by R. M. Olson
“Jez. Relax,” he said in a low voice. “It’s going to be fine. Masha’s not going to lead us into a trap. Just get in here.”
She took a deep breath.
The guards had called it a guest suite, but she wasn’t a damn idiot. This was a plaguing prison.
Still—
She closed her eyes for half a second, then followed Tae into the room, and tried not to hear the sound of the door locking behind them.
CHAPTER FOUR
LEV STEPPED BACK as the door closed behind the guards, and let Tae step around him.
Peti stood against the wall. Lev bit the inside of his cheek, something tightening in his stomach. Her hood was removed, but the stark fear on her face was still apparent, and Tae walked towards her like he wasn’t sure if he was awake or dreaming.
“Peti?” Tae said at last, reaching out to touch her arm.
For a moment she stood still, posture so stiff she could have been made of stone. Then she collapsed against Tae, shoulders shaking in silent sobs, and Lev realized with a jolt just how young she was—sixteen at the most.
Tae clutched her like he was drowning, tension in every line of his body.
“Peti,” he whispered, voice choked. “Are you alright? Really? Did they hurt you?”
Peti pulled back, blinking hard. “I’m fine,” she said in a low voice. “Caz? The other kids?”
“Safe. All of them,” said Tae. He glanced around quickly at the rest of the room, and Lev followed his gaze.
Ysbel and Tanya were in the centre of the room, the children huddled between them, and Jez had that trapped, reckless look in her eyes that generally meant trouble for everyone, and he almost reached out to put a steadying hand on her arm, then realized what he’d been about to do just in time.
“Well,” said Ysbel at last. “I hope Masha knows what she’s doing.”
Tanya said nothing, but her face was pinched, her expression hard.
“I’m certain she has everything under control,” Lev said, his voice mild. He glanced at Tae as he spoke, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. Tae frowned and gave Lev a quick nod. He pulled Peti over to one of the seats and sat her down, huddling down next to her so their bodies shielded his com. Jez seemed to pick up on what they were doing, because she sauntered over and stood casually in front of them, leaning up against the wall and grinning in that lazy, dangerous way she had.
“Olya,” he said, “are you and Misko hungry? It looks like they have some desserts out on the table.”
She gave him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. Then she said, in her primmest voice, “Yes, uncle Lev, I’d like some desserts, thank you.”
“You and Misko help yourself,” he said. “But please don’t make trouble.”
He couldn’t help but smile to himself as she slipped away from her mothers.
Of course she’d catch on. Leave it to Olya to figure things out quicker than most adults would have.
He glanced over at Tae out of the corner of his eye as Olya spooned a plate of a colourful gelatinous substance onto Misko’s plate.
There are three cameras, Tae tapped out over the com in pilot’s code. Enough bugs that it’s going to be difficult to spoof them all. I need a minute.
Lev moved nonchalantly closer to Tae, and noticed Ysbel and Tanya doing the same.
Behind him, Olya tilted Misko’s plate just a little too far, and something that looked a bit like a rainbow-coloured pile of vomit landed on the expensive carpet.
“Misko,” Olya scolded impatiently, as Misko managed to plant a foot in the centre of the still-jiggling rainbow disaster. He grinned, then tried it again with the other foot.
Tae looked up, his face grim, but triumphant. “Got it,” he said in a low voice. “Camera watching this corner of the room is spoofed, and I got the bugs tied into it so they’ll hear a spliced loop, but fuzzed out so it’ll just sound like a temporary malfunction.”
Lev glanced over and gave Olya a small wink. She grinned at him, sighed dramatically for the camera, and grabbed for her younger brother, who slipped out of reach giggling hysterically and leaving slime-coloured footprints behind him, like a large, two-legged slug.
Lev shook his head slightly.
Olya was the only eight-year-old with whom he’d ever had a close interaction, but he was fairly certain that by the time she hit about fifteen, she’d be ready to run the entire system on her own.
