The Game of Luck

by Catherine Cerveny

  At the coffee shop, Brody bought me the promised coffee and Feodor sniffed the interesting smells around us while my two chain-breakers flanked us and put the shop patrons on edge. Then we were back out on the sidewalk in the park, organizing our thoughts.

  Brody decided to fracture the silence first.

  “You’re wondering why I said what I did about the shadow nexus-nodes, aren’t you?”

  “I’m wondering about a lot of things from the meeting,” I said, hedging.

  He stopped, forcing me to do the same. Our eyes met over the rim of his cup. “What’s Alexei up to?”

  I took a defensive step back, nearly tripping over Feodor’s leash. “What do you mean?”

  “The Consortium’s been using shadow nexus-nodes for ages. I know all about the internal network, how it piggybacks on the CN-net, and how Alexei exploits loopholes in the coding to make whatever changes he wants. No matter how much I tighten security, I can’t lock him out without exposing Consortium secrets. The only reason a drone surge of that magnitude occurred was because he’s done something. Unfortunately, I can’t find any proof.”

  My heart started to pound hard in my chest. “If you don’t have proof, how can you say he’s involved?”

  “We’re talking about Alexei Petriv. He’s one of the few people alive with the skills to pull off something like this. I’ll find the proof.”

  “This sounds like a personal vendetta,” I said. “Don’t tell me you still have an ax to grind.”

  Brody’s voice dropped to a low hiss. “This isn’t a vendetta. It’s justice. We both know if anyone deserves to be in a Phobos holding cell, it’s him.”

  When he stepped in too close, a chain-breaker moved between us. The other was at my back, ready to whisk me to safety, making me feel claustrophobic sandwiched between them. Feodor started growling, spurred on by the action.

  “I’m not going to lay a hand on her,” Brody said in flawless Russian, sounding disgusted. To me, “Felicia, call off the dogs. Do you honestly think I’d attack you?”

  “No, but you need to dial it down a notch,” I said, answering in my not-quite-as-perfect Russian. To the chain-breakers I said “I’m fine” until they backed off. Feodor got a warning to settle down and would have gotten a time-out too if we’d been at home.

  After a tense moment, I eased out from between the chain-breakers. I moved slowly, as if any sudden movement would startle everyone into a brawling free-for-all. Brody gave a heavy sigh and ran a distracted hand through his hair. He took a sip of his coffee, stared up at the trees for a bit, then gave another heavy sigh.

  In a voice that started out calmer but ended up devolving into frustration and impatience, he said, “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take this out on you. You know I care about you and I’d never want to hurt you, but there’s no way you can rationalize his actions. You have to realize you’re married to a monster.”

  “I get that you don’t like him, but he’s not the person you think he is.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. I know exactly who he is. If things had turned out differently, I would have been him. I know what he’d do to hold on to what he has because I’ve thought about doing the same things myself. And believe me, none of those things are pretty. In fact, they’re all fucking terrible.

  “So I’m asking you: Give me one good reason why he should be handed a free pass that lets him get away with something like this. Twenty thousand people, Felicia! Those people had hopes and dreams and families. Their lives meant something and he crushed them like they meant nothing. Maybe the Consortium should be stopped. Maybe it’s the only way to keep the tri-system intact.”

  I wished I could deny it, but Brody was right. Alexei would crush something if it was in his path and he saw no other way around it. But he was redeemable too, and I knew he wanted to change. In any case, this wasn’t his mess. It was mine.

  Brody pressed on. “If everyone else is too afraid to do anything, then maybe I have to step up. I have no problem being the one to take down Alexei Petriv. If I have to end the Consortium to protect the tri-system, I’m sorry, Felicia, but that’s what I’m going to do.”

  11

  I choked on my coffee as it went down the wrong way and flew into a fit of coughing. Nothing like hearing your ex-boyfriend threaten to kill your husband to make you forget such basics as proper swallowing. Brody looked at me in alarm, catching my coffee cup when I almost dropped it.

