Capital Games (Audacity Saga Book 2)

by R. K. Thorne

  Beyond all that was the strange timing of the attack last night. He didn’t want to think about it, but the timing niggled at him, like a splinter that wouldn’t come out. The minute Josana was gone, the strike team showed up. Coincidence?

  He didn’t believe she could be behind such a thing—even if she was some kind of chem lord. But he could see her trying to make a credit off the situation, confident that none of them were really in danger because Ryu’s team was good enough to repel any attackers.

  Tell that to Kael’s shoulder, though. Except she had insisted he accompany her, and not Jenny. Hmm. Had she expected him not to be there? He didn’t want to think about that.

  Overall, though, they had easily repelled the strike team. The gaping open windows meant they all needed to relocate, and shortly, although he wasn’t sure to where. Another attack team wouldn’t even have to break the glass this time. And it was also possible that Josana didn’t care if anyone got hurt on either side. That theory stung a little, but that didn’t make it untrue.

  It was still early morning when he sat up in bed, the sun barely breaking over the waves. A breeze blew through the rooms from the broken windows, and he had to admit it was both pleasant and a little anxiety-inducing. A weird breeze on a ship was a sign of a huge problem and decidedly not as pleasant.

  He couldn’t sleep anymore. Or toss and turn and pretend to sleep. He grabbed his machine from the floor beside him and logged on.

  It didn’t take long to track her location.

  He stared at the screen, then the drawer where he’d dumped the chems like they were fire in his hand. If he got caught taking them to her, he might never see another sunrise again, he’d be so lost in prison somewhere. Maybe he should take them to Tarana, but that still involved keeping it around.

  No, he wanted one last word with Josana.

  And in spite of his promise to Kael, he was going alone.

  Adan caught a flyer and directed it again to the bakery district, a spot near the mangabrew place she’d taken him. The early morning had been on his side, and Nova and Mo appeared to have already begun their “smuggling” mission, so it had been all too easy to slip out the door without a sound or a word to anyone. Xi was watching, of course, at least from his machine that was now perched on his lap, but if she wanted to object, she hadn’t said anything.

  He directed the flyer to a landing spot near the cafe and got to work. Breaking in didn’t feel too good, especially as Josana’s words about “illegal” and “questionable” activities floated back to him. But he wouldn’t have gotten this far on computers if he were going to let a little guilt stop him. He needed to know. Ten minutes max, and he’d be in.

  In actuality, it took more like five. Her appointments were less protected than the rest of the data, and so he started there. He ran through the hours to this one. A breakfast meeting with a certain M. Banabi. Set to start in twenty minutes.

  He clucked his tongue. “What so important you need to be this early?” Also… Banabi. The name sounded familiar. “Xi, can you check out this name in our databases?” He of course didn’t have the most sensitive data on his machine. It irked him to even say it aloud in the flyer.

  “Marco Banabi,” Xi announced. “Residence: Capital. Known trader of sensitive information. Neutral, no specific legal or factional alliances. Works with all factions. No known enemies or bounties.”

  He swore under his breath.

  “Adan, while we are speaking, may I ask you a question?”

  He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. He could always not answer, he supposed. As if he could be rude to Xi. Unlikely. “Sure.”

  “What are you doing?”

  Laughter escaped from him in surprise. She sounded deeply intrigued. “Aside from breaking into Josana’s computer?”

  “Yes. I am working on my models, but you have begun to deviate. I do not have much data, so I fear my ‘love’ model is faulty somehow.”

  “Oh, hell, Xi—if you’re basing a love model on us, it’s probably awful.”

  “It is a very rough model. Love, lust, and attraction behavior appears to be highly erratic. It is a prototype at best.”

  His smile softened. “It’s complicated, what can I say? But you’re right. This isn’t love.”

  “I thought you wanted to see Josana again because of your mating relationship. Even if it has come to an end. The biological imperative is strong. This all seems moderately logical.”

  “Agreed. Good hypothesis. But that’s not what I’m doing. I”—and now he hit a key to begin the next unlocking sequence—“am breaking into her computer.”

  “I know that. The question is why.”

  “A few things. But most importantly, it strikes me as odd that the attack came so quickly after Josana left.”

  “You hypothesize the two events could be related?” There was a pause. “You believe she shared the location of Persad with someone?”

  “Yes.”

  “But why would she do that? She has seemed apathetic toward the scientist. Bored, even.”

  “Money.” He pulled up the next data-gathering program and kicked it off.

  “I see. So this is not data for the love relational model at all.”

  “Unless you are adding something to do with bad breakups.”

  “Bad what?”

  “Let’s talk more when I’m back on the ship.”

  “Excellent point, Adan. I have completed an additional search and not found much more on Marco Banabi except that Capital inspectors believe him to be regularly armed and consider him dangerous. And that he is flagged not to be arrested because of two links to specific politicians. Would you like details on those politicians?”

  He blew out a breath. He was feeling less and less guilty poking around by the second. That figured, for this place. “No, that’s okay. What we need to know is…” He leaned closer to the computer as he spoke, pausing to find the file-access stream. Time to dig deeper. “. . . what Josana is hoping to offer him.”

