To the right, the big Caruso warship's engines were still powering down, and all activity seemed to be focused on it.
“Let's go.” Sebastian looked hard and dangerous in his dark clothes with dark shades against the bright sun, his mouth a grim line.
He looked like she usually did, she realized. Focused on the task at hand, aware the stakes were life and death.
It was strange to be on the other side of that.
And then Sebastian reached back a hand to stop her, his gaze up ahead, where now she could see four Caruso soldiers walking toward them, their thick-set bodies shimmering out of the heat haze from the warship's engines and the heat of the landing pad.
They were all cradling the massive laz weapons in their arms, and the way they approached, Dee felt an overwhelming sense of menace.
Her heart did a little hop in her chest and then she strode forward, between Sebastian and Lucia.
She heard Sebastian make a sound deep in his throat beside her, and then somehow he was in front of her again, angled slightly to shield her.
She was being a bad client, but she had a feeling Rina Fattal would be a bad client.
“You need to come with us.” The soldier who spoke addressed Sebastian, not her, and Dee had a feeling Rina would not have taken that well.
“Why are you talking to him? I'm the one in charge.” She waved an agitated hand in the air.
The soldier glanced at her, then focused back on Sebastian. “We have transport waiting for you.”
Dee crossed her hands under her breasts and pushed them up slightly. She wasn't sure if the Caruso had any interest in Verdant String women, but it was worth a shot. “I'm not going anywhere with you. I've got plans.”
“What plans?” At last, the soldier faced her.
“I've got friends to meet up with, shopping to do.” She fluttered her fingers. “Although I'm not sure what business it is of yours.”
Sebastian's grip on his laz tightened a fraction, and she wondered if he'd sensed a change in attitude amongst the Caruso. Was she pushing them too hard?
From behind her, she heard the bags thump down. Karr and Vavi had obviously caught them up.
“Where we taking them?” Karr asked, and even though he wasn't openly hostile, Dee could hear the resentment in his tone, which probably fit well with how someone at Rina Fattal's beck and call for a few days would sound.
She assumed he was speaking to Lucia, because she was the one who answered with a shrug.
“Your father wants you at a reception tonight in Dar Raca.” The Caruso soldier delivered the line reluctantly, as if he'd prefer to keep her in the dark.
“My father wants me at a function?” Dee gave a derisive laugh. “Then he can ask me himself.” She took a step to the side, to go around the soldiers.
The soldiers edged back a little, but one moved subtly into her way, and Sebastian was suddenly very close to him.
Everyone went still.
“We're just passing on the message. Your father has provided a hover to take you to Dar Raca, where you will stay this evening and attend a function with him.”
“What hover?” Sebastian asked.
“We'll escort you.” The soldier stepped back a little.
“We can find it ourselves.” Sebastian's look was flat and dangerous.
“We have orders,” the soldier repeated.
Two of them shifted the laz weapons in their arms, going from cradling them to gripping the hilts and pointing them at the floor.
Ready to lift up and shoot at a moment's notice.
The move was lost on no one.
“Well, if we have to.” Dee flounced forward, and the Caruso got out of her way.
She could have had another tantrum, but she had no interest in testing how far she could push the soldiers. Even if their orders were to keep her unharmed, she didn't know if they would follow that if they were angry enough.
She sensed nothing but cold hatred from them.
How had the Cores ever thought this would be a useful partnership?
A hover approached, long and narrow, and stopped when it reached her. There were two Cores guards onboard, one on either end.
They stood as the hover came to a stop, their movements stiff and jerky, as if they weren't here willingly. As if they were afraid of the Caruso.
“Good, a ride.” She had no idea if she was playing this right, but she cocked a hip and gestured to Sebastian with her fingers, then snapped them. “Help me up.”
She could sense his surprise, but he reached out and lifted her up, his hands gripping her hips as he swung her into a seat.
The heat that speared through her as her tight shirt rode up and his fingers pressed into the bare skin of her waist left her almost breathless. She lifted shocked eyes to his as he stepped back.
His own gaze was heated, and then he turned away, grabbing up one of the bags Karr was hauling, and setting it in the baggage area at the front.
One of the Core guards stepped up to the Caruso soldiers and spoke quietly with him, and then took up position on the hover again. She had the sense that they were being guarded rather than escorted.
The dynamics were so strange, she couldn't work them out.
One thing that had her relieved--it seemed the Caruso were not coming along. They were handing her over to the Cores guards.
Sebastian swung up, but he didn't sit, he stood, one arm gripping the back of her seat, his gaze sweeping the area as the hover reversed course, skimming the landing pad as it headed toward a square glass building.
She recognized her own vigilance in the way he made himself aware of their surroundings.
She pretended to fuss with her nails, and kept her own eye on what was happening around them.
Was Hanran Fattal, Rina's father, waiting for them in the building up ahead? And how did he have a warship of Caruson soldiers playing messenger for him?
She knew whatever the answer, she had to avoid meeting him at all costs.
