“Not as dangerous as your life will become if the Minders find out about your connection to the escaped fugitive.”
A nerve twitches in Stefanov’s jaw. He pulls his lips into a grim line. “All right, I’ll initiate contact, but I can’t promise anything.”
“That’s not good enough.” I take a step toward him. “I can promise you that if you don’t deliver, your game is up. I have contacts in very high places.”
Stefanov frowns. “Minder Brivardo’s too deep into this to rat me out—”
“I don’t care about Minder Brivardo!” I snap back. “But I do know the Syndicate Fleet Commander would be very interested to learn of your illegal dealings in dargonite—especially in light of how badly the military needs it for its new coating technology.”
Stefanov’s jaw drops. He scrutinizes me for a moment as if scarcely daring to believe that I could have a connection so far up on Aristozonex.
“His daughter Ayma and I go back a long way,” I say.
Stefanov’s face contorts with fear. “Give me an hour. I’ll make some calls.”
“Much better,” I say. “We’ll be back.”
Velkan and I exit the office and ride the elevachute up.
“You scared him good,” Velkan says.
“Let’s just hope his dermal sculptor is still in the game and not working for the Syndicate,” I say. “Otherwise, we’ll all be on a transit ship to the penal colonies tonight.”
The elevachute door opens and we exit on the ground floor of the pawn emporium. An android assistant presides over the jewelry counter where Stefanov’s daughter, Leeta, was working earlier.
“Is Leeta here?” I ask casually. I need to find out how much she knows about Sarth and Crank, and whether she’s ever seen them before. If Stefanov’s lying about not knowing it was a setup, we may not be able to trust him with a dermal sculptor either.
The android obliges me with a polite smile. “You just missed her. She left in a hurry.”
I raise my brows at Velkan. “Interesting timing, don’t you think? Stefanov might have sent her to alert the Minders.”
Velkan looks grave. “We’d better follow her and see where she’s off to.”
We hurry out into the street in time to spot Leeta climbing into a LevCab. I quickly hail a second one. “Follow that vehicle in front,” I command, sinking back into the seat beside Velkan. I stare out the window watching the soaring high rises zip by us. “Do any of these buildings look familiar to you?” I say.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Velkan says. “We’ve taken this route before.”
A sinking feeling comes over me when the LevCab slows to descent speed over a familiar street. I peer down at the Minder Depot below us, my heart racing. Is Stefanov about to betray us a second time?
“Park fifty feet from the other vehicle,” I order the LevCab. We come to a gentle halt and I watch as Leeta climbs out and disappears around the side of the Minder Depot.
I turn to Velkan. “She’s not using the main door. She’s definitely up to something.”
We give her a moment and then disembark and make our way down the same side of the building. At the sound of voices, we slip behind a trash vaporization unit and crouch down in the shadows. I try to still my breathing as I peer cautiously around the unit. Out of the corner of my eye I spot Leeta in conversation with someone concealed behind a half-open fire evacuation door.
“I can’t make out who she’s talking to,” Velkan says, craning his neck. “Obviously, they don’t want anyone seeing them together.”
The voices grow louder. “… gave you everything I got,” Leeta whines. “I need a more powerful listening device. His office is soundproofed …”
A male voice murmurs in response. From his tone, I’m guessing he’s trying to appease her, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. Then, a familiar figure leans out from behind the door, curls an arm around Leeta's waist and plants a kiss on her lips.
32
I shrink back in disbelief. “Stefanov would tear him limb from limb if he knew,” I whisper to Velkan. I click on the vid feed in my CipherSync and raise my wrist, panning the scene to try and get as much of Brivardo and the Minder Depot in as possible. “He’s using Leeta to bug her father’s office.”
“Pretty shrewd on Brivardo’s part, covering all his bases,” Velkan replies in a hushed tone. “Making sure he always stays one step ahead of Stefanov.”
“The good thing is we can use this to blackmail Brivardo,” I say. “Ghil’s going to need a new CipherSync, and Brivardo can make it happen.”
“Now’s as good a time as any to hit him up,” Velkan says. “He’ll be rattled to learn we saw what went down between him and Leeta.”
