Chapter Twenty
“What the hell, Chaz?” I leapt to my feet, staring down at our Puran contact—the man Torz had worked with and trusted for years.
Feigning a smile, he slowly lowered his hands and propped himself up on his elbows. “Hey, Remi, my sweet.”
“Don’t, ‘Remi, my sweet,’ me!” I snarled, keeping my voice low. “What the fuck are you playing at?” Glancing in every direction, I was thankful the willow tree’s thick-leaved branches obscured us from prying eyes.
“I needed to talk to you. To Torz.” Chaz’s usual playful expression was dulled by a desperation emanating from him. His sandy-blond hair stuck to his forehead, the scruff on his jaw days old.
A gunshot rang out nearby, and we both flinched, suddenly aware of a shadow looming beyond the bowing branches. I snatched up my second gun and twisted in its direction. A scuffle of feet had me tightening my grip before Saul pushed through the leaves, his gun raised.
A yelp and a groan had us spinning to the opposite side, to where Torz appeared through the wall of green leaves, pressing his gun into the neck of a black-clad woman.
Clasping a fresh wound on her arm, the detainee was clearly the attacker I had shot.
But she no longer wore the helmet. Her eyes were wide, petrified, and she instantly locked them on Chaz, silently pleading for help.
The snarl on Torz’s face echoed his fury, but when he recognised the man lying on the mossy ground, a jab of betrayal rang through our bond.
“You need to explain!” he growled, prompting Chaz to swallow thickly before raising his hands again in surrender.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Torz, believe me.” Chaz scrambled to his feet, his palms still raised. “It was the only way I could get here. There’s been a flight lockdown on Pura in the past week.”
“I know. The lockdown is to stop terrorists from causing havoc,” Torz spat. “Your people are really not doing themselves any favours at the moment. I didn’t think you would be stupid enough to join them.”
“I haven’t! Just listen to me.” Chaz’s breaths were short and ragged—panicked, even. “I needed to talk to you. Radio signal is blocked, and the only way I could get here was to pretend to be one of those terrorists.”
I frowned. “You’re not making sense, Chaz.”
He rested his eyes on me, the pale blue pleading with me to understand.
“The attacks…they’re not Puran-driven. People like Lainie”—he nodded to the woman Torz held captive— “made a deal with some rich bastard to cause destructive distractions in specific places on targeted individuals. In return, the families of those who sign up will be spared from whatever shitstorm is about to come into effect following the Debate Gala.”
I didn’t recognise the petite, injured woman, but judging by the way she kept her eyes locked on Chaz, it was obvious she admired him, maybe even revered him.
I doubted she’d look at Russo with the same respect.
But it proved she was a standard Puran citizen.
A human living in desperation, wanting to fight for her family.
If I had been in her position, would I have taken the same deal to save those I loved? Probably.
“Distractions?” Torz asked, pulling my attention to his sceptical scowl.
“Yes. Cause a lot of noise but never kill.” Chaz’s eyebrows quirked. “Although, some people have gotten hurt, and a few Purans killed in retaliation.”
I froze, recalling the three Purans I’d murdered. At the time, I was certain they would’ve killed Marla, if not me. What was Chaz saying? That their words, their aggression, had all been feigned? Surely, they’d known they’d meet resistance.
Gods, had they intended to die?
“I still don’t follow, Chaz,” Torz snapped. “With the flight lockdown, how did you get here?”
“Look, some rich bastard comes to Pura every couple of days, recruiting a small group of people to cause these distractions. Apparently, it’s been happening for a month or so.
I was only made aware of it a few days ago by Lainie, here.
” The Puran woman was trembling under Torz’s hold, tears threatening to spill at any moment.
“Once signed up, the enlistees are herded into a spaceship under the ruse of being arrested. The ship leaves Puran airspace with no lockdown obstructions, then docks with another ship near Custopys. From there, the recruits are sent to their allotted attack locations.”
“So, you’ve been given an assignment...to attack someone? Who?”
“Some governor’s kid.” Chaz rubbed his face in frustration. “Look...it doesn’t matter. Lainie and I aren’t going to follow through. I only came to speak to you. Like I said, it was the only way I could get here without breaking the lockdown law and being arrested—bizarrely.”
“Let me get this straight.” Baffled, Torz shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “Purans are causing fake attacks to frighten certain individuals.”
“Yes.”
