“You'll see him tonight. Someone will fetch you at eight.”
The guard turned and walked away, and Sebastian stood by the open door and watched him go.
“Close the door.” Dee kept her voice to a low murmur.
Sebastian waited another beat before he stepped back and did as she asked. As soon as it closed, she spun to face him.
“What the hell?” She hadn't realized how angry she was with him, but it exploded out of her. “You should have taken your chance and run with the others.” Her words were a low hiss as she stepped toe to toe with him.
His hands came up and gripped her upper arms. “I got you into this, I'll get you out. I'm not going anywhere.” His dark eyes held hers.
“You didn't get me into this.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “The Caruso and the Cores did. I don't hold it against you.”
He dropped his hands and took a deep breath as he stepped away and turned. “That makes you a better person than me because I've had to fight hard not to resent you for not being Rina Fattal.”
His admission hurt.
Enough to silence her.
She set her bag on the table, heard the click of Fluffy's claws as she scrambled out of it and went off to explore, and forced herself to look at Sebastian.
He was facing away from her, and he stalked to the window and looked out, his broad, muscular back to her.
His hand curled into a fist, and he thumped it softly against the glass.
“So what's your plan, then?” She knew she sounded angry, but she couldn't help it. “Seeing as you insisted on throwing your lot in with me.”
“Escape.” His tone was short.
She gave a snort at his answer, and turned away from him, taking in the room properly for the first time. She'd been too afraid Hanran Fattal would be in here waiting for her the first time.
It was like everything else--overdone and overwrought. It was as if the Cores execs were intent on spending everything they had on luxury, just to prove they could.
She stepped out of the uncomfortable shoes, and then walked into the bedroom and found her luggage stacked neatly in a walk-in wardrobe.
She had packed all the sensible things in one bag, and she put it on the bed, rifled through it and pulled out dark pants and a dark tunic.
Neither had ever been worn.
She was already in the new pants, and was just lifting the tunic over her head when Sebastian walked in behind her.
She sensed him freeze, but he didn't step back out and she didn't know if he looked away.
She pulled the soft fabric over her head, tugged it down, and turned to face him, eyebrows raised. “Yes?”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry for the temper tantrum. I see all this luxury, and when everyone I know is starving, it makes me a little crazy.”
“Are the Cores not hiring, or aren't they paying enough?” She thought back to what she'd seen since she first landed on Lassa. She'd been tense, and focused on threats, but she realized she'd seen hardly anyone here that on Garmen would be called gen-pop--the general population.
Those she had seen had been below the hover rails, looking up at them from the shacks cobbled together on the forest floor.
“They've got automatons doing as much as they can. What jobs aren't suited to that, they've employed more guards, a lot of them from what were the criminal gangs. There are a few jobs where they're employing the gen-pop, but not at living wages.”
“Why? What caused the change?” She sat down on the bed and pulled on socks and then boots.
Sebastian leaned back against the doorjamb and watched her with a hooded expression. “They started losing money.” He hesitated. “Someone I've got working in one of the Cores' offices told me that since the Faldine War ended, the gas wells on Faldine are finally starting to produce. It's not the same quality as ours, but it can be refined. So that's one thing. Then something happened a while back to make the Verdant String unwilling to do business with us. My contact couldn't find out what.”
“Cepi,” Dee told him. “Cepi and Var.”
“What's Cepi?” She had his interest. He pushed away from the door, dropped his crossed arms.
“Cepi was a moon orbiting the Verdant String planet of Kalastoni. It doesn't exist anymore and the Breakaways, both Garmen and Lassa, seem to be to blame.”
Sebastian winced. “And what about Var? That's the capital of Parn, isn't it?”
“Yes. Looks like to cover for their mistake at Cepi, the Cores set loose a fanatic on Parn, gave him a ship and weapons, and he blew up a number of buildings in Var. Killed VS citizens. And unfortunately for the Cores, left enough clues for the VSC to follow the trail right back to them.”
“The VSC is boycotting the Breakaways?” Sebastian rubbed his temple.
“And nature abhors a vacuum.” Dee thought of the way the Caruso had been so quick to jump in when the VSC withdrew. They must have been watching the Breakaways for a long time to move so quickly.
“Yes, the Caruso didn't take long to worm their way in.”
Beside her, Dee felt the brush of fur, and saw Fluffy had curled herself up next to her. Even with the little creature's eyes closed, she thought she was getting used to seeing her better and better. Peyt had called her a talu. She would have to look it up when she was able to find a comm set with interplanetary access.
She stroked the top of Fluffy's head and then stood, putting the small pack she'd found amongst Rina's things on the bed and rolling up clothes to go in it.
“What are you doing?”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I thought the plan was to escape?”
He flushed a little. “Yes. But I have a feeling it isn't going to be as easy as walking out.”
She shrugged. “I can't meet Hanran Fattal this evening. I'm dead the moment I do. So I'm prepared to take some risks.”
He hesitated, then gave a nod. “I won't let you meet him on your own, whatever happens.”
She believed he meant it, but it occurred to her that it would be very convenient for Sebastian to have a face-to-face with Hanran Fattal, especially if he was able to get close while armed with a laz.
