Chapter 26 #2
When they were finally settled and Jin finished arranging his clothes so no one looking at him would be able to easily spot them, he looked up to find Dylan watching him. His smile faded. “Something wrong?”
“You told your friend your control extended only to a few at a time.”
“I didn’t lie.”
He only did that when absolutely necessary. The first time had been because Kira’s psyche had been too fragile to handle the full extent of the truth. The second was due to the very real fear that she’d go on a self-destructive spiral.
He hadn’t done it since. Nor would he unless things turned dire and he felt it was the only way to protect everyone.
“That was hours ago,” Dylan pointed out.
“A lot can happen in a few hours.”
Look at Kira—the daft woman had managed to get herself attacked, leaving her current status unknown. Their silly siblings were in a similar boat. Jin was pretty sure their last communication ended because someone had set off a comms disrupter as a precursor to an attack.
Things were officially fucked.
As usual it was Jin’s job to un-fuck them or die trying.
With that thought in mind, Jin considered Dylan with a critical eye. The oshota had officially become an impediment to his plans.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Dylan asked.
He demonstrated the depth of his perceptive capabilities as his expression grew increasingly wary the longer Jin stared.
“I like you, Dylan.”
Or more accurately, Jin didn’t find him as annoying as he did most biologicals.
The caution on Dylan’s face grew. “Roake’s heir said something similar.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” He and Kira had similar tastes. “Please try not to take this too personally.”
Jin sent a mental command to the spawn currently clinging to the back of Dylan’s cloak. The scorpion stabbed its stinger through the fabric, latching onto the plates of the synth armor protecting the oshota’s body.
Normally, the material of the synth armor wouldn’t have been affected by something as small as a scorpion’s stinger. Let alone the electrical charge attached to said stinger. The properties of synth armor made it impervious to such petty tricks.
But this was Jin. A Jin who’d spent the last few hours modifying a weapon for exactly this purpose.
Dylan’s eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Jin winced slightly at the thunk of his head against the floor. “I promise—you’ll thank me later.”
Well—maybe not immediately.
More likely, Dylan would wake angry and full of betrayal. Eventually, though, he’d come around to Jin’s way of thinking.
Or he wouldn’t and he’d ask Torvald for a transfer.
Several of Jin’s spawn lifted Dylan, ferrying him over to one of the smuggler’s caches that were hidden all over the hotel.
“Stay and protect him. Kill anyone who gets close. Except Kira. Don’t kill her.” Jin paused. “Or Raider. Maybe not Finn either.”
Kira would be sad if anything happened to her oshota.
“Everyone else is fair game.”
No one else was likely to go looking for Dylan. Anyone not on the list he’d given the scorpion held a high likelihood of being an enemy or traitor. Maybe both. Either way, they weren’t likely to be someone Jin cared that much about.
“Now is there anyone else in this hotel I need to protect?” Jin asked his spawn.
He didn’t think so.
Raider and Finn still weren’t back, and Kira had sent Maksym on an errand before she left. The only one remaining besides Jin and Dylan was Caius’s underling.
What was that person’s name again?
Jin couldn’t quite remember. They had so little presence.
Ah, well, it didn’t really matter.
For his ruse to work, the mice needed to find some cheese. Otherwise, they might go in search of it. Angry, greedy mice might jeopardize both Jin’s safety and Dylan’s new hiding spot.
“Don’t forget to relay my message to Kira when she finally checks in,” Jin said, opening his door.
She’d worry otherwise.
Whistling, Jin sauntered out of the room and into the hallway.
“Oh, pirates, where are you?”
Kira
Lothos’s arm went rigid under Kira’s hand. “Where did you hear that?”
It worked. Holy shit. She couldn’t believe it.
Thank you, Fyr.
“Guess,” Kira spat.
Unable to sustain her awkward position anymore, her arms gave out. Kira slipped backwards until she was dangling over the edge, only the grip of her hands keeping her from falling.
