by R. M. Olson
“I don’t want to stay here, Mama,” Olya whispered. “I want to come with you.”
Ysbel stooped to one knee and put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “My Olya,” she whispered. “I need you to do this for me. I need you to watch your brother and keep him safe, alright? I’m doing what you asked, but I need you to do this for me.”
Olya nodded, her face pale.
The rest of the ex-convicts had gathered, and Tanya was talking quietly with the girl named Anya. She nodded, and then Ysbel pushed the children gently towards her. Olya grabbed her brother’s hand tightly, and, with one last look over her shoulder at Ysbel, went.
Lev must have been explaining the situation to the others, because there were nods and the muffled sound of whispered conversation.
“Jez? You’re hurt. Can you do this?”
She turned quickly. Galina had come up beside her, a bundle of server uniforms in her arms.
“Yeah,” Jez said with a grin. “If I let crap like this stop me, figure I’d never get anything done.”
Galina gave her a fond, concerned look.
“Hey you two, you can make out after we kidnap the mafia boss,” Radic whispered in an amused voice. “Come on, get dressed.”
Jez turned to glare at him, and he shoved a server’s uniform at her. “Here’s one that looks just about tall enough and scrawny enough to fit you.”
By the time she’d managed to strip out of her street clothes and into a server’s uniform, swearing steadily and leaning up against the wall for support, the others were already dressed. Tae was averting his face, his expression a blend of annoyance and embarrassment.
“Jez—” he hissed through his teeth.
She grinned at him. “Thought after Dmitri you’d gotten over being such an innocent. Guess Ivan’s got some things to teach you.”
“Jez!”
“Come on, you idiots, we don’t have time to waste.” Ysbel’s voice was amused. “Let’s go.”
“And where exactly do you think you’re going?”
Jez spun, winced, and grabbed for the wall, swearing under her breath.
The lights in the lobby flickered on, and she blinked against the sudden gilt glare. Then she swore again, louder.
Olyessa’s off-duty guards had returned from where the hell they went when they were off-duty. And they’d clearly noticed the bodies draped from the balcony, because they were holding their weapons in a no-nonsense way.
Lev glanced at Masha, then sighed and stepped forward. “Grigory came in with his people. He’s the one who did this. But we intend to take him down.”
The guards looked at him, then at each other. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” one of them asked at last.
“Do you think if we’d killed the guards we would have come back here?” asked Masha calmly. “They’ve been dead for over an hour now. You can send someone to check. If we’d been trying to double-cross Olyessa, we certainly wouldn’t have stayed here.”
The guards looked at each other again, then spoke in low voices for a moment. One of them stepped away from the group and walked towards the stairs. She came down a few minutes later, and the guards conferred in low voices again.
At last, one of them looked up. “We’ll let you go. But we’re coming with you. Perhaps you’re telling the truth, perhaps not. But there are six dead guards here, and Olyessa never really trusted you.” He paused. “And, if you’re going after Grigory, I assume you’d be happy to have more guns on your side.”
Jez narrowed her eyes, but Radic nudged her. “Kid, shut up. Unless you want to get us all killed.”
Lev and Masha exchanged glances. At last, slowly, Lev nodded.
“Alright. You can come along. But if you want to come and you want any of us to stay alive, you follow my instructions. If you can’t do that, you may as well shoot us here.”
Again, the guards conferred.
“Alright,” the same guard said, at last. “As long as what you’re doing doesn’t hurt Olyessa, we’ll follow your lead.”
Lev and Masha exchanged glances again.
“I don’t like this,” said Tae in a low voice, his tone strained.
“Nor do I,” said Lev wryly. “But it looks like we don’t have many options. I don’t think we’re shooting our way out of this, not without getting our people killed, and I’m not sure we want to get on Olyessa’s bad side right now.”
“I agree with Lev,” said Masha. “I don’t see that we have a better option.”
Reluctantly, Tae nodded.
Lev took a deep breath and turned back to the guards. “Very well. We accept your help. Now—” he gestured to the pile of server uniforms. “I suggest you get dressed quickly. We’ll have to move fast.”
They left their skybikes at the outskirts of the pleasure district. Jez’s gut clenched in a familiar sick feeling as she stepped onto the filthy, darkened streets, but honestly, she didn’t really have time to think about that right now.
Get Grigory, save Tae’s friends. Then they could worry about the rest of this crap.
The walk to the Strani House was only a few minutes, but the bruises along her back were stiffening, and she had to bite back a gasp of pain at every damn step. The guards followed, and maybe their guns were in their pockets, but Jez was pretty damn sure they were still pointing at her crew.
Still, as long as they weren’t shooting, she couldn’t complain too much.
The streets were as busy as always, and the doors to the low, elegant shapes of the pleasure houses, with their garish, flashing lights, swung open and closed as groups of people wandered in and out.
Jez fought back a shudder.
Galina was in the lead, and she beckoned them down a side-street and into a back alley.
“The servers entrance is through here,” she whispered. “Stay behind me and let me do the talking.”
Jez could see the tension in her body, and she bit her lip.
