by Kal Spriggs
I moved over, careful to be quiet, peering through. At first, it took me a moment to make sense of what I saw. The room beyond was blacked, the back wall was blown out and I could see rain and lightning beyond. Fire had ravaged the room, but there were some signs of cleanup. Several boxes of rubble and charred bits of plastic and metal, with brooms and shovels stood in my line of sight. A figure moved, pacing as he spoke, and I had to bite back a hiss of fear as I saw a pale, tattooed Hunter stride through the room, moving over to stand near the hole in the wall. I couldn’t move, I could barely breathe. What was a Hunter doing here? “Are you certain we can speak, here?” he asked. He wore bright green, and I recognized his colors as House Mantis.
Another man spoke, and as he moved up to stand next to the Hunter, my heart froze. It had been months since I’d made my escape, since I’d last seen him, but I recognized Vars almost instantly. “Yes. We haven’t fixed all the damage from the incident, but even if someone managed to tap into our network, there’s no functioning sensors here. Plus, who would try to bug this area? It’s a fire gutted ruin in a facility we haven’t used in months. Also, the storm should make other methods of eavesdropping difficult.”
I realized with shock that I’d come full circle. The soot, the smell of burned chemicals, the damage from the building… somehow I’d found my way back to where Wessek had kept me captive. This had been the lab I’d blown up in my escape. No wonder the outside had felt familiar, that door I’d seen hadn’t been for utilities, it had been to the incinerator where I’d made my escape.
“Your father’s business has suffered,” the Hunter said. “My House has watched with some pleasure as his fortunes have fallen. That’s what happens, you know, when you cross us.”
Lightning illuminated Vars’ features, and I could see his jaw set in anger. “That’s why my father asked me to invite you. We’re doing business, good business, with Crown Prince Abrasax.” Crown Prince? Surely I’d heard that wrong.
“We know of your dealings with him,” the Hunter scoffed. “Is this some effort to intimidate me?”
“Not at all,” Vars told him. “My father knows that the Crown Prince can be… demanding. We’ve delivered for him for years. Our contacts throughout the Periphery have been more than beneficial to him. But since the… incident, he’s been increasingly unhappy with us.”
“Since you lost his prize, you mean,” the Hunter laughed. The tall, thin man had horrid laughter, hitting all sorts of discordant notes. It set my teeth on edge and made all the hair on my arms and neck rise.
“Yes,” Vars grated out. “My father wants to pursue some… options. He’s still at Century, trying to make sure the Crown Prince’s plan works there. In the meantime, just in case, he sent me back a couple of days early and asked me to make you an offer.”
The Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “House Mantis or me?”
“Both,” Vars said. He reached back and someone out of sight passed him a briefcase. He lifted it up and opened it. I couldn’t see what was inside, but whatever it was, the Hunter’s lean face creased in a smile. “Ah… for me?”
“To arrange a meeting. With your House. My father wants to make peace with you, to make friendship,” Vars told him.
“You want another patron in case things go badly for you at Century, do you?” The Hunter’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t wait for Vars to answer. He extended one hand and slapped the briefcase closed and took the handle. “I will arrange a meeting. I assume you understand that this…” he hefted the briefcase, “had better be just a token?”
“I do,” Vars nodded. “We will have considerable payment.”
“Three days,” the Hunter said after a moment of consideration. “Neutral ground. I remember well enough why House Pyros threw your father out. We won’t have any repeats of that, will we?”
Vars shook his head. “How about the abandoned worker barracks off Koldberg Street?”
“That’s agreeable,” the Hunter nodded. “I will tell my people.” He reached out a hand, rubbing one finger on the wall and leaving a long pale streak through the soot. “Did your father lose everything, here?”
Vars looked away. The Hunter chuckled, “I’ll take that as a yes. A pity. My patron was interested in some of the items you’d collected. Those might have been accepted, in lieu of other payment.” He gave Vars a final nod. “Three days. There should be another storm to screen us from external observation. I’m glad our meeting was so… fruitful.” The Hunter gave another discordant laugh and stalked out of my sight. For a moment, Vars stood there, his fists clenching in anger, then he too departed.
