On Impact, page 8
After thanking her, I left to find the team over in the main building. They’d taken over a conference room and sat around a table discussing our next steps.
Ravi slid a bag of cheesy chips over to me. I mouthed thank you and dug in. I hadn’t eaten since early that morning.
“Chief Abara sent over security recordings from the House of Representatives, traffic camera drones, and every camera the precinct has of its holding cells,” Ravi said. “It’ll take some time to go through it.”
DeAjamae polished off her second bag of chips. “I might be able to help with that. There’s an AI program that can sift through the data faster.”
“He also sent a preliminary scan of the bionic weapon, but his techs are still going over it. They won’t release it to us until they’re sure there’s no other evidence they might get from it.”
“Central Command intercepted one text transmission from the assassin before he made it out of orbit, but it doesn’t give us much to go on,” DeAjamae said. “It read, ‘red touches yellow.’ He sent it to a ghost account created under the name Ophidian, but there’s no real name linked to it.”
My face must have blanched, because Wright’s head swiveled in my direction. “Does that mean something to you?”
I swallowed a dry lump of chips. “Red touches yellow, kills a fellow. Red touches black, friend to Jack. It’s a rhyme to help you tell if a snake is venomous.”
“So the assassin sent confirmation to someone that he’d killed the representative,” Wright said.
My mind swirled, dredging up memories I’d thought I’d laid to rest years ago. “It must be a coincidence.”
DeAjamae arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “You know how I feel about coincidences.”
I shifted in my chair. “This has to be ten—no, eleven—years ago. I was a rookie in the Clava DECA office. We were investigating a gang called the Seven Serpents.”
Wright frowned. “The gang that helped smuggle you off of Brione-5 when you were on the run?”
“Yes. There had been a coup, and the leader and his next four in command all disappeared under mysterious circumstances. We presumed Lady Ilymechina killed them to secure her place as the new leader.”
“I’m not following,” Ravi said. “What’s the connection?”
“The former leader—the one who was presumably killed—went by the street name Ophidian. It means snakelike.”
Ravi whistled.
“But like I said, we ruled him off as dead. My entire ten years at the Clava office, I never heard a whisper about Ophidian still being alive.”
Wright rocked back in his chair. “The Seven Serpents helped you once. Do you think they’d help you again?”
“Doubtful. The last time I had leverage, and it was no skin off their back to smuggle me to Brione-2. We’d be asking Lady Ilymechina whether she murdered her former boss. She has no incentive to tell us if she did and every reason to say she didn’t.”
“Then we’ll have to come up with some leverage on the way,” Wright said. “Leahy, keep going over the files. Review anything DECA here put together about the assassin and the days leading up to the assassination. Do an analysis on Representative Delligatti. I want a list of her known enemies, including the ones not related to the mining contracts. Every politician has them. Singh, interview Delligatti’s aides and any witnesses to the attack. Stay on the lab and take possession of the bionic weapon as soon as they’re done with it.”
“On it.” DeAjamae had already commandeered the wall console, and all four screens played security recordings from around the House of Representatives.
Ravi gathered the trash from the table and threw it into the reclamator.
Wright stood and gathered his things. “Sinclair, you and I are going to Brione-5 to see what we can find out from the Seven Serpents.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked, but I was already on my feet, too.
“No, but right now, it’s my only idea.”
Chapter 9
Takeoff went smoothly, despite Felix’s grumbling. He perched on his charging shelf, which gave him a full view of the bridge’s console. It had the added benefit of allowing him to glare down at Wright the entire time.
“Felix, take us out of orbit,” I said as soon as the artificial gravity kicked in. “Then plot a course for Brione-5 and prepare the warp drive.”
“Yes, Captain,” my ship’s avatar replied.
He only called me captain when he was annoyed, but I felt the floor vibrate and knew he’d fired the starboard thruster to reorient us toward open space.
I checked the holoscreen. Ritru-6 glowed a mix of azure, hunter green, and sienna below us. The Thousand Pillars mountain range, which rose high and imposing out of the forests to the west of Lapidea, looked like the bristles of a brush tossed in the grass. Splotches of blue from the many lakes were nothing but water droplets sprayed across the northern hemisphere.
Wright took in the view of his home planet. “It never gets old, does it?”
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “Never.”
The planet slid off to the right of the holoscreen and was replaced with the inky blackness of space.
“Firing rear thrusters,” Felix said. “Exiting restricted orbital space in five minutes.”
“Systems check.”
“All systems clear. Sinnafuel tank at eighty-five percent. Batteries at ninety-three percent. The warp drive will be online by the time we reach open space.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Felix,” I said.
He flicked his tail against the wall, making a clanking sound.
Wright leaned over and whispered, “Is he okay?”
Static crackled from Felix’s side of the bridge. “He has a dashboard microphone right in front of you.”
“Felix isn’t used to sharing the bridge with anyone besides me.”
Wright’s eye swept the small room before looking down at the scratches on his chair’s armrests. “Ah, I’m in his seat, aren’t I?”
“They didn’t make you lead agent for nothing,” Felix said.
I clamped down my lips, trying not to laugh. From the look Wright shot me, he was, too.
