The Kota

by Sunshine Somerville

  Bullseye actually staggered back. “How did you-”

  “I followed you one day when you thought no one could see you. Somehow, I can still see you when you’re supposed to be invisible.”

  “What?”

  “I see your form in the red and yellow of the space dimension. The day I followed you, you went to a terminal and called in, reporting on some part of your mission. When you left the terminal, it was a simple matter of hitting redial. The satellite wouldn’t connect without your access code, but it didn’t take a genius after that to conjecture that you were working for the Dominion.”

  Oh, shit, she thought.

  Jett winced in pain. “Later, I used my private terminal at Free Labs and broke into the Dominion operative profiles. I knew you wouldn’t be listed normally since you don’t have an ID tag – I know that’s why I always pay for dinner. But, you got drunk once and told me that you’d tried to have your birthmark removed as a kid.”

  I need to stop drinking, she thought.

  “So,” he continued, “I eventually found you by checking dermatology records from offices around Capital City. I assumed you were from there, since that’s where the Youth program trains assassin operatives. Turns out, someone in the dermatology office made a slip and didn’t hide your records. I found files that said a Youth operative named Bullseye came to the office multiple times to have a birthmark removed. I was positive I’d found you when I read the description of your birthmark.”

  Flush me, she thought.

  He looked at her with a sigh. “All told, I’ve known who you are for three weeks.”

  Bullseye took a deep breath, which was shorter than she’d hoped. She was too tense. “How many people have you told?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “What does that mean?” she barked.

  “I haven’t told anyone.”

  That made no sense.

  “What are you going to do now? Kill me and disappear back to the Dominion?”

  “That’s a good plan, yes.”

  “Please, don’t do this.”

  “You think I haven’t heard people beg for their lives before, Mr. Chase?”

  Bullseye stomped to where he sat. She straddled his legs to sit facing him, jabbed her elbows into his shoulders, and slapped the wall on either side of his head. Jett winced in pain again but looked back at her.

  “Look, love, here’s my story. When I was sixteen, I had to slay the woman who stepped in as my mother. That happened right after my best friend saved my life after he tried to slay me. I was under investigation for a long time, and ever since I’ve been walking a tightrope. I’ve had to murder a lot of people to prove my allegiance – so many that I can’t even remember half the missions.” She tapped her fingers on the wall like a drum roll. “And that brings us to the great disasters of tonight! First, I went to slay those people who operated on your brain, and one of my former school chums showed up. He shot their daughter, so I cut his throat because that bothered me – that’s not supposed to bother me! After that I called the Dominion, and they told me I’m being watched and that I have to finish this job or I’m pretty much dead. Then, I got flushed emotionally – I’m not supposed to have emotions! Now, you’ve found out about me, and what you know jeopardizes a mission I’ve been on for a year. So what do you really think I’ll do now? You’ve already heard how many people I’ve killed today – what possible problem do you think I’d have getting rid of you?”

  Jett’s probing blue eyes looked back at her without wavering as he thought over her words.

  Almost faltering, Bullseye managed to hold her face expressionless. She’d poured out much more than she’d intended. Maybe it was because of her confessional mood after talking with the priest. Maybe it was because she wasn’t exactly afraid of Jett revealing her secrets, considering she’d have to do away with him in another couple of minutes.

  But he doesn’t look surprised, she thought. I’m dealing with a genius here. A genius with lie-detecting mutate-genes. He’s probably seen through my charade for quite a while…

  As her gaze darted around the living room, it came to rest on a vase of exotic flowers. She hated flowers, but that wasn’t the point. Jett had bought her the flowers a few days ago. Only a few days ago – not three weeks ago.

  Jett was still looking at her. “You killed Clay and Jolene? And your partner killed Bella?”

  “He wasn’t my partner.” She had to swallow and look away. “But, yes, I did.”

  Jett sighed. “I warned Clay an assassin was hunting down the rebels here. I didn’t tell him it was you, but I told him to get his family out. He didn’t believe me.”