***
Chapter 19: I Can Make Bad Decisions Sometimes
It was everything I could do to wait for the storm to ease before I slipped back up the stairs and out onto the balcony. In the slightly lighter downpour, I was able to pick out my location, spotting the looming abandoned spire and using that as a point of reference. I reached up and pulled myself up onto the roof, noticing a landing bay hatch on the far side, which must have been where Wessek had brought us in, originally. There was a smaller hatch, only a few meters away, where I assumed they could access the roof. The building was the same dull black and gray concrete as the rest of the city. I did my best to memorize the location and then moved back to the drain pipe I’d climbed to get up here.
Within a few minutes, I was back down in the street and moving quickly towards the abandoned section where the civets made their encampment. I wanted to get as far away from Vars as I could, especially if he and his father were making some kind of deal with House Mantis. Hunters terrified me and just the thought of them working with Wessek and Vars… I barely suppressed a shudder.
I was a few blocks over and further away when my rapid pace slowed, though, and I stopped, looking back the way I’d come. Vars had said that things weren’t going well for him and his father. They’d fallen on hard times. Apparently, they were working for the Crown Prince, this Abrasax. I thought I remembered that name, but I wasn’t sure. I wished there was something I could do to hurt them even more. I prayed that whatever they were up to back on Century went badly, horribly wrong for them. For that matter, I wondered if there might be some way I could at least get a message back home, back to the Admiral, to give her warning.
The thing was, I didn’t know their plan, I didn’t know any details. All I could offer were names and scraps of information, not enough to warrant the risk, even if I had known some place to send a message without putting myself in further danger.
I can see it now, wandering up to some random spacer or trying to slip into the spaceport to pass a message to a ship’s captain… yeah, like they’d believe me. I looked like a ragged street urchin. I didn’t even have shoes. I was dirty, my hair was wild, and I probably stank horribly like body odor and civet musk. Besides, I’d seen the security, I wasn’t going to get through that, not without some serious help or a pass that would take me through.
No, trying to slip into the spaceport without the proper pass was too dangerous, even if I could get someone to believe me.
Ironically, I was in a similar position to Vars and Wessek. I’d just lost my only friends, and I need to make new ones. If only I had money like they did to buy friends…
My mind froze as I considered that. Money. To buy friends. Exactly what Wessek and Vars were about to do…
I swallowed as I started to consider it. The two of them would be meeting senior people from House Mantis. They’d have payment, probably in Drakkus Imperial Marks, maybe in some other currencies. Small, portable, the kind of things pirates would want as payment.
Jonna and Simon had both told me that street gangs should avoid the Houses, should never try to cross them… but Vars and Wessek weren’t in one of the Houses. In fact, it sounded an awful like House Mantis didn’t much like them.
If I were stealing from them… well, that wasn’t really a violation of the rules, was it?
***
“You’re nuts,” Ted told me
. He was staring at me with an expression of awe, like he’d never seen someone as crazy or stupid as me. He’d been staring at me since I’d gotten to the point about accidentally breaking back into the facility we’d been captive at.
“Look,” I told him, “we need Marks to buy those implants, to get through security. We’re going to need marks to buy passage home.”
“We’re earning Marks!” Ted protested, but his protest wasn’t all that strong. We hadn’t earned a full Mark total over the past month, and we’d spent at least that much on food. We both needed clothing, shoes, we needed to get cleaned up to get into the spaceport. We weren’t going to get any of that here among the civets.
“You dumb,” Lokka spoke up from where he sat on his hunches, listening. I wasn’t sure how much he had understood. “Steal from Hunters? They kill you. Slow kill, not like gun. Slow. Like poison. Torture.”
“Yeah, but they’ll think Wessek crossed them,” I said, “not us!”
“How?” Ted asked.
I opened my mouth… then realized I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do it, not yet.
