Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

S o much for celebratory sex.

Zed stood on the bridge, arms crossed, trying not to glower at the rest of the crew. It wasn't their fault that his afterglow had been rudely interrupted. No, that responsibility lay squarely on Emma's shoulders.

Fuck. Fuck!

"It is unfortunate that Fixer did not place a tracking device on Ms. Katze," Qek lamented.

Flick slouched in his chair. "Didn't think there was any need."

Elias clasped a hand to Flick's shoulder and squeezed. "None of us did, man. You sure she didn't send you a message?"

"No, hell no, and why the fuck didn't she?"

"She took my stash." Zed shifted uncomfortably as the crew turned to him. "The ones Ness wasn't comfortable having in the med bay. I left my gear in the guest quarters last night. I didn't figure…"

"Fuck. The super strong ones?" Eli scrubbed a hand over his short hair. "Perfect. Wonderful."

"That's my fault," Nessa said. "I should've locked them up. I just…if we ever got inspected by the AEF, it would be damned difficult to explain them away, you know? I figured Zed would be a better bet for keeping them hidden."

"Not your fault, Ness." Elias glared at Zed as he spoke to the doctor.

Yeah, yeah. My pills, my fault, got it.

"So how many did she steal?" Flick asked.

"Twenty." Zed sighed. "At a thousand creds per, she could sell them, set herself up. Or maybe she's like me. Hoarding up shit like that." Just in case.

"You willing to bet she's not going to deal them?" Elias demanded. "'Cause I'm not."

"What do you want us to do, Eli? Go after her? Maybe we should storm wherever the fuck Agrius is holed up and demand to see her? What?" Flick pushed out of his seat, his exasperation apparent.

"Yeah," Zed said softly.

Flick rounded on him. "What the fuck, Zed? She doesn't want to be saved."

"Doesn't matter."

"Like hell it doesn't. What are you going to do, kidnap her?"

"You saw her last night!" Zed jerked his temper back, holding tight to the reins again before he continued speaking. "It's only going to get worse, Flick. She killed innocent men and women. I want to help her…God, I want that. But if I can't…"

"You're going to hand her over to the AEF," Elias said, his voice subdued.

"It is the most logical solution." Even Qek's clicks were quiet. "Agrius will continue to use her."

Flick watched all of them with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Fuck y'all for even thinking that." He stabbed a finger in Zed's direction. "And you especially!"

Zed unfolded his arms and cast his hands out to his sides. "What do you want me to do, Flick? Either she's going to deal those pills and endanger people, or she's going to get into more violent situations with Agrius and kill people outright. I don't have a choice. "

All but vibrating with repressed rage, Flick stared at him. "Fucking AEF will?—"

"I know." Zed's throat was tight.

Qek rose from her chair and tentatively slipped her long fingers across the back of Flick's hand. "It is the most logical option, Fixer."

"Doesn't make it right, " Flick whispered.

"I agree. There is often a wide gap between the two." She clicked, the sound as melodic as a lullaby. "However, the concept of right is subjective depending on the perspective one uses to look at it. What is right for one party may be wrong for another. Her continued freedom may be right for Ms. Katze, but it would not be right for the innocent citizens of this station or elsewhere, were she to leave. From another perspective, her continued freedom would not be right for Ms. Katze, because it allows the Agrius cartel to continue to use her for their own needs and put her into situations that would encourage the further progression of her devolving state."

"Jesus, Qek, you're giving me a headache."

Qek's face wrinkled. "My apologies, Fixer."

"I get it, though." Offering Qek a weary grimace, Flick dropped back into his seat. "I don't like it, but I get it."

Zed forced his shoulders to relax. It wasn't an enthusiastic agreement but he'd take it. "So we'll go after her?"

Flick closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of his chair. "Yeah. And give her to the AEF. If we have to." His head snapped forward to glare at Zed. "But we're not taking the fucking bounty."

"Agreed."

The comm pinged. Qek returned to her seat, clicking as she examined the incoming message. "It is an intra-station communication."

Zed stiffened. Had Brennan arrived early? Oh, fuck, he wasn't ready.

"The originating address has been obscured," Qek said.

