Falling Into the Black

by Caitlin Ricci

  He closed his eyes and turned his face into my neck. “Thank you. I’m glad to be here with you too.”

  That hadn’t been quite what I’d been saying, but his words made me smile all the same.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Resan

  I HADN’T told Arin who we were going after as we left Asiq the next morning, but he still quietly followed Em and me along anyway. I hoped that doing something that wasn’t part of being an aspasian would help him relax a bit. He put on a brave face, but I saw the tight lines of his mouth and how his smile hadn’t reached his eyes since we’d been back on Wish. He was far too young to look so miserable and alone, especially when he had his friends there to help him get through this. I knew he was a strong person, and once he was able to figure his life out, I was sure he would be better. I was also willing to be there the entire time he did that if necessary.

  We didn’t have to go far for the first of our targets. Nin was a small planet, mostly made of rocky desert, and the only good thing I’d ever known to come out of it was its salt exports, and on Nin was John Locke. I read over his file on my holoscreen while Em directed his shuttle. His was larger than mine, but as a bounty hunter, he’d spent a lot more time on his shuttle than I had on mine. Back before we’d joined Asiq as its security team, I’d spent most of my time on assignment on various worlds. Tracking people down was for bounty hunters. Walking around and making sure everyone was safe was the job of a peacekeeper. I liked Em’s way, though. I liked going to the source of the problem, instead of waiting for something to happen around me.

  “What are we doing here?” Arin asked us as Em entered Nin’s atmosphere. We’d be landing shortly. “This looks like a planet made entirely of brown rock. Does anyone actually live here?”

  Em gave me a look, and I smiled at him. “Arin likes beaches,” I explained.

  He rolled his eyes, and I turned in my seat so I could face Arin. “There are lots of people who live on Nin, but the one we’re after is named John Locke. He’s forty-three.”

  “What’d he do? Rob someone?”

  I hadn’t considered whether or not I would tell him what we were doing there, and I looked to Em. He nodded, and the decision was made to let Arin in on what we were doing now.

  “He married his slave.”

  Arin’s expression hardened. “How old?”

  I had to check the file for that. “Fourteen. A girl.” I clicked on her information. “She has run away twice, been returned both times.”

  Arin slowly nodded. “I’m coming with you.”

  “No. Absolutely not. Going after people is dangerous,” I quickly argued with him. But I could already see that he wasn’t listening to me as he curled his fingers over the arm of the chair.

  Em landed the shuttle, and I unbuckled myself so that I could check my neutralizer. I was in the stun position. I didn’t ask or want to know what setting Em had his in. It was better if I didn’t. That way when I was questioned, I could honestly say I had no idea. We would interrogate him, tell him to release his slave, and then leave. If he happened to show up dead after I walked out of his house, then I knew nothing. It could have been Em’s doing, but as a bounty hunter, he was exempt from my jurisdiction, so it didn’t matter just as long as I had no knowledge of it or hand in it.

  Arin got up as soon as Em did, and I was quick to grab his wrist and bring him back down. “You’re not going with us,” I tried again.

  He wasn’t paying any attention to me, though. “I need a gun too,” he told Em.

  “Em…,” I warned him.

  He just smirked at me. “They’re in the hold. Grab whichever one you like. It’s important that we all be able to protect ourselves.” He winked, and I wanted to punch him.

  “Asshole,” I grumbled as Arin walked toward the back of the shuttle to get himself a gun.

  Em laughed. “Serves you right. Now I have to be worried about Corbin neutralizing himself or something. Or me. He can get a bit scary when he’s angry.”

  “Corbin isn’t the one you should be worried about right now.” I was about to slug him in the shoulder, but then Arin came back. He was strapping the belt and holster to his hip as he walked, and at least he had chosen a small gun that wouldn’t be too unwieldy for him.

  “Let me show you how to put it into neutralize so that you don’t kill anyone,” I said as I reached for him.

  But Arin stepped back, stopping me before I could put my hands on his new gun. “I’ve got it. The settings were labeled. I can read.”

  “He can read,” Em echoed him, making fun of me. It didn’t do anything to lessen my desire to punch him. “You two, follow me.”

  Arin tried to go in front of me, but I pulled him back. He wasn’t a bounty hunter or a peacekeeper, and he had no reason to be walking around taking point like he knew what he was doing. I ignored his dramatic sigh as I followed Em out of the shuttle. We walked quickly as we scanned the area around us. Em was in the lead, but I would take over once we were closer to John’s residence. Arin stayed close behind us without having to be told what to do. That was one good thing at least.

  New places made me nervous, especially when I didn’t have a warrant and Em didn’t have a bounty, and there was no real reason for us to be bothering John Locke today. Only, my conscience was my reason, and I also knew doing this one thing would make Arin feel better. I was doing it as much for him as for John’s slave.

  When we got close, I walked faster so I could get in front of Em without making him slow down. We didn’t want to call attention to ourselves as we moved into a grungier, dirtier part of Nin. The entire planet was pretty depressing, but it was quickly becoming apparent that John Locke lived in the poorest, most run-down part of Nin. I looked back to make sure that Arin kept close to us in case anyone would try to harass him. He was young and good-looking, and I expected there to be trouble. That’s how I was always prepared for it. But he looked only angry and completely oblivious to anything else but the slaver’s front door as we approached. I shook my head and decided not to say anything. It likely wouldn’t have helped anyway.

