Temper (13 page)

“Then who?”

There’s a thud in the distance.

“What was that?” Kaih whispers.

“I don’t know.”

I hurry to shove the file back to where I found it, as Kaih does the same with hers. I shine the torch across the shelves to make sure there’s no sign of us having been here and turn off the light. We wait together in silence. Listening.

I breathe slow and deep to better hear over the pounding of my heart. Not moving makes it harder to ignore the pain in my arms and the constant ache in my head. I wish for the bottle of painkillers I left back in my tent. I didn’t take any fearing they’d make me drowsy.

“Shush.”

My eyes have adjusted to the darkness enough I can make out Kaih glaring from over by the door.

“I didn’t—”

“The moaning,” she interrupts. “Makes working out where that noise is coming from harder.”

Moaning? I force myself to focus. I must be sicker than I thought. We stand shoulder to shoulder at the door, but there’s no other sound.

“What do you think?” Kaih asks.

Leaving without answers was never part of my plan. This room doesn’t have them. “There are more rooms farther down the hallway.”

“But the noise?”

“Could have been someone in the hospital. They checked on me every five minutes it seemed.”

Kaih doesn’t hesitate. “Come on.”

We move into the hallway and close the door to the storage room. There’s no sign of anyone. I sniff. The air is stagnant and a little musty. I don’t speak, and instead, step in front to lead the way. I head toward where I overheard Keane and Charley talking.

I edge the door open with my toe. It’s dark inside. The faint fear that Charley might be working late disappears. We’re alone. This is the chance I’ve been waiting for.

There are no windows at all in here. I wait until we’re both inside and the door is closed behind us before switching the torch on. It shows an office with a large desk in the center. A screen remarkably like the one in the control room on the Pelican, perched in the middle, and a single filing cabinet.

“It’s from the ship,” Kaih whispers.

“But modified.” I show her the cables leading to a huge softly whirring box on the floor. “This must be some kind of power supply.”

“Or data storage.”

I nod. I hate that I don’t know. On the ship, all the high-level tech stuff was controlled by the Nauts. We might have been naive believing the green robes are working with us. Davyd’s comments about using us for our Q-resistance might not be as fantastical as I thought.

But now isn’t the time to come up with conspiracy theories.

“The filing cabinet first,” I say.

Kaih crosses with me. It’s unlocked. Inside there are dozens of files with labels written by Charley’s hand. While I can read the letters, the words don’t make sense.

“It must be some kind of code,” Kaih says. A conclusion I was coming to.

I pull one out and thumb through. More code. And another. “They’re all the same.”

My hope for answers is draining faster than my ability to stay upright, which, considering the room has taken on a gentle rocking, leads me to say, “Maybe we should go.”

But even as I talk about giving up, I open the next drawer and pull out what looks to be a map. Electricity zings through my veins. I’ve seen this before.

It was back when we were looking for the Pelican, when I first regained my memories. We were around a table in the underground station, discussing possible locations of the ship I’d left behind. Although Keane and Toby remained skeptical about my story, they’d collated their information on the Company movements and narrowed it down to two possibilities.

I ignored the other as soon as I saw the island. I remembered the view of the water from when I was released.

I’m grinning like a crazy person as I wave it in front of Kaih’s face. “There were two possibilities. At least.”

“I’m lost,” she replies.

I point to the two circles on the map. “This is where we found the ship, but it wasn’t the only place the green robes found suspicious patterns of Company movement.”

Her whole face lights up. “All those names we didn’t recognize.”

I hesitate. What I’m thinking is impossible and makes perfect sense. But Kaih’s waiting and it needs to be said.

“There’s another ship.”

[Asher]

It’s dark in the back of the van, and its rumbling over the bumpy road makes hearing difficult. I turn toward Davyd, trying to make out his familiar face in the darkness. “What did you say?”

“Relax. This is all part of our plan.”

If I could see his smug face properly, I’d slap it. “I don’t understand.”

I think he pats my knee. “This is our way into the deepest places within the Company stronghold. Did you think we’d walk in? Or make it there undetected?”

