Outer Bounds: Fortune's Rising (51 page)

“I’ll pop your cherry for you,” Tatiana
blurted.  “I’ll be gentle, I swear.”

Milar grinned.  “You’ve been
gaping at me like a horny starlope ever since I stepped out of the woods by
your fire, so I wasn’t real concerned about that, to be honest.”

Tatiana’s mouth fell open and she
felt her face catch fire.  “I
never
—”

“The question was actually about
us,” Milar interrupted.

“Us?” Tatiana squeaked.

“Us.”  One of his deliciously big
hands started idly roaming down her thigh.  He gave her a long, pensive look. 
“
Is
there an ‘us,’ coaler?”

Oh yes.  Yes, yes, yes,
yes!
 
“I dunno, I kinda have to think about that one,” Tatiana said.  “I’ve had a
really crummy day and—”

But Milar’s infernal smile was
growing with lazy confidence.  “A really crummy day, huh?”

“Hellacious,” Tatiana babbled, unsettled
by the confidence in his golden-hazel eyes.  “I was slated for execution, pushed
around by Nephyrs, manhandled by a robot, experimented on by a psychopathic
child, shot at by soldiers from my own Pod…”

She trailed off when Milar just
grinned at her.

Tatiana narrowed her eyes,
bristling.  “You heard me, didn’t you, you knucker?”

His infernal grin grew wider.  “Just
say it.”

“My mother told me it’s best to
play hard-to-get,” Tatiana muttered stubbornly.  She met his gaze.  “Especially
when you’re falling head-over-heels for the sexiest hunk you’ve ever seen.”

He raised a brow at her.  “Sweetie,”
he said, “You’re wasting time.”

“Yes there’s an ‘us,’ you ape,”
she muttered.  “Why else would I have rescued you from the Nephyrs?”

He continued to peer at her from behind
a single raised brow.

“Well, I mean, you might’ve
helped,” she admitted.  “A little.”

  He let out a low rumble, almost
a growl, and sank down to meet her lips with his.  Tatiana let out a moan as
his big fingers found the back of her head, then forgot all about her crummy
day.

Chapter
46

Mind-Games

Magali watched the Nephyr sort
gear on the other side of the hotel suite, the gun still in her lap.  Seeing it
was a Nephyr who was checking in, the hotel manager had put them in the biggest
room they had, which gave Magali a full thirty-four feet to watch him from a
distance.  She hadn’t said anything to him in four hours.

The big Nephyr moved like a
predator, same as Steele.  And, Magali noted, not like a pretty predator,
either.  A
deadly
one.  An evil one.  One that played with its food. 

He still wore the long-sleeved
black shirt, so all she saw of his glittering skin was his hands and head.  Still,
she found that even that much her nerves on edge, seeing his skin catch the
light in golden flickers. 
He’s one of them
, she thought, watching the
inhumanly-strong fingers pick through tool-bins and duffel bags. 
This has
got to be a trick.

The Nephyr caught her watching
him and gave her a shy grin.

Anna could fake a shy grin,
Magali thought, watching him.

His grin faded into a look of
concern, then he quickly smothered it and glanced away again.  He brought out
more tools from the ship’s medical kit, then found other items from within his
own personal supplies.  He set out everything onto a small blanket, then rolled
it up and came back over to her with a drill and what looked like a surgeon’s soft-tissue
spreader.  Then he sat on the bed across from her chair, looking at her.  He
cleared his throat.  “You, uh, haven’t said much.”

Magali glanced at the drill, then
back at the Nephyr.  His blue-green eyes looked nervous, she noted.  Anna could
fake that, too.

He cleared his throat again. 
“Uh, okay.  Pretty soon, they’re gonna start wondering why I went to Silver
City, instead of back to Factory 14, if they haven’t already.  I kinda need you
to do a little surgery, all right?”

When Magali didn’t respond, he
cleared his throat uncomfortably and his eyes flickered to the side before they
returned to her face.  “Okay,” he said, picking up the supplies he had laid
out.  “I’ll go lay the stuff out and come back for you.”  He started to stand.

Magali lifted the gun and pointed
it at his face.

Seeing that, reluctantly, the
Nephyr sat back down. 

“How do I know,” Magali said,
watching him down the barrel, “that this isn’t a trick?”

He gave an uneasy laugh.  “I
already gave you all the reasons I could think of.”

“My little sister is a
sociopath,” Magali said.

His eyes flickered back to her
with a slight frown.  “That’s…not good?”

“She could fake all this stuff
you’re doing right now,” Magali said.  “And she would, too, if it would make it
more fun for her later.”

The Nephyr looked nervously at
the door.  “Okay, I guess we can put it off a little longer.”  He set the roll
of tools aside and slid down to the floor, his back against the mattress. 
“Let’s talk about your sister.”

“Her name is Anna,” Magali said. 
“She got drafted for the Nephyrs.”

He winced.  “Okay, yeah, I can
see that.”

