“It wasn’t a laugh. It was a snort.”
“From you, that’s a riot of emotion.”
The doctor finished the blood draw, then pulled out a tube of Skinfill and dabbed a smear to Casmir’s throat. The conscientiousness almost made Casmir laugh. He wondered if Rache was rolling his eyes behind his mask.
“Done?” Rache asked after the doctor secured the vial in his case.
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, take mine.”
“What?” The doctor gawked. He might have fallen over if there had been any gravity to tip him in that direction.
“You heard me.” Rather than tugging up the hood that might have revealed his face, he removed the torso and arm pieces of his armor and pushed up the thin sleeve underneath.
His muscled arm was pale, the veins easily visible thanks to a body fat percentage akin to that of a marble statue. There were a few scars, but they appeared medically induced rather than a result of a lost fight. Spots where cyborg implants had been inserted?
“Today, Doctor,” Rache said.
His still-gaping doctor hadn’t moved.
“I expect that woman to try something,” Rache added, glancing at Casmir. “She didn’t want to give up her other cargo.”
A fresh new fear flushed Casmir’s veins. Rache could only be referring to Lopez and the bioweapon. How had the mercenary found out about that? For that matter, how had Rache found out about him?
Despite his surprise, the doctor’s hands were steady as he gripped the captain’s forearm and inserted a new needle. When he’d drawn the blood and tucked his vial away, Rache gripped his shoulder, his fingers digging in. Not enough to make the doctor wince, but Rache did have his undivided attention.
“Run a DNA test on both. Send me the results. Then delete them. Tell no one what you found.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rache released the man with a push that sent him toward the door. The doctor hurried out.
“Ms. Sato.” Rache unhooked his foot and pushed himself toward her.
Kim leaned back, wariness narrowing her eyes.
He stopped his gentle drift by gripping her shoulder and sticking his leg out, foot bumping the wall. “There’s something I’d like you to view in my quarters.”
“I’m not interested in your collection of sex toys,” Kim said.
“What about my collection of books?”
She hesitated. “Am I allowed to use them to psychoanalyze you?”
“Haven’t you already done that?”
Kim looked at Casmir.
He clenched his fists again, worried that Rache had something inimical in mind. He’d rarely seen Kim flummoxed, but she didn’t seem to know how to react to this man. That made two of them.
Why did Rache want a DNA test on him? What did this criminal know about Casmir that he didn’t? Something about the mother and father he’d never met? Would it turn out he had royal blood? That he was some relative of the king’s?
Despite all the old fairy tales about bastard heirs of thrones appearing to claim their birthrights, Casmir was positive he wasn’t Jager’s son, even by another woman. He had seen plenty of pictures of the king and the queen, who looked a lot more like Kim than Casmir, and their sons and daughter. The family was full of tall, beautiful people. Even if he was some distant relative, why would it matter to a mercenary who, by his every action for the last ten years, hated the king more than anything in the universe?
“There’s a vid player hooked to the wall next to the bunk,” Rache said, pulling himself down to the clip that held Kim’s cuff. “Inside of it, you will find a short recording on a chip that was in a capsule that my doctor withdrew from a dead man’s colon.”
“Ew.” Casmir loosened his fists as Rache released Kim without his hands straying anywhere personal. “You mercenaries lead interesting lives.”
“Yes.” Rache pushed Kim toward the door in the back of the room. “Play the recording. I want your opinion.”
“On a… medical research matter?” Kim reached the door and gripped the jamb when it slid open, pausing to look back at them.
“On an archeological matter.”
“You’ve got the wrong Sato then. You want my mother.”
“She’s busy. As you’ll see.” Rache extended a hand toward the door.
Kim’s eyebrows flew up. Casmir was just as puzzled. How could her mother be involved in something way out here? Something that would interest mercenaries?
Kim pushed herself through the doorway. Casmir glimpsed a bunk and a case of books on the wall, as Rache had promised, before the door closed.
The captain turned his attention, that featureless black mask, back on Casmir, and Casmir abruptly wondered if he should have been more worried about himself than Kim.
“Alone at last, eh?” Casmir managed to crack. “Will there be wine? A nice dinner? I’m not an easy man to woo, I should warn you.”
“That sounds incestuous.”
“Uhm, what?”
Rache stared at him for another long moment, then soft clicks sounded from each of the doors. Had he locked them? Casmir’s heartbeat thudded in his ears, far too fast for a resting state.
Rache reached up and tugged off his hood.
His face wasn’t metal. Casmir’s own eyes looked back at him.
20
“How do we get Casmir and Kim off their ship before this thing blows up, Viggo?” Bonita knelt on the deck in the cargo hold, the magnetic sole of one boot pressed flat to keep her in place as she worked on the case. She’d ratcheted it down so it couldn’t go anywhere, and now she carefully affixed some of the Tac-75 from the ship’s armory to the insulating molding, right under the rocket. She was doing her best not to let her hands shake. Casmir’s code-hacking device dangled in the air next to her. The same code had worked to open the case a second time, so she probably hadn’t needed it.
“We?” Viggo asked. “I have no legs, Captain. I can’t go anywhere.”