  “Felicia, are you okay? Say something!”

  Another bout of coughing as I fought to clear my airway. Brody hustled me to a nearby bench. When I caught my breath and the coughing eased, I smacked Brody, hitting him hard on the thigh with the palm of my hand. Damn it, the man was being an idiot.

  “You’re not taking down Alexei,” I croaked out between coughs. “This has nothing to do with him. It’s my fault. If it wasn’t for Alexei, I would have been caught in the reboot with everyone else. I’d be dead right now.”

  A long tense moment followed. Brody studied me with a hard, assessing gaze. “Explain,” he said. The word was just shy of an order. I bristled at that.

  “Where’s my dog?” I demanded instead, looking around for Feodor. “If he ran away while I was choking to death, I’ll never forgive you.”

  The much put-upon Russian spaniel was produced by one of the chain-breakers and plopped on the bench beside me. Only once I ran my fingers through his silky black-and-white fur did the tension ease. Brody watched me a few minutes before shaking his head.

  “Felicia, answer me. Explain what happened.”

  I took a sip of coffee, my throat feeling raw as I swallowed. “The other sol, Celeste told me Grandmother wanted to talk to me.”

  “Grandmother? You mean Suzette? But you don’t get along with her. If I recall properly, you said, ‘That old bat is dead to me. I wouldn’t ask for her help if the end of the world was happening and hers was the only safe house left on the planet.’”

  Huh. Well, at least I was consistent in my dislike. “We still don’t get along, but she needed my help, and you don’t turn your back on family.”

  I told him about our shim, the Nine of Swords, the missing family members, including my father, and the trip to the CN-net with Alexei that went so horribly wrong. Brody listened while sipping his coffee, asking a question here and there. I had no idea how long we’d sat in the park but suspected we’d stayed well past the thirty minutes I’d allotted.

  “Are you sure this involves the luck gene?”

  “I don’t have proof yet, but I feel it in my gut. Konstantin Belikov warned me that someone would find out and come after me. Now that the time is here, I don’t know what to do. I’m in the perfect position to protect my family, but I did nothing. I don’t even know how many people are aware of my mother’s research. Maybe someone wants to restart her cloning project.”

  “There are only so many people in the tri-system who have the resources needed for that level of research.”

  “That’s what scares me. If my family was taken by someone after the luck gene, it was a powerful someone.”

  “But it also makes the suspect pool smaller,” he pointed out.

  I nodded. “I’m just afraid my father’s dead. I’m afraid they’re all dead, and more will go missing. What if they go after my grandmother, or Lotus, or Celeste? There are so many babies now too. What if the babies go missing?”

  “Or what if they decide to go after the grand prize?”

  I frowned, not following. “Meaning what?”

  “What if they decide to go after you?”

  I gestured to my chain-breaker security detail. “I’m the most secure one of all.”

  “Which also makes you the biggest target. I don’t want to overstate the obvious, but you’re the granddaughter of One Gov’s Under-Secretary and married to the leader of the Tsarist Consortium. You went from being a Tarot card reader on Night Alley in Nairobi to one of the best connected, most influential people in the tri-system.
If anyone looks like they have luck going for them, it’s you—at least on the surface. You’re the one they’ll want, and if Alexei hasn’t already come to that same conclusion, he will shortly.”

  I swallowed, because my throat had gone dry. He was right; on the surface, that was exactly how it looked. “He knows he can’t put me in a cage, claiming it’s to protect me.”

  “Doesn’t stop him from trying though, does it?”

  “No. It doesn’t.”

  We sat for a few minutes more. Brody looked thoughtful. I tried thinking deep, meaningful thoughts while petting Feodor—until I noticed the growing pile of dog hair on my lap. Russian spaniels didn’t need the same amount of grooming other spaniel breeds did, but it looked like Feodor was overdue for a trip to the groomer.