We remain hidden in the shadows as Leeta heads back out to the main street and hails a LevCab. I check to make sure the side door to the Minder Depot is closed and then Velkan and I crawl out from behind the trash vaporization unit. “Let’s make this quick,” I say, leading the way around to the front of the building.
The clerk’s frown deepens when I ask for Minder Brivardo. She exchanges a few words with him on her CipherSync and then buzzes Velkan and I through with a disapproving glare.
“Nice seeing you again Minder Clerk Daphnist!” I call out cheerfully as we make our way down the hallway to Brivardo’s office.
Velkan throws me a skeptical look and I shrug. “I’ll take a grumpy human over an android any day.”
Brivardo half-rises out of his seat when we walk in, “What are you doing back here?” He narrows his eyes at Velkan. “Who is this?”
“He’s one of my crew.”
“You can’t keep coming here,” Brivardo snaps. “The clerk is beginning to suspect something’s going on between us.”
I give him a condescending smile. “She wouldn’t be too far off the mark. I’m about the right age, aren’t I, Minder Brivardo?”
A nerve twitches above his brow bone. “How dare you!”
I lean forward in my seat and click the holographic vid feed on my CipherSync. “I don’t have time for games. Perhaps this will jolt you out of your short-term memory fog.”
Brivardo stares at the images of himself and Leeta hovering between us like surreal ghosts of guilt. “Turn it off!” he hisses, paling before our eyes. “What do you want from me?”
“We need a new CipherSync,” Velkan says.
“Now!” I add.
“Impossible.” Brivardo’s hand shakes as he wipes his glistening brow. “CipherSyncs can’t be issued without the approval of the chief. It could take weeks.”
“Forge the approval.” I fix an icy gaze on him. “Either we leave here with it, or we pay your chief a visit and inform him what it is you really do, and after that, we’ll drop in on Stefanov and ask him if he recognizes anyone in our vid feed.”
Brivardo taps a dispenser on his desk and snatches up a cigarette. He lights it with trembling fingers and takes a deep puff. “You found the fugitive?”
“I’m good at what I do,” I reply.
He licks his lips. “He’s agreed to give us the information on the mine in exchange for a new identity?”
I grin at him. “Like I said, I’m good at what I do. Now it’s your turn to prove your worth.”
Brivardo takes another puff of his cigarette and taps a button on his desk. A flex screen rises in front of him. “I need to hack into the chief’s account first and then issue an emergency CipherSync request.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t care what the steps are. Just do it.”
Sweat beads on his forehead as he traces quivering fingers over the screen. “Security has been enhanced on his account recently,” he says, frowning.
“Keep at it,” Velkan says. “Just remember what’s at stake.”
Brivardo hesitates and shoots him a worried look before focusing back on the screen. The silence in the room is broken only by the sound of his heavy breathing until finally, he lets out a long shuddering sigh. “Got it!”
>
I straighten up in my chair. “The CipherSync?”
He looks at me with an air of irritation. “I mean I got in. Now I need to issue the replacement CipherSync.”
I sink back and tap my fingers on the arms of the chair. As the minutes tick by, I become more and more impatient, my mind leaping through several frightening scenarios. What if Ghil got picked up while we were gone? What if Stefanov betrays us instead of finding a dermal sculptor? What if Cwelt has already succumbed to the Maulers? What if something unimaginable has happened to Buir?
“Done!” Brivardo announces in a raspy voice. He pushes his chair out and gestures to a dispenser on the wall. Right on cue, it spits out a CipherSync into the tray beneath it. Brivardo fumbles for another cigarette. “Take it and don’t come back here again. It’s too dangerous. Don’t even contact me until you know the whereabouts of the mine.”
I nod but promise him nothing as I stuff the CipherSync into my BodPak and exit the room. I’ve already rewarded him plenty for the information and help he’s given us. I’ve no intention of letting him get his hands on the dargonite on Cwelt.
“Let’s get back to the pawn emporium,” I say to Velkan. “Hopefully Stefanov has good news for us by now.”