“She’s really smart,” Magali
said, still holding the gun aimed at his face.  “Smarter than me.  And she’s
evil.”

“Well,” the Nephyr said, his face
giving a wry twist, “she’ll fit right in.”

Magali narrowed her eyes.  “And
you’re not?”

The Nephyr laughed.  “Oh, well,
I’d say there’s probably a little darkness in me, considering.  But no.  Not
evil.”

“Prove it,” Magali said.

The man on the floor grimaced. 
“All right.”  He sighed deeply.  “Well, to be truthful, all I’d have to do to
take that gun from you right now is turn my head so you can’t get a good shot. 
I mean, the eyes and mouth are really the only vulnerable part of a Nephyr’s
body.  Even the ears are sealed, and replaced with sensors.”

“I saw that, back on the ship,”
Magali said.  She didn’t lower the gun.

“Soooo,” the Nephyr said, “I
could be a total dick and just walk over there and take it from you, but I’m
not going to.”

“Or I could shoot you in the eye
like I did your friends,” Magali said, “then take your stuff, sell it on the
black market, and hire a ship to take me home.”

The Nephyr let out an explosive
sigh and dropped his head.  After a few moments, he looked back up at her
sideways.  “You realize what I’m asking you to do, right?”

“You’re asking me to let you get
close enough to touch me.”

He winced.  “Uh…yeah.” 

“I don’t want you to touch me.”

He gave her a pained smile.  “I
know.  But kinda necessary to get the thing out, ya know?  Otherwise they’ll
just make a satellite linkup and zap me…”  When she just continued to watch him
with a flat expression, he held up both hands, glittering palms facing her.  “I
swear I won’t move unless you tell me to.  Hell, I’ll lie on my stomach and
keep my hands behind my head the whole time.”

She just watched him.

“I’m running out of time,” he
said quietly.

“Get me an EMP wand and I’ll
think about it.”

The Nephyr froze.  “Uh.”  He
swallowed, hard, and lowered his hands.

Flatly, Magali said, “You’re not
gonna get me the wand.”

He glanced up at her, the away
again, his face contorting in a grimace.  He took a deep breath, then let it
out between his teeth.  After a long moment, he said, “Stay here a moment.”  He
unfolded and got smoothly back to his feet, and after giving her a quick,
considering look, turned and strode from the room, shutting the door gently
behind him.  His footsteps hadn’t made a sound.

Like a predator,
Magali
thought, fighting a chill.

She considered following him out
and going to get lost in the slums of Silver City, but she was pretty sure that
a Nephyr could track via scent, and she wasn’t about to leave that kind of
loose end to come back and bite her later.  Wideman was right.  Something had
changed.  She realized she’d rather kill this man than let him live.

About an hour later, the Nephyr
returned and stepped back into the room, again without his footsteps so much as
scuffing the carpet.  He shut the door behind him again, then extracted a steel
tube from the cargo pocket of his pants and held it up, again with a gesture of
peace.  “Here.  They keep one passcoded on the ship, in case we have a robot
that gets too close to a Shriek.”  He came just close enough to put the tube on
the floor near her feet, then backed off several paces.

Magali glanced down at the tube,
then up at him.  Reluctantly, she moved forward and took it off of the floor. 
Uncapping the tube, she was stunned to find an EMP wand inside.  Then her eyes narrowed. 
A trick.  Has to be a trick.
  She pulled it out and extended it, then
switched it on.

The Nephyr’s eyes widened and he
took a quick step back.  Then, at her lifted eyebrow, he made a nervous chuckle
and scratched at the back of his neck.  “Uh, sorry.  Just habit.”

Magali got to her feet and, still
keeping the gun between them, went over to the entertainment system.  She
switched it on, and it immediately showed a huge dogfight over what looked like
the Tear.  Then she hit it with the wand.

The system went dead.

Magali stared at it for several
minutes, unable to believe it.  Behind her, the Nephyr waited in an uneasy
silence.

Maybe he only gave it one
charge,
she thought. 
Maybe he knew I’d test it…
  Anna would do
something like that, just so she could gloat about how stupid Magali was
later.  Still keeping a wary eye on the Nephyr, she went over to the little
r-player he’d unpacked with his belongings, switched it on, and hit it with the
wand.  The player went dead.  She turned on his personal computer, then zapped
that, too.  Then his massage assistant.  Then his personal alarm clock.  For a
long moment, Magali just stared down at the lifeless pieces of metal and
polymer spread out on the bed, then she looked up at the Nephyr.

He gave her a weak grin. 
“Satisfied?”

Magali looked down at the wand,
then back up at him. 
Anna would’ve never given me a real wand,
she
thought, stunned. 
She likes to hold all the cards.

The Nephyr cleared his throat. 
“Still need convincing, huh?”  He let out a long breath, giving her a wary
look.  “Okay.  Don’t freak out.”  Then, very slowly, the Nephyr began to ease
forward.  Immediately, Magali’s hand spasmed on the wand and she shoved it
between them in warning.

