Snowburn

by Frost, E J

  “What job?”

  “I need to kill someone by midnight.”

  “Out on the Cloudlands.” It’s not a question, but she nods. “Kimpler,” I say, putting two and two together and getting five. Her eyes widen and I see her true expression for a moment. That predatory intensity. She’s not playing now. I’ve said something that interests her.

  “How do you know that name?” she asks. No flirtation. Pure focus.

  “I know lotsa names. Bet you do, too. Tyng tell you any others?”

  She shakes her head, and I see puzzlement in her eyes. Tyng hasn’t told her my real name. Guess he doesn’t trust Erin-the-Assassin all that much, either.

  “Just so you know, it was Kez that figured it out.” Erin’s eyes narrow; I knew she wouldn’t like that. “Smart girl, your sister. Beautiful. Loyal.” I bare my teeth in a smile almost as feral as hers. “She’s one in a billion. There’s no one I wouldn’t kill to keep her. If takin’ out Kimpler gets you back in Tyng’s good graces, you might mention that to him.”

  Her eyes are so intent, they should burn like a laser. “Who are you?”

  “No one you’d wanna know. And definitely no one you’d wanna fuck. Strap in. Gonna be a bumpy flight.” I knock the trip plate with my elbow and slide through the door when it opens. Lock it behind me. Erin-the-Assassin does not get to go roaming around my ship while we’re in flight.

  I shake myself. Feel the stress of her regard fall away. Then I go to tell my one in a billion what I’ve learned.

  Chapter 18

  Kez has the ship warmed up and ready for a vertical lift off. I check her settings, which are perfect, and ignore her twitchy curiosity for several minutes. Let the tension build.

  “Your sister needs to be in the Cloudlands by midnight so she can kill Kimpler,” I finally tell her when she looks like she’s about to vibrate out of her chair.

  “Wha-what?”

  Too much. Too fast. I should have teased her with it a little, fed it to her in bits and pieces until she got there on her own. Guess she wasn’t listening after all. “You were right about Tyng testing his top dogs. Guess Kincaid passed.” Must not have been an asshole test. It’s only a temporary reprieve, though, he’s dead the first chance I get. “Erin’s going to the Cloudlands to take out Kimpler.”

  “She kills for him,” Kez says flatly.

  “Erin-the-Assassin. You never heard of her?”

  “I have.” Kez hangs her head. “I just didn’t put it together.”

  Didn’t want to put it together is more like it. Kez knows Kuseros’s underground too well not to have heard of Erin. She just didn’t want to admit that Tyng’s favorite hit-girl is her sister.

  “She says it’s a test. She’s got to prove herself again. Tyng’s one angry bastard.”

  Kez fiddles with a couple of controls that don’t need fiddling with. “Because of Chiara and Ape. We’re all going to end up paying for his dick, aren’t we?”

  Looks that way. “I gave her a warning to give to Tyng.”

  Kez looks up at me, blue eyes wide with surprise. “You did what?”

  “I told her to tell him I’d kill anyone to keep you.”

  “You threatened Tyng?”

  “It’s not a threat.”

  She shakes her head. “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to kill Tyng.”

  “No, we agreed you weren’t askin’ me to kill Tyng. Different thing. If I decide to kill Tyng because he’s threatened you, or ‘cause he sent me that list, or ‘cause I just don’t think much of his parenting skills, that’s my call.”

  Kez crosses her arms over her chest. I don’t think she’s aware of it, but the gesture pushes her breasts together and makes for a nice view. Much nicer than Erin’s blatant display. I have to keep a smile off my face.

  “Do I get a say in this?” she asks. “It’s my brother who’s made this mess, and it’s my bargain with Tyng that put our asses on the line.”

  “Thought you understood when I showed you that list.”

  “I did. I do. This isn’t about that list. I don’t want you to kill Tyng because of me. If he threatens you – if he sent you that list and he’s threatening you, okay, then, I understand that. But I don’t want you to kill Tyng because my brother has no common sense when it comes to his dick. I don’t - I don’t want you to have Tyng’s blood on your hands. Not because of me.”

