“The Director is alone, without resources or support,” Mateo said, lighting the cigarillo. “A position with which you might find some sympathy.”
“Chandi, listen – you picked wrong. I don’t know what your protocol told you, but that isn’t how things worked out. Everything is up in the air, even the Etheric Network is barely functional. We need your help,” Hope said, with heartfelt sincerity, “and you need us to forgive you for picking the wrong side. Let’s make a deal!”
Chandi clutched her purse to her chest and said nothing.
“The Black Sun can’t touch you now,” Thomas said, with a sneer. “Liberating, ain’t it?”
“Allow me to present you with a choice, Miss Tuesday. You can repent of your affiliation with the Black Sun, do penance by assisting us with various matters, and then perhaps become a provisional member of the Thule Cartel yourself.” Mateo Navarre made a face at the cigarillo, and then flicked it aside on to the deserted street. “That would be our preference.”
Chandi kept her eyes nailed to the toes of her only shoes, afraid of what they might see if she looked up.
“The other option is bad for you, little Miss,” Thomas cut in gleefully. “More fun for me, though.”
“Chandi, please,” Hope said, trying desperately to catch her eyes. “Think very carefully about what you are doing…”
“We will have your assistance either way, Miss Tuesday. Speaking for myself and your friend, we would like to do this with your cooperation. I hold your talents and your integrity in high regard, and find the idea of any sort of persuasion…distasteful. I appreciate the difficulty of your position, but I think your decision is obvious.”
“Chandi, talk to me,” Hope insisted. “Please, we need your help. We can make this work…”
Chandi looked up at them, eyes smeared with tears behind her glasses.
“I had taken no vows to the Hegemony. I was free to pledge myself to the Black Sun,” Chandi said, fingers knotted together. “Now that I have given my pledge, how can I betray that?”
“Under duress,” Mateo Navarre urged. “To save yourself.”
Chandi Tuesday hung her head.
“I pledged my loyalty to Anastasia Martynova,” she said, shoulders drooping. “I must stand behind my word.”
“Noble, but foolish,” Mateo said, returning grey to the sky with one savage gesture. “You will still do all that we require, you simply guarantee yourself pain and indignity. The Black Sun cartel would not suffer and die in an anonymous room for you, Miss Tuesday. Are you certain of your decision?”
Chandi nodded, looking ill.
“Oh, Chandi, please don’t do this!” Hope cried out, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Please! We’ll figure something out, okay? Just tell Mateo you’ll help, and then…”
Chandi shook her head.
“It’s her decision. Don’t you think?” Thomas cocked his head to the side, thinking it over. “Don’t worry, love. You’ll soon change your tune.”
Chandi shuddered and pressed her lips together.
“Chandi, please, change your mind!” Hope wailed, clutching her hand. “You can’t…you don’t…you can’t!”
Chandi pulled away from her former best friend and said nothing.
“The young lady appears to have made up her mind,” Thomas said, offering her his hand. “I think we should respect that.”
When Chandi made no move to take his hand, Thomas laughed, and then seized her by the elbow and marched her down the deserted street, moving too fast for Chandi to see anything other than a reflected blur in the shop windows they passed.
Hope yelled something as Thomas shoved her in the back of a car waiting at the bottom of the street, but the rushing of blood in her ears drowned out everything else. There was a bearded man inside already, sitting at the far end of the seat, and Chandi was forced up against him as Thomas followed her into the car, and shut the door behind him, cutting Hope off and leaving them in the quiet of the car interior. He smiled at nothing, tapped the driver on the shoulder, and then, as the car started to roll, punched Chandi hard in the stomach.
***
The apport technician was bleeding from the interior of his eyes before the apport was performed, but Simeon Yurchenko kept his disquiet off his face, for the benefit of his troops. There were enough potential hazards to the endeavor already, without allowing room for those that might be fanciful.
“Come along, Ksenia,” he urged the last member of the troop, laboring under a pack half her size. “We are on a schedule.”
