“This bitch hit me. She’s under arrest.”
I took a stumbling step away from the perv. Under arrest?
Wait. He was arresting me? Was he actually a SpaceTech officer?
“Oh my God? What have you done?” Mom asked as she came to stand between me and the perv. I couldn’t stop staring at the blood dripping down his face, plopping onto the checkered tiled floor.
“Have you gone loco?” Mom’s face was pale as she handed the officer a clean towel for his face. “Put pressure on your nose. It should help with the bleeding.”
Oh shit. The blood. There was so much of it. All over his face. All over his ruined clothes. It was too much blood.
Oh shit. It was all over my hands and face and dress.
Oh shit. What had I done?
I’d never get away with this. I’d just iced myself.
As Mom stood up, she whispered to me, “Run.”
She was right. I had to leave before the STPF arrived. The man was gesturing with his fingers, and I would bet my life that he was calling the police. Or calling backup if he was STPF.
I started to back away from them, but I hesitated.
“What about you?” I whispered.
Mom stepped forward, grabbed another towel from behind the counter, effectively blocking my view of the officer. “I’ll be fine as long as you’re fine. Run. Now. Before it’s too late.”
I pressed my forehead against hers for a second and then spun.
I ran through the kitchen, dodging the stupid bot. When I got to the back door, I didn’t stop. The sun blinded me, but I kept running. My feet hammered the pavement. People on the street stared at me, but I didn’t care. I moved as fast as I could without giving away what I was to everyone I passed.
I wove around buildings and traffic, not stopping until I was miles away. My breath came in gasps as I slowed to a stop. My legs were burning from the effort. I was still bone tired from last night, and I needed a second.
What do I do now? Where should I go? Where can I hide?
I collapsed on a transit stop’s bench. I needed to get off the street. There were cameras everywhere. The quicker I got off the grid the better. Using the city’s system was a no-go. Too much surveillance and too easy for SpaceTech to stop the bus or trail or pod and hold me until they got there. But I couldn’t hide if I was on foot either. Running was too slow. The cameras would easily track me, but I didn’t have transport.
Wait. I didn’t, but Roan did. He got a beat-up Tykson with a few hundred thousand miles last year. He didn’t use it much, but as far as I knew, it was still running. I quickly dialed him.
Roan’s semitranslucent image popped up in front of my face. “What’s up?”
“I need help.”
A little crease formed between his eyes. “Is that blood on your face?”
I swallowed, but I didn’t need to say anything else.
“Send me your location. I’ll be there in five.” His image cut off, but I glimpsed his helmet in his hand.
At least one thing was going right today.
Time seemed to move painfully slow as I waited for him. Two of my knuckles were split open and bleeding. I sucked on them to stop the sting. Perv’s face was harder than it looked.
I couldn’t stop my knees from bouncing together as I waited for Roan. I was so screwed. I’d broken some rich guy’s nose and dislocated his shoulder. This was so bad. I ran my hands over my face, smearing blood—
Oh God. That wasn’t just my blood I’d sucked off my knuckles.
I stumbled to the nearest alley and threw up.
Once I was done heaving my guts out, I moved behind a dumpster, I could still see the street to watch for Roan, but I was less visible.
I wiped my face on my uniform top as cars, pods, and hovercycles raced by, the whir of the wind mixed with the high-pitched hum of the machines. I watched, not really seeing cars, and tried to figure out what to do. But my mind came up with nothing. Any way I spun the scenarios, I came up with the same ending.
My life was over because of some groping asshole.
As I went over the scene again in my head, I could feel the heat of his hand against my butt. I gagged again but swallowed it down. I needed a shower. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. To be anyone else but me.
I let out a breath when the familiar silver Tykson stopped at the curb. Just the sight of my best friend made me feel like maybe I could get through this. Maybe I could figure something out.
The battery stuttered as he powered down. That wasn’t good. He was going to get stranded one day, and I hoped I was around to laugh at him when he did. But today his cycle needed to work.
“Let’s get you out of here.” His voice was muffled through the padded helmet.
“Thanks.” I stepped up to the cycle, and he handed me his passenger helmet. As soon as I had it on, all the surrounding sound was wiped out.
“What happened? How much trouble are you in?” Roan’s voice echoed through the helmet’s connected speakers. Not only could we talk to each other while riding, but we also didn’t have to worry about being overheard.
“Customer wanted to get friendly, and I broke his nose.” I didn’t want to tell Roan what’d happened. I hadn’t even processed it yet, but if he knew, he might be tempted to go back to the diner. He couldn’t do that. I was in enough trouble for both of us.
“You had to do that today? Of all days?”
I ground my teeth at his accusation. “It’s not like I was trying to get into a fight!”
“Are you okay?” His voice was a little calmer.
