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I didn’t expect to find Mack waiting for me, when they dragged my sorry ass through into the foyer of their fancy-ass, glass-office-block-wannabe building.
“So, you found her, then?” he asked, barely sparing me a glance.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d been run some twenty kays, because no one builds a road straight to their HQ anymore—and I do mean run. They’d jogged a couple of kays to where they’d parked their jeeps, and then they’d stopped. I’d stopped, too, glad of a break, but not too happy when they’d opened up my pack and dumped a couple of good-sized rocks inside before closing it tight, and then checking the straps were secure.
At first, I didn’t get why they’d done it, or why they’d clipped a chain around my waist, and then hooked it to the back of one of the jeeps. And then the lead guy had climbed into the front of one of the jeeps, and looked back.
“Try and keep up,” he’d said, and tapped the driver on the shoulder—and everything became painfully clear.
“Motherfucking bastards,” I muttered, and he grinned, turning to face forward, and leaving me wondering what would happen if I tripped.
I might have been happier with the arrangement, if he’d looked like he was keeping an eye on me... or if there’d been a jeep behind us, but he didn’t, and there wasn’t. I watched as the other vehicles pulled out and took off, single file, down a narrow track that threaded a path between the trees at the edge of the field.
The pace they set made my jaw drop, as I watched them go, and then the jeep I was attached to started to move.
“You are shitting me,” I muttered, but I didn’t let that stop me from breaking into a walk, and then a trot, when it rolled onto the track.
For a minute, I was afraid it would take off after the rest, dragging me behind it, but it didn’t. It did pick up speed, though, until I was running faster than I’d had to on the track leading to the vehicles. Fortunately, that didn’t last long, and the jeep slowed enough that I was jogging at about the same speed as before. Not that I would have been able to keep that up for long, just longer than I thought I could.
Turned out someone was keeping an eye on me, because the jeep stopped as soon as I fell the first time. I watched as the leader slapped the driver on the back of the head. The driver turned and spat something back in rapid-fire language, gesturing emphatically at the rear-view mirror, and then at where I was getting back on my feet. They both half-turned in their seats to watch, as I struggled back up.
As soon as I was there, the driver turned back to the front, and put the vehicle back in gear.
“Kooray,” the boss-man said, and turned back to the front.
I koorayed, but it wasn’t easy. For one thing, my hands were still tied behind my back. For another, I was absolutely knackered—and that goddamn pack hadn’t gotten any fucking lighter, either. They took a bit longer stopping the second time I fell, longer still to actually get out and come around the back to see if I was okay. I have to admit I did not expect to be hauled to my feet, and then have someone run beside me when the jeep next pulled away.
Bastards.
The leader’s hand around my bicep wasn’t as much help in keeping me on my feet as a strong desire to not fall over before he did. The crunch of gravel under my feet was a relief, but not as much of a relief as when the car stopped in front of me, and they unhooked the chain. And I still refused to fall.
Not giving them any satisfaction was impossible, but I figured they’d dump me in some sort of holding cell, real soon, and I could collapse, then. Hearing Mack’s voice after stumbling up the stone steps out front, and then into the building, was a surprise, as was the leader’s question.
“You know this man?” he asked, and that was when I decided to give Mack a run for his money.
I lifted my head, and took a long look at him. Something in my expression must have tipped him off, though—probably the deliberate blankness I kept there...
“Don’t you dare,” he said. “Don’t you—”
I shook my head, and the head goon stared at me.
“Are you sure?” he asked, turning me toward an outraged Mack.
I glanced at him, and shook my head, again, and the leader turned to Mack.
“I am sorry, Mishyer, but she says she doesn’t know you.”
By then, I’d decided I could really, really do with seeing the inside of that cell. I didn’t need Mack setting up to make a fuss.
“She’s lying,” he said, and then glared at me. “Not that I blame her. I’d lie, too, if I’d taken a dive out of my boss’s shuttle, instead of finishing a simple resupply errand.”
Really? That was the spin he was putting on it?
