Capital Games (Audacity Saga Book 2)

by R. K. Thorne

  “Oh, you like them? How do you like this one?” She whipped the tiny pistol out of the belt band and jammed it under his chin.

  “Whoa, whoa.” Kael started to pull her back but only half-heartedly.

  The ring attendant’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that a Silver Mountain mini? You are quick. I barely caught a glance.”

  “Yeah. So what if it is?” How many guns were in this club if he didn’t bat an eyelash? Her stomach twisted at the thought.

  “Well, I like that one very much. Nice clip size. For its size.”

  She rolled her eyes, nudged his chin with it. “I want to see Kentt. Now.”

  “You’re going to shoot me right here? Do you think that will help?”

  She definitely wasn’t; she needed to get around him calling her bluff. “I just want to know what I need to do to—”

  “Get in the ring.” He jerked a finger over his shoulder. “Everyone that fights gets an audience.”

  “An audience?” Kael mumbled. “What is she, a fragging queen?”

  She lowered the gun but didn’t put it away yet. “Just fight?”

  “You know you’re not supposed to have that in here, eh, mademoiselle?”

  “No shit.”

  “Listen, they are waiting for people to fight. This guy won’t last.” He glanced over his shoulder, and looked back at her, laughing. “He’s a streak on the road, as they say. Nobody in their right mind here can or wants to take on the mechs. You, however…” He looked her up and down again, not quite leering.

  “What, did I fail to cover my ‘I’ve got a death wish’ tattoo under the huge volumes of fabric?”

  “I think ‘I crush mechs’ wouldn’t be so bad. On your inner thigh, perhaps?” He grinned. “You have the look of it.”

  “I don’t need your compliments.”

  His eyes twinkled with laughter now. “I like you, little minx. And that is why you should believe me. You fight, you make the people gasp, you get what you like from the Blue Girl. Win-win all around, isn’t it? You both look like you can handle her. And the mechs too.”

  Ellen rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that little vote of confidence.”

  “And there’s a med unit right over there.” He pointed over her shoulder. “Nobody gets killed, mon ami, I promise you.”

  Kael snorted. “Just maimed? That’s a high bar you’ve set, mon ami.”

  “Good thing we can just take him at his word,” Ellen added.

  He shrugged. “Believe what you like. You want to talk to the Blue Lady, you fight the mech. Shoot me if you like, but I have no greater access to her than you do.”

  “Fine,” Ellen grunted. “We’ll do it.”

  The attendant grinned. “Wait here—you’ll be up in no time. I give this one thirty seconds. Maybe less. Care to take bets?” They shook their heads. “Suit yourself.”

  Kael drew her away from the man, his eyes dark with concern as the shouting rose around them. “Are you sure about this?”

  She shrugged. “We’re either talking to the wrong man, or the only way to her is through that ring. Know anyone better to talk to?”

  He shook his head.

  “Then we’ll figure it out. And we can watch the mech’s moves on—”

  Before she could even finish, a huge, disappointed groan filled the room. She turned. Sure enough, he was already out cold, crumpled on his side, and the darkly avian mech was encouraging cheers from the crowd with both sets of its hands.

  A strange voice spoke, neither masculine nor feminine but something in between, loud and echoing in the club speakers. “Who else will face me?”

  She turned back to Kael with a hard gleam in her eye. “How do we do this? Let’s talk tactics. We’re not here to kill anybody.”

  “We’re not here to die either.”

  “True.”

  “I should be able to short out a mech with one touch. Not to mention what a wave or two could do. It shouldn’t be a problem. Plus, if people fight them regularly without another mech, they must know when to stop. Right?”

  “Must they?”

  His continued frown said he didn’t believe it either. “Well, there aren’t any blood stains on those mats.”

  “Maybe they’re new.”

  “Maybe they are. But—”

  “That is your cue, mes amies!”

  He grinned. “C’mon. Playing games with Dr. Ostrov soften you up too much to fight?”