  I hold up my hands, show her my palms. “So much on here already, bit more won’t make any difference.”

  “It does to me.” She starts messing with the controls again. “The whole time I’ve been watching you, you haven’t killed anyone. You’ve only had to kill since you hooked up with me. I don’t want that. I want there to be more between us.”

  I flick the master plate so her control panel goes dead. “Stop fucking with that. It was perfect the way it was.” And so is she. Has any other woman wanted there to be more between us? If Marin had survived, would she have wanted more? Don’t think so. She’d have dumped me at the first waystation and gotten back to her normal life. Maybe I’d have gotten a farewell fuck. Or maybe she’d have just strung me along until we got some place she could disappear. Either way, she would not have wanted more. “You don’t have to convince me about your motives, kitten. I know they’re pure.”

  She scratches at her dreads. Looks sweetly uncertain. “You do?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “But you said—”

  “I know what I said. Your hysterics convinced me otherwise.”

  Her little jaw juts. “I did not have hysterics.”

  “Tears. Snot. Seemed like hysterics to me.” I chuckle at her huff. Switch her console back on. “Impress me, kitten. You do the takeoff. If you can do it without any help, I’ll spend the rest of the flight thinkin’ of a way to resolve this that don’t involve my blade and Tyng’s throat.”

  “Swear?”

  She doesn’t hold out her pinkie, so I offer her mine, which she hooks and shakes. And then she does a perfect vertical lift off without even looking at me for reassurance.

  Guess I’d better come up with a way to fix this without killing Tyng.

  She lets me think. I check her course from time to time. Correct a couple of mistakes that are more a result of inexperience than anything else. But the rest of the time I let her fly on her own. She’s a natural, and she clearly loves flying. Her eyes are alight; she’s smiling; she doesn’t mention Erin once. I factor making her my co-pilot permanently into my equations. Running’s given her a great ass and nice legs, but it’s also gotten her the scars on her back and thigh, and Kincaid’s dick in her mouth. Time for her to do something else. Something safer.

  An hour of thinking doesn’t get me any closer to a plan that doesn’t involve killing Tyng. Part of the problem is that I don’t know much about the man himself, although I know a decent amount about his organization. None of it immediately useful. Another part of the problem is that, deep down, I want to kill him. Anyone that threatens what’s mine dies. It should be that simple. But this time it’s not, and that’s knotting my brain.

  “Other than being a scary bastard, what’s Tyng like?” I ask Kez.

  She starts. We’ve both been silent for a long time. One of the many things I like about Kez is that she can just share silence with me.

  “Um, Chiara doesn’t talk about him much. I gather he wasn’t around a lot when she was little. She was raised by nanny-bots.”

  “Too busy building his empire to spend any time with his kids, huh?”

  “Uh-huh. And then for the last few years he’s been sick, so she hasn’t seen much of him.”

  If I had any hair on the back of my neck, it would stand up. “Sick with what?”

  “I’m not really sure. I never heard anything about it. Chi just mentioned that he was always off to Metphos.”

  Metphos. One of the Vespers’ very exclusive medical orbitals. “Think she knows what he has?”

  “She’s never said if she does. Like I s
aid, they aren’t close.”

  “An’ he may have been keepin’ it a secret.” I would in his position. Any illness would make him look weak.

  Kez nods.

  I unstrap myself from the pilot’s chair. “You want some yokan?”

  “Yes.” Kez tears her attention away from the flight console long enough to raise a suspicious eyebrow. “Are you going to ask my sister about Tyng?”

  “Could be. But I’m also gonna get some yokan. The recycler shoulda restocked itself by now.”

  Kez grimaces. “Don’t let her get her claws into you. She’s fucking toxic.”

  I lean over and press a kiss onto her fuzzy crown. “I got that. Don’t worry about me, kitten. Keep your mind on flying the plane.”

  Kez rolls her eyes. I chuckle and slip out of the cockpit.

  Erin’s working on a palmtop when I enter the lounge. I ignore her and head straight to the recycler. Let my back pique her interest.