“But the attackers have been recruited to do it?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then…then who’s instigating the faux strikes? Who’s the bastard arranging the deal?”
Chaz jerked his shoulder. “They use an alias. Although, they didn’t cover their tracks well enough for the likes of me. I traced their ship’s logs back to Linxos.”
“Linxos?” I looked to Torz, meeting his troubled gaze with my puzzled one.
The bombing on the Argentum jumped to my mind—the day Zuli arrived on Delta Ring. It hadn’t killed anyone, and the investigation deemed the blast superficial. But regardless, it had startled us, putting us all on high alert.
Then Torz’s words from prior to that event hit me. The assassination attempts on Zuli and her team were buying her sympathy voters.
“Who was the victim of this morning’s attack?” I probed.
Torz blinked, shaking his head. “I believe it was Commander Oakka’s vessel.”
“Oakka?” The woman with the complicated family life, who had rejected her Damson when she was pregnant. “Was Zuli there?”
Torz paused, eyes widening. “Yes.”
I frowned. “Is it possible Zuli is behind this all?” Surely, it couldn’t be a coincidence the attack happened on Oakka’s ship with the governor present…
or had she planned the assault to frighten Oakka into submission?
Zuli clearly despised rejected Damsons…and thinking about it, had the assassination attempt on Marla been aimed at her or me?
“I wouldn’t put it past the bitch,” Saul mumbled.
Torz fell silent, his mind spiralling. He slowly lowered his gun, releasing the injured woman. She slumped to her knees, whimpering.
“That’s not all,” Chaz grumbled, crouching down to aid his comrade. “Russo has heard about what’s going on here, about Zuli’s plan to feed Purans to Quoram. He’s aware she’s winning at the polls, and that you are endorsing her—”
“I’m not endorsing her!” Torz retorted.
“That’s not the rumour floating about Pura. Russo’s pissed. He’s coming for you.”
Torz glanced at me, a surge of guilt hitting me through the bond. “He already has.”
“I don’t think he’s even started, Torz. He’ll pick you off one by one.
You, your team, the governors. Once the military is flustered with protecting the governing body, he’ll unleash hell, and believe me, he has the means to do so—I’ve seen his armoury.
I’ve seen the numbers he’s already recruited...
and more are joining by the day. My people are scared and desperate.
Russo is telling them what they want to hear.
I am losing my team to either him or that rich Linxos bastard.
I have no sway anymore, and the Puran governor never had any to start with.
Russo will become a volatile, unstoppable force. ”
“But the lockdown—”
“Torz, it doesn’t stop him. I don’t know how, but his ships are getting through.”
The fear fermenting in my stomach was not my own. Torz was crumbling, and I caught my breath, stifling the impact roaring across our bond.
Physically twirling in a circle of despair, Torz raked his hands through his already tousled hair. “Shit. Marla.”
What?
Jealousy seeped its cold liquid through my chest as Torz pushed through the bowing green branches with urgency—no doubt in search of Zuli’s minion who had ensnared my Damson. His protectiveness over Marla was beyond concerning. Could he not see he was in as much danger as she was, if not more?
I went to follow him, to make him see reason, but Saul stepped in front of me.
“Let me talk to him,” he said, giving me no time to object.
Stunned, watching my commander and colleague disappear over the grassy mound, I pushed down the rage bubbling within me. Everything was out of my control. Everything was confusing, disjointed, and wrong.
I glanced at Chaz tying a strip of fabric around the Puran woman’s arm. Even though I’d shot her, thankfully it appeared to be a surface wound. But blood oozed from the gash with no sign of stopping anytime soon.
Bending down, I offered the standard cauteriser the Orbital soldiers all carried. Chaz took it and applied it to the injury. The woman hissed as the smell of burnt flesh assaulted my nose.
“I’ll see what I can do about hiding you both.” I rose to my feet, pondering who was aboard Titus I could trust.
Chaz shook his head. “I appreciate it, Remi, but this is not a time for hiding. With both Zuli’s threats and Russo’s retaliation, I need to help my people. We can get home the way we came.”
My heart ached at his predicament. What could he do against the power of a government built on tyranny? Hiding behind Russo wasn’t advisable, and Chaz knew it. The gangster was as sardonic and callous as the Orbital Governors.
No, there had to be another way to make a stand. We didn’t need a rebellion. We needed a revolution.