by Natalie Grey
“Right,” Mala repeated. She sighed. “So, ah…”
Nyx tried to recall what they had been talking about. “What happened when you got here?”
The look Mala shot her was almost grateful. “I came out of the ship and saw the jungle, then what’s-his-face showed up and started talking about having me under surveillance and how he was uncomfortable with … something? Someone?”
“So you don’t know who he is.” Nyx tried to keep the hope out of her voice.
“No!” Mala waved her hands. “He still hasn’t introduced himself, and damned if I know why he seems to think I know what’s going on.”
“Okay.” Nyx pointed at one of the chairs. “Sit. Let’s go over what we know.”
Mala nodded and took a seat. “You look really nice in that dress, by the way.”
A shiver went down her spine, and Nyx tried not to blush. “Thanks. It’s a bitch for staying armed, though.” Mala’s laugh threatened to overset what little concentration remained, and she smiled. “Are you really going to dinner in that?”
“No, no, they took measurements and they’re making … something.” Mala waved her hand. “All right. You asked what I knew.” She bit her lip, lost in thought. “He said something about how he couldn’t risk contacting me directly, and he’d had me under surveillance to make sure I was the right person.”
The thought of this man spying on Mala should have been merely distasteful, but to her surprise, Nyx felt a rush of pure rage. How dare he? Her fingers balled into a fist, and she flexed them deliberately.
“The right person for what?”
“He seems to be part of some sort of scheme with a lot of people who don’t know who each other are.” Mala was gazing off into space contemplatively, her hands sandwiched between her knees. “And I guess when he first signed on, the anonymity seemed like a good idea, but now he’s beginning to think that one of the other participants arranged it that way to keep everyone else in the dark and control things.”
“I see. And no clues as to what sort of scheme this is?”
“No. I couldn’t figure out how to ask.” Mala shook her head, frustrated. “And then, of course, you showed up. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Nyx flashed her a smile and slumped back in the chair. “Well, he’s clearly involved in something shady. Or at least, I’ve never seen a charity operate this way.” She was rewarded with a laugh, and she grinned over at Mala. “The question is, is this more important than the smuggling thing you told me about?”
“You were actually looking into that?” Mala was staring at her, a curious half-smile playing around those wide lips.
“I really was.” Nyx smiled at her. “I wanted to figure it out so you….” She looked away, not wanting to start the fight again.
“So I could be safe,” Mala finished softly. She smiled. “I’m all right, you know.”
“You’ve been abducted,” Nyx pointed out.
“Yeah, well, in a very strange way.” Mala shook her head and leaned back. “I don’t get it.”
“Well, there’s an easy explanation.” Nyx looked up at the ceiling. “Clearly, he thinks you’re someone else. But how to explain that to him? I mean, if you point it out now, he’ll know that you know that—what? What’s wrong?”
Mala’s face had gone white.
“We need to leave,” she said. “Right now.”
13
“What?” Nyx asked.
Mala swayed. The ground beneath her seemed to have disappeared. She watched the Dragon’s lips move, but there was no sound and no sense to it. Her ears were ringing and she could feel her palms go clammy. She could not seem to remember how to swallow.
Clearly, he thinks you’re someone else.
Oh, dear God. Mala wanted to run for the door and out into the jungle, make for the launch pad and leave. She could drive a shuttle. She could figure it out. She had to get out of here.
She couldn’t let them figure it out. They could never know.
“Mala?”
She was going to faint. She needed to make her legs work.
“Mala.” Nyx was at her side, callused fingers turning Mala’s chin. Her face was hovering too close, and Mala had the disjointed memory of crossing the room to kiss her earlier. It was too much, a step she hadn’t needed to take, a moment of weakness that, even now, made her breath come short at the memory. She had felt Nyx’s lips part under hers, and…
Mala closed her eyes.
“Mala, please say something.” Nyx’s voice was pleading.
“We should go.” We have to go, we have to go, we have to…
“I don’t think you’re in any danger.” Nyx shook her head, not understanding anything at all. “I’m not going to blurt out that he has the wrong person, if that’s what you’re worried about. We really should figure out who he is, though.” She considered. “And who he thinks you are.”
“It’s possible—” Mala broke off as she heard her voice come out wild, too high. “It’s possible he really does think it’s me. I work in intelligence. I’ve been tracking down people from their money trails. Maybe he was searching for people in specific places, and he just got the wrong person in my department. Maybe….” No, she’d thrown out enough wild possibilities. She needed not to babble. She lifted her shoulders. “Who knows?”
There was a knock at the door and she jerked away, her heartbeat racing.
“Boss?” A man’s voice.
“What is it?” Nyx looked at the closed door.
“There’s a dress, for, ah….”
“Of course.” Nyx looked back, and for a moment her face was very close. Mala watched the pulse beating at the woman’s throat, saw Nyx’s eyes dart to her mouth, her own throat, and then the woman smiled tightly and drew away, reaching out to squeeze Mala’s hand. “Let’s get you dressed. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I really think we shouldn’t go.” Mala pushed herself up, watching the woman open the door just enough to retrieve a dress under a linen cover. “To dinner, I mean. We should leave.”