I thought about arguing, but I was too tired. My legs were shaking, and I was still breathing hard. The pack dragged at my shoulders, making the floor look inviting. Mack took it all in, as he studied me.
“What did you do to her?” he asked, and I watched the head dude put on an expression of faux innocence.
“Nothing,” he said. “She was full of energy when she landed. Said she needed to run. I let her run.”
I stared at him, and then let my knees fold beneath me.
“Hmmm,” the leader said. “I take it there is a retrieval fee?”
“There most certainly is!”
I wanted to say I really didn’t know Mack, but I couldn’t. I just knelt on the floor, trying to catch my breath, and waited for them to finish whatever stupid game they were playing. There was silence between them, but I didn’t bother looking up. Whatever the game was, the two of them could just go play it on their own.
It was a moment before either of them spoke, and then it was the head guy.
“I take it you have records for her?”
“What would you like?” Mack asked. “We have employment, DNA, and medical, including the new implant inside her skull.”
“The last two,” the leader said. “Send them down. We’ll do our own work-up to verify.”
Work up? As in medical work up? As in tissue samples, blood, and all the needles that required? I lifted my head, just as the leader took hold of my arm and hauled me back onto my feet.
“Come,” he said, pulling me toward a door behind the reception counter where Mack was standing.
As we headed for the door, I heard the receptionist turn to Mack.
“Your I.D. please.”
“This way,” my escort said, and opened the door. “Through you go.”
I guessed it wouldn’t do me any good to recognize Mack now. The mention of a retrieval fee pretty much put paid to that. I figured no matter what I said, I was about to be identified to within an inch of my tiny, little life—and I had absolutely no doubt that Mack had planned with this contingency in mind.
The door led to a corridor, off which there was an elevator. I don’t know how many floors down it went, but I pretty much figured this was the data Mack had been looking for. My escort didn’t speak to me, again, until the elevator doors closed behind us, and we began our descent.
“I take it that the man in my foyer was the scum-sucking, star-hugging, ass-covering, mouth-breeding, donkey-shitting, sun-splitting, motherfucking bastard, you know as Mack?”
“I beg your pardon?”
And that was when he let go of my arm and slapped me across the face. It was a good slap, one that set my ears ringing, and made me see double. I stumbled against the elevator wall, and shook my head.
It’s hard to get your breath back, and stand up straight, when the world is wobbling so hard you think it would be safer to just fall down, so I contented myself with leaning on the elevator wall, and holding tight to the rail behind me.
The elevator slowed, coming to a sudden stop, and he took me by the arm, and dragged me forward.
“So, was—”
And I decided he already knew I knew Mack, and was aware that Mack knew me.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah. It was.”
“And were you on a supply run?”
I hung my head, tried to pull my arm free of his grip, and he laughed, letting go of my arm, and winding his arm around my shoulders, and over the top of the pack.
“You and I are going to have such fun,” he said, and my heart sank, but now I knew why he’d run me twenty kay. I was trembling with fatigue and couldn’t do a damn thing to resist.
I ended up in the small cell of my dreams, but I didn’t get to enjoy the promised collapse. The cell wasn’t empty—and I could see with half an eye it wasn’t really meant for just holding.
“I am Bastien Gaetani,” the head dude said, as he guided me through the cell door, and turned me to face the nearest wall.
I think it was supposed to mean something to me, but I guess I was new to the circles he moved in, because I had no response. He picked up on it, but then someone used to seeing fear at the mention of his name, is generally going to notice when the person they’re speaking to, has none.
I just let him push me against the wall, while he stripped off my pack and undid my cuffs. As I waited for whatever came next, I figured with Mack paying a retrieval fee, then maybe I wasn’t going to die.
“You know Mackenzie Star,” he said, turning me back to face him.
The look on my face must have said it all. He sighed.
“You know Mack, the man upstairs.”
I nodded. My throat was dry, and I didn’t want to speak.
He leant forward taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger, and turning my head from side to side.
“I wonder what he sees in you,” he says. “You’re not pretty, and you clearly frustrate him.”
