Her short red tank top left her midsection bare. Dark, UV-protective pants hung low on her waist and clung to her curves.
“Jacket’s clean, Boss,” Cruncher informed him.
Kayla put her hands on her hips. “Are we done now?”
Carl grinned slyly and walked over to her. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. Kayla gasped in surprise.
Veridian made a lunge for Carl, but Cruncher grabbed him and held him back.
Carl leaned down and whispered into Kayla’s ear, “You can either hand over what you’ve taken, or I can go searching for it. The second would suit me fine.”
With a look of disgust, she pushed against his chest. He grinned and took a step back as she reached into her shirt to pull out the necklace. She tossed it to him. “Take it. It’s not worth having your hands on me.”
Carl caught the necklace and held it up to admire it. “I’m impressed, Kayla. You were down there for how long? Twenty minutes?”
“Twelve,” she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
He lowered the necklace and rubbed his chin in thought. “I have a proposition.”
“Forget it,” Veridian interrupted. “We’re not interested in anything you have to offer.”
Carl ignored Veridian and kept his focus solely on Kayla. He held out the necklace to her. “You gave this up way too easily. I doubt this was all you took. But I’ll allow you to keep this and whatever else you smuggled out today as a gesture of goodwill. In exchange, I want a small favor.”
Kayla considered him. Between the necklace, the rest of the jewelry, and the carving, she estimated Leo could probably bring in around two thousand credits. That amount would pay the camp expenses for at least a week and she’d have enough left over to finish fixing their auxiliary cooling system. It was tempting, but her past experiences with traders had taught her to be wary. “What favor?”
“I want a few hours of your time, Kayla. Nothing more. Come to my base tomorrow.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because your talents are wasted on Leo,” Carl said. “He doesn’t have the resources or connections we do. Why waste your time as a ruin rat when there are other possibilities? Let me show you our operation. You can meet some of the crew.”
“So she can scavenge for you, Carl?” Veridian asked coolly. “You traders are all the same. You’ll screw over anyone and everything so long as it benefits your bottom line. Kayla’s part of our family. She can’t be bought.”
Carl spared the briefest glance at Veridian. “I appreciate the fact that your friend is trying to look out for you. Feel free to bring him along if it makes you more comfortable. It’s just a few hours of your time, and who knows? We might surprise you. I’m not asking for a commitment, only a chance to show you what we’re about.”
Kayla weighed her limited options. They were outnumbered and outgunned. If she refused and Carl found the jewelry, there was no telling how he’d react. It would be far too easy for her and Veridian to take an “accidental” dive into the ruins without a harness. The other alternative would be to give up the items and walk away empty-handed.
It was a possibility, but she’d already burned up a lot of Leo’s remaining goodwill. If she returned to camp without anything to sell, it wasn’t just her and Veridian who would suffer. The camp only had another two or three days of food supplies left. She had no choice. Leaning forward, she took the offered necklace. “Done. I’ll stop by tomorrow. Send the coordinates to my commlink.”
Veridian’s mouth formed a thin line, but he remained silent. Kayla didn’t miss the disapproving look on his face before he turned away to finish packing up their equipment. She quelled her initial impulse to reassure him she knew what she was doing. Instead, she focused on keeping her head in the game as long as Carl and his crew were still around. Traders would pounce on any sign of weakness.
Cruncher winked at Kayla as he handed her jacket back to her. “Notorious ruin rat considering going legit?”
She gave him a smug smile as she slipped her jacket on and stuffed the necklace into her pocket. “Hardly. But I’ve never been one to turn a blind eye to a profitable deal. A few hours of my time to get the grand tour and I keep my loot. It’s not my problem if your boss has a brain that fits in a gnat’s ass and still has room to rattle.”
Carl raised his eyebrows while Cruncher let out a loud laugh. “How much are you walking away with, Kayla?”
Kayla smiled cryptically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I believe we might have some items we need to get prices on. I’ll see about bringing them with me tomorrow. Oh, and stay off our channels, Carl,” she warned as she recalled his earlier mention of intercepting their transmission. “Or you may end up hearing things you don’t like. I’d hate for your delicate trader ears to be forever scarred.”
Carl chuckled. “I doubt there’s much you could say that I haven’t heard before.”
“You might be surprised,” Kayla muttered. She picked up her helmet and walked over to her speeder. The other men followed her example and mounted their bikes.
Veridian hit the button to disengage the UV guard attached to his bike. A loud beep signaled the one-minute warning. Kayla put on her helmet and activated her bike.
Carl and his crew waited on their speeders, making it clear they didn’t trust her and Veridian to leave the scavenge site without their presence. She couldn’t help but smile at their lack of trust. It went both ways. Veridian held up his hand to let her know he was ready.
With a nod, she threw the bike into gear and took off over the desolate landscape. The war that had occurred over one hundred and fifty years ago had left much of the world a wasteland. Ruined buildings crumbled over onto themselves. Once lush areas had become barren.
Biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons had taken their toll, and a large portion of the planet was rendered uninhabitable. People lived differently in some places, either in areas less hard-hit or locked up in shelters that had been outfitted in preparation for the attacks.
