Dragonfly (13 page)

Interesting. We’d arrived only a few hours ago on
Ladrona
. Either this abduction was a spur-of-the-moment thing, or Spider had known Dragonfly was coming.

I thought again of Fat Bastie and his laughing eyes. Maybe they hid something more sinister. In my urgency, I’d forgotten to ask Nikita about him.

Behind me, the marine groaned and shifted. Hastily, I pulled up accommodations and searched. On-ship lodgings weren’t permitted on a R&R station, because the maintenance crews didn’t want idiots getting in their way while they sprayed toxic fuel around and messed with the oxy pressure.

Lukas Radjevich was staying at some place called Madame Tulip’s, sixth level, room 181. Good enough for me.

I exited back to the menu, dimmed the screen, and hurried away around the corner, shoving the marine’s gamepad into my pocket. At least now I’d have something to do for all those dead slipspace hours on
Ladrona
. If I ever made it back to
Ladrona
.

I hopped into the empty elevator and pressed six. As motors whirred and the galvanized cage jerked upwards, I checked my new pistol’s charge and cleaned the crusted contacts with two flicks of a fingernail. The overhead lights flickered, and the cage stopped, the door grinding open onto a dimly lit corridor.

I gripped the pistol lightly in both hands, cleared left and right, and stepped out, my pulse hot but steady.

I’d make it back to
Ladrona
, all right, and Dragonfly with me. And then I was going to kick his pretty Espan ass for making me care if he lived or died.

14

The corridor was warm, and stank of sweat and stale takeaway food. To the left, a little shopping mall, closed, the stores dark and barred in steel. To the right, it opened into a dim red-lit lobby. Low-hanging fiber optics sparkled from the ceiling, a waterfall of garish purple, and in the lobby’s center stood a huge plastic flower arrangement in vivid scarlet, proclaiming this as the place I was looking for. Tacky, lowlife, deserted.

Swiftly, I padded across the lobby and into Madame Tulip’s. Red lightbulbs gleamed sickly above the row of cracked plastic doors on each side, and nylon carpet crunched under my feet like it hadn’t been cleaned this century. No one in sight.

Closest to the lobby was room 100. I stalked quietly down the corridor, eyeing each door for movement. Sweat trickled down my midriff and into my shorts. 120. 125. Snatches of sound: a sports vidcast, a porn movie, someone snoring. 150. A horde of monstrous roaches scuttled by my feet, their feelers brushing my ankles. 178. 180. 181.

Light seeped under the broken-edged door, and with it muffled conversation. I paused. Breathed. Listened. I couldn’t make it out.

I inched closer, my trigger finger tightening. Male voices, more than one. A crack split the plastic near the doorframe, and I leaned forward and peered inside.

Light dazzled me, and I blinked until my eye adjusted. An old orange atomglow lamp, a broken chair, the edge of a crumpled bed. Someone crossed—a glimpse of faded pink shirt, dirty trousers, cropped white hair. The woman from the pair who’d attacked Dragonfly. That made three in there at least. I jerked back, but she didn’t come closer.

“Listen to me.” That was Spider. I recognized that melodious voice, like a musical instrument. Accent round and singsong, from some working-class Brit hellpit like my home planet. “It’s simple. All we do is—”

“No, you listen to me.” Dragonfly. Tense, pissed off, like he’d sounded when I started that fight. “Are you listening? The answer’s
no
.”

“I’m not asking you to stay. Like I’d want your sorry ass on my ship again, god help me. I just want to borrow some snotty blackshirt’s kid for a while. No harm done.”

“Kidnapping the admiral’s daughter? Sure you haven’t popped a few more synapses since we last met? Come on, Lukas, you know I don’t do the personal grudge stuff.”

“Then what the fuck do you do? You used to be more useful. What’s wrong with you, Sasha? All that slipspace math turned you soft?”

I winced. Sasha. Way too much information. Hell, it probably wasn’t even his real name, but it still stung.

“Think what you like,” he said. “You may have heard I’m a little busy at the moment, so if you don’t mind—”

“Yeah. I heard.” A dark Spider chuckle, hot chocolate and cream. “So noble of you. What’s it gonna take for you to realize they can’t be reasoned with? How many friends you got left to lose?”

I imagined Dragonfly doing that tense, angry thing with his jaw. “Not enough. But I’ll have fewer if I start snatching innocent girls for ransom.”

