Capital Games (Audacity Saga Book 2)

by R. K. Thorne

  “About peace? And the war?” She almost spat the words out. Why would she… “Arakovic doesn’t care about peace.”

  Kentt met her eyes, expression grave. “I think she may, actually. That’s just what I’m afraid of. But I take it you weren’t recruited?”

  “No. I was…” Should she trust this woman? A friend of Ostrov’s, who ran this strange, ethically questionable place. But her gut said it was worth the gamble. “I was experimented on. As a soldier.”

  Pain crept into those deep blue eyes. “I see. I am sorry for your pain.”

  “You see a lot, even without your talents.”

  “My talents are more than just telepathy.” She smiled, serene as a forest pool. “Well, at the institutes, they were recruiting. Saying telepaths could help bring peace and end the violence.” Her expression grew even more serious. “How do you suppose they plan to do that, Ms. Ryu?”

  “You tell me.”

  “I will. There is no way for a telepath to do that. Not ethically. Not without crossing some extremely dangerous lines. No scientific way to do it, either. And yet the Arakovics trade primarily in both science and telepathy, not diplomacy. The institute should have thrown them out.”

  Her head turned slightly, at an angle, as if she were listening for something. “Your man is loyal. He’s waiting and I think he’s getting concerned.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “My other observational talents. He doesn’t know to hide his tells, of course, because he doesn’t know I’m watching. A frown, foot tapping, glancing around. That’s a convincing disguise, but you should hide the throat tattoo a little better next time. Gives away a colorful past. Possibly Muslim origin? He’s handsome.”

  “You’re good.”

  “I’ve had practice. Also, I think he’s considering sneaking in from the terrace.”

  “There’s a terrace? Wait, what makes you say that?”

  “He found an unsecured ventilation shaft and is climbing it. Impressive. I’ll have to add a guard there. Don’t count on using that again. Without my knowledge anyway. But I should hope you don’t need to. I should hope after this frank discussion, you consider me a friend.”

  “Tentatively. A tentative one. I don’t make many friends.”

  “Now I don’t think that’s true, either. You should go to him.”

  “You’ve been more than fair.”

  “Generous is the word you’re looking for.” But there was laughter in Kentt’s smile. She strode back to Ellen and drew a card from her robe. “Here. Chayana has my information, but she’s unlikely to share it outside of her experiment. Just in case you need it.”

  Ellen took the card. Actual paper record of contacts—so old-fashioned. Surprising for a place like Capital. Perhaps some old traditions died hard, or it was in their age that they found power. She wouldn’t know much about that. “Thank you. I wish I could offer you the same, but—”

  “Some of us hide in the crowd, others in the shadows. Don’t worry about it. You find me. Good luck.”

  Ellen nodded.

  “And you’ll want to go up that spiral staircase and take the ceiling hatchway to the roof terrace. Your friend is up there.”

  “Thanks.” Smiling, Ellen gave her a quick nod and took off at a jog for the roof.

  Chapter Ten

  Kael had told her he’d follow orders and wait thirty minutes, but in reality, he only made it to twenty-eight. That was close enough, right?

  He spent the eight minutes outside near the loading dock, coming up with a plan. It was tempting to get lost in the sea of air traffic beneath his feet, but it wasn’t helpful. What would be helpful would be figuring out which side of the building had space for back rooms where one might visit with a telepath, and how the hell he was going to get into them.

  A ventilation shaft ended up being a simple solution to his problem. After he’d climbed up the two-story height of the club, one branch went out over the revelers to his left, and a branch to his right spilled out onto a terrace.

  He’d try that first, see if he could get a sense for what was below him or if any private corridors opened onto the terrace. Preferably unlocked, very private ones belonging to a certain telepath.

  He’d barely gotten the ventilation grate bolted back in place when he heard grinding behind him. Readying to defend himself, he stood stock still, bent slightly at the knee, waiting. Probably droids. There was probably an automated defense system of some kind, and he’d triggered it. A panel in the floor was spinning and about to pop.