I did? Well, that was news to me. The look on my face made him smirk.
“I wonder how much he’ll pay to have you back...” That was less than comforting, and my expression must have reflected the fear that had started to stir. “See? You’re not as thick as you think I am.”
Well, that wasn’t promising.
“Go stand over by the back wall,” he said, giving me a gentle push in that direction.
I glanced at the rear wall.
Oh. Hell. No.
Which must have also shown on my face, because he smiled, and it was as cold a smile as any Delight might have produced... or Tens, come to think of it. I pushed off the wall, but I was too slow. I earned another open-handed blow to the side of the head, and then his fingers curled through my hair, as his fist caught me in the gut. Twice.
“Wall,” he said, and shoved me toward it. “Now.”
I hit hard, but managed to turn my shoulder into it, which did me absolutely no good. Bastien knew what he was about, and I was too slow. He had me hanging like a portrait in less than a minute.
...which doesn’t go to say that I didn’t get at least one good hit in.
I figured a good hit to the nose might get me at least to the door, and, boy, was I ever wrong. He turned his head and I blacked an eye, instead. All that did was earn me a faster put down.
“Who’s the smart ass, now?” he asked, as he headed for the door, but he was looking far too happy with himself, and I vowed I would wipe the smile from his face, the next time I got the chance.
Mack, however, had other ideas, and I was still hanging on the wall, when Bastien brought him down.
“See? Lazy,” Bastien said. “Just hanging around, doing nothing.”
And that doing nothing had included not sleeping, as well. I’d had a parade of doctors through that had started shortly after Bastien had left, and then I’d had visitors every hour. When Mack arrived, the other three walls of the cell were occupied, and I knew exactly what awaited me, if Mack decided to disown me.
I looked at him, and he looked back, and I waited, because, to be fair, I didn’t know what he was going to do next.
“You ready to come home, now?” he asked, and I nodded.
Mack looked at Bastien, and Bastien came over to the wall. I couldn’t help the instinctive recoil when he reached out to undo the shackles, but he just smiled, and pulled me close.
“See?” he said, whispering in my ear. “You get to go home with your master, and I get a nice fat bonus in my account. Are you happy?”
I nodded, trying to ignore the fine tremor that ran through me, wondering why he had been waiting for me out in that meadow, when he was the one in charge, and trying to work out if Mack had betrayed me. Bastien guided me over to Mack, and pushed me toward him. I managed the three steps it took to reach his side, and he offered me his arm.
It was a courtesy, and I was grateful he hadn’t tried to pick me up. When I glanced at him, his face was strangely expressionless, and I wondered what he was thinking.
The corridor outside seemed twice as long as it did before, and the ride up to the foyer, ten times the duration of the one previous. I decided I wouldn’t fall over until we hit the ship, but couldn’t suppress a shudder when Bastien spoke. He promised the closest inmate he would be down shortly, and the man whimpered.
Knowing what Bastien had done before, I would have whimpered, too. I was just glad to be walking out of that complex alive and relatively unharmed. Man, I was still fully dressed... and that was more than could be said for any of the folk who’d been dragged in to keep me company. I kept my arm firmly tucked in Mack’s, and focused on walking out of Bastien’s fortress under my own steam.
For his part, Mack was strangely silent, handing Bastien his payment, when we’d reached the shuttle, and making me stand close, while we watched the man check it.
“All is in order,” Bastien said, “for which I am both happy and sad.”
He cast me a soulful look, and gently pinched my cheek.
“Sad because it means I don’t get to spend any quality time with you, but happy Mack is not deprived of your company.”
I tightened my grip on Mack’s arm, and shot my guardian a worried glance. Bastien caught the look, and smiled.
“See? She has missed you,” he said. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to.”
And he turned and walked away.
I looked up at Mack, trying to read his face so I knew what he wanted me to do next. There was no way, I wanted to mess up, and risk him leaving me behind. To my relief, he turned and climbed into the shuttle, taking me with him. He didn’t even try to untangle my arm, until we were aboard the ship—and that only when we’d reached medical.