He pulled up a seat as close as he could to Tae and the others. “Peti?” Tanya asked as they sat. “Are you hurt?”
The girl looked at them warily, then back at Tae.
Tae put a hand gently on her arm. “Peti, it’s fine. They’re safe, I promise.”
“I’m alright,” she said at last, in a low voice. “They didn’t hurt me. I thought they would.”
For a moment, looking at the kid, Lev felt his chest tighten slightly.
She’d thought they would. Of course she’d thought they would, he would have thought the same thing in her place. And she’d gone anyways, because it was the only thing she could think of to save her brother and her friends and Misko and Olya.
“But—” she turned back to Tae. “Tae, you have to get out of here. You all have to get out of here now. You have no idea what they’re like. They’re—I learned things about them, Tae. They—I don’t know what your friend is talking to them about, but we have to get out.”
“I know,” said Tae softly, but Lev could hear the steel in his tone.
“What is Masha up to?” asked Tanya softly, and there was an echoing note of steel in her own tone. “I don’t like this at all.”
“I don’t like that she asked us to leave,” said Lev quietly. “I know Masha has her secrets. She’s always had her secrets. But this?”
“I’m not having anything to do with the mafia,” said Tae, his voice tight. “Peti’s right. I know Masha thinks they might have information on how to stop the government’s program, but I have a feeling whatever they want in return is going to be more than any of us want to pay.”
Lev glanced over at Jez. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet.
“Well,” she said at last, “figure the least we can do is wait until that bastard Masha comes back and tells us what she’s up to.”
“If she tells us what she’s up to,” Lev said quietly.
She glared at him. “Listen. Masha keeps her secrets, OK? I get it. But … look, she’s always pulled through so far. Figure it’s worth at least giving her a chance.”
There were a few moments of silence as they looked at each other. There was a tight unease in Lev’s stomach.
He’d always trusted Masha, up until now. Kept an eye on her, yes, but when push came to shove, he trusted her.
But there had been something about the expression on her face when she asked for all of them to be escorted from the room. There was something here he didn’t understand, and he had a feeling that whatever it was was about to become very, very important.
“I don’t know Masha, and I don’t know what you know about the mafia,” said Peti, looking around at the rest of them. There was defiance behind the fear in her expression. “But listen to me. These people are murders. If you get sucked into this—Tae, you’ll never get out.”
Lev glanced around at the others. Ysbel was still wearing her stoic expression, and Tae, Tanya, and Peti all looked concerned.
And for some reason, he couldn’t read Jez’s expression, and that was unaccountably disconcerting.
“Ysbel,” he said quietly. “What happens if they try to keep us here?”
Ysbel gave a small smirk. “Then I suppose we blow up his ship.”
Jez glared at her. “That’s my damn ship you’re talking about too, Ysbel.”
“Well, pilot-girl, I’m pretty sure your ship is safe, because I’m pretty sure that mister Grigory Korzhikov isn’t going to want his ship cracked wide open to deep space.”
Lev sighed. “Has Masha let anything slip to anyone about what she’s planning he
re?”
There was another long moment of silence. Jez looked slightly uncomfortable, and he frowned. “Jez?”
She glared at him. “Listen, genius-boy—”
There was a tap on the door, and they all jumped. “Stand up,” Tae hissed. “Get the chairs back.”
There was a moment of mild chaos as they jumped to their feet and shoved chairs away, and then the lock clicked and the door swung open.
One of Grigory’s guards stood there, and behind him stood Masha, as cool and calm as ever.
“What exactly is going on here?” asked the guard, eyeing the spot on the carpet that now looked like a multicoloured invertebrate had spontaneously exploded, as the children chased each other around the edges of the room, both of them now laughing hysterically as they slipped in the goo that Misko trailed behind him.
