Slow Burn Dark

by A. B. Keuser

  “What’s to say your employer won’t do the same thing?” This was the only chance she’d give Paige to venture into specificity.

  As if the woman knew it, her smile brightened.

  “If Senior Colari Harris wanted to bury you, he wouldn’t have let me buy this delectable dress.

  “I like playing a role. He doesn’t. I’m quite certain he wouldn’t approve of my methods this evening. He’s not as… gentle as I am.”

  Sophia knew a threat when she heard one, even if it was delivered in a lilting voice.

  “You’re here to warn me… and then what?”

  “To let you know that when the dust settles, however it does, we will be able to help you sweep it away.”

  “What am I going to owe Harris in return?”

  “The security of the Colarium’s foundation is reward enough.”

  She highly doubted that.

  “And who are you to deliver such an offer?” Banks’ own disbelief was written on his face.

  Paige held out a card—where it had come from so quickly…

  Sophia took the slick, cold silver and glanced at the two lines of text. She had no idea what an official aide to a Senior Colari did, but she was pretty sure Paige was not among the standard issue.

  The table beside them sat, and Paige turned the conversation to the idle prattle any random socialite would be obsessed with. The small, daily items that ruled their lives in more ways than one, and Sophia found herself grateful—not for the deception of the other diners, but for the bits of news she never would have received from a member truly of their circle. Perhaps accepting Paige’s offer would come with unforeseen benefits.

  Their meal continued thusly, and when they were done, Banks pulled out both of their chairs visibly more relaxed than before.

  “Ms. Refuti,” Paige said, holding out a long fingered hand,a light in her falsely caramel brown eye. “It was a delight to meet you. The card will open a direct line that can reach me anywhere. Use it.”

  Her hand was like satin in Sophia’s.

  Sophia smiled and cast a glance over the woman once more. “If anything occurs, I’ll be sure to let you know…. Is there anything I can do for you?” Her emphasis on the last word hadn’t been intentional, but she had no problem with it once it was in the open.

  “Flattered as I am, my heart, body, and soul belong to another.”

  “Then my loss is their gain.” And she’d never begrudge the content smile that touched Paige’s lips at the thought of her phantom lover.

  Paige walked them to the lift, but didn’t join them.

  “A word of caution before I go… though I know I won’t be the first to offer it.” The elevator doors began to close and Paige’s smile faded. “Keep an eye on your brother.”

  Alone again, Sophia let the evening’s mask fall away.

  “That was strange,” Banks offered, punching in the code that would take them to the correct level of the tower’s underground parking. “Did you notice what her wig was hiding?”

  The wig hadn’t retained her attention long enough to do anything other than note its existence.

  “She has a resurrection module.” Banks’ puzzled tone matched the one inside her mind.

  “So she’s a colarium soldier.” And would one day be a Colarium slag. “That’s not too surprising if she’s working for a Senior Colari… is it?”

  “I think she might be something more than that.”

  “And this isn’t the place to tell me.”

  “We’re treading in deep water here, and I’m not sure we’ll like what’s swimming at our feet.”

  “Hopefully we find my brother and deal with his issues before he drowns.”

  “And takes us with him….”

  Nineteen - Flynn

  A constant beeping threatened to drive Flynn demented if he didn’t find and kill it.

  Blindly groping, he grabbed hold of the wires and tore them out with a vicious yank.

  And nearly screamed for his trouble.

  Fluid leaked from the largest tube with a pulse. Whatever was supposed to be going into him pooled on the floor. From the way it congealed, he wasn’t sure that was a bad thing.

  “If it’s not someone else trying to kill you…” Putty’s voice was thick with boredom. “You do a good job of it yourself.”

  His brother barely looked at him before getting out of his chair in the corner and yelling for Chad. “He’s awake and, like I predicted, being an idiot.”

  The doctor shot them both glances as he entered. The degree of irritation and censure varied, but Flynn definitely received the lion’s share. Putty rolled his eyes, and left

  “I’m not suggesting you’re a shit patient,” he said as he pulled on gloves and gently removed the needles Flynn had almost torn from his veins. “It’s already a proven fact.”

  As soon as Chad had untangled him from the lines and wires and tubes, Flynn went to slide from the other side of the bed….

  A tight, cotton grip stopped him short.

  The shackle was made of cloth and plastic, and wasn’t causing him any pain, but it wasn’t going to let him leave either—not without a very strange accessory.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “I put the restraint on you so you wouldn’t leave before I cleared you.” Chad sat beside the bed and leaned back in the chair.

  “If you prefer, I can get you locked up somewhere else… someplace with a warden.”

  “Blackmail isn’t a good color on you.” When his friend only smiled Flynn asked. “What is it going to take to get my pants back?”

  “Tell me what you’re really doing here. And don’t give the bullshit you shoveled on Putty. We both know he isn’t buying it either.”

  Flynn considered lying. He’d thought up a thousand different answers for how he’d ended up with Sukiyaki in mind… most of them played on people's inherent belief in social greed. But this was Chadrick. The doctor was one of three people in the universe who could tell when he was lying. One of three people in the universe whose opinion he actually cared about.

