Broken People (17 page)

Dale didn’t want to discuss Renard’s special
abilities with her, though she didn’t seem fazed by them. He turned
the discussion back to her. “So you didn’t stay.”

“It was never a question. It would have made
me one of
them
.”

One of the freaks.

“No need to say I wasn’t pleased with the
results of the procedure.” Aurore knotted her hands in her lap, as
if trying to hide them.

“Those are top-of-the-line prosthetics.
They’re probably better than anything I’ve ever seen.” Better than
his implants? It was hard to say since hers hadn’t been designed
for combat, but they
were
a work of art.

“I bet you haven’t seen golden ones until
you came here.” The bitterness in her voice was hard to miss.

“It doesn’t matter what they look like as
long as they do the job,” Dale said with a shrug. What made her so
self-conscious of her condition? It wasn’t like Bratislava was a
small village that still used gas lamps. It used to be a capital.
“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because you’re not judging. I mean, you’re
judging my whining and the way I boss people around, but not what
I’m made of. I guess it’s hard to do it when you’re the same.”

They passed by the old train station, and
Dale smiled in the darkness left by the building’s shadow. “What
gave it away?”

“Your eyes.”

“My eyes are human.”

“It’s the way they scan your surroundings
when you think no one’s looking. I saw the same look in the eyes of
the soldiers stationed here on their way to the front. You must
have been military at some point. Who else would dare to do what
you are planning?”

“Why can’t I just be a good thief?” Dale
asked, amused by her reasoning.

“Who said anything about being ‘good’?”

The car rocked on the uneven ground, and
they soon parked outside the cord. Dale climbed out and jumped over
the separating cord. Aurore followed him but slid underneath. They
were closer to the train than the fair entrance so there was no
point in going all the way back.

Aurore pointed at the car with a green
lizard painted on the side. “Let’s stop by the factory first.”

The door panel flashed, recognizing Aurore’s
handprint. Her fingers itched. She felt uneasy each time they did
that. The security system had been customized to work for her, too,
despite the absence of biological tissue in her hands. “It also
checks the stress levels, so don’t get any ideas.” Not that there
were any stress levels in her prosthetics to check, but this wasn’t
a good time for him to try to break in by force.

“There’s nothing in there I want,” Dale
said.

Wrong. There
was
someone he needed
inside this car, but Aurore had no reason to remind him of that.
She stepped over the threshold and crossed the narrow corridor
leading to the factory.

They found Spinner with his left arm resting
on the table, open from shoulder to wrist, all the bits of bone and
metal put on display. Rake was working on the arm.

“We’ll be with you in a second,” Spinner
said, sounding fully awake and in a reasonably good mood,
considering the circumstances. “I just pulled a muscle. How did you
like the show?”

“Wonderful,” Aurore said, her eyes taking in
the familiar layout. Except for a couple of new machines, the room
looked the same as it did in her memories. She had spent a lot of
time here, and in the next room, too. “Especially the end.”

Spinner winced. “Yeah, that was quite a
showstopper.”

Bent over his arm, a set of tweezers in
hand, Rake let out a low grunt that could have been a chuckle.

“We’ll have to insist on using the new
theater next time.” Spinner picked a sponge from the table and
handed it to Rake.

“If there is a next time,” Rake rumbled, his
eyes not leaving his work.

“It all depends on your performance on
Saturday,” Aurore said. “Inside the Hrad.”

“Saturday?” Rake looked up.

At the same time, Spinner asked, “The Hrad?”
He let out a low whistle.

While they stared at each other, Cielo’s
blonde head peeked through the door. “Did anyone call?”

“We’re performing in the Hrad,” Spinner told
her.

“All of us?” Cielo asked in a little
voice.

Three pairs of eyes turned to Aurore.

“While you figure out who performs where,”
Dale said, “I’ll go check on Cole.”

He didn’t wait for permission as he started
for the door. Cielo nodded and stepped aside to let him pass into
the adjacent room.

Aurore raised an eyebrow at seeing Dale act
so at home, but she had more urgent matters on her mind. “I need to
speak with Dino.” Her skin was itching as if from some strange food
allergy, and she could barely restrain herself from scratching.

