I had been unnoticed in the crowd so far, but I saw a woman glance my way. She had dyed green hair, numerous piercings, and tight clothing that emphasized her curves and her cleavage. I wasn’t sure what to make of her yet—and anyway, she wasn’t my type. Never got the point of advertising so loudly your parents’ failure to teach you the value of societal norms. I kept moving and soon reached a tent with a number of old games inside. One stood out to me, and I walked over to it, picked up a mallet, and started the game. Soon, a brown, cartoonish face popped up out of a hole, and I hit it with the mallet. It was oddly satisfying. More came at increasing frequency until I was overwhelmed and unable to strike them all. And then it stopped, and my score flashed on a display. That seemed to be all there was to the game, and I had nothing left to do but play again and try to beat the score. So I did.
“I noticed your heart rate has increased, Rico. Are you okay?”
Reflex was key here, and the distraction of Dip’s voice wasn’t helping. “Just trying to have fun, Dip.”
“Doing what, if I may inquire?”
I righteously smacked another one of the faces. “Whacking moles. It’s an Earth game.”
“And why would you want to whack moles?”
“I’m not sure the game comes with a back story. I believe moles harm crops, so perhaps I am a farmer and have to protect my crops…but the only weapon I have is a mallet. Anyway, it’s a kid’s game.”
“Sounds violent for children.”
“Children love pointless violence. Children are still animals who haven’t quite yet learned they’re supposed to be something else.” I whacked a few more moles. I think I was having fun—I guess I wasn’t sure what that was like.
The game ended, but my score was higher this time. In fact, it was recorded as the high score for the system. I still thought I could do better, so I started another game.
“Is this to be your activity until it is time for your job?”
“What’s it matter, Dip?”
“I’m just making conversation. Your behavior has been different from normal lately. When a human’s behavior shifts dramatically, it usually means something.”
“I just want to whack moles, Dip.” The point of the “fun” activity was to forget about everything else for a little while, and Dip was ruining that. Plus, he was making me miss moles.
The game ended, and I had improved my score, even with the distraction. Still, I knew I could do better. “Going to need you to be quiet for a little bit, Dip. I need full concentration for this.” I took a deep breath, gripped the mallet tightly, and prepared to start another game.
“Mister, I’d like to play.”
It was a small human child. Since I was much bigger and armed with a mallet, I could easily have threatened him, but threatening children is usually a no-no. “Small child, I am near mastery of this game. You will need to wait.”
“You already played three times. It’s my turn. You need to share.”
The small child apparently did not fear death. I thought parents were supposed to teach that sort of thing to their children. They definitely didn’t want strangers like me doing that for them.
“Why don’t you let the kid play, Rico?”
I looked up and saw the green-haired woman standing near the entrance to the tent, her expression quite serious. I was suddenly very aware that the only weapon I had was the phony mallet—which I handed to the child as I cautiously approached the woman. “And you are…” Before I finished saying it, I got a good look at her face and the alert blue eyes looking back at me. “Diane?”
CHAPTER 27
“Can you give me a minute to explain myself?”
The green hair and piercings seemed very out of character for her—but apparently I didn’t really know her too well in the first place. I found it strange that I would be surprised by someone being deceptive about herself.
I took a quick look around the tent and only saw kids. Hopefully Morrigan was leaving me alone. “Got somewhere we can talk?”
Diane motioned for me to follow her. She led me through a rear exit, out of the way of foot traffic, and to a large nearby shed with a busted lock. The shed was packed with lawn equipment and other maintenance tools. A small light inside showed just enough room with the door closed for two people to stand closely together. Apparently, Diane had already scoped out the area for an isolated place to talk to me—and considering how quickly she’d changed her appearance, I could see she was someone of decisive action. It was hard not to admire her…despite how pathetic a situation she now found herself in.
She wasn’t so decisive, though, on how to start this conversation. She was watching me carefully, probably trying to gauge my immediate opinion of her. I decided to speak first. “Look, I’m sorry I called you ‘boring,’ but I think you’re overcompensating.”
She smiled weakly. Then she looked like she was going to tear up but quickly caught herself. “I’ve tried to learn not to feel sorry for myself. I’ve been in some bad situations, but most of those were due to my own decisions.” She now gazed firmly at me. “Anyway, to get to it, I’m not an assassin sent to kill Gredler.”
Now I had to decide what my intentions were here. A fugitive was rather useless to me, but I just went ahead and stayed in character. “I never thought you were…but I have to admit, I am rather confused.”
“I’m sorry, Rico. I’ve deceived a lot of people for a long time now—I even deceived myself into thinking I could just toss out the person I had been and start over like nothing had happened. It’s true—I worked for the Nystrom syndicate. I…” She took a deep breath. “I did a lot of bad things, which we can talk about later. If this were just about me, I’d leave you out of it. But there really are some big things going on, and the assassination of Gredler is just the beginning. I mentioned I worked on some projects in my spare time that were work-related? Well, what I’ve been doing is mapping out all the syndicate connections within the Alliance, and there are so many. I know it may sound paranoid, but I have been on the inside and seen it myself. Every level of government is infiltrated with people working for one of the syndicates, and this whole conference is just one big power play: Nystrom versus all the others.”
