Chapter 9
NINE
That bitch took my mother.
Bria had appeared in my life at just the right moment.
We’d met by chance when I was struggling to find buyers for the artifacts I’d swiped from the surgery patients.
She’d noticed me first, her watchful bartender’s eyes never missing a thing.
She’d promised me she knew people who would buy what I scavenged, that she was just like me, saving for a better future.
I’d let her worm her way into my trust through my wallet.
And in the end, she’d stolen everything from me.
“I knew something was off last night,” I told Bernard. He agreed with a solemn nod.
And yet I’d let her take my mother. I’d let this happen, just for the chance to make some quick money. A fist of guilt squeezed my chest, shallowing my breath.
The outsider shouted at me from the canal side, pulling me from my thoughts. “Nina! What the hell are you doing up there? We need to go!”
“Who is that?” Bernard asked.
“Not important,” I replied, pulling him to his feet.
He was unsteady but gained his bearings well enough to follow me across the upper deck toward the second staircase.
The way to my original access point was now blocked, and I’d have to hope the outsider would find a way in at the other end of the pump house.
I realized I still didn’t know his name to call for him, but the thought disappeared when a whistle shrilled through the vacant building.
“Hell,” I cursed. There were more police on the way, likely drawn here by the flare. I looked below to find the copper who’d fired it floating face down in black filth. A nasty way to go. His friends would not be kind if they caught us. “Come on! Before they find us…”
“I can’t get to you, Nina. The way inside is blocked by debris now.”
Doors burst open—entry points I hadn’t even accounted for at the base of each stairwell. Police poured into the main building, crowding the landings as they surveyed the flooded floor.
“Go back up!” I snatched Bernard by the sleeve and pulled him back up the stairs to the upper deck. When we made it to the top, he stood in front of me, blocking my view of the way back down so that I couldn’t see the guards or their guns.
“Go, Nina. I’ll keep them busy,” he murmured, looking down at me with a decided expression. How many times had he looked at me like that? No questions. No arguments. He’d accept nothing less than my obedience.
“Bernard…”
“You’re going to do something great with your life, my girl. I know you, and I’ve seen your potential and your heart. I know your story cannot end here. Let me do this for you after stalling you for so long.”
“Come with me!” I tugged him toward an open window. I could faintly see the outsider’s boat below.
Bernard pulled me into a tight hug before shoving me away. I could hear the coppers climbing the metal stairs behind him. “I’m sorry it took me so long to let go. But you were my pride. Every surgeon needs a legacy, and you are mine.”
“Bernard!”
“Jump!” The word was a shout inside my head, and I winced, slamming my hands over my ears in reaction.
I looked to Bernard Broussard one last time, grateful to be given the chance to tell him what I should have the day he offered me a job.
“Thank you. For everything.”
His lips pinched in a tight smile filled with paternal pride.
I’d never seen Bernard emotional. He’d never shed a tear for a lost patient or from the loneliness of his occupation.
It was probably the closest either of us would ever come to saying a true goodbye.
A smile of unspoken, mutual love and respect.
I turned and made sure the outsider was still waiting below in the getaway boat. He stared up at me, waving an arm. The sun was just rising over the horizon with the dawn of a new day, casting shadows across the world.
“I’m right here, Nina. Just jump. I’ll catch you.”
The balcony began to tremble with the weight of the rushing guards, and with little other option, I took one long stride to the nearest window and leapt as far from the building as I could.
I felt like I was suspended for too long. The angled rays of the breaking dawn blinded me with their glare as I fell from the top of the pump house to the boat somewhere below. A true leap of faith.
My voice spilled out in a high shriek as I collided with something solid. The outsider had somehow caught me by the waist on his shoulder, knocking all the wind from my chest.
He tossed me into a seat and ran back to the engine. I was still gasping for air even as the gunshots disappeared behind us. Once I finally caught my breath, I realized we were back in the canals. He only slowed when we were alone once more, stopping beneath a bridge.
“Afraid of heights?” he asked with a brow arched.
“I can’t swim,” I admitted.
“You live in a city surrounded by water.”
“I live in a city with a lot of boats, Outsider.”
