Page 57

“Thirty-seven minutes at cruising speed. I can shave a few minutes off that if you want, but anything faster will attract attention.”

Better to go in quiet. “Nope, that’s good.” I turn my head to look at Kez. “Enough time for a nap, kitten. ”

She gives me a tired smile. I tap my left shoulder with my strapped hand; she shuffles over in her seat until she can rest her head there. I slide my arm around her and settle her against my side.

With my kitten safe, I look at Acker. No expression shows on his furry face, but I can feel the universe of hurt behind that blank facade. I shrug my free shoulder. “Got a spare if you wanna get your head down.”

Acker snorts. “No, thanks.”

“C’mon, have a cuddle. No one’ll think any less of you.”

Acker leans in and sniffs at me. “I couldn’t possibly sleep sitting next to you. You stink. Where have you been, a sewer?”

I chuckle. “That’s man-stink.”

“That’s stink-stink,” Acker rejoins.

On my left side, Kez chuckles sleepily.

“Why don’t you stink?” I ask him. He crawled through the same sewer I did.

“I bathe.”

“I bathed. In your stinky shower. Fuck, your guest services need an upgrade. That’s the first thing on your to-do list when you get back.”

Acker blows out a breath through his nose, ruffling his whiskers. “Sadly, that is very far down my to-do list.”

I bump him with my elbow, since I was trying to lighten his mood and he’s turning it around on me. “She’s gonna be okay. So’re you.”

Acker tips his head back against the padding. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right, my friend?”

“Long as we kill it first,” I say. Let it sink in for a moment before I add, “May not feel like it right now, but you did the right thing.”

“It does not feel like it right now,” Acker says, closing his eyes.

“It will.” Feels like pretty cold comfort as I say it. But keeping Kez safe warms even the iciest reaches of my heart. I hope Acker feels the same way about protecting the woman he calls his Queen .

I close my eyes and try to nap, but the throbbing of my hand prevents me from dropping off. When I give up and open my eyes, I find Payton sitting across from me, next to Exeter, working on a palmtop.

Quietly, so I don’t wake Kez, who is snoring softly against my shoulder, I say to Payton. “How are you on desal ops?”

Payton raises her head. “I assisted Father in running the Blue Water plant for three years before its closure.”

“How’d you feel about takin’ over ops in Jielt?”

She shrugs a silk-covered shoulder. “I anticipate that B would resent my presence a great deal. He’s run the plant since its inception.”

“One way or another, I don’t think B’s gonna be running anythin’ after today.”

Payton controls her expression, but her neatly arched eyebrows lift a few centimeters. “May I ask why?”

“Cause I don’t like his politics.”

“What politics?” Payton looks genuinely puzzled.

“His anti-Mod politics.”

“Ah,” Payton says. “I don’t believe that’s politics. It is purely personal prejudice.”

“He was happy to play nice at the Gold Ball-Ball. Shook my hand and everythin’.” Fucking hypocrite.

Payton glances at Acker, who has his eyes closed and looks asleep, although it’s hard to tell. Her warm chocolate eyes return to mine. “Your modifications are subtle and... inoffensive.”

“He got somethin’ against rats?”

“ Beasting , he calls heavy modification. He despises anyone who modifies themselves to be anything ... other than human.”

“Any modification’s something other than human, arguably,” Kez says. She snuffles and rubs her cheek against my shoulder.

“Thought you were nappin’,” I say.

“I was. Your man-stink woke me. Besides, this is more important. ”

“Yeah? How’s that?” Nothing’s more important in my book than Kez’s well-being.

“Someone’s willing to pay a hundred CeeBees to see me dead. That’s more important than sleep.”

Fair enough.

Next to Payton, Exeter-the-Merc shifts on his uncomfortable-looking seat. “No one told us about a contract on Miz Kerryon,” he says.

I shrug.

Over the edge of his blue shades, Exeter’s thick brows draw together. “You know Mara Kawada wasn’t one of mine.”

