The ground she was lying on was smooth and cool, and her hands were bound with metal shackles with electronic locks. She wondered why they'd used them, because the restraints didn't always work on Faldine--the magfields interfered with the locks--but they were standard VSC issue, and maybe they didn't have access to anything else.
She felt strangely relaxed about getting out of them. A deep-seated confidence infused her thoughts, and she realized with a jolt of shock that the feeling was coming from her upgrade.
She hadn't felt it as so distinct from her for a while. Not since around the first six months of their forced acquaintance.
She shoved the thought aside. It wasn't important right now.
She needed to concentrate. To find out what they planned.
"How long until they come round?" Simon nudged her shoulder with the toe of his boot.
"Iver should come out of it first, he's a lot bigger than the pilot. Maybe half an hour?"
She recognized the voice as one of Lancaster's people who'd come after them in the now-destroyed Dynastra--Oniba.
So this was part of Lancaster's operation. Oniba was definitely one of the guards she'd shot just before Linnel tried to kill himself, along with her, by using an actual laz--before Iver had tranqed him in the back.
She needed more information to understand why killing Iver was no longer top priority.
"Half an hour is too long.” A man whose voice she didn't recognize snapped in annoyance. “I need to leave in fifteen."
She risked cracking her eyelids again, and noticed boots directly in front of her.
She kept her body relaxed and closed her eyes again.
"Don't assume Hana won't come out of it quickly."
Her heart lurched. Linnel. He was the one staring at her.
She felt afraid of him for the first time. Lying within kicking distance of his feet.
"You're still on this bullshit story that she's special in some way?" Oniba sounded vicious.
"She doesn't react the same way as the rest of us, and she literally can't be killed." Linnel sounded completely reasonable as he spoke.
The sad thing for him was, he was more or less right. Although not about the killing thing. She was sure she could be killed. But it would take a bit of trouble from whoever planned to do the deed.
"We've got her lying at our feet, unconscious. She can be killed in seconds, right now." The stranger, the one she didn't know, stepped closer, and she felt boots against her leg.
"Go on, then, Banyon," Linnel challenged him. "Go ahead and kill her. Or try to. I dare you."
"You are not just worrying me, Linnel, you are pissing me off. Get outside with the others and make sure no one is snooping around." The man Linnel called Banyon's voice dropped low.
There was a moment of silence.
"And she lives again," Linnel said, a sense of vindication in his voice. He turned to go, and Hana heard him take a few steps.
“Linnel.” Oniba's voice was low and mean. From the thin slit of her barely-open eyelids, Hana saw him take a step closer, one foot back, and her blood was suddenly fizzing, her body flooded with adrenaline.
“What?” Linnel's sneer was evident.
“She's not invincible. Watch.” He swung his boot at Hana's ribs, and with an almost fatalistic sense of what was about to happen, against her wishes, because Iver was somewhere behind her, still unconscious and restrained, she felt her restraints give, unlocking.
She rolled, so Oniba overextended his kick, stumbling forward.
She was on her feet, swinging the solid metal restraints. They connected with Oniba's temple and without waiting to see the results, she spun hard right, arm extended to hit Banyon.
As she turned, she glimpsed Vannie and Simon's faces, slack with shock, as blood sprayed from Banyon's face where the metal restraints had connected with his nose.
The way to the door, the only exit she could see, was open except for Linnel, who was staring at her with a mix of horror and excitement.
She ran at him, arm back to strike, and with a squeal of fear, he ducked, so she passed him without any resistance.
Beyond the warehouse was a loading dock.
There was one person standing with his back to her, loading a lander, and a guard facing the street.
Oniba had told Linnel to go stand watch with the others, so there might be more, but Hana couldn't see them.
Hana ran toward the guard, her mind calculating how fast she was moving, what her next moves should be, and then she jumped to get the height she needed to hit him on the back of the head.
He went down without a sound, and then she was on the street, looking right and left.
No one was in sight.
She spun, looking up at the roof of the warehouse, and saw someone scrambling down the pitched surface to get to the ground to chase her.
Right at that moment, there were no eyes on her.
She needed to find a way back into the warehouse so she could rescue Iver.
A lander turned the corner near the warehouse, engine roaring, heading right toward her, killing any hope of getting back unseen.
Furious, she ran toward it.
And who knew? Maybe not everyone in Touka City was in on this.
As she neared the vehicle, she saw the driver was wearing the same uniform as the guard she'd just dropped outside the warehouse and it looked like he was driving the lander Vannie and Simon had picked them up in, roof still lowered.
So no help there.
She was committed, though. There was no other option.
The driver blinked at her in surprise and braked, uncertain.
Hana put her hands up. “Help me.” She didn't slow down, reaching the driver's side, and jumping onto the running board.
The lander was still moving, and the driver's hands tightened reflexively on the steering wheel.
He looked around him, to make sure there were no witnesses, Hana guessed. He thought he was the dangerous one in this situation.
As soon as he brought the lander to a stop, she dropped down to the ground, and as she hoped he would, he opened the door and slid down after her.