  In the end, though, he didn’t have to dig that deep. The latest file accessed was a music stream. The second-most recently accessed file was a spreadsheet. He popped it open, battling a bit of weak encryption on the way.

  His blood drained out of him as he looked at the long list of numbers before him.

  He knew them, not as a hacker but as a pilot. Coordinates. And not just any coordinates. The ones the Audacity had traveled to over the last week, two weeks…

  He scrolled down frantically. How far did it go back?

  He caught himself. That didn’t matter. No time to stop and look.

  Time to obliterate and not leave a trail.

  It took another four minutes, one to isolate the file and other similar data, another three to plant a worm to seek out and destroy similar data on the rest of her networks when she got on them.

  And one more to sit and fume in anger. How could she? Sharing that information could doom him, her sister—everyone. Even Xi.

  He climbed out of the flyer, waved it off, and headed straight for her.

  She spotted him approaching with wide eyes, but she said nothing as he slid into the seat across from her. Her features hardened, eyes narrowing, as she read his.

  “What are you doing here?” He couldn’t keep the hostility from his words.

  “Just a mangabrew and meeting a friend.” She delicately waved at the small, elegant cup of blackness as evidence.

  “A friend, huh? Then you won’t mind if I join you.” He smiled tightly.

  “Actually, I would. It’s over Adan. Your choice, remember?”

  “I’m regretting it less and less.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Get over it. The jealous ex isn’t a good look on you.”

  “Neither is ‘greedy traitor’ on you.”

  She stilled, her fingertip frozen on the far edge of the mug’s small, round handle.

  He folded his arms across his chest. “That data broker you’re meeting with? He’s not going t
o be happy you wasted his time.”

  “What are you talking about?” But it came out less a question and more a demand.

  “Coordinates? Really?”

  Her mouth fell open for a second, then snapped shut as she scowled at him.

  “I’m on that ship. Your sister is on that ship.”

  “So?”

  “How can you be so, so…”

  “No one will know what to do with that data. It’s old news. Harmless. You won’t retrace those stops. And I’ll be long gone with the money.”

  “There’s plenty that could be retraced. Supply caches, neutral safe havens. And that’s just the start of it.”

  “Not my problem.”

  He scowled. “Guess not. It also links you to the ship. Don’t you realize that makes you a target?”

  “I’m already a target. And don’t you think half this data is out there already from the shipments I sent out?”

  “I seem to have some brand-new ideas for Ryu and Xi on shipboard security.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re blowing this out of proportion, Adan. But you know, it’s good you stopped here, cause it’s really helping me see that you were right. You don’t fit in here.”

  “I know. But that’s beside the point. You got a new problem, cause you won’t have the data you promised your fancy new friend.”

  Her face went white, even as her eyes flashed black with anger.

  “Have a nice manga-whatever.” He stood and turned to walk out.

  “Hey Adan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Red Dwarf Commander is a stupid game, anyway. And a waste of time. And all that coffee is going to make you a twitchy old man.”

  Low blows. He winced in place, stopping for a moment without turning. And then he kept going. He didn’t want to be there when her friend arrived, no matter what she said.

  His rage didn’t keep him from pulling out his machine on a bench a block away and reconnecting to watch the shit storm go down, however. She logged on, tried to access the file, then restore it, only for the worm to delete it more and more thoroughly. Only when he saw her log off, then exit the cafe in a huff, did he shut his computer again and lean back against the wall.

  He watched her flyer pull away, then took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and felt the cheery early morning sun on his skin. Something about the moment felt peaceful, calm. Just. He’d have to go back later and look for anything else she could have that was potentially dangerous. But his instincts had been right. He’d stopped her just in time.

  Gradually, he opened his eyes and glanced around. Someone somewhere was staring at him.

  Jenny. She stood across the street, hands on her hips, scowling. When he caught her eye, she started toward him. A strand of hair had fallen out of her bun, and she blew it out of her face with a huff.

  “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded as she reached him.

  “Right here all along.” He patted the bench beside him for her to sit, but she shook her head.

  “You turned off your machine’s tracker. Xi had to tell me where you were.”

  God, rookie move on his part. He should’ve sworn Xi to secrecy. “I had some personal things to take care of.”

  She rolled her eyes and scoffed down the street after Josana. “Yeah, I saw. You done?”

  “Yes. Very, very done.” He smiled serenely at her. The concern they all threw up—it suddenly seemed touching, rather than annoying.

  “Fine, c’mon. Time to head back. You’re making Xi nervous.”

  “What about you? Why’d you come looking?”

  “Nervous? No, you’re just pissing me off. Go live your Capital fairy tale already.” She waved in Josana’s general direction.

  He shook his head and just smiled. “How did you get here?”

  “I’ve got a flyer waiting.”

  “Great. Let’s go.”

  “Xi insisted I bring your armor too. Get in and put it on. One of us has a hole in his shoulder, don’t forget.”

  He hid quiet laughter as he slid inside and she started programming the flyer to head back to Persad’s. “You wouldn’t want me to die before you could collect on your bet.”

