmir could understand why Bonita was suspicious of Rache, but he didn’t know how to assuage her suspicion without explaining their shared DNA. He also didn’t know if that would assuage anything. Or should. Was he being naive about this? After all, he’d thwarted Rache’s plans twice, and Rache had only come all the way to Odin because he wanted to know where that gate was. Did he believe Casmir no longer knew? Or would he be waiting at the rendezvous spot with a syringe full of a truth drug?

  “They didn’t teach us about manipulation, no,” Casmir said. “They did teach us how to manipulate robots, but that’s not quite the same.”

  “A clear deficiency in the curriculum.”

  “Yes.” Casmir took a deep breath. “It is possible I’m walking into a trap, but I think he could have kidnapped me at other points if he really wanted me.” Such as during that quirky dinner date… “I genuinely believe he’ll take me to the terrorists.”

  “And help you thwart them?” Bonita’s eyebrows rose. “Or turn you over to them so they can finally kill you?”

  “I’m hoping for the former.”

  “Hope isn’t a plan, Dabrowski.”

  “What happened to El Mago?”

  Bonita shook her head and walked away. “I’m rescinding that if you walk yourself into a trap.”

  When Kim returned home, the balcony door was open, the curtain stirring in the breeze.

  A nervous flutter passed through her stomach. She could only assume Rache was there, but why? The day before, she’d transmitted to Casmir the coordinates that Rache had sent in his extremely brief message, the only one he’d presumed to send her since the night of the dinner. He should be on his way to that rendezvous point if he truly meant to meet Casmir there. Surely, he hadn’t come for his dinner date.

  “You work late hours,” Rache’s voice came from the balcony as she approached the door.

  “The government isn’t taking my suggestion, insofar as I can tell, and has me refining a strain of bacteria that will—they hope—keep anyone who goes close to study the gate, whenever it’s found, from dying horribly.”

  “What was your suggestion to them?”

  “That they send in someone who’s immune to its effects to see if they can deactivate the security system. I had Casmir in mind, though I didn’t mention his immunity.”

  Rache didn’t answer right away. Kim hadn’t stepped out onto the balcony yet, but curiosity drove her to open the door fully and join him. He never seemed willing to step into her apartment without an invitation. But standing on her balcony and opening the door was acceptable in his mind. He’d set up strange boundaries regarding her privacy, but she supposed it was better than walking in and finding him lounging on her bed. Maybe he’d be more normal if the situation allowed it. It wasn’t as if he could knock on her front door.

  “Did you mention mine?” Rache finally asked.

  “Yes. Technically, Dr. Sikou did. I told her all about the altered and unaltered mitochondria when we were working on solutions, and she reported it.”

  “Ah.”

  Kim couldn’t tell from his tone if he disapproved or felt betrayed. It wasn’t as if they had been working on the same side. He’d been her kidnapper at the time. And now he was… she didn’t know exactly. Someone going off tonight to either capture Casmir or pretend to capture him. She hoped it was the latter, but a large part of her wondered if she was foolish to trust him.

  “As you likely guessed from my message,” Rache said, his back to the wall, his masked gaze toward the city rather than toward her, “I made contact with one of the officers in the terrorist organization.”

  “And told them you’ve kidnapped Casmir and will bring him to them to kill. I assume.”

  “That’s the gist of it. They gave me coordinates and a meeting time—three hours after midnight. It’s in the middle of the Zachowac Kingdom Forest.”

  “Do you think that’s where their base is? That it’s camouflaged somehow?” Kim had been to the Kingdom Forest with some friends at the university. It covered hundreds of thousands of acres, and hundreds of inches of precipitation fell every year, turning it into a lush temperate rainforest. Parts of it were remote, but she was sure park rangers covered the territory regularly and that satellites would have picked up the installation of any structures. There were mountains and volcanos out there. She supposed something could have been built underground.

