He slowed the MX 60 and lined up with the ground, making it obvious he intended to land down the street and not attempt a hard entry into the mansion grounds. Tweaking Radira might be fun, but they needed her help. Pissing her off right away wouldn’t aid that goal.
“I’m detecting unusual activity all over the grounds,” Emma reported. “I’m not detecting anything that sounds like an alarm, but there are energy spikes and force realignments.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. Dark holes opened in the ground. Small spider bots crawled out of them and spread out over the yard, like servants of the underworld boiling up from Diyu to drag victims down to Yama for punishment.
“The guns?” Jia asked, her face tight.
“No change in activity,” Emma reported.
Erik continued descending. He laughed. “I just noticed something different.”
“Besides the horde of bots?” Jia asked.
“Yeah.” Erik nodded. “She got rid of the Trespassers Will Be Shot sign.”
Jia rolled her eyes. “A true queen doesn’t have to threaten.”
Erik set the MX 60 down with a nod. “Let’s go petition her.”
“She might just try to kill us,” Jia noted, opening her door.
“Then she better take us down with the first shot.” Erik stepped out of the flitter and adjusted his duster. “Emma, send a network connection warning to our smart lenses. We need to know right away if we lose contact with you.”
A small yellow icon appeared in the upper-left corner of his smart lenses.
“I presume you don’t want me to take any lethal measures?” Emma replied.
“If they try to take the MX 60, go ahead and fly away, then circle the area and see if you detect a fight,” Erik ordered. “Otherwise, sit tight. This doesn’t have to go badly. We need it not to. The last thing we want is to fight two syndicates while we’re here.”
He was there to ask for help, and for Radira, helping him would help her. If she didn’t see that, she wasn’t half as smart as she thought.
Jia hesitated after closing the door. “We sure about not using disguises? It means people, including the CID, are potentially going to associate us with Tellvane.”
“That might work to our advantage.” Erik nodded. “It means people don’t know what to expect from us, and that’s not a bad thing. If the CID wants to arrest us, they can try, but at the end of the day, we’ll be doing them a favor.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled casually toward the gate. Two gangsters waited outside, one in a bright green suit and the other in a vivid yellow one. It was just like last time. Prism Associates gangsters displayed the kind of questionable fashion sense that accompanied extreme arrogance. Jia muttered something under her breath and ran to catch up with Erik.
They might be the ones who were arrogant. They were both armed, but neither had brought extra magazines. If they miscalculated, they’d have to fight their way out of a heavily guarded syndicate base, including facing off against an army of security bots. Emma might be free to release hell, but it could be close.
There was no other way to handle it. Blasting their way in might prove their strength, but it’d also alienate Radira. There weren’t many strategies that didn’t carry some risk.
Erik offered a polite nod to the guards and stopped in front of the gate. “We’re here to see Miss Tellvane.”
A little politeness never hurt. The guards narrowed their eyes, their hands resting inside their jackets.
One of them looked Erik and Jia up and down. “Who the hell are you? You don’t smell Red to me. You smell like trouble.”
“Trouble?” Erik grinned and sniffed his armpit. “I took a long shower this morning. I thought I smelled of sandalwood.”
“You think you’re funny, asshole?” the guard growled. “You think you can spit in Prism Associates’ face and get away with it?”
The other guard shook his head at his partner. “Back off, man. Don’t you know who he is?”
“An asshole waiting for my shoe up his ass,” the first guard muttered.
Jia sighed. She kept her hands loose at her sides, her stance wide and knees slightly bent, ready to go in an instant if necessary. They spent so much time practicing with weapons that sometimes Erik forgot how effective she could be in hand to hand. Jia could take the guards out within seconds.
Erik stood there with a goofy smile on his face. Annoying the gangster was fun, and he just needed not to offend Radira, not kiss the asses of her low-level lackeys.
The second guard tapped his PNIU. “We’ve got Blackwell and Lin up front.” He nodded slowly in response to a transmission only he could hear. “Understood.”
The first guard’s eyes widened. “Blackwell and Lin? The Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice?”
“We have all sorts of names,” Jia offered with a smile.
The guard backed away, his eyes darting back and forth as if he expected them to gun him down at any moment. That was the kind of reputation Erik appreciated.
The gate slid open to reveal the familiar marble path leading to the main building. Enforcers lined the path, pistols in hand and small packs of security bots surrounding them. Some of the men looked afraid. Others looked excited, even awestruck.
A man in a familiar shade of magenta hurried down the path, his face twisted in annoyance. He hadn’t drawn his weapon, but Erik imagined he hadn’t forgotten his beatdown last November.
“Long time no see, Felix,” Erik offered with a grin. “Or have you changed your name to Mr. Magenta after all?”
Felix ground his teeth. He took a deep breath before forcing a smile. “No, sir. Still just Felix.”
“You didn’t come to collect your fees this time,” Jia commented.
“Miss Tellvane has reevaluated her attitude toward that kind of activity.”
“Huh,” Erik replied. “We were right.”
Felix lifted his chin with defiant pride. “She’s found better ways to get what we are owed without harassing people who might be future business clients.”
