But Safi speaks up. "You'll drown him."
"I don't care," Rak growls.
"You'll care when they lock you away from Zilara for the rest of your life."
Gareth's body jolts as he inhales at the wrong second, breathing in liquid. He jerks again, eyes rolling back.
Rak swears and drops the water, staining the pale stone tiles dark with the rushing liquid. Gareth collapses, too, limp and motionless.
"Babes' blood, Rakhi!" says Alik. "What have you done?"
"Nothing I can't fix." Rak kneels beside Gareth, one hand hovering over my ex's mouth. A thin stream of water erupts from between Gareth's lips and shoots away, spattering on the ground. Gareth coughs and opens his eyes.
Terror spikes in his gaze and he scuttles backward, away from Rak. "You—you drowned me!"
"Only a little, by accident. Be a man about it, and get up." Rak grabs a fistful of Gareth's shirt and shoves him back, against the fountain wall. "I've been witness to plenty of torture and death, boy. Whatever you think you know, whatever you believe you'll gain from blackmailing us—trust me, it will not be worth the pain I can inflict on you."
"And I'll help him do it." I trail my fingers in the second fountain, and within seconds the water begins to boil vigorously.
Gareth's eyebrows lift. "You've expanded your repertoire, darling," he says.
"Yes, I'm a lot scarier now," I say. "And I think you haven't overheard nearly as much as you want us to believe you have. There's no way you could have been listening all the time. So here's what we're going to do—you're going to tell us everything you know, right now. And we'll decide if we're going to let you live, or if we'll have to kill you again. Sound fair?"
"I have recordings," Gareth says. "If anything happens to me, they'll be sent to your father."
I glance at Safi.
"Lie," she says.
Gareth frowns. "What? No, it isn't."
She sits on the edge of the fountain as he sprawls beside it, his back to the wall. "Try again, bastard."
After a long look into her eyes and another at my face, he spits out a string of words. "The audio transmitter in the ring only works within a short range. I couldn't put in a more powerful one because I needed space for the tracker, and the jewel still had to look like a jewel so you wouldn't suspect. I had to be nearby to hear you, Zil, and I couldn't hear anyone else very well. And since I have a life beyond following your ass all over Ceanna, I didn't get much information."
"Ah, the truth. Thank you." Safi nudges his hip with the toe of her boot. "A little more detail, please?"
Slowly, painfully, we wring the rest of the truth from Gareth. He doesn't seem to know anything specific about the suppressors, or our plans to infiltrate and rob Amzen. According to him, he couldn't get close enough to hear much at the black market, but he knows about the boosters from my confrontation with Alik a few minutes ago. Alik's face pales noticeably at the news, and although I don't like what he's planning, I feel a twinge of guilt at being the one to jeopardize it.
"What do you want to do, Alik?" I ask. "It's your business deal."
Alik crouches in front of Gareth. "I think he and I can work something out. He's a man with an eye for power and opportunity, and so am I. What do you say, Vandelor? Want get in on the ground floor of this enterprise?"
Gareth scoffs. "Team up with a loser thief from Emsalis? Not likely."
"Very well," purrs Alik. "I suppose money and power are of little interest to you."
"I have plenty of money," Gareth says.
"Your own money, or your parents' money?"
A faint flush colors Gareth's cheeks. "It's none of your business, Emsali trash."
"And power? I suppose you have your fill of that as well. Men under your command, production lines churning out their yield upon your orders? A growing network of contacts among Ceanna's underground, where the real power players hold sway?" Alik's voice is mesmerizing, velvet lined with sharp greed.
And Gareth's eyes light up.
When I first met Alik, something about him reminded me of Gareth. The hardness under the easy smile, the quick eye for a fresh mark. The willingness to take bold risks for future gain. He and Gareth are twin coins, dancing on the knuckles of Fate, somehow managing not to slip between its bony fingers.
As Gareth smiles and reaches out to grip Alik's arm, I groan inwardly. This partnership is a very bad idea.
