“You have taken back each of those subject to the contract’s terms…and they are unharmed.”
I heard Rohan gulp, and Tens give what might have been a suppressed growl. Cascade’s protest was louder. The wolf curled its lips, partly in amusement and partly in challenge. Rohan whimpered, and Cascade growled, even though he didn’t move from the boy’s side. Mack cleared his throat.
“I wouldn’t call that unharmed.”
The wolf looked at him.
“Do you challenge my judgement?”
And it was Mack’s turn to lift his head and meet its eyes. He even managed to rip out a credible snarl.
Delight raised her hand.
“I concur,” she said. “The cub is not entirely unharmed, and will require extra care.”
I watched as the wolf’s eyes travelled over us, once more, and saw when he decided to concede the point.
“We will reduce the price.”
“Agreed,” and Delight took control of the negotiations, once more.
I listened, letting the warmth of Mack’s body engulf me, using it to hold back the sudden chill that rolled over me. Delight named a figure that was double the price in the contract, and the wolf returned a number four times the amount—for damages”
“Your systems were returned to their original state,” Delight told him. “We even refrained from infecting the holding center’s data-base and communications centre.”
“You owe us for six doors, and damage to walls, also the hospitalization of guard personnel.”
Delight shrugged, and I was, for once, glad that they hadn’t given me a blade. Glad, also, that I seemed to prefer getting up close and personal when I was enhanced. I’d been carrying two blasters, and hadn’t drawn either one—hadn’t drawn the Glazers, either. Probably a good thing.
Delight didn’t react to that thought, but kept her attention on the wolf on-screen. Mack didn’t move beside me, not even when I shivered again. I blinked. What the Stars was it with the blurring vision, anyway?
I forced myself to listen as Delight agreed to repair the doors and various walls, as well as to pay the compensation for dented wolf warriors. It was almost funny, and I wondered if Odyssey demanded the same sorts of compensation for its personnel. Something I might ask later, if I remembered.
No one chose to enlighten me.
“There is also the incident on Rigel’s Banter,” the wolf began, but Delight held up her hand.
“Precautions were taken to return your personnel unharmed. Lupar intervention made it necessary for the maneuver’s taken by the Shady Marie and the Dasojin craft. No compensation is required, unless you’d care to pay us for the illegal detainment of our personnel.”
“Their detention was in accordance with the contract.”
“And compensation has already been paid for that.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, the intensity of it making my head throb. I wondered how much longer their dickering would take, and Delight made it clear that she wasn’t done. The throbbing in my head reached into my stomach, and I swallowed down the urge to chuck. No way was I disgracing myself in front of the wolf—and Delight hadn’t dismissed us, yet.
I pulled it together, hiding everything behind a mask of nothing, listening as Delight spoke for Abby.
“The Dasojin ships that were taken,” she began, and it was the wolf’s turn to cut her short.
“They are beyond Aktrovaran jurisdiction. Their price has already been paid, and both mind and shell handed over to Selimen Enterprises and passed on. You will need to ask your businessman for details.”
But Delight didn’t give up, easily.
“I’ll pay for information on their location,” she said, and the Hunt Leader smiled.
“I am afraid not, Agent. I have done what I can to assist you. We will escort you to the edge of the system. Tell Odyssey the good people of Aktrovaran dwell in wolf space, and under wolf protection. The treaty will be forwarded to your Confederation.”
“Hunt Leader—” Delight began, but the negotiations were over.
“I will inform your captain of the escort to Jump Point Havarga,” he said, and cut the call, leaving us all staring at a blank screen.
I watched Delight make a sharp movement with her hand, and guessed she was making sure that the line was properly dead, before she said anything. Instead of speaking, she looked at me.
“Pritchard,” she said, just as the throbbing deteriorated into a sharp spiking pain that lanced through my skull.
She hadn’t been kidding about me hating whoever had sped the process.
27—Recovering Rohan
Delight was also right about me needing to sleep it off, and, by the time that process was done, we were outside the Aktrovaran system, and alone. The wolf ships had escorted us to the jump point, and let us go—and both Wanderer and Abby were furious. Bennett wasn’t too impressed either; but that was because Delight had forgotten to ask the wolves where they’d taken his agents.
I woke to find Mack crashed out beside me, his arms folded across my chest, and my head on his shoulder.
“What the Hell!” I said, peeling myself out of his grip and sliding out of the bed. “What the everloving—”
I was backing away from a slowly waking, befuddled-looking Mack, when the door to my room opened, and Tens walked in.
“You wouldn’t let go of his arm,” he said. “He tried, but you had a damn good grip, and he didn’t want to get thrown up on.”
I stopped. The throwing up I remembered, just not the getting to bed part. I was still wearing the armor I’d made the drop in. Tens watched me register the details, and smirked.
“It’s not like you two had anything going,” he said. “He was just too tired to argue. My guess is he will be glad to find you’ve finally detached.”
“And fuck you, too,” I managed, straightening my shoulders and walking with as much dignity as I could muster into the san unit.
Mack was nowhere to be seen when I came out, clean and in a fresh ship suit. Good thing, too. I sighed and headed for the corridor. Time to find out what was on the agenda for today—and if I was still under Delight’s command, or back under Mack’s.