  “If I turn up anything connecting you and Alexei to the drone surge, I’ll wipe it from the record,” Brody said eventually.

  “I thought you wanted to take down Alexei and protect the tri-system from the Consortium.”

  He sent me a penetrating look. “I don’t want you or your family hurt. If something happened to you because I was being a vindictive asshole, I’d never forgive myself. And I’m saying that because we’re friends. Friends letting friends get kidnapped is a shit thing to do.”

  I laughed. “Thanks, Brody. I appreciate it. I’m lucky to have you in my life.”

  “Yes, you are,” he agreed, rising and helping me to my feet. “After everything that’s happened between us, the fact we can talk to each other, be in the same room at the same time, and even work together is a miracle. If that’s not luck working for you, I don’t know what it is.”

  “Maybe I’m just a nice, friendly person who gets along well with others,” I said, annoyed and maybe the tiniest bit amused.

  He laughed and chucked me gently under the chin with his fist before we headed back to work. “Nobody’s that nice, kiddo.”

  * * *

  I spent the rest of the sol laying Tarot card spreads, trying to predict what the outcome might be from One Gov’s announcement regarding the drone surge and CN-net reboot. The cards were reluctant to cooperate. People were upset, lives irrevocably changed. Growing dissatisfaction with One Gov’s policies swelled throughout the tri-system. People were sick of the rules, the restrictions, the sense they were being lied to. When the Dark Times were fresh in everyone’s minds and no one knew if humanity would survive the global disasters ravaging Earth, One Gov had saved them from extinction. Now the threat had passed and people wondered if One Gov was still relevant. Secretary Arkell wanted a quick answer that the tri-system could swallow with little fuss and that would make the reboot go away, but I couldn’t give him one. No Tarot card spread could fix this no matter how many times I shuffled the deck.

  When Felipe stopped by midafternoon wanting answers, I looked at him in defeat while massaging my wrists.

  “I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” I admitted. “There’s no good way to spin what happened. All I see is bad news, regardless of how I try to slant the questions. There’s no easy way to bounce back from this. I’m sorry.”

  He gave an expressive sigh that spoke volumes. Then he sat on the corner of my desk and looked over the spreads I’d laid. “I can’t say I’m surprised. None of this is your fault, so don’t feel you need to apologize. If anything, the fault is mine for failing to understand which way the wind was blowing. I’d hoped to announce the proposed changes to Venus and the Shared Hope program in a few weeks. I’d expected One Gov approval ratings to soar. Now, any announcements will appear to be a reaction to the reboot and the drone surge. They won’t get the attention they deserve, and the incidents will forever be linked in the tri-system’s awareness.”

  “Don’t tell me everything will be scrapped,” I protested. “So much good can come from those changes.”

  “Not scrapped, but delayed. We’ll need to work more quietly than I would have liked. Politics is a tricky business. It’s not a career path I’d recommend for the faint of heart, regardless of what a Career Design program advises.”

  “Then why involve me?”

  “Because I’m selfish and like seeing you on a daily basis. And when the time comes, I’m hoping to lure you back to Earth.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You do realize I’d need to check with my husband, right? He seems to like it here. So do I.”

  “Allow me to indulge in my fantasies a little while longer. I’m imagining a family picnic at the beach. Brazil has many beautiful properties reclaimed from the Atlantic, in case you’re curious.”

  “Will you and Alexei be grilling meat together while Tanith and I compare potato salad recipes? Not likely.”

  There he laughed out loud, once again reminding me why he had multiple mistresses—they couldn’t help but be charmed by him. I suspected he still charmed Tanith too, which was why she put up with the other women. Then again, their marriage stumped me. Maybe it explained why Monique had turned out the way she had, and why her relationship with my father had been so twisted. None of them were stellar examples on which to model my life with Alexei. Hell, if I wanted role models, I was better off watching Celeste and her husband.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with anything to help clarify the reboot. What will you tell Secretary Arkell?” I asked as I gathered up my cards. I debated on whether to come clean regarding my and Alexei’s involvement in the drone surge and shut down that idea. I’d already told Brody. One confession was enough.

