Page 38

Sherrod

“ I disabled the bug,” Zelena said, handing me the drive from Lady Seraph. “And I read the contract. Nothing out of the ordinary, even the clause to entertain her at the compound was oddly short and generous.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” I snapped, pacing in Zelena’s suite. “There’s something else going on here but I can’t see it.”

Zephyr had left for training a few minutes ago and my skin was crawling with the wrongness of letting her out of my sight.

Was she really safe just because we signed a contract with Lady Seraph?

This Che’Pry was obviously more than he seemed, did that mean he would act whether Lady Seraph wanted him to or not?

Was that a good thing or a bad thing for us.

Thankfully, Zelena’s voice cut through my quickly spiralling thoughts.

“Okay, let’s take stock. You planned to get the Lady’s attention, and you did. She wants Zephyr to fight for her, she’s known to especially want things that Bryson wants, so there’s that sweetening the pot for her. Maybe it’s exactly what it seems.”

“Maybe. I’m just not used to risking someone I care about so much.”

Zelena bit her lip, which was tinted hot pink today to match the pink and teal outfit that she was wearing, and leaned back on her hands.

She was sitting on her bed, clothing scattered about and a chilled bottle of champagne was set out.

I would’ve thought she was expecting company if it wasn’t the for the fact that this was just how Zelena lived.

“So,” she said with a self-satisfied grin, “things have progressed?”

My cheeks warmed and I turned away but not before she saw it.

“Are you blushing?”

“No,” I snorted.

“You are! Did you finally tell her how you felt?”

I flushed deeper and couldn’t hold back a grin.

Zelena squealed and launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck in a strangling hug.

“I’m so happy for you! You deserve this.”

“Do I?” I asked, flopping down on her bed. “Good things don’t usually happen to me. And if they do, they don’t tend to last. I couldn’t take it if I lost her again.”

“So that’s why you’re second guessing this contract.” Zelena sat next to me.

“I think so. Though, there is something I feel like I’m missing.”

“I have a courtesan that used to be a Galactic trade lawyer, I’ll have her take a look.”

“Thanks. We also need some contingencies in case everything goes to shit.”

“I have something that might interest you for that. It came in a few days before you called.”

She rummaged in one of her suitcases that had a false bottom and came up with a small silver case, the kind that cyber upgrades were often stored in. She handed it to me and I opened it.

“You remember that little project you and I talked about one drunken night on Seran Four?”

“Yes,” I replied warily.

“There it is.”

At first I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing, and then I saw her grin.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. Keeping that small contingency of black market inventors as clients has finally paid off.”

I plucked the tiny, pill shaped unit out of the box and held it up.

“This is a Lazarus Drive?”

“It will bring anyone with enough cybernetics back from death with minimal lasting injuries.”

“What’s the limit of damage one can sustain?”

“No idea. The adorable nerds who made it are so high half the time I’m surprised they get anything done. One of them did say the upper limit of the test was a laz bolt from no less than six feet. Anything closer and there’s no guarantee the drive can make the necessary repairs in time.”

“Makes sense,” I held it up to the light and saw what I thought were extremely tiny circuits. “Where does it go?”

“You swallow it, the capsule breaks somewhere in your esophagus and the nanites inside are circulated in your blood stream. The bots are good for forty-eight hours until they start to degrade.”

“So ‘drive’ is…”

“It was their original idea, something that would permanently be added to someone’s life support unit.

But there were too many variables and not enough…

something. I have no idea sometimes what they’re talking about.

All I do know is that they’re one of the smartest bunch of lovable weirdos in the galaxy. If they say it will work, it will.”

I started to hand it back to her and she pushed my hand away.

“Keep it, for whichever of you need it.”

“Thank you, Zee,” I carefully placed it back in the case and stowed it in my pocket.

“I have some of my guards and courtesans keeping an eye on the syndicates. If they hear anything, they’ll let us know.”

“Tell them to try and keep an eye out for this Che’Pry. You’re sure you haven’t heard of him before?” I asked.

“No, and that worries me. There’s always people at these things that have newly come up in the ranks, but they’ve usually been around a bit before then. And since her ascension, Lady Seraph is notoriously suspicious of anyone new.”

“So that’s two patterns that have been broken with this guy.”

“Could be that Lady Seraph does know him, but he’s usually out of view.”

“Then why bring him out now?” I ask, starting to pace. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“I’ll see what I can find out. He’s flesh and blood, they all have weaknesses. And it’s usually between their legs.”

“Be careful. My gut is telling me that there’s something wrong going on here, and at a Blood Celebration that could be very, very bad.”

“I’ll use my charm, don’t worry.”

“And if he’s not interested in sex?”

Zelena laughed, tossing her tendrils and gave me a wicked look.

“My darling, that is not the only thing in my repertoire. Trust me, I know how to handle men like this.”

As I walked out of her room and into the common area of the enormous suite we all shared, I tried to think about this whole thing from different angles, to see what I might have been missing.

Zelena had put up a few security cameras in the dining room and sitting area. I decided to check them to see if we got a clear shot of Che’Pry.

Not only did we have a clear shot, it was as if he knew the cameras were there and he wanted us to film him. He was always facing them, not even trying to hide. He could’ve chosen one of the other chairs, but he chose the one that would give the cameras the best possible view of his face.

The sense that this was a trap, that he wanted me to look for him, snaked its way through my body.

If he wanted us to run his image, was it so that it tripped some kind of hidden security system here?

Or was it that he wanted us to know his real identity?

Could it be that he was actually Norris asking for help in the only way he could?