“I’m certain whatever it is, they have it under control,” said Masha pleasantly. She stepped past the guard into the room. “Thank you for your assistance. I will call you the moment I need your services.” She smiled at the guard, and the guard gave what looked like an almost-involuntary smile in return, and once again, Lev caught himself wondering how Masha did what she did. Then he stepped out, and Masha closed the door gently behind him, then turned and surveyed the room.
“Well,” she said. “It appears your time was not uneventful.”
“Aunty Masha!” shouted Misko, hurtling across the room towards her. Lev hid a smile as she somehow managed to catch him without getting rainbow-coloured goo smeared across her pilot’s coat.
“Hello Misko. How are you?” She glanced over quickly at Tae, and Lev followed her gaze. Tae tapped, give me two minutes.
“Masha,” said Lev loudly, stepping forwards. “So. It appears that Grigory didn’t actually kill you?”
“No, he thankfully did not,” said Masha calmly, taking a napkin from the table and wiping down Misko’s hands. “However, he did have a rather interesting proposal he presented to me.”
Lev raised his eyebrows.
Why tell them on camera? Why let Grigory know that she intended to brief them?
Masha was playing her game, whatever it was, and he had no idea what the rules were, but the stakes—
He glanced involuntarily back at Jez.
The stakes were a hell of a lot higher than he was willing to risk.
Jez was right—after three and a half months, and more near-death experiences than he really liked to think about, Masha had always come through for them in the end.
He just wished that it wasn’t such a damn gamble every time as to which side she was playing.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said, keeping his tone neutral.
Masha smiled at him, then glanced over at Tae, who was still bent over his com screen.
Tae looked up and nodded, his face tight. I have it back on the spliced loop, he tapped. We can talk over in the corner, like before.
Masha released Misko to wreak havoc with Olya, and the adults brought their chairs back into position. They took their seats, and Masha looked over them.
As usual, Lev could read nothing from her face, but there was an unexpected hardness behind her eyes .
“Grigory’s offer,” Masha said at last, “was that we—or I, at least—join him.”
There was a long moment of absolute silence.
“And I assume you told him where he could put that offer?” grunted Ysbel.
“No,” said Masha simply. “I agreed.”
The silence stretched.
Lev glanced at the others, his heart pounding more quickly. Ysbel looked suspicious. Tanya’s face was set, her mouth pressed into a tight line. Jez frowned warily. And Tae looked like Masha had slapped him in the face.
“Explain,” Lev said quietly.
Masha smiled at him, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course.” She paused a moment. “After our Vitali job and then the prison break, Grigory wanted to propose an alliance. Both the government and the mafia are currently struggling to gain an advantage, and he saw us as an opportunity.”
Tae shifted slightly, as if about to speak, but she held up a hand. “Tae. A moment please. After he made his offer, I explained what has been happening in Prasvishoni. What the government has planned with the Vyernist Protocol. And he and I—discussed ways in which he may be able to assist us.” She paused again for a moment, and Lev found his heart was beating even faster than it had been, from nerves or anticipation or both.
Because he knew Masha.
He didn’t know if he could trust her. He didn’t know how much she was keeping from them. But he was very, very certain that she wanted to solve their problem almost as badly as he did.
And they were going to succeed, somehow, because, like Masha, he didn’t actually care what it would take.
As had happened so often over the past two weeks, a memory flashed in front of his eyes, Jez lying on his lap blinking up at him sleepily, soft smile on her face. Panic spiking through his brain as he grabbed for the com, trying desperately to solve the riddle his old professor had set for him, before the explosive she’d planted in Jez’s neck went off, a soft pop and Jez’s body going limp, her bright, intelligent eyes dimming to a flat, dead sheen, her blood soaking through his clothing and into his skin. He’d woken to nightmares of that imagined sound, over and over and over.
And every damn time, he swore that it would remain a nightmare, that Evka would never, never do that to Jez, or to Tae or Ysbel or Tanya, or to Olya, or Misko, or Tae’s street-kid friends. She’d never threaten someone he loved again, because he’d find a way to stop it, and stop her, and he’d tear down the entire system to do it.