  She punched him softly—well, not that softly—in the shoulder. “It’s not the fight that I’m worried about, it’s the spectacle.”

  His face straightened. “True. I’m not looking forward to pointing a big neon sign that reads FORMER THEROKI at me either.”

  She sighed. “What other option do we really have?”

  “None that I see, but you’re the brains of this operation.”

  “Stop saying that. You have plenty of brains. You’d be back playing guard dog if you didn’t.”

  A silence fell between them, a weird little magnetism, a lashing of energy that couldn’t find an outlet, just vibrated back and forth, tension and entropy and chaos. She wanted to let it work its craziness into something more than just tension. But voices cut through.

  And the attendant, grabbing her arm.

  They made for the ring.

  Chapter Nine

  The room felt like it was spinning, roaring, as she made her way into the ring. The first contender’s limp form had vanished, not even leaving a mark behind. The crowd was delighted. Another contender, so quickly?

  “Two fighters seek the Blue Lady’s blessing!”

  “Oh, so she’s a goddess now?” Ellen muttered to one in particular.

  “Whatever gets us through,” Kael replied.

  “A second beast will join us!”

  “Hey, no one said anything about two-on-two.” She glared back at the attendant.

  Kael shrugged. While she was already in knees-bent fighting mode, he stood calmly, looking unperturbed and in control. The tightness around his eyes told her that appearances could be deceiving. “What difference does it make?” he said softly. “They can change the rules whenever they like. I’m a little more concerned about those.” He pointed up at the ceiling. In the midst of the waving white flowers, which were higher here but still present, were shiny black orbs, like beady little insect eyes.

  “Cameras. Those conniving little shitweasels.”

  “Think they’re streaming this?”

  “God, I hope not.” Still scowling, she turned along with the rest of the crowd to watch the wall grating rumble up to reveal the new mech. This one was basically the same, except where the first was long and lean, this one bristled with feather-shaped slabs, like oars protruding in a fan from its back. Instead of mirrored, it was striped a savage red.

  It did its own slow circle to a round of cheers. Ellen folded her arms across her chest and tapped one ridiculous shoe, a wiry bundle of energy. Kael cracked his neck and his knuckles and kept his eye on both mechs.

  The new bird stepped into the ring.

  “Let the fighting begin!” called a voice. “Who will be our Blue Lady’s champion? Man or machine?”

  Kael tensed beside her.

  She studied them. The knee joints looked like a possible weakness. A lot of wiring at the back. “Let’s play it low-key at first. See what their moves are.”

  “Fine with me,” he said.

  The mechs regarded each other, apparently also communicating. Then the new one with its red slashes turned toward them—and charged.

  She stared it down, playing chicken. Wait for it. Wait… At the last second, she ducked under the strange oars poking from its back. She felt the wind rush past, catch at her hair as she dove into a roll, putting distance between them.

  By the time she’d righted herself, though, it had turned and pivoted and was heading back for her. Ignoring Admiral Kael over there.

  She dove for another roll. A little too slow. While most of her got out of the wa
y, one claw came out and caught the outside of her thigh, plunging in.

  The claw tore down, but her roll carried her out of the way of the thing. Or it should have. She came back to a crouch, leg screaming, and realized the mech wasn’t where she’d expected it.

  She looked left, right. It wasn’t anywhere, in fact. Red streak had backed away, but the original mirrored mech was nowhere to be seen.

  She glanced over at Kael, his face upturned and arm raised. She followed his gaze up.

  Oh. Uh-oh.

  Kael couldn’t get much height in here, but the machine floated over them, skimming the flower canopy. Gasps went up through the crowd, whispers, but he didn’t give them much time to marvel.

  The machine rocketed back down, slamming into the ring hard enough to leave a dent in the floor. A shower of mirrored slabs and silver sparks exploded into the air. The limbs twitched but it rose, motors whirring and groaning.

  The previous roar had been nothing to what they heard now.

  “Theroki!”