  “The Lazarai want something from the planet.”

  “Doesn’t everyone? There’s a jackpot underneath our feet that could make you rich simply by staking a square mile claim.”

  “But we’re too far inside Colarium space. Whatever they want… it’s not to control it.”

  “I suppose if anyone would know how…”

  “Don’t start with me. I’ve paid for those sins. You don’t get to keep stabbing at me with them.” He glanced at his arm. “Or with sedatives.”

  “If you’d moved the way you were headed, you’d have torn your neck open and I might not have been able to fix it this time. Three days’ rest was necessary.”

  “Three days!” Flynn jerked against the restraint and almost demanded the key.

  “I knew you wouldn’t agree to it, so I used my medical authority to make the decision for you.” Chad held up a hand before he could chew him out. “The dead men aren’t going anywhere, Captain Stevens isn’t either. And no one was going to come after you here.”

  “Why did he come after me at all?”

  “That is a question I would have started with… if he’d survived for an interrogation.”

  “I wasn’t worried about keeping him alive when he was trying to take off my head.” He didn’t know how to bring up the money aspect of his attacker’s motives.

  “I wouldn’t have expected you to be. I imagine instinct and training kicked in… and that is probably what scares your brother.”

  “As if he has any room to talk.”

  “We both know who would win the ‘which is scarier’ contest if we put it up to a vote. A mechanic with a temper and a trained killer are two very different things.”

  If Flynn didn’t know better, he might think his friend was mad at him.

  He didn’t like the distinction, but he certainly didn’t want Putty to be on that equal of a playing field. “It doesn’t ma
tter, I’ll always scare Putty and I’ve come to terms with that. There’s no convincing him that I’ll be ‘safe,’ especially not around anyone else he cares about.”

  Chad glanced back toward the empty doorway. “He hasn’t been hovering while we’re alone.”

  “Because he knows I like you.” Flynn shook his foot. “Can I please get out of this bed and get dressed?”

  Chad grimaced but slid the lock card across his ankle, releasing him. And after Flynn found his clothes—the shirt still stained with his own blood a nice reminder that he couldn’t feel the bandage on his neck because of a numbing agent—there was nothing between him and the door.

  Nothing but Chad. “Just because I let you loose doesn’t mean you’re good to go.”

  “I’ve lost three days to that bed. I’m not giving you another.”

  “Wait. Just give me three minutes.” Chad locked up the medcube and followed him outside.

  “Don’t you have other patients?”

  “Nothing else on the schedule for the day, and we’ve agreed. You don’t go anywhere alone anymore.”

  “We, of course, being you and Putty?” Flynn waited for Chad to confirm it and then said, “That’s not going to last long.”

  “Are you even sure that any of these are connected?”

  “No, but until I’m sure they’re not…” He let Chad slow him down. Tearing himself open again would be a lot slower than strolling through town.

  “What’s so special about Anderson Lodge?” Chad asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s old, it’s empty… it’s close to town. There are all sorts of nefarious possibilities.”

  “Nefarious? Now you sound like a kids toon. If Putty heard you he’d think I needed to put you on a seventy-two hour psych hold.”

  “I’m sure he’ll figure out I’m sane one of these days.”

  Chad was… the odd calm pool in the eddy that had been his childhood. The man was always thinking—a good trait to have when three quarters of the group was riding hell for leather at any obstacle that popped up in their path.

  “Why’d you come?” Flynn had sent the request without much thought other than that he needed competent help and that doctors were always welcome on backworlds like this one.

  “Because we all know that if I’d let you and Putty do this together, one of you wouldn’t walk away at the end.”

  “At least we can be pretty sure he’d only hobble me.”

  “He’s got a whole lot of anger bottled up inside there. It’s not like he’s going to just get over that because you come home and pretend to be a normal and productive citizen of the Colarium again.”

  “Oh, I’ll never pretend to be that.”

  “No,” Chad said with a weak smile. “You certainly wouldn’t.”

  “I think we need to talk to the only person in this city that I know can influence our dear governor.”

  It was a short trip to the bar.

  A shorter trip to the back room where Susan was sorting through a screen of accounting.

  “Going to have to invest in some locks if you don’t get in the habit of knocking, Doc.”

  “It’s my fault this time,” Flynn said, attempting to sound apologetic. “I needed someone who can bend Henri’s ear, and we both know you’re the only one who has any chance of swaying her opinion.”

  “If you’re here looking for more gun privileges, you’ll have to talk to her.”

  “Actually, I’ve already got all the gun permits I need.” Flynn glanced at Chad before giving his pitch. “I want the captains to do constant guard sweeps of their shafts and tunnels. Manned twenty-six hours a day.”

  Susan stared at Flynn as though he was the craziest person she’d ever met. “You know that’s never going to get past the mining council.”

  “It might.” Flynn stared back at the barkeep, waiting for her to say no.

  “You’d have to get everything just right, and then, you’d have to get the Captains to cooperate. North will only play ball if it’s in his best financial interests. And I’m not sure we could argue that this is.”

