Chapter 28
Fee decided to go in the back way.
It was a way in and out that no one other than she and Eazi knew about, mainly because they had built it.
Always looking for ways to keep her safe, Eazi had suggested he have his drones come in at night and engineer a secret back door, and Fee had used it a few times, once or twice just for fun, and a couple of times to avoid a diplomat on the war path or a merchant trying to get more concessions than he or she was due.
She went down the alley behind her office building.
As with all alleyways in Larga Ways, it was as narrow as it could get away with, given there was only so much real estate to be had on a floating space platform.
Still, lush, dark green plants that clearly thrived in shady conditions hung in waterfalls of frothy leaves and trailing vines down the side of the building, making it less dank and unpleasant, and more like a tropical gorge.
She slid behind one very dense curtain of vines to the side of the emergency exit, touched her hand to the palm plate, and then stepped into the tiny space Eazi had build next to the storage room.
A hidden lens outside usually transmitted a view of the passage beyond onto a screen on the wall, but with all comms down, it was completely blind.
Fee pressed her ear against the panel that pretended to be part of the passage wall, and then slid it aside and stepped out.
She was alone, to her relief, and she started up the back stairs.
The building was a shared one, with her offices taking up the first three floors, and then other businesses operating on the many floors above, but this part of the service staircase was not open to anyone other than her people.
Hopefully she would not encounter anyone on her staff, as she was sure her disguise would not hold for long with the people who knew her and saw her every day.
She jogged up to her office and when she stepped into the foyer she made sure to close the door silently behind her.
It felt overly dramatic to creep up on her own administrative assistant the way she was, but she wanted to watch him, just as Tean Lee’s officer had, without being observed, to get a sense of what was going on.
The fact that he hadn’t spoken to Tean Lee once since the comms had gone down was almost incomprehensible to her, and she would fire him if he didn’t have a good excuse.
She heard him speaking before she turned the corner to the open plan area that was his office, as well as a waiting area for her visitors. Her own office was beyond, with a view of the docking arms that always faced Balco.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Jaden said. “She can’t contact me, because you’ve shut down the comms, and I haven’t seen her since she arrived.”
“How she arrived at all is a question we should be asking ourselves,” a woman said. “No runners or ships have come or gone since the comms went down, although I saw the Grihan battleship just left. And that is disturbing, as well.”
“This is her way station,” Jaden said. “If anyone had a secret way on and off of it, it would be her, don’t you think?”
“Fine, she obviously has some tricks up her sleeve, but she and that Grihan captain she was with took down three of my team, and I need to work out where they’ve been taken, and I need to find out how to activate the thinking system.”
“You are sure you have Eazi?” Jaden asked, and Fee could hear the trepidation in his voice.
At least he hadn’t lost his mind completely, she thought.
Also, it was clear the woman he was talking to was the one who had taken Fee’s trophy replica from the warehouse. Which put Jaden Tris in far more trouble than he had been before, when she just thought he was shirking his duties.
She weighed her options. Confronting the woman would most likely not yield much, but Jaden Tris was another story. She could crack him, and she would.
“Your people will probably be in the cells at Security headquarters by now,” Jaden said. “And that’s probably where Fiona is, too. But she’s most likely going to come here soon enough.”
“She’s in disguise,” the woman said. “She’s trying to pass herself off as Grihan.”
“Well, there are apparently assassins after her. It’s most likely a security precaution,” Jaden said.
“Assassins?” The woman sounded surprised.
“That’s why she left the way station. Tean Lee wanted her away so he could hunt for them without worrying about her.
” Jaden’s tone was exasperated. “Not that she told me that. I had to hear it through a contact I have in the Security office. It seems to have been a false lead, though. Tean Lee hasn’t found anything. ”
The woman was silent for a long beat.
It sounded like this was very much news to her.
“I wish you’d mentioned this before,” the woman said. “It may explain a few things . . .”
Jaden cleared his throat. “I’ll let you know when she comes to the office, which I’m assuming will be quite soon. I’d suggest you leave before she stumbles across you.”
Too late for that.
Fee edged back to the service stairs, and quietly stepped backward into the stairwell, then wondered if this would be the way the woman would use to get out, as well.
As she hesitated, half in and half out of the door, an arm came around her throat and she cursed as she was hauled backward.
Something bit into her wrist, and her other arm was yanked back.
She had been restrained.
She tried to glance back at her bracelet, but her wrists were firmly tied behind her back.
In any event her bracelet was designed to deflect projectiles coming at her, not stop manhandling.
She’d already discovered that in the tunnels under the warehouse back on Balco when she’d been grabbed then, too.
That should have given her pause, she realized now, but she’d managed to get her silver rod out that time. She should have had it in her hand this time.
It was being in her own office building, she acknowledged. She felt comfortable here. In control.
It had been a big mistake.
“Who’re you?” The man wedged up against her, talking directly into her ear, was Balcoan.
“Part of the crew of the Illium,” she said. “We’re doing a search for comms hardware, to see if we can find out what’s causing the dead zone.”
She spoke fluent Balcoan, and she tried to make her voice rougher than usual, to make herself sound more Grihan. Maybe her disguise would save her.
“The Illium’s gone,” he said.
“It’s undocked, in case we’re called away. It’s still right next to the way station. There are runners waiting where we were berthed, so we can go back and forth.” She concentrated on sounding as Grihan as possible.
“Maybe.” He grunted. “I’m keeping you here while I go check something.” He hauled her wrists back and up, and Fee heard a click.
He’d secured her to the staircase handrail.
Then he slipped through the door she’d just come through.
Damn. She guessed she’d surprised him as much as he’s surprised her, but he’d had the advantage as she’d backed into him and he’d gotten the better of her.
She assumed he was with the woman talking to Jaden, but she couldn’t be sure. It was frustrating in the extreme to be so helpless.
She hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Not since she and Hal had escaped the secret Tecran facility out in the Balcoan desert.
The door suddenly opened, and the man stepped through. Then he opened the door a little wider, and the woman stared at her.
“Good call, Bart. That’s her.” The woman glanced over her shoulder, and Fee saw Jaden Tris, eyes wide, staring at her.
“Hello, Jaden,” she said. “You’re fired.”