Twin white towers stood in the distance, a constant reminder of the changes. A company called OmniLab had built them before the war. Kayla wasn’t sure how they’d managed to stay intact when much of the surrounding area was a wasteland. All she knew was based on what little information they’d found over the years and stories told by other ruin rats. Even the traders were tight-lipped when it came to the towers. Supposedly, entry into the fully self-sustaining towers had been permitted to several thousand individuals who met specific criteria, but if the rumors were true, the price tag for entry had been steep.
But even those self-sustaining towers had their weaknesses. The inhabitants craved the lost memorabilia that had once been commonplace in their society. These relics were considered luxury items, and people like Carl were appointed by OmniLab to obtain artifacts from the ruins. In exchange for the items, traders provided necessary equipment, food, and other supplies critical for survival outside of the towers. If it weren’t for this bartering system, Kayla wasn’t sure how long her camp could continue to exist. Everything on her person right now—from her commlink to her clothing—was purchased with the artifacts they’d scavenged in the ruins.
The Omnis, as they were called, had little to do with the outsiders. Carl and a few others were the only ones permitted to trade directly with the elusive Omnis. This trading relationship granted them exclusive rights to certain ruined areas. Only once the traders abandoned an area were the ruin rats permitted to scavenge and sell any additional findings to the traders. If a ruin rat scavenged in an area actively controlled by an Omni trader, the trader could essentially blacklist them from selling their findings. More than one ruin rat camp had disbanded or died out from being blacklisted. The threat of blacklisting was every ruin rat’s bogeyman.
Leo and other ruin rats had tried to approach the Omnis directly over the years, but they refused to acknowledge them. As a result, the ruin rat camps w
ere forced to work with an intermediary, usually Carl or another trader named Henkel. These traders usually took a cut off the top for negotiating with the Omnis, which could be significant depending on the item.
Leo was going to be furious when he found out about the incident with Carl. He was already ticked off that they’d been in a different sector, but Kayla knew he’d fly through the roof when he found out Carl had caught them.
Needing a distraction, she shifted into a higher gear and felt a slight thrill as the bike tore across the landscape. Veridian’s voice came over her headset. “Are you trying to kill us? Slow it down a bit before you fry another solar cell.”
With a disappointed sigh, she downshifted. Veridian was right. Her bike was going to need another overhaul soon. The tires were both growing worn, and a few of the solar cells weren’t working as well. Besides, they were approaching their base and she didn’t need to set Leo off any more than she already had.
As they pulled up, Kayla slowed the speeder until it came to a stop. She shut off the engine and went over to Veridian’s bike to help him unload the gear. They carried the equipment into the temporary base they’d set up a few weeks earlier.
Their lifestyle required them to move around periodically to locate new areas to scavenge. Usually, they stayed in a place for several months or even a year before they needed to move. The farther they were able to travel, the more they were able to scavenge without interference from the OmniLab traders, but they wouldn’t be able to trade for supplies as often. It was a delicate balance.
Kayla pulled off her helmet as Leo approached them. He was a tall, thin, balding man in his early forties and had been leading the camp for the past ten years. He was cantankerous, and his mouth seemed to be permanently fixed in a frown. The years hadn’t been kind to him, but Kayla supposed he hadn’t been kind to them either. He wasn’t a bad man. They just had different styles, and Kayla preferred her independence.
“Where the hell do you two get off scavenging in an unmapped sector? If you know Carl’s crew is headed to the planned sector, you pull out and contact me. You don’t just decide to do whatever the hell you want.”
She shrugged off her jacket, reminding herself Leo’s tirade was only temporary. Once he got a good look at their daily take, he’d be salivating. “Maybe you should wait to see what we found before jumping down our throats.”
Veridian put down a box of equipment with more force than necessary.
“You mean, what Carl let us keep,” he reminded her.
Kayla elbowed Veridian in the ribs, earning her a grunt in response. Leo looked back and forth between them. “What do you mean? Did something happen with Carl?”
She didn’t bother to reply. Instead, she pulled out her frequency detector, unscrewed the base, and dumped the contents onto a nearby table. Leo’s eyes widened at the sight of the jewelry and the carving.
“Mmmm,” he murmured as he examined some of the pieces more closely. “These are excellent.”
Pleased with his praise, she pulled the ruby necklace from her pocket and put it on the table with the rest of the jewelry. Leo frowned when he realized she had kept that piece separate from the stash.
“Why the diversion piece? What happened?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Carl showed up. But the situation was handled.”
“Handled how? Dammit, we can’t afford any problems with him.”
Veridian folded his arms across his chest. “He’s trying to recruit her. She agreed to meet him at his base tomorrow to hear his offer in exchange for keeping what she scavenged today.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed on her.
“What’s the harm?” Kayla asked with a shrug, feigning nonchalance. “I go, pretend to listen, nod my head at the right times, and leave. I think we ended up ahead in this arrangement.”
Leo threw up his hands. “What’s the harm? Everything! Kayla, you know how these traders work. They’ll screw over every single one of us to get what they want. We’re trash to them. I don’t like it, and I don’t trust him.”
