Chapter Eight

 

I roll my shoulders. “I can’t believe I got stomped on by a yawd.”

Mertex laughs. “You do know that was a juvenile, right? Probably a sibling left to watch the eggs.” He points to a bare spot of mud closer to the bank, where there’s a footprint, easily two feet across. “Now that’s the size of an adult.”

I shudder. I would never have survived that.

“When you were up there, did you see a boat anywhere?” Brill asks.

“Yeah. By the hekkjet the guy who set this trap’s staying in. Why?”

“Because if I’m the prime suspect in a Zantite murder investigation, I’m not leaving here until we find out if that really was Kaliel.”

By the time we steal the boat and drag it down to the water, the sun has gone behind a mass of clouds, casting bits of the landscape into shadow, and many of the plants are glowing with pink or yellow traces of phosphorescence. It’s one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever seen, pero it isn’t making an impact. Not much can past, I was holding a bone that might have belonged to a friend of mine.

Brill must have been more disturbed by what had happened to him inside that blast freezer than he’d let on. That’s why he’s been putting off dealing with the damage to his face. If it can just heal on its own, then maybe it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Maybe he hadn’t come a few heartbeats away from dying.

Brill’s got his phone out, tracking our location, though he’s holding it gingerly, like his hands hurt from gripping that vine. He glances repeatedly at our surroundings to verify what he’s looking at in the holo. “A little way past the teeth, there’s a narrow spot where the channel bends and a whirlpool area that sucks things inland. Some debris must have wound up on the far side.”

I follow his directions, cutting back the engine, which makes it quieter. Birdsong’s coming from the bank, and I turn to look for an otter monster. This time it is a bird, which flies lazily overhead – and then takes a poop, which splatters down on the bow of the boat. Which about sums up my experience so far on Zant.

At one point, we pass part of the diving squad. The one-handed girl waves at us.

Mertex waves back and points further up-channel.

She gives him an approximation of the Zantite military salute with her remaining hand –three fingers up and wiggling at the forehead, thumb and pinkie flat across the palm.

By the time we’ve lost sight of them, a fish glides by next to the boat, as big and club-faced as a log. Mertex doesn’t seem worried.

Before long, we come to the bottleneck where the current gets even stronger.

“You want to anchor the boat on this side of the bend,” Mertex tells us.

When I cut the engine, he hauls a spade-shaped piece of iron out of the back and drops it overboard. The boat jerks as we reach the end of the chain. We hop into the agua instead of beaching the craft and then wade to shore.

The plan is to hike around the bend and the whirlpool, pero there’s still not a decent path. I manage to hold my boots out of the water to keep them dry, but the rest of my clothes get soaked again.

As we make our way around, I spot something white dropped on the ground. The plants are trampled around it, like there had been a scuffle, or a large animal had moved through the area. I hesitate to reach for it, because it’s in a bed of thick yellow sawk-vines.

I point. “Oye, Murry, what is that?”

Mertex crushes the vines away from it with his boot, then picks it up. “It’s a police-issue data recorder.”

He punches play. Fizzax’s voice comes out of it. “And you are certain that Mr Cray had blood on the towel he tossed into the laundry chute at the hotel?”

“Fairly certain,” a muffled voice says. “But I only caught a glimpse. He pulled something wrapped in the towel out of his suit.”

Brill puts his injured hands over Mertex’s and shuts the recorder off. “That’s enough.”

My heart’s thudding. Fizzax thinks he has evidence that Brill’s a killer, had that recording on him when he got with us on the helicopter.

Pero, what happened here? He wouldn’t have abandoned that data recorder on purpose.

“Do you muchachos think Fizzax ran into the real killer?”

Brill looks at me, like he’s still not sure I believe he’s innocent.

Pero, I’d seen the way he looked at that bone. He was horrified at the thought it might be Kaliel. I look steadily back at him. “Lo siento, mi vida. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

There’s relief in his face as his eyes shift from gray towards blue.

Mertex says softly, “We had better find proof that that wasn’t Kaliel’s body. Especially if Fizzax… I have no idea what happened here, but he would have been in radio contact with the group. I told them we thought we found something.”

We all start walking faster. I keep staring at the device in Mertex’s hand. “What does it mean if something happened to Fizzax?”

Brill’s eyes go solid black. “I’m likely to get blamed for that, too. Zantites don’t have to have a body to prove a crime. They just have to wait seventy-seven hours and hold a funeral, so the missing person can be officially declared dead.”