  “Possibly. It could just be a meeting point they chose because it’s in the middle of nowhere.” Rache faced her for the first time. “They agreed to pay me twenty thousand crowns for Dabrowski, and they don’t care if I bring him in dead or alive. All they said was that if he was dead, they’d run a DNA check to make sure I wasn’t fooling them with the wrong guy. They said they would know what to look for.”

  Kim digested that. Even though she couldn’t see his face through his mask, from the way he looked steadily at her, she suspected he wanted her to twig to something.

  “Implying they know who your clone progenitor is?”

  “That was my takeaway, and it’s what I’ve suspected since I first learned of Dabrowski’s existence and that he’s being targeted. Someone is worried history will repeat itself.”

  “Casmir.”

  “What?”

  “He gave you underwear and pizza. I think you can call him Casmir now.”

  “When I kidnap him, I’ll discuss how he feels about such familiarity.”

  “I’m sure he would be fine with it.” Kim tilted her head, watching him, suspecting more than the desire to chat had brought him to her balcony. “If they know who he is and want to kill him because of it, is it possible they know who you are?”

  “That’s my fear. My contact didn’t say anything to suggest it, but my sixth sense, if you will, is telling me this is a bad idea, that we’re both walking into a trap.”

  “Are you going to back out?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I don’t want to see Casmir—you and Casmir—get killed.”

  “I’m delighted that you shoehorned me into that sentence, however parenthetically.”

  Kim spread her hand, not sure what he wanted from her.

  He slipped a hand into a pocket and withdrew a small device. It looked like the kind of thing a hunter used to keep track of his hounds in the forest.

  “I installed a tracking chip under my skin. My first officer on the Fedallah has a device to track me, but the ship is in a very high orbit, doing its best to avoid detection, and I brought down the only shuttle marked with fake identification tags. For them to mount a rescue, it would take time and put them in a lot of danger. As I’m sure you’re aware, we’re all wanted dead by the king.”

  Kim nodded.

  Rache handed the device to her. “If a full day and a night pass and you don’t hear from me, but my chip still appears on the tracker, then I suggest you give this to Superintendent Van Dijk. You can say it’s me, or you can say it’s Da—Casmir. Whatever seems right to you—whatever seems more likely to incite her to send a dozen ships full of armored men. I’m going to assume that I’ll be in the terrorist compound and that it will lead them to the Black Stars.”

  “Are you imagining yourself as being dead or unconscious somewhere while this is happening?”

  “I’m just assuming that if we’re able to enact our plan, then we’ll have done it by the end of a day and a night. If we haven’t by then…” Rache shrugged.

  “Why are you doing this if you deem that a possibility? Look, I release you from your favor if that’s what’s holding you to that course. I can’t believe you regularly walk into situations you believe you might not walk out of. I’m positive you don’t, or the Kingdom would have caught up with you years ago.”

  “What would you have instead? For me to paint your peeling windowsill over there? Or to carry your groceries the next time these people let you out to shop for yourself? This is something that would mean something to you and be a p
roper repayment for the service you did for my men. I do not intend to go down without a fight, trust me.” He bowed and sprang to the balcony railing, leaving the device in her hand.

  “Rache!” she blurted.

  He paused and looked back.

  She wanted to tell him again not to do it, but it was the best lead the city—the Kingdom—had about these terrorists. Casmir was crafty, and Rache had to be just as crafty. If anyone could survive having a trap sprung on them, it had to be they. And whether Rache was doing it for humanitarian reasons or not—she suspected not—they could, if they succeeded, save a lot of lives.

  “Be careful,” she said quietly, wondering if it was the right thing.

  While perched on the railing, he gave her a deep, knightly bow, then jumped off into the darkness.

  14

  Qin donned her full combat armor and stood in front of the mirror in her cabin to sweep her hair back into a braid. Next, she jammed two DEW-Tek pistols into holsters on her utility belt, followed by a dagger and a bandolier of explosive rounds for her anti-tank gun. She grabbed that from its mount in the closet and slung it across her torso on its strap.