“Well….” Nyx considered, taking in Mala’s white face and stricken expression. “I’m sure we could say you were sick. One of my team could get you back to the shuttle. We’d know you wouldn’t be anywhere nearby if something happened.” She tilted her head, considering. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“That’s not it.” Mala’s face flushed, and she shook her head. The woman thought she was afraid of bullets. She thought Mala was a coward. Of course, Mala supposed she was. But the thought of them all sitting down to dinner together without her there to guide the conversation made her palms go clammy. Nyx hadn’t put it together, not yet.
And all it would take was one careless word. She already knew the name Eve Orion, and she was prodigiously intelligent.
Or, in this case, dangerously so.
“I’ll go.” She pushed herself up.
“Mala, this isn’t a bravery contest.” Nyx held the dress away from her. “No civilian should have to get caught up in this sort of thing. I should never even have asked it of you, it’s just….”
You still see me as a child. Mala closed her eyes on a wave of something that felt much more like hurt than anger.
“It’s just that what?” She kept her voice steady.
“I remember a few mentions of a man who lived someplace like this. If he’s who I think he is, he’s someone the Alliance would thank us for bringing in. Did he mention that this compound has a name, by chance?” Then she shook her head. “Never mind. No. Let’s get you back to the shuttle.”
“No!” The word came out instinctively, and she tried to find a reason. “I’ll help.”
“It’s not right to have you do that.”
“It is. He’ll know something’s up. And if he’s as bad as you say, he’s not going to want to talk to you.”
Nyx’s look suggested that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, and Mala swallowed hard. For the first time, she wondered just what s
ort of things the Dragons did on a regular basis.
“Look, he wants to talk to me. He wants to spill his guts, and I know a lot of people like him.” Mala held out her hands for the dress. “I’ll help you. By the way, he calls this place Camelot.”
“Camelot! That was it! You’re sure?” Nyx’s gaze sharpened.
“Yeah, I’m not entirely sure he’s … sane.” Mala considered. “But very smart.” And far too well-informed for you to talk to him on your own. “Come on, give me the dress.”
“All right.” Nyx held it out and leaned against the side wall as Mala disappeared into the bathroom. “What did they give you?”
The dress was the same blue as her eyes, almost glowing against her pale skin. Mala hung it carefully on the curtain rod and cleaned her face, then pulled a comb through her hair. She had no makeup, but then, neither did Nyx. It would have to do. She stripped down and pulled the dress on, raising her eyebrows at her reflection.
Nyx’s dress was the same red one she’d worn on Seneca, apparently retrieved from her ship once they were all invited to dinner. Low-cut and shimmering, it clung to her curves in a way that made Mala want to see just how easily that fabric might tear. But Mala’s dress was different, a vision in elegant simplicity, leaving her shoulders completely bare, the sweetheart neckline somehow managing to add some curves to her slim frame. She didn’t look like a celebrity, perfectly made up and confident, but she was surprised at how beautiful she felt with the soft fabric against her skin. The color set off her eyes perfectly, and when she came out of the bathroom, the other woman’s eyebrows shot up.
“That’s, ah … very nice.”
Was that interest in her eyes? It was definitely—
No, Mala told herself firmly. Nyx had promised to protect her for Kiran’s sake. Any possibility of something between them, any chance she might have of flirting her way into this woman’s heart, had been lost decades ago.
Mala should never have kissed her. What had she been thinking? That the kiss would be so transcendently glorious that Nyx would fall in love with her on the spot?
Yes, that was exactly what she had been hoping for.
She wanted to sink through the floor with embarrassment.
“Shall we?” She slipped her feet into the high heels Nyx had laid out, and winced at the bite of them. “I hope we aren’t going to have to make any sudden getaways while I’m wearing these.”
“Duly noted.”
“So what am I trying to get out of him?”
“Anything that tells us what this scheme is, and that implicates him specifically. If he’s who I think he is, he’ll always leave something vague so that he can deny it later—so try to pin him down. But, Mala, if he gets suspicious, back off. We’ll find another way to get him on something. Promise me you won’t put yourself in danger needlessly.”
“I promise.”
“Good.”
If she hoped for a meaningful moment, she was disappointed. The other woman pulled the door open and preceded her into the hall. A low murmur in one man’s ear had all of them talking in undertones, passing information along, and the Dragons exchanged meaningful glances as they all set off down the hall.
The idea came to her as they got in the elevator, and Mala positioned herself to be first out. At the entrance to the hall, Mala swept ahead of the others to greet their host, taking his arm and inclining her head to his as they walked ahead.
“One thing…”
“Yes?” He smiled at her.
“You have questions about the Dragons, I assume.” Mala tried to stay ahead of the others without being too obvious.
“But, of course.”
“Well, let us just say they’re delightfully useful, and they have their own reasons for backing us in this endeavor.” She couldn’t come up with anything plausible, so she had to hope he wouldn’t ask about that. “However, for reasons I’m sure you’ll understand, they aren’t aware of everything about my situation. If you’d refer to me as ‘Mala,’ that would be most helpful.”