“Tell you what,” Wright said. “As soon as we get up to warp speed, I’ll go down to the common area and start on dinner. We still have ingredients to make pizza. That way, you can have your chair back.”
The cat stared at him unblinking for several beats longer than was comfortable. He turned his head back toward the holoscreen, which was now pitch black save for a few bright pixels of distant stars. “If that’s the best you can do.”
“Take the win, Felix,” I said, shaking my head. Programmers hadn’t yet achieved true artificial intelligence—not in the sense that computers were sentient beings—but sometimes Felix made me wonder.
A star chart replaced the live view on the main holoscreen. Felix plotted a direct route from Ritru-6 to Brione-5 with only a minor deviation to avoid a gas cloud that had been damaging passing ships’ outer layers of shielding. It only added a few hours to our trip, so it was well worth the detour. With the added time, we’d still reach my hometown of Clava on Brione-5 in thirty-seven hours.
I eyed the secret compartment under my dash that concealed a fifteen-year-old bottle of Lonnie Powell whisky. When this trip was done, I planned on pouring myself a double.
“We have left Ritru-6’s restricted space,” Felix said. “Safety checks completed and passed.”
The warp drive’s indicator light flipped to blue, signaling it was ready to create the warp bubble that allowed us to travel at faster-than-light speeds. I used a slight hand gesture to flip the holoscreen back to live view.
“Take us out of here, Felix.”
His metal tail curled around the fixed post supporting his charging station, anchoring him. “Building the warp bubble. Takeoff in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven.”
An iridescent shimmer passed over the front camera. It distorted the surrounding space, making the far-off stars appear to twinkle like they did when viewing them through a planet’s atmosphere.
“Six. Five. Four.”
I tugged on my harness straps. Secure. Wright did the same.
“Three. Two. One.”
The ship no longer hummed beneath my feet. It growled and shook, like a dog with a bone. I clenched my teeth to keep them from clacking together and pressed my skull into the padded headrest of my captain’s chair. Outside, the subspace field continued to form. My ears popped from the change in pressure.
With the planet and its two moons behind us, there was nothing on the holoscreen to let us visually gauge our speed. A second later, our backs slammed into our seats. Inertia dampeners only did so much.
The warp bubble snapped into place. Space contracted in front of us and expanded behind us, and we hurtled forward. The discomfort only lasted a few minutes until we reached full speed. Then we leveled out, and the ship’s automated systems kicked in to counter the effects of traveling at such high speeds.
Wright unfastened his harness first. He stood and made a grand gesture of offering his chair to Felix. “All yours, buddy.”
Felix yawned. His jaw hinged to an unnatural degree, showing off several rows of sharp titanium teeth.
“I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes,” I said. “There are a few things I want to look over first.”
“Do you want help?” Wright asked.
“No. Get started on dinner. I’m starving.”
He nodded and disappeared down the short hall to the ladder.
My neck ached from the g-forces exerted on it during the launch. I stretched it from side to side and ear to shoulder, trying to work out the kinks. Then I undid my harness and swiveled to face Felix.
“It won’t be that easy to intimidate him, you know.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yawning?”
Felix stood on his charging platform, then stretched with his front paws way out in front of him and his hindquarters high in the air. He jumped into the copilot chair and lay back down.
“It’s a new program I’m trying out.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said and reached over to stroke him behind his ear. “Wright’s only going to be on the Soteria for a few days. Try not to give him such a hard time, okay?”
His head pressed into my hand. “Fine, I’ll be nice, but he better not make a mess. My cleaning bots are already working overtime from the entire team traipsing about in here.”
“That’s all I ask.” I kissed the top of his head and left to give Wright a hand with dinner.
The scent of caramelized onions and sautéing garlic hit me as I walked into the common area. I inhaled and, for a second, forgot the throbbing pain at the base of my skull. My ship had never smelled so good.
Wright stood at the fixed island dicing four ripe tomatoes on a wood cutting board. Light from the overhead array picked up the blond highlights from his bent head. He’d removed his DECA jacket and pushed the sleeves of his charcoal-gray Henley up to his elbows. Soft music played from his cuff. The easy rise and fall of his knife matched the smooth melody.
It almost felt as if I were intruding. He looked so comfortable—so at home. I marveled at the ease with which he’d settled in. If I owned an apron, he’d be wearing it. It took me three months to visit DeAjamae at her apartment and another month to invite her onboard the Soteria. It seemed silly now, but trust hadn’t come easy.
Walnut hunkered down across from Wright on the island, gorging himself on a chunk of tomato. I checked his vitals to make sure the launch hadn’t upset him, but his chip only reported signs of happiness.
“Give me a sec,” I said and ducked into my bunkroom on the left to get a painkiller tab from one of my drawers. There had been a flurry of electronic activity during takeoff. Between launching and activating the warp drive, almost every system on the Soteria had been used, and my Intell wanted to play with all of them. The med was a generic, low-grade kind available at any convenience store, but I hoped it would take the edge off. Keeping the severity of my symptoms a secret while spending multiple days on a small ship with Wright might prove difficult.
