by S. J. Bryant
"Then what the hell are you saying?"
"I'm saying that Piper is fragile. She hasn't known a stable day since she was a child, and not even then."
"How do you know that?" Kari kept her and Piper's history a secret, held close to her chest. Even Ryker only knew some of it.
"She told me."
Kari glanced back at the shining doorway. Piper had told this man—a stranger—about their lives? Their intimate pasts? Why?
"You see," Loko said. "That makes you uncomfortable."
"I don't know you."
"No, you don't."
"Look," Kari said. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're not some counselor, you're not a magician, you're just some guy."
"Maybe. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong. Piper needs time to equilibrate. She's been through more than most and she needs something that's stable. Otherwise she will keep struggling."
"I'm stable! I would do anything for her."
"And yet an assassin is after you. How many times have you nearly died, just in the last two days?"
Kari opened her mouth but paused. Wren had nearly stabbed her on board Ghost. Then again when they'd fought in the landing area. And there'd been the scrag… "Three times." And technically, they were just the times she knew about. She had no idea if Wren had got close any other times.
"Right," Loko said. "And you think Piper is going to think of you as a source of stability?"
The corners of Kari's eyes stung again. She wanted to be everything for Piper, and yet Loko was right. Her life had been under threat three times in just the past two days. Piper would have seen that—she would have noticed—she noticed everything.
"What am I supposed to do?" Kari whispered. She didn't want to admit to this stranger that she was lost, that she didn't have the answers. But if she didn't find a solution, she might lose Piper forever.
"Do what you can. I know your recent… troubles… aren't your own fault. And from what I've seen, you don't lead a quiet life, so you have to give her something else, a different form of stability."
"Like what?" Kari didn't have stability in her life. For most of the last decade her only stability had come from Ghost, and even that was gone for the moment.
"Love," Loko said.
The emotional lump in Kari's throat fled as she turned on him. "What?" She'd actually thought he was helping, and then he came up with some kind of flimsy, watercolor thing like love. That wasn't an answer!
"You'd be surprised at how stabilizing love can be."
"No," Kari said. "You're wrong. Love is the most unstable thing in the world. I just told you how many times I've nearly died, what good would love do?"
"If you died. Would your love be any less true?"
"That is the most pathetic, meaningless, pile of—"
"Have you told her?"
"Of course I've told her! But that won't repair decades of torture."
"Did you tell her properly?"
"Yes. What does that even mean?"
"Which means no," Loko shook his head. "Tell her properly."
"Look, you leaf-wearing, crazy—"
Movement from behind caught Kari's attention, and she turned to see Piper silhouetted in the door.
Loko grinned and slipped inside.
Kari would have strangled him if Piper wasn't standing right there. Love. What a stupid thing to say. Love had never fixed anyone. And, of course, she loved Piper, but what did that have to do with anything?
"Hey," Kari said, feigning lightness.
"What are you doing out here?" Piper said, stepping onto the platform and joining her at the railing.
"Just enjoying the quiet."
"There's no such thing as quiet. Although these noises are better than the city."
Kari disagreed. The constant noise of the forest was starting to drive her insane. The insects buzzed and droned while distant voices rang out from the other shelters. Did Piper hear all that noise, all the time? That would be enough to send anyone mad, and not something that love could fix.
"Having fun?" Kari said.
"Oh yes. The people here are so happy, so carefree."
"You can be happy and carefree too." The words came out awkward and disjointed.
Piper didn't reply.
"Piper." Kari couldn't look at her sister, so she turned and stared at the lanterns in the distant trees instead. "You're happy, right?"
Piper shrugged. "I'm glad I'm not still in the facility, if that's what you mean."
Kari nodded. "But… are you happy? You always look so serious."
"There's a lot to worry about."
"But you don't have to worry about it."
A line creased Piper's forehead.
"I'm serious," Kari said. "I'll worry. You focus on getting better."
"I'm not sick."
"No." Kari sighed. What could she say? That she wanted her sister back? The one that didn't have the concerns of a thousand years in her eyes. "No, I mean, you can focus on being happy."
Piper didn't respond, but Kari could see that she didn't believe.
Kari steeled her nerve and forced herself to look directly at Piper, focusing on the gold flecks in Piper's brown eyes.
"Piper." Kari drew a deep breath. "I love you. No matter what has happened, or what will happen. I love you, and I always will."
Piper's eyes flicked between both of Kari's, as if searching for any hint of lies or deceit. But she didn't find it, and a second later she fell into Kari's outstretched arms.
Kari squeezed tight, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Piper clutched at her like a drowning person to a life raft and for the first time, Kari felt a real connection to her sister, like they'd had as children.
Piper pulled back slightly and Kari could see lines of tears streaking down her cheeks. Piper smiled through her tears. "I love you too."
Kari pulled her close so that Piper wouldn't be able to see her face.
Damn Loko and his damn advice.
Love!
And yet deep in her heart Kari wanted to thank Loko a thousand times. For the first time she felt like she'd broken through one of the walls separating her from her sister, and it was all thanks to him.