  Bullseye felt a fresh wave of guilt and fought to hold on.

  These are good people, she thought yet again. They’re rebels, but they’re not…dangerous. Jett has been a boring annoyance, but he’s good too. Oh, flush me – what am I going to do?

  Jett’s voice broke up her thoughts. “I’m not begging for my life. I don’t want you to do this for your own sake. Whoever you are, I know you’re hurting. I didn’t know why you were in such pain before, but now a lot of things make sense. It’s like everything I’ve been wondering about over the past year now makes sense within the space of these few minutes.”

  She squirmed.

  He continued. “It takes a piece of you every time you have to kill someone, doesn’t it? You might not even care about the people involved, but you do care that it hurts you. Please… Killing me will only make you feel worse. I don’t want that. This pain you’re in will never end unless you end it. Walk away. Get out of the Dominion. I understand they might come after you, but-”

  “Might?” She laughed darkly. The ridiculousness of what he was suggesting helped her stay strong. “You want me to leave the Dominion? Do you citizens really believe it’s that easy? It’s a good thing you can get by on your looks, love, because you obviously have no idea how the real world works. All you people are the same. You live out your simple lives while reality rages around the little bubble world you’ve made here. You’ve driven me crazy this past year! My life in the Dominion may be messed up, but at least it’s interesting. You’re the most insipid person I’ve ever had to work with while on a mission. Did you know that? I should slay you now for the annoyance factor alone. You’ve got a bit of heart because you want to find the DRK treatment – I know that’s why you got the augmentation to begin with – but that’s it.”

  “I’ve got a bit of heart? Funny, I was going to accuse you of not having one at all.”

  “Don’t be smart, Jett.”

  “Can’t help it,” he reminded her.

  They took a pause to glare at each other.

  When Bullseye was calm, she said, “If I left the Dominion, I’d lose my DRK treatments. Right now I have it in my blood, and I’ve grown rather fond of having it there. Besides, if I left, they’d hunt me down because I know too much. I can’t leave the Dominion, Jett. My life would be over. Wake up! The world is an ugly place, and I…” She caught herself. “And I’m part of it. You don’t know me. I’ve spent the last year making sure you’ve only seen Meegan Hunt. I’m nothing like the woman I’ve pretended to be. Don’t think you’ve got my life figured out, and don’t tell me what I need to do.”

  Jett scowled. “I know you’ve been faking. I have these nifty mutate-genes, remember? You acted like Meegan Hunt when you knew people were watching, but you had a different look in your eye when you didn’t think I was looking. I got to know you when you weren’t paying attention. Your whole demeanor changes. I compared that with your other behavior until I knew for sure when you were lying and when you weren’t.”

  Shit, she thought again.

  Jett let his head rest against the wall between her palms. He kept his eyes on her face. “Look, maybe I don’t know you, but I do know you’re hurting. Once I figured out what you’re doing here in Monaco… Well, I’ve seen your tears at the funerals. You know we don’t deserve to be murdered. And you
must at least respect my right to live. You’ve put up with me for a year, haven’t you?” His expression turned sad and embarrassed. “I was only cover for your assignment, wasn’t I? You are good at this. I never would’ve suspected you were pretending to love me if it hadn’t been for my mutate-genes. So now you’re going to kill me? You’ve hurt me enough. What kind of person does killing me make you?”

  Bullseye stared back at him. A numbing sensation made her squirm, and she felt her muscles tighten. In the back of her mind, she remembered her promise to the little girl who’d liked Jett’s voice. Then the priest came to mind.

  If I slay Jett, she thought, it’ll drive me deeper into guilt and self-loathing. I’m so tired of this. Everything Jett’s saying is true, even if I’m trying to ignore the truth.

  Jett noticed her uneasiness. “That’s called your conscience. Listen to it.”

  “I don’t have a conscience. That’s one of the many things you don’t know about me.”