“Big Dino is … sleeping,” Spinner said.

“You’ll wake him for me.”

“He won’t like it.”

“He’ll like it less if you don’t,” Aurore
said, her jaw set.

The knife throwers exchanged a look.

“Cielo, take Miss Aurore to see Big Dino,”
Rake said. “You know what to do. I’m not done here.”

Cielo glanced back into the other room as if
checking up on the visitor but did not protest against being sent
away. She limped to the corridor and led the way towards Big Dino’s
car.

“How much does he know?” Aurore asked when
they reached the door.

“He doesn’t know anything. He hasn’t been
awake in two weeks,” Cielo said.

“Then who authorized the show?”

“Rake and Spinner.” Cielo unlocked the door
and stepped into the room. Machines attached to the giant creature
lying in bed beeped while their lights flickered on the walls.

“That’s …” Aurore frowned. “Not good.”

“No. But they didn’t want to upset you. And
it worked.” Cielo smiled and picked up a vial from the nightstand.
“The crew is happy. They wouldn’t have been able to do the show if
he were awake.”

One look at the bed was enough to explain
why, but Aurore remembered it all too well. The bald head, round
eyes, and a gentle, but sneaky smile were only part of what made
Big Dino who he was. The thick skin with a green tinge and dark
crusts scattered over it had a bigger impact on people. It worked
at the circus, but it wouldn’t have worked on the stage of a classy
theater.

Cielo checked his vital signs, then plunged
the contents of the vial into the IV. “He’ll be a little drowsy in
the beginning so have patience.”

Aurore, standing at the foot of the bed,
nodded. She was used to having Big Dino greet her with a big smile
and open arms. His hibernation period didn’t usually start this
early in the year. She wouldn’t have bothered him if she hadn’t
needed his help.

“Mmm … What?” The man on the bed, sometimes
called Toad or Dinosaur, mumbled. The thick fingers of his right
hand twitched, but his eyes refused to open.

Aurore removed her glove and placed her hand
on top of Big Dino’s. Her synthetic skin was warm compared to his
coolness. She squeezed lightly, hoping the friendly gesture would
draw him from his slumber.

One black, round eye opened, then the other
one. “Aurore …?” Big Dino licked his full, brown lips, and Cielo
offered him a glass of water. He drank from it with big gulps.
“Ahhh … What are you doing he-here?” His voice sounded stronger
than earlier.

“I need your expertise.”

“With what?” The skin shifted on his
wrinkled forehead as if he’d raised an eyebrow, except he didn’t
have any.

“I experienced a glitch today. I don’t have
glitches so I’m … concerned.”

Big Dino fell silent for several, long
moments. “Did it happen here?”

“No.”
Why would it happen here?
She
had visited the circus before and had never had any similar
symptoms. “I was at the theater, watching a show. I think that
maybe the visual or audio stimulus had something to do with
it.”

“No—” Big Dino tried to shake his head, but
the effort was too much for him, “—that wouldn’t interfe— What kind
of show?”

“A circus show,” Aurore said with a side
glance at Cielo.

“We did a show in the city.” Cielo’s voice
was barely a whisper. “It was Rake and Spinner’s idea.”

Not entirely, but Aurore didn’t find it fit
to contradict her. Despite how powerful she had become, the kid
inside her still had a healthy respect for Big Dino’s temper.

“Did we make any money?”

Cielo blinked, obviously not sure how to
answer that. “I—I think so.”

“Plenty of money,” Aurore said, being more
familiar with the ticket prices.

“Well, I should leave them in charge more
often.” Big Dino chuckled and coughed, which prompted Cielo to give
him more water.

“So, my prosthetics?” Aurore asked.

“They’re fine.” The look Aurore gave him
made Big Dino roll his eyes. “Is it night?”

“Yes,” both Cielo and Aurore said.

“After midnight?” They nodded. “And there
isn’t another show planned, right?”

“N-no.” Aurore’s short hesitation passed
unnoticed. She didn’t know what Nicholas and Uncle Tem had agreed
on after she left the theater.