I guess I was supposed to feign surprise or disbelief at this revelation, but I just went with stoic. “And why come to me with this?”
“I can’t go back to the people I know on the police force. I’m still not completely sure who has direct ties to the syndicates, and…I’ve never been good at making friends there. And I don’t want to put my friends in harm’s way—plus I don’t know how they’d react, knowing I’ve been lying to them all these years. You’re really all I have right now, though it would be hard to blame you if you wanted nothing to do with me either.”
“You want me to help you escape?”
“No. I’m done just worrying about myself. I want to stop these people.”
I’ve never felt compassion, but I understand the concept—it’s a desire to reduce the pain of others. In this situation, it seemed the compassionate thing would be to tell her I’d help, embrace her in her time of weakness, and quickly snap her neck before she knew what was going on. She was hunted by the police and all the syndicates, plotting against forces way more powerful than her, her friends were now finding out the truth about her, and admittedly her only hope was…well, me. Her future looked extremely bleak, and if I killed her now, it would spare her a lot of pain and suffering…not the least of which was finding out the truth about the man she now confided in.
But, as I said, I’ve never felt compassion. I am often curious, though. “I spoke to Hana today.”
“Oh.” She looked as if she were bracing herself for a blow.
“She wanted me to know how ridiculous these charges are against you. Then she told me the story of when she first met you. Said that she thought you died in a transport accident, but I’m guessing the real Diane Thompson did die in that, didn’t she?”
She w
ouldn’t look me in the eye. “Yes. I finally grew a conscience in my life in the syndicate and wanted to start over. I saw an opportunity since Diane looked like me and didn’t have any friends or family to figure out she had been replaced. That she was coming to Nar Valdum to be a police officer wasn’t perfect, but I knew I could work with it. And then I just sort of…became her.”
“Should I still call you Diane?”
“I…I don’t want to be Melanie again.” She continued to look away from me, her face registering a mixture of sadness and disgust. Shame. Another emotion I only know in theory. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have tried to pull you into this. It’s just silly to think you can trust me now, and…”
She started to turn away, and I impulsively reached out and grabbed her. I pulled her to me, and there we were, close together in a shed, she wearing her tight clothing that emphasized her chest, when her previous outfits had never even confirmed she had breasts. I realized my mind—which was already more irrational than usual—was going in even more unhelpful directions, so instead I looked firmly into her blue eyes and said, “I’m already in this…Diane. And I’ve never run from anything.”
She stared back for a few moments. And then she embraced me—my second hug of the day. Except this time I hugged back. She was vulnerable and alone, but she felt safe with me—I think that was the message she was giving me with the gesture. And though wordless, the message I sent returning the hug felt like the biggest lie I’d ever told…even though I didn’t mean it as one. She was scared and confused. So was I.
“I don’t deserve you,” she said, and that was probably true, unless she did some particularly horrible things while working for Nystrom. “I’ve spent a long time trying to make up for what I was, and now I feel like I’m just causing more hurt by letting anyone care about me.”
That seemed pretty true, since my feelings for her were the sole cause of the sudden uncertainty I was experiencing in my life. I wasn’t mad at her for it, though; I had a fool notion growing that she was worth it. “I’m not a saint, either. But I am someone who likes to get things done.”
She finally let go to look me in the eye, and I was again surprised by the piercings on her face, which I assumed were fake. “I don’t know everything about you, but we’ve already been through a lot together…and that was real. And I know there is greatness in you. That’s what we need now, because there is a lot at stake. We’re talking criminals and murderers running rampant. Zaldia would only be the beginning.”
To someone other than me, that would sound pretty awful. “And you think we can do something about that?”
“I want to try. There is a real plot to kill Gredler, and I think I know who is behind it. How much do you know about Agent Dawson?”
“I’ve only met her a couple times…but something has always seemed a little off about her.” Without thinking, I flexed my right hand.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I was fingered as the killer to throw people off the trail of the person who’s really plotting the assassination. I had scrubbed my record pretty well, and the only people with the information to identify me would be people actually working with Nystrom. Earlier today I followed Dawson to a building downtown known to have a very secretive bordello inside—I’ve seen evidence over the years that the bordello is really some sort of Nystrom meeting place practically out in the open. I’ve seen them do similar things on other planets back when I was with them. I think she is the assassin…or knows who is.”
Well, I had to give Diane credit for being on top of things…despite missing the one important detail right in front of her face. And how long would that stay secret? This was a dangerous, silly path to go down, but apparently I wasn’t basing decisions on logic and rational thought anymore. “I admit that doesn’t sound too far-fetched for her, but do you really think Nystrom has people that high up in government?”
“I know they do. Do you think you could find out more information on her? And maybe Verg, too?”