  The ploy works and after a moment, she joins me at the recycler. “Is that real pineapple?” she asks.

  Guess she shares her sister’s sweet tooth.

  “Flashed, but, yeah, it’s real.” I tap the panel and hold out my palm for the packet. Hand it to her. She curls her fingertips across the back of my hand as she takes the packet with thumb and first finger. She doesn’t miss an opportunity for a come-on.

  I get myself some protein jerky and four packets of yokan, two of which I slide into a pocket for Kez. Then I sit down in an empty flight cradle across from Erin. Same one Ape was snoring in not so long ago. I tear open a packet and chew a strip of jerky while I watch Erin.

  She doesn’t like being watched. Predators don’t. She gets twitchy after just a few seconds. Begins shifting around in her cradle. Crossing and uncrossing her legs. Fiddling with her hair and bustier. Finally, she starts talking.

  “So you and Kez had a long heart-to-heart. Did she tell you all about me?”

  “Nope. Didn’t talk about you much at all.” I let that sink in for a moment; burst her ego-bubble. “Whatever’s between you and your sister’s got nothing to do with me.” Although I imagine I’ll be hearing about it later, if Kez and I survive this. “Somethin’ I wanted to ask you. You said one way or the other, Kez is Tyng’s. I figure one way he gets his revenge is he ganks her. What’s the other?”

  Erin chews her pineapple slowly. Lets the tip of her tongue peek between those red, red lips after she swallows. “Why should I tell you?”

  “Why not?” I shrug like it doesn’t matter.

  “Oh, no, not this time. You want information from me, this time we deal.”

  Yeah, I figured this was coming. “Okay. You tell me what I want to know and I’ll give you that fuck you’ve been angling for.”

  Erin lifts one finely-arched eyebrow. “Really?”

  “No, not really.” I grin at her expression. “C’mon, you know I’m with Kez, and you’re not really interested. You’re just trying to piss your sister off by comin’ on to me. Move on to the next thing. What d’you want?”

  “You’re very observant, Mister Whatever-your-real-name-is.”

  “That what you want? My real name? Your boss already knows. Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Kison isn’t speaking to me at the moment. As I already told you. Try to keep up.” Now that she’s not trying to play me, the teeth and claws appear.

  And she didn’t tell me Tyng wasn’t speaking to her. Just that she had to prove herself to him again. Interesting. “You’re still stallin’. What do you want?”

  “Maybe I want that fuck. What would you say to that?”

  I chuckle. “I’d say ‘no.’ You’d be doin’ it to hurt your sister, not ‘cause you want to be with me, so I wouldn’t enjoy it. And no matter what my reasons, doin’ it would hurt your sister, so I wouldn’t enjoy it. Either way, I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

  “I think I could promise you that you would.” But she’s not pouting, or simpering, or flopping out her tits. She’s just saying it to salve her ego. “At any rate, you do have other things to offer.” She stretches and runs her hands across the padding of the cradles on either side of her. “This nice little ship, for example.”

  I shrug. “It’s yours.” I can steal another one. Or buy one legitimately through Kez. I like that idea; it would sever the last connection between me and the original Sandringham Snow, and make Kez feel even more like my partner. “I’ll give you the master key when we get to the Cloudlands.”

  “And register the transfer with the I.O.R.?”

  I snort. “This is a smuggler’s ship. You think I registered her with an interplanetary authority?”

  “Ah, that’s a shame.” She lifts one well-toned shoulder. “Not as valuable as I thought. And you were willing to give it up without an argument. Maybe it’s not very valuable at all.”

  “She. If you’re gonna own a spaceship, you gotta talk the talk,” I say, spacing out my words so she feels the insult. She knows as little about ships as her sister, and I make sure she knows it. “‘Course there’s another she to consider here. Your sister. I already told you, I’ll kill anyone to keep her. You think givin’ up my ship compares to that? Who’s not keepin’ up?”

  Erin’s eyes narrow and go almost as feral as her smile. “I think you were right about something, Sandringham. You wouldn’t enjoy it. Not for very long at any rate.” She taps her fingernails against the cradle padding. White on white. “Okay, you have a deal. I’ll answer your question and you give me your ship.”