“You need help,” Lokka yawned. “My help. Other help. Expensive help.”
I needed a plan. “We need to scout the factory, then talk people into helping,” I scratched behind my ear. The way it had been itching, I was pretty sure I’d gotten lice. I hate this planet.
“Who would help us?” Ted’s expression went mulish.
“For this kind of payout?” I looked heavenward and got a cold dribble of water to my face from the leaky roof. “Anyone. The Ragabonds, the civets, maybe even the Crooked Daggers, I don’t know…” I pursed my lips. “This is big, Ted. This is our ticket home.”
Ted stared at me, his expression worried. After a long, thoughtful moment, he finally gave me a nod. “Okay. I trust you. Let’s do this.”
“Good,” I told him. Some part of me had almost hoped that he’d walk away… a nasty, dark part of me that I didn’t want to consider. “Let’s go check out the lay of the land and see what we can come up with.”
***
“You're insane,” Jonna told me. I'd found her on the abandoned spire, on the same ledge we'd talked on twice before. “You don't steal from the Houses. You really don't cross a Hunter. You especially don't do both at the same time. I wouldn't go up against some heavily armed pirates with a bunch of unarmed kids...” She shook her head, “Other than that, it sounds like a terrible idea in general.”
“Okay, hold on,” I protested. “I didn't say anything about taking pirates on one to one without weapons.” She narrowed her eyes, but she didn't interrupt. “Now, would you say that House Mantis is on rough terms with this Crown Prince Abrasax?”
Jonna laughed at that, “Everyone on Drakkus knows...” she trailed off as I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, everyone but a fos would know they hate one another. Mantis is one of the most dangerous pirate clans, they're the oldest House, pretty much everyone hates them...” She looked off at the spaceport. “I've got my own grudge against them, too.”
“So it's not outside the realm of possibility that they'd think Crown Prince Abrasax put Wessek and Vars up to setting up some kind of ambush?” I asked.
“Well, yeah,” Jonna snorted. “They'd expect it... which is why they'll probably come with a couple skimmers and twenty or thirty armed Black Cloaks.”
“Yeah,” I nodded, “And Vars and Wessek will probably expect that House Mantis would be willing to kill them and take the payment, if they thought they could get away with it.”
Jonna slowly nodded, “Yeah, which means there's going to be another twenty or thirty armed goons. All of them trigger-happy and ready to kill anything that moves. So anyone within their right mind would avoid the whole place.”
“But right now, they both think their meeting place is secret, so they're going to be focused on one another,” I told her. “So if something happens, they're going to both think it's the other side pulling a double-cross.”
Jonna's considered that for a long moment, “That's devious. But there's still a lot of room for problems. They're going to recognize anyone who's out of place. If they spot some street urchins, they're all going to start wondering how their secret meetup went south.”
“Look, it's not perfect, but I have a plan,” I told her. “And some of the Ragabonds are really good at making outfits... I'm going to need their help, and yours.”
“You really think your plan will work?” Jonna asked.
“Yeah, but I'm not willing to tell you all of it, not until you agree to work with me,” I gave her a tight smile, “otherwise you might just try to dump me and take all the reward.”
“You're that confident, huh?” Her blue eyes met my dark ones in turn. I could tell she wasn't really sure what to think. That in itself was a vote in my favor, though. If she was at least interested and curious, then she might go for it. She gave a sigh, “Fine, I'm in, but I want thirty percent. I hope this was the hardest part of your plan.”
I snorted, “Not hardly. My next stop is Francis with the Crooked Daggers.”
***
“You ain't so smart coming here, hongre,” Francis hissed at me. I'd asked Jonna to set up the meeting. She had laughed and told me it was my funeral. I hoped she was mostly joking.
“Hey Francis,” I smiled at him.
“It's Frankie,” Francis snapped. His hand had gone inside his coat. I guess I knew where his knife was, at least.
I held up my hands, “Okay, sorry, Frankie. I just thought you'd be interested in an opportunity. You are, after all, trying to make it in with House Pyros, right? A big score might impress them.”