  Her anger melted into a smile, but she didn’t look up from the flyer console. “You’re damn right. You could get shot at yet.”

  “Let’s not wish for it, shall we?”

  She patted his shoulder, the touch lingering a tad longer than strictly necessary. “I’m not.”

  Kael woke up and blinked, squinting at an unfamiliar ceiling. Where the hell was he? A shiny, silver, embossed patterned covered the surface above him. Slowly, he turned his head, relieved to discover that it didn’t hurt terribly. A skin-glue bandage covered his temple now. The wall beside him was covered with books, on shelves of wood.

  He looked down at himself. His shoulder had a massive medkit working on it, and he was lying on Persad’s dark green couch. Right. Her study.

  At a faint tapping sound on his other side, he slowly rotated his face the other direction.

  Ellen sat a few feet away. A gaming table lit up the mostly dark room, gold and blue pieces sliding back and forth. She would move the gold, then the blue would move on their own. He narrowed his eyes. Ostrov and his games.

  She must’ve sensed him, as she turned to look. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”

  “Better. The room isn’t spinning.”

  “The bullet hit your scrubbers. They dumped everything they’d cleaned up all at once.”

  He tried to muster words but just ended up groaning.

  “Feeling that good, huh? Well, we defeated the bad guys, we found Vivaan, and if we can crack the location of those missing women out of Etrianala Kentt, we may be able to finally get out of this hell hole.” She played as she spoke, not looking at him. “Oh, and we also took a captive and are kidnapping him. Nova and Mo haven’t left with their parcel yet, but they should be going in a few minutes.”

  “Don’t forget—can’t leave without winning your game,” he muttered.

  “Oh, no. We can leave before that. He claims this game takes weeks.”

  “Is that so,” Kael grumbled.

  “No. I’m about to beat him… right about now.”

  Almost as if he’d heard the comment, the wall display suddenly swirled to life. Ostrov calling.

  Ellen made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat that gratified him more than was probably reasonable. She hit a button on the desk. Ostrov’s face filled the vid screen.

  “Why are you calling?” she said, face and voice blank.

  “I want to see your face when I win.”

  Kael suppressed a shudder, not sure if Ostrov could see him or not. The man had a vicious gleam to his eyes, and an even worse grin.

  “Then you’re going to be sorely disappointed, because you’re not going to win.” Ellen turned her gaze away from him and back to the game.

  “That’s what you always say.”

  She smirked faintly. “That’s because I always win.”

  They played in silence for several minutes, the tension only increasing like water reaching a boil.

  “C’mon. Let me see a smile. I’m sure it looks good on you.”

  Kael clenched a fist, and might even have been tempted to say something, except that Ostrov’s voice seemed to be shaking. With rage? Or with fury at his own impotence? Kael hoped so.

  “Why would I do that?” She glanced at him only briefly to speak, keeping her eyes on the game.

  “I’ve been taught that it’s the habit of fine ladies to smile as they are losing to save face. Or perhaps distract a gentleman from his game so that he fumbles a move.”

  “Is that so.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s not really my style. Perhaps you’d care to try it yourself, though.” She made a sequence of three moves, then turned to him.

  “Excuse me?”

  She pointed at the board. “Feel like smiling?”

  He st
ared for a moment before a bit of laughter bubbled out of him, quiet and amazed at first, then louder. “Well, well. Indeed I do feel like smiling. You have not been oversold.”

  “That’s because I’m not for sale.” Her eyes were steel and narrowed at him.

  Kael had to admit that most of the things she said could be loosely translated into “I hate you,” and that listening to it all was very satisfying.

  “Now.” She leaned forward, toward the screen. “I played. The information you promised.”

  “Not yet.”

  “I played your game,” she said, voice rising.

  “Fine, fine.” He waved a hand at her, as if she were being silly. “Let’s talk Arakovic.”

  Ellen froze, and something in Kael’s gut dropped through the couch and into the floor. “What about her?”

  “I can get you a location. But I can also get you the ship name and its serial. For that, I’m going to need more.”

  “Like what?”

  “I wanted to be sure you were what they said you were. If I give you her location, I have to be sure you’ll take her out, or she’ll trace this back to me.”

  “And you thought a game would verify that?”

  “It was the closest I could try. Isn’t that what you trained on in the academy?”

  “Not on Peaks and Valleys.”

  “Well, of course not. The game didn’t exist then. So—do you want the ship name and serial or are you going to settle for a fleeting location?”

  “That location probably changes every week. If not faster. You promised evergreen.”

  “Did I?” He yawned. “Well, the deal’s changed.”

  She glowered at him.

  “The name of her ship does not change every week.”

  “Fine. What do you want?”

  “Something Arakovic wants that I believe you have. Or, I should say someone. Although I suppose if you go after her, you’ll have the chance to get back anyone she might try to take from you.”

  “She’s not taking anyone. Spit it out, Ostrov.”

  “Crispin, please, darling.”

  “Slag off.”

  “You are such a charmer. You want the serial? The unchangeable ident of the ship of your greatest enemy?” He grinned.