So, not Brennan. His brother would have no need to obscure his address. That meant…

"Agrius?" Ness asked.

"Agrius," Elias agreed. "Go ahead and answer it, Qek." When the pilot nodded, he said, "Morning. This is Captain Elias Ido?—"

"We have something of yours."

Zed and Flick exchanged a glance.

Elias leaned back in his chair, as though he was discussing something as casual as the latest sports scores. "If you're talking about a certain ex-soldier, she decided she wasn't one of ours this morning."

"That so? She was certainly singing a different tune when we caught up to her. Weren't you, sweetheart?"

"Fuck off, Julian."

Zed straightened as Emma's voice, gruff but wavery, reverberated through the bridge. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Flick did the same.

"We're here, Emma." Zed tried to keep his voice unconcerned, but he couldn't help the thread of tension in it.

"Hi." Emma chuckled weakly. "Well, this is fucking fantastic, isn't it?"

"Why'd you leave, Em?" Flick asked, shifting forward in his seat.

" Oh, you know. A freak out." She sighed. "Agrius grabbed me at my apartment. They knew I'd gone with you and they're pissed at you, at all of you. Something happened on Dardanos Station?"

Elias leveled a glare at Zed, and Zed glared back. "Yeah."

"Great." Ragged breath came across the comm for a few seconds. "They said they're gonna kill me ? —"

"That's enough, sweetheart."

"Emma!" Flick shouted, rising out of his chair.

"We will send you a location and a time," said the other voice, Julian. "You will meet us and we will discuss reparation."

"And if we refuse?" Elias demanded.

"Then we will take Ms. Katze apart one piece at a time. Her training is exquisite, no? It will keep her alive much longer than a normal person."

Zed's gut clenched at the truth of that statement. The Zone would keep pain at bay, but it sure as hell wouldn't keep Emma from dying…eventually. Goddamn it.

"We'll be there," Flick said through gritted teeth.

"Excellent." The comm clicked off. A moment later, another ping announced the arrival of the meeting coordinates.

"It is clearly a trap," Qek said into the sudden silence.

"Duh." Elias sighed. "So we're going to rescue her just to hand her over the AEF?"

"Only as a last resort," Zed growled. "And the AEF won't take her apart piece by piece."

The captain lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. A rescue mission it is. Where's the meet, Qek?"

"It is in a warehouse near one of the manufacturing facilities on the far end of the docks. We must be there in one hour."

"Not a lot of time to plan." Flick tugged at one of his curls. "Should we get Anatolius Security involved?"

The idea of getting more people involved in this shit turned Zed's stomach. Hell, he hated the thought of the crew of the Chaos being neck-deep in it. But maybe…

"I should go alone," he said.

"No fucking way, Zed?—"

He lifted a hand. "Hear me out. Agrius is pissed about the bodies on Dardanos. That's my responsibility."

"You're not the one who cheated them out of their profits on the drug shipment," Elias pointed out.

"No, but that's just money, right? It's a sting to their ego, sure, but it's not the slap I delivered by killing their guys."

Flick grimaced and looked away, as though he didn't appreciate the reminder of Zed's skills. Zed couldn't blame him. But he had a plan…a plan he was sure would work. And if it didn't…

Well, it would just be him and Emma at ground zero, and their time was almost up anyway.

Felix input the code Zed had given him and waited for the happy click of the lock.

"We could clean this place out with access like that."

"Shame on you, Eli," Nessa hissed.

Felix pushed the door open and turned to wave them through. "They know every time we open a door. You do realize that. We're using Zed's codes."

"Don't they wonder what he's doing?"

"Sure, but he's an Anatolius. He owns this station. He can suit up and take a walk across the dome of Sector D if he wants. No one is going to question him."

If Felix walked anywhere outside, it would be Sector D, over the shielded botanic gardens and agriculture bays. The view from up there would be outstanding. Zed would probably prefer to walk through the actual trees and plants, under the dome. Because Zed was weird like that, and he hated heights.

Felix tapped his bracelet, activating a display. A marked-up schematic unfurled across the dim passageway. He poked a symbol in the corner and a big green dot blinked into being near the center. "That's us."