Erik snickered. They had learned the importance of not picking fights with random newcomers and ending up with people like Erik and Jia at their doorstep with huge guns, ready to deliver death.
Felix gestured down the path. “Miss Tellvane will see you, sir.”
Erik and Jia followed Felix into the mansion and kept quiet during the interminable time as they passed room after room and through intersection after intersection, including a covered walkway. It’d been almost a year since they’d last been in the mansion, but it didn’t seem like they were taking the path to either the library or the sauna.
They occasionally passed another gangster or a white-uniformed servant who scurried off to the side of the hall and bowed their head. Erik tried not to scoff, though the whole aristocratic vibe was a bit much, coming from a woman who earned her money preying on the community. He might need Prism Associates for the mission, but that didn’t mean he would forget for one second that Radira was the leader of a deadly syndicate. Not feeding Jia’s unease wasn’t the same thing as believing she was wrong.
The CID would have their work cut out for them, but syndicates were an easily treatable infection. The Core was a deadly cancer.
Erik narrowed his eyes as the network connection icon vanished from the corner of his smart lenses. Radira was smart enough to keep her inner sanctum secure. Ruthless criminals were scary, but intelligent criminals were terrifying. He gave Jia a slight nod. She nodded back.
For all their protections, the gangsters hadn’t disarmed Erik or Jia. They might have realized the futility, or Radira was confident they couldn’t take her out without dying. That made sense. She understood by now who and what they were.
Felix opened a door leading to a vast gallery of paintings. Erik stared at them for a moment, unsure if they were holograms or the real thing.
Radira reclined on a maroon chaise longue, her elbow down and her face resting in the palm of her ha
nd. Her hiked-up barely-there green silk robe covered her toned olive-skinned body, but when they’d talked to her before she was naked, so this was a step up. Her vulpine smile made Erik twitch.
“Ah, Mr. Blackwell and Miss Lin,” she began, her voice somehow even more inviting than the last time. “It’s been far too long.”
“Not long enough,” Jia muttered, her arms crossed.
Radira sat up, slipping one leg over the other, then folded her hands together and ran her tongue over her lip. “Before we continue, is it too much to hope you’ve realized the wisdom of joining my organization? The offer stands.”
Erik shook his head. “We have a lot of personal business to take care of before we think about future career plans.”
“Then there is hope. Always good to know.” Radira leaned forward, giving him the full blast of her cleavage. “And…other possibilities?”
Erik inclined his head at Jia. “Some things we already know. I already know.”
Radira sighed. “How dreadfully boring, but one reason I’ve managed to take my organization so far is knowing when I’m beaten.” She offered Jia a thin smile. “I’m sure you have your charms, however unobvious.”
Jia rolled her eyes. “Think what you want. We’re here for a reason.”
“Yes, of course.” Radira flicked her wrist. “If you’d come to attack me, I’m sure it would have been far more spectacular and involved many more explosions.”
Erik considered that for a second and nodded. “Yeah, a lot more. We need to borrow some muscle.”
Radira laughed. “This is a syndicate, not a mercenary company.”
“There’s a warehouse in the Gold District,” Erik explained. “You probably know the place. They shoot down drones who get too close, that kind of thing.”
Radira’s smile contorted into a scowl. “The Star Guild.” She scoffed. “Brave men and women, but unlike me, they don’t seem to understand when they’ve been beaten. They’re scum, even by my standards.”
“Meaning what exactly?” Jia asked with a curious look.
“I find the best profits come from those willingly participating in sins,” Radira explained with the wave of a hand. “It cuts down on resentment, and it gives the police a reason to look away and consider it a form of community service.”
“And, what, the Star Guild doesn’t?”
“They traffic in people. That’s hardly…willing participation.” Radira’s expression darkened, and she gritted her teeth. “It can be…” She looked away for a moment before taking a deep breath. “We all have our limits for acceptable behavior. I don’t claim to be what anyone would consider a saint, but as I said, my money comes from volunteer activities.” A cold, hungry smile grew on her face. “Perhaps their stubbornness and arrogance have cost them more than they realize. You want to destroy the warehouse?”
Erik shook his head. “Not yet. We need to infiltrate it and take a look at a few things. I’m not going to be broken up if shit gets broken along the way, but that’s not the goal. We need backup because our usual guys fell through, and from what we hear, including what you just said, you have a problem with them anyway.”
“That’s true, but I have a problem with a lot of people.” Radira stood and stalked up to Erik, her hips swaying in an exaggerated manner.
Jia’s jaw tightened and her face reddened.
Radira stopped in front of Erik, close enough that her breath heated his face. “What’s in it for me? My preferred price would be one night alone with you naked, but I sense your owner wouldn’t allow it.”
Her glance at Jia was greeted by a deep scowl. Jia kept her hands at her sides, but both were balled into fists.
“You’ll have our help messing with one of your enemies,” Jia spat. “Isn’t that enough?”
“To risk my beloved staff?” Radira wagged a finger. “Oh, Miss Lin, how heartless. They shouldn’t call you Lady Justice. They should call you Lady Ruthless.”