“Take it easy--”
She'd held the restraints out of sight against her thigh, and as soon as he was down, she jumped back on the running board and lashed out, striking him just above the ear.
He went down with a moan.
Up ahead, Vannie, Simon and Linnel ran out onto the street, and Hana got into the driver's seat and reversed, speeding backward.
She twisted, looking behind her, and there, at the junction with the next road, she saw traffic, people walking, businesses that were open.
She spun the lander, and accelerated away.
Chapter 10
A door slammed, jerking Iver all the way awake.
“Shit. She's gone. And we can't chase her in the open.” Simon's voice sounded right next to him.
He'd risen to consciousness in quick, jerky steps, with the vague knowledge that something big was happening around him.
There had been shouting and running.
It had jumped his heart into a hard rhythm as he struggled to make sense of what was going on.
“I told you about her. Didn't I tell you?” Linnel was hissing at someone.
“All I saw was a woman who took us by surprise. Simon obviously didn't get enough sedative into her. She had to have been waiting to make her move for a while.”
The voice he heard was familiar, and Iver tried to place it, but the speaker stood behind him.
Wherever he'd heard it before, it seemed out of place here.
“I shot her directly in the throat.” Simon's voice was bitter.
“Then there was problem with the dart. And a bigger problem is we don't know how much she heard, and that she saw my face.”
“There wasn't a problem with the dart,” Linnel said. “She isn't normal. She obviously metabolizes the sedative faster.”
“Linnel.” Simon sounded like he'd re
ached the end of his patience.
“What? Oniba was going to show me how she's just as breakable as anyone else. He couldn't even get a kick in to her ribs.” The sneer was evident in Linnel's voice.
Oniba had tried to kick Hana to make a point to Linnel?
Iver had to breathe through the rage that rose up in him.
It had the benefit of clearing the last fuzziness from his head.
“Linnel, just get out there, see if we can get an idea of which direction she went in.” Oniba spoke for the first time, weary, by the sound of it.
Iver opened his eyes in time to see Linnel turn and stalk out of the room.
"Do you believe that guy?" Simon asked when the door had closed behind him.
"I see him as barely useful at this point. He's got to go." Oniba moved restlessly. “Lancaster called him a liability, and I have to agree.”
Vannie made a sound of exasperation, as if she was tired of the whole situation. She started to pace. "She'll run straight to the safety officers. We need to move."
“I'll make sure she doesn't get in touch with anyone in authority.” The familiar voice was still behind him, and Iver heard tapping, as if he was communicating on a screen. “I can't afford to have any fingers pointed my way. As it is, I've got to get back right now and deal with this bloody nose she's given me.”
“And if whoever you're sending after her doesn't succeed?” Simon shook his head. “We still have to move, just in case.”
"Fine, run and hide, but you'll have to deal with the logistics. I've got to leave now. I've cut it too close as it is.”
“Where will we go?” Oniba asked, aggrieved.
“I don't know. I don't have time to think about it. And now I have the added weight of worrying over being recognized. Because someone else didn't do their job properly.” Whoever they were, they were more than just annoyed. Iver thought he heard the shiver of fear in his voice.
Good. And if Hana had bloodied his nose, even better.
“I did my job properly.” Simon took an aggressive step forward.
The stranger walked away, and Iver heard a door opening. “Let me know if you do move, and I'll keep in touch when my people grab the pilot.”
“If they grab the pilot,” Vannie said.
“Now you're sounding like Linnel,” the man said. “She's alone and she's not from Touka City. I'll get her. I shouldn't have to, but I'll clean up your mess."
“She just escaped VSC restraints and managed to attack four people. How did she get out of those restraints, anyway?” Vannie's voice rose with every word.
“I don't know and I don't have time to work it out. Probably a magfield glitch. That shouldn't be a surprise, especially when you're using VSC tech here.” There was some serious anger in that voice. “Just get what information you can from Sugotti, dump his body, and clear out of here. As you say, it's burned now. There's no coming back.”
The door closed sharply behind him.
“There's no coming back?” Simon suddenly kicked a container hard. “Fucker. This warehouse is my business. Questions are going to be asked, and this property is registered to me.”
“I've been left hanging out to dry, too, if you hadn't noticed.” Oniba's voice was soft. “With Lancaster dead, there's no way I can go back onto Sugotti's payroll. The point of no return has come and gone.”
“No shit.” Vannie turned, eyes widening when she saw Iver was awake. “Well, well, well. Look who's back among the living.”
Simon and Oniba spun toward him.
Iver didn't like the look on Simon's face. A need to cause pain, to lash out, was clear in his eyes and in the twist of his lips.
At least Hana got away.
Oniba crouched in front of him and Iver narrowed his eyes as he saw a rivulet of dried blood on the side of his face.
“What do you think I can tell you? Just yesterday you tried to kill me more than once. Why the interest in what I have to say now?”
“Do you know who blew up the Dynastra?”
“No. Obviously no one friendly to me, or they'd have picked me and Hana up. And they'd have checked first to see if I was in the runner before they vaporized it.”