“And he said,” said Masha at last, quietly, “that he could help.”
“How?” asked Lev, in that same cool voice.
“He intends to take back his power in the system government,” she said quietly. “He had planned to invite a select few government officials out to an event that will appear to be a legitimate financial symposium, and woo them over to his side without raising suspicion. He has been severely weakened, more than he wants to admit, by our actions, and this may be his best and possibly last chance to re-establish his connections in government. He’s desperate for it to succeed. And so he’s asking our help to pull it off. My connections in government are what he’s after, specifically, but I believe he’d also welcome your skills at strategy, and Ysbel’s ability to create a threat if necessary. And in return, he’s offered to invite the woman who is in charge of the Vyernist Protocol—the Minister of Innovations and Development—to the symposium as well. And once she arrives, he’s offered to kill her.”
There was another long moment of silence.
Lev’s mind was racing.
Masha wasn’t telling them everything, he wasn’t naive enough to think that for one moment.
But—what she’d described wasn’t a terrible plan, as plans went.
Agree to work with Grigory in pulling off whatever scheme he wanted their help with.
And in return, Grigory would kill the people in charge of the government program to control the system.
It wouldn’t stop the Vyernist Protocol, not permanently, not yet. But it would slow it down, give them time. He knew how this government worked—take out the person with knowledge of how to deal with the program, and there would be months of paperwork and infighting as the Central Committee and Counsel of Ministers tried to decide on who would replace her. And then, once she was finally replaced, it would be even more time before the replacement would be able to get all the people who’d worked on the program to trust them enough to give them the information they needed, and then the paperwork, and then getting the program up and running—it could give them months. And by then he’d have found a solution, one way or another.
“Lev?” asked Ysbel finally. “Would that work?”
He looked at her for a moment.
Once upon a time, perhaps, he might have believed he wasn’t the kind of person who’
d work with a man like Grigory.
But—well, but two and a half weeks ago, he’d stood in the basement of a government building, rigged to explode. Full of people—some who’d tried to kill them, yes, but more, many more, who were just doing their jobs, trying to make enough credits to feed themselves or their families for the month.
Lev had been willing to let them die. Tae had tried to evacuate the building, and Lev had stopped him.
Circumstances had intervened, of course, and the building was evacuated before it exploded. But in that moment, Lev had realized he was much, much more like his former mentor Evka than he’d ever imagined.
And perhaps, after all, that was precisely what was needed.
He gave her a faint smile. “Yes, Ysbel. That would be effective.” He turned back to Masha. “Masha. Tell him we’ll need to kill the Minister’s two assistants as well.”
Masha nodded, still watching him. “And if I did that, and he agreed?” she asked at last.
“Then I would agree to his proposal,” said Lev quietly.
Jez, laying on his lap, her blood soaking his clothing and the couch and spattered across the floor in a faint mist, her restless, wiry form still, her eyes open and sightless.
He’d burn the damn system down if that’s what it took to stop Evka.
Tae stared at Lev, ice coating his chest.
Lev wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at Masha, and there was that faint smile on his face that Tae had seen there only a few times before, and every single damn time it meant that Lev was going to do something that Tae knew he was going to regret.
He’d known Lev for all of a few months. But he’d trusted him with his life more than he’d imagined trusting anyone.
And he wasn’t entirely sure he knew who Lev was anymore.
He glanced over at Peti, and saw the same horror on her face that he felt.
He shoved back his chair and stood abruptly. “No. Masha. I’m sorry. I’m not doing this.”
Everyone turned to look at him. He shook his head sharply.
“This is the mafia! I’ve seen what they do. I know plenty of people who decided to take them up on offers, and not a single one of those people is still alive.” He turned to Masha. “Masha. You said you’d worked across from the mafia before. You must know this as well as I do.”