He threw back his head and laughed. “Ah, you are a delight. Of course.” He led them to a long table and pulled out a chair for her, still chuckling. “With the resources at your disposal, I’m surprised you aren’t the mastermind of this whole endeavor.”
Mala tried not to let her smile falter too obviously as a possibility occurred to her, and she busied herself with her napkin. At her side, Nyx raised a curious eyebrow, and Mala shook her head to forestall questions.
“Now.” Her host raised a glass of red wine, nodding around the table. “To unexpected allies.”
“To unexpected allies.” The Dragons drank dutifully, and everyone fell silent as servers appeared to ladle soup into their bowls.
“Ah, do not feel the need to stay silent. My servants have absolute loyalty.” Their host smiled around the table.
Mala shivered; the implication of his words was impossible to miss. She took a spoonful of soup and raised her eyebrows at the flavor. Creamy and rich, it did not hold the distinctive bite of hysperspace-carried preservatives, and it was subtly spiced to allow the flavor of the vegetable to come through.
“Butternut squash,” the man said, noting her appreciation. “The soil here is quite excellent for farming. A happy coincidence, given that the place suits my … other requirements.”
“A happy coincidence, indeed.” Mala took another mouthful of soup and smiled. She waited a few beats longer as her host ate, and then ventured, “So, before my escort showed up rather unexpectedly, you were saying that you might have learned more about our collaborators on this project.” He hadn’t, not exactly, but she was interested to know how he had found her.
“Very little, I’m afraid.” The man grimaced. “Bread?”
“Yes, thank you.” Unless she was very much mistaken, that was actual butter in the tiny dishes set before them.
“I chose you very carefully,” the man told her as she selected a piece of bread and passed the basket to Nyx.
“Because of my eccentricities?” She could not entirely keep the bitter note from her voice. She’d seen his eyes when he noticed the engine grease.
“In large part, actually, yes. Your movements over the past months suggest that you’re intelligent, and far from impulsive.”
Except for that one, reckless, terrible choice that had led them all here. Mala felt her gut churn and tried to sip her wine slowly without snapping the stem of the glass. “Of course,” she managed.
“Which is why—” her host smiled “—I think you will be most interested to see what I have to show you after dinner.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Something that will upend this entire scheme.” He took a sip of wine, looking smug. “Something that will put the power firmly in our hands.”
14
“Esu and Loki, you’ll flank far right. Aegis and Jim, you go far left. Jester, you’ll tail them with me. The rest of you, fall back and to the middle.” Nyx thrust her knife into the holster at her hip and looked around. “Any last questions?”
“Has Lesedi gotten back to us?” Tersi’s brow was furrowed. Of all the Dragons, he alone remained in his suit, and there was a wistful air as he surveyed his teammates.
“She has, but with nothing useful at all.” Nyx shook her head. “It’s like this scheme doesn’t exist. Nothing about this exists. She can’t figure out who he thinks Mala is, she can’t figure out what he might be hiding here, and she can’t even tell me his real name.”
“Something about this doesn’t add up.” Tersi shook his head.
“Hopefully it will make more sense when we figure out what the hell he’s hiding.”
“We could just take her and go.” His eyes met hers. “Get the hell off this planet and go after the people we know are doing something shady.”
“Lesedi is still looking into that, too.” Nyx shook her head.
“Into what?” Esu asked.
“Mala thinks she’s discovered a smuggling r
ing that goes through the senate.” Nyx raised her eyebrows at them all and grinned. “Our dear new Director has said he doesn’t object to us going after government officials. I think we should see if he’s really serious about that.”
Laughter echoed around the room, and the Dragons did one last weapons check, stretching hips and shoulders in anticipation of their pursuit. Clad in suits of ShadowBlack, a shimmery fabric that fooled human eyes and surveillance cameras alike, they would blend easily into the dark of the garden—assuming, of course, that they could get there before Mala and her escort arrived, and also assuming that he had no particularly nasty defense mechanisms.
“Boss?” Tersi sat up and studied a monitor. “They’re moving.”
“All right, everyone, let’s go.” Nyx gave a salute in Tersi’s direction. “Keep us updated.”
“Aye aye.” The flash of disappointment in his eyes belied the easy humor in his tone. Tersi knew as well as the rest of them that surveillance helped any Dragon mission. Nyx could not remember the last time they had gone in without one member of the crew watching from a secondary location.
But it was one thing to rotate through that position, and quite another to have it because injury precluded anything else.
They let themselves into the gardens from a third story window, descending quickly down the side walls and disappearing into the shrubberies and ornamental walkways that lay to the west of the main compound. Stabby, the only Dragon left on the Ariane, had radioed down that there seemed to be either a cavern or a subterranean warehouse at the edge of the gardens, and Nyx had structured the operation on the assumption that their mysterious host would bring Mala there.
Mala….
Nyx closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to focus. She could remember only one thing from the whole meal they’d shared, and that was Mala: not even her carefully chosen words, but instead her laugh, her smile, the habitual hunch of her shoulders. She was so pale that even in the dim light, Nyx could see veins tracing under the delicate skin of her forearms. By the end of the night, her lips were stained red from the wine and it took all Nyx had not to push the other woman up against a wall and kiss her senseless.