“Fine. Have Rake and Spinner run an analysis
if you want, but they won’t find anything.” Big Dino’s hand moved
on the blanket covering his big belly. “Stay away from the circus
this fall and you will be all right …” His voice dropped and so did
his eyes.

“The drug’s effect is running out,” Cielo
said. “Are you done? I’d rather not give him another dose.”

“Yeah.” Making an unhappy face, Aurore
stepped back but not before brushing her lips against Big Dino’s
raspy cheek. “Sleep well, old man.”

Cielo shook her head but didn’t say
anything. She checked the machines—Big Dino was already snoring—and
signaled for Aurore to leave and let him rest.

“You lied to him,” she said while walking in
the corridor. “About the show …”

Aurore raised one finger. “Not a word to the
others.”

“It’s your body.” Cielo shrugged.

Prosthetics,
Aurore corrected
silently.

“You said it would work,” Dale was saying as
Aurore and Cielo returned to the factory.

The shorter blonde shuffled quietly out of
the way. The taller one stood behind and removed her cape,
remaining in a pair of skinny, black pants, ankle boots, and a
white shirt that revealed an off-the-shoulder red top hidden
underneath. She must have already had the pants on under the long,
evening dress, but where she had kept the shirt, Dale had no
idea.

“What isn’t working?” Aurore placed her cape
on an empty chair.

Spinner swallowed under her piercing gaze.
“The grafting. It took, but … umm … the work he’s had done didn’t
respect any known standards and reacted badly to our interference.
We kind of ruined his legs in the process.”

“He won’t be able to move as well as we
anticipated,” Rake said and put away his tools.

“He won’t be able to walk at all.” Spinner
let his head fall on the recently repaired arm.

Dale’s fists clenched at his sides, but Rake
and Cielo stared at Aurore as if she were the client. In a way, she
was.

“Well, don’t look at me,” Aurore said. “It’s
not my problem.”

“It’s
someone’s
problem,” Dale said.
No walking meant no hands, and no hands made the access to the
vault impossible. “You said you can help with transportation.”

The silence that followed weighed heavily on
them. Rake produced a knife from inside his sleeve and turned it
around his fingers while he stood there with his shoulder propped
against the wall. So, this was how it was going to work. They
didn’t want any trouble despite their failure to deliver the
promised service. Dale wasn’t thinking about retribution … yet. He
had other, more urgent matters on his mind.

“While you come up with a solution,” Aurore
said, “who’s going to give me a full check-up?” She stepped into
the other room without waiting for an answer.

The knife throwers locked eyes and, after a
long moment, Rake pulled away from the wall and went after her.
Cielo stayed put.

“Any problems lately?” Rake’s distant voice
came through the open door.

“Just tonight,” Aurore said. “There was
interference …”

Dale moved two steps to the left so he could
see, too. Rake had placed Aurore’s leg inside a machine that
displayed the scan’s result on a screen. There was no need for her
to undress or have her prosthetics open.

Convinced she didn’t need his protection
while in there, Dale turned to Spinner. “What are our options?”
There had to be a way.

“I …” Spinner closed his mouth. “We could—”
He tried again but stopped and tilted his head.

The main door opened, and Renard stumbled
inside, supported by the Swan. He collapsed in the closest chair,
pale and shivering, but fully alert.

The Swan kneeled by the magician’s side.
“Nick, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Anya. I’m fine,” Renard said.
“Just give me a moment to catch my breath … Apparently, this circus
owner is a light drinker, or at least that is what everyone in town
has heard by now.” He laughed.

Cielo and Anya fawned over him, and he
grimaced and grumbled under their attentions until Cielo grabbed a
syringe and injected him. Renard’s tremors slowly subsided.

“I heard we have a new gig,” Spinner said.
“Do we?”

“It looks like it.” Renard nodded. “I kept
saying ‘no’, but Ternchiev twisted my arm in the end. I don’t fancy
a whole week in jail for destroying public property, do you?”

Spinner mumbled something
unintelligible.

“I thought so,” Renard said.

“He didn’t!” Aurore’s mock outraged voice
came from the other room.

“Oh, I’m afraid he did!” Renard raised his
voice. “He’s also under the impression the Nightingale is going to
sing at his party.”