Chapter 18
Finnegan came in, the balding man wiping his hands on his overcoat as he stepped into Madam Chiksai's place.
"You didn't kill them," the madam said neutrally.
Finnegan chuckled. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't unhappy about that."
The madam looked up from her tea. "Don't pretend to understand what I do and do not wish."
"Of course. My apology." Though he was a disgusting little man, Finnegan was very good at his job. If the man weren’t human, she’d suspect he had a sixth sense.
The madam stared at him for a long moment. "Why didn't you kill them?"
He held his hands up. "Instincts. They're what separate man from animal. And my instincts were telling me that anyone I sent down onto that platform was going to die. A few deaths"—he raised an eyebrow—"no problem. A dozen, beginning to become a problem. Have to protect the business and all that."
"I know Violet is very competent with the saber, but she shouldn't be that hard for you to deal with. You brought heavy equipment to deal with the ship." The madam frowned.
Finnegan shrugged. "You called me here to do a job, did you not? Or would you prefer I do it poorly?" He squinted at her, and she waved a hand.
"Of course I don't expect you to do a job poorly. It's just… I need to understand why it was done the way it was. After all, my head is on the line," she answered.
"We wouldn't want anything to happen to your pretty head, now, would we?
Jokes aside, Madam Chiksai, something will need to be done about them.
Preferably before certain friends of ours become aware of Violet's presence.
After all, she's the apprentice of old Akari.
" Finnegan cackled, clearly already knowing Violet’s full identity.
"If you know enough to crack jokes, then please don't waste my time any more than you already have!" she snapped.
"Just curious, always curious," he said. "Like why our madam is hunting the disciple of her old friend. And what more you might know, particularly about this one." He turned a data tablet around to her, revealing a race she had never seen before.
"I have no idea who or what that is," the madam said, sniffing. "But Violet is the problem. Given who her master was, the Divine Council will send someone the second they learn she's on the planet."
"Still not sure what that has to do with me." Finnegan grinned.
"I'll triple your pay," Madam Chiksai said. "Just make it quick for her. You're right. She was like a daughter to my old friend, and I don't wish to see her suffer."
"See? Sharing information is helpful. People like to give me jobs, but it's important that I have all the information. Like, for example… have you notified the council?" His eyes narrowed sharply, and the madam waved her hand.
"I told Perez," she answered.
"Perez is not the council." Finnegan leaned forward.
"No, but technically he is who I'm supposed to go through for everything. And I'd like to follow the rules," she replied airily, waving a hand.
Finnegan sat down, making himself at home, and began to sip his tea in loud slurps. "So you're giving her a little time to escape."
"Your words, not mine. I would never dare go against the council in this or any other issue." She held her hands up.
Finnegan laughed, slurping the tea loudly enough that Madam Chiksai's ears curled against her skull. "Must you?"
"It's important to appreciate a good tea. Isn't that what you kikai are always saying?" He laughed again, continuing to slurp loudly.
"What if I had a different proposition for you?" Finnegan asked.
"I would remind you that it's in the best interest of all of us to clean this up quickly and quietly before one of the divines descends upon our world." The madam held her hands up, her sleeve slipping before she jerked and corrected it.
"Here’s the problem. The one I can't identify is a little too dangerous for my taste. I'll pass that news to Perez, he'll pass it up the channel, and bada-bing bada-boom, it's someone else's problem." He paused. "Of course, it could take days or weeks for that to come all the way back to us."
The madam scowled but didn't comment for a long moment. "As you said, you're the one I’ve hired for this. I'm just here to provide you the information. Whatever you think is best is what we'll do."
Finnegan set the cup down hard enough that Madam Chiksai winced.
"Well, good. Because I'm just going to raise this up the ladder and dust my hands of it before I lose too many men.
" He paused and pointed at the tablet again.
"Be careful of this one. I have it on good authority that she took down fourteen men inside a building with barely more than the sound of a scuffle.
All of them armed, and more than a few of them were tough enough to give me and my boys caution. "
"You couldn't deal with them?" The madam couldn't help the jab.
