Havek

HAVEK

"Have another good time with your advocate!" the first guard said, his face the same smug grin he always wore.

"Yeah," added the second. "Glad you have such friendly relations with your client!"

Payton rolled her eyes, but I couldn't help finding it funny. They were so confident that they'd figured the two of us out. Just another Vinduthi who got a little too involved with a human piece of ass. At least, that's what they thought.

That was a lesson I learned early on in my career. The best place to hide a secret is underneath another secret.

The door slid closed, and the two of us were alone.

Payton crossed her legs. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" I said.

"After last time, I expected you'd have me pressed against the wall by now."

"That's true." I pretended to be interested in running my hands along the table. "I thought that it might be nice to let you make the first move this time."

"Me?" She smiled and stood up. "You want me to push you up against the wall?"

"I'd certainly like to see you try."

She stepped closer, exaggerating every movement in a way that I couldn't help finding sexy. "Well, I guess I could-"

But before she could finish her sentence, she got close enough that I grabbed her hips and spun her around into my lap. She shrieked and then broke into giggles.

"I thought you were going to let me make the first move!" she said.

"Well, that's what you get for trusting someone like me," I replied and smothered her response in a deep kiss. She pushed back for a second or so but quickly relaxed into it as she always did, her hands running down my neck and onto my back.

I pulled back and, with one hand, caressed her cheek while my other slipped carefully, into her coat. With her back to the camera, the movement was invisible even if they were looking at it, and while I didn't doubt that the guards were watching, they wouldn't watch for that. They just wanted to see some action.

As promised, I felt the new drill bits and the power core tightly wrapped into a single bundle with copper wire. I just had to get it into my pocket, but that would require a little bit more distraction for the cameras.

"So, advocate, how's my case going?" I asked.

She laughed. "Well, I think we've got solid evidence for all your major claims. The one problem is likability."

"Likability?"

"Exactly. Can you make a judge like you?"

"Well, how about I give it a try with you?"

I kissed her again and let my hand on her cheek slip down her neck and onto her breast. Carefully, I angled her so the camera got a good view of me playing with her curves but not of my other hand slipping the bundle out of her coat and into my pants.

Making a crucial part of my escape plan happen in full view of the cameras gave me an undeniable thrill. But it wasn't the only thrill I got from Payton, and I was almost sure that she felt it, too.

She beamed. "I think the case is going wonderfully."

"I'm so glad you think so," I said.

She blushed slightly, and looked shy. It seemed like she was working up the courage to say something important.

"Can I ask you something silly?" she said.

"You often do."

"I've been thinking about what happens… after you escape."

"Is that so?" I said.

To be entirely honest, I hadn't spent much time on it. Whenever I got into a technical problem, I completely stopped thinking about anything else. Escaping that prison was one big technical problem, and it was completely absorbing my attention. I was more sure that I would escape with every part I collected, but there were still enough variables that I hadn't had the chance to consider what I'd actually do once I was out.

Except for eating some food, taking a long, warm shower, and getting some rest. That much I knew I would do.

"Alkard says that he'll erase my entire contract once you're out," Payton said. "Which means that I'd be totally free to go anywhere I wanted. With…anyone I wanted."

She looked at me meaningfully, but my mind was still caught on her first sentence.

"What's the matter?" asked Payton. "What are you thinking about?"

But there was no time to explain. The buzzer sounded, and the doors slid open. The two guards entered, and I hurried Payton to her feet, doing my best to look embarrassed that they'd seen us like that.

"She was explaining something to me, and she tripped," I said. "Very awkward."

"Of course," said the guard as I stood up to go with them.

If Alkard promised to erase her contract, he would.

But after my escape, the spotlight would be on her.

How did he plan to keep Payton safe when I was on the run?

Would he even bother?

The thought made me bristle. How dare he do this to her?

It didn't matter, I wouldn't let it. Already, my mind raced with new problems and new solutions.

If I slipped off without her, Payton would be arrested before she even knew it was coming. And there was no way I'd allow that.

I didn't question why that was important to me. It just was. And it meant I needed something new. Something bolder. Something that would get both of us off this rock together.

The guards stopped as the airlock door opened. I stepped forward and, a few seconds later, walked back into the crowd of other prisoners. An idea was taking shape, but it was a big idea. The kind with a lot of risks and unknowns.

Then again, if it worked, I would know exactly what I'd do after all this. I'd run around the galaxy with Payton by my side. And that idea was pleasant enough. It almost entirely distracted me from the original problem.

I walked into the cell Braadi and I staked out as our headquarters. Braadi fiddled with the device I made, getting the last pieces in place. All it needed now was the power core that was currently sitting in my pocket.

Except…

"There's a change of plans," I said. "And I trust you enough to know what it is."

I outlined the basic idea as it formed in my mind. The details weren't there yet, but everything that mattered was. The equipment, the allies, the big idea. As I described it, Braadi grew paler, and his eyes stretched out.

"Gee, I dunno how I feel about that. Your first plan was so…"

"Elegant? Subtle?"

"Safe. It was very safe. I mean, as prison breaks go, it was safe. This one's not like that."

I shrugged. "No. It's not. And if you want to drop out for that reason, I won't blame you. You don't need to put in any more work on this, and I'll still protect you as long as I'm here."

"Well, I didn't say that," Braadi protested quickly. "I just don't understand it. Why are we giving up on a safe, easy plan and doing a hard, dangerous one instead? Did something change?"

"That's a complicated question."

Braadi looked down at the device, then back at me. "This has to do with the girl, doesn't it? Everyone knows about it. The guards are all giggling about her, and they've passed it on to the prisoners."

Well, that explained some of the attitudes that I got from the other gangs.

"Her name's Payton," I said. "And fine, it has something to do with her."

"I don't know how I feel about that," said Braadi. "Mixing up sex and business. It often doesn't turn out so well. Do you know the Mondian who sleeps in the next cell over? Do you know how he got arrested? It's kind of a funny story."

"I don't need funny stories right now," I said. "I'm very well aware of what I'm doing. I know this isn't the safest move or the easiest. But it's the one I'm making, and I plan to do everything to ensure that it works."

"She must be pretty special," Braadi said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you know you're doing this for her, and you know how risky it is, and you're still going for it. I've known a lot of beings who trick themselves into thinking they're doing something for smarter reasons than they are, and even more, who just ignore it totally when something they want to do is dangerous. But you're not doing either of those things. So I guess she must be pretty special."

"Well, she's done a lot for us. She's put herself on the line, and I figure I owe her something."

Braadi eyed me suspiciously.

"All right, fine," I said. "She's pretty special."

"In that case, I'll do it," he decided. "I guess I'll work on that amplifier then."

I smiled. "You're a lot braver than you give yourself credit for, you know."

He smiled back. "You don't even know how brave I am."