  The panel stopped its spin, then drew back into the ceiling, revealing a dark interior, iron-colored hair, razor-sharp brown eyes—

  “Ellen,” he blurted.

  “That’s my name, Asidian, don’t wear it out.”

  He laughed, distractedly, and sort of just stood there while she extracted herself from the floor. “How the—what—” He blinked. Glory be, she was stunning. He’d been avoiding facing it all night.

  “Kentt noticed your… inventive means of entering the building. She pointed me this way.”

  “Ah,” he said. What else was there to say?

  She strode toward him slowly, also silent, and stopped a few feet away. She waited. She was going to keep on waiting, because his mind had gone blank. Maybe they should be getting out of here. Maybe it didn’t matter. If she wasn’t hurrying, he wasn’t going to. He was frozen like a fly in a spider’s web, except he wasn’t struggling.

  Her voice was strangely soft and surprised him when she finally spoke. “What are you thinking, when you look at me like that?”

  Like she was the most amazing thing he could never have. “You don’t want to know.” That sounded better. Less desperate.

  “Yes, I do.”

  He sighed. No. No, she didn’t. Thankfully, the question broke the spell. He averted his gaze. “Forget it.” Isn’t that what she’d said she wanted to do? Well, he could honor that much. “Listen, I talked to Vivaan. He says he’s working for the Capital police. The inspectors, undercover.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I don’t buy it. I mean, I think he thinks he’s working for them. But it doesn’t make sense. We need to talk to Persad.”

  “The telepath had… quite a few things to say. Including that she thought the people he was working with weren’t to be trusted. Maybe that’s who she meant?”

  “Fits my impressions. Vivaan wouldn’t leave. Said he thinks he’s close to finding the women.”

  “I wonder how right he is.”

  “What do we do now? Is she going to stream your fight?”

  “No. I think I convinced her not to. Not while we’re on planet, anyway. Hmm.”

  They stood in silence for a moment. “We should get a better patch on your leg,” he said finally.

  “I agree, madam,” the shoe chimed in. “I can only clean so much blood before I need a recharge.”

  “And you’ve made a valiant effort, Rich. Okay, let’s go back and figure out what to do next. I’m assuming we can take the stairs this time.”

  “Oh, goodie.” Rich sniffed again. “And I’ll call a car. I am not walking.”

  By some miracle, when they returned to Persad’s flat, Ellen was able to gather the others without gathering Persad. Crowded into Vivaan’s room, she and Kael gave the four of them the rundown on what they’d heard. As they spoke, Jenny worked over Ellen’s leg wound, better repairing it.

  Adan shook his head. “I don’t like it. Something’s wrong.”

  “I agree,” said Ellen.

  “He sincerely believes he’s working with these inspectors but doesn’t want any contact with them.” Kael shrugged. “They probably told him not to talk about them, to keep him from discovering the truth.”

  “Wouldn’t he suspect that? Be careful?” Jenny asked.

  “He was really, really green. Not sure he would.”

  “Why would they trial a candidate on a mission like that?” Ellen put in, shaking her head.

&
nbsp; Mo nodded. “Isn’t that mission a bit dangerous to evaluate a totally fresh candidate on?”

  “Maybe he’s got one of Mom’s chips, and they don’t,” Adan suggested.

  “Maybe.” Ellen clenched her jaw for a moment, then nodded. “Well, there’s nothing for it. The rest of you stay here and think on next steps. Adan and Xi, see if you can find any traces of his dealings with Capital inspectors. Come on, Kael. Let’s see what Persad the senior has to say.”

  They found her in her study, nursing a glass of wine surrounded by walls of books. She was holding a tablet as though she’d been planning to read, but the screen had gone off. She’d just been… staring. Thinking of Vivaan? She looked up as Ellen and Kael entered, put the tablet down hastily, and straightened.

