Page 11

A cker waits until Match and Grace shut the airlock behind them, then gestures to the table. We sit as couples.

Acker works some mechanism under the table and a ceramsteel panel in the middle of the table rises.

Beneath the panel is a long shelf full of serving platters.

I can feel the heat wash off the shelf, keeping the food hot.

The first shelf rises and another appears under it, glowing icy blue.

A cool-tray, just like the one I had in the cockpit of my old ship.

The cool tray holds bowls of fruit and bulbs of water.

The water has the slightly blue sheen of T-White, the most purified water sold on Kuseros.

A Tyng bestseller. I know exactly how much four bulbs of T-White will have cost out here on the Clouds; Acker’s splashed out.

With a click, the shelves lock into place. The top panel is just about level with Kez’s chin, so it’s easy to hold conversation over the contraption.

Acker takes a bowl of native pink rice out of the warm tray and hands it to Tiancha.

There’s a minute while we pass around the food.

I take some of everything, since it all smells good, and I don’t want to insult our hosts.

Kez does, too. I wait to see if Acker says grace or anything, and when he doesn’t, pick up my chopsticks and dig in.

First dish I try is round lumps in a chunky red-brown sauce, which turns out to be rouge prawns. Delicious.

While I’m enjoying the food, Acker says, “I avoided your question earlier, my friend, because I do not wish to speak of this in front of others. But I have no secrets from my Wisdom.” He pats Tiancha’s paw where it’s resting on the table between them.

“Not even Match knows how many the Ojos have killed.”

“How many?” I ask around a mouthful of prawns.

“Fourteen, in five weeks. Including a mother and her two children. They are well-funded and well-informed?—”

“By someone in the Deeps,” offers Tiancha.

Acker nods. “They know too much about where we will be and when not to have a source inside.”

Now I understand why he didn’t want Match and Grace to hear this. I meet his solid black eyes. “What’re you gonna do about that?” I ask. In part, I want to know how ruthless he is. And in part I want to know if he’d condone what I’m about to do to clean my own house.

“Kill them all,” he says without a hint of a smile.

“Not very subtle,” I respond, but I feel a trickle of relief. He’s not adverse to killing when it’s necessary. And I should have known he was sufficiently ruthless. He’d have to be, to get where he is.

Kez chuckles. “Snow’s all about subtle.”

I elbow her. “Oh, are those your ribs?”

Kez snorts into her drink, a little breathlessly.

“The time for subtlety is past,” Acker says, to a nod from Tiancha. “If we let them kill us without reprisal, then the Whites mean nothing. But I worry where countering them with violence will lead. We have too many women and children in the Deeps to go to war?—”

“We will follow you to the last newborn,” Tiancha offers quietly.

“Fond bokkie.” Acker strokes her head. “I do not fear my people’s commitment. I fear reprisal. We are barely tolerated now. If our war spills onto the streets, the Founders would have their excuse. They will destroy the Deeps. ”

“What about the other gangs?” Kez asks. “The Mirrormen and Redsand Bra have to know they’re next if the Founders turn on you.”

Acker shrugs. “The Mirrormen are broken. Dag is dead. Without his Mirror, Capp cannot lead. There is a great deal of in-fighting.”

Kez and I exchange glances. We might have had something to do with that.

“When did Dag die?” Kez asks carefully.

“He was wounded during their last Moondance,” Tiancha answers. “He died a few days later. Did you know him?”

Kez nods. “I didn’t know he’d died.”

Acker watches this exchange closely, while continuing to eat something green and stringy. I try some of my own. Salty fish and seaweed in a creamy sauce. Also delicious. “Rumor has it an orclas beached on Outniss,” Acker says. “It savaged Dag and two other Mirrormen.”

Interesting. Not the way it went down, but interesting. “Do orclas do that?” I ask.

Acker shrugs. “I have never seen one beach but the waters of Tiv are full of prey. If it was very hungry and the only food to be had was on land?” He shrugs again. “Maybe. They can survive out of the water for up to an hour.”

“Must make hunting them a challenge.” I nod at the string of teeth decorating his chest.

Acker gives me a fanged grin.