"In my line of business, sometimes it's best to only deal with a problem when you can deal with it completely and without harm to yourself. All of us here in Toussaint are wild animals. Even a minor injury can sap enough strength that we'd be targets for another predator." He waved his hand.
The madam rolled her eyes. "If you're done, Finnegan, please leave."
Chuckling, he stood up and whistled, putting his hands in his pockets and bouncing to a jaunty tune as he left, leaving the madam with cooling tea and a deepening feeling of guilt wrapping around her.
It wasn't her job to look after Violet, but she couldn't help feeling that she was betraying some measure of Akari's memory.
She pulled back her sleeve, looking at her arm and the massive burn that stretched across it. A reminder that she and everyone here were simply operating on the borrowed consent of the Divine Council.
***
"It's right around here," I said, looking around us.
Lily walked behind me, holding my hand tight, and for once, she wasn't taking the lead. She was being coy, following me. The move was far more demure than her typical approach.
I squinted, pausing to make sure everything was okay.
"Yes?" she asked, seeing my expression.
"Nothing, just… you're acting funny today."
She held my hand and begged me to continue with her eyes. I rolled mine and dragged her along, only for a group of tough-looking thugs in uniform to come past. Lily grabbed me by the hip and swung me into the alley until her back hit the wall and her lips found mine.
The security guards paused, laughing, then continued on their way, swinging their clubs and furthering whatever conversation they'd been having. I was, at present, having a little trouble focusing on their conversation.
"I saw that in one of Tiri's movies." She smiled.
"One of these days, I am going to vet which of her movies you get to watch." I stared at her.
"You could always watch them with me." Lily shrugged.
"Fair point." I drew out the word as I spotted the conveyor belts I'd seen last time I had visited the site. The corporate logos on them stood out like a sore thumb. I paused, still holding Lily's hand. "How close do we need to be?"
"The closer we are, the faster this goes." She paused and looked around. "There. Take me there." She pointed at a building whose purpose I couldn't determine, but if it was where she wanted to go, that’s where we would go.
I walked up to it. It was a co-mingled office space of some sort. The second I stepped in, a woman looked at us and shrugged. "Who are you here to see?"
I glanced at the sign for something I could use on the ground floor. "Dr. Chunie."
"Ah." She gave us a strange look. “Down the hall, on the right.”
I stared at Lily. We were going to have to make something up here. Lily shrugged and let me take the lead.
"So how long are you going to need?" I murmured.
"An hour, maybe two," she said.
I nodded, hoping doctor's office visits hadn't gotten any quicker than my previous life.
We walked up the stairs and down the hall to the doctor's office.
I figured Lily needed to be on the first floor for the best effect, especially if she was tunneling through the ground.
I opened the door and rather than a kikai, there was an android sitting at the desk.
I wondered if that would make what we needed to do easier or harder.
My eyes scanned the room, and I immediately determined it was going to make this harder.
A person would have some sort of organization with file folders with names.
The android probably kept all of that inside their own computing.
"Hello, I'm here for my ten-thirty with Dr. Chunie," I said, glancing at the name on the wall.
"Ah, you must be Samuel," the android replied.
I thanked whatever the kikai believed in for luck that this thing didn't have more protections in place.
"Yep, that's me. And this is Lily, my partner."
"Your partner." The android smiled. "Please sign these liability waivers, both of you." It handed them out, and I frowned.
"It is a joint session," the android added.
I turned to Lily, who was suddenly all smiles at the prospect of whatever this was being a joint session.
I cleared my throat. "Well then, I suppose let's continue.
" I ducked my head and began scribbling while also reading for any clue as to what I was getting myself into.
Sadly, there was no clear indication on the form of what kind of doctor we were seeing.
The form was all fairly general language.
The android paused, glancing at Lily and tilting its head. "Might I say you have beautiful eyes, Miss..." She left it open-ended.
Lily paused mid-scribble, glanced at the android, and then at me with wide, hopeful eyes.
Fuck, Lily didn’t have a name before I met her, much less a last name. I scrambled, and only one came to mind.
"Yes, Miss Valcrest's eyes are one of the reasons I find myself so attached to her." I pulled her hip to mine and squeezed her tightly for a second.