  “I think it’s time we start telling them all the truth. We’re not getting anywhere with these secrets.”

  Twenty - Sophia

  “We found him!”

  The man in a too-tight vest wasn’t familiar, but the badge and the bright eyed enthusiasm….

  As depressing as it was to admit, Sophia knew exactly how long he’d worked for her. No one in the collections department remained that excited about life after their second month.

  The digital hunt for a file in the masses of data could be intoxicating. Realizing you’d spent weeks, or months in a process that culminated with someone’s death was like the hangover that came after.

  “Who did we find?” She asked, biting her tongue before she followed the question with ones like: “Who told you you could bring it directly to me?” and “How did you get past security?”

  Banks was in a position to step between them if needed. Tense by her side, he likely ran through the same litany… and made mental notes to fire someone.

  “I just need you to authorize the transfer.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “We found him.” The man’s smile faltered when she didn’t respond. “Flynn Monroe… The bounty…. We...found him.”

  “Monroe?”

  He looked back and forth between them, a faint smile appearing for less than a second before his face wore the hallmarks of worry. “Yeah.”

  She couldn’t fault the man for looking like he was about to be pushed out the window. If it had been her brother delivering the news, she might have been tempted.

  “When did my brother ask you to find him?”

  “Oh, he didn’t. Mr. Refuti is on site. He’s the one who filed the report… asked for the rest of his personal detail to come down and help in apprehending him.” He smiled again, pained. “I gather he’s one mean motherf— uh, I mean, guy.”

  Taking the tablet that hung loose in his hand, Sophia scowled at the information. “Go back to work. I’ll deal with this.”

  “But—”

  Banks took him by the shoulder and spun him around like a puppet. “When the boss says go, you’re out the door. Here, let me show you where it is.”

  While he led the boy to the lift—one he shouldn’t have had access to—Sophia scanned the information. There was nothing done that was as-of-yet irreparable, thank the Great Mother, but who knew what her brother would get up to while she was working her way to him.

  Banks rejoined her, arms crossed, a scowl writ across his face. “What did he do?”

  “I’ll give you the details later. Get our ship ready.”

  “You’re not flying commercial?”

  “No. And we’re not taking the slow route either. If Maggie’s still in the field, pay whoever you have to to get us a folder, tonight.”

  Her brother was going to cost her a small fortune before she set foot on Sukiyaki again.

  If Flynn Monroe had a bounty on his head, she couldn’t look him up… not directly, but she could find out what she wanted to know a different way.

  She pulled up the Colarium public database, and tapped in Putty’s name. It took her a full minute of staring at a blank search result to remember he’d told her his real name—a courtesy she hadn’t returned. Something about his sister and then… Patrick.

  The name didn’t suit him.

  She’d have asked to meet his sister if she’d ever planned to see him again. It was nice to interact with people who knew exactly what they saw in the world, and could quantify it in as few words as possible.

  But, no. Patrick Monroe as the brother of a man wanted by two different governments didn’t make sense. There wasn’t a malicious bone in that man’s body… at least….

  Tapping in his name, she flipped through the copious files.

  He was exactly who she expected him to be… up to a point.

  Like most people at the beginni
ng of a relationship—and she supposed he hadn’t realized that was all they’d have—he’d neglected to mention the less desirable points of his past.

  He’d flagged on numerous violations. She didn’t doubt for a moment that he’d been able to build the bomb he’d been accused of at… fourteen. But she didn't believe he’d intended to blow anything up.

  That wasn’t the man she’d met, and no one who turned into that man could have spent his formative years working toward the destruction of a satellite facility.

  Listed in his file were three others… sister, brother, and a third party who hadn’t been named.

  His sister was gorgeous. The sort of woman who would turn heads wherever she went…. At least, she had been at nineteen. That was the last picture they had of her. It was exceedingly difficult to get pictures of women who reportedly never left Serbal’s temple on Ludo.

  But the brother, the one Geo had defied her to go after, his photo was closer to current, though there wasn’t a date or age associated with it.

  He was the missing link between his twin and their brother.

  And he was the sort of man anyone should have been afraid of…. Sadly, her brother wasn’t the sort of man to take the hints given in another man’s posture or words.

  This was the sort of man who would kill Geo without a second’s hesitation.

  “Banks! Why aren’t we off the planet yet?”

  “Because not even you can skirt the general astronautical laws on Capo. If you want that, you’ll have to run for office, or set up shop on a different planet. One not quite so glittery.”

  She shot him a look as she stood and pulled her coat from the back of her chair. “Have I told you lately how unappealing your sarcasm is?”

  “Only every day.” He smiled and she reminded herself that joking about only keeping him around for those dimples was a bad plan.

  She liked the man. But one broken rule was enough.

  And Banks, for all the times she’d caught him looking, hadn’t pushed for another lapse in protocol.

  “How do you plan on getting me off this planet and after that idiot brother of mine if you’re standing there, instead of ordering people around?”

  “Waiting on you. We both know my bark has more bite when you’re standing behind me, glaring at the peons.”