  She looked at the toy robot sitting in a case with one of her minotaur candles and nodded to herself. She was doing the right thing. As a whole, this planet might not love her, but certain people had been kind, and this was Casmir’s home, and he needed her. Whether he’d asked for her help or not.

  He should have asked. All he’d done was request that Bonita drop off his battle robots, but if he was going to take down these terrorists, he would need intelligent, thinking people. With giant guns.

  She grinned into the mirror, fangs glinting. “People like me.”

  She stepped into the corridor and almost crashed into Asger. He’d come aboard that afternoon, presumably also to help Casmir with the terrorists. He wore his full knight’s armor, his pertundo on his hip, his cloak vibrant on his back, his jaw shaven, and his hair loose about his shoulders. Handsome.

  “Qin.” He nodded to her.

  “Asger.” She nodded back, then strode past him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Same place as you.”

  “To stalk Casmir and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed?”

  “I thought I’d suggest he save time and take me with him from the start.” Qin hopped into the ladder well as the ship tilted, banking for a landing.

  The last time Qin had looked out a porthole, it had been too dark to see anything, but she knew they’d been flying along the coast.

  “That would make things easier.” Asger followed her down the ladder. “But I haven’t noticed that Casmir likes to make my life easier.”

  “You should discuss your concerns with him. He seems open to self-improvement as a person.”

  “He’d probably just apologize and have his mother send me underwear.”

  “I’m still agog that he gave the notorious Tenebris Rache underwear. Who does that?”

  “Casmir,” Asger said.

  “Right.”

  They entered the cargo hold together and found Casmir rubbing down his robots as if they were horses fresh from the races. Or maybe he was making sure they were properly lubricated. Several of them stood, or sat on their treads, near the cargo hatch, rattling in sync with the deck as the Dragon descended.

  Since the ship was going in for a landing, Qin assumed that nothing outside alarmed Bonita. Was Rache even there yet? It was ten minutes before midnight.

  “Casmir,” Asger said. “We’re about to land.”

  “Yes, I know.” Casmir waved his rag at him. “Thank you.”

  “I meant to imply that you should be in armor, or at least a galaxy suit for a modicum of protection.”

  “Since I’m assuming the role of captured prisoner, I thought it would be most believable if I were unarmed and unarmored.”

  “Think again. Go put on a galaxy suit.”

  Qin watched, curious if Casmir would accept the order. Asger carried his noble haughtiness with him at all times, but it especially came out when he gave orders—and expected to have them followed.

  “Rache can say he captured you in it, if anyone asks, and didn’t want to strip you down and have to look at your chest hair.”

  “No terrorist is going to believe that a pirate would care about my chest hair.”

  Asger’s eyes narrowed. “Put on a galaxy suit, or I’ll put you in one myself. Forcibly.” His hand rested on the head of his pertundo, as if a giant telescoping halberd could help a person get dressed. Get undressed, perhaps.

  But the threat worked. Casmir thrust his rag and can of spray lubricant at Asger and ran off to change.

  “You have to deal firmly with engineers and scientists,” Asger told Qin. “They’re special.”

  “Of course.”

  The ship settled, and a faint whistling reached Qin’s ears. Wind railing at the freighter?

  “Nobody’s here yet,” Bonita said over the comm.

  “That’s good,” Asger said. “Casmir is still dressing for the party.”

  Long seconds passed, and Bonita said, “A shuttle is coming. It’s registered as belonging to a local furniture delivery company.”

  “Sounds like a cover,” Asger said. “Unless a lot of people living under glaciers order midnight deliveries of end tables and bedroom sets.”

  “Rache wouldn’t be able to come down in something the Kingdom might recognize as his,” Qin agreed.

  “It’s landing right in front of us,” Bonita said, “close enough to pick Viggo’s nose.”

  “Really, Captain,” Viggo said. “If I had a nose, that would be quite unsanitary.”