She glanced down at the abyss below her feet and the tangled mess of metal that used to once be shipping containers.
If she fell down there, it was going to be a very bad day.
“General—have you accomplished what you promised? Is Roake’s heir dead?” someone called from behind Lothos.
Kira glanced up, trying to spot the person but unable to from this angle.
From the Tuann they’d spoken and the fact their voices weren’t ones Kira recognized, she assumed they were one of the rebels Graydon was tracking.
A human would have used standard. Tsavitee if they were attempting to win favor.
Kira met Lothos’s yellow eyes, waiting to see what he would do.
Right now, this was the most vulnerable she had ever been. This might be his best and only chance to kill her.
What’s it to be, Lothos?
Would he end this dance of theirs? Or would he give her a reprieve?
Even up to the last moment, Kira didn’t know which he would choose.
It wasn’t until Lothos straightened to his full height and turned to address his companion that Kira silently released the breath she was holding.
“She fell,” Lothos said in a bored tone.
“She’s dead then. Untrained, she’s little better than a human. There’s no way she would have survived.”
Lothos didn’t correct him and soon there were sounds of them moving away.
Kira waited until she couldn’t hear anything before starting her climb up.
She slipped, nearly falling a couple of times before she got one leg hooked over the edge.
After much squirming, grunting and a few curses against Lothos’s family line thrown in for good measure, Kira finally rolled onto the floor of the shipping yard and lay there catching her breath.
The sound of crunching intruded.
Confused, Kira looked around until she spotted the person squatting on top of one of the nearby shipping containers.
“Talon?” Kira lifted up onto her elbows. “What are you doing here?”
The oshota broke off another piece of galaxy lollypop with his teeth and chewed loudly. “Finn called. Asked me to keep an eye on you.”
Kira started to nod but stopped. “How long were you watching?”
“From about the time you fell over the railing.”
“I didn’t fall; I jumped,” Kira defended. “You didn’t at any point during the last few minutes think I could use a hand?”
“You looked like you had everything under control.”
Kira glanced around the wreckage of the shipping yard with a dumbfounded expression. This was what he thought “under control” looked like?
Talon finished his galaxy lollypop and rose, stepping off the container to land with a hard thump a second later. “I didn’t think anyone could be more of a reckless idiot than your father, but I was wrong. Congratulations, sword. Consider me officially impressed.”
“Gee, thanks,” Kira said dryly.
“Anytime.”
The sound of Graydon calling for her came from the next row.
“Over here!” she shouted.
Talon walked over to stand beside her as Graydon and his oshota came into view. “Just so I’m tracking, how much of what just happened are we planning to keep from the emperor’s Face?”
Kira shot him a quick, irritated look before focusing on Graydon. “You be quiet. I’ll handle it.”
“Understood, sword,” Talon murmured.
He stepped back, putting Kira at the forefront to give her the appearance of being in charge.
Kira aimed a tremulous smile at Graydon. “So…some fun things happened.”
Before she could explain further, Graydon swept her into a tight hug. There was a tremble in his hands that betrayed how worried he’d been.
After a moment of hesitation, Kira hugged him back and pressed her face into the side of his neck, inhaling deeply as she found comfort in his scent.
“You almost died,” Graydon whispered.
“Yeah.”
She had.
Graydon held her for one last moment before straightening to examine her features. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You are okay?”
Kira smiled at him. God, she loved him. “A little banged up with a few scratches but nothing serious.”
“This wasn’t an accident, was it?” Graydon asked.
“No.”
It was very much planned.
“Who?”
Kira glanced at Talon. “Tuann rebels.”
His gaze held a hint of mockery as it met hers.
“They were accompanied by a Tsavitee general,” Kira added, almost smiling at Talon’s surprise. Didn’t expect that, did you?
“I thought you had a deal with the generals,” Graydon said.
“We do. This was just a slight miscommunication. It shouldn’t be a problem from now on.”
Kira hoped.
