Three Card Monte (The Martian Alliance) (12 page)

I stared at myself. It was so easy to be Roman. He never had any doubts. Even when he was wrong—horribly, terribly, evilly wrong—he never doubted himself, his actions, or his choices. There was a kind of peace in that kind of blind belief. But that was only part of why I hadn’t wanted to come back.

“You’re right. I didn’t want to come back.” I leaned my head against hers. “But I’m happy to be back, so thank you.”

“It’s what friends are for.” Ciarissa hugged me again. “What was he to you?”

“Oh, I guess he was my Longdaddy. In a way, at any rate.”

“Will you tell me about it? One day?”

“Yeah, but only if you tell me about Mister I Advertise.” We sat there for a few minutes in silence. “Roy is a better man than Roman ever was. Because Roy questions his motivations. And because Roy would never kill an innocent intentionally, even if he was trying to prove a point.”

“Just as you wouldn’t. Which is why I fly with the same crew you do. I have my own Mantra of Self. So does Fren. So do all the others. In our own ways.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“No one innocent. Longdaddy’s people ensured that the civilians were protected and ushered to safety. The bombs blew up areas with no one there. As planned.” She pointedly didn’t mention the grenade and I pointedly didn’t ask about it. Those who worked protection for the Underground and Diamante Families weren’t innocent.

“Good. I want to go home.”

“I as well. Our home is currently waiting for the time just before dawn, when no one is truly alert and it’s very difficult to see well.”

“Did Lily lie about the shuttle?”

“No. There will be a shuttle waiting to take Roman the Redeemer to his ship. Only he will not come and so his legend will grow. Again.”

“How are we going to get off this rock?”

Ciarissa stood up and offered me her hand. “We’re going back the way we came. You won’t need to shift again. The late night shift at the Space Center isn’t manned with the most alert personnel.”

We held hands all the way back. It was good to feel the connection to someone, and I needed it. That Ciarissa knew, too, was a given.

The stairs finally appeared, and we climbed them. We walked out the Employees Only door and wandered through the Zoo. We had a little time to kill. The Zoo was open around the clock, because while Polliwogs had regular sleep schedules, they weren’t against visitors spending their currency the moment their ships docked.

Once we’d stared at the exhibits enough, we left and headed back to the Spillway. I had a moment’s worry that someone would ask us what ship we were going to, but we sailed through without any interest from anyone. Either Longdaddy had a really long reach, Ciarissa was doing something to everyone’s minds, or the staff were as lax as advertised. I decided not to care.

To my pleasant surprise, the
Stingray
was waiting for us. It looked as if it has just landed.

The ramp lowered and Roy came out. “About time. I hope us leaving you here has taught you two a lesson. You two need to spend less time gambling. You might have been killed in that attack. If we’d waited any longer for you, we might have been blown up.”

Ciarissa looked down. “Sorry, sir.”

I followed suit. “Sorry. We’re okay; we were at the Space Center when it started. We were frightened, so we stayed until it seemed safe and we knew you were back.”

“Oh, just get in. We need to get our samples home as quickly as possible,” Roy snapped.

We trotted inside; Roy closed the ramp, grabbed my hand, and headed us for the cockpit. “Crew, strap in!”

Doven had the engines running, and as soon as Roy was in the captain’s seat, we took off. I almost fell, but Doven reached back, caught me, and helped me into my seat.

We made escape velocity, and after a great deal of Roy and Doven muttering back and forth about the appropriate jumps to take to ensure no one was on our tail, they calibrated and we did the jump.

My stomach turned inside out and over, and shared that if I’d had any food in it, said food would be in the cockpit. “I don’t feel so good.” The extra pressure of hyperspeed was pressing down on me more than normal.

“I knew you wouldn’t,” Roy said. “That’s why we’re going to fly at regular speeds once we come out of this jump. Which will be right about now.”

Sure enough, my stomach flipped again, and then the pressure was gone. We were in the middle of nowhere, space-wise, which sounded just fine right about now.

“You have this?” Roy asked Doven, who nodded. Roy got up, got me out of my seat, and carried me to our room. “You did a lot of work on this one, babe. You could have let us back you up more.”

“No, you did what we needed. I’m just glad the ship wasn’t damaged.”

“Well, if Doven couldn’t do what he does, it would have been a near thing. But the laser shots went wide. We’re good. You look exhausted.” Roy started to get me out of my Polliskin—help I didn’t object to at all.

“Yeah. I feel that way, too. Ciarissa probably does as well.”

“I hope it was all worth it,” Roy said worriedly. “I know you said we were getting paid, but there’s no proof we can trust our ‘employer’ to follow through. Though, thankfully, from what we were able to glean, no one was hurt, other than minor things like cuts and bruises.”

“Trust me, some were hurt.”

He grinned. “Well, no one innocent. I know that a few Diamante enforcers took some damage, at the hands of some Underground enforcers, who also took some damage from the Diamante enforcers.”

“I enjoy a good, even fight where everyone getting hit is someone I dislike.” I considered telling Roy about the enforcers I’d killed, but that could lead to questions I wasn’t ready to answer. “But, trust me, we’re getting paid. We know things about our employers they don’t want spread about.”

“Employers plural? I thought we were just getting paid by that Longdaddy guy.”

So Bullfrog hadn’t told Roy who Longdaddy really was. Fair enough. Secrets could destroy, but they could also protect. As long as we got paid, I was willing to protect Longdaddy’s secret. Preserving that secret meant we’d keep him as an ally. I’d learned long ago that you could never have too many allies.