"Gareth and I will work out the details of our association later," Alik says. "Over drinks, perhaps. And I assume that you'll also guard the secret of Zilara's powers, my friend? I'm afraid if you don't you may regret it. The rebel here can be unpredictable." He jerks his thumb at Rak.
Gareth pulls himself up to his full height, trying to regain the poise he lost so completely during his torture-bath. "I believe I can keep that to myself."
"Lovely," says Alik. "Rak, would you dry off my business partner?"
Reluctantly Rak siphons the water out of Gareth's clothing and hair until it's nearly dry. Meanwhile, I drop the ruined ring into the boiling water of the fountain beside me.
"I'll wave you soon, and we'll go for that drink," says Alik airily, as if he's planning a get-together with an old friend.
Gareth answers with a wordless salute and a last glance at Safi. He avoids looking at me or Rak as he walks through the archway and away into the park, his posture significantly less cocky than it was when he entered our little garden. I suppose being momentarily dead can have that effect on a person.
The rest of us wait, silent, until he's long gone.
"Well, that was fascinating," says Alik, flicking pebbles into the empty fountain.
"I'm sorry, Alik," I say. "It's partly my fault that you're in this position, having to link up with Gareth."
"You're right, it is partly your fault. But you didn't know he was spying so closely. And I think you've been punished enough, knowing that someone was listening when you and Rak—" He makes an indecent, unmistakable gesture with his fingers.
Rak lunges for him, and they tumble into the dry fountain bed, throwing punches.
"Stupid boys." Safi rolls her eyes. "All of them, ridiculous." She rises, and I walk with her toward the arch.
"I should warn Alik about Gareth—what he's capable of," I say.
"We all saw what Gareth is capable of," she answers. "Besides, Alik is the one who stole a priceless ability booster from under a Vilor warlord's beard. He cheated his buyer, dodged bounty hunters, and finagled a way out of Emsalis. I think he can handle a stuck-up Ceannan rich boy."
"You're right." I laugh. "Why the stars am I worried about Alik? Gareth is the one who should worry. He has no idea who he's dealing with."
18
Two days later, I receive a curt message from Alik. "Blueprints here. Meet at Safi's."
A few blocks from Rak's place, Safi has secured a tiny wedge of a shop for herself, with a sliver of window facing the street. The shop space is bare, except for a heavy table already littered with scavenged scraps of tech and mech. The tools I bought her are sticking out of the shallow, half-open drawers tucked under the table's edge.
At the back of the shop, a narrow door leads to the living quarters—a bed, a small bathroom, some cooking facilities. It's not what I would have chosen, yet Safi seems incandescent with pride when she shows us around.
"We can do our planning out here," she says, gesturing to the shop. "More space. I don't have a house system yet, but there's a holoscreen and linkup we can use."
Alik shakes his head. "I prefer paper for this kind of work."
"Before we start—" I turn to Tram and Ridley, my ever-present followers. "I don't suppose you would feel right about leaving me here alone for the day? We have some private matters to attend to." I wriggle my eyebrows and wink significantly.
"We're supposed to stay with you wherever you go, Miss Zilara," says Tram gruffly.
"However," says Ridley, "it wouldn't be a betrayal of our mandate to scour the neighborhood for any
threats or stray feedrunner drones. And if we happen to stay out until, say, mid-afternoon, would that be acceptable?"
"Perfectly."
"We won't stray far," she says. "Use your com if you need us."
Tram grips Rak's arm with his massive, red-haired hand. "You keep her safe."
"I will."
Ridley and Tram stroll out the door; and after a brief conversation, they split and head in opposite directions along the street outside.
"You don't trust them?" asks Safi, idly flipping a pinscrew through her fingers.
"They're my bodyguards. Do you think they would ever permit me to undertake a mission like this, with all the risk that's involved? Trust me, if Ridley knew what I was really up to, she would never have walked out that door. She'd stun me and drag me home first. As it is, she probably thinks we're going have an orgy or something."
"A what?" Rak's eyes flare wide.