  “What is it? You’ve found something?” Her voice was flat. Scared.

  “We found him.”

  Chayana’s eyes widened.

  She thinks we’re here to tell her he’s dead, Ellen realized. “The good news is, he appears to be okay,” she said quickly, “and there of his own volition. No one is holding him.”

  “Oh! Oh, thank the stars.” She hung her face in her hands for a second. “The bad news then?”

  Kael pursed his lips briefly. “He won’t come back.”

  Persad raised her eyebrows. “That… isn’t exactly what I expected. But I am glad to here he is alive. Safe?”

  “We’re not sure about that exactly. But relatively safe. No immediate peril,” Ellen said.

  “I forget myself. Please sit. Coffee? Something stronger?”

  Ellen toyed with the idea of asking for beer. It had been quite a night. The painkillers Jenny had given her probably wouldn’t agree with that, though. “Sure,” she said. Persad quickly whipped up two coffees and another plate of those delightful pistachio-topped cookies. Since Xi had been all through Persad’s food equipment system by now, guaranteeing as best one could that her food was safe, it was okay to imbibe. And she was exhausted.

  In fact, she let Kael relay most of what they’d found, concentrating on sipping her coffee, feeling the painkiller slowly spread, and thinking of her own revelations. And how to act on them.

  Persad was groaning. “Oh, no. Not this again.”

  “What?” Ellen had drifted off, not following the conversation.

  “He’s applied seven times. Always rejected. I thought he’d given up on all that.”

  Kael frowned. “Did he have one of your implants?”

  “No.”

  “Could he have taken one behind your back? He seemed to think he could maintain a false identity, or at least a secret agenda, in a building run by a telepath. And his arm was… not doing so good. Maybe he thought he could use your tech to finally get the leverage to get in.”

  She frowned. “It’s possible, I guess. I don’t keep as careful records as I probably should. But my chip is too intensive to put into an arm implant. And he never had one. Not two weeks ago anyway.”

  “He’s got a bad one now, ma’am.”

  She winced, blew out a breath. And where Ellen had expected anger, the woman only sounded hurt. “Why wouldn’t he just come to me if he wanted one so badly? Why didn’t he say something? If he ends up with some aftermarket metal poisoning…” She ran a hand over her face, perhaps to hide a shimmer of tears.

  Something else occurred to Ellen. “Have you heard anything from the people who contacted you via mail? Any further demands?”

  “No. Maybe they were among the men who attacked, and we stopped them. I expected something by now.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe they’re biding their time.”

  “They may have already decided I was uncooperative. You know, since you shot them and all.”

  Ellen permitted herself a little smile. “We incapacitated them. We could have shot them, but we didn’t.”

  “Either way, it is good to know that they don’t have Vivaan tied up in a warehouse somewhere.”

  Kael nodded. “Definitely.”

  “Listen, Doc,” Ellen started, scooting forward in her chair. It was time to lay all the cards on the table, make her case. She had the feeling that if things started to move, they might move fast.

  “Call me Chaya.”

  Was it the news they’d brought that was winning the doctor over? Or was it the rich-people clothes, or the blood? “Look, you know we didn’t come here for Jenny’s climbing.”

  “You’re doing a favor for Catherine Simmons. To help me.”

  “We are. And no matter what happens, we’ll be glad to have found your son and secured your research.”

  “I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.”

  “That’s because you’re a smart woman. We’ve been having some tough times with telepaths lately. In the outsystem. Doug Simmons was hoping your research could help us, in addition to us helping you.”

  “Well, he was right. It has. Hasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “But… ?”

  “But not everyone on my team has a chip interface. And we need to be able to repair and adapt it.”

  “What are you getting at, Ryu?”

  “Call me Ellen,” she forced out. Quid pro quo, right? “Doug’s real request is that you consider relocating your lab to our ship. Where you can continue your research and help us with—”

  “Could I bring Vivaan? Assuming he… comes back.” Her eyes brightened for a moment, before her head dipped. She wiped her hands down her face once more.

