Authors: Ross Harrison
‘So?’ she said.
‘I thought you’d
drowned in the sewer.’
I walked to the
door and unlocked it. She could keep the coat. No amount of washing would get
that smell out.
‘You spoke to
Jarvis. Did you get him to tell you everything?’
‘Yeah, I know
everything now. And so do the cops. It’s up to them.’
I stepped inside.
Stood blocking the way.
‘The cops? Webster
owns them all. You know how many cops I saw there? At least half a dozen a
week. Picking out what girl they wanted for the day before they got sold off.’
‘You were there? At
his mining operation?’ I’d guessed that earlier, but she hadn’t mentioned it.
She just looked at
me.
I sighed. ‘Fine.’
Pushed the door open and headed for the kitchen. ‘Leave the coat outside. This
place stinks enough already.’
I tried not to look
at the mess. I’d actually forgotten I was coming home to that. The door closed
behind me. I didn’t expect a gasp when she saw the sight in the apartment and I
didn’t hear one. Two mugs still sat beside the sink. I filled them with coffee
and passed one to the girl.
As I leaned back
against the side, tiredness crept into my eyes. I yawned. I’d been tired all
day but that was the first time I’d yawned.
‘Do you have
anything I can put on?’ she asked.
I wasn’t sure what
to say. When I gave her the coffee, I didn’t even look at her. Now that I did,
a whole mix of emotions vied for dominance inside me. She wore underwear and a
vest. Nothing more. Every inch of the material that I could see was both soaked
through and grey with dirt. Ripped too. Here and there, dotted with blood. Her
own.
She didn’t seem
overly shy that the wet, thin clothing was completely see-through. Nervier than
she had been with my coat on, but that was something else. She didn’t care that
I could see her body, just didn’t trust what I might do.
I only noticed now
that she’d lost both shoes. They’d probably both been too big for her and came
off in the sewer. At least her feet matched.
Her legs were
thinner than legs should be. And covered in scratches. In fact, all of her was
thinner than it should be and covered in scratches. Her limbs were ropey
though. She was fairly strong. But she hadn’t been eating well and that
strength was nearly gone.
Anger was beginning
to elbow its way to the top of my chest. The only thing competing with it now
was pity.
‘You escaped his
operation,’ I said quietly. I tried not to let the pity fill my voice.
Something told me she wouldn’t like that.
Her hazel eyes got
harder. She sipped the coffee. She was shivering. I didn’t want to let her
leave the kitchen yet though. Not until she’d answered my questions. She was
holding the gun I’d reloaded for her. I didn’t want to push her too much.
‘Doesn’t matter
how,’ she said, anticipating my next one. I guessed it didn’t.
‘How long were you
there?’
‘About a year. Some
of us last that long if we’re just the right size and strength. They use us for
mining too. The ones that are strong enough for it are usually the ones who
fight back, so they get extra miners and we get too tired out and weak to fight
back. Then they put us in a few beds. Then sell us off-world.’
I didn’t want to
ask at what stage she’d been in that process. She looked too weak to mine. Too thin.
There was one
question burning in me. Part of me didn’t want to ask it. Just wanted to wrap
my arms round her. As though my arms would make her forget everything she’d
been through. I had to ask.
‘Why did you cut up
Leonne?’
Her eyes snapped up
and locked on mine.
‘One of the
off-world enforcers gave me a recording,’ I said. ‘They were watching the girl.
Watching my apartment.’
She didn’t say
anything for a while. Took a few more sips of the coffee.
‘I didn’t just cut
her open for fun.’ She pronounced every word carefully and with an edge, as
though I’d accused her of doing so.
‘She had a data
chip inside her. I know.’
Her eyes widened a
little. ‘How do you know?’
‘Jarvis told me.’
‘I told him not to
tell anyone,’ she said after a moment’s thought.
‘You told him?’
This was in danger of getting confusing. Why’d she sent me to him, then?
‘You hear things
from the cages.’ I’d come back to that later. ‘I heard about some girl being
used to pass on important information. It was so sensitive that they’d hidden it
inside her so it wouldn’t be found. I knew that would do more to take Webster
down than my testimony.’