  “Cyborg!”

  “Disqualified!” boomed the announcer’s voice.

  “What?” Kael snapped.

  “Hey!” Ellen limped to the railing and jabbed a finger in that asshole attendant’s face. “You didn’t say there were any constraints.”

  The jerk had the balls to grin. “You didn’t say he was a cyborg either! Ask for the rules next time, mademoiselle.”

  She spun and didn’t look back. Other attendants were ushering Kael out of the ring while he looked back on her warily. She waved his worry away.

  “Fair’s fair!” she shouted to him. “You took care of one. I’ll figure out the other!”

  He pressed his lips together. He didn’t like it. But last she checked, that wasn’t changing anything. The attendants let go of him once they were all outside the ring.

  “Rich—a little help here.” She eyed the other mech, who was also sizing her up.

  “How can I help you, madam?”

  “Something more athletic maybe?”

  “I wasn’t made for this, you know.”

  “We’re in this together. Don’t forget that.”

  The shoes shifted, and she lost some height. That was good. She felt more stable already. “If gods existed, and I weren’t fresh out of the box, I’d wonder what I’d done to deserve this.”

  Whatever bored bastard had chosen this particular AI to put in a shoe had to be a sadist. She didn’t have time to tell Rich that. As she waited, crouched and thinking hard, the remaining mech made a fresh run. Its joints wheezed over the slamming of the feet into the floor, almost feeling as though it could shake her to the bone.

  It couldn’t, but almost.

  She sidestepped it, just barely. This time she didn’t stop with one roll, but kept going twenty more feet before whirling to look back.

  It paced, left, right, analyzing. Looking for the most entertaining weakness?

  The next run started slow, but ended fast. It put on a burst of speed at the last moment that threw her off. She dove between the legs, landing a kick to the knee joint that did nothing. She swore as a fresh talon pierced her calf.

  She kept going. She kept rolling. She couldn’t stop. Not killing anyone? Tell that to her leg right now. Although the punctures were both to the same leg, perhaps it was meant to simply be disabling. Neither had gone near an artery as far as she could tell.

  Lucky her.

  She had to make her own move. If not the legs, then the brains. There had to be a weak point somewhere.

  The next pass, she dove under the oars and twisted. The mech tried to spin and follow her, but she grabbed hold of one oar, using its momentum to keep going. Desperately, she groped at the back panel. Solid solid solid, all near her eye level. The real brains were up high. Fabulous.

  She let go and pushed off it with her good leg, fumbling the landing on her bad leg. But she got her balance and sprinted until they were facing off on opposite sides of the fighting ring. The beauty of the white flowers above should have been mocking, but it only felt otherworldly.

  “Rich, give me something to work with,” she snapped, taking off the shoe from the hurt leg. Might as well go all in.

  “Yes, ma’am! Uh, let me see…”

  “What’s the closest you’ve got to a blade? Or a pick?”

  “Stiletto coming right up.” The shoe thinned and elongated in her hand. “Now that I can do. You do love blades. You’re a bit bloodthirsty, you know.”

  “So I’m told.” Maybe that was what she’d seen in Kael.

  It was hardly even a shoe now. She steadied herself, readied, tried to keep the weight on the good leg. Blood had slicked her skin from the thigh down and was starting to pool on the floor. She’d have to move out of it so as not to slip, and time it right so the mech didn’t see that weakness too.

  The voice of this mech spoke now, similar to the former one in its ambiguous timbre. “What do you think, folks? Should I finish her?”

  She put what was left of the side of the shoe in her teeth.

  “Really, Madam.”

  She didn’t respond. Teeth weren’t going to be the worst of it. She could feel the weight of Kael’s gaze, glanced at him. His eyes were black and hard and worried, and she held them a second too long, almost missed the start of the charge.

  God, what the hell had she been thinking?

  Even as she readied herself for the jump, the sense of wrongness swept her, the certainty of having made a very large mistake. Was currently still making it, and had been making it for quite a while.