  I knocked on John’s door, and he opened it a few minutes later but then quickly slammed it in my face again as soon as I showed him my credentials. “There’s your warrant,” Em said from behind me. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

  “What do you mean?” Arin asked. I started kicking down the door while they talked.

  “When a peacekeeper shows his identification, doors have to be opened. Not allowing a peacekeeper to enter the premises is illegal on every planet and moon in the universe. Even private homes. Now we have every right in the universe to search his home for anything illegal and to question him about any of his activities. How’s that door coming?” Em asked me, turning his attention from Arin back to me.

  I huffed as I kicked at the door until it finally gave way. “It’s open. No thanks to you,” I grumbled.

  Em patted my shoulder and walked past me as I struggled to get full breaths of air back into my lungs. “I thought you would want to look good in front of him.”

  I really was going to strangle him. It didn’t matter how I looked in front of Arin if I wasn’t able to breathe because of one stupid door. I straightened up and tried to regain some of my dignity as I found Arin watching me.

  “Go on in. Stay between us so that we can protect you. If you see or hear something, let us know. But stay quiet. We don’t know what he’s got going on in there.”

  “And if someone starts shooting at us, can I shoot back?”

  I really hoped it didn’t come to that. “Yes. If we’re in danger or you are, feel free to use your weapon. Only on neutralize, though.”

  He rolled his eyes, and I followed him into the dark house. Outside it was sunny, and we should have been able to see through the windows, but every single one of them had been painted over. I heard whimpering from a room nearby, and I knew Arin did too since he started to go off in that direction, but I grabbed the b
ack of his shirt to stop him.

  “After we secure him, then we’ll help her and anyone else here,” I hissed in his ear.

  He shot me a glare, but I pushed him along anyway. He needed to keep moving, and we had to stay close to Em as he cleared out each of the rooms one by one. If John hadn’t resisted my visit, I would be in the lead, and this would have been much more civil.

  “Back!” Em shouted at us, and I immediately grabbed Arin and pinned him against the nearest wall. With him safe I drew my neutralizer and pointed it over Em’s shoulder to where he’d found John getting ready to escape out the window. He had one foot out, the other in, and in his shaking hands was a gun.

  “Take it easy, John. This doesn’t have to end badly,” I called to him. “We’re just here with some questions about your slave.”

  “It always ends badly whenever one of you gets involved!” he shouted back.

  Maybe not on other planets, but I could see his point here. This was the kind of place that put even bounty hunters on edge. There were probably more than a few peacekeepers who had come onto Nin with a shoot-first-ask-questions-never kind of attitude.

  “I’m not like them,” I tried to assure him. He still didn’t have his gun fully raised at Em, though ours were both pointed directly at his chest. “I really do just want to talk to you.”

  I never got that chance, though, because two seconds later, he lifted his gun the last four inches that he needed to, and Em and I both shot him in his chest. I only stunned him. Em hadn’t been nearly as lenient. He moved closer as a red stain began to spread over John’s shirt. In case anyone else was waiting nearby, I followed in after him, only belatedly realizing that Arin wasn’t with us.

  “Arin!” I hissed for him as I saw him dart into the nearby room where we’d heard whimpering when we’d first come in.

  “He’s trouble,” Em said once he’d cleared the room. “And that room isn’t secured. Be careful with him.”

  “I’m trying.” I was exhausted from trying to keep him safe right then. “You okay in here?”

  Em nodded to me. “I’m good. Just going to report this in. Assisting a peacekeeper on a follow-up for a runaway slave case and things went sideways. Happens all the time.”

  As long as he had it handled, I was fine walking away and letting him deal with the aftermath of killing someone. I wished, and not for the first time, that I had as lenient of rules as him. Em worked on the fringes of the law. I was always well within it. Until recently. Now I was just trying not to break too many of my vows at once.

  I scanned the room with my neutralizer drawn as I went through the door that Arin had disappeared into. I found him kneeling on the floor next to a little girl, but not the one who had been listed as his slave.

  “Who’s that?” I asked him once I was sure we were safe in this room. I put my gun away and stood nearby. I wasn’t great with children, but he seemed to be calming her down nicely as she crawled into his arms and let him hug her. He lifted her without much trouble, and she clung to his neck.

  “Her name’s Katya. She was the housekeeper’s daughter.” Arin looked to be well beyond angry as his gaze met mine. It was a good thing I hadn’t unleashed him on John Locke after all.

  “Where is her mother now?” It would be best if we could reunite them, though looking around I was fairly certain that there was no one for her to go back home to. The house was filthy and covered in dust and broken bottles. If any housekeeper had ever been there, it hadn’t been recently.

  “She’s dead. So is the girl we wanted to see. They’re upstairs.”

  I glanced up at the ceiling and shook my head. I would have to go find, document, and report them. “When Em is ready to leave, go with him back to the shuttle. Take the girl. I’ll be with you as soon as I send word to the local peacekeepers.”