I decided to go ahead and run the images. Nothing popped up at first until I expanded far enough to include the GUP territories. There were two possible matches, fuzzy and without a few of the facial features this man had. Both had to do with terrorist attacks on GUP labs.

That made alarm bells go off in my head. If Cypher had been looking for Norris, then those labs might be places he’d look.

I tried to clear up the images but there was no way to take away the distortions.

I used Zephyr’s key code to access the GIB data base and tried to cross reference these two possible matches with known attacks that Cypher had been involved with.

It took too long to pull up the results, and I knew that meant that someone was tracing this search.

Zephyr’s time was up, the GIB were on to the fact that she’d left and was doing an unauthorized mission.

I hurriedly ordered my CPU to make screen shots of the top three results and then shut down the search.

I had no idea if they were able to figure out where I was.

This part of space wasn’t within GUP territory but wouldn’t stop the Intelligence Bureau from sending people.

It would, however, make it harder to track us.

Hopefully.

If Che’Pry wasn’t Cypher, then he could be Norris, even though he didn’t fit the description that Varnok had given us at all.

But I had a total facial reconstruction, why couldn’t he?

The thing, of course was that there were certain things that couldn’t be completely wiped out.

Eyes, for example, could have a film over them to change their color, but that film was problematic and caused difficulty seeing.

Contact lenses were easier to use and also easier to detect with facial recognition.

Ears, on the other hand, were almost never changed.

I closed in on Che’Pry’s ears and saw nothing but the shape of a normal, Human ear. He had no arch, no point, no inner ear tendril, no unusual marks. The ears also weren’t drooping, which they usually did from age.

He has no wrinkles, no indication of age. He must’ve had something done to him. Which means he’s either vain, or hiding something.

I didn’t live this long by not taking every single precaution to the point of paranoia.

Even the bank job, which I was left out of almost completely in terms of planning, I was able to create my own contingencies to assure I got out of there alive.

That was why, as I stared at the image of Che’Pry, I went through every single possibility I could.

By the time I’d talked myself out of the most improbable, I had three possibilities to begin building backup plans for.

He could be Cypher, which would explain the fact that he was species non-specific. It made him harder to track in many ways since facial recognition was programmed to determine species first and foremost. Having a vague species look would confuse the recognition software.

He could also be exactly what he seemed, a chilling and efficient ambassador for Lady Seraph who was vain enough to want a bunch of surgeries to appear unique.

It was the vanity I was having a hard time reconciling to the male I’d met.

The only reason I wasn’t throwing it away entirely was how pristine his appearance had been, from his perfectly pressed suit to the high shine on his two thousand credit pair of shoes.

And thirdly, he could be Norris. If Lady Seraph wanted to hide him, she could’ve forced surgeries on him to change his appearance.

I hadn’t gotten the impression from Varnok that Norris was the cold, calculating type but he could be a master actor and had a million different faces for different circumstances.

If he was Norris, was he reaching out to us for help, or was he a true believer in his work and didn’t mind having a benefactor like Lady Seraph?

There were still too many variables to know anything for sure.

I needed to observe him, find his weaknesses.

In the meantime I began to plan for each possibility.

I sank into these plans so deeply that I hadn’t noticed the artificial light growing dim.

Zephyr and I had slept in after our morning sex, and she hadn’t gone to the training room until after noon.

I realized as I checked the time that it was nearly dinner time.

We were to attend the banquet to meet the other challengers and the syndicate leaders were going to announce their sponsorships.

It would be the first time they were all officially in the same room.

The only other time they would be all together again was right before the final tournament fights for both the male and female fight brackets.

It was unlikely anything would happen tonight, not when Lady Seraph could posture about stealing the most sought after fighter right from under Bryson. But later, when everyone was together to celebrate new alliances and their fighters winning?

“That’s when Lady Seraph will strike if she’s going to,” I said to myself.

Even though I was fairly certain about my theory, I couldn’t take the chance that I was wrong either.

I hurriedly showered and laid out the new suit that had been sent up to me from the Krynn tailor.

It was another high collared jacket, long enough to hit my knees and closing with clasps that ran down the left side of my torso, the top of each clasp decorated with a black stone.

The pants were black, tight fitting which I didn’t quite like but oh well.

The door behind me opened and in walked a sweaty Zephyr, peeling off her shirt.

The sight of her brown skin shimmering with sweat, the beauty of the engravings on her cyber implants and the fierce set to her jaw all took my breath away.

How was I so lucky to not only have a second chance but to have it with this woman?

“That fucking training program that twat has me on! I swear to all the gods if I ever catch the person who invented burpies, I will eject them from an airlock!”

She tore off her clothes as she spoke until she stood gloriously naked in front of me. I was just wearing a towel low on my hips and when Zephyr finally looked at me, the fire in eyes became less about anger and more about lust.

“How was your day, dear?” I asked with a smirk.

“Shut up and fuck me.”

“Is that all I am to you? A piece of meat?”

“Yes,” she answered and tore off my towel.

“I’m okay with that.”

Zephyr tackled me to the bed and we fell onto it in a tangle of limbs. I’d just gotten her body under mine when she wrinkled up her nose.

“Ugh, wait, I stink.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I do,” she pushed me off her, and then grabbed my hand with a wicked grin. “Maybe you could wash my back before you—”

“Fuck you against the shower wall?”

“Exactly.”

“I’m at your service.” I surprised her by picking her up and slinging her over my shoulder.

She screamed and laughed as I carried her into the bathroom. All the tension of the day was melting away the longer I had her body against mine. We would beat this, whoever Che’Pry really was, whatever Lady Seraph’s play was, it wasn’t a match for the two of us.

And besides, the universe owes us a happy ending. I hope anyway.