First, though, I wanted to go see how Rohan was doing.
I started to head into Wanderer’s systems, and then remembered who I was messing with. I stopped, and did my best imitation of reaching back to knock on the door, even though I was already standing in the entry hall.
Wanderer laughed.
“How can I help you, Operative Cutter?”
Well, she’d never called me that before. I wondered if she was okay.
“I am fine. You knocked. I merely responded in kind. I take it you are accessing my systems for a very good reason.”
“I wanted to see how the boy was doing. He didn’t seem so good…” I realized I had no sense of the time I’d slept. “…in the meeting.”
“I will guide you.”
“Siobhan…” I stopped, embarrassed by my limitations, and then tried, again. “I can’t be inside my head and in the real, too. I’m sorry.”
“I will send someone.”
I came out of my implant, still standing and facing the exit to my room. Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when it opened, and Mack was waiting in the hall. He caught my eye, and ducked his head like he’d done something to be embarrassed for.
“Siobhan sent me,” he said, and I wondered what the man was worried about; it hadn’t been like he could detach his arm and leave it in my needy fingers.
The thought of me clinging to him, caused my own face to heat, so I shoved the idea away, moving purposefully towards him.
“How’s the boy?” I asked, changing the subject, as he stepped aside to let me pass.
“Damn wolf buyers,” he said, anger curling through his words. “They were the worst kind. Conditioning began as soon as the hammer fell.”
I felt a
knot form inside me.
“They made him pack?”
But Mack shook his head.
“Nothing that simple.”
“Can we get him back?”
And, by that, I meant could we get Rohan back, the boy who hadn’t been afraid to get his crew to safety, the boy who’d faced down a wolf squad in defense of his dog. That boy. Mack rested his hand on my shoulder, and then gave it an awkward pat.
“Maybe… Almost… Tens will try.”
Why Tens? I thought, but didn’t say it out loud.
Mack answered the thought, anyway.
“Because Tens is his teacher.”
I didn’t quite get that, but Mack didn’t elaborate, so I asked the next thing on my mind.
“Can I help?”
I felt him glance down at me.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
There really wasn’t anything to say to that, so I walked the rest of the way in silence—and couldn’t help liking the fact he was walking beside me, again.
“We’re here,” he said, drawing to a halt, but whether he’d said it for my benefit or for Tens, who opened the door, I didn’t know.
“Rohan?” Tens continued after a beat of silence. “Cutter’s come to see you.”
Again, no response—not even the slightest tickle of his presence coming uninvited into my head. He was sitting on his bed, propped in the corner where two walls met, Cascade curled beside him. The dog wagged his tail when he saw me. I spared the beast a smile.
“Hey, Cas.”
His tail beat twice more, and he rolled his eyes up towards his master.
Fix Boy?
Fix? Well, okay… I frowned at Rohan, aware that Cascade had lifted his head, and was watching me with hopeful expectation on his face—and that completely infallible faith dogs had that their chosen human could mend anything they asked, but fix Rohan? I hadn’t thought he was that easily broken.
“They had us for over a month,” Tens reminded me, not seeming to care that Rohan could hear him.
The boy flinched at the sound of his voice, and I stared. Rohan and Tens were like evil twins… if twins came in a master-and-apprentice-style pack.
“Hey!”
At least Tens protested. Rohan did nothing…except… I replayed the moment after that thought, and realized his lips had twitched into what might have become a smile with a little more time.
“You in my head, boy?” I asked, and caught that twitch again.
Well, two could play at that game.
I took a step forward and rested my hands on the edge of Rohan’s bed, surprised when Cascade jumped down and stood behind me. It didn’t cross my mind that he was interposing himself between me and Mack and Tens. I was too busy trying to poke my way into the boy’s head.
“Not a boy,” he mumbled, and tossed a mental wall in front of me.
Well, that was rude!
I sidestepped the clumsily-thrown obstacle, and decided I was going to pay him back by painting the interior of his implant pink.
“You what!”
That protest came from more than one throat. Only Cascade seemed to think it was a good idea.
“Oh, Hells no!”
I snickered, and conjured up a bucket of coding that would make the inside of his head look like the girliest of princess rooms any six-year-old could desire. The next set of code he sent at me was almost unfriendly, but I slapped it aside.
“Best you can do?” I taunted, slapping away his second attempt, and dipping an imaginary brush into the bucket. “You really are a princess.”
Mack did not approve.
“Not helping, Cutter!”
Like he would know. Maybe when I was done…
“Don’t even think about it.”
I slung out a chain of code that hit the inside of Rohan’s implant and stuck. The rose-colored splatter began to spread, and I found myself having to shield against a sudden surge of black thorns, reminding me that Rohan had studied arach coding, as well.
“You are such a funny bitch!” he snarled, as I added something I’d learned from Askavor, and caused the black tangle to disintegrate.
“See me laughing?” I asked, and hit him with another spray of paint. “Do you, pinkie-pup?”