"We don't have enough people for a true orgy," says Alik coolly. "Now a foursome, that would be worthwhile. Although I could do without the rebel in the mix—let's call it a threesome."
"Stop it. You'll give the ex-Maraj a heart attack." Safi pats Rak's arm soothingly. "Go on, bring out the blueprints, thief."
From his bag, Alik pulls a metal tube with a lid at one end. Removing the lid, he shakes out a scroll of thick papers. The blueprints. "Pay up, Zil."
"How much did they cost you?"
He names a price, and I groan. "That's half my monthly spending money. What's your account tag? Or should I take out a finance card for you?"
"Finance card will do."
"You'll have it tomorrow. And I suppose I'll have to pay you for your role in this caper, as well."
He unfurls the sheaf of papers and spreads them, using chunks of tech to keep them splayed on the table. "I'll help you plan it, but I'm not going in." His lean face is uncharacteristically serious. Not a trace of a twinkle in those blue eyes.
My heart is sinks. "Why not?"
"I have plans for my future, and being part of your little escapade could jeopardize them. Besides, I made a bargain with your father for my status here, and that bargain includes refraining from my former profession."
"So instead of thieving, you're switching to black-market power boosters? I doubt my father would appreciate that."
"True," says Alik. "But so far he's been happy with the bits of useful intelligence I've been able to procure for him. Like most busy and powerful men, as long as the Magnate gets what he wants, he doesn't bother asking too many questions about provenance."
I lean forward, staring into Alik's eyes. "What is he asking you to acquire for him?"
"No, no, darling." He shakes his head. "You may be able to dazzle Rakhi into answering all your questions, but those beautiful eyes won't work on me. I shouldn't have told you this much."
"I need your help, Alik."
"And I'll help you plan your infiltration and exit, lovely. Nothing more."
I sigh gustily, just to let him know how unhappy I am about this. But I can't force him to accompany us. "Where do we begin?"
Alik approaches the plans with the focus and gravitas of a professional burglar. More than once during our three-hour discussion, I notice Safi watching him, her black-lined eyes alight with admiration. She likes him, and he seems to like her back. I'm not sure why there's this tenuous distance between them; but they seem to have an understanding, an agreement not to get too close.
"There are bio-locks here, and here." Alik indicates the outer door and the inner lab doors. "I'll get you a scan repeater. All you need is a thumbprint and eye scan of someone with access, and the repeater will store that information and give you the credentials to get inside."
"How do we get a thumbprint and eye scan, though?" I ask.
Alik glances up, his expression almost pitying. "You kidnap someone, sweet Princess."
"What? No!"
"Just for a few minutes—just long enough to get the scans."
"What about this Dr. Breem?" says Safi, scrolling through the personnel logs she decrypted earlier. "He's one of the head bio-researchers. He should have access to everything."
"Pull up his public profile," says Alik. "Ah, yes, this is good. He's an adjunct professor at your lovely university, Princess. He teaches a course there every week. I can easily drug him and take the scans."
"I think we should do this in four weeks or so," I add. "After the aeroball tournament."
"Are you competing?" Rak asks.
"I signed up yesterday. I'll be training with some other players from Uni."
"Good." His quiet approval warms my soul.
"What do you think, Alik? Will that time frame work?"
"It should." He turns around and walks back to us. "But we're going to need money for gear and a couple pieces of tech."
"How much?"
He does a few calculations and checks some prices using Safi's uplink. The estimate he comes up with is sizably more than I have on hand. But I think of my engorged closet at home, stuffed with pricey jewelry and clothing, and I nod. "I can make it happen. But I'll need you to help me sell some items. We can't let word get out that the Magnate's daughter is hawking her possessions."
After a quick excursion for food and some more planning, I'm beginning to see blueprint lines, gear specs, and security networks whenever I close my eyes. And although my friends haven't complained so far, I don't think I should let my personal crusade encroach too heavily on their new lives here.
"We're done for the day. Thank you for your help, again," I tell them. "You'll be paid for your time."
"I'm not doing this for money," Rak says.
"Of course not," mutters Alik. "You're her lover, so you're already getting paid."