I mimed a retch. Listen to him, coming over all precious. Bet he didn’t step on roaches either. Murdering bastard.

Spider snorted. “Hey, we play with the toys we’re given. You trick it out of them, I kick it out of them. What’s the difference?”

A laugh, stripped of all Dragonfly’s warmth. “As if you’d get it if I tried to explain.”

“Whatever, hero. I just want you to work your magic on the security system. Locks and latches. A five-minute window, that’s all I’m asking.”

“Not in a million years.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Is there some part of
screw you
that you don’t get?”

A sigh. “I’m disappointed, Sash. I thought we were friends.”

“You’re breaking my heart. Really. Is this the part where you threaten me?”

“Will it work?”

“It never did before.”

“I never wanted it this bad before.” Metal clicked, and atomflash hissed, and Spider strode into my field of view, the weapon aimed steady in one big hand. “Last chance. Yes or dead?”

The smell of hot steel tightened my breath, and my fingers tensed, damp on the pistol’s grip. Weigh up the risks, assess the percentages. Stay here, or jump in?

A hiss, like flesh burning, and Dragonfly’s voice snapped tight. “Go right ahead. Melt me to mist. I’m not changing my mind.”

Current zapped, and my heart clenched. Spider really was going to kill him.

Adrenaline pumped through my muscles. and I tensed, ready to spring. Spider’s chin jerked upward. His gaze swiveled, searching, and came to rest on me.

Shit. He’d heard me. How the hell did he hear me?

I flung myself backward and dragged up my pistol to fire. But before I could find my aim, Spider flashed forward and ripped the door open.

Fucking fast for a big guy. Ultra-hearing. Ultra-reflexes. He was wired up. Had to be.

His fingers clamped my elbow like steel. I tried to fire, but my forearm went numb and the pistol dropped from my nerveless fingers. He dragged me inside and threw me on the floor, and before I recovered from my sprawl, I was on my knees with a hot atomflash jammed against my temple.

Dragonfly swore and scrambled from his bench, but the white-haired girl shoved him back down.

My hair sizzled, stinking. I jerked away. But Spider twined his hand in my braid and forced the atomflash to my head.

He chuckled, rich with satisfaction. “Let’s try this again, Sasha. Yes or dead?”

One little mistake. Just one, and now I was helpless. My guts watered, and I closed my eyes and cursed my own stupidity. Leverage in some bickering rebel crossfire. What a shitty way to die.

15

“Okay.”

My pulse flip-flopped. I squinted one eye open. What the hell?

Spider yanked my hair tighter, and hot metal singed my brow. “I’m sorry?”

“I said, okay.” Dragonfly banged his head back into the wall, his jaw clenching. “Whatever you want, I’ll do it. Just get off her.”

“Aww.” Spider cuffed me over the head—not that hard, mind you—and shoved me away. “Ain’t that sweet? Knew you’d come around.”

I picked myself up, confusion and stupid relief burning holes in my composure. Why would Dragonfly change his mind for me? As if a killer like him gave a spit about a woman he didn’t even know. He was ready enough to get his own head blown off to thwart Spider. What was he trying to prove?

Maybe he’d known Spider was bluffing. But from all accounts, when Spider pointed a weapon, he fired it, probably until the clip was empty.

Either way, I’d somehow contrived to owe this smug murdering scumbag my life.

This night just kept getting stranger.

Dragonfly grabbed my hand and helped me up, but he didn’t look pleased to see me. “You all right?”

I nodded, furious, not trusting my voice. Hell, I was happy to be alive. But damned if I’d be grateful. This asshole never did what I expected. Axis were supposed to be smarter than the rebels. How did he keep surprising me?

Spider laughed, and dealt Dragonfly a clap on the back that made him stagger. “It’ll be just like the old days. Remember that time on Bin Guska? You and me and the sickos against a prison full of marine guards. Blew their optic nerves right out. No one fucked with us, that’s for s—”

“We do it my way this time,” Dragonfly said, his tone clipped. “Quick and quiet. No fuss. And keep your twitchy fingers off the trigger.
Entiendes
?”

Spider flexed his right hand. “More nerve-damage jokes. You’re all class.”

“Understand?” Dragonfly persisted, tense.

Spider grinned. “Whatever you say.”

Dragonfly jerked his head at me. “And she comes with us.”

“What?” Spider and I spoke at the same time.