His arm rubbed against Dee's side, the soft, smooth fabric of her ridiculous shirt making a whispering sound against the coarser fabric of his jacket.
He glanced at her, but she was looking away, and his gaze caught on the curve of her breasts, rising out of the ruffles of her shirt like . . .
He shook his head and faced forward again.
His focus was needed elsewhere.
Nothing about this situation was good.
There would be no quick escape. The Caruso had been waiting for them, and now they were in the hands of Cores guards who didn't look like they would be letting them out of their sight.
He bet what little money he had left that they'd be escorted to Dar Raca as well.
For some reason they wanted Rina Fattal under their control. Whatever deal the Caruso had made with the Cores, Hanran Fattal seemed to be directing it.
Fattal was the head exec of the most powerful Core Company, so that made sense, but their hovering around Rina was something he couldn't understand.
Up 'til now, she'd been a free spirit. Going where she pleased and doing whatever she wanted to do.
A thought had wedged itself into his head that maybe Hanran Fattal been tipped off about the resistance's plans to kidnap his daughter.
It certainly felt like the Cores had always been one step ahead these last six months, as he and the rest of the resistance had stepped up the fight.
There were rumors of moles, but there always had been. And when Vahn had disappeared, and Sebastian had stepped up as leader, he'd tried to follow those rumors down the crazy-making paths they'd led him.
And then they'd found out Rina Fattal would be out of her father's orbit, easy to take, and he'd rushed off, using every port and credit they had left to fund it.
Had he been led here, to this moment, by subtle innuendo and clever prompting?
He would need to think back to the meetings and conversations he'd had before he'd staked everything on this, but he knew he'd be grasping at straw
s, because there hadn't been a choice.
Since the Cores had started the mass repatriation of the wells and refineries, of every business on Lassa, the resistance had been taking them on the only way it could, in small groups. They'd disrupted transportation, delayed supplies, but every choice to fight was weighed against the cost of that fight to the hungry and the sick.
Their resources were perilously close to zero.
They'd needed a break, and Rina Fattal seemed to be the perfect solution.
As the hover neared the port building, his lips twisted in the parody of a smile.
Instead of their solution, chasing after Rina Fattal might have proved to be their doom.
Chapter 9
Dee was too afraid of being overheard to ask Sebastian what Dar Raca was.
As the hover they'd been herded into at the hoverport entrance shot along elevated rails leading north, she tried to look bored and spent her time playing with Fluffy.
The little creature seemed to like the bag, hopping in and out of it frequently, and swinging on the straps.
The hover was as plush and luxurious as Rina Fattal's pleasure cruiser, a stark contrast to the shanty town that followed the curve of the elevated rails.
She could see wide pipes twisting through the forest, emerging at random points to curve beneath the rails and turn in the direction of the hover base they'd just come from.
Dee knew the main export of Lassa was a liquid gas that was used in many manufacturing processes. She guessed the pipes were how it was transported from the refineries.
“Dar Raca,” Lucia murmured in her ear, and Dee turned in her seat to look.
The city rose in a collection of buildings made up of two or three columns of white, twisted around each other like the trunks of the trees in the forest that surrounded them. One in particular rose up to tower over the others.
She fought to school her features at her astonishment.
She wondered how many Cores execs there were on Lassa to justify buildings on this scale, and then suppressed a cynical smile, because from her experience as a gen-pop on Garmen, the Cores didn't bother justifying anything that meant their own comfort and wellbeing.
And, she supposed, on Lassa they didn't have an equivalent of Felicitos, the tethered way station that was the lifeblood and the hub of Garmen. These buildings, even stacked on top of each other, wouldn't come close to Felicitos' height.
The hover track curved between two of the smaller buildings, and headed straight for the largest one, and they entered through a silver door that opened as they approached.
The hover came to a stop in a massive atrium in which a small interior jungle seemed to thrive. The plants climbed up an artificial slope, and water cascaded down rocks. A living tree rose up at least three stories high, its leafy branches filtering the light pouring in from above into a cool green.
The hover doors opened and the Core guards stepped out. They were joined by two more.
Dee forced her legs to move, putting a little more swagger into her step as she reached the open door.
She waited for Sebastian to go ahead of her, and when he turned back, she put out an imperious hand, and with the tiniest crinkling in the corner of his eyes, he held out his own hand and she took it, as if she needed help stepping over the tiny gap between the hover and the platform.
Her hand still in his, she looked around, trying to appear bored.
The thing that struck her the most was the lack of people.
Felicitos was in a constant state of chaos most of the time, with people pushing and shoving their way onto the hovers to go up or down the hoverway.
There was respite from the scrum up on the Lower and Upper Reaches, where only the Cores and their top workers were allowed, but everywhere else, including on the streets of Tether Town, there was always what seemed to be a crowd.
Here, she could see well-dressed women and men walking in and out of the atrium, but there were none of the workers she was used to seeing bustling around.
A tiny luggage hover arrived, and Karr and Vavi loaded it up as if they did this every day.