"No money for me either," Safi says. "Isn't this something friends do? Help each other, without requiring payment?"
"You're making me look bad, love," says Alik. "All right, I'll settle for the same form of payment as Rak. A few nights alone with the Princess."
He steps swiftly out of Rak's striking range—but instead of throwing a punch, Rak swirls the water out of a bottle on the table, forms a slim whip with the liquid, and smacks Alik across the hand with it.
"Ow! Not fair, water boy."
Rak smirks. "You asked for it."
"You manipulated the water without moving your fingers that time," I say to Rak.
"I've been practicing. I think the movement was a crutch, to help me visualize what I needed to do—and now that I'm used to it, my mind and my energy do most of the work."
"I've practiced a few times, too," Safi says. "It's difficult in this city, because there are so many sound waves and vibrations here, and if I let them all in, it's too much. I passed out once. But I'm learning to pluck out the vibrations in the air, the different kinds of hoverpods—I can zone in on them now, like I do with a person's heartbeat."
"How wonderful for both of you," Alik says dryly. "What about you, Princess? Do you practice your power?"
"I— no. Not really."
"You should. Your gift will play a part in getting you in and out of that facility." He taps his temple. "The plan is already forming. You'd better prepare."
After Alik leaves, I wave Ridley and ask her and Tram to meet us at Rak's. She sounds unhappy at the prospect of my walking a few blocks unprotected. "Your father wouldn't approve."
"I don't care. We're walking." I end the wave before she can protest any more.
"She's not going to wait at my place, is she?" says Rak.
"Definitely not. She'll intercept quietly and slink along behind us." I scuff the sidewalk with my shoe. "It's so hard to get any privacy."
"Is that—" Rak points ahead, to a large drone swooping across the street.
"It's not a feedrunner drone," I say. "Looks like a delivery drone. Maybe a notary drone stopping by one of the businesses along here."
"The Fray used reconnaissance drones sometimes," he says. "To scope out sites we wanted to hit. Sometimes they
took long-range images and vids—we could get access codes and passwords that way."
I clutch his arm. "You should mention that to Alik! Maybe we could send a drone to Amzen, to scope it out. Have you flown one?"
"Yes. I'm good at it." A statement of fact, not a boast. "It would have to have stealth features, though. I'm sure a place like Amzen has security against surveillance drones."
"Maybe General Binney can help us get one."
"Won't he wonder what you're up to?"
"Maybe. But I'd rather not go through Alik for everything."
We're passing an archway between two buildings. The passage is long, deep, and dark, with a glimpse of sunlit courtyard at the end. On impulse, I seize the front of Rak's shirt and pull him into the tunnel.
"What are you doing?" He pulls back slightly.
"Let's hide from Ridley."
"Is that fair to her?"
"Where's your sense of fun?"
He doesn't reply, but my heart knows the answer. He lost the spirit of fun at age five, when he parents beat him until he stopped using his water gift; when his father killed himself; when he watched his mother and sister struggle and scream in the hands Vilor raiders; when he joined the Fray.
I want to bring the fun back into his life. Not to change him, but to restore him.
Halfway down the arched tunnel, I spot a nook in the wall—a recess barely big enough for both of us. And without pausing to think, I draw him into it.
We stand, chest to chest, in the gloom. Can he hear my heart beating?
A bird whistles from the sunny courtyard a few paces away. The faint scent of old moisture and stale fuel runoff rises from a drain near our feet, and I inch closer to Rak, inhaling his scent instead.
"Do you remember," I whisper, "when you almost killed me? In that closet, when the Vilor attacked?"
He moves nearer, his hips shifting against me. "I do."
"What were you thinking then?"
"I wasn't thinking so much as feeling." His voice, a rough whisper, scrapes over my skin, setting me on fire. "I felt the wrongness of killing you, of putting out the light inside you. I couldn't bear the idea of being the one to quiet you forever. Because whenever you spoke to me, I felt more alive."
Princess of Lies and Legends (The Evolved Book 2) Page 19