  “Get real, sister. You’ll tell me everything I want to know. About Tyng. About his operations. About where you took your last dump if I ask. You answer every question completely. You hold not one fuckin’ thing back. And then you can have my ship.”

  She sniggers. “Or what?”

  “Or we play who’s the better assassin.” I flick the throwing knife I’ve been working out of my wrist sheath while I’ve been talking at her. It sinks into the cradle’s padding between her middle and ring fingers with a satisfying thock.

  She doesn’t jerk her hand away. Doesn’t jump or scream. She goes very still, and stares at me very hard. I’ve gotten her full attention again. “I want your real name.”

  I shake my head. “Not part of the bargain. Ask Tyng, if he starts speaking to you again.”

  “Does Kez know it?”

  I don’t see any reason not to tell her the truth. “Yeah.”

  “Then I want to know. Or I won’t tell you dick.”

  “You can call me Manny.” One of my many nicknames in S.A.W.L. She won’t figure out shit from that. “That’s as much as you’re gettin’. Talk.”

  “Manny. Hmm.” She sits back in the cradle, pulls my shiv out of the cushion, and starts cleaning her nails with it. “Kison hates waste. Killing Kez would give him his revenge, but it would be a waste of talent. Everyone knows she’s the best runner on Kuseros.”

  Is she? I didn’t know that; I hadn’t heard of her. But I haven’t been on Kuseros all that long, and my business is pretty strictly air. I don’t cross paths with runners often. That encounter a couple of months back which made such an impression on Kez must be one of a handful of times I’ve even met one. “So maiming her is outta the question.”

  I don’t know how much of a sadist Tyng is, but in some ways, crippling Kez would be worse than killing her. Both Ape and Kez would have to live with it if she were crippled.

  Erin twists the tip of my shiv around under the nail of her middle finger thoughtfully. “Not out of the question. Nothing is out of the question with Kison. He has no boundaries. Keep that in mind before you decide to play on his chessboard. But like killing her, maiming her would be a waste of resources.” She flicks at the tip of her nail with my knife. “And it would be over too quickly.”

  I ignore that. She’s as much of a sadist as her boss. “So what’s behind door number two?”

  “Oh, I expect he’ll make Kezzy work for him. He does that with people who impress him. Or enrage him. Wh
at’s the old saying, ‘keep your friends close, but keep your enemies—”

  “Closer,” I finish for her. “If she works for him, he can torture her to his heart’s content.”

  “She won’t enjoy working for him, that’s for certain.” She keeps her expression flat, and it’s the dead-face that gives her away. She doesn’t enjoy working for Tyng anymore. But he won’t let her go. Maybe that’s why she was hiding in Zhonnys.

  I open a packet of yokan while I contemplate this. Chew the first cube and enjoy the sweet green tea flavor. “Anything more important to him than revenge?”

  Erin smiles viciously. “You can’t save her.”

  “That’s not an answer. You reneging on our deal?”

  She looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Mmm, maybe I want to renegotiate.”

  “Waste my time and you’re walkin’ the rest of the way.”

  “Oh, okay then.” She rolls her eyes. “Yes, there are probably some things more important to him than revenge. The lives of his other children and grandchildren, maybe. But you’d be a fool to threaten him. He’s relentless. He might back off for a time, let you think you’ve gotten away, but he’ll never stop. He never stops. He’ll find another way to get to her. You can’t save her.”

  Said like someone who has tried to get away from Tyng, and failed.

  “Relentless only works if you got time.” I pop another cube of yokan. “Way I hear it, he’s dyin’. And if Chiara’s his youngest, he’s no spring chicken anyway. How much time’s he got left?”

  She taps the flat of my blade against her lower lip. “The Little Princess talks too much.”

  I shrug. “Answer the question.”

  “He’s never told me. He doesn’t talk about his condition.”

  “Best guess.”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard rumors. A few months. Maybe a year. Maybe twenty if they find a cure.”