“Employers plural, yeah. We should hear from them shortly.”

“What do you want to do until then?” Roy asked as he helped me into a flight robe.

“Honestly? I’m starving.”

He grinned and picked me up. “Then let me take you to the galley.”

“I love you.” I kissed him deeply, all the way to the galley, which wasn’t nearly long enough.

Everyone other than Doven was with us in the dining room. Tresia had made up a great breakfast, sandworms included. Ciarissa and I were eating like we’d never seen food before, but no one else was making Tresia doubt her cooking skills either.

“It was dicey,” Willy said, “using Roman the Redeemer.”

“But always effective,” Dr. Wufren countered.

“We needed blame to fall on someone and it had to be someone who wasn’t innocent,” Bullfrog explained. “Can’t think of anyone better than the Redeemer.”

“As long as he doesn’t know we’re impersonating him,” Willy muttered.

I chose not to mention that this particular worry was a moot point, and Ciarissa didn’t add that, either. Another secret, now known by more than just me—Roman the Redeemer was dead. I’d referred to him in the past tense and Ciarissa had noted that slip. But she didn’t know the full truth about Roman or his death. I wasn’t ready to share that with anyone, not even Roy. In some ways, least of all Roy. Roy wouldn’t understand why a part of me still loved Roman, even though I’d had to kill him in cold blood.

Doven’s voice came through the intercom system. “Roy, we just received two coded transmissions, both from Polliworld.”

“What do they say?”

“Not much. One’s just a deposit confirmation for our account on Espen. To the tune of fifty thousand galaxy credits. No depositor is listed.”

There were the usual gasps and whistles. I spent the time eating more sandworms.

So Longdaddy had some serious financial reserves. Good to know. I didn’t figure we’d drained his account, but I did figure he wanted us happy with him in case he needed us again. Plus I was sure he wanted to take care of Ciarissa.

“What’s the other message?” Roy asked.

“Copies of some contracts. I downloaded them to the dining room’s reader.”

Roy got up and looked at the screen on the wall that separated the galley from the dining room. “Huh. These are Monte’s contracts with the Underground and the Diamante Families.” He started to laugh.

“What?” Kyle asked. “Tell us.”

I swallowed my last sandworm. “Longdaddy’s people hacked Monte’s system ages ago, so they’ve seen these contracts…therefore, Bullfrog and I got to see them, too. There are Act of Galaxy, Act of Gods, and Act of Terrorism clauses in those contracts. Should all or part of Orion’s Light be destroyed or so damaged by any of those Acts, then all monies paid are forfeited. In other words, if the Diamante Families paid Monte a million credits for their part of Casino City, since Roman the Redeemer’s people destroyed Orion’s Light, those monies are forfeit. And Monte keeps them.”

“DeeDee’s right,” Roy said. “There’s a ten percent good faith return clause, which means Monte gives them ten percent back and pockets the rest.” He turned around. “We were always part of the scheme, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, I think so. You need three cards to play three card monte, after all. And Monte knows us well.”

“You took a real risk, though, little girl.” Willy looked worried. “Monte knows you’re a shifter now.”

“No,” Ciarissa said. “Monte now believes we call Roman the Redeemer an ally. He also believes the only reason he still lives is because we asked the Redeemer to spare him.”

We all looked at her. She shrugged. “I can talk in anyone’s mind, you know.” She cleared her throat. “I also told him that if we didn’t get twenty percent, then we were going to have to tell the Redeemer that Monte had reneged on his part of the deal.”

“We just got another deposit notice,” Doven shared. “Four hundred thousand credits, yet another anonymous donor.”

“But twenty percent of a million is two hundred thousand,” Roy said.

I finished my drink. “Yes, but Monte had a deal with the Underground, too. Now he can buy out their shares of the casinos as another goodwill gesture. He owns both casinos free and clear and he’s out from under both the Underground and the Diamante Families.”

We all sat there quietly for a few moments. “Well,” Roy said finally, “if we’re going to be used in someone else’s con, at least the payoff was worth it.”

I stood up and stretched. “Truly. Now, I’m really tired. Roy, take me to bed. And, Ciarissa, why don’t you keep Doven company, just in case he’s feeling sleepy.”

She smiled, back to her usual serene demeanor. “Absolutely, DeeDee. Willing to have some company, Doven?” she asked.

“Certainly,” Doven replied. “Turning intercom off now.”

“Good choice,” I said under my breath as Ciarissa headed for the cockpit, and Roy and I headed for the bedroom.

“What?”

I looked up at him. “I said I made a good choice when I met you, Roy.”

He smiled. “Then let me make sure you still think so.”

We went to bed a lot richer in money, knowledge, and secrets. It wasn’t enough to take down the Diamante Families yet, but every successful job got us closer—even jobs we didn’t know we were taking.

Roy slid under the sheet next to me. “Now, babe, let me show you how I play three card monte. I do it a little differently from everyone else.”

True enough, and as with everything else Roy did, it was the best.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to my very patient editor, Celina Summers, for dealing with my saying, “It’ll be done…soon!” for much longer than either one of us had planned.

Shout outs for being wonderful as always to my awesome agent, Cherry Weiner, and my crit partner extraordinaire, Lisa Dovichi. (Yes, I just copy and paste this line into the acknowledgements for every book, ’cause why mess with what’s working?) And grateful thanks to Colette Chmiel who daily does what she can to keep my sanity intact—it’s a losing battle, but she’s valiant in the fight.