Chapter 15
Fourteen
Unconsciously, Gus quickened her steps as Natalie’s came into view. For once, she made no effort to conceal her passage, striding boldly and confidently down the concourse in full view of anyone watching.
As she neared, the full extent of what had happened came into focus.
From the state of things, Gus guessed that those inside the restaurant had attempted to lock it down just before the attack started. They’d managed to lower the security gate and batten the doors from their side.
Not that it had done much good.
From the way the metal had been bent inward, Gus could tell someone had used breach charges to punch through the restaurant’s defenses.
Across the hallway were quarter sized dents from a projectile weapon.
Gus would be interested to know how Natalie’s owner had managed to smuggle one of those past security. They were considered contraband for a reason. Not least of which was the danger they presented to the wider population should unauthorized use cause a hull breach in the station.
Bracing, Gus stepped past the torn metal of the gate and into the restaurant. There, she found spent shell casings from sparklies and overturned tables.
No blood though. No Anandra either.
Sensing someone behind her, Gus lifted her head. “Your son betrayed me.”
No one else had known where Anandra was.
Just Kyle.
And his mom.
“Yes.”
Gus looked over her shoulder at the woman standing behind her. “He betrayed you too.”
She doubted he meant for it to go down that way. He probably thought they’d show up and he’d hand the boy over with minimal fuss. But that was the thing when you dealt with criminals, things never went the way you expected them to.
“Yes.” Kyle’s mom’s agreement was a low, weary exhale.
She was dressed differently than during their last encounter. No longer pretending to be the mild mannered restaurant owner. She was dressed like a killer. All in black and wearing a material a lot more expensive.
The look in her eyes was different too.
Harder.
Crueler.
Not the sort of person you’d expect to offer food to a hungry child.
Gus glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “I take it you’re not just a restaurant owner.”
Kyle’s mom gave Gus a close-mouthed smile. “No.”
Of course not.
The other woman tilted her head slightly. “Were you really expecting me to be?”
“Not really,” Gus said, fully facing her at last.
She considered what she knew about Kyle’s history and the rumors about his family, adding it to the information she’d collected regarding Titan’s power brokers and those of the surrounding areas.
“Cronus, I presume.”
Gus imagined Kyle’s mom chose the name because of their location. In Greek myth, Cronus was said to have been the youngest Titan and also their leader. He overthrew his father only to be overthrown by his own son in the end.
He was also said to have devoured his own children.
Until now, Gus had only heard rumors about the mysterious gang leader and de facto ruler of the slums. To have that individual standing before her, a polite smile on her face, was not the way she’d envisioned this sojourn going.
Cronus’s eyebrow ticked upwards in amusement. “It seems my reputation precedes me.”
“Something like that.”
Cronus considered Gus intently. “I know who you are too.”
Gus’s expression hardened as she met the other woman’s gaze. “Is that so?”
“I didn’t expect Titan’s administrator to be someone like you,” Cronus said with a thoughtful purse of her lips.
“I guess you really are Cronus.”
Only someone like Cronus would have been able to uncover that sort of information.
Amusement touched Cronus’s features. “Were you not sure?”
Gus lifted a careless shoulder. “It seemed a little convenient is all.”
Cronus’s smile widened. “My dear, it’s best not to go making accusations like that unless you’re certain.”
“Consider me forewarned for next time.”
Though Gus doubted something like this would ever happen again. Up until now, she’d lived a simple life. Far from the movers and shakers of the station. Her lieutenants were the ones who dealt with Cronus’s ilk and the like.
Gus looked forward to resuming the status quo as soon as possible.
“My son has landed me in quite the predicament,” Cronus observed.
“Yes, he has.”
Whether by design or sheer stupidity, Kyle’s actions had managed to pit the two most powerful people on Titan against each other. Not bad for a slacker of his caliber.
“What are we going to do about this?” Cronus asked.
“I can’t let this go.”
It would set a bad precedent if Titan’s administrator let a lieutenant’s betrayal pass unpunished. There had to be consequences.
“Even after everything he’s done, he’s still my son.”
“That’s unfortunate, but it will not change my mind.”
Kyle had to answer for what he’d done.
“You would start a war between the administrator and Cronus?” Cronus tested.