“I …” I did. The longer I’ve been away from the ship and whatever they gave us to keep us stable, the harder it’s been to use reason. Every time I try, I’m battling more primal urges. “I figured I’d work it out when I got there.”

“Some of us like to be more prepared.”

He makes it sound like I’m an idiot. “I meant we’d have to see what we were confronted with before we could act on anything concrete.”

He laughs.

I turn away. “I don’t know why I’m telling you anything. You’re a liar and a traitor.”

“I may be all of those, but this is real. It’s happening. Thanks to me and my plan you’ll soon be inside the Company and able to obtain the cure for your little temper problem.”

He sounds so sure. “Prove it.”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to make demands. You’ll have to trust me.”

“If this was your plan all along, why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wouldn’t have worked so well. That anger …” There’s amusement in his voice. “You terrified them.”

“Couldn’t tell.”

He leans so close his breath brushes my cheek. “I think our redheaded friend might have actually pissed himself.”

I edge away from the intimacy in his voice, hoping he can’t sense the prickles of awareness his nearness raised on my flesh. “I’m not going to do this.”

“What?”

“Trust you.” I rub at my aching head, the remnants of the drug is a reminder that he didn’t simply sneak away. “How did this even happen?”

“Days before the rebellion, Maston warned me there was danger coming. I guess the blood relation mattered to him after all. Not enough to take me with him when he ran like a coward in the night.” There’s scorn in his voice as he confirms what I suspected about the relationship between Lady and the head Naut. “Anyway, he told me there would be a place for me if I was looking for him.” He shrugs. “Turns out they put on quite a welcome for Maston’s son.”

“But why would you work against them if they were so welcoming? It’s not like you to turn down an opportunity for power.”

“Trapped in a metal can for sixteen years. Trust me, I want to see them fall as much as you do.”

“You can’t trust him.” The small voice comes from the other side of the van.

I flinch like I’ve been sprung doing something I shouldn’t. I’d almost forgotten Rael was here, too. “She’s right, you cut her.”

He shrugs, his shoulder bumping into mine. “Collateral damage.”

“Tell that to the child you hurt.”

“Listen, kid. Your arm will be fine. I had the Handle set to the shortest setting to slice skin, to look messy but ultimately cause little damage.” He shifts so he’s angled toward her. “Tell Asher, it doesn’t hurt does it?”

There hesitation and then, “Not … really.”

Davyd sits back. “See? A calculated risk to keep the confidence of my men. And maybe teach the runt it’s not nice to spit.”

“With a blade?”

“Here.” He presses something into my palm, the rough warmth of his hands gentle with mine. “You have the knife. Now I’m unarmed.”

I don’t believe that for a moment. He might have handed over the knife but he’s never going to leave himself vulnerable. “How does it work?”

“The tech guy that fitted me out tried to explain it. It has an extendable tip made from a created diamond isotope. It can be used as thin as one molecule thickness, but it’s incredibly strong. No simple molecular bond here. I think they use some process that fuses the electrons in a fast-moving cloud once it’s extended so the bonds of the blade can’t be broken. He said it was tech from the aliens. After that I kind of stopped listening.”

I heft the device in my hand, rocking back as the van makes a turn. The handle is weighted toward the end, so it feels balanced despite the lack of visible blade. The chemistry is irrelevant beyond whether it can be trusted in a fight.

His hand circles around mine, guiding my thumb to a plate on the handle. “Can you feel this?”

I nod, suddenly incapable of speech.

“It’s a miniature display to set length and thickness of the blade.”

I swallow. “Pretty useless if you’re attacked in the dark.”

“Slide your thumb up on the screen to extend the blade to maximum length.”

My cheeks flush with the victory. I knew it. He’s never been able to resist showing off the fact he knows everything. I do as he describes and reach out toward him in one fluid motion. There’s resistance as the tip finds the Company uniform covering his thigh.

“Oh Princess, you’re nothing if not predictable,” he says. There’s no panic in the words. No attempt to stop me plunging the tip of the blade between muscle and bone.