They were in a disused office complex behind the Agrius warehouse. Someone had purchased the space three months ago, but a business hadn't been registered. The dimmed hallway lights and row of closed doors indicated Zed had been right: the offices were a buffer. An alternate entrance and exit to the warehouse, a layer of insulation between the cartel and its neighbors.

Elias and Ness had their wallets out, displays open. All three of them had their own set of secondary markers.

"We good to go?" Felix asked.

"Almost." Elias deactivated his display and pulled a device from his pocket. "Now would be a good time to explain exactly what we're supposed to do with these."

"The Imps?" Felix plucked the Imp from Elias's fingers and turned it over so that the small cross on the front showed. "Get this as close to the mark as you can. Match the number—" he tapped the engraved digit with one finger, "—to your map. That's the most important thing. If you're a centimeter off, it will still work. Put the wrong Imp in the wrong spot and we'll have sprinklers going off and airlocks exploding."

"Riiight," Nessa said.

Elias's troubled expression cleared. "Oh, very funny." He put his hand out for the Imp. "What systems am I messing with?"

"You? A door alarm and two camera feeds. If our schematic is up-to-date. Ness is on sprinklers and airlocks."

A wry smile plucked at Nessa's lips.

Elias shoved the Imp back into his pocket. "Got it." He raised a hand to his brow in mock salute. "See you in a few."

Elias went one way, Nessa the other. Felix followed Elias for a hundred meters and turned down another corridor toward his set of coordinates. He didn't like being separated from his crew, but they didn't have time to move together. Zed would be entering the warehouse in a minute or two, if he hadn't already, and in ten minutes, Felix intended to begin extraction. He didn't trust Agrius—none of them did.

Felix had placed two of the small charges when a shadow fell across his hand. He turned with an elbow cocked and ready to crack a jaw, relaxed as Elias's dark face poked into his alcove.

"That's the last one." Felix stepped back, checking the corridor for unwelcome visitors.

Elias unfolded his wallet. "Ness?"

"Here."

"We're done here. Are you?—"

Nessa appeared at the end of the corridor. She waved her wallet, then folded it shut and tucked it into her pocket. At a casual stride, it took her less than a minute to reach their corner. Felix watched Elias watch Nessa, obvious concern in his dark eyes. Did he look at Zed like that? Were his feelings as obvious? Drawing in a deep breath, Felix tried to will the tension out of his hunched shoulders. He had to trust that Zed hadn't already gotten himself killed by insisting on going in alone. Trust the plan Zed had laid out.

Slender fingers wrapped around his arm. "Breathe, Fix."

"I did."

"Breathe out again."

His cheeks puffed out as he did so.

Nessa let go of his arm and made her report. "Three Imps installed."

Felix called them up on his schematic. "Okay. That's exit B. You've both got the new Anatolius access code? If we get separated?—"

"We know the plan."

Felix looked up to meet Elias's dark gaze. "I'm just?—"

"We'll get him out. We'll get both of them out."

"Okay." What else could he say, really? That he wouldn't leave Chloris without Zed? Elias and Nessa both knew that. They also knew that he would push hard, here. That he would do everything—anything—to get his friends to safety. Elias and Nessa would too. Felix breathed out again. "Okay." He checked the time on his wallet. "Four minutes."

Elias and Nessa took the opportunity to secure their weapons. A stunner each and a selection of hypo-syringes for the doctor. Nessa looked armed to take on a plague. Elias had his serious business face on. Felix rocked his ankle in his boot, felt his knife…and didn't relax. He confirmed the placement of the Imps again, mentally ticking off each system they planned to disable. Internal surveillance, door alarms, lights, air pumps.

He checked the time again. Two minutes.

It was an effort not to reach for the Zone as he approached the Agrius meeting point. Nerves danced in his stomach, up, down and sideways. His palms were sweaty too. Christ, it was like he'd never been on a high-stakes mission before—though he hadn't, not like this. Not to save a friend.

He couldn't let this get personal in his head—even though it was, God, it was. If he let it get personal, he'd get angry, and anger might help in the middle of combat, but not here. Not now. He needed to stay frosty, as the guys on the teams would say. Still, he figured he deserved a medal for not reacting when a couple of moth-inked goons emerged from the shadow of the building in front of him, armed with projectile rifles.