She drained the
last of her coffee. Her eyes were distant now and I knew she was back in
whatever cage they’d had her in, listening to the guards gossiping about the
outside world. I wasn’t surprised that no tears rolled down her cheeks. She’d
been there a year. The tears would have run out a long time ago.
‘No one knew
exactly who she was but it was a big joke that it was Webster’s bastard daughter.
Before I turned his skull to paste with a rock, I made one of the fucks
guarding us tell me who the mother was. Then I tracked down her husband. He
told me what he knew and I told him what I knew. I had to threaten to shoot him
a few times though. It was like me standing there made what Webster was doing
to his daughter more real or something. But she had it easy. He didn’t like me
saying that. Hit me with his stick. So I hit him back.’
She was tough. Or,
rather, desperate. Maybe both. She’d killed one of Webster’s goons to escape. Made
him talk first. Taken his gun. Tracked down Jarvis and made him talk. Then she’d
tracked down the girl at my apartment and cut the data chip out of her. She
hadn’t killed her though. Then, lastly, she’d escaped from the police precinct,
stealing back the gun in the process, killed one of Webster’s men and escaped
an ambush by a load more. I was sure there’d be more in between.
‘How did Van come
to have the data chip?’ I asked.
Her eyes widened
again. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Her face started to
squeeze up into some expression of fear.
‘What happened to
him? What happened to the chip?’ It must have been something in the way I said
it. She knew something was wrong.
‘Van’s dead.’ She
collapsed heavily in the kitchen chair. I thought she was going to start
hyperventilating. She put the gun on the table beside her so she could bury her
head in her hands. ‘The off-worlders killed him. But the chip is safe.’
She looked at me. The
roughness with which she’d sat had tussled her dark red hair. It framed her
face and a few strands hung over her eyes. She was beautiful. That had probably
been bad for her in Webster’s operation. Something in her eyes made me think
about Lucy again. She didn’t look anything like her, but she had the same
piercing stare. Only there was a lot more damage behind these eyes.
‘A UPSF agent is in
Harem investigating Webster,’ I explained. ‘Van made sure the off-worlders
didn’t get the chip. Made sure I’d get it if something happened to him. The
data will already be in UPSF headquarters on Orion by now. They’ll decrypt it.
They’ll issue an arrest warrant. They’ll come in force. Storm Webster’s castle
and raze it to the ground. Webster will pay. One way or another.’
The girl’s
breathing evened out. She only looked a little relieved. I could understand.
When I’d stopped her outside Leonne’s apartment, she’d told me she’d been there
looking for proof. She’d wanted more to put on top of the data chip. As much as
she could put together to be certain Webster wouldn’t get away with everything
he’d done. But she hadn’t found anything else, because he was too careful. That
data chip was the only thing she had and it was in someone else’s hands now.
‘Why did Van have
it?’ I asked again.
‘Some of the girls
were taken from his club. They all said how good he was to them. And how hard
he’d tried to stop Webster taking them. The girls stopped coming from his club
and we guessed he’d managed to keep them safe from him. They told me about him
and what he did and how he knew all the right people. And how he hated Webster
and wanted him gone. I took the data chip to him to keep safe while I looked
for anything else. He’d have been able to get it seen by the right people
better than me. It was a huge risk, but I could see the hate in his eyes when I
spoke to him about the trafficking.’
‘He was a good man.
He did make sure it got to the right people.’
She nodded. Didn’t
seem to be much feeling behind it though.
‘Webster won’t be
punished,’ she said. ‘He’ll just have to operate out of Anshan instead. He’ll
buy all the guards, if he doesn’t already own them. Buy protection from the
other inmates. He’ll be sat in a nice comfortable cell while all the girls
whose lives he’s destroyed will go on being punished even after they’re out of
their cages. I can’t close my eyes without seeing things…’
‘Webster won’t be
able to operate. The off-worlders are taking over the city. They want him dead.’
‘Who are the
off-worlders?’ She’d probably already guessed.
‘Enforcers for his
partners. Or at least some of them.’