  Bullseye took a moment to consider her options. Soon she realized there was only one way to live with herself, and her two past promises held her to this resolve.

  Even if Jett is a bland human being, she thought, I can’t slay this man. In the past, his death would’ve been the icing on the cake. Now it’d be the final blow.

  Making her decision, she felt something switch over in her mind. With an unexplained, somewhat manic grin, she rolled off Jett’s legs and went to her bedroom. She came back with her beloved knife.

  Jett looked worried until she knelt at his side to cut his bonds. “Are you letting me go, or do you have some further torture planned?”

  “Don’t ask questions. You’ll make me change my mind, and you really don’t want to piss me off right now.”

  “Agreed.” He made a face. “I understand you have to go back to the Dominion, but what’ll happen to you?”

  Bullseye looked up and started to tell him she could handle herself.

  It wouldn’t be the truth, she thought. How many of my lies has he seen through?

  “I don’t know,” she answered more honestly. “I haven’t been back to the Capitol in years. I was a kid. I haven’t sorted out what to tell them yet. If I go back without finishing my mission… I don’t know what’ll happen to me.”

  “Yes, you do.” Jett looked in her eyes, apparently using his mutate-genes. “They’d kill you. Or worse.”

  “Cruelthor wouldn’t factor me, Jett. He’s my brother, for-”

  “Your brother? What an in-law he would’ve made.” Jett swallowed and looked away. “I don’t think your relationship would stop him from killing you, and neither do you. You just lied when you said he wouldn’t factor you.”

  She didn’t deny this. She went back to cutting the ties from his wrists.

  Jett’s voice sounded as if he was thinking at a speed few others could. “Tell Cruelthor my augmentation worked so well that I was able to discern who you really were. You had no choice but to kill me immediately. And since my death was the fifth of the night, you had to destroy my body so Monaco didn’t know to start an official investigation. Since there’d be no explanation for my disappearance, you had to leave too to make everyone think we ran away together. If you stayed while I vanished, people might get suspicious, so you had to leave or else risk exposing the Dominion’s activities here.” He looked at her to see if she followed. “If you go back with a story like that, Cruelthor won’t question the absence of my body. He won’t be able to blame you for leaving before finishing your mission either. He might even be happy you got out of here without exposing the Dominion’s plan.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “If I tell the Dominion I had to slay you, you’ll have to disappear and leave everything behind. Are you sure you’re willing to…die?”

  “It’s the only way we both can live. We have to make it look like I blew your cover. And, this way, no one else has to die.” He grimaced. “I’m assuming you had a few more assassinations to go?”

  “Yep.” She finished with the last cord on his wrists and, scowling, moved down to his feet. “I was almost done with the surgeons, but Cruelthor ordered me to eliminate you augmented citizens too.”

  “So even if I hadn’t figured you out…”

  “Yep. Your days were numbered.”

  Jett paused. “Once you leave without finishing your mission, will the Dominion still come after the others like me?”

  “They might.” She cut away the last knot around his ankles. “Cruelthor knows how hard it was for me to infiltrate Monaco, but I think he’d risk sending other operatives, in this instance. It’s crucial that the Dominion keep control of Free Labs. He wanted a list of all you augmented citizens.”

  “Then I have to warn them.”

  She shook her head and helped Jett to his feet. “If you went to them, you’d just make them targets. Besides, even Clay didn’t believe you about…me. But tomorrow the other augmented citizens will hear that Clay and Jolene were murdered and you’ve gone missing. Hopefully your brilliant friends will put two and two together and get out of town.” She shrugged, not entirely comfortable with this. “I promise I won’t give a list of names to Cruelthor, but the only thing we can do is hope they’re smart enough to realize they’re being exterminated. If you warn them and they’re ever caught and interrogated, Cruelthor would know I let you expose the mission. Yes, that sounds horribly cold of me, but you can’t warn them, Jett. We have to cover our tracks here, or we’re all dead.”