“Easy!” the Nephyr cried,
hesitating.  Then, after watching her anxiously another moment, continued to
ease forward until all Magali would’ve had to do was reach out and tap him on
the chest, and he would’ve collapsed in a puddle of useless mechanics.  Then he
went still, less than an arm’s-distance away, waiting, watching her face, and
not the wand.  In the heart-pounding silence that followed, Magali heard
peddlers out on the street, hawking their wares, and the constant low buzz of
the refrigeration unit.

 “Believe me now?” the Nephyr
asked softly, looking down at her.

Magali looked down at the tip of
the wand, which was only an inch from his body, then up at him.  She swallowed,
considering.  “You were taken from Six Bears?” she managed.

“South end of the Tear,” he
agreed.

“And your name is Jersey?”

“Yes.”

“And you want out.”

His smile was tortured.  “Yeah.”

Magali scanned his blue-green
eyes for several moments, searching.  Then, swallowing, she said, “Gimme the
drill.”

Jersey’s face melted with relief,
then he turned and plucked the tools from the bed.  He carried them into the
bathroom with him, dropped onto his knees, and, setting the roll of items
beside him, stretched out on his stomach on the tiles.  “In case there’s blood
to clean up,” he said, as he put his hands behind his head and laced his
fingers against his glittering scalp. 

In case there’s blood… 
Magali
heard his skin clank like stone against the tile floor as he settled himself, and
she suppressed a shudder. 
That’s a Nephyr
, she thought. 
I’m sharing
a hotel room with a Nephyr.
 

…a Nephyr that had given her an
EMP device and was waiting for her to cut his ties to the Coalition.  Magali
swallowed and shut off the wand.  Reluctantly, she set it down on the bed
beside the darkened r-player and went to join him. 

She eased her way gingerly into the
room with him and carefully lowered herself to the tiles beside the roll of
tools.  With trembling fingers, she found the drill.

“You’re not gonna bring the
wand?” he asked the floor.

She froze.

“Never mind!” he said quickly. 
“I’ll keep my big mouth shut, okay?  Just please keep going.  Please.  I don’t
have a lot of time left.”

Magali hesitated another moment,
the drill shivering in her hands.  Then, very carefully, she set the drill tip
against the glittering back of his neck and said, “You got a good bit on this
thing?”

“Diamond tip,” he said.

“And you know not to move,
right?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good.”  Magali took a deep
breath, then sat up and put her body-weight behind the drill and switched it
on.  Under her, the Nephyr grunted, but didn’t try to move.  “Okay,” Magali
said, under the grinding buzz of the bit as it started to react with the
Nephyr’s skin, “the trick is gonna be stopping once I get through the skin,
before I puncture the spine.”

“I hope it’s not too much of a
trick,” he said, with a nervous laugh.

“You’ll be fine,” Magali said, “I’ve
always been good at this.”  The drill was, as advertised, strong enough to
slowly start piercing the liquid-energy plating of the Nephyr’s skin.

Jersey looked thoughtful as he
stared at the floor.  “You’ve had practice, then?”

“Sure,” Magali said, as she
worked.

“On who?”

“People who are dead now,” Magali
replied.

“Ah.”  He seemed to consider
that.  “Hopefully, their deaths were not an unfortunate result of the
procedure.”

“Eh,” Magali said, shrugging. 
“Milar got ‘em to himself for a few days afterwards, so you could say that.”

He scanned the tile a moment,
then said, “Anything you’d like to talk about?  This is creeping me the hell
out.  A distraction would be nice.”

“The less you talk, the less I
want to kill you.”

The Nephyr went silent a moment,
listening to the grinding whine of the drill piercing the back of his neck.  “I
would’ve thought that would be the other way around,” he finally offered
softly.

Magali snorted.  “You guys can
lie as easily as you can breathe.”

“That much is true,” Jersey said.

“Not even going to deny it?”
Magali demanded.

“Miss,” Jersey said, “in order to
survive the Academy, you have to learn to lie.  It’s part of coping.”

“Coping.”  Magali gave a bitter
laugh and shoved the bit a bit deeper than she needed to before she retracted
it.  “Sure it is.”  She retrieved the bit and, before the wound could close,
grabbed the surgical spreaders and stuck them into the wound, then started
ratcheting it wider, exposing the red muscles underneath.

“The big trick,” the Nephyr said,
“is keeping them from realizing you’re lying about being just like them. 
That’s where like ninety-nine percent screw up and get caught.  Then it’s over
for ‘em.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop
talking?” Magali demanded, as she grabbed a scalpel and started peeling the
tissue away from the glistening lump of steel in his spine.

The Nephyr’s breath caught as she
began cutting.  “See, they don’t let you out of the Academy until they’re sure
you’re as screwed up as they are.”

“Your lips are still moving,”
Magali growled, exposing the lifeline.