  Perhaps not coincidentally, four robot vacuums whirred into the cargo hold, darting between the treads and legs of Casmir’s stationary army. One vacuum climbed the side of something half the size of a tank, vrooming happily.

  Casmir returned in one of Bonita’s borrowed galaxy suits. “This is actually a good idea. If the terrorists don’t strip me right away. I grabbed an oxygen tank, too, in case I get an opportunity to toss some of Kim’s vials. I gave most of them to my robot friends and wrote a deployment program, but I have a few more in my satchel.”

  “Weapons?” Asger asked him.

  Casmir patted his satchel gently.

  “Real weapons?”

  “I don’t have any,” Casmir said.

  “Doesn’t this ship have an armory?”

  Qin nodded, though she’d never seen Casmir visit it.

  “I don’t think you fully grasp the nuances of the clever ploy Rache and I have devised.” Casmir walked to the control panel and hit the button to open the hatch.

  “You mean the plan he came up with and manipulated you into following?” Asger asked.

  “I see you’ve been talking to Bonita.”

  An icy breeze whipped in as soon as the hatch opened, making Qin glad she had more fur than hair on her neck.

  “Brr.” Casmir leaned out the hatch and looked toward the white shuttle resting near them. The advertising on the side promised the finest furniture selection anywhere on the planet and free delivery. “Another reason the galaxy suit was a good idea. For its body-warming capability.”

  “And the ability to block bullets and DEW-Tek bolts.”

  “Yes, but especially the heat. Look, you can see one of the glaciers.”

  Qin leaned out. She’d never seen a glacier.

  The clouds obscured the moon, but the white cliff rising behind the shuttle and encroaching on the pebbly beach was easy to see with her night vision. As bright as the ice was, it might have been easy to see without night vision.

  Casmir pointed as the shuttle hatch opened. Nobody came out.

  “I guess my date isn’t going to come over and pick me up personally.” Casmir faced them before heading out. “I’ve given Bonita a device to track my transponder signal.” He waved his arm. “She’s supposed to follow and drop off the robots. Asger, if you’re willing, I’d like y
ou to go in with the robots. Hopefully, we’re going to lead you right to the base, and you can call in the Kingdom Guard as soon as you’re sure of the location. Depending on how deep in the forest that is, it could take them a couple of hours to get there. You may have to do your best to keep the terrorists from escaping when they realize what’s happening. I’ll try to help from inside.”

  “Uh, Casmir. I don’t think you realize what this means.” Asger waved at his chest—his armor—and his pertundo, then pointed at Qin and her armor. “We’re coming with you.”

  Casmir blinked. “But you can’t.” Several robots rolled or walked forward and headed through the hatchway and onto the windy beach. “They can. I hope.”

  “You’re taking the robot army with you?” Qin asked. “I thought the captain was bringing them later.”

  “Most of them, yes, but I need a few allies along that I can count on. Someone scanning Rache’s ship shouldn’t be able to sense robots.”

  “You can count on us.” Asger hopped down to the beach.

  Casmir scrambled out after him. “But someone with good scanners would detect you aboard.”

  “Darn.” Asger jogged past the robots and strode toward the shuttle.

  Qin jumped down and ran after them.

  Rache stepped out of the open shuttle hatch in black combat armor, his helmet retracted but his mask and hood hiding his features.

  Qin halted. Seeing him at Kim’s dinner in such an innocuous setting hadn’t managed to alleviate her fear of him—or her memories of how he and his men had slain dozens of hardened pirates while her captain had pulled her back out of the way. She’d functioned normally enough when he’d been present in the apartment—thankfully, nobody had asked her many questions—but she still shuddered at the idea of walking up and talking to the man.

  Or confronting him, as Asger looked like he meant to do.

  He halted a few paces away from Rache and faced him, his hand on his pertundo. Casmir ran around him to stand between them, his arms spread in a friendly manner.

  “Rache, you remember Asger from dinner, I trust.”