I changed into a more comfortable shirt that I didn’t mind staining with tomato sauce, because there was a one hundred percent chance I was going to spill some on myself. While I was at it, I swapped my tactical pants for leggings and my boots for a pair of fuzzy slippers. It had been a long freaking day.
Wright’s eyes traveled from my head to my slippers and back up again. “Everything okay?”
“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”
“You were quiet during launch. I thought you’d be excited to be going home, even if it’s only for a quick trip.”
“Like you were excited to come back to Ritru-6? I noticed you didn’t take your mother up on her invite to dinner after the debriefing.”
“Fair point.”
“How can I help?”
He pointed his knife toward the mycoprotein proofing machine. “You can get a dough going for the crust. The sauce is almost ready to go on the stove.”
Pleased to have changed the subject, I grabbed the jar of starter from the refrigerator along with yeast flavoring and a nutrient pack from the cupboard. I scooped a pea-sized amount of each into the proofer and started the machine. Might as well make a large batch since we’d be eating it for the next several days. Warm water poured in. The starter activated, quadrupling in size. Satisfied it was a good batch, I set a timer for ten minutes.
Wright’s knife made quick work of the remaining tomatoes. He used the side of his knife to transfer them into the saucepan with the onions and garlic. They popped and sizzled until he gave them a stir and turned down the heat on the induction burner. After sprinkling salt, pepper, and oregano into the sauce, he wiped his hands on a towel and relaxed against the cupboard.
“Why don’t we go over what you know about this Ophidian and the Seven Serpents gang while we wait for those to cook down?”
I snagged an errant chunk of tomato and popped it into my mouth before wiping down the counter. It was sweet and juicy. Tomatoes were in season in Salin now, and Wright must have picked these up fresh from a market stall.
“There’s not much to tell. Ophidian was the head of the Seven Serpents when I was in the academy. They smuggled in drugs and weapons from off-planet. Tension was pretty high between the Serpents and their main rival gang, which was also heavy in the drug trade. One Serpent took two blaster shots to the chest when he walked out of a restaurant with his girlfriend. Both he and the girlfriend were high in the gang hierarchy. That sparked a string of retaliatory killings on both sides that lasted for four months. Things got pretty bloody. There was a coup. Ophidian and the four remaining lieutenants all disappeared, and Lady Ilymechina took over. We presumed the new faction had killed the old guard, but we never found the bodies.”
Wright crossed his arms. The movement pulled at the fabric of his shirt, showing off his toned chest and arms. I averted my gaze when I realized I’d been staring. It wasn’t the first time my thoughts had strayed in that direction. I had eyes, after all. Luckily, Wright hadn’t seemed to notice.
“This Lady Ilymechina is the woman who smuggled you from Brione-5 to Brione-2?”
“Yes, but we didn’t know who she was when we started investigating her. Everyone called her the Lady.” I used petting Walnut as an excuse to keep my eyes down. “I worked undercover in the gang unit. Our team’s main objective was to find out who the new players were. I got overzealous and arrested her before we had enough evidence to make a case. The whole thing went public. Lady Ilymechina was released, but everyone knew who she was after that. She still ran the gang, but she had to be much more sophisticated about it. Everything is run through her underlings, so she keeps her hands clean.”
“How did you convince her to smuggle you to Brione-2?”
“Blackmail.”
Wright rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Is that going to give us a problem now?”
I shrugged. “It won’t help. I turned over everything I had on her and promised she’d never see me again.”
“And here we are, six months later, asking for more help. I guess I’ll have to be extra charming.”
Wright’s grin was a perfect mix of innocent charm and devilish promises. I snorted. No doubt that smile worked wonders for him at the bar, but Lady Ilymechina would chew him up and spit him out like last night’s dinner. You didn’t get to be the leader of the largest gang in Clava by falling for a pretty face, especially when that face belonged to a DECA agent.
“This may wind up being a dead end. Our team searched for Ophidian and his lieutenants for months. We never found any trace of what happened to them. It was like they just vanished. We concluded their bodies must have been dumped at a decomp facility or buried so deep no one would ever find them. If that’s the case, the Lady will never cop to it. Clava doesn’t have a statute of limitations on murder.”
“If he’s dead, we’re back to square one, anyway. Let’s assume he’s not. Do we have any leverage to encourage her to talk?”
I shook my head. “It’s been almost two years since I quit the Clava Department. Since Jarrett—” My words caught in my throat. “Since Jarrett died, I’m out of the loop.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
A feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. It was equal parts sureness and apprehension. I had an idea, but I didn’t like it. It would require us to make a quick stop once we landed—one I’d been hoping to avoid.
Wright stepped closer and leaned both hands against the island. He was close enough for me to catch a hint of his bergamot soap and squirm under the intensity of his gaze.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” he asked. “I can see the wheels turning.”
“There’s a couple of people who may have more current information on the Seven Serpents. We used to work in the gang unit together. Last I heard, they’re still in it.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
My stomach soured, leaving me with a cramping sensation and an unpleasant taste in the back of my throat. While my exit from the Clava DECA office had been voluntary on the record, in reality I was persona non grata.