Because surely that had been his objective all along.
Chapter 10
They stepped back out into the light, airy space of the foyer, and Sebastian felt the stir of air coming up from the circle in the floor and the muted sound of the atrium, seven floors below.
He walked over to the massive window and looked out over Dar Raca from the most exclusive address in the city.
He'd never been inside the Tree--the Cores head office--until now. Not once in all the years he'd lived on Lassa.
His reaction to it was visceral.
He couldn't look at anything without thinking of the suffering beyond, in the shacks and shanties that hugged the hover rail, or were tucked away in the forests.
Things had never been good for the gen-pop, but since the Cores had started clawing back every last bit of independent wealth, it had been catastrophic.
“Did you notice the Caruso didn't leave the landing pad?” Dee asked softly as she came to stand beside him. “I don't see them anywhere below, either. They're keeping out of sight.”
“Doesn't matter. We have resistance members everywhere, including more than one working at the hover base. I should have known the Caruso were there long before now.”
“I'd say that today might have been the first time they came down to land here, but no one so much as blinked an eye at them, so I don't think that's true.”
That she'd noticed the reactions of the landing pad crew told him more about her than she probably realized.
This woman was more than just an inventory manager. She held herself with the ready tension of a guard.
One thing was for sure, she didn't live in the same grinding poverty that he'd been forced into these last six months. She had looked at the apartment they'd been allocated and sneered rather than gaped.
Her body, an
d because he'd walked in on her without knocking, he'd seen more of it than he should have, was exactly as he thought it would be. Muscled. Toned. Sleek.
She hadn't gone hungry in a long time, and she kept herself in peak condition.
“Things are obviously better for the Garmen gen-pop.” He was looking down at her as she took in Dar Raca, which glistened white and silver amongst the dark green of the trees.
She glanced up, surprised. “Why do you say that? I've always thought things were pretty bad.”
“You don't look like you have things pretty bad, Dee.”
She flushed and looked away. “That's true, I don't. I work for the richest independent on Garmen.”
He didn't know why, but a flash of jealousy hit him, and he had to look away. “You live with him?”
She nodded. “Most of the--” She paused, looked away. “Yes. Myself and a few colleagues share a wing in his home.”
“Most of the what?” He didn't mean his voice to sound so hard, but he couldn't help it.
“None of your business.” Her voice was cool. “Let's go, I think I've got a good idea of how things are laid out down there. Where are we escaping to?”
“The forest.” He forced himself to step back. “As soon as we make it past the Dar Raca wall, we're safe.” Safe, but not comfortable. But he knew the forests better than any Dar Raca Cores guard.
She gave a nod and turned, started walking toward the lift.
He reached out and closed a hand over her shoulder. “Careful. The man in the lift earlier, he worked out you weren't Rina Fattal.”
She raised startled eyes to his. “Why didn't he say something?”
“I think he liked knowing something the guard didn't. My guess is he's planning to blackmail you, and it has something to do with Fluffy.”
He was getting used to the little creature, because he could see her head peeping out from the top of Dee's pack.
She gave a slow nod. “Well, I'll duck if I see him coming.”
Sebastian thought it more likely Peyt was planning to sneak up here and corner her in her apartment.
There was something in the man's demeanor that had his instincts humming. At first, it was the lascivious look in Peyt's eyes as he'd craned to look at Dee.
He'd had a sexual encounter with Rina Fattal at one point, there was no doubt in Sebastian's mind about that. And when he realized Dee wasn't who he thought she was, his focus had turned to Fluffy. It had almost seemed as lascivious as the way he'd looked at Dee.
She was striding ahead of him now, her hair back in a knot at her nape, her dark clothing giving the impression she was a guard.
It was in the way she held herself, in the way she moved. Exactly like him.
Because he'd been a Cores guard himself a lifetime ago, working the pipelines until his conscience rebelled.
Damned if he believed she was an inventory manager.
On that score, he was sure, she was lying.
Dee stopped as they neared the lift and turned slightly to Sebastian, waited until he was right beside her.
“I need to access interplanetary comms.” She kept her voice low. “I checked and there wasn't a way to connect in the apartment, but I need to get in touch with my boss on Garmen. I'm assuming once we're in the forests, interplanetary comms aren't easy to come by?”
His lips thinned at the request, but he gave a nod. “We either find a way here, or it doesn't happen.”
It was a dangerous side-trip, she knew that. But if there was any hope of getting word to Leo, and having him alert the VSC to what was going on, it would have to be now.
“I think it's worth the risk. With Arkhor taking control of Garmen, Leo can pass what we know about the Caruso on to them, and they can pass it on to Bodivas, and hopefully, they'll send some warships to intervene.”
His lips twisted into a wry smile. “Bodivas could have intervened any time in the last six months, and there's been no sign of them.”
“Maybe they've been having the same trouble getting the right information that you have.” Dee wasn't so enamored of the VSC she'd die on a hill for them, she'd been brought up on a Breakaway, after all, but she couldn't see how it was in their interests for the Caruso to get a hold on the Breakaways. If Bodivas, the closest Verdant String planet to Lassa, had known they had cause to intervene, they would have.