“Getting it over there should be easy enough.”
Qin had reported finding the crusher and was luring it back to the Stellar Dragon, promising she would aid it in defending Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski, as it insisted it needed to return to doing. Bonita hoped she could convince it to carry the case to the mercenary ship, so she and Qin wouldn’t have to risk exposure to the vials.
Would Rache allow that? Or would he suspect a trick?
She could only assume he was intelligent, since the entire Kingdom army had been trying to kill him for years and hadn’t managed it yet. Even if he did allow the crusher to deliver the case, how would they then get Casmir and Kim out of danger before it blew?
Bonita knew she’d wronged those two and felt a fierce determination to get them back, to make up for her mistake of allowing money to tempt her.
“Do you think Rache will know Kim’s background and make her open the case?” Bonita wondered. “Or will he have bothered to look her up? Casmir is the only one he listed on the bounty. They could simply have taken her because she’s female and still young enough to sell into the sex trade somewhere.”
“Rache is not known for trading in slaves.”
“Maybe he wanted her for himself.”
Not that Kim was the voluptuous beauty men usually went for. And she was about as warm as a comet’s trail. Still, maybe an ice woman would be perfect for the ice mercenary captain. Though Bonita hoped that wasn’t Rache’s intent. No woman deserved a man like that pawing her over.
“I would assume he knows the identities and occupations of his prisoners,” Viggo said.
“Then it would make sense for Rache to have Kim open the case, to check its contents. He may have a doctor, but I doubt it’ll be anyone as experienced with such things as she must be. And if we assume she’ll be asked to open it, then Casmir might be asked to help. Especially if I hand it over locked.” She tapped the code-hacking device. “Wait, what if I changed the combination? Do you think that would warn Casmir to be careful? Th
at something was up? Because if I simply meant to cooperate, why would I change the combination?”
“I believe he will be careful, regardless.”
“Still… Let me see if I can figure it out.” Bonita grabbed the device and closed the lid, hoping she couldn’t hurt anything by tinkering with the lock. Casmir’s random prodding of a button the first time hadn’t resulted in an inferno.
The airlock chimed and a few thunks sounded as the chamber filled with air. Qin was returning.
“Hello, Captain,” came her call as soon as the hatch opened.
She looked much better than she had a couple of hours earlier. Bonita wished she could say the same for herself.
“Look what I found,” Qin added.
She walked in waving a portable gas tank and leading the crusher. The hulking construct looked remarkably fresh, with all of its limbs attached. But, having seen the other ones in action, Bonita assumed the mercenaries had blown it to pieces and it had simply reassembled itself over time.
“You will assist me in retrieving Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski,” the crusher announced.
“Yes. Yes, I will.” Bonita found it relatively easy to change the combination with Casmir’s device. She turned it into all letters: GET OUT. “I better attach his doohickey to the case. He may not have the parts or tools to build another one, especially with mercs breathing down his neck.”
She hoped he would think to open the case in such a way that Rache and his buddies wouldn’t be able to see the display over his shoulder. She also hoped she was right in assuming that Rache would make Casmir do it. What if he had some hacker extraordinaire in his crew that he would use instead?
“No more second-guessing,” she grumbled to herself.
When she finished, she stood and pulled the remote for the Tac-75 off her utility belt. She worried that the case, which had proven impossible to scan through, would block the wireless signal of the transmitter. When she checked the remote, the signal was weak, but it came through. She hoped that wouldn’t change with a little distance and a couple of spaceship hulls.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Qin asked. “If Rache survives, he’ll hunt you down, torture you, and kill you.”
“I’m hoping that he won’t survive. And that Kim and Casmir will. They’ll have to get that message and find a way to get out of there before I blow up the case. That’s why we’re arranging a distraction.” Bonita waved at Qin and the crusher.
“Oh?” Qin asked.
“The crusher is going to deliver the case to the merc ship. While that’s going on, I want you to take this—” Bonita handed another patch of Tac-75 to Qin, “—and plant it on one of the tanks in the refinery, ideally one filled with flammable gas. There’s a timer. Don’t stick around. Get back here as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Bonita pushed one of her floating braids away from her face. “I think that’s all the help we can give them. Casmir and Kim will have to take advantage and get out of there. Once you plant that and the crusher delivers the case, get back to the ship. I’m pulling out and crossing my fingers the mercs will have far too many problems to worry about us.”
“It’s a good plan, Captain.” Qin lifted the Tac-75 and nodded. “I’m glad we’re helping.”
Bonita didn’t point out that they wouldn’t need to help if she hadn’t tried to sacrifice Casmir in the first place. She nodded back and hoped this would work out and that she could redeem herself, at least in her own eyes.
She turned toward the looming crusher. “Robot, once you deliver the case—”
“I am a Z-6000, programmed to protect Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski.”
“Uh, right. Once you deliver the case, you can help Kim and Casmir get out, all right? But wait for an opportune moment.” Bonita had no idea how much free thinking the crusher was capable of, but two of them had tracked Casmir halfway across the system, so they had to have decent brains—or the robot equivalent. “Then do your best to bring them back here, and I’ll fly them someplace safe.”