“Yes, yes,” she grumbled, taking position beside him on the apport platform. “I don’t understand why I have to lug all this junk.”
“We don’t know when we are coming back,” Matheus said, with a shrug. “We gotta eat, right?”
“I understand that,” Ksenia said, huffing. “I just don’t understand why I have to carry it. Can’t we hire Sherpas or something?”
Simeon laughed.
The apport technician stumbled up to the platform beside them, reeling like a drunk and gnashing his teeth. There was no time to say anything.
The apport was like none that Simeon had ever experienced previously. The glacial bleakness of the Ether, normally the flash of a fraction of a second, was instead a lingering, terrifying experience, grey streamers and ribbons of the Ether clinging to his skin and innards like strands of bubblegum, the cold leaking into his body to settle in his core, chilling his heart between beats. Their arrival was just as startling, a great collision that sent them smashing into each other like passengers on a train during an emergency stop. After a moment of absolute chaos, Simeon found himself straddled across his own pack, Ksenia lying on her back across his legs.
Their apport technician was embedded to the waist in the ground, eyes ruptured and thick pink fluid leaking from the nose, ears, and mouth. Simeon put a bullet through his head from his silenced Walther before his agony could draw attention.
Matheus pulled on his pack, which was embedded in the trunk of a thick old oak tree, the bark melding with the leather of the pack at the edges.
“We really aren’t going back,” Ksenia said, pinching her lip. “This is…”
“We aren’t the only ones,” Simeon reminded her, relieved to find that his pack and its contents were reasonably intact. “Nobody is going home until the job is done.”
“Was that the barrier we hit?” Ksenia asked. “The one that the Academy maintains?”
“No,” Simeon said. “Analytics confirmed it before we went left. There is no barrier protecting Central.”
“But I thought…”
The strap in Matheus’s hand tore, and he slammed into the ground holding the torn top of the backpack, ammunition and toiletries cascading on to the ground.
Matheus rubbed his back and looked at the tree and the bag with an aggrieved expression. Simeon did his best not to laugh. Ksenia concealed her laughter behind her hand, but Simeon noticed her shoulders shaking.
“Pull it together, people,” Simeon ordered, his smile disappearing. “We have a job to do.”
“But…the bag?” Matheus said, pointing at the scrap of leather in his hands, and then at the slowly accumulating pile of supplies on the ground. “What do I…?”
“Figure it out,” Simeon snapped, no longer in the mood. “An apport like that is bound to draw attention – particularly in these circumstances. Get the gear together, Matheus. Ksenia, find a radio and get into contact with whoever else made it, and any survivors that might have held out. Lady Martynova has entrusted us with a task of great importance. Let’s make sure we rise to the occasion.”
***
Lord North inspected the tiny hard drive, now safely ensconced in a titanium housing, complete with battery and monitoring hardware, squinted at it like he expected to find some arcane secret inlayed in the gold circuity.
“The Operation was concluded successfully?”
“Yes, sir.” Kevin Morales-North nodded, trying hard not to let
his nerves show. “The technicians assure me that the data is intact and genuine, though no attempt has been made to access it, on your orders.”
“Good. And the Operator responsible?”
“Collette Higgins, sir. She was injured in the process of acquisition, attacked by unknown parties. Assumed to have been Thule personnel. She managed to secure the archive and activate her emergency beacon, and we dispatched a team…”
“Which you led personally, from what intelligence I’ve received,” Lord North remarked. “Is that true, Kevin?”
“The retrieval was uneventful,” Kevin stammered. “No resistance of any kind was…”
“Your mother has been very firm with me on the subject of you taking these sort of risks,” Lord North said mildly, setting the hard drive down carefully in a foam enclosure cut to fit it. “The situation was volatile, and as watch commander, you were clearly aware of that.”
Kevin Morales-North straightened up and squared his shoulders, perspiration beading across his forehead. His broad chest, chestnut skin, and curly black hair displayed his Islander heritage, and he stood several centimeters taller than any other member of his adopted family. The Hegemony Operator uniform had required the attentions of a tailor to cope with the breadth of his shoulders, and his overcoat was stretched to the limit across his back.