Graydon kept his expression under control so as not to show his thoughts.
“Something is happening with Alexander,” Kira said, changing the subject.
“I’m aware.”
“You’re aware? How?”
“I’ve had one of my people watching from a distance. Don’t worry, coli. I have everything in hand.”
Kira’s forehead creased. “What does that mean?”
“Your brother is doing exactly as instructed and keeping the other Houses occupied.”
“So this meet—”
“Was never going to happen. The forty-three called it off before we arrived on Titan. Alexander is taking them on a tour of the station until the situation is resolved.”
Kira watched him with an increasingly impressed expression. “That’s brilliant.”
Alexander and Graydon preyed on what Asanth and Kashori desired most to buy the thing they and Kira needed most.
Time.
“I have my moments.”
Kira’s laugh surprised her. “That you do.”
Talon chose that moment to lean forward. “This is heartwarming. Truly. But you may want to wrap it up. Someone is bound to have noticed this commotion and will send people to investigate. Unless you want to be arrested and spend the next few hours being interrogated, we should go.”
“He’s right,” Kira said.
Jin would be worried by now. If he wasn’t already tearing the station apart looking for her, he would be soon.
Kira and the others got out right as dock workers started swarming the accident site.
Twice, they had to reroute to avoid security. Since their entry onto the docks hadn’t been authorized, there was no easy way to explain their presence in a restricted section of Titan. Kira didn’t want to get swept up in the inevitable witch hunt and finger pointing that would follow.
All the detours meant it took longer to leave than it had to enter, but eventually, they were back in the station and making their way toward the Red Rabbit.
They had just reached the lifts when the comm embedded behind Kira’s ear chimed.
“Hold on,” Kira told the rest.
Graydon and Talon stopped as Amila and Solal stationed themselves to the front and the rear of the group, their hands on their en-blades as they examined the people that passed.
“What is it?” Graydon asked.
“I don’t know,” Kira said. To her comms, “Play message.”
Kira’s expression darkened as she listened, prompting Graydon to move closer.
“Coli, what’s wrong?”
Rather than explain, Kira chose to let him listen for himself.
A second later, Jin’s voice transmitted through the air. “Hey Nixxy, by the time you get this, I will have been kidnapped by pirates.”
The strangled sound that came from Solal almost made Kira smile. Almost.
“Come save me as quick as you can. Pretty sure these are the same guys who took the wanderer’s children and maybe even Caius.”
Graydon muttered a curse in Tuann, the meaning of which Kira hadn’t learned yet.
“Just so you know, I left Dylan unconscious in the smuggler’s cache in my room. Be careful letting him out. He seems like the type to stab first and ask questions later.”
Talon laughed. “He’s right about that.”
“I’ve also left behind a spawn. You know what to do. Kisses and hugs, Jin.”
“Is he serious?” Amila asked with a disbelieving expression.
“As a heart attack,” Kira answered grimly.
“Are you two sure you’re not twins? Or at least brother and sister?” Talon joked. “Because you act exactly the same.”
“Not exactly,” Kira muttered.
She’d never have let herself be kidnapped. No matter how much tactical sense it made.
So much less hassle to slaughter the majority as an example to the few she left alive. If they still didn’t answer her questions out of misguided loyalty, she’d beat or torture the answers out of them.
This—this was madness.
Reckless, thoughtless madness.
“Call Baran. Find out what happened,” Graydon ordered Solal.
The oshota nodded.
Kira could have saved him the trouble. She knew exactly what had happened. Jin made a judgment call. Maybe not the one they would prefer, but one that must have made sense in the moment.
“Where are you going?” Graydon asked as Kira moved toward the lift.
“To free Dylan.”
Kira hoped the oshota didn’t get claustrophobic. Those caches weren’t meant for people. They were cramped and tight. The best ones were also hermetically sealed so as to fool random inspections.
Please let this not be one of those.
Kira could just imagine the uproar if Jin’s oshota suffocated.