‘Then they’ll take
over Webster’s operation and nothing will change. Or the UPSF will take them
down too with the data on that chip and Webster
will
carry on from Anshan.’
She was right. I
guessed I hadn’t thought about it beyond hoping that the off-worlders would
take down Webster for me.
‘Well there’s
nothing we can do that we haven’t already.’
‘We can go there
ourselves. Get the girls out. Destroy the mining operation. The real mining
operation.’
I wasn’t sure how
to react to that ridiculous idea. So I just asked a simpler question.
‘What is Webster
mining?’
‘They found
something in the mountain. In towards its core. Pockets in the rock, filled
with blue dust. It glows. It’s never been seen before. It’ll make Webster, or anyone
who controls the mine, a fortune.’
I could see why
Webster’s focus had changed direction. Assuming this blue dust wasn’t
radioactive or something, it could probably be compacted into jewels. A brand
new kind of jewel that nobody anywhere had yet: every rich person in the galaxy
would want them. It would be hundreds of times more lucrative than trafficking
girls.
‘That new drug,’ I
realised. Forget jewellery. ‘The glowing blue one.’
‘Yes. He’s found a
few uses for it, but that’s probably the most lucrative.’
That drug had only
recently appeared in Harem. It was nasty, but it was already popular. It would
have spread halfway across the galaxy now. The money would be pouring in.
‘So I’ll hire you
to take me there and help me,’ the girl continued. Her confidence in that
statement was laced with a desperate hope. ‘As much blue dust as you can carry
in return for—’
‘The place will be
crawling with Webster’s guys. The off-worlders aren’t here for a tea party.
They’re here for war. The operation’s security will have been reinforced. The
off-worlders themselves could attack at any minute. The UPSF may already be on
their way—’
‘And what will
happen to the girls? What happens in war? Collateral damage. Only these aren’t
real soldiers. They’re hired guns. They won’t care if their bullets hit a few
caged women. Two of us could sneak in—’
‘And then sneak out
with a truckload of slaves?’
Her nostrils
flared. Just like Lucy’s used to.
‘I told them I’d
come back for them,’ she said. The edge was back in her voice. ‘Every minute
they’re in there, they’re suffering. If these off-worlders are here to take
over, then Webster will be trying to unload them on buyers as quickly as
possible. By the time the UPSF gets there, they could be long gone.’
She could be right
about that. I suspected he’d be more interested in getting as much of that blue
dust as he could somewhere safe. But he was a businessman. He wouldn’t neglect
his other source of income. He might even think that by finding buyers for all
the remaining girls, he’d get back in the good books of his partners. I thought
it had gone too far for that now, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.
‘I don’t think you
get what we go through there,’ the girl went on. ‘There’s no such word as no in
the camp. They have to remind us now and then. A few weeks ago, one of the new
girls said no. They made an example of her. They took us all out of our cages.
Gathered us around. They beat her. Then raped her. Three times. Violently. Girls
were crying and throwing up. No one could do anything.’
Rage kicked the
pity and the low-grade anger out of the way and filled my body. I dropped my
mug in the sink before I broke it in my hand. But she hadn’t finished.
‘When she thought
it was over, she tried to crawl back to her cage. They picked her up by her
hair. Then shot her in the back of the head. Her face exploded all over us. No
one said no again. Until the next one who doesn’t understand.’
I tried to unclench
my jaw, but couldn’t. I felt sick just hearing it.
She wasn’t
shivering now. She was flushed. Anger, I guessed. Her vest and underwear were
still soaked through though. Still see-through. I stepped over and took her
hand. She tensed. I picked up the gun from the table and put it into her other
hand. Wanted her to know she was safe. She relaxed a bit, but she was gripping
the gun tightly. The rage subsided enough to let go of my jaw.
‘The shower’s this
way,’ I said. ‘Get clean and warm.’
‘Where are you
going?’ She was good at hearing the unspoken.
‘Back to club WET.
Webster’s not going to hurt anyone again.’
FOURTEEN
| THE TRUTH
Club WET was still and quiet when
the cab pulled up. No police. They probably had orders from Webster – or by
now, maybe the off-worlders – to stay away from all of his places. I climbed out.
The driver would wait.