  She leapt up as the mech reached her, dodged an arm, caught the highest oar she could reach, and swung. She planted her foot, groped higher, higher. Another strategically placed foothold with the good leg, and she’d climbed it.

  She caught its neck with her knees, holding on for dear life as the injured leg shrieked its protest. She stabbed the stiletto at the control box—or what appeared to be the control box—once, twice, again.

  A spark shot out and burned her wrist, pain spiking up her arm. The next stab hit a tube, and hot gas spewed out at nearly the same spot. She growled through the pain, then stabbed again. It wobbled underneath her, and she leapt.

  She landed in a crouch, a few feet ahead of the madness, and dropped the shoe in the process. She scrambled for it on hands and knees, twisting back to face the machine as quickly as she could move.

  But there was no need. The mech had fallen face-first and wasn’t moving. No motors were even making an effort. Techs were rushing toward it, releasing the seals. Getting the rider out. She sat there, panting, and stared.

  She’d won.

  One of the burly guards grabbed her by the arm.

  “Hey!” She yanked it fiercely back from him.

  “Hey, cool it, polecat. You need to get to medical before you bleed out all over our precious floor.”

  She glowered at him.

  But when he grabbed her arm again, a little more gently this time, she let him lead her to the med area and plop her down on a recliner there.

  What had she been thinking?

  Time. What nonsense. There was no time. No time at all.

  Every minute was a miracle. Every bullet that whizzed by and didn’t kill you was a blessing and a shock that you weren’t fragging dead. Every flyer that didn’t burst into flames, each new successful heartbeat. Those things couldn’t be taken for granted. She knew that. Knew it better than anyone.

  She shouldn’t have needed a fight to remind her, but it did. One talon a few centimeters to the side, and she’d be close to passing out right now. She finally remembered her own bandages. She dipped into the belt, found a sealed cleaning kit on the table beside her, and began to work. Thigh first. Good thing this med area was totally empty of techs the moment the fight ended. She’d much rather do this herself.

  She shook her head, disgusted. How many missions had she been on that went sideways in a blink? A dozen? A hundred? Even the easy ones did, like the hospita
l delivery. There was no such thing as easy. Or safe.

  Distraction. What nonsense. As if pushing him away had accomplished anything. She was an absolute fool.

  No. Sending him away was the only thing that could completely stop the distraction, and no one else was in support of that. Not even her, now. The back of her mind whispered, would it even change anything? Or would she then simply miss him to the point of distraction instead?

  That thought brought forth a fresh stream of cursing.

  He picked just that moment to get past the guards and into the med area.

  “Kael—” she started, holding up a palm.

  “Are you all right?” He rushed to her, shaken. His hand gripped her shoulder as he eyed the wound.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I—”

  “I saw him!”

  “What?”

  “I saw Vivaan. He was in the men’s room, just came out. He’s in that crowd over there.” He pointed.

  “What are you doing here then?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Making sure you’re not bleeding to death, obviously. Are you?”

  “Yeah. Got this skin tape in my belt. Other stuff. I’m halfway done already, see?”

  He eyed her as if he didn’t trust her to tell him the truth. Smart man.

  “Go,” she snapped. “I’m tougher than a couple scratches. Go follow him. I’ll try to get to Kentt.”

  “What’s the meet-up plan? In case comms don’t work wherever we are?”

  Right. Fragging communicators. “Outside in twenty. If I’m not there, wait till thirty and come looking.”

  “Got it.”

  “Go.”

  He hesitated, then turned and went.

  Frag. She blinked as she watched him go. Yet another moment gone, stolen into the wind. No, not stolen. She’d ordered it gone.

  And if he went after Vivaan and didn’t come back? Like all those women?

  Her heart was pounding when a tech finally appeared. No, no, it wasn’t a tech. She caught a glimpse of a small white dress, but mostly ignored the girl as she squinted to see Kael in the crowd. She spotted him slipping between two black doors near the back.