Galya hadn’t had to do this. She wasn’t on Grigory’s hit list, never had been. And Jez knew what it was like to stand in front of something or someone that had haunted your nightmares, the past you could never really get rid of.
She stepped forward, ignoring the icy shock of pain at the movement, and took Galina’s hand. Galina turned and gave her a wan smile, and something in Jez’s chest twisted, but she managed a smile back.
And then they were there, outside a small, dirty door.
“Tae,” Galina whispered. “Can you get the door open?”
Tae gave a tight nod and stepped forward. He touched his com to the lock, pulling up a quick scan, then shook his wrist to reset the holoscreen and began typing rapidly.
“You OK?” Jez asked, slipping her arm around Galina’s waist. Galina sagged against her for just a moment, and Jez could feel her trembling. She pulled Galina closer.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s going to be OK.”
“I know,” said Galina, her voice barely audible. “It’s—it’s alright. I’m fine.”
Jez turned to her, face serious. “Look, Galya. You don’t have to be fine. We’re going to get in there and get Grigory, or at least try, but there’s nothing about this damn place that’s fine. You don’t have to be alright about it.”
“Just do it anyways, right?” Galina whispered. Jez nodded, and Galina leaned in for a quick kiss.
“Got it,” said Tae, his voice tense.
Galina and Jez drew apart, looking at each other, and then Jez looked back over the rest of them.
She took a deep breath. “Alright then. We ready?”
“Do we … know what we’re doing?” asked Ivan.
“Make it up as we go, I guess,” said Lev, his voice grim.
She grinned at him, ignoring the dread tightening in her stomach. “That, genius, sounds like my kind of plan.”
She took a deep breath as she stepped into the building, fighting down the nausea in her stomach. The entrance was dark, and she blinked, trying to adjust
her eyes to the dimness.
In front of them, a narrow, cramped hallway led off to each side, and a filthy staircase in front of them led down to what must be a basement.
“Where the servers and entertainment are kept when they’re not working,” Galina whispered. Her voice was haunted, and Jez grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“Galya. Let me go first.”
“You don’t know where you’re going,” she said, swallowing hard.
Jez shrugged, and tried to make her voice cocky. “Well, kick me if I take a wrong turn.”
Galina’s face was tight, as if she thought she should protest but didn’t actually want to. Jez gave her a quick wink, stepped past her, and started off down the hallway, trying to hide her damn limp and probably failing badly.
The smell of the place turned her stomach, unwashed bodies and decay and that faint rotting-meat scent she’d smelled in the alley almost turned her stomach, but she clenched her teeth and stepped quietly down the hallway. It turned, and beyond there was light and the sound of voices. She tapped her com.
“Where will Grigory be?”
“I’ll send the specs through to your com,” Lev whispered. “Most of the guest rooms are on the second floor, but there’s a large suite on the floor above. I suspect that’s where he’ll be.”
She smiled grimly. “Going up, then,” she said. “Tech-head, guess you better make sure he’s in there.”
He scowled at her. “What are you going to do?”
She grinned. “Me? Figure I’ll give you a clear stairway to go up.”
“What are you–” began Lev.
“Radic, you coming?” she said.
Radic heaved a long sigh, but he couldn’t hide his grin. “Guess I don’t have much of an option, do I?”
She smirked. “You always have an option. I just happen to know that this is the option you’re always going to pick.”
“Don’t know why I put up with you,” he grumbled.
“Well, I am pretty hot,” she drawled.
Galina’s face was grim. “There are going to be guards before you get to the main lobby. They’ll be armed, and they’ll be ready to shoot anyone who’s making a disturbance. The people that attend here are the richest of the rich, and they don’t come to get shot at.”
Jez gave her a wink. “Sounds like my kind of job.”
Radic pulled out his heat pistol, and she turned for the stairs.
“Jez. Wait.”
She paused at Lev’s voice, and glanced backwards.
“Just—be careful, OK?” His face was tight with concern.
“Always am,” she said.
He took a deep breath, and managed a weak smile.
“Galya—” she began, then stopped.
There wasn’t really anything she could say to make it better. Anyways, Galina’s expression had hardened, and she looked like she was ready to kill someone.
“Good luck,” said Jez finally. Then she took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and stepped through.
It took a moment for anyone to notice them. They were dressed as servers after all, and it wasn't like anyone was looking for two lunatics to come barging through the kitchen, burst into the lobby, lob a smoke bomb into the first floor balcony, and shout, “Everyone out! Damn place is on fire!"
Once they’d done that, though, people noticed them pretty quickly.
The guards started across the floor towards them, and Jez pulled out her modded heat pistol. Her first shot hit one of the artificial lights, and it melted, glowing metal dripping down onto the polished stone floor.
Someone screamed.
Jez grinned, and shot again. This time, one of the hanging wall tapestries caught fire.
More people screamed.
Guards were coming down the stairs two at a time, weapons raised, grim looks on their faces.
"Everyone out!” Radic shouted, his voice panicked.
People shoved past each other to get to the doors, faces terrified, fine clothes disheveled. Doors on the second floor, or at least the ones visible from the lobby, were flung open, and the patrons, some of them still half clothed, piled out almost on top of each other.