I shrug again. I know what I heard, and I know how loyal Mike’s been, but I also know what I saw, and that was a merc with a bio-weapon thirty feet from Chiara’s office.

“Nothin’ against you and yours but keepin’ Kez safe is my job.

No one needs to know shit about where she is, what she’s doin’, or who’s gunnin’ for her except me. ”

“If that’s the way you want it.” Exeter watches me for a moment through his blue shades, then tips his head. “I’ve been doing security for ten standard, you know. I might have something to offer.”

Good man. He could have gotten pissy and territorial, but he didn’t. I like him better all the time. As long as he doesn’t go kissing any more of Kez’s body parts.

“Hundred thou is a lot of credits for anyone,” I say.

“Agreed.” Exeter rubs his thumb and forefinger over his chin, ruffling his beard. “That should narrow the field.”

“Jielt has a budget you could lose hundred thou in. And B’s got a thing against Mods.”

Exeter turns his head a little. I can’t see his eyes behind his blue shades, but I’d guess he’s looking Kez up and down. That better be no more than professional interest.

“Miz Kerryon doesn’t look modified to me,” he says.

Kez shrugs and settles more snugly against my side.

“Kez is with me and I’m a Mod. There are some other things that fit. Don’t know how much Payton told you, but we got a clear connection between B and the Ojos who have been killing Acker’s people on the Clouds. B’s been directin’ and fundin’ the attacks.”

“But not participating himself?” At my nod, Exeter says. “He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. That would fit with putting a tag on Miz Kerryon.”

“See why we’re payin’ him a visit?”

Exeter looks thoughtful, his brows beetling over the edge of his shades.

“What do you hope to find? Civil Patrol won’t do anything about attacks on extreme Mods.

You know that. And you’ll need very convincing evidence to connect B to the attempts on Miz Kerryon’s life .

.. unless you intend to handle the matter yourself. ”

“I do.” I tip my chin at the black-on-black corporate logo on his chest. “Don’t worry. I’m not askin’ you to play assassin.”

Exeter shrugs. “My contract is to get you safely from the Clouds to Jielt and back. I’m authorized to use deadly force against anything that threatens your safety.”

Payton gives a satisfied little grunt. I nod my approval at her.

“I’m feelin’ threatened already,” I tell him.

“Me, too,” Kez says.

“Then I’ll bring my really big gun.” Exeter pats a currently-empty holster on his thigh.

“You got clearance for that?” I ask. Although Tyng Tower has an armory, Tyng’s security people don’t have clearance to carry projectile weapons, and I’d have thought Tyng had more pull than an indie security firm.

Exeter smiles. “Trade secret.”

Cagey bastard. “Fuck, you want a full-time job?”

“I have one.” His smile broadens to a grin. “But I like long-term contracts.”

Kez elbows me. “Stop flirting. Whether or not Exeter’s got his big gun, B is going to be pretty tense when we descend on him. I can’t see him admitting to anything. ”

“As far as B knows, we’re just there to deal with the emergency he didn’t deal with last night,” I say.

Across from us, Payton nods. “I’ve already plexed the plant this morning to say that we’re sending an Xec response team from the Clouds.”

“Good thinking.” Kez gives Payton a weary smile of approval.

“What’d emergency you come up with, anyway?” I ask Kez.

“Radioactive fungus bloom in the desal tanks,” she responds.

“Smart girl.” We’ve both studied this problem.

It’s one of the more uncommon issues with desalinization.

But when it becomes a problem, it’s a major problem.

The fungus contaminates the entire desalinization process and is extremely hard to kill.

In Hemos, a few years back, a bloom resulted in the replacement of the entire plant.

The cost was over a billion credits. A real bloom would fuck B’s operating budget all to hell, and there’s no way for him to know it’s a false alarm, since the sensors are all routed through Mother Jo.

“I have my moments,” Kez says.

I give her a squeeze. Yes, she does.