Enrue groaned and scrambled to stand. The blanket fell away and he strode across the floor in the nude. His thick arms closed over her. “Who’s your appointment with?
Another of my allies?
There aren’t many of us left, thanks to you.”
“No.” She shook her head and flinched when he kissed her cheek.
“Another lover?”
A hint of jealousy burned in his gaze.
“My boss is on his way to find me. I’ve failed him. I’ll be punished.” She tried to step away, but he wouldn’t let her. Melia placed two fingers on his lips. “You need to be more careful. Never go anywhere alone. Carry a simple weapon on you at all times.”
“Protect me,” he said behind her fingers. “Stay with me.”
“You know I can’t. Enrue, we’re enemies. We will always be that.” She lowered her fingers across his chin, his neck and swept them from side to side along his chest. He still felt warm from the nest they’d slept in. “When you see me again, don’t come close.”
His lips pursed and one of his hands ran up and down her back, heating her. “It doesn’t have to be this way.
Side with me.
There must be others like you, more wards, more who want out. You could be an asset to the cause.”
“I never said I wanted out,” she blurted.
“Don’t you?” He lifted his face to regard her, his serious expression seeking the truth. “You like killing? It suits you? It makes you happy?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What makes you happy?”
His lips parted as his eyes slipped from her attentions to study the floor. “I—I,” he stammered. “I have no idea anymore.” Stepping away from her, he paced. “I hoped it would be my wife. That was a long time ago.” Fingers grasped his chin, pinching as he contemplated the simple question. “Then I hoped my daughter…”
“This war?
Does it make you happy?”
He shook his head. “Life is not so simple. You of all people, someone trained to kill, should know that fact. It’s not black and white, right and wrong.”
“I know well enough. It’s the one holding the most shens that matters, Shiemir. If you don’t realize that, you’re an idiot. Kyleena is holding the pile. They can fight your puny resistance as easily as a man smites an insect buzzing near his ear. You’re nothing to the Empire, a thorn, a small annoyance to be dealt with.” She began to back away. Leaving him now, in the midst of something that could only turn into an argument, didn’t please her.
“And you,” he countered. “What does the Empire think of you? Are you valuable? Do you matter? Do you make a difference?” He stepped to follow her, but she increased her pace. The handle came into her fingers, cold and unyielding lest she push.
“I do my job. That’s what matters.” She swallowed and turned her back on him. “Remember that and forget me.” Melia left him standing there naked. She marched down the alley and out into the bustling street. As she moved along, she bumped into a jogger and immediately took on the woman’s shape, camouflaging all but her traitorous golden eyes. She raced along, anxious to have the whole uncomfortable assignment behind her.
Chapter Thirty One
Third Assignment
Razi untied the young man with care. He was nothing more than a teen, his fingers trembling with fear, his dark eyes wide. “You’ll be fine now,” he told the boy. “The Habiri Church will care for you. No one here can hurt you anymore.”
His accent thick, the young man spoke, “But what about my sister?”
“What do you mean? Is she here?”
“She is home in Udenti.” The bindings came free. Rope fell to the concrete floor, useless now.
“They bought you?” He bent to unlace the bindings on the boy’s ankles. With that done, he offered him a blanket to cover himself. Most of the wards in this trade shop were nude and ill-treated, some starved. It made no sense to treat people in such ways.
“They said she would be cared for, that she could go to school in the north.” The boy rubbed his raw wrists, wincing at the pain. “Now, will they send her back to the jungle? She has no one there.”
“I don’t know,” he answered, helping the boy up. “We will find her for you and make sure she’s cared for too.”
Skeptical, the boy nodded and joined the line of newly made refugees. They gasped and spoke in low tones when they passed the office where the guards lay dead.
The first man he’d shot still weighed on Razi’s mind. He felt he still had the man’s blood spattered on his left cheek even though he knew he’d washed it off days before. When the nightmare of all he’d done drained him, he closed his eyes and thought of his wife, somewhere safe within the system of the Habiri Church. Lensi wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He sidestepped the crowd and sat behind the touchscreen, punching in keycodes until he found the documents they needed. Shipping orders, docs that revealed the trade routes, the pick-up contacts, names, dates, even the locations of other, lesser slaver businesses. He copied it to a datacard, ejected it and slipped the thin rectangle of plastic into his pocket.
Razi sat back in the worn vinyl chair and watched the line of people pass. Most looked bewildered. He supposed he had appeared that way when he first entered Hicklan’s ward system. The tracker in his arm itched and he scratched at it, remembering the day they injected the implant and the cryptic message that he could never leave, never run away or they’d find him. They told him he couldn’t remove the chip or it would explode and kill him. Then they’d sent him off to school.
The last ward stumbled up the steps toward the light of a new life. Razi stood, brushed himself off, and stepped over the dead bodies and pooling blood. This was the last place he had to go. He never wanted to do anything like this again.