  “So the best way to warn them is to fake my death.” Jett frowned but seemed to accept this. “Okay, how do we do this?” His frown deepened. “I assume you have a plan?”

  “Honestly, I’m making this up as I go… But, yes.” Bullseye slipped into a tone she used when giving orders to lower operatives. “It’s only a few hours ‘til sunrise. As soon as you leave here, go straight to your boat and take it to the bay where you took me fishing last week. That seemed like a good place to dump a body.”

  Jett made a face.

  “It’s going to hurt,” she said, “but you have to cut out your ID tag. I want you to remove it and throw it in the water. Once I report that I’ve slain you, Cruelthor will check by tracking your ID tag. The patrol machine reports will show that you were here now. I’ll say that I learned you were onto me, followed you to the boat as you were trying to escape, and killed you there. I’ll say I chopped up your body and threw you in the bay. He’ll send drones to the boat to get rid of the evidence – and to make sure I’m telling the truth – so if you could leave blood on the boat, that’d be great.”

  He didn’t seem to find this amusing.

  “Once your ID tag is out, swim to shore. Make sure no one sees you, and I’d suggest swimming east until you’re away from the city. Don’t go back to your house. Don’t go to the office. Don’t try to access your accounts. And don’t you dare warn your friends, because if anyone sees you after you’re supposed to be dead, we’re flushed. At-” she checked the clock on her wall “-0400, I’ll report to Cruelthor. By then, be out of Monaco. If anyone sees you, you really will be dead. And so will I.”

  “Got it. But what’ll you do between now and calling Cruelthor? Shouldn’t you come to the boat with me to make sure my murder scene looks right?”

  She paused. “I don’t dare. I might…”

  Jett must’ve seen the truth on her face, and his jaw tightened. “Oh.”

  That’s right, she thought. You’d be smart to still fear me. And there are far worse monsters than me… He’s so not prepared for this.

  Bullseye let out a huff. “Oh, wait here a second.”

  She walked to her kitchen cupboards and opened one to reach near the back. She grabbed the container she wanted, left the cupboard, and returned to Jett. Opening the container, she drew out a couple thousand-worth of blue kronar tubes and handed them to Jett. Then she walked over and picked up the gun where he’d dropped it. This she also handed to him. Jett had tucked the kronar in a pocket, but he held the gun
uncertainly.

  “Do you know how to use that?” she asked. “I remember you were cleaning it one time, and I had to restrain myself from doing it for you.”

  Jett half-smiled. “Guess I’ll have to learn.”

  She shook her head at his innocence. “I hope I’m doing the right thing here. I have a feeling you won’t last two weeks. Once you’re out of Monaco, you can never be Jett Chase again. Without your ID tag you can’t be traced, but you absolutely must avoid everyone and everywhere you’ve ever known. So…” She shrugged and pointed to his pocket. “Use that kronar wisely.”

  Jett looked at his pocket and nodded. “I guess I should thank you.”

  “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this entirely for me.”

  Bullseye gave him a moment of direct eye contact to use his mutate-genes and see she was telling the truth.

  This might be a little harsh, she thought, but he needs to harden up quick. I appreciate what he’s doing for me, but that’s as far as my respect goes for Dr. Jett Chase.

  “I see,” he finally said.

  “Okay, off you go.” She led him over to her door, opened it, and glanced down the hall to find it empty.

  Jett stepped out and turned to face her one last time. “You’re doing the right thing, whatever your motives. Thank you anyway.”

  “Thank an anonymous little girl and your priest.”

  Before he could ask questions, Bullseye closed the door in his face. That done, the apartment was eerily quiet.

  I hope this works, she thought. If Jett doesn’t do what I say… I have to trust him. What am I doing? What am I doing? But I feel…better.

  She took a deep breath and turned toward her bedroom. She had a lot to do. First, chop her ridiculous blond hair. Second, change into clothes Meegan Hunt would never wear. Third, prepare her story for Cruelthor.