“There was no danger,” Kevin insisted. “I deployed with the Operators on watch to assure a successful retrieval, because of the importance of the data involved…”
“Your mother has made her views quite clear,” Lord North mused. “This Operator Higgins. I have heard rumors…”
“They are false!” Kevin shouted, face reddening. “Operator Higgins is a professional, as am I, sir.”
“I have no doubts as to Operator Higgins’s professionalism,” Lord North said, glaring at his adopted son. “Your own conduct is the issue, Kevin.”
“That’s ridiculous, sir! I’ve done nothing out of bounds for a watch commander!”
“No, you haven’t, but that wasn’t the arrangement that we made, was it? You do remember our agreement, don’t you? I interceded with your mother on your behalf, because you promised…”
“…not to take any unnecessary risks,” Kevin grumbled, massive shoulders slumping. “But, sir, you told me yourself how important this hard drive was, how critical it was that we acquire it. How could I do anything other than…?”
The door clicked open, and Madison, Kevin’s towheaded sister, slid into the room behind him, taking his enormous hand with her own.
“Stop fighting,” the twelve-year-old commanded, talking around a mouth full of purple-tinted braces. “There was already enough fighting in class.”
“Fighting in class? What on earth is Gerald doing?” Lord North asked, frowning. “Never mind. Madison, this is between me and your brother…”
“Mom told me that you guys were gonna get in a fight this morning. She told me to take care of it,” Madison explained proudly. “Because she is busy politicking. Anyway, you’ve got it wrong, dad. Kevin just doesn’t know how to explain.”
“Madison, please!” Kevin shook his head. “Don’t butt in, okay?”
“Too late!” Madison grinned. “Dad, you have to understand, Kevin picked Collette because he thinks she’s the best at everything. It isn’t just because he’s in love with her.”
“Madison!” Kevin’s eyes went wide with mortification. “Please don’t…!”
“Ask permission before using your protocol,” Lord North reminded her, trying to remain stern. “No one appreciates uninvited empathy.”
“Madison, how could you?”
“Sorry, Kevin. Sorry, dad! But it’s important that you understand. You made Kevin believe that this was important. You wanted the archive, or whatever it is, we all know that. This was the most important thing you’d ever let Kevin oversee. You told him to do his best, to put his best people on it. Kevin and Collette are his best people, dad. He did it this way because he wanted to be sure it was done right.”
Madison ran around the desk to hug her father.
“Like you would have done,” she said, nestling her head against his chest. “Like you have before! Remember, when you had to save that boy from wolves, because Mom told you it was super important?”
“Madison, what did I just tell you about asking permission?” Lord North said, smiling despite himself. “Please, that’s enough. I need to speak to your brother in private.”
Madison released her embrace, and then studied them each in turn.
“You aren’t going to fight anymore, are you?”
Kevin shook his head. Lord North smiled and pointed toward the door.
“Oh, fine!” Madison said, throwing her hands in the air in a perfect imitation of her mother. “You’re both impossible, anyway.”
Madison stomped out of the room. Lord North and his son regarded each other for a moment, and then Kevin looked away, the color returning to his cheeks.
“I think I owe you an apology,” Lord North said. “Assuming you never, ever tell your sister I said as much.”
“I can do that, sir,” Kevin said, with obvious relief. “Then, the mission?”
“Oh, expertly handled, no doubt.”
“Thank you, sir! And…”
Lord North glanced at his son.
“Yes?”
“…what will you tell mother?”
Lord North smiled again at the thought of Sofia, who as always, had seen all of this coming.
“I will speak to your mother, of course. I need you to turn your attention back to the conflict, while I deal with the archive,” Lord North said, a smile creeping on to his lips. “I think perhaps you’d also better invite Operator Higgins over to dinner soon.”