“They can only execute you once,” Mertex says. When we both turn to stare at him, he shrugs. “Old Zantite military saying. In other words, it can’t get any worse, so you might as well do what you want. Like the Earth equivalent, in for a penny, in for a pound.”

“That’s not comforting,” Brill says.

We can see the whirlpool now, and the pond-like area on our side of it. There’s a flicker of motion in the yellow reeds growing near the bank.

“Don’t worry,” Mertex says. “Those are just dakka fish.”

There’s a ton of debris and as we get closer, I can make out some of the rotted branches from that dead tree. Brill changes something on his phone, and wades into the water. The hologram is showing the density of submerged objects. Brill heads towards a promising spot, while Mertex and I stand on the bank.

Mertex turns around, looking into the woods. “Did you hear that?”

“No. Nada.”

Pero then there’s a soft whoosh. Brill cries out and clutches at his neck. He drops his phone, and it sinks into the murky agua as I run towards him.

“Ga, Babe, don’t! Get out of here!”

I freeze, not sure where to go. If there’s a sniper, there’s nothing I can do. But whatever hit Brill’s neck, he’s still able to speak, hasn’t fallen over.

“Come out of the water, Mr Cray.” It’s Fizzax, from somewhere in the trees. “Get Bo to help you. It would be pointless to dart her, don’t you think?”

“Don’t touch me!” Brill holds out both hands. They’re trembling. “He doesn’t realize humans are a lot more responsive to conductivity than Zantites are. Or Krom. In this water…”

Tawny’s camera drones circle in close – then fall into the murk.

“You know darting a Krom’s considered cruel.” Mertex makes a face at Fizzax. Then he looks at me, and there’s a concession in his features. “Though it is rather ingenious. Because how do you catch a Krom, when they’re faster than any bullet they can see coming? You mess with their ukewellet, so that they’re too dizzy to move.”

Mertex wades around me and picks up Brill, carrying him to the bank. I hurry to follow.

Brill pulls the dart from his neck, despite the obvious pain to his hand. It falls from his fingers, and he puts the palms of both hands to his temples. He’s paler than I’ve ever seen him, and his eyes are a dull orange. “Shtesh! It’s embedded in my skin. The dart’s just a carrier.”

Fizzax emerges from the trees, a zip-tie in his hands.

Brill sees it and backs away. Zantites don’t believe in prisons, or in detaining suspects. Fizzax shouldn’t be arresting Brill unless he’s ready for interrogation and judgement. “Avell! Please! Kaliel hasn’t been missing long enough to be declared dead.” Fizzax keeps advancing. Brill says, “I have so many complaints.”

“We have evidence. Headquarters radioed. They took a look at the squidriding equipment. Kaliel’s blood was all over the harness. You killed someone over jealousy of a girl. That’s cowardice. You don’t get any complaints.” Fizzax grabs him, throws him to the ground, zip-ties mi vida’s hands in front of him.

“Mertex, do something!” I shout.

Mertex tries to reason with Fizzax. “If you arrest him, that’s as good as executing him here. The death hasn’t been declared. Vaveskkent, we don’t even know for sure yet there has been a death.”

Fizzax isn’t listening. He’s unhinging his jaw. He grabs Brill’s shoulder with his other hand and pulls him up towards his mouth.

My heart goes cold. “No!” I rush forward.

“I demand to speak to a Galactic Inspector.” Brill still sounds somewhat calm.

Fizzax’s mouth opens, and Brill’s cabeza and shoulders disappear, eclipsed by the Zantite’s gaping maw. Mertex lets out a high-pitched squeal loud enough that I cover my ears.

“You can’t eat him!” Mertex has an arm on Fizzax’s shoulder, trying to pull the dented head back. Mertex makes a hiss-splatting sound as he hits Fizzax hard on the side of the cabeza. “We have a treaty with his people. It could start the war with the Evevrons all over again. They’re allies of the Krom, you know?”

I stare into Fizzax’s eyes, pero this isn’t even fazing him. Something’s deeply wrong. Fizzax’s a rule-follower. Shouldn’t he honor Brill’s request to speak to a Galactacop? What happened to the guy I’d shared a drink with at the club, the one so uncomfortable with injustice?

Maybe he’d been hit on the head during whatever happened back in that patch of sawk vine. Pero, knowing that is not going to save mi vida.

Murry hits Fizzax again, and when Fizzax rears back, Brill comes into view. He’s in one piece, looking incredibly grossed out. Fizzax drops Brill’s shoulder, pero he’s still dangling mi vida upside down.

It takes my heart a second to slow down enough to not feel it’s going to explode.