We glanced at each other, wary. I could see him sizing me up, calculating what was in it for him. Not sexual speculation, nor one soldier examining another. This was pure predator’s instinct. I suppressed a shiver. He was handsome in the same way as a tiger I’d once seen at New Moskva Gene Park: majestic, self-absorbed. A beast with no honor, only hunger. Stroke that lovely fur at your peril.

Dragonfly sighed. “What am I, a dating service? Lazuli, this is Lukas. What you see is pretty much what you get. Lukas, this is Lazuli.
Al contrario
. But she’s good with Imperial systems. She can help.”

Spider gave me another once-over, crazy eyes swirling gold. “As good as you?”

I glared back. I couldn’t afford to get left behind again. Time to get involved, reassert some control. “Wow, I really love being talked about like I’m not here. I’m not too bad, thanks.”

“She’s good enough. She can back me up.” Dragonfly grinned at Spider, sharp. “You know. In case you make a mistake and accidentally blow my head off?”

Spider shuffled a big hand through his dreads, unconvinced. “Can we trust her?”

I snorted. “You’re the one who just tried to melt me, pal.”

Dragonfly chuckled. “Good point. Of the people in this room? She’s top of my list.”

“Fuck you.”

No heat in Spider’s words. Like this was all a game between old friends, even if they no longer liked each other. My curiosity sharpened. A falling out, Nikita had said. And now Spider roamed the Empire carving a swathe of destruction in his battleship, while Dragonfly sneaked around stealing from casinos and kissing girls to avoid killing Imperial guards. Interesting.

Clearly they were butting heads on how to conduct this kidnapping, whatever it was. Moral qualms? Unlikely. Professional disagreement? Or just clashing egos? Either way, caught between bickering terrorists—amusing though it was to watch Imperial enemies fight amongst themselves—was the last place I wanted to be. The quicker we finished this and got away, the happier I’d get.

Dragonfly gave Spider his dangerous little smile. “Charming as ever. Can I have my pistol back?”

The skinny white-haired girl looked a question at Spider. She wore dirty green braces and a faded pink T-shirt over combat trousers, her wiry shoulders hunched over a non-existent chest. She gazed at him with hard, adoring concentration, like the word of god might slip from his mouth any moment.

I squirmed. Spider’s whole crew were probably just like her: fanatical, obedient and blindly loyal. I’d seen it before with insurrectionist leaders. They preyed on little people with crappy lives who were searching for something—anything—to believe in. They sought out the lonely ones who craved validation and dangled it just out of their reach, dishing out attention and praise like manipulative lovers, never going all the way. Just enough to make their victims long for more. To make them believe that one sweet day, if they tried hard enough, they’d earn what they craved. It was how guys like Dragonfly and Spider got people to die for them.

Spider shrugged, impatient. “Just give it to him, Foxy Lady. You can shoot faster than he can.”

Starstruck warmth glowed in Foxy’s tired eyes, and inwardly I sighed for her. He’ll never sleep with you, baby. He’ll never love you. Find someone else before he breaks your heart or gets you killed. But she never will. And one day she’ll die, shot or tortured or blown away by Imperial torpedoes, and all she’ll be thinking is
Maybe this time, he’ll see me.

Save me from ever wanting something that badly.

Foxy tossed Dragonfly his pistol, and he caught it and reholstered. “Thanks. Shall we get on with it?”

***

Ten minutes later, the three of us crouched in the dark around a battered black glass lensbox that projected a glowing green schematic map into the air. It was a 3D line diagram of the station, a meter or more in diameter with entries and exits marked. The station’s body was a big twelve-sided blob with the docking arms spearing off like spikes, and the schematic showed levels and sub-levels arranged around the atrium with the gravity engine bays in the centre.

The old projector buzzed and flickered, the picture wavering. Not as swish a kit as Dragonfly’s. Clearly Spider spent his cash on other things, like bombs and bullets and diamond earrings.

Spider pointed, and the display zoomed in on a hexagonal section of rooms and corridors. “Here’s the Imperial quarters, level seven. The visiting admiral’s name is Verenski. This is where his daughter, Natasha, sleeps. Two exits, front and side, marines guarding each one around the clock in threes. Visual and audio surveillance on a laser grid monitored from the front exit; no biochem, no infra-red. Lights at four-foot intervals, so no shadows or hides. The marine garrison are over here. Half-colonel in charge, three hundred fifty-two strong in three shifts, forty-three seconds away once they’re mobilized. No etherwave obstructions, it’s a clear call.”