***
She yelled for nearly thirty minutes before one of the guards was sufficiently annoyed to poke his head through the little window inset in the door and tell her to shut up.
“I need the bathroom,” Katya said promptly, her face white with distress. “It’s really fucking urgent!”
The guard laughed and disappeared.
“It’s an emergency!” Katya wailed. “I swear to God, you don’t want to have to clean it up!”
There was an extended sigh, and then the guard returned, looking uncertain.
“They will let you out with lunch…”
“Man, I told you. It’s an emergency! C’mon. Please!”
The guard shifted uncomfortably, like Katya’s urgency was transmittable, and ran gloved fingers through his excessively gelled hair.
“It’s an hour,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You can’t wait an hour?”
“Fuck, man, I’m not sure I’m going to make it at all,” Katya said, clutching the wall and partially bent over. “Please.”
The guard made a face, and then produced a keycard.
“Fine,” he said. “But this is gonna be real quick.”
“Oh, thank God!” Katya nearly hugged the guard as he opened the door and pulled her out by her manacled hands. “You saved my life, you’re fucking amazing!”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on.”
The guard pulled her down the hall hurriedly, around a corner, and through an unmanned checkpoint to a dead-end hallway with a staff bathroom on either side. Pushing Katya up against the wall with a warning glance, the guard fumbled with his access card for a moment, before using it to open the bathroom on the left. Still holding Katya by her wrist manacles, he ducked inside briefly and looked around.
“Looks okay,” the guard grunted, giving her a little push into the tiny bathroom. “Hurry up, okay? I’m going to close the door partway, but…”
“My hands, okay?” Katya rattled her manacles in his direction. “I need my hands for a second.”
“No,” the guard snapped. “Figure it out. You have one minute…”
“Look, I need my hands,” Katya insisted. “It’s…you know. That time of the month. I already don’t have any pads, and if you don’t mind me sayi
ng, my flow is really heavy right now, and I’ve been getting these stomachs cramps and, you know, and it’s a pretty fucking big mess already, and it’s only gonna get worse if I can’t…”
“Okay! For fuck’s sake!” The guard hurried to unlock her manacles. “Just spare me the details.”
He turned the key and one of the bracelets popped loose.
Katya drove her shoulder into his stomach and rammed the guard against the wall. He groaned and bent over. Katya bashed him in the side of the head with both hands, the loose manacle cutting open his cheek. The guard grabbed blindly for her, but Katya evaded him and swung out wide, hopping on his back and pulling the chain linking her restraints across his throat.
The guard bucked and struggled desperately, but Katya held tight, her legs scissored around his midsection, her elbows dug into his shoulders. The guard swung his baton wildly, missing completely with the first attempt, but catching Katya in the side of the head with a second blow that made her see stars.
Katya managed to duck the next blow, but she guessed the wrong direction for the swing that followed, and the baton caught her square in the eye socket. Only the awkward angle and her own reflexive backwards jerk of her head kept her from losing the eye.
The guard bent forward, nearly tossing her off his back, which allowed him one great gasp of air. Katya rammed the point of her elbow into the back of his head, at the base of the neck, and the guard moaned and dropped to one knee. Squeezing her legs tight around his lower ribs, Katya repeated the elbow strike, catching him a second time in the cervical spine and dropping him to the floor. Katya wrapped the chain back around his neck, catching two of his fingers inside at the last moment, and pulled as hard as she could.
The guard coughed and retched as he tried to throw her from his back. He waved his baton around, catching Katya on the point of her chin and chipping her front teeth. Katya’s arms ached and her eye throbbed, but she kept tugging, cracking the bones in the guard’s trapped fingers as he fought to hold the airway open.
He bashed her across the shin with his baton, causing her to yelp with pain, but Katya simply pulled as hard as her aching arms would allow, as the guard’s movements slowed, and then ceased entirely. She continued to pull until her arms gave out. Then she rolled to her back and lay there on the dirty bathroom floor, gasping and half-blind.
The Outer Dark (Central Series Book 4) Page 63