"I'm expected." He raised his hands, slowly, when one of the Agrius flunkies waved his weapon.

He expected the frisk and having his wallet removed. He didn't expect the bald, muscular goon to go back for a second round of feeling up his butt.

"What, man, do you like my ass or something?"

The goon grunted, his brown eyes narrowed in consideration. "Not unless you got a weapon shoved up there."

"Honey, I'm not the one with a stick up my butt."

The goon's partner—younger, with a scar slashing across his forehead—snickered. Shooting a glare in his direction, the bald guy stepped back from Zed. "He's clean."

They escorted him to the warehouse. A large door bearing the distinctive outline of the Agrius moth rolled back to reveal a cavernous space—three linked warehouses, at first glance. Zed felt vindicated—and relieved—that the layout matched what he'd been able to retrieve in the more detailed schematics for the station. To the left, metal stairs switched back and forth between upper-level catwalks. A row of offices idled beneath, each glass-fronted space aglow with light and activity. No one paid any attention to the small party marching through their midst. Seeing someone escorted at gunpoint was probably an everyday occurrence with this group.

Zed examined the space surreptitiously as they walked, orienting himself against the specs in his head and cataloguing the most likely sniper locations, where reinforcements might come from, and how far away the closest exit into the buffer building was. By the time the goons stopped at a door with a frosted glass insert and the label Conference One, Zed had a contingency route planned for him and Emma. Just in case something fucked with Flick's gadgets.

The room held Emma, bruised but alive, and a powerfully built man dressed in an absurd electric-blue suit as bright as one of the holo-signs belonging to the lower-level dive bars. The deep vee of his shiny SFT blouse revealed a thatch of dark chest hair. Nestled in the curls was a golden medallion in the shape of a cocoon. His gaze slipped from Zed to the door behind Zed, obviously expecting the rest of the Chaos crew. Disappointment flashed across his features, quickly replaced by a sardonic smile.

"You came alone. How very heroic."

Zed ignored Mr. Holo and took a step toward Emma. The goons immediately brought their rifles to bear, so he relented. "You okay?" he asked her, his voice soft.

She lifted a defiant gaze to him, her eyes glittering with malice. "Fuck you, Anatolius, I'm not a damsel in distress."

"You're doing a pretty good impression of one."

Emma grimaced and stuck out her tongue.

"Charming." Mr. Holo arched a brow. Zed figured he had to be high up in the ranks, because if there was anyone above him, surely they'd tell him his outfit was an embarrassment to criminals everywhere. "Shouldn't you be upstairs somewhere, sipping champagne and rarified air, Mr. Anatolius?"

"You got the wrong Anatolius. I'm right where I need to be."

The guy's second brow rose to join the first. "Is that so?"

The bald goon stepped forward and tossed Zed's wallet on the table. "This was all he had on him."

"Unless the crew of that ugly little ship is going to pop out of it?—"

"There are five hundred thousand unhooked credits on there," Zed pointed out. "More than enough to make up for the misunderstanding with the Chaos. "

Emma let out a low whistle. "Holy fuck, Zed."

"So you want to pay us off?" Mr. Holo tilted his head. "And are you going to pay us for the men you killed on Dardanos?"

"I wouldn't be so crass."

"So you're…what? Offering yourself up as some sort of sacrificial goat in the hopes that I'll forget what a pain in the ass the Chaos has been?"

"Julian, it's five hundred k," Emma said.

Before Julian, the Agrius leader—commander? Head moth?—could answer her, his wallet pinged. After reading the ripmail, Julian jerked his chin at the two guards. "On the door," he ordered.

Zed kept his expression even as Julian marched out of the room without any explanation. One of Flick's distractions at work, no doubt. The click of the door lock sounded loud in the space, but Zed didn't worry about it.

"You got a plan?" Emma asked without moving her lips.

"Oh yeah," Zed assured her. He tucked the wallet with the creds back in his pocket, seeing as Agrius didn't want it. Grinning, he hoisted one hip against the conference table and waited.