I avoid looking in Leeta’s direction when we walk by her counter. No matter how hard I try to hide it, the expression on my face would give away the fact that I know her dirty little secret. I wonder how long she’s been spying on her own father and passing information to Brivardo.
Stefanov gets to his feet when we enter his office. A short woman with a narrow forehead and small eyes is seated in the chair opposite him. She fixes a sly gaze on us and instantly, I dislike her.
Stefanov gives a nervous cough and gestures at the woman. “I’ve found a dermal sculptor. You can address her as Doctor X. She would prefer to remain anonymous, given the circumstances.”
“I have a mobile surgical unit ready and waiting inside the pawn emporium warehouse,” Doctor X says in a voice that scrapes over my eardrums like a claw. “Where is the patient?”
I turn to Stefanov. “We’ll need your vehicle to pick him up.”
Stefanov gives a curt nod and issues a directive into his CipherSync. “It’s pulling up outside. I’ve authorized your CipherSync to operate it.”
“We’ll be back within the hour,” I say.
Velkan and I make our way out to the waiting vehicle and climb inside.
“I don’t like her,” I say.
“I didn’t particularly like Doctor Azong either,” Velkan says, “but she got the job done.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose you’re right. Dark market personalities aren’t exactly endearing.”
To my immense relief, Ghil is still safely tucked beneath the crates in the yard outside the water purification plant.
“We found a dermal sculptor,” I say, as soon as he’s safely inside Stefanov’s LevAuto.
Ghil gives a grim nod, staring straight ahead. “Just need a CipherSync then.”
“Already took care of it. Relax, Ghil, everything’s going to be fine.”
He sniffs hard. “I’m not worried about the procedure. What if none of you likes the new me?”
I give him a rueful smile. I know what he’s really thinking. What if Buir doesn’t like the new Ghil?
“We like what’s on the inside,” I say, gently. “That’s what matters.”
He runs a hand across his jaw as if touching it for the first time. “It’ll be strange looking in the mirror and seeing a different man, but I’m ready to begin a new life.”
We fall silent as the LevAuto ascends and picks up speed. Ghil’s facial configuration procedure is only the first step. After that, we still need to figure how we’re going to rescue Buir and save Cwelt from the Maulers now that we have no ship and no dargonite.
When we pull back into the pawn emporium warehouse, Doctor X and Stefanov are waiting for us at the back door of the mobile surgical unit, the side of which sports a large graphic of frontier planet timeshares with stunning backdrops of setting moons and shooting stars.
“My cover,” Doctor X says, gesturing to the van with an unsettling grin. She runs a practiced eye over Ghil. “I take it this is the patient?”
“Yes,” I say, peering inside the van. “Didn’t you bring any assistants for such a complicated procedure?”
She fixes a stony gaze on me. “I work alone. More discreet that way.”
“We can stay, in case you need some help,” I offer.
“That won’t be necessary. Reconfiguration is a fully computerized procedure, but it will take several hours, and it can be unpleasant to watch. It would be best if you wait upstairs with Stefanov.”
She turns to Ghil and gestures to him to step inside the van.
“You got this.” I splay my hand at him. “Can’t wait to see your new smile.”
He gives me an unexpectedly fierce hug. “As soon as this is over, we’ll find Buir,” he whispers in my ear. “I promise you that.”
I nod, too choked up to speak. I’m trying not to think about Buir too much. Every time I picture her at the mercy of Sarth and Crank, I fall apart inside.
Velkan and I follow Stefanov out of the warehouse and back down the basement hallway to his office.
“I have business to attend to upstairs,” Stefanov says. “You can wait in here until the procedure is over if you like.”
As soon as he exits the room, I turn to Velkan. “We’d better contact Ayma and let her know we won’t be needing that buyer now that Sarth and Crank took off with the dargonite.”
Velkan grimaces. “We need a ship instead.”
I stare across at him. “Not a bad idea. Now you’re the brilliant one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ayma’s father is the Syndicate Fleet Commander. If anyone has access to ships, it’s him.”
Velkan lets out a snort. “You think he’s just going to give a warship.”