“If she’s so predictable, why didn’t you put on the safety?” Rael asks. “There must be one.”

“There is,” he says. “In fact the whole device can be set to function only for me, but I chose not to engage that option.”

“Why?” I need to know.

Part of me wants to believe Davyd. The part that couldn’t imagine him betraying me so completely. But the rest of me can’t help but notice I’m sitting in the back of a Company van having been drugged and tricked and lied to.

“Why?” I ask again, applying just enough force to the handle that it passes through material and touches skin.

He still doesn’t move to stop me. “Because,” he says simply. “I’m on your side.”

It would be so easy to give into the rage, but I don’t. One by one I uncurl my fingers and let go of the handle, uncaring whether he catches it when it falls.

He must because there’s no sound of it hitting the floor.

“So, what now?” I ask. I don’t have to see his face to know he’ll be smiling. It’s not like I have a heap of choice at this point, but I’m not trusting him blindly. “This time I need details on the master plan or I’ll tell them you’re working for us.”

“They won’t believe you.”

“You’d want to be sure they won’t.” I put all the sweetness I can muster into my voice. “Because I can be very persuasive.”

“What about the runt?”

It’s not that I keep forgetting about Rael, it’s more that even in the darkness Davyd is the kind of person who dominates a space and makes everyone else disappear.

I hesitate. And ride an immediate rush of guilt. Going our separate ways isn’t simple now. She’s a Company captive, largely because of me, but taking responsibility for her complicates everything.

I lost my freedom to leave her the moment Davyd stepped out of the van. It’s me they were hunting. I owe her escape.

“She’s with me,” I say.

At the same time as Rael says, “I don’t want any part of your stupid plan.”

She’s got spunk I’ll give her that much. “How about we hear him out and then decide?” I’ve been used to thinking of only myself for so long, it’s strange to be part of a team. Strange, but kind of good, too. In a panic-inducing-not-wanting-to-screw-this-up-and-have-her-end-up-dead-like-my-brother kind of way.

A long pause and then, “Okay.”

The van slows, and there’s the sound of gates opening.

“No time for talk.” Davyd’s urgent. “You have to decide, are you with me?”

“Tell us the plan.”

“There’s. No. Time.” As he speaks the van stops, and there are voices outside. “Decide. Will you trust me?”

My heart thumps. Trust Davyd again? I swallow and then give the only answer I can, the only answer that makes any kind of sense after what he’s done.

“No.”

***

A soft voice whispers to me through the darkness. I can’t quite make out the words but I breathe in and recognize the honey scent.

“Mother, is that you?”

“Sleep now,” the voice replies.

Someone brushes my hair. Each touch soothing away the fear and pain. As a child I’d go to her after a fight with Zed, or with a graze on my knee, and she’d stroke my head, telling me stories of the future.

Back then I believed in the future like a fairytale. A magical time when we’d both be free.

***

I lift heavy eyelids. Bright blue light pierces into my brain, and I shut them as pain lances through me. What happened?

The last thing I remember is being with Davyd in the van.

Davyd …

My stomach lurches and fists try to clench. I should have stabbed him when I had the chance. I try to lift my arms, but they’re too heavy. The wooziness in my head is begging me to go back to sleep. Return to the warm, safe black and leave this place of bright light. I sniff. And my nose stings like I’m breathing acid.

There’s movement beside me.

I turn my head like I’m in slow motion. Whatever Davyd gave me this time was stronger than the first time. He must have wanted no chance of me fighting the drug. But why? Why the ruse of being on my side only to knock me out again?

He must laugh at how easy I am to distract with sweet promises and the possibility of him being decent. He’s not Samuai. He never will be.

“It’s my folks,” Rael says softly from the bed next to me.

I blink and try to see her expression, but the room’s brightness is blinding to my gritty eyes. She must have been waiting for me to wake. “What is …?”

She hesitates for so long the drug nearly pulls me back under. I make several promises to myself about what I’ll do to Davyd to repay him if I ever get out of here.