“Sit,” he said, pointing to the open med-box.
It had its side down, so I could sit on it, like one would sit on the edge of a bed. I cast him a dubious glance, but I did as I was told. As far as I could tell, the ship was still orbiting Bastien’s world, and I could still be sent back. Mack’s next words surprised me.
“Are you okay?”
I started to nod, then stopped, and then managed to shake my head. I pressed my lips together, but they were already trembling, and tears had started leaking from the corners of my eyes. Inside my head, I felt my implant slowly come back to life, and then Tens spoke.
“We got it, boss.”
They had? But I didn’t have the energy to ask what, or how. So far as I knew, I’d botched the first mission—and I hadn’t even known what it was. Mack, however, gave a tight, satisfied smile.
“Was it what they wanted?”
“Not exactly. He kept her segregated from general population, but the dampers on the implant worked and they left it intact.”
“So, what did we get?”
“Three other prisoners going through conditioning, including the one Odyssey wanted.”
They did? They had? They what?
Mack reached over and put a hand on my knee, and I flinched away.
“You did good,” he said, and I felt more tears well into my eyes.
I had no idea what he was talking about, and I shook my head. He frowned, concern marking his features.
“Yeah, you did real good. You can rest, now.”
I shook my head.
“I need a shower.”
What I’d meant to say was that we had to go back. We had to rescue those poor people I’d left in the cell behind me. We had to go get whoever had been chosen to fill the space I’d left, because Bastien was... He was wrong. He was all kinds of wrong, and he had people just as wrong doing his bidding.
But I didn’t say it. I just asked for a shower, because I couldn’t say we needed to go back, because I couldn’t face the idea of going back. I couldn’t face the idea of going anywhere that meant I was in Bastien’s reach, and I didn’t know how to explain that to Mack. Fortunately, Tens had access to the implant... and he knew no boundaries when it came to garnering information.
“She’s right, Mack,” he said, and I looked around at the speakers. “We have to go back.”
I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t. I wanted to agree, too, but I couldn’t do that, either. I couldn’t make a sound either way, but the tears fell just a little bit faster.
“I’m not sending her back down there,” Mack said, and Tens replied.
“Not sure it’s up to you, boss.”
“You got Odyssey on the line?”
And Tens brought up a screen on a portion of the med-bay wall. I wasn’t happy to see Agent Delight, but she gave me an approving nod, before turning her attention to Mack.
“The strike team thanks you for your report—and the diversion.”
She what? I lifted my head, the movement drawing her attention.
“You’re here already?” I asked, and she smiled.
“Sweetheart, how else do you think we expected to get Drammon out alive? You know what Bastien had in store for him. Your departure was his death warrant.”
I swallowed down bile. She was right. It was, and I did, and I hadn’t known what they’d expected. Hell! I hadn’t even known I was on a mission, let alone a mission to retrieve one of their agents. Mack groaned, and stood up beside me.
“I thought you caved too easily on the implant,” he said, and I felt Tens cussing in my head.
Delight shrugged.
“Drammon is the key to something bigger, and we’ve wanted to indict Bastien for some time. What you said about not being able to tweak our implants was the deciding factor. We needed you to do what you did best. If our implants were going to be a hindrance, well. We could live with one semi-rogue agent in exchange for what Drammon can give us.” She smiled at me. “Cheer up, shit-for-brains. You’re becoming a useful mammal after all. And management says I just might have to let you live.”
I felt my eyes go wide, and my eyebrows almost hit my hairline. They could, and I was? And management had told her to what? But Delight was already turning her attention to Mack.
“And you, you devious-minded individual, it was, again, a pleasure doing business. You’ll find a bonus for efficiency.”
“What about Cutter?”
Delight raised her eyebrows, and then smirked.
“She gets a high-risk allowance added to her pay, and to not worry about me hunting her down until the next time she screws up.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” I managed, and I swear she winked at me, as she ended the call.
When the screen had gone blank, again, Mack turned to me.