“Not intentionally.” I grin at him as I link to Ayma’s CipherSync. “But I have an idea.”
Ayma answers almost immediately. “I was beginning to think you were never going to contact me. I have a lead on a buyer, not very promising, but—”
“We’re not going to need that buyer after all,” I say. “Sarth and Crank kidnapped Buir and took off with the Zebulux and the dargonite.”
There’s a long pause before Ayma responds. “I’m sorry about your friend. What about your captain?”
“Sarth turned Ghil in as a fugitive. He should be on a transport vessel to the penal colonies tonight, but he escaped. He’s undergoing facial reconfiguration as we speak.”
“A real shame Sarth managed to find you,” Ayma says. “I know how desperate you were to sell that dargonite and buy your own ship to free your people.”
“You can still help us.” I bite my lip. “You have access to ships.”
“Don’t even go there,” Ayma says. “You can’t expect me to help you steal a ship.”
“I’m not talking about stealing anything. I’m only asking you to set up a meeting with your father.”
There’s another long pause before she replies. “What about?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I’m going to plead for my people and ask him to send a warship to liberate Cwelt.”
Ayma gasps. “It’s a bold move, but it will never work. He won’t commission a Syndicate warship to rescue some inconsequential fringe planet from Maulers.”
“He might if he knew there was a dargonite mine there large enough to stealth coat the entire Syndicate fleet.”
“You don’t have proof of that,” Ayma says. “I can guarantee you he won’t take the word of a trader.”
“I kept several nuggets of dargonite.”
Ayma blows out a long breath. “All right, in that case I’ll talk to him—he just walked in the door—but I can’t promise anything. I’ll link back in a few minutes.”
She hangs up and I look across
at Velkan. He shakes his head. “If this works, it will be your most brilliant move ever.”
“Not quite.” I lean back in Stefanov’s swivel chair, a smug smile on my face. “Stealing a Syndicate warship to go after Sarth will top it.”
33
Velkan’s eyes darken. He reaches across the desk and grips me by the arms. “Don’t even say such a thing,” he whispers in an urgent tone.
“Relax,” I say. “Leeta gave the listening device to Brivardo, remember?”
The lines of disapproval deepen on Velkan’s face. “There could be other bugs planted in here for all we know.”
I shrug out of his grip. “She said she gave him everything she had, and I believe her. Obviously, she’s besotted with him if she’s willing to betray her own father.”
Velkan sinks back into his chair. “You’re not seriously thinking about trying to steal a ship?”
“How else are we going to pursue Sarth and rescue Buir? Anyway, we won’t be stealing it, just borrowing it.”
“We?”
“You, me, and Ayma.”
Velkan twists his lips. “You heard what she said. She’s not going to help us.”
“She’s going to make it happen. She can hack in and log a ship out on some routine surveillance or something. We’ll be back before the Fleet Commander returns.”
“Why would she take a risk like that?” Velkan asks.
I stare straight at him. “Because she’s one of us.”
My CipherSync vibrates and lights up. “It’s Ayma,” I say, hitting the speaker.
“He wants to meet with you,” she says.
“When?” I ask, my heart thumping wildly.
“Right away. Bring the dargonite.”
I hang up and get to my feet. “Will you stay here with Ghil?”
Velkan gives a reluctant nod. “You know it could be a trap.”
“Or it could mean Cwelt’s liberation,” I say. “We’re running out of time. I can’t walk away from an opportunity to save my people.”
Inside the LevCab en route to the Syndicate military quadrant, I rehearse in my mind exactly what I need to say to persuade the Fleet Commander to deploy a warship to Cwelt. I finger the dargonite nuggets in my pocket and mouth my hastily thrown-together speech. I need to convince him there is enough dargonite on Cwelt to make it worth his while. I close my eyes and picture the magnificent indigo boulders and the peculiar shapes they form. My accurate description of the dargonite outcroppings on Cwelt will go a long way in convincing him that I’ve seen the boulders for myself.
Girl of Fire: The Expulsion Project Book One (A Science Fiction Dystopian Thriller) Page 25