Jia scoffed. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Erik put his fist to his mouth and coughed to draw their attention. When Radira turned toward him, he offered his suggestion. “We’re technically not on Mars. I’m guessing if we’d come here through normal and public means, you would have known about it. We’re here at your place without disguises. I’m not above avoiding a disguise on the mission.”
Jia folded her arms and stepped back, letting Erik take the lead. He appreciated her trust, both personally and professionally. He wasn’t sure he’d be as calm in the opposite situation.
Radira’s delicate eyebrow lifted. “Oh? Wouldn’t that cause you a lot of trouble?”
“From who? The government? The CID?” Erik grinned. “Too many holograms and too much spoofing. A recording isn’t proof of anything, and it’s not like we plan to leave our DNA around.” He gestured to his chest and then Jia. “But if we make noise at that warehouse and you have footage, it’d probably be enough to convince the other syndicates that you have our occasional help. Not enough to upset the balance of power, but enough that people might have second thoughts about messing with you. We can save you a few fights in the future.”
“Not to mention what we’re planning to do will probably end with the Star Guild being even weaker,” Jia added. “That should be enough.”
Radira laughed and clapped. “Oh, how perfect. This could backfire on me, you know.”
“How?” Erik asked. “We know you’re planning to take out the Star Guild anyway.”
“You both have a reputation, and that reputation includes a penchant for spectacular violence.” Radira stepped away from Erik, one hand on a hip. “But hardly uncontrolled violence. Let’s call it self-righteous violence.”
“What’s wrong with self-righteous violence? It’s the best kind.”
Radira folded her arms and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. “I doubt anyone will believe you’ve suddenly joined my side. There is a risk of people thinking I’m trying to go legit and am therefore weak.” She rubbed her chin. “I find myself amused by the potential propaganda value, but propaganda isn’t worth a mass sacrifice.”
Erik nodded. “Sure, but we’re not planning on getting a lot of people killed. We need some people to watch our backs. The plan is to smash in and get what we need, not take the whole place out.”
“Oh? What is it that you need?”
Erik grinned. “That’s not anything you need to worry about. It’s nothing you’d even want.”
Radira ran her tongue inside her cheek. “It’s information, isn’t it?” She threw her hand up. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask what information you want, but I’m willing to help you on one condition. I’m claiming any physical objects recovered as the property of Prism Associates. Just in case we find something delicious.”
“Fine.” Erik shrugged. “But I’m not planning to be subtle about this. We’re going to be breaking a lot of stuff, and we can’t guarantee the Star Guild still won’t have control when it’s done.”
“It’s fine,” Radira replied. “Despite my earlier complaints, the wounds to the Star Guild are sufficient. Everything else, including the propaganda, is a bonus if it happens.” She extended her hand, not to Erik, but to Jia. “It’s a pleasure to work together.”
“It’s something,” Jia muttered. “Now, let’s talk plans. I think we’re going to need to do a hard entry.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jia flexed her fingers inside the arms of the exoskeleton. The system diagnostics were streaming across her HUD, not that she expected anything to be wrong. She had already loaded extra ammo. Normally, she wouldn’t have bothered, given the maintenance crew they had, but she’d needed something to distract her.
“ETA fifteen minutes,” Emma reported. She was back to the white-suited gangster appearance, and she strolled in front of Erik’s and Jia’s exoskeletons with an uncharacteristic swagger. “This is a curious alliance, despite Agent Koval’s recommendations. I wasn’t confident you would go so far.”
&nbs
p; “Curious. Sure.” Jia sucked in a breath. “I hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces.”
“It’ll be fine,” Erik commented. His exoskeleton took a step forward. “If she wanted to kill us, the time to do it was when she had us surrounded in her mansion, not when we have fully-loaded exos.”
Jia shook her head. “It’s not that I think she’s going to kill us, and it’s not that I’m all that concerned about her interest in you.”
“You aren’t?” Erik sounded insulted.
“No. I’m not going to lie and pretend she doesn’t irritate me, but I have faith in you, and I have faith in your taste.”
Erik grinned. “What’s this all about then?”
Jia sighed. “Before it was just an idea, but now it’s the real thing, us working purposefully and closely with a syndicate. I keep trying to tell myself it doesn’t mean anything, but I worry about it.”
“It’s not some big slippery slope if that’s what you’re worried about,” Erik replied. “I understand where you’re coming from, but this isn’t working with Radira to rob a normal warehouse. We’re flinging gangsters at other gangsters to try to get information about a worse threat. In war, sometimes there is no clean or dirty option. Sometimes there’s only the least bad option. Besides…”
“Besides?”
Erik’s voice turned low and gravelly. “If the Prism Associates bastards try anything we don’t like, they won’t live to regret it. I think Radira understands that.”
Emma disappeared and reappeared in front of Erik. “If you two are done worrying about nothing, I want to reiterate the most important safety consideration.” She pointed to herself. “You can’t abandon the exoskeleton with me inside.”
“I can grab you and run if necessary.” Erik snickered. “You’re not just my friend, remember? You’re better than a friend. You’re useful.”
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