by J. N. Chaney
“Get back to work,” Pearl told the boys, quickly dismissing them.
Mulberry nodded at me when our eyes met, and I stepped out of the vehicle, looking suspiciously at the two. “Didn’t expect to see you down here,” I admitted.
“How was Crescent?” he asked, changing the subject instantly.
My eyes narrowed further. “Lots of beaches. Busy nightlife. Lots of perverts in need of better security. How are things around here?”
Pearl stepped in to answer. “The same as usual. Contracts, surveillance, and brooding assassins.” She rolled her eyes at the last part. “Oh, and you have a visitor.”
I felt a tap on my shoulder, but before I could turn around, two arms embraced me, squeezing the breath out of my lungs. Her smell was all I needed.
“Oh gods,” I whispered. “Clementine?”
“In the flesh!” she answered, pulling back and holding me at arm’s length. “Holy shit, you’ve grown about half a meter since I left.”
A smile broke across my face, and I was overcome with more joy than I knew what to do with. “What are you doing here?” I asked, almost balking. “I don’t know what to—”
She snickered, then punched me in the shoulder, grinning. “Thought I’d stop in while I was nearby. You know, see how my sister was doing.” She winked at me.
I pulled her in for another tight hug. It felt like forever since I’d seen her. She’d been gone for over a year, but it felt like a lifetime.
Pearl chuckled, tapping Mulberry’s arm before turning away. “We’ll give the two of you some time to catch up. Come find us if you need anything.”
“I’ll get you the mission brief as soon as I can,” I told them, quickly.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mulberry responded, already at the door. “Your sister is here. Take all the time you need.”
I turned back to Clementine. “What should we do? Want to go have a drink? Maybe we can—”
She shook her head. “Actually, I thought we’d hit the gym. It’s been a while since we had a match. I wanna see how we stack up!”
“Of course, that’s what you want to do,” I told her, laughing. I took her by the hand and tugged her towards the door. “Come on! Everyone’s eating, so I bet the gym is clear.”
* * *
“So,” I said as we took a break from sparring. “Don’t take this to mean that I’m not happy you’re back—because I am—but what are you doing here?”
Clem shook her head, taking a sip of water. “Well, I’m not back for good, if that’s what you’re wondering. I mean, I appreciate everything Mulberry and Pearl did for me—for us—but I like being my own boss. It comes with a lot of perks.”
I made a face. “Sure, I get it. That does sound like a lot of extra work for the same kind of pay, though.”
“Same pay?” she asked. “I don’t know who you’re talking to about finances, but I do pretty damn well for myself. I’m saving up for a ship right now, too. I expect to have that by the end of this year.”
“Whoa!” I exclaimed.
She nodded. “Plus, I pick my own assignments and get to travel anywhere I want. I don’t answer to anyone but myself. I’d say that’s worth the trade-off.”
I shrugged. “Another round?”
She grinned. “You know it.”
We stepped back onto the mat as I put my gloves back on. Gone were the protective paddings from our training with Pearl. We were old enough to know how to pull our punches. This was sparring, not battle. The both of us had enough of that outside this complex.
Clem advanced on me, her hands raised as she swept out a low kick, aiming for my legs. I checked the attack by twisting left, and I kept my left hand up. She always threw a hook after a low kick. When it came, I moved with it, countering with a firm jab. She blocked it, but it forced her a step back.
I tucked my chin and pressed forward, hammering a pair of body shots. She dodged to avoid them, and my right foot lashed out toward her head. Her forearm blocked the kick, but she was forced backward to recover her balance.
“Hey,” she said through her mouthguard. “You’re getting good at this.”
“What can I say?” I raised my hands again. “I’ve been training every day.”
“Cheeky,” she said, moving in closer, but I backed away. One of the things I’d learned from Pearl was that since I was taller, I had more to gain by keeping my distance and using my longer reach to punish a shorter opponent.
“I mean,” I said, keeping my guard up. “One of the advantages of having this complex is that you get to keep practicing during your downtime.”
“Well lucky for me, I don’t get much downtime between jobs.” She tossed a couple jabs at me, followed by a wild uppercut that I barely avoided.
“You get help in researching jobs too,” I said, throwing a high kick that forced her to keep her distance again. “Plus, backup when things go sideways.”
“I don’t need backup. I never have.” Clem rushed in and tried to tackle me. I jumped to the side, pushing her back.
“Ouch,” I said, only half joking.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, backpedaling. “We worked well together. You know that as well as me. But I work well alone, too. I don’t want to say that the organization was holding me back, but—”
“You’re not not saying it.”
“Exactly,” she said, darting in fast with a haymaker. As I ducked under it, I realized too late that it was a feint. I saw her left leg hook around mine. It hit hard, and I dropped down to one knee.
She circled me, and before I could tuck my chin in, she wrapped her arms around my neck in a chokehold. As I fought to untangle myself from it, she groaned, leaning back and dragging me with her until we were both on the floor with her lying under me.