“I’ll get the doc to check you out,” he said.
I frowned.
“Don’t I get to shower first?”
“I’ll check with the doc.”
The answer, when he checked, was a ‘no’. Apparently, the doc needed to make sure I hadn’t brought anything nasty on board that the grime on my body was hiding the clues to.
“Fine,” I said, and was relieved when he got me to lie in the med-box so any such evidence could be found and stored.
“Now, you can go clean up,” he said, indicating a small san cubicle set into the room’s wall. “Over there. It’ll collect anything we might have missed.”
I went, relieved to be able to strip out of the clothes I’d worn on the mission, and step under the water of a hot shower. I was not so happy to find the clothes were missing when I stepped out again, so I just stood in the shower bay, and tried to figure out what to do. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, when Mack opened the san-unit door.
“Out,” he said, and I glared at him.
“Out,” he repeated, and held up a new pile of clothes.
Well, that was different. I stepped out of the shower bay, and took the clothes.
“Out,” I said, pointing to the san-room door.
I was speechless when he went.
When I was dressed, I stepped back into the medical center. The clothes were loose-fitting and made of some sort of material that was both warm and cool at the same time. They didn’t cling, and they came with slippers.
Cool.
Mack was gone when I stepped out, but the doc was waiting.
“Tell me what happened,” he said, and then guided me, step by step, through the events from the time I’d jumped, to the time Mack had brought me back on board.
Every now and then, he’d stop the narrative, and examine the points that Bastien or his lackeys had touched. Every now and then, he’d tut disapprovingly, and then signal for me to continue. When the memories were too much to say, so soon after each other, he’d wait, and then he’d prod me forward, again. As a debriefing, it was pretty thorough.
“None of this is confidential, right?” I asked, when I’d reached the end, and he shook his head.
“Regretfully, no,” he said. “Copies will be forwarded to the relevant parties.”
I had known it, but to hear it tore at my heart, and I stifled a sob. He patted my knee in an awkward fashion, and then became brisk.
“Now, to treat what’s been caused,” he said, and I wondered just how badly I needed to be hurt for the debrief to come in second to the treatment.
“Dying,” came Mack’s voice, in my head, and I rested my head back against the med-box, and let the doc do his work.
“This would be easier, if you’d just lie down,” he said, and I went still.
The doc looked at me, and then lifted his hands away.
“I’m a doctor, not a torturer,” he said, and I managed to blink.
I knew that.
“And Mack would have my hide if I did you any harm,” the doctor continued, “not to mention what Odyssey would do. That Agent Delight....”
He let the words trail off, and gave a theatrical shudder.
“She’s a piece of work, that one.”
“You know she’ll probably see this conversation, right?” I said, and he glanced at me.
“Yes, well. She is well aware of my opinion of her,” he said, and I wondered why he looked so angry.
When he spoke to me next, his tone was abrupt.
“Get in the box.”
This time, I did not argue. Whatever he’d remembered about Delight, it seemed to have bled through his usual gentle manner, and I didn’t want to trigger anything more. I pulled myself into the box, and watched as he lifted the side, and locked it in place.
“Hands by your sides, please,” he said, peering in.
He still seemed anxious, so I complied. There was no point in antagonizing the only person who could mend what I broke out on a mission. The snap of restraints over my wrists was as clear to my ears, as the firm grip of the metal against my skin.
“What...” I began, and then he tapped a few keys on the outside of the box, and I heard the box hum in response.
Before I had time to ask what was happening, the sharp, nimble teeth of two sets of hypoderms punched into my rump.
“Doc!”
He hit the pedal for lowering the box, and stopped it when I was at a level, for him to comfortably reach in.
“Antibiotics for the cuts and abrasions, heavy duty painkillers for the deep-tissue bruising, and a sedative because you really need to sleep. And the cuffs because I know how well you react to needles.”
To be honest, the sedative was already taking effect, or I might have thought about making a fuss.
“No hard feelings, I hope?”
“Nah, doc. We’re good.”
It was the last thing I said for quite some time.