“Leaving aside the Mirrormen, what about the Bra?” Kez asks.

Acker considers her question while he finishes his fish. “Our position with the Bra is uncertain. They were unhappy when we claimed the Deeps, even though their territory has never extended beyond the beaches. They are not led the way the Mirrormen are. We would have to approach every break.”

Kez is nodding as Acker speaks. “I know Jale really well.”

Acker tilts his head. “Are you offering to speak for me, Lightfoot?”

“Sure. Is she still on the Two Slide break?”

Acker nods .

“Another reason to go to the beach tonight,” Kez says to me. “Two Slide is just off the Night Market. Five minutes from where Slip will be.”

“Myhre’d be proud of your multi-tasking, kitten,” I say. I put down my chopsticks to chuck her under the chin with my forefinger. “How ‘bout some delegation?”

Kez shakes her head, not following me.

“Think your friend Jale would talk to the other Bra? Save Acker the trouble of having to play meet ‘n’ greet with all of ‘em.”

“Oh.” Understanding dawns in her big blues. “I don’t think that would be a problem.”

Acker chuckles into his food. “I can see why the Snake recruited you, my friend.”

“Naw, I mostly leave the politics to Kez. War? That I understand.”

Acker’s black eyes focus on me. Being on the receiving end of that intense stare is a little unnerving. But I’ve had a lot of laser stares directed at me. I give it straight back. Acker glances down at his food and says very mildly, “I would like to hear of that.”

“Ancient history,” I say.

“I am a student of history,” he responds, without looking up. “As is my Wisdom.”

Which might explain how he figured out who I am.

I glance at Kez. She’s watching me, not eating.

I haven’t told her much about my time with SAWL.

I don’t want to fill her mind with the same ugliness as mine.

But she knows about my last deploy, so if Acker and Tiancha want to hear about my past, I’ll share that.

“You heard of Tje Djos?” I ask.

“Yuan Colony,” Tiancha says. “Twenty-Year Border.”

“That’s right. Garden colony. Good soil.

Plenty of water. They cranked it out for Tsing-Gold for three decades.

Finally, the chains got a little too heavy.

They tried to throw them off. Stopped shipping food to the Core.

Colonial Army went in first. Bunch of farmers and bio-techs kicked their asses straight back to Earth. So we were sent in. ”

“We—?” Acker asks. He’s watching me now, not eating.

“SAWL”

“Space Marines,” Kez says softly.

She’s not quite right, but the distinction between old Earth’s military divisions hasn’t been relevant for a century.

Not since the United Nations became Earth Authority and began recognizing corporations as members as well as countries.

If Acker and Tiancha want a history lesson that old, they’ll to have to wait for another day.

“And you were?”

“Tech Sergeant First Class. But don’t let the title fool you. I was a killer. That’s what they trained me to do, and that’s what I did. First to the colonists, and when I realized the truth and the light, to the Company Xecs and D.C.A. Genny who tried to order my unit back in.”

Acker bows his head. “The Butcher of Tje Dhos. Diamond named you, but I did not make the connection.”

So that’s how Acker and his crew know my real name. Guess there aren’t any secrets underground.

“I understand war. And the value of allies. You want to make sure you have some before you strike back at the Founders, even indirectly.”

Acker picks at one of his very sharp teeth with a black claw. “I would welcome any who would ally with us.”

“Yeah, about that?—”

Acker chuckles. “I wondered when we would come to this.” He takes a bowl of jellied imree out of the cool shelf, offers it to me and after I take some, spoons himself a fist-sized chunk.

Acker likes his food. Man after my own heart.

“As pleasant as it is to dine with you, I didn’t think you came all the way out here for this. ”

“No,” I allow. “But you do put on a nice spread.” I’ve eaten well, and the imree goes down smooth and cool and sweet.

“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it.” He strokes Tiancha’s head with his free hand. “My Wisdom is a woman of many talents.”

I lift my bulb to Tiancha; Kez mirrors me.

She’s still got a full plate of food in front of her, and since Kez usually has a healthy appetite, either she doesn’t like the food, or she’s been distracted by the conversation.

I nudge her and tip my chin at her plate.

She looks sheepish as she picks up her chopsticks.