Wherever that was. Bonita was mildly reassured that Rache only commanded one ship, but if he kept his bounty listed, Casmir would find it difficult to travel freely in any system.
“Understood.” The crusher lifted the case. “I am prepared to deliver it.”
“Viggo,” Bonita said. “Comm the mercenaries and tell them we’re delivering the case to their ship.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Go now, Qin.” Bonita waved at the airlock. “Be careful. If you can help Casmir and Kim, do it, but don’t get yourself killed.”
“I understand. I’ll do my best.”
“You’ve got plenty of oxygen in that tank, right?”
Qin reached over her shoulder to check while giving a puzzled nod. “Yes.”
“Good, because as soon as you two are on the refinery, I’m going to move the Dragon. Not far, but I don’t want to be linked in any way to that other ship when that bacteria gets unleashed, and right now, we’re both tubed to the refinery. When you escape, push off and angle for the airlock. I’ll run the decontamination cycle and hope that’s enough, that this doesn’t backfire on us.”
Qin’s expression grew bleak behind her faceplate. The crusher’s vaguely human face held no expression at all. Deadly bacteria wouldn’t affect it.
Bonita groped for something encouraging to say, but she couldn’t manage it. She waved Qin toward the airlock. “Better get out into the refinery now and plant that before the mercs think to look for people over there.”
“Yes, Captain,” Qin said.
“We have a small problem, Captain,” Viggo said, and Qin paused in the airlock hatchway.
“What?” Bonita asked.
“Rache’s people demand that you meet them on the refinery with the case. They’ll inspect it there and decide if it’s safe to take aboard their ship.”
Bonita bit her lip. If the mercs didn’t take it aboard, the explosion wouldn’t damage their ship, and the bacteria wouldn’t infect their people. Without pandemonium breaking out on the Fedallah, the Stellar Dragon would never escape Rache’s wrath.
“Tell them that’s fine. The case will be there in ten minutes.” Bonita looked at Qin and the crusher. “Slight adjustment to the plan. We might need someone who can think on their feet to do the handoff. Qin, plant the explosive quickly, hide the crusher somewhere where he can ambush the mercs, and then you show up with the case. Wait for them right outside their hatch. Don’t be too eager to get them to take it on board their ship, but if it’s possible to nudge them that way, do it. If Kim and Casmir are there, don’t try to speak with them. We sold them out, so they’re nothing to us now. At least as far as Rache’s people know. Got it?”
Qin took a deep breath, looking intimidated by everything on the list, but she nodded firmly. “Yes, Captain.”
She and the crusher lifted the case and disappeared into the airlock chamber.
Soon, Bonita was all alone on the ship. Alone with her thoughts. She wondered if she would survive the day. Or the hour.
Rache’s face wasn’t identical to Casmir’s, but it was damn close. Rache had a scar on his jaw and over one eyebrow, his hair was buzzed short, and his features were much leaner. Casmir couldn’t stop staring and trying to decide if they would have been identical if they’d led the same lives.
And then his eye blinked. He grimaced. Rache’s didn’t do that, at least not while Casmir was watching. He also didn’t have strabismus. Casmir had no idea yet what was happening, but the words That’s not fair distinctly floated through his mind.
“What’s wrong with your eye?” Rache asked bluntly.
He was regarding Casmir with just as much scrutiny.
“Nothing.” Casmir’s eye blinked again. He sighed. “A tic. And I have monocular vision. Both eyes are awful without correction. Yours?”
“Perfect.”
“Because you had them enhanced with cyborg bits?”
“No.
Other things, yes. Not my eyes.” Rache tilted his head. “You’ve had seizures since birth?”
“More or less. You?”
“Never.”
“I guess we’re not twinsies then.” Casmir smiled, though he was bewildered. The resemblance was so close that it was hard to imagine them being anything else. Even brothers would never look so similar.
“We’ll see what the doctor says.” Rache reached for his hood and mask.
Casmir thought the reason the bridge crew had stared at him so curiously might have been because he looked like the captain, but… “Does your crew know what you look like?”
“No. Nobody does.”
“Your doctor must.”
“No. In fact, he didn’t have a sample of my blood until today. I don’t use sickbay.”
“Ever?” Casmir glanced at Rache’s forearm, the scars still visible.
“Not here. When I first started in this career, I had every enhancement to my immune system and cell-repair system that money could buy, so I heal quickly.”
“I’m guessing you don’t have allergies then either,” Casmir said dryly, but with genuine envy. “Every spring, I get hives walking under the pollinating oak and ciern trees along the street leading to my house.”
“Your house in the capital on Odin.” Rache pulled the mask and hood back over his head. “Right?”
“Yeah.” There was little point in lying since Rache seemed to know all about Casmir. “I suppose you looked up the address when you sent the crushers to kill me.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“No?”
“No. I had no idea you existed at all until I saw you on the Odin news feed. It sounded like someone was trying to kill you, and when I learned you were at Forseti Station…” Rache twitched a shoulder. “Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s see what the doctor says.”
“Wait, if you’re not trying to kill me, why did you put a bounty on my head?”
“To bring you here before someone else got to you. Mostly out of curiosity.” Rache shrugged again.
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