  “Yes, that was assumed. Our ship has plenty of room. It could be dangerous, though.”

  “Living here hasn’t exactly been safe.”

  Ellen smirked at that. “You got that right.”

  Persad’s eyes lit up. “Are there any… nice young Hindu women on your ship?”

  “Not yet. But the galaxy is a big place.”

  Chayana smiled now, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I like the way you think, Ryu.”

  “Listen, I know this is a big question—”

  “I’ll certainly consider it. I have to know what Vivaan would do. And consider the equipment I’d need.”

  “We can always get more. You can have whatever resources the Foundation can offer. No change there.”

  Chayana nodded. “And no Ostrov up the hall would be a plus. So what do we do next?”

  Well shit. That wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it would be. She claimed she’d think, but everything in her manner was highly amenable. Ellen should have tried the “shipful of accomplished, unattached women for your single son” angle sooner.

  Ellen took a deep breath. “We can’t make him come back. But we can help him solve his problem. Get some answers.”

  “You mean find those missing girls?”

  “Exactly.”

  For the one hundredth time, Josana let out a gasp of joy at the tablet she was nestled with on Persad’s couch. Jenny cringed and tried to pretend the historical romance she was reading was more engrossing than it was. Josana’s little noises were driving her up the wall, but she’d be damned if she let that chase her out of the living room to look for somewhere else to read. Still, after a moment or two of Josana’s broadening smile, almost cackling to herself, Jenny just couldn’t take it anymore.

  “What!” Jenny thumped her tablet down on the table next to her orange armchair. “What is it you’re so happy about, damn it?”

  Adan raised his head and looked warily at the two of them from the breakfast nook. Jenny met his eye. Strangely, Josana didn’t. The two of them hadn’t talked since they’d returned from their earlier outing. Had something happened? Adan had been hiding in a side room, really, but apparently he’d been forced to come out to eat.

  Josana looked up, grinning. “This!” She turned the tablet around. A photo showed the inside of a swanky club, with a long narrow fighting ring in the center. Sadly, not that unusual for Capital nightlife. All fun and games, until someone loses an eye or sacrifices a genetically engineered mythical animal. On one side of the ring, were t
wo smallish mechanical suits, maybe two men high. Jenny had seen worse. On the other side were Kael and Ryu, unarmored and unarmed.

  Jenny caught her breath.

  “What the hell—” Adan started, rising and coming closer.

  “It’s okay,” Josana said quickly. “It’s all over. They put on quite a show.”

  “A show?” Jenny scowled. “You think those kinds of fights are just a show?”

  “Have a little faith in your colleagues.” Josana pursed her lips, a little smug, calling up another photo of one mech smashed to pieces beside another that had a crowd of techs surrounding it, presumably because it had some serious problem and the rider needed out. “They flattened Kentt’s toys.” And now she did let out a cackle.

  Jenny shook her head. “Shit. Is this all over the net?”

  “Of course it is.” Josana burbled a little more with laughter and returned to perusing the feeds. “Look what she did to those shoes. That’s a travesty.”

  “Why are you so happy about this?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Because I like seeing the toys of holier-than-thou types get broken. And because it’s going to be excellent for my reputation. It already has been.” Her eyes flicked to Adan. “Orders for performance boosters already doubled in the last hour alone.”

  Jenny raised her eyebrows. No, she didn’t want to know. Huffing, she dropped her eyes back to her book. Adan, too, returned to his food without comment.

  He knows something, she thought. Or there’s no way he would not ask what the heck she was talking about, unless they’d already talked about it.

  Stay out of it, she thought. But she pulled up her own local news feeds. There were no mentions of the festivities among her friends, but one news item did catch her eye. A recent announcement from the Union of the astronomical reward for deserters hiding on neutral planets. It could be just a coincidence… But she scowled at the screen.