“No. Not even close to okay.” I wrapped my arms around Roan’s waist. “Get me away from here.”
He pressed the START button, and the battery powered up. My stomach dropped for a second as we jerked a foot off the ground and zoomed into the slow flow of late morning traffic.
The city rushed by for a few precious minutes until we hit a red light. The electronic billboards downtown had mostly burned out, but one at this intersection still shone. A soda ad, with brightly animated cartoons flickering over its screen. The accompanying jingle was more earworm than song, but I couldn’t help but watch. Which was exactly the point.
The music changed, and the image shifted to a recruiting ad for SpaceTech IAF. A familiar face came up, and my body went cold.
The light turned green, but I needed to see this. I needed to watch.
“Pull over.” I punched Roan’s shoulder. “Now. Now!”
“Okay. I heard you.”
I started to tumble off the cycle as it jerked to a stop, but Roan reached around to hold me steady.
“What’s going on?”
“Shh!” I pointed at the billboard hanging at least ten stories above us.
Perv’s face stared down at me. It was an old ad from ten years ago. I must’ve seen it a hundred times without really watching it, but before today, I didn’t really have a reason to pay attention to it. There was exactly zero chance that I was going to be recruited, and generally, I ignored anything SpaceTech. But now I was noticing. Now I was paying attention.
He looked about twenty pounds lighter, and they’d done something to his eyes, made them softer—less pervy—but that was him. “SpaceTech is working hard to build profitable planets throughout the universe.” His voice echoed among the scrapers. “But we need strong citizens if we want to reach our goal.”
The image switched to young men and women in navy-and-gray SpaceTech uniforms as they patrolled through neighborhoods on one of the colonies. The houses were all the same, with perfectly manicured lawns and spotless streets. The place might seem nice to some people, but to me it seemed totally sterile and utterly void of any personality.
“Creating a safe place for families free from Aunare is a big part of the mission.”
The screen flashed to Sergeant Pervo handing a ball to a little girl while her parents watched. “Five years on Tellus protecting families like these can earn you a slice of the good life on VegaFive.”
Perv’s face filled the screen again. “I’m Jason Murtagh, President of Security for SpaceTech, and I say join up. Make a difference. Earn your place among the stars.”
The billboard went black for a second before becoming an ad for a burger joint.
I suddenly felt cold. “Ice-coated shitballs. That was him. I just broke Jason Murtagh’s face. I decimated the guy next in line to own and run SpaceTech.”
“You didn’t.” Roan shook my shoulders. “Please tell me you didn’t beat up Jason Murtagh right before his brother was going to get you away from this fucking planet!”
The helmet suddenly felt as if it was two sizes too small. I ripped it off before the damned thing suffocated me. “I did. I smashed his face in and dislocated his shoulder. Maybe more. I don’t know. I ran. I just—I ran.”
Roan flipped up the visor on his helmet. “God, Maité. What the hell are we going to do?”
I was going to throw up again, but I had nothing left. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” My hand shook as I wiped off the cold sweat beading on my forehead.
“Not on purpose? How the fuck do you beat the shit out of someone by accident? This is serious. You could die. I could die! Fuck, Maité. What—”
“I know!” It was as if he’d parked his Tykson on my chest. My breath was shallow, and I couldn’t get enough air in as the panic slowly strangled me.
“He’s a Murtagh, Maité. A Murtagh!” Roan was pissed and with good reason.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. This was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.
“I don’t even know if Declan can help you now. Do you have a way to call him?”
“No.” Gray dots peppered my vision.
“He said he was keeping an eye on things. So he’ll fix this. Right?”
“I don’t know.” I wasn’t sure anyone could fix this. My hands shook so badly, it took me three tries to slide my helmet back on.
I’d known fear my whole life, but I’d never known fear like I felt in that second. Every part of me screamed to run as far and as fast as I could. But I had to think it through first. I couldn’t mess this up any worse than I already had.
“I need a plan. I’m going to have to figure out how to hide my trail and run.” Except I couldn’t figure out anything through my panic.
And then I remembered something. “Damn it. I had a go-bag in the diner. I had money. Laundered, clean money. I had tech. I had clean clothes. And I didn’t even think to take it with me.” Fear was making me dumb. I climbed back on the Tykson, and Roan followed. “We need to go. I have to get out of sight of the cameras. And I’m going to need to go get my backup bag at the abandoned depot. Head there first.”
“I can’t fucking believe this…” Roan muttered as he sped into traffic again, cutting off another Tykson. Horns blared and tires screeched behind us, but that didn’t slow him down. He knew what was at stake.
I leaned my helmet-clad head against his back. I’d seriously stepped in it this time. I had a sickening feeling I’d be seeing Jason Murtagh again soon. I just hoped that didn’t mean I was sentencing everyone else to die, too.