“My friend,” Acker says. “Why have you come?”

“I been cleanin’ house,” I say. “You probably heard.”

“Indeed. Nor have you started small. It’s said Kincaid bled out into a flash can after he was—” Acker casts a meaningful glance into his lap. “Disarmed.”

“Less mess for the clean-up crew,” I say. “They’re Tyng employees, too.” I didn’t kill him that way, actually, but only because the idea of touching his junk made my skin crawl. I did carve him up some first. And I did do him in the bathroom.

Like I said, the clean-up crew work for us, too.

“That seems a pointed way to kill a man,” Acker observes, glancing at Kez. To her credit, my kitten returns his gaze steadily, without any reaction. Kez has a decent poker face when she wants to.

She’s still not eating, though, so I nudge her again as I say, “Everything I do has a point.”

“Even so.” Acker nods. “What, may I ask, did Dag do to you, Lightfoot?”

Kez chews and swallows before she answers. Wipes her mouth. Says very evenly. “He took flesh he didn’t bargain for. I’d already paid for passage, but he wanted more.”

Acker tips his head at her. “Your vengeance is a fearsome thing. I trust none of my people have offended you.”

Kez grins. A little too toothy for her usual mischievous grin. “Not so far.”

Acker spreads his hands again. “Are you here for vengeance, my friend? I have no wish to quarrel with you.”

“You know I’m here to recruit you.” If he hasn’t figured it out by now, it’s because he doesn’t want to.

Acker sits back in his chair. “So long as it poses no threat to the Whites, I will happily tell you anything you wish to know?— ”

He’s still not getting it. “Not as a mole.”

Or a rat, goes unsaid.

Acker’s large black eyes narrow as he flicks them between me and Kez. “I don’t see how?—”

“Work for me. For Tyng. Out in the open. Tyng SoBo Sec Xec.”

Acker snorts. “Work for you,” he repeats.

He shakes his head and resumes eating.

That wasn’t a no .

“Killin’ Kincaid left me with a hole,” I explain. “I need someone to fill it. Someone I can trust.”

Acker looks up at me for a long moment. Then he puts his spoon down, steeples his paws over his plate and looks at me through his crossed claws. “I’m honored.”

I shrug. I haven’t made any secret of what I think of Acker.

“You’d have all the resources of Tyng Enterprises at your back.

No one would fuck with the Whites ever again.

You need credits, weapons, food, whatever, I’ll make sure you have it.

And if you want to go to war, well, I don’t fancy the Ojos’s chances. ”

“You do not have to enumerate the benefits of allying with such a powerful organization to me.” He taps his foreclaws together. “This is not the first time I have been offered such an alliance.”

“I know why you turned it down before. I’m not tryin’ to get you to move Hex through your tunnels. You’d never have to touch a flake.”

Acker’s black eyes flick from me to Kez again. “I have a question, Lightfoot.”

“Fire away.” Kez puts down her chopsticks and lifts her chin.

“I know your history. Hex has robbed you of many loved ones. Why would you perpetuate such misery?”

“I could give you the old line about how they chose it,” Kez says, drumming her fingers on the side of her plate.

“If we don’t provide it, someone else will.

But the truth is, we’re in this for one reason: to protect my family.

As soon as we can do that without pushing Hex, we will. Right?” She looks at me .

I take her hand. “Right.”

“I hate it,” Kez continues, looking back at Acker with those clear blue eyes.

“I hate getting up every day knowing someone else is going through what I have. Because of me. I’d like to end it now.

But we can’t. Not without putting my family at risk.

So we’ll do it slow, but we’ll do it. Two years from now, Tyng Enterprises won’t sell a single flake, right? ”

My strong kitten. I squeeze her hand. “Right.”

“Snow thinks you could help us. With all of it,” Kez finishes.

Acker tilts his head to the side. “What do you think?”

Kez rubs her free hand through the soft shag at the back of her head. If she still had her dreadlocks, she’d be scratching. “I think we need the help.”

“Am I the man to give it to you?” Acker asks softly.

Kez glances at me. “If Snow says you are, you are.”

Acker’s nose twitches. He taps his claws together. “Then I am doubly honored.”