  “Don’t worry. I already have a standard answer for situations like this. It will be fine. I just wanted you to know there will be delays with Venus. I still want you to work with your new team, but I may not be able to provide the support I initially wanted. I’ll send you an outline of my plan, and we’ll go from there.”

  I nodded and slid the deck of cards into a desk drawer. “Okay. I’m excited to get started, but I know this takes priority.” I hesitated before I closed the drawer. “Since you’re here, did you want a Tarot reading? We have some time before the next meeting and I’ve never done one for you yet.”

  Felipe looked dubiously at the cards. It was the first time I’d seen him at a loss. “Would you think less of me if I admitted to being a coward? I’m afraid what your cards might show me.”

  That startled me. I would have thought someone in his position would be curious to know what the future held. Then again, he wasn’t the first person I’d met who felt that way. In my shop back on Earth, there’d been the occasional customer who backed out at the last minute, spooked by the cards.

  I closed the drawer. “If you don’t want to know, I won’t tell you. And no, I would never think less of you.”

  “I’m ashamed to say, I’m afraid the sins of the past might come back to haunt me. I’d rather be surprised by my future than worry what might come to pass.” In a thoughtful tone, he asked, “Do you read the cards for Alexei?”

  “He doesn’t ask, but yes, I do. I keep the answers to myself unless I think the information is crucial. He’s interested, but he doesn’t want me to feel like he’s taking advantage. So, we pretend I’m not reading his cards even though we both know that I am.”

  Felipe grinned. “Then let’s do that. Give me the highlights, but just the good ones. I only want to hear the positive things.”

  I laughed. How could I not—even as everything around me turned to shit. “Sure, I can do that.”

  His grin faded, and he got that faraway look that said he’d answered a ping via the CN-net. He sighed and for a moment looked exhausted. I fought not to squirm in my seat, consumed with guilt.

  “The meeting is canceled,” he said, recovering. “Or rather, Rhys has changed it to discuss planning strategy regarding a tri-system CN-net broadcast we’d set for later today. It appears all our resources will be directed on fighting this latest fire. You may as well go home. This doesn’t involve you and nothing else will be happening here today.”

  “Far be it from me to disobey my boss,” I said, pushing
my chair back from my desk and standing up. “We’ll start fresh again tomorrow.”

  “Excellent idea.” A pause, then, “Tanith wants to confirm you’re still meeting for lunch on Venusol, nexus-node seventy-five.”

  Venusol. That was this Saturday, going by the Earth days of the week. I had a standing lunch date with Tanith on the fourth Venusol of every month, although the nexus-node locations always changed. I couldn’t remember where seventy-five went. I’d have to check so I could dress accordingly. Tanith terrified me, but she was my grandmother and seemed determined we get to know each other. The lunches were always formal, polite, and filled me with dread.

  “Why doesn’t she ever contact me herself?” I complained.

  He looked amused and shrugged in a nonchalant manner. “My wife plots obsessively, so she’s always been difficult to read. She prefers the roundabout way, even when the direct approach might serve her better. In this case, I think she’s afraid of repeating the errors we made with Monique.”

  That made me frown. Nice to know I was being compared to that psychopath. “I’m not like my mother.”

  “No, you’re not. All I can say is to give her time. Why don’t you offer to read her cards? That would intrigue her.”

  “I would but I don’t have the same ability with the Tarot when I’m on the CN-net. Frankly, my avatar is a crap card reader. And even if I could, she might think it gave me an unfair insight into her character.”

  “But I suspect you’ve already done it.” He made the words a statement, not a question.

  I shrugged, copying his nonchalance. “Once or twice.”