Jez tried not to think about the fact that no one in the whole damn house seem to be worried about the servers or the entertainment. But then—
The picture of the kid in the alley flashed in her mind, and she swore softly.
This was a damn pleasure planet. What the hell did she expect?
The guards had almost reached them. She turned and let off another shot, melting a chair. The man who’d just risen from it screamed, beating at the sparks that caught on his trousers and jacket.
From the corner of her eye, Jez could see a rag-tag group of people in servers’ uniforms, scarves pulled low over their faces, slipping up the stairwell, past the flood of humanity trying to push its way down.
A tall man shoved one of them, probably Tae, out of the way, and paused a moment to scream profanities at him, spittle flying from his mouth, his face a mix of outrage and panic. One of the guards turned, glancing in their direction, then, after a moment, started pushing her way through to the stairs.
Damn.
Radic was still shouting at the top of his lungs, although now in the chaos, his voice was almost drowned out by the screams of the patrons and the shout of the guards.
“Going to have to make a little more noise in here," she whispered to him, a tight grin on her face. He nodded, and his grim expression told her he knew exactly what that meant.
But hell. They’d come here to do a job, and if it meant getting shot at by guards, well, it wasn't the first time.
She aimed her heat pistol, and shot a blast that melted a section of the floor directly in front of the guard who’d turned towards Tae. The woman stumbled and cursed, spinning around to find her attacker. Radic shoved Jez out of the way, and she hit the ground hard as a heat blast melted the air over her head.
“Careful kid," he muttered. "Don't want you to get barbecued just yet.”
The guard was coming towards them, heat pistol still raised, but at least she wasn’t looking at Tae and the others anymore.
Jez gritted her teeth against the pain and staggered to her feet. Someone bowled into her, knocking her back, and she swore loudly, grabbing for something to steady herself. Radic caught her arm and set her on her feet again, and she managed a quick grin.
Three more guards were heading in their direction as well.
Jez snapped off one more shot, just to get their attention, and then she shoved Radic forward into the roiling mass of humanity fighting for the exit.
Radick gave her a grim smile over his shoulder. “We have a plan?”
She shrugged. “Out the door, I guess."
“You think we’ll make it?"
She grinned. "Nah. But it's worth a try.”
He glanced back once at the stairs. “Looks like they got through, anyways. I don't see them anymore."
"Well, see, guess we win after all."
One of the guards had shoved his way through the press of bodies, and he reached down and grabbed her by the arm. She slammed the butt of her heat pistol against his wrist, and he grunted in pain, but his grip didn’t loosen. "What the hell are you playing at?" he ground out. "If you think you can come into this house and—”
Clearly, a quick chat wasn’t going to help this situation. She spun her pistol, aiming for his head, but someone grabbed her gun arm, jerking it back painfully, and the gun dropped from her nerveless fingers.
Damn.
Radic had been pushed away from her by the crowd, but he yanked out his own gun, trying to bring it to bear. The guards holding her were too close, though, and if he fired, he'd be just as likely kill her as them.
"Radic!" She shouted. "Get the hell out of here."
“Jez,” he shouted through gritted teeth. “You’ve got to—”
And then someone grabbed him from behind as well, yanking his arms back. He struggled, but it
was no use.
Damn it to hell.
They were both going to die here. She’d guessed that going in, but it was different when you were actually staring into the muzzle of the damn heat-gun that would kill you—
And then the alarms on the guards’ coms began to wail, the ear-splitting noise blaring through the packed lobby. There was a moment of hesitation, then the guards exchanged glances, faces grim. The guard holding Jez shoved her, and she fell, hitting the ground hard.
Around her was a dizzying mass of hurrying feet, and she curled into a ball on instinct to keep from being trampled. Someone stepped on her hand and she bit back a curse, and a foot kicked hard against her bruised back. She gasped in pain, vision going momentarily woozy, and then a hand grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet.
“You OK, kid?” a familiar, worried voice asked in her ear. She staggered, caught her balance, and looked over at Radic.
“What happened? They find the others?” Her voice was tight.
Radic shook his head. “Doesn’t look like it.” He gestured to a corner, where the guards were huddled together, looking both irritated and confused. “I don’t know for sure, but I think Tae happened.”
She felt her shoulders slump in relief.
“So. I guess we head up?” he said.
She glanced around quickly. The lobby was now almost impenetrable, and fights were breaking out where people were trying to get through towards the doors. The tapestry she’d set on fire was still smouldering, and had set its neighbour alight as well, and one of the lights hung crazily from the ceiling.
She raised an eyebrow. “Well, figure we’ve distracted them. Might as well see what’s happening up there.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WHEN TAE PUSHED his way out into the lobby behind Galina, he came to a sudden, involuntary halt.
The Strani house had been turned into a scene of mass chaos, people screaming and shoving, guards cursing, and what looked like a tapestry on fire.
He shook his head for a moment in stunned disbelief.
“If you let that girl do what she’s good at, she’s very good at it,” said Ysbel her voice amused.
“Let’s go,” said Lev. His voice was grim. “We can’t afford to waste this.”