Fizzax gets his jaw back into place. “I have an accusation from a witness who saw him with a bloody towel. I have a public fight with the victim. He’s the only one who could have been in the water long enough to fight Kaliel and get Earthling blood on the harness.” Fizzax looks over at Mertex. “I need to get this case tied up quickly. People are talking. It’s disruptive.”

“But it’s not our law!” Mertex protests.

“Put. Me. Down.”

Fizzax looks down at Brill. Even hanging upside down, with blisters all over his zip-tied hands and that chip in his neck, Brill’s managed to get his gun out of his jacket.

Fizzax grabs for the gun, lifting Brill as high as he can with one hand, while scooping down with the other. Brill fires. The bullet goes through Fizzax’s arm. Fizzax drops Brill, who then barely manages to stand. Fizzax makes a hiss-splatting noise as he punches Brill in the chest. Mi vida falls backwards into the agua.

“Brill!” I try to run to him, pero Mertex catches me.

“Electrocution, remember?”

The surface settles. I have to remind myself Brill doesn’t need to breathe, not for hours.

It takes minutes before Brill slowly breaks the surface. He wobbles to his feet.

Fizzax spits light blue blood from his split cheek. He moves towards Brill again.

“No!” My chest sparkles with icy shards of panic.

I can’t let this happen. I race into the water, getting between Fizzax and Brill. Fizzax towers over me, teeth bared in earnest. I’m about to pee my pants, but with them already being wet, no one will ever know.

Because I’m going to save Brill’s life and lose my own.

I lie to Fizzax. “I did it! I confess. I killed Kaliel.”

Fizzax was poised to push me out of the way with his giant hand. Now he just stares at me, and the malice in his bared teeth becomes open-mouthed confusion. “But you couldn’t possibly. Eye-witnesses have you on the balcony at the hotel the entire time.”

I shrug. “I don’t care. I did it. If you need a life for a life, I’m offering mine.” I’m trembling as the IH tries to gather and give me the strength to get through this. Choosing execution this time doesn’t make it any easier to face.

“But why?” Fizzax’s wide eyes are childlike, like he honestly doesn’t understand.

“Because I love him. And I’m the only reason he’s even on this planet. And if I hadn’t kissed Kaliel all that time ago, you wouldn’t even think he has a motive. I promised to make my actions on this planet count.” Not bad for last words.

Too bad people never get to live long enough to enjoy having gotten them right.

“Babe, no,” Brill protests. “I couldn’t live knowing you did that.”

Ignoring him, Fizzax advances on me. I try not to flinch away, but I can’t help it.

I force myself to close my eyes so I won’t run. “I told you before, I’m contaminated with the Invincible Heart.” I don’t know why I care if he gets sick. But I do. It feels surreal, but I add, “It’s safer for you if you shoot me instead.”

He laughs, and his breath blows over me. “Tell me about the kind of love you would die for.”

“Que?” I open my eyes.

His jaw is still hinged. Fizzax cocks his head. “I’m not going to execute you. It would not be justice. I just… I need to understand. You showed me mercy, and you don’t even know me. What did this Krom do to earn the kind of love you have for him?”

“H-he,” I stammer. How do you put the whys of love into words?

Before I can even try, the one-handed Zantite girl turns the bend and lets out an ear-piercing squeal. She tries to stifle it, blinks, looking from Brill in the water to Fizzax still leaning over me, a bullet wound in his arm. She picks up the data recorder, where Mertex left it on the bank.

There’s no hiding what happened here, even if Fizzax was willing to let us try. The girl has the “evidence.” Brill is still going to be put forward for murder.

Fizzax straightens up. “There hasn’t yet been a recorded death. I will try my best with all my might to keep there from being one, Bo the Merciful, Bearer of the Invincible Heart.”

My mouth drops open in surprise. “Que?”

 

Mertex has been in sporadic communication with the other search teams. As we approach, they’re all standing there, waiting for the helicopter.

Brill’s holding a tissue to the side of his neck, where Mertex used fishing pliers we found in the boat to get the chip out. Fizzax is traveling with us, pero not talking to us.

The sky starts turning rose, then purple, then the helicopter shows up, a crisp streak of black in the finger-painted sky. An overwhelming bolt of despair hits me in the gut. We didn’t find Kaliel. If he’s still in the water, he doesn’t have a flotation device. If he’s on land, he didn’t leave a trail leading anywhere.

My back aches, and I’m slypered. I should cry, pero I’m too worn out. Probably mañana, when I get a basket of those estúpido chocolate croissants, I’ll cry then.