He climbed the steps and let the warmth of the double suns soothe him. Numb and worn out from sleepless nights and the grueling job of being a decoy for slaver guards, only to kill them in the end, he seated himself in the church shuttle, eased back into the hard bench chair and stared through the plasma window. The city was filthy with litter tumbling down the gravel streets and graffiti covering what used to be a fine metal walk and glass sided building.
The shuttle’s engines hummed to life. It hovered and he closed his eyes, listening to the soft music playing on the radio. The driver was silent. The few wards they’d loaded into the shuttle were too scared to say anything.
They probably think we’re slavers.
The music ended and the local news started up. As always, he paid attention to the announcements, the stock reports, the crop tallies and even the weather in Taraf and Alga.
“The Emperor’s daughter has been reported missing,” the announcer stated. “An informant who wishes to remain anonymous states that this is the work of the infamous Doer Seven, said to be a terrorist group in the outer rim responsible for the hostile takeover of the city of Irnia.”
Razi tensed. This was a new twist the media was playing. He rubbed his aching forehead and blew out a sigh.
“The Empire has assigned a regiment to investigate this so-called terrorist group—” The news was suddenly interrupted by the driver changing the station.
Razi clenched his teeth, but decided he’d leave well enough alone. Sometimes it was best to be ignorant, or at least he’d felt that way once, not so long ago. He lay on his side, curling his long legs up onto the seat and tried to get some rest. They had a long flight back to Taraf and he’d just as soon sleep until they got there.
* * * *
Someone shook him awake. The shuttle had landed and the refugees were absent. “Something’s wrong,” the driver said, his voice low. “Come on.”
There was too much silence. Razi stumbled out of the shuttle and gaped at the tell-tale signs of a raid. The rear door of the church hung from one hinge.
Beyond the opening, lights flickered and crates lay in haphazard heaps, smashed open,
their
bubbled packaging spread across the floor. He hurried inside, his heart catching in his throat.
“Where’s Lensi!” he shouted at the gathering of Habiri nuns cleaning up the mess. They halted and shot him blank look after blank look. “Where’s Sister Lensi! Where’s my wife!”
One backed away, terrified by his outburst. Another, thin and pale, took a step forward. “The Empyreal Guard has come. We’ve been searched.” She gestured at the ruined crates. “They’ve taken our weapons.” She took another step toward him, her eyes imploring. “What will we do now? They know. They know what we’ve been hiding.”
She reached out and grasped his sleeve. He shrugged off her touch. “Where the hell is Oemir
Leuj!
I want to see him.
Now!”
The nun swallowed and widened her eyes. “He is…in hiding.”
“You take me to him right now. This is bullshit, all of it. I never should have agreed to come here.”
The nun scurried through the loading bay, stepping over the mess. She almost sprinted when she reached the hall. Razi had no choice but to seethe as he followed in her wake. He hoped he’d come across Lensi and Leuj with Sima seated nearby arguing over tea, but he knew better. If the Empire had come, they’d taken her. She was just what they needed to use against her father—or at least that’s what they thought. Even he knew enough to doubt the Shiemir would care one way or another if his daughter was used as a hostage. He thought she was dead. He’d have no reason to believe this new Sima they presented was not an imposter.
Past an overgrown garden reeking of ripe fruit, Razi entered a small shack where a lone figure sat on a wood chair, his face buried in his hands. The man’s shoulders heaved as he sobbed. Razi raised his hand high, curled his fingers into a fist and punched Leuj in the shoulder.
The sister shrieked.
Leuj tumbled to the floor and rolled on his side. “Bastard,” he spat. “That won’t bring her back. I…I don’t know how to get her back.” He rubbed his shoulder and glared from where he lay. “You stupid Unangi fool. All of this, the whole operation.” He bared his teeth at the nun and she hurried out, leaving the two men alone.
“This church was trying to do something good, to fix things that were wrong.” Razi raised his fist a second time. “How dare you—”
“I know the truth. I’ve known all along!” Leuj got to his feet and faced Razi. “Lensi was crazy. How can anyone stand up to Kyleena?”
“Where
is
Lensi?” Razi shot, hoping she’d have answers.
Leuj wiped his eyes.
“Dead.”
The single word halted Razi. He lowered his hand.
Dead?
She can’t be dead.
He didn’t want to believe Leuj. But then, the ass was in here all alone, crying like a lost child. “Where’s Sima? Where’s my wife?”
“They took her.” He stalked past Razi and out the door. “They took her and I don’t know how we can get her back.”
“We?”
He chased after the former leader. “I’m not doing anything with you.”
Leuj waved his hand in the air.
“Enough of this hiding.
I’m going back to Irnia, going back to claim my title and my palace. I should never have believed her.”
“You coward.”
Razi changed directions, determined to find a way.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Leuj shouted.
“Back to the wards?
Back to fuck anyone who pays for your services?”
His upper lip curled with disgust. “That’s right. I know what you
were,
what you are.” He raked his fingers through his mussed blond hair. “Lensi told me all about it. How you didn’t even want to leave. And you call
me
a coward.”
“Fuck off!” Razi stomped across the copper walk to the exit.
“You have nowhere to go.” The strange taunt lingered in the air for a time.