And that was all it took. I was jolted out of both our heads as his tackle knocked me to the floor. I heard Mack and Tens shouting and hoped neither of them were thinking of breaking us apart. From the sound of Cascade’s growling, he either didn’t think what I’d done was a good idea, or he was keeping the other two from interfering. I didn’t have time to work out which, because Tens had taught the little shit well, and the damn kid had been practicing.
“This has been a long time coming,” he snarled, hooking a fist back, and I swung a leg up and over him to sweep him off my stomach.
“You think you’ve got what it takes, kiddo?” I returned, pivoting into a crouch and out of reach.
Kid had gotten damn big since hitting his… I tried to remember…his sweet sixteenth? Eighteenth? Whatever.
We weren’t done yet.
“You really think you can?” I taunted.
And I sounded so much like Delight that I made myself sick.
Rohan laughed.
“No way, Cutter. You’ve got miles to go before you’re anywhere near as good as her!”
Well, that showed me just how much he hadn’t been keeping up. I’d dumped Delight on her ass on more than one occasion during that week’s training.
“Yeah, but you were enhanced when you did that,” he said, mocking. “You’re not enhanced, now, and I’m going to kick your tail.”
“You can try, boyo,” I returned, and bounced back from him, facing him as he came to his feet.
Well. Fuck. Me.
He missed, but those had been fast—and he hadn’t missed by much. I countered, coming in, and trying to sweep his feet out from under him. Damn! When had the little fucker grown so goddamn big?
My ankle hit solid rock, and then he lifted his leg and brought his foot down, hard. If the little turd muncher had been wearing anything on his feet, I’da had a broken shin. As it was, I lost the momentum and had little choice but to hit the floor on my ass, and then curl along my leg, grab him round the calves and pull.
He went over like a rack of cards, and I used the resistance to pull myself up, but instead of getting back onto my feet and waiting for him to recover, I pulled myself forward, and followed him into the fall, landing astride his torso.
Which was as far as I got, because I’d forgotten Tens relied on speed, and had been the kid’s main sparring partner and combat trainer. Well, hot damn!
He cracked me a solid hit in the side of the head, and I heard myself laugh—and I don’t mean the happy kind. I mean the kind that battle brings. I ducked the next swing, and landed a fist in his ribs—and it was Rohan’s turn to laugh.
Worry flashed through my head, but it wasn’t mine.
Ro didn’t try to smack me again, but he placed his hands on my shoulders, and jack-knifed up to smash his forehead into mine.
Two voices started cursing as I saw stars, and grabbed hold of the boy’s shirt.
“Little bastard,” I said, sliding a forearm across his throat and tightening the grip of my legs on his chest.
“Yuh think?” he retorted, and tried to dislodge me.
The first lurch wasn’t enough, and I risked letting go long enough to raise an open hand, while trying to keep the pressure on his throat. The second lurch sent the blow off course, so I ended up hitting his cheek instead of landing it over his ear. After that, it was a matter of trying to counter-balance him… which wasn’t going to happen.
He rolled us, going for top, but I kept the roll going—which would have worked a lot better if we hadn’t found the wall at the end of the room. Well, that hurt. We rebounded and rolled apart, staggering to our feet, me pulling my arms tight in to my side, and danc
ing back, as he took a wild swing that might have taken my head off if it had connected.
I heard Tens groan in disgust, but moved in to take advantage of the wide, open torso in front of me. Two hits to the gut were meant to be followed by a shoulder charge that pushed him back into the wall, except for the fact he grabbed both my shoulders and started to lift. Well, there was only one answer to that.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and tried to keep going—was surprised when something big and black darted behind him, nipping at my hands.
“Hey! Get out of it, Cas!”
Rohan lost his balance and went over backwards, and I was jerked away by a very strong grip on my shirt.
“Enough!” Mack roared, shaking me, as I twisted in his grip and lashed out.
“Enough!” Tens echoed, grabbing Rohan and pushing him back to the wall as Cascade danced between us, barking up a storm.
“Enough,” came out in stereo, as Mack mirrored Tens’ trick with me and the wall opposite.
“Stand down,” followed in a desperate duet, accompanied by Cascade’s anxious whining. “Stand down.”
And I snapped my gaze over at Rohan, saw Tens shake him at the same time as Mack shook me, and laughed.
“Well, fuck me sideways and six ways to stardust, where in the Stars did you learn all that?” I said, and Rohan sagged against the wall.
He might have tried glaring at me, if Cascade hadn’t bounced up to put his paws on Tens’ shoulders, and then reach past him to wash the boy’s face. Dog was broadcasting happiness in one very infectious wave.
Boy! Boy! Boy! Boy! Boy!
Rohan sputtered from protest to laughter, not moving when Tens let him go, and moved out of the dog’s way.
“It’s good to see you, too, Cas. Who’s a good dog? Hey? Yeah, who?”
Mack carried me out of the room, keeping a good grip on my collar until the door closed behind us.
“What the everloving fuck was that?” he demanded.
“Cure-all,” I retorted. “Put me down.”
He stopped shaking me, and let go. I landed hard, bending my knees as I hit the floor, and then coming up with my fist cocked.
“Cutter!” Delight’s voice made us both turn, and I held my blow.
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