Carleigh picked up her pace, knowing that her best bet at staying safe in Under State was getting there early and getting out before everyone started waking up for their late day.
She wasn't worried about leaving a stranger in her shop, especially since he was a PO. They were known to be well-vetted and trustworthy, and it was highly unlikely that he was a secret clockwork and explosives expert who had been able to plant the bomb in the mayor’s desk. She did have an idea who did have those skills though, and that person happened to live in Under State.
Lighton was a town on the edge of a gorge. It was a small and quiet place, surrounded by desert as far as the eyes could see, and farther out than any land vehicle could travel.
Their neighbor, which was not officially a part of Lighton, was at the bottom of the gorge. Called Under State, it was a town, if you could call it that, which had built up around the river that was used for waterway travel and shipping. Over the years, as the natural water source shrank, the people had reinforced the waterway with concrete and metal. It was now a canal that was more manmade than natural. However, long ago the people there decided they weren’t going to follow the laws of Lighton; they were going to police themselves, and so they did through many political layers of gangs and bosses.
Not that the rest of the world knew how bad Under State was. To the rest of the world, it was a vibrant tourist area with friendly vendors and entertainment all down the canal. There were even gambling spots, and this was a huge draw to tourists. As long as you were there for a short period and you were spending money on gambling, shopping, or eating, you were safe. The bosses loved getting rich off tourists and, to ensure they didn’t lose any of them, they made sure the canal-facing side was very safe.
But Carleigh wasn’t going to the canal-facing side. She was going behind that, where the real dangers of Under State lay.
She rode the elevator down, listening to the gears grind and smelling the steam and grime rise in the air around her. Sweetums squeaked in her hat.
“Are you enjoying the view up there?”
The clockwork twirled its cogs and made what sounded like a delighted noise while it rolled its single eye around in its cylinder socket.
“You’re such a goof,” she chuckled, glad to find something light-heartening to focus on.
Carleigh exited the elevator when it stopped and was instantly enveloped in the dark, smelly Under State. She instantly felt dirty just stepping out into the slippery, greasy street.
She marched straight to her destination, ignoring the drunkards passed out along the alleys and the rats darting around her feet. She knew exactly where she was headed. The one person who could’ve sabotaged the mayor’s desk was someone who had the chemistry knowledge to handle the explosive, the clockwork skills to plant it in the desk, and the reputation as a gun for hire.
This very person was Carleigh’s childhood best friend, Kim Ramos.
They’d both started out in metallurgy, but when Carleigh started to excel and Kim struggled to shine, Kim dropped out. She couldn’t stand to lose. So instead of finishing her training in second-place, she’d changed her major to chemistry, moved to Under State, and turned her back on Lighton.
Now, Carleigh approached Kim’s shop, little more than a busted-up, darkened house. When she heard the unmistakable sounds of tinkering, hammer on metal, she knew that Kim was there, and she knocked.
The tinkering stopped and the house fell silent. “I need to talk to you.” Carleigh shouted, pounding harder on the wooden door.
“We aren’t open this early. Come back later.”
“I’m only going to get louder, and your neighbors won’t be happy about it,” Carleigh shouted.
It was just a few moments before Kim swung the door open, red fury in her cheeks. She was a thin and waif-like girl, not someone you’d expect to find in her line of work. She had a long nose, long face, and long dark hair parted down the middle, which seemed to pull all of her features down into a scowl. Like Carleigh, she wore the protective leather corset and leather boots, but all of her garb, including her undershirt and leather pants, were black. When Carleigh knew Kim, she wasn’t one who was prone to violence, but the girl who stood before her looked ready to throw punches.
“You? What do you want?”
“Why did you do it?” Carleigh asked. “Why did you plant the device in the mayor’s office?”
Kim threw her head back in a groan. “I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.”
Carleigh ignored the comment. She knew Kim well enough to know that she was guilty by her response. “Did you plant it there to get Mayor Reed, or me?”
“You’re fishing in the wrong pond, Carleigh. Go home.”
Carleigh knew that the best way to get answers out of Kim was to bait her. “Let me guess, it was to get me because you are trying to take me out of the picture so you can take over my position.”
Kim snorted and crossed her arms. “The last thing I could ever do is live up there again in the land of the genteels, and your fussy customers wouldn’t come down here, so how do you suppose that would work?”
Carleigh shrugged. “I didn’t say I thought you had a good plan, just that the work had your signature all over it.”
She narrowed her eyes and she clenched her jaw, leaning in close and speaking in a low growl. “If I wanted anything of yours, I would have hit you where it counts. You should stay out of this and just be happy your shop is still in one piece.”
“Then why did you try to kill the mayor?”
“It was a job!” Kim blurted out. “You wouldn't understand, living the lavish life up there, but down here is different. We all make money how we do, and the money was good for this one. What are you going to do, turn me in? To who?” She spread her hands and looked all around us at the empty streets. “That’s what I thought.”
She was right. It wouldn’t matter that she admitted it, because she lived in a world where the only people she had to watch out for were her bosses. The Lighton POs couldn’t arrest her, and she didn’t do anything to cross an Under State, so no one here was coming after her.
“Tell me who hired you. I need to know why they did this.”
“You know I won’t do that. Besides, why in the world do you think they would tell me who they were? Middle-men were there for a reason.”
“You know better than anyone that I don't ever give up on a friend. Even when they give up on themselves.”
“Can't say ever, huh? Just a few years, give or take.”
Kim’s words stung. Carleigh had fought for her to come back to them for years, and it took a long time for her to stop.
“I guess you have to know when to give up when the other person is hell-bent on personal destruction.”
Kim sneered. “Destruction’s in the eye of the beholder. I have plenty of money, plenty of free time, and I’m personally very valuable to some bosses around here. You can’t say as much for yourself. Now, I think we’re done here.” Without letting Carleigh get another word in, she went back into her shop.
Carleigh turned to go, but stopped when she heard Kim call her name. “Wait.” Kim’s voice was softer, and Carleigh turned around with a spark of hope that her friend was open to talking.
“Yeah?” Carleigh asked.
“A parting gift.” Kim said, tossing something toward Carleigh.
Carleigh didn’t have time to see what it was. She barely heard the male voice yell “Get down” before she was thrown to the concrete by a strong body and then bathed in heat. She heard the sizzling sound of flames going up in the air and looked back. Through the smoke and fire she saw that Kim was gone. Beside her, on the ground, was PO Adams.
“That woman just tried to kill you,” he said. “Get up, move.” She stood with him and they were on their feet