  “I’d rather stay here with you,” Arin protested.

  I gave him a brief smile. “And I’d rather she go with someone who actually understands how to talk to a kid. She likes you.”

  He gave me dark a look, but when Em came to get us, he went quietly. “I’ll join you back at the ship,” I told them. Em gave me a wave, and then they were off, leaving me alone with a houseful of evidence against a man who had died in a nearby room. I would have loved to call the whole thing a wash since I couldn’t have Em kill him again for what he’d done, but I needed to know exactly what had happened there.

  I started with the upstairs, hoping to get the worst of it out of the way. By the time I had finished checking the first of the three bedrooms, I was glad I would be going back to Arin and Em with the worst of it behind me. There were multiple bodies, not just the two I’d expected to find, and John had made no attempt to hide them from anyone who might have come for a visit. They’d all been sealed in plastic to stop the smell of decay from getting out, but they’d just been laid out along the floor. I’d nearly tripped over one as I’d come into the room.

  The other two bedrooms weren’t much better. Women and girls laid out in bundles, their faces all stuck as if they were still screaming. I had to sit down at the top of the stairs and remind myself to breathe before I lost the little bit of breakfast I’d managed to catch at Asiq before we’d left.

  I shook my head and prepared my report for the other peacekeepers. As soon as I’d sent it out, I got responses back, which was unusual. Normally murders weren’t that interesting. Maybe it was the count of the victims I’d managed to find so far, or the fact that some of them were so young that did it. As soon as the first peacekeepers arrived to take over my investigation, I silently left the house. I was glad to be done with it, and as soon as I was back on Em’s shuttle, I went to Arin and hugged him. Katya was playing on a holoscreen nearby, likely Em’s I imagined.

  “It was bad in there, wasn’t it?” Arin whispered. Em was watching us, and I nodded. “Is there a safe place we can take her?”

  “There is,” Em quietly said. I still had yet to stop hugging Arin. I needed his touch, and he didn’t seem to want to let me go either.

  “Where?” I asked him.

  “There’s a place, an organization, on Zion actually. They take kids who need to disappear. I was looking for something like this when you two were off on vacation, in case you couldn’t figure out a solution for your problem on your own. It’s good to have friends who are used to odd requests.”

  Arin slowly pulled away from me. “Do they have an age limit?”

  “Twenty-five, though he often doesn’t enforce that policy.”

  I knew he was younger than that. He sat down and pulled his knees up to his chest as he looked up at me. “If a place like that really exists, if I could actually stop worrying about anyone ever finding me again or recognizing me….”

  I nodded. I wanted that for him too. “I know. You should go see what they’re like. Maybe they can hide you away somewhere where you’d have your own private beach.”

  I caught Em shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, and I turned to him. “What?”

  “Nothing. Corbin was wrong about you two. That’s all. I said you were just helping him, Corbin said you were in love. Since you’re willing to say good-bye to him, forever really, I’m right.”

  Only, he wasn’t. When I’d needed someone to turn to after coming out of that house. When I’d absolutely needed to have someone touch me, just so that I could feel okay again, I hadn’t gone to Em as I had in the past. And that had nothing to do with him being with Corbin either. I’d gone straight to Arin. Because I loved him.

  “Corbin wasn’t wrong,” I said as I looked at Arin. “But if you want to go see if they can help you, I think you should.”

  “If you love me, why would you want me to leave?”

  I smiled at him and kissed him on his forehead. “It’s because I love you that I’d like you to go and see if they’re what you need to feel safe again.” I pulled away from him and turned back to Em. “Can you take us there?”

  “Sure. It’ll be a few hours, thoug
h. Might want to get some rest.”

  I took his suggestion and headed into one of the two tiny bedrooms on the shuttle. It wasn’t more than maybe five minutes before Arin joined me.

  “Hi,” I said as he lay down next to me.

  He gave me a weak smile and came into my arms. “You don’t have to give me up. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You haven’t even looked at this place,” I argued with him.

  He smirked and turned so that his chin was on my chest. “Yeah, I know. But I don’t really have to either. I know where I feel safest, and that’s wherever you are. So if you’re not there, I’ll still be looking over my shoulder expecting someone to come get me. And since you won’t leave Asiq, that means I won’t either.”

  I smoothed his hair back from his face. “Arin….” It was selfish, but I wanted to keep him close to me. I wanted him to be able to have a life too, though. “Think about it. Don’t make a rash decision.”

  “You make it sound like this is my one and only chance to go to Zion. It’s not that far away from Wish. Two jumpgates. I’d be there within a few days, if that. So if something happens, if there’s ever a reason for me to actually go there, I can. But right now there isn’t. I’m safest with you. Maybe not as an aspasian anymore, but I’ll talk to Monroe about that. Maybe he can make me another bodyguard or something.”

  “Do you love me too?”

  He just gave me a little shrug. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t.”

  “You’re obnoxious.”

  He just laughed and got comfortable in my arms with his head against my chest. “Will you tell me what you saw in there?”

  “No.” I was adamant about that. I wouldn’t have even told Em. The only people who needed to know were the ones in there right now.