Just like that, the cutthroat who controlled the slums with an iron fist made an appearance. Gone was the mother pleading for her son’s life. Here stood the vicious dictator who probably had more blood on her hands than most soldiers.
“You forget just who you’re talking to,” Gus informed her.
Titan’s administrator held absolute power while on station. A fact that Cronus and those who served her seemed to forget.
“All it would take is locking down the station and turning off life support,” Gus continued. “There won’t be any war.”
Just death. And Gus.
Truthfully, she didn’t even need to go that far. A little poison in the water or food supply. Something that targeted humans while leaving plants unharmed. She could wipe out her enemies in one go.
For the first time, there was a flicker of uncertainty in Cronus’s features. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“I would,” Gus assured her.
Gus absolutely would. She had no desire to take things that far, but she would if they threatened her. Nothing was more important than her own life.
“You’re a monster.”
Gus’s smile was brief. “Yes.”
The irony of having someone like Cronus calling her a monster.
Mentally, Gus shrugged it off. She was what she was. Nothing would change that. Most days, she wouldn’t want to, anyway. She liked who she was. Hermit tendencies and all.
Deciding there was nothing further to accomplish with this conversation, Gus moved toward the damaged security gate only for Cronus’s subordinates to block her path.
Gus noted the weapons in their hands. The hostile glint in their gazes as they looked her up and down.
One of them smiled. Probably assumed she was easy pickings.
A woman alone. Against all of them.
Yeah, she could see how they thought that.
Internally, Gus sighed before raising her voice to address Cronus. “I suggest you call off your people. If you don’t want to lose them, that is.”
She’d been kind up to this point in not taking her anger out on this deck. If they pushed her much further, that would change.
“I can tell you where to find the boy,” Cronus announced abruptly.
Oh?
Interested, Gus looked back over her shoulder to find the other woman watching her with an assessing expression.
Sensing an opening, Cronus continued. “We can take you to him.”
“What makes you think I can’t find that information for myself?”
She was Titan’s administrator, after all. With an entire network of surveillance systems and spies—whether they knew it or not—at her disposal.
“I’m sure you could. But will you be in time?”
Gus regarded Cronus steadily before giving her a humorless smile. “It appears your reputation isn’t entirely lip service.”
Here she’d been worried that her informants had misled her regarding Cronus’s capability.
“You want a trade,” Gus stated.
“We’ll take you to their hideout. You leave my son to me.”
“He can’t go unpunished,” Gus warned.
That was something Gus couldn’t compromise on. It would set a bad precedent if people thought they could betray the administrator.
“Don’t you worry. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
Gus blinked at the vindictiveness in Cronus’s tone. For a moment, she wondered if death might be a far kinder outcome for Kyle than whatever his mom had planned for him.
“Then we have an understanding,” Gus agreed reluctantly.
If she thought about it, this was the best outcome possible that would also maintain the fragile peace of Titan.
“We do,” Cronus said, inclining her head.
Gus relaxed her shoulders, the tension that had invaded her frame draining away. Well—that was easier than she’d expected. She thought there’d be far more bloodshed before they reached an accord.
Cronus jerked her head at one of the humans by the exit. “Arthur will take you.”
Gus glanced in the direction Cronus indicated, spotting a freckle faced, blue eyed man standing off to the side.
“Thanks, but I prefer to go along,” Gus drawled as the man gave her a toothy smile and jaunty little wave.
This was already more social interaction than she’d had in—perhaps ever.
A rueful expression touched Cronus’s features. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”
Gus studied her, reading between the lines. “They’re not on Titan, are they?”
Figured.
After their last encounter, her siblings wouldn’t want to linger in Gus’s territory just in case she had something else up her sleeve. They’d want to stay in proximity though.
“They’re hiding in the Falling’s wreckage,” Gus concluded out loud.
Where else could you go that was within spitting distance but also guaranteed a certain level of anonymity?
Faint lines of amusement appeared at the corners of Cronus’s eyes. “You’ll need a guide.”
The Falling’s maze of wreckage was notoriously difficult to navigate. Salvagers spent their entire careers developing exploration routes and guarded that information with their lives. There was no way Gus would be able to locate her siblings’ hideout without help.
“Yes, I do. But not you.”
Or anyone associated with Cronus.