Francis's eyes narrowed and he glanced at his boys who'd gone still, looking between him and me. The looks of surprise on some of their faces told me that he hadn't shared that information with all of them, not yet, possibly not ever. Uh-oh, Francis, might have a problem there... I didn't bother to hide my smile as I backed up a couple steps. “But if you've got something else going, I can always talk to someone else.”
“Hold it right there,” Francis snapped.
“Boss, how...” One of his guys asked.
“Shut it,” Francis snapped. He shot the boy a hard look and then his gaze went back to me. “Fine, you got some kind of scam or something, something those sillans in the Ragabonds can't handle, huh?”
“I've got a job big enough that it'll need your whole gang's help,” I told him. “And the Ragabonds, too.” I'd managed to pick up some of the street patter and I threw that at him with little of my Century accent as I spoke.
The Crooked Daggers started muttering among themselves, a chatter of fast-paced talk. I'd interested them and I could see sweat break out on Francis's forehead. He couldn't afford to lose control, not with how he ran his little gang of murderers. If they thought he was missing a good opportunity or worse, going soft, they'd turn on him in a heartbeat.
“I heard Jonna threw you out,” Francis changed the subject. “But then she sets a meet up, you and me. What's going on, you back?”
I shook my head, “Just the one job. A big deal is going on, a big payment. A pirate, a well-funded one, paying off one of the Houses.” I didn't want to say more in front of the group.
“No one but an idiot would try to rob one of the Houses,” one of the Crooked Daggers laughed.
“We're not robbing the House, we're robbing the pirates,” I snapped.
Francis looked thoughtful. “Big payout, huh? How big?”
“Big enough,” I told him, careful to keep that vague. I had no idea, truthfully. It could be a thousand Marks or a million. For that matter it could be in drugs or slaves or some other trade. I was hoping it was Marks, but I wasn't about to tell him that, especially not in front of his gang.
Francis stepped forward, waving at his people to hang back. As he came within a meter of me, he eyed me up and down, wrinkling his nose at me. Apparently I stank pretty bad that he noticed. “You really got a plan?”
“I rea
lly have a plan,” I told him. I swallowed, wondering how much I could afford to tell him. “I'm willing to cut you in for twenty percent.”
“Forty percent, Will,” Francis said, his voice relaxed, conversational. It was as if he'd turned into a different person. “Look, we can argue back and forth, but you'll give me thirty percent. If you're here, you need muscle. The Ragabonds aren't fighters, not really. That means risk, which means you're going to have to pay for the risk. Jonna wouldn't agree to anything less than thirty percent, this has more risk to me and my guys, so ten percent more.”
He caught my look of surprise, “You don't think I'm really a completely deranged killer, do you?” He chuckled as I swallowed my initial response. “Don't worry, you try to cross me on this and I'll show you just how deranged I can get.” He gave me a nod, “I'm in, but one last thing, if you call me Francis in front of my people, I'll cut your tongue out. You haven't earned that, understand?”
I just gave him a nod.
“Great,” Francis smiled at me, “now, tell me about your great plan.”
***
I'd brought Jonna and Francis to an abandoned apartment that overlooked the meeting site. I'd told them bits and pieces of the plan, just enough to get them onboard. But now, with just them present, away from their people, I told them everything.
“That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard in my life,” Francis snapped.
“I hate to agree with him,” Jonna noted, “but I certainly can't argue.”
“Look,” I told them, “We've got a couple advantages. They aren't expecting this. Both groups are going into this focused totally on one another. As soon as anything happens, they're going to go straight after one another.”
“Yeah, and two seconds after anything goes down, the House Mantis Black Cloaks are going to fire up one of their skimmers and they'll strafe the place,” Francis snapped. “If this Vars kid paid off a Hunter, that just means they'll probably have one of their skimmers present. I've seen what happens when they load up weapons besides those grapnel cannons, they'll level the whole block, and my guys will be in the middle of it.”