His lips twitched in the slightest grin, eyes dipping to trace my body down to my boots. “At least that explains your nightmare yesterday.”
I often dreamed of drowning. I hadn’t considered it to be a real fear until today. “We need to leave the city.”
“How will we go about doing that? They will be locking the gates to every port of entry in the city.”
“Port…” I echoed. An idea struck me, but if it didn’t work, I’d be backing myself into a corner. “I need you to drop me off at the South Docks.”
“Drop you—” He clenched his jaw and took a sharp breath, clearly holding back his temper. “What did the surgeon tell you about the buyer?”
“The buyer? I didn’t ask him about the buyer!”
His eyes glowed hot as embers. “I only went back for him, Nina, to find out who he was selling to. Now you’re telling me you still have no idea who the buyer is, and you didn’t even ask the old man when you had the chance?”
“I didn’t have much time,” I spat. “Something more important came up—”
He turned the motor back on and started driving.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“The Gatehouse. I’m giving you back.”
“Stop!” I hissed, trying to keep my voice from carrying to the streets above. He didn’t listen, ignoring me like I wasn’t there. I climbed over the seat separating us and dipped my hand into my pocket, drawing from the Forge die to scorch the handle of the motor.
“Shit!” He drew back abruptly, shaking his hand. “I’m getting sick of you, do you know that?”
The sentiment was mutual. “The buyer has my mother!”
He sucked his teeth, pausing to consider. “And I’m assuming you’re going to go after her now?”
I nodded, explaining the situation. There was nothing left for me in the Fissures.
No family, no job. The few friends I had probably thought I was involved in a plot to kill the Governor.
How quickly life had changed. All my hopes and plans now stood in the shadow of that staggering accusation.
An entire life erased or thrown into doubt, while my future narrowed to a single path.
But I was still here. I was still alive and free in the ways that truly mattered. I was different from the girl I had been a few days ago, but still as determined.
“You must have a lead, then,” he said, leaning forward to meet my gaze. “If this Bria took her to the canals, then she was likely heading for a port. She probably left the city.”
I licked my lips. The subtle movement caught his attention briefly before his eyes slowly returned to mine.
“If what he said is true, and Bria lured me into the body trade, it seems logical that she’d take the same route as our shipments.
Bernard never told me who our buyer was, but someone in this chain must know.
I just need to follow the bodies.” I nodded to the motor, now cooled enough to touch. “Now bring me to the South Docks.”
“I’ll bring us to port.”
“You cannot be serious—”
“Let’s be clear, Nina,” he murmured in the small space between our faces. “Whoever is buying bodies, whoever is running this massive operation and all its moving parts, they are very powerful. You need help, and I’m coming with you, whether you like it or not.”
Always helping me against my will. He might as well be still holding a knife to my spine. “Why do you care about helping me find this buyer?”
“It’s personal.” He sat back and tentatively took hold of the motor again.
I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. You wouldn’t have risked your life breaking me out of prison for no good reason. I didn’t even have your precious dice.”
He sighed impatiently. “This was all about the dice, at first. But when I saw the Governor being smuggled out of your surgery, I thought you might have something to do with his death—”
“I never—”
“Hush. I know you’re no killer.” His burning eyes looked out over the waters, making sure we were still alone. “You didn’t kill him, but someone connected to you did. They handed his body to your little chain of smugglers. I think your buyer killed the Governor.”
“Why do you care? What do you have to do with the Governor?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “I don’t give a damn about Therell. But the buyer? The kind of person who pays to move bodies like this? That’s the same kind of man I’ve been hunting for a long time. Find him, and I get the answers I’ve been owed for years.”
He was serious, then. He really did want to join me.
But was that what I wanted? Getting rid of him had been proving difficult anyway, and there might be perks for me in this partnership.
There was safety in numbers, and he was terrifying.
Most of all, he understood the desperation of my mission, and he had a personal motivation of his own.
For someone like him, I imagined it took more than curiosity to get involved.
“I might agree to your company if you let me use your dice to look for her.”
He sucked his teeth, gaze falling to my hips where I still kept one of the dice hostage. “Fine. You get one. But I will decide which, and when you will receive it.”