Sebastian blew out a breath and gave a curt nod. “Maybe.”
He took the lead, moving beyond the lifts to a narrow door, and shoving it open with his shoulder.
She approved. Using the stairwell in a Cores exec facility was the one sure way to avoid meeting anyone.
She followed him, running lightly down behind him.
He was fitter than she was, faster, and she knew she was in the best shape of her life.
While he could obviously stand to gain some weight, he had honed his body into a weapon.
Perhaps because it was one of the few weapons he had.
Her gaze went to the laz that was tucked into a holster at the small of his back. It was at least a decade old, and she didn't think the others in his team had anything better.
Most likely, Zyr and the men and women of the resistance on Garmen had faced similar issues when it came to lack of resources, but they'd had another option. Their access to the secret tunnels of Felicitos had given them the chance to mess with the Cores in other ways, harming them financially by leaking secrets and knowing what deals were going to be made.
It looked like on Lassa, the resistance had had to take a more confrontational approach.
“The first three floors above the atrium are offices.” Sebastian stopped at a door. “This should be the top one of the three. I've never been in this building before today, so I don't know what to expect.”
She nodded. “We can play the 'I'm looking for my father' game if someone stops us.”
He shot her a skeptical look. “Unless someone actually calls Hanran Fattal. Or if this is the floor his office is on.”
She acknowledged that with a nod. “So we play it by ear.”
Because he looked so serious and grim, she couldn't help blowing a kiss at him before she pushed the door open. “It'll be fine. You were good at playing the jealous bodyguard earlier.”
She caught a glimpse of the shock and surprise on his face, and smiled as she stepped into the Cores offices.
It was early evening, and there was no one around.
Except, down the first passageway to her right, she saw a guard.
Sebastian paused beside her, and as he did, a second guard joined the first, their stance professional and alert.
They were guarding something, or some one.
Before they could notice they were being watched, she started down the main passageway. She could hear the low murmur of voices behind a door to her left, but otherwise things were very quiet.
Sebastian caught up to her, walking by her side.
Up head, a man stepped out of an office, talking on his comm.
He turned away from them, walking toward what looked like a bank of transparent lifts that were set on the outside of the building.
It wasn't necessary for them to speak.
Sebastian turned with her into the man's office without so much as a pause, and he closed the door behind them as she went straight for the comm unit.
“Looks like it has interplanetary comms.” She rubbed her hands together in excitement, then slid into the man's abandoned seat.
It took her a few minutes to get out of the internal company system, and then she found Gaudier's Transport's comm platform, and sent a message.
There was no immediate response, and she stood, agitated, and walked to the window, looking out over trees and a smaller building of twisted columns in the distance. Directly below her was what looked like a park and a meandering path.
“Dee?”
The voice that came from the screen was Leo's, and she raced back to the desk, and gestured to Sebastian to join her.
“Leo!” She sank into her chair in relief. “Everyone's all right?”
“Everyone's all right, except for worrying about you.”
Dee sensed Sebastian come up behind her, and Leo narrowed his eyes as he looked over her shoulder.
“What's happening, Dee?”
“I'm on Lassa. And things are bad here, Leo. The Caruso are here, hiding with the help of the Cores, just like on Garmen.”
“And your friend?” Leo's gaze was focused beyond her shoulder, on Sebastian.
She turned to him, lifting her brows in a silent question on how many of his secrets she could reveal.
She saw his eyes widened in surprise.
He hadn't expected her to keep his secrets with Leo.
“I'll let him tell you himself,” she said, and moved to one side.
“I'm Sebastian Xian. The leader of the Lassian Resistance.”
Dee crossed her arms under her breasts and gave a quirk of her lips. She knew it. She'd guessed he was high up in the leadership structure.
“And how did one of my most senior employees end up with you?” Leo kept his voice neutral.
“She was hiding from the Caruso on a pleasure cruiser, and we mistook her for Rina Fattal, the owner of the ship.” Sebastian lifted his shoulders in a calm shrug.
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“I don't have to answer your questions.”
Dee stared at Sebastian in astonishment. There was a real edge to his voice. A tone of dislike that surely wasn't warranted.
He didn't even know Leo.
She shot him an incredulous look. “Listen, Leo, they're desperate down here. The Cores have taken back all the businesses, cut most of the gen-pop off from access to food and resources. People are starving, they have nothing left, and the Caruso are landing, calm as you please, at the Cores hover base. Because I was hiding in the Lassian pleasure cruiser, the Lassian resistance took me for Rina Fattal, the daughter of a top Cores exec. They were planning to hold her for ransom. While I was explaining I wasn't Rina Fattal, the Caruso arrived, clamped the cruiser to their warship, and towed us to Lassa under orders from Rina Fattal's father. The Caruso think I'm Rina Fattal, too. So before I have to meet face-to-face with Hanran Fattal, her father, I have to get out of here. Sebastian is helping me. I just wanted to get hold of you, and ask you to send the VSC here. The Caruso are going to take over, and there won't be an easy way to blast them into space like you did on Felicitos.”
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