I thought about that for a moment. “She’s sort of hinted at some job opportunity for me without giving me many details. Maybe I should see what that’s about.”
“It makes sense that she would see you as a possible recruit for Nystrom. If that’s what she’s trying to pull you into, be careful. It’s not something you can easily get out of, as I can attest. Still, if you can get some information on their operation here, that’s a starting point.”
“And the idea is to save Gredler?”
She had a look of scorn on her face. “He’s a Randatti stooge, and I’d like to kill him myself—but that’s how I ended up in a really bad place a long time ago.” Her expression became distant. “I have a history with them.”
“A history?”
“They killed my family. That’s how I ended up with Nystrom—it was the easiest way to get revenge. Before I knew it, though, I was just a cold-blooded killer who didn’t care about anything anymore.” She shook her head and looked back at me. “I don’t have time to get into that. The point is we’re saving Gredler just to stop Nystrom’s plan. The next step is to expose Gredler and his Randatti connections and any other syndicates that try to seize more power through the conference.”
“And how do we do that?”
“I don’t know yet…but I’m working on it. I know I can come up with something. I have been hiding in the shadows and collecting information for so long, and I have nothing left now but to go after them directly. That’s another reason I’m hesitant to bring you very far into this—this is going to be extremely dangerous, to say the least.”
I shrugged. “Meh.” Extremely dangerous is where I live.
She laughed. “Well, you’re just a badass, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much.” I pointed to her outfit. “And I guess you’re like a hard-nosed punk or something.”
She blushed and immediately put her arms up to hide her cleavage. Diane was modest…but my guess was that Melanie wasn’t. And here was a capable killer embarrassed to be showing too much skin. All these years of trying to be someone “better,” and all she did was temper her deadly skills with a few extra vulnerabilities. But that was a part of what made her so interesting to me.
“I do have a decent amount of experience at changing my appearance,” she said, “but I haven’t done it in a long time. I think next I’ll try something that fades into the background a little more. Anyway, I’d better get going—I have some other leads to follow up on. Plus I don’t know how many eyes Nystrom has out there, so we really need to be discreet. See what you can find out about Dawson, and we can touch base again tomorrow and share information. You said you like animals. How about the city zoo tomorrow at this time?”
I didn’t like animals when they were caged—too artificial—but that wasn’t really the point. “How will I find you there?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just be there, and I’ll find you. Oh, and if any of my friends contact you, just…” She hesitated. “I don’t want to ask you to lie, but I don’t want to draw them into this. It’s better for them to think I’m every awful thing being said about me than to try to help me. Anyway, I can’t thank you enough, Rico. Now please stay safe.”
She started to leave, but I grabbed her once more. “Make sure I see you again.”
We spent another moment in silence, and I began to lean in toward her, but she pushed me back. “Rico, you wondered before why I don’t date much. It’s because it just never seemed fair to do that to another person. Don’t fall in love with me. It’s not going to end well.” And then she pulled away from me and left as I stood there speechless.
I really had no idea what I was doing. I was operating with no plan and no real goal. But one thing was certain: I was excited.
CHAPTER 28
“You know, it would be rudimentarily simple for you to confirm Diane’s suspicions about Nystrom’s presence, considering you know for a fact who the real assassin is.”
I sat on my bed looking at one of my
empty holsters. I hated being unarmed. “I’m not an assassin, Dip. I’m a hitman.”
“So what exactly are your intentions with Melanie the ex-killer?”
I had no answer for that. “I’m not sure she’s done killing.” I was pretty sure she’d know a way to get me guns if I asked.
“Either way, does she actually fit into your current plans? I haven’t ever known you to have side ventures during a job.”
Either I was still going through with this job, and Diane would know the truth about me in a couple of days, making leading her on rather pointless, or…I wasn’t going through with the job.
It was a fantastical thought…perhaps “blasphemous” was the better term. This was my life—I had a job, and I did the job and focused on nothing else. If I didn’t stick to that, my whole life would unravel. And yet sticking to this job made me apprehensive as well. “Diane doesn’t trust Morrigan. I don’t trust Morrigan. That makes us allies. What I want to do now is figure out more of the larger picture here. I want all the details, and if Morrigan won’t give them to me, we’ll find them out another way.”
“Actually, I may have a way to assist you there. I’ve noticed some transmissions from this planet using an old Nystrom protocol. It’s a protocol meant for communication with the executives, but you were given access to it for your recent mission on Irona. If this is what Morrigan is using, and if there is no additional security on the communications, I should be able to listen in.”
“And you didn’t mention this before because…”
“Spying on your own employers never seemed important to you before.”
No, it hadn’t been. I was crossing a line here. “What do I need to do?”
“You need to get Morrigan to call the Nystrom executives but notify me first so I can direct all my processing power to catching the signal.”
I looked again at the empty holster. I was going to need weapons soon. “I can do that.”
“And what exactly is your plan after that? Is there any chance you’ll team up with Melanie to destroy all the syndicates?”
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