“I don’t either, but I already agreed to meet with him. Do you want me to break a deal with a trader?” Kayla gestured toward the back of the camp. “The auxiliary cooler is shot and needs to be repaired. If our main one goes down, we’re in trouble. Our food supply is low, and Mack said one of the computers crapped out again. You’re down one scavenger already from Johnny’s accident last week. We need the credits and you know it.”
“Fine,” Leo relented with a scowl. “At least take Veridian with you. Hopefully, he can keep you out of trouble.”
“That’ll be a first,” Veridian muttered, staring up at the ceiling as though seeking divine intervention.
Kayla gave him a playful shove. “I was planning on taking V anyway. But this visit isn’t anything to worry about. I can handle Carl. I’m more concerned he’s somehow managed to put a sniffer on our communication system.”
Leo scratched his head. “I thought you said your comms were clean.”
“Mine are,” Kayla insisted. “I can’t say the same for yours though. He keeps showing up in places he shouldn’t. No one’s luck is that good. I’m heading to the tech room now to run a scan.”
Leo grunted an affirmative answer and turned back to fully inventory the items Kayla had scavenged. She smiled inwardly at his eagerness. One crisis averted. Motioning to Veridian, the two of them headed back toward the tech room.
The tech room was a small room filled with computers, both working and non-working. Machines disassembled for parts were pushed up against the walls. Kayla pulled up a crate to use as a makeshift chair and took a seat in front of the communication system’s interface.
Veridian stood over her shoulder while she started the system scan. “Kristin ran a scan yesterday after she adjusted the antenna on the roof. She didn’t notice anything unusual.”
Kayla didn’t look away from the data flashing on the screen in front of her. “She would have only checked the transmission range for our commlinks and done some basic maintenance. She probably wouldn’t have thought to look for a sniffer.”
Veridian leaned forward to study the screen. “How could Carl have gotten one on this system? We have it locked down pretty tight. He would have had to manually install something.”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted, tapping in a few commands. A new set of data appeared on the screen. She scrolled through it, trying to find anything out of the ordinary.
“Wait a second!” Kayla grabbed Veridian’s arm and pulled him down next to her. “Here we go. Gotcha, you bastard. Sneaky son of a bitch.”
“You found something?”
Kayla nodded, drumming her fingers on the side console. “I think so. Some of these readings don’t add up. I may have to rethink my earlier assessment of him. The guy is an absolute genius, or he’s got geniuses working with him.”
She pointed at the screen. “Check it out. You were right. This couldn’t have been done remotely. We would have picked up on it otherwise. That jerk managed to get one of his crew close enough to our physical system to install this. From the look of it, he’s been monitoring Leo’s comm system for weeks. I’m betting they did it during one of their deliveries. No wonder Cruncher’s been so helpful lately.”
Veridian swore. “Can you remove it from here?”
“I don’t think I want to remove it,” she said with a wicked smile. “I think we should leave it alone, with one little exception. I’m going to reroute the sniffer to link with another file.”
Veridian cocked his head. “What file?”
Kayla’s eyes glinted mischievously. “If they want to eavesdrop on our comms, we’ll give them something to listen to. Remember that clip we snagged last week of Leo singing?”
Veridian laughed and bumped fists with her. “Brilliant. If that doesn’t get them to stop listening to our comms, there’s not much hope.”
She grinned and fell silent for a few minutes while she finished redirecting the file. It
was a start, but they needed to be more proactive. Kayla turned back to him. “I have another idea, if you’re up for it.”
He eyed her warily and ran his hand through his hair, a nervous trait he seemed to use when he was worried. “Uh oh. I know that look. This isn’t going to be good, is it?”
“I want to turn his idea back on him,” Kayla began. “If we put together a bug or two to plant in Carl’s base tomorrow, we could get a jump on him and know which areas to avoid.”
Veridian frowned. “That’s pretty risky. You got lucky today, but it won’t go well if he catches us.”
“Then we won’t get caught,” she declared, standing up to sort through some of the boxes of old equipment. “I think we have what we need to put something together. I’ll need your help though. You’re better at building devices than me.”
Veridian hesitated for a moment, as though debating whether she would go through with it even if he refused. He finally shrugged in resignation. “Fine, I’ll help. But planting a bug in his base is going to be difficult. He’ll probably suspect something like this.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure Carl will be watching me most of the time. He doesn’t trust me. I doubt he’ll be expecting you to do anything though. You’ve got that wholesome, innocent thing going on,” she explained, pulling out an old circuit board and inspecting it for damage. “I’ll distract him while you plant a bug near his communications room. If I get a chance, I’ll plant another one in his office. Even if we only get one planted, that’s better than nothing.”
Veridian picked up the soldering gun and magnification goggles. He pulled the goggles over his eyes and took the circuit board from her. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Kayla grinned. “What’s life without a little excitement?”
* * *
I hope you enjoyed this sample! Beneath the Fallen City (The Omni Towers Series, Book #1), is available now!
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Ruins of Fate Page 17