As soon as she had the chance, she was going to hunt him down and give him whatever the hell he wanted. He was a good man, and there weren't many of those left.
CHAPTER 18
"Loko, I am going to get you the biggest forest rat you have ever seen!" Kari said, slapping the man on the back as they strolled away from the tribe's clearing and into the forest.
Loko grinned. "I told you, love is the answer."
Kari rolled her eyes. She would never have believed it, but the last three days with the tribe had been some of the best time Kari had spent with Piper since they'd been reunited. They'd talked for hours. Piper had shared her thoughts, had even told Kari a little bit about her time at the facility. For the first time, Kari genuinely felt like she was making progress, and it was all down to this man.
So when he'd come and asked for volunteers for a hunting party, Kari couldn't refuse. Atticus and Piper had chosen to stay behind but Ryker had put up his hand almost before Loko asked. Kari suspected he was itching to get out of the cramped confines of the tribal camp.
"Love?" Ryker said, coming up behind Kari and Loko. "What the hell are you two talking about? Wait, this better not be—"
"No!" Kari said, snatching her hand away from Loko's back. "No, it's nothing like that."
"Well thanks," Loko said. "Way to make a man feel wanted."
"Trust me," Ryker said. "That's not a woman you want to be wanted by."
"Excuse me?" Kari put her hands on her hips.
"Exactly," Ryker said. "You're terrifying. Just look at that face."
Kari narrowed her eyes.
He pretended to shiver. "See?"
"You have a point," Loko said. "But if we're going to have a chance of catching anything, you two are going to have to be quiet."
&nbs
p; "Where are the rest of them?" Ryker said.
Kari turned, realizing that the half dozen other hunters had disappeared.
"They're still with us." Loko pointed to shadows between the trees.
They might have been people, but to Kari they looked like leaves.
"They're just being quiet," Loko said.
"You say being quiet," Ryker said. "I call it supernatural."
"Just shh, will you?" Loko said. "If we don't catch anything because of you two, they'll blame me for inviting you."
Ryker held up his hand and pretended to zip his mouth closed.
Kari forced herself not to comment on the fact that his footsteps were so loud that he may as well talk.
Loko gestured for them to walk a few paces away.
Kari obeyed and tried to keep her footsteps light, silent. Apparently, a herd of forest rats had been sighted not far from the tribe and the meat supplies were getting low. Initially Kari's face had twisted at the idea of eating rat… until she found out that was the delicious meat she'd been having every day since she arrived. She reasoned that forest rats were probably much cleaner and more palatable than the filthy city rats that swarmed through Zenith.
While she listened for the scurry of animals in the undergrowth, she also strained her ears for any sound of warning. This mission was two-pronged. As soon as Loko mentioned that he and some others would be leaving the camp, she and Ryker had started planning. This was their chance.
There was no way Wren hadn't tracked them to the tribe. It was a wonder she hadn't tried to strike already. So she'd be watching. Both Kari and Ryker agreed that she'd be itching to finish the job and get the kill done, so as soon as she saw a chance, she'd take it.
This was it.
Kari met Ryker's gaze and he nodded.
As soon as Wren showed herself, Ryker would shoot to kill. The time for second chances and mercy were well over. Plus, Kari suspected that Ryker was sick of living in the forest and would do almost anything to get back to the city and back to Ghost.
So as much as they wanted to help Loko and the others, the bigger mission was to stop Wren.
They hadn't mentioned it to anyone else.
Kari thought that Atticus probably suspected what they were up to. That man was too clever for his own good. Kari had been very careful to keep Piper out of it. If she suspected, then she hadn't shown any signs.
Loko waved toward the left.
Kari squinted through the trees. She couldn't see anything, but she did catch a faint whisper, and the crack of a twig.
She crept forward, gun ready. Ryker crouched beside her with Loko further on. The rest of the hunting party were out there somewhere, hopefully circling around the herd, although Kari couldn't see or hear them.
Kari eased past a thick stand of trees and came to a stop. There, only a few feet away, scurried a mass of rats. Only they weren't the small beasts she was used to—these were huge, at least a foot tall and covered in thick, brown fur. They were digging and ferreting around in the roots of the trees.
Loko gestured Kari and Ryker to stay back as he crept forward, his spear ready. He'd told them that they were welcome to watch, and help if a scrag or something came along, but that the tribe would rather catch the rats the old-fashioned way, instead of relying on the plasma weapons. Plus, he'd said, the plasma blasts gave the meat a charcoal flavor.
Kari didn't believe that, but she forced herself to stay back.
Loko crept close to the herd, lifted his spear, and waited. He stood so still that he may as well have been made out of stone. Then, a single hoot sounded through the trees, and he lunged forward.
His spear plunged into the back of large rat and it squealed. Loko bore down on it, burying the spear all the way through, pinning the beast to the ground. It kicked once and lay still.
Throughout the forest, similar sounds indicated where other members of the tribe had hit their targets. The rest of the rats squealed and darted into the trees, their fast bodies moving like brown blurs through the undergrowth.
A second later, the forest fell silent.