A few seconds later, I tapped at her arm, and she let go. I rolled off her onto the mat, taking in deep breaths as I pushed myself up to my hands and knees.
Clem hadn’t gotten rusty since she’d been gone. Like she said, even if she didn’t get much training, and even if she didn’t have any downtime, she could keep her skills honed while in the field. She didn’t need the practice. She didn’t need the support. She didn’t need backup.
That stung more than it should have.
She offered her hand and helped me up to my feet.
“Only two out of three,” she said with a nod. “You’re better than you were, but your hand-to-hand needs work. Spend more time in the field, and you’ll be throwing me around like a rag doll.”
She wasn’t wrong, although most of my kills came at a distance. Lately, some of that had changed, and I found myself having to adapt to various situations, all of which began with the rescue mission at the church.
I probably needed more time to grow before I could get on Clem’s level.
We ran through a few more rounds on the sparring mat with Clem winning them all. I wasn’t really surprised. Pearl had helped me work harder on my defense, but in the end, I lacked Clem’s aggressiveness, which gave her the edge in any short-distance engagement.
I had learned over the years to stick to my strengths when it mattered in the field, but never to give up training my weaknesses. I liked to think that it was what made me a promising young entry into the organization’s field operatives.
After a quick shower and dinner, we found ourselves back in our old room.
“You remember that time where you got me to sneak under the tables in the mess hall after lunch?” Clem asked, sitting on her old bed, barely containing her laughter. “And I stayed there for three hours?”
I leaned back in my bed, grinning. “Yeah. They were looking for you all around the orphanage. Some of the nuns were wondering if you just ran away.”
“And then I turned up in the dinner line—”
I laughed. “You had a completely straight face, holding your plate out for some food. The sisters were trying to scold you, and you kept telling them that you’d been in our group the whole t
ime.”
Clementine had to stifle a chuckle before continuing. “How did you convince the other girls to go along with that? I can’t remember.”
I shrugged. “I told them it was to get back at Sister Amber for giving us surprise quizzes three times that week,” I explained, surprised at how easily I recalled the details. “Anyway, the rest of the girls said that you were sitting in the back of the class all afternoon. The sisters started blaming Sister Amber for negligence.”
Clem leaned back in her bed, still laughing. “Oh, I’m a bad, bad person.”
After a few moments of silence, I perched myself up on my elbow. “So, what kind of ship will you get?”
“I already found a scrapyard that has a couple of good ones I can start with,” she said. “Nothing huge. Doesn’t even have to have any weapons. I just need living quarters and a working NAV system.”
I smiled. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, they’re really expensive, though.”
“How do you plan on getting the money?” I asked.
She paused, almost hesitating. “I’ve got a few ideas. You know me. Just some extra jobs and work I think will pay off.”
I chuckled. “It has to be better than living here, sharing a tiny little bedroom with me.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad here, and honestly, I’d still rather be living with you. I miss having you around.” She shifted her weight on the bed. “You’re my sister. Not having you beside me makes it feel like I’m missing something.”
I laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “I know how you feel.”
There was a short silence.
“That’s part of why I’m here, actually,” she finally said.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I mean, I still need to have a chat with Mulberry and Pearl about the actual details of it, but I have some really big plans. I just came here because I wanted you to be a part of them, Abby.”
I smiled. “What kind of plans?” I asked, sitting up again. “Are you saying you want me to come with you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she said, excitement in her voice. “Think about it. The two of us out on our own, with our own ship, cruising the galaxy together and doing jobs. We could be whoever we want. We could build a new life.”
The thought was certainly appealing. I’d missed Clementine so much, ever since she left. The idea that we could take off together, just like we always talked about—it was like a dream come true.
Another moment of silence passed.
Finally, Clem continued. “I think we could be happy, Abby. We could find a real home.”
A warm sense of joy filled me. It was almost nostalgic. I had to admit, I’d spent less time here in this bed in recent months than ever before, always opting for a long-distance mission or a reason to get away. Maybe it was all leading up to this. Maybe I was just waiting for Clementine to come back for me. Was that so bad? Mable had chosen to leave this life and head out into the galaxy to find her own path. Perhaps that was what I needed to do, only with my sister beside me. It certainly felt like the right thing to do.
“Take some time to think about it,” she said, jumping to her feet. “I know it’s a lot, but there’s no rush. We can go over it tomorrow.”
“N-no, wait,” I said, quickly, scurrying to the edge of the bed. “I want to.”
Her eyes lit up at the sound of that. “Seriously?”
“Yeah!” I exclaimed, and my own excitement surprised me. “I really mean it. I think it sounds amazing. It’s intimidating, sure, but I’m ready. I think I’ve been ready for a while now.”
She smiled, then ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “You won’t regret it,” she said.
A second later, she pulled away, and she started to leave. “Where are you going?” I asked.
“I need to ask for a room,” she told me.
I looked at the empty bed, then quirked an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that one? I mean, it’s right here, and no one else is using it.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s more your room now than ours. I don’t want to cramp you or anything like that.”