"True." Oniba blinked and rose to look at the others. He rubbed at his temple as if he was in pain, and judging by the blow he'd taken, he was. “It can't be the VSC."
"Then who?" Vannie asked, exasperated.
“Either someone in our little group has decided to cut out as many of the top layer of management as possible to maximize their own profit, or . . .”
“No.” Vannie shook her head. “A common goal holds us together. There's no betrayal.”
“I think you're thinking of a time long before the war.” Simon's voice was soft, and not unsympathetic.
“I won't believe that. Who else could it be?” Vannie put her hands on her hips. "The Caruso?"
"Why not? We were planning to see if they were interested in what we had to offer anyway.”
“Eventually, when we knew what we were dealing with. How did they find out about us?”
“Maybe someone in the group put out a feeler? Thought they were doing us all a favor.” Oniba scrubbed at his face.
“And the Caruso pricked up their ears and came looking to muscle us out?” Vannie's voice was heavy with skepticism.
“It isn't their thing, I agree.” Simon nodded toward her. “They're after minerals. Every time they've been caught out recently, it's been mining-related.”
“Maybe it's primarily mining,” Oniba conceded. “But the VSC has shut them down three times in a row. Maybe they're looking for whatever they can get.”
"Shit." Simon spoke with feeling. "That sounds all too plausible."
There was silence as they digested the idea.
Oniba suddenly straightened. “We'll have to think about the implications of this later. Right now we need to move.”
“One more thing.” Simon moved back in front of Iver. “What happened just before the Dynastra was hit? Did Lancaster say something to you? Did he notice the incoming?”
“I was already out of the Dynastra before they approached.” Iver didn't see a reason to keep quiet about that part of it. He was learning a lot from their back and forth. No need to interrupt the flow. “I'd already shot him with his SAL and left him inside. I stepped out the runner and saw that imbecile Linnel trying to shoot Hana with a laz. I dropped him with a dart and was running to Hana when the Dynastra was hit.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Linnel shot at her with a laz?” Simon asked carefully.
“Yes. He's lucky it didn't hit either him or her. I shot him in the back before he could get off another blast.”
“I'll get the laz off him.” Oniba and Simon exchanged a look.
“It looks like your usefulness is over.” Simon glanced down at him. “Time to kill you and dump--”
The high-pitched whine of a dru-dru approaching had him biting off his words.
The dru-dru was an agile, two-wheeled vehicle used by everyone in Touka, but Iver saw all their minds went to the possibility this was a visit from the Protection Unit, who definitely used them.
Vannie lunged for the lights, and plunged the warehouse into darkness.
It was still daytime, but there were very few windows in the warehouse and they were high up.
Iver had been gearing up to fight, to make killing him as difficult as possible, so he was up on his feet and running for cover before anyone's eyesight adjusted to the almost complete darkness.
Half-blind himself, he ran into a stack of containers, but they held steady, and he ducked behind them, standing still to get his bearings.
“We should have left straight away.” Vannie's voice came from near the door. “Let's go now. There's only one of them out there.”
“That we know of. And we can't leave Sugotti alive.” Oniba sounded like he was moving through the warehouse, coming closer to where Iver was standing.
“We don't have ti
me to kill him.”
“And if we get caught? What happens to our plans then?” Vannie's voice was soft.
Oniba swore. His footsteps retreated.
“How were you going to kill him, anyway?” Vannie asked. “With your bare hands?”
Because they only had SALs, Iver realized, which would knock him out, but not kill him.
“I was going to slit his throat,” Simon said, voice cold. “But I won't risk getting caught.”
The door banged closed, their voices cut off, but Iver didn't move. It could be a trap.
Or he could be wasting time.
The minutes ran together, until he couldn't tell how long he'd been standing in the darkness.
Now or never.
He ran toward the door, and Oniba stepped out of the shadows, SAL in his hand.
Iver jinked to the right, then snapped his leg, hitting Oniba's wrist.
The SAL went flying, and Oniba howled in pain.
With his hands still behind his back, Iver used his shoulder on the door, muscling his way out into an empty loading dock.
A dru-dru was parked near the entrance, and as he ran toward it, Linnel stepped out--the helmet from driving the dru-dru still on his head--and leveled his laz at Iver's chest.
“You're not going anywhere. As long as I have you, she won't be far behind.”
The smirk on Linnel's face snapped something inside Iver. He was usually even-tempered, but everyone had a limit. He'd just reached his.
With a roar, he charged, jumping just as he reached Linnel and spinning, swinging his elbow as far forward as the restraints allowed, to deliver a vicious blow to his cheek.
The laz went off, flickering and leaping and Oniba screamed behind him.
Iver stumbled, off-balance from the spin, and saw Oniba was down, and Linnel was on one knee.
He kicked out at Linnel's head, the jolt of impact with the helmet vibrating up his leg, and then he ran.
Pity he didn't know where to.
Chapter 11
Iver was gone.
Hana lay on the warehouse roof, looking down through the small skylight near the entrance.
High Flyer (Verdant String) Page 7