Loko gestured Kari and Ryker to come closer. He grinned and pulled his spear out of the rat. He winked at them. "And that is how you kill a forest rat."
Something caught his attention over Kari's shoulder. He frowned, then his face went white and he dived toward her.
Kari tried to turn, realizing too late what he must have seen.
Then he was there, shoving her to the side, just as a black dart shot through the trees. It would have hit Kari in the back of the neck, instead it caught Loko in the shoulder.
Ryker blasted a stream of plasma into the trees behind them.
Kari followed his lead, shooting with one hand while with the other she caught hold of Loko and eased him to the ground.
A thin trickle of blood leaked out of the wound but that wasn't what worried her. She knew Wren, knew what she was capable of.
"Wren! Wren. You shot him. What the hell did you use? Come back here!" But Kari's voice echoed through the forest without response.
The rest of the tribe swarmed around them, forming a circle facing outward into the trees.
Kari spun, squinting at the canopy, but there was no sign of the assassin. Of course there wasn't. She could probably blend into the forest as well as Loko.
Loko.
Kari laid her gun on the ground beside him and bent over his shoulder. Black tendrils snaked under his skin from the dart which was lodged in the muscle of his shoulder. Poison.
Knowing Wren, it would be fast-acting.
"We need to get him back," Kari said. "He needs medicine."
The other hunters looked down at Loko, sorrow in their eyes.
Kari's throat closed over. This was her fault. The dart was meant for her. It should have been her.
She glared at the trees. Hot tears stung her eyes and dripped down her cheeks but she didn't care.
Loko was a good man.
A good man.
CHAPTER 19
Wren still held the blowpipe she'd used to shoot the poison dart to her lips. The cylinder could collapse down to no longer than her hand and she usually kept it in the second pocket on her left side, beside the darts.
Her hand went slack and fell to her side, the pipe clasped loosely in her fingers.
She clung to a branch, high in the forest canopy, out of sight of the people below. That was something she'd learned early at the Guild; people rarely looked up. These tribe people were different though—they did, sometimes. But they hadn't known what they were looking for. Kari should have warned them.
Kari and Ryker crowded around the man who had taken Wren's dart, the other tribespeople followed. They scanned the trees but they wouldn't see her.
Wren had learned well during her time in the forest. She'd caked her skin in dirt and mud to hide her scent and blend with the forest. She wore a rough cloak made from leaves and vines that dangled around her and disguised her lines against the organic shapes of the trees—and idea she'd stolen from the tribespeople and one she would remember. It would take a highly trained person to spot her, probably another assassin.
She frowned at the thought. The only other assassin she knew of on this planet was the oath-breaker she'd met in the city and she was certain Hong wouldn't follow her into the trees. Why would she bother?
But all those thoughts were distractions from the real problem—she'd failed again.
The man who'd pushed Kari aside and taken the dart lay gasping on the forest floor. He wouldn't last much longer. In Wren's experience, even the strongest person didn't last more than ten minutes after an exposure of psiomin at that dose. Idiot! Why did he have to get in the way?
It would have been so easy, so perfect. Kari was standing right there, her back exposed.
Wren had leaned around the side of the tree and fired.
But that stupid tribesman must have had better sight than any of them because he'd spotted her at the last minute, dived in the
way. Who did that? Especially for someone they'd only just met?
Wren had been watching the tribe for the last few days. She had considered going in and killing Kari in the shelters, but she'd seen the people keeping watch and didn't want to risk it. Plus, she knew Kari and the others would have to leave eventually and if Wren had anything, it was patience.
Most of the time.
Right now, her patience was wearing thin. It shouldn't have taken this long to kill Kari. The captain was nothing special. She wasn't especially fast, or especially strong. She didn't have a lot of money, or friends in high places. So why was it taking Wren so damn long to kill her?
And why did other people have to get in the way?
Wren had observed the tribesman who'd taken the dart. He'd seemed nice enough. He spoke kindly to Piper and he laughed and joked a lot. It was a shame that he had to die.
Wren tried to remind herself that death was an illusion, and that all atoms returned to atoms, but it was cold comfort when she knew that the dead man below would never smile again.
She stayed frozen, clinging to the tree with one hand, her feet lodged firmly on a branch. It took some effort to stay perched in the tree, but Wren could block out the ache of her muscles, could ignore the pain, for hours if she needed to.
The tribespeople scanned the trees a final time before hoisting their dead companion onto their shoulders. They marched through the trees, toward the village, without their customary silence. They left the huge carcasses of the dead forest rats behind.
Wren lifted the pipe and pulled a poison dart from the case. She flicked off the protective cover and loaded it into the other end of the pipe.
This time.
She would get rid of Kari now and this whole damn job could be done with. After this she would take a vacation, maybe go somewhere nice. Yes, that's what she needed: a holiday. So she could get things right in her head and stop having all these doubts and second thoughts. It wasn't right. It had to be the stress. Which was mostly Kari's fault in the first place because it had been the captain's idea to go to the Imperium facility, not once, but twice!
Wren lifted the pipe to her lips, aiming at the retreating group. Kari trudged at the back, gun out, the soft flesh of her neck exposed.