“If we’re not staying here for long, why not?” I asked. “It’ll be just like old times.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Just like old times. I’d like that.”
A few hours later, after getting Clem situated for the night, I laid back in my bed with the lights off.
Clem’s breathing slowed, and I knew she’d fallen fast asleep. It was nice to have her back again, and I was surprised by how much I’d missed this. Staying in this room with her, hearing her snores as I drifted to sleep. It was all so surreal, but it felt right. She was my closest friend in all the world, and I loved her more than anything. I hoped we could be like this forever, just like she’d talked about. I hoped our future would be a bright one, full of joy and traveling, seeing things no one else had ever witnessed, living lives we never could have imagined.
We were finally sisters again, and this time, I knew things would be better.
* * *
I felt like I’d just closed my eyes when my pad buzzed insistently against my thigh. It took me a few minutes to come out of the deep, dreamless sleep I’d been in. By the time that I actually woke up, the buzzing stopped.
I groaned softly. I didn’t want to wake up yet. I still wasn’t fully rested.
Go away, annoying piece of crap, I thought, trying to shift around in my bed, pushing my head deeper into my pillow.
The pad buzzed again, just the one time now, telling me that whoever had been calling had left a message. A few minutes of inner debate over whether I should check it or not, ended with a growled curse. Why couldn’t people just let me sleep? I’d just gotten back from a godsdamn mission, after all.
I finally rolled over, pulling the pad out from the pocket of my cargo pants, flicking it on and letting it scan my face. It unlocked, showing a couple of failed comm links from Mulberry’s go-to clean-up guy, Alec, who had an entire team under him, each of them trained by the man himself.
I was pretty certain Alec had been a forensic analyst for the Union at some point but never bothered to ask. He seemed to know more than he let on, but I supposed that was the case for most people in our line of work. Most never told anyone their full story, because too much transparency could get you killed. That was what Pearl had taught Clem and I when we were starting out, and it was a rule we’d since learned to follow.
I sighed, flipping over to the message that Alec had left me. It was in text, not voice.
The text simply read, “CHECK YOUR INBOX!!!!!”
I sighed, popping open my mail application. Sure enough, there were a handful of new files. I was tempted to just leave it for later, but the abundance of exclamation points in the message gave me pause.
Maybe I could just skim these over and go back to sleep. Better than leaving them for later, I supposed.
The doc seemed to be a breakdown of the investigation into the attempt on Sister Mable’s life. The dead guys’ pads had been successfully cracked, their data dumped, and an analysis completed. Their employer appeared to be a man named Elias Hencher, a name I didn’t recognize.
The file said Hencher had a brother who had been killed almost fifteen years ago by our organization. He also had a lot of military contacts, as well as connections with more than a few Renegades in the Deadlands.
He also happened to own a scrapyard on Epsy.
A list in the file laid out all the possible informants based on time of payments made and known associates. Alec was nothing if not thorough in his information digging.
One particular tag caught my eye. There was no name attached. It was for the sale of a ship in decent condition for well below the market price. The buyer appeared to have no name attached but was described as being a young woman with black hair and brown eyes.
Strange but not uncommon. She might be a Renegade or some othe
r kind of smuggler or bounty hunter. There were plenty of people who made their way in the world anonymously, using fake names to avoid attention.
Hell, I was one of them.
I switched back over to the first file, skimming the information quickly before reaching the video feed that caught the previously referenced woman leaving the scrapyard. I played the video. The figure in question was only on camera for about two seconds. Even so, it was enough.
The woman was between 160 and 170 centimeters tall. Lean build and dressed in familiar clothes. Her long black hair had been tied up in a rigid bun behind her head.
I only caught the side of her face, but I still recognized her easily. I knew the build.
“Clementine,” I whispered. “Gods, it can’t be.”
Was this the place she’d found her ship? Of all the people in the galaxy, why had it been this man? The same crook who’d hired that team to kill Sister Mable. This couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
I turned over to the bed beside my own, expecting to see her there, but to my surprise, she was already gone.
Eighteen
Clem’s empty bed wasn’t an admission of guilt, but it seemed suspicious after the video I just watched. She might have only gone to the bathroom or to the kitchen for a midnight snack, but I couldn’t shake the nauseous feeling in my stomach.
If her motives for wandering around the complex in the middle of the night were innocent, so be it. When I found her, I would say that I was still adjusting to recently arriving from another system and couldn’t sleep. She’d understand.
The door opened with a soft hiss, and I peeked around the corners. The hallway was empty, lit only by the dim overhead bulbs.
I kept my eyes peeled as I made my way to the bathroom. She wasn’t inside which troubled me, but I still needed to check the kitchen before I let my fears run rampant. Truth be told, I didn’t know Clem as well as I’d hoped. She’d been gone for over a year now, which was more than enough time for someone to change. I’d assumed she’d grown into a better person since I last saw her, but the opposite was just as likely, wasn’t it? After all, I certainly wasn’t the same, not when I really thought about it.