One of the guards bent over the control panel, and the tiny hover trundled off in the direction of the lifts.
“Where are you taking my things?” She made her voice sharp.
“To the suite your father arranged for you.” The guard's gaze swept over the others. “Your staff is dismissed.”
Dee felt the first shot of hope and excitement. Maybe Sebastian and the team could get out of this, at least--but she didn't want to seem too eager to get rid of them. Rina Fattal would want to be served.
She made herself pout, but before she could open her mouth, Sebastian stepped in front of her. “The others can go, but I stay.”
“You're not needed, we'll provide security.” The soldier didn't change expression.
Dee put a hand on Sebastian's shoulder and hesitated, wondering whether to play along with him or not.
It would be better if he was free to escape as well. She didn't know why he was refusing to leave her, but she didn't want it to be because of a misplaced sense of responsibility to her.
She decided to hedge her bets. “You know I always need you, but maybe run off and have a little break.” She made her words into a purr. “I'm sure I can . . . amuse myself.”
He glanced back at her, and she almost blinked at the fury and determination in his gaze. “No.”
She was so shocked, she let the silence grow too big.
“You need me.” He made the words curt.
She looked at him for another beat. What would Rina Fattal do? Would she take what looked a lot like insubordination?
She wondered what he would do if she told him no again, and decided she liked him too much to risk him pushing back even harder, and maybe raising the guards' suspicions.
She forced herself to give a slow, naughty wink.
“Well, then, if you insist.” She blew him a kiss, then turned to the guard. “I'm afraid I need this one. He's very . . . useful to me.”
She hooked her arm through Sebastian's, and when the guard opened his mouth to argue, she hardened her expression. “No argument.”
The guard stared at her, unblinking, and then finally gave a tiny nod, stepping out of the way.
Sebastian stepped away from her, and she saw the other three had formed a small group off to the side. He walked over to them and murmured something.
She could see the resistance on Lucia's face, as if she wanted to fight to stay herself, but eventually they all turned and walked away.
When Sebastian joined her, three of the guards stepped back into the hover and it moved off silently. The fourth one turned and led the way, and she risked a quick look at Sebastian behind his back.
But Sebastian wasn't looking at her, he was being a good bodyguard, sweeping the space with his gaze. Never stepping out of character.
She felt Fluffy scramble out of the bag, and picked her up, cradling her close to her chest as they walked toward lifts.
The guard had moved quickly ahead of them, so Dee deliberately slowed her step to be contrary.
Sebastian glanced back at her, realized she was falling behind, and gave a tiny shake of his head.
She didn't think Rina Fattal would rush for anyone, so she gave him a long, slow smile and sent him an air kiss.
She had to suppress a grin when she saw a faint flush of color on his cheeks.
The guard stood stiffly beside the lift door, holding it open, his lips twisted in a snarl as he stared inside it.
There was someone else in there, a man, and he was leaning back against the wall.
From the glimpse she caught of him, arms and legs casually crossed, he seemed unintimidated by the guard.
She turned her back to him as she stepped inside, just in case he was someone Rina Fattal might know.
She put Fluffy up on her shoulder, and the movement caused her earring to jangle.
The man sucked in a sharp breath. �
��Rina? It's me, Peyt.”
She went still, her gaze shooting to Sebastian, and then she angled her head slightly over her shoulder in the man's direction, letting her hair fall across her face. She hesitated, scrambling for what to say to him.
“Rina Fattal is not engaging with others today.” Sebastian's voice was cold behind her, and she realized he'd stepped between herself and Peyt, blocking her from view.
“But it's me.” The man sounded so surprised, Dee guessed he was a Cores exec or the son of one. Absolutely secure in his own sense of importance. “Is it really you? I thought you were away.”
“As far as you're concerned, she still is.” Sebastian kept his tone chilly.
“You're welcome to come up to my place tonight. We can catch up.” The man's voice was thoughtful. “You can bring your talu.”
“Rina Fattal will be attending a reception with her father tonight.” The Cores guard spoke for the first time.
The man made a sound of surprise, and then shuffled in place.
Dee barely registered it, because her heart rate had spiked at the reminder she'd be dealing with Hanran Fattal so soon. Fluffy swung down the strap of the bag, and disappeared inside it, and Peyt made another sound of interest.
Then there was silence. It stretched for a long, agonizing eternity, and then the door of the lift pivoted open and the guard gestured them out, leaving Peyt behind them.
Sebastian walked behind her, a warm, solid presence, and she followed the guard down a short passage that opened up into a circular foyer with a massive curved window looking out onto the city. It looked as though a curved bite had been taken out of the floor, and she walked over to it and looked down through a number of similar holes to the atrium and the tree below.
Doors had been set into the curved walls to the right and the left, and the soldier opened one of them and indicated they enter.
Sebastian ignored him and set the laslock to his imprint first.
Dee could see the guard was about to object, and she flounced into the room past him and gave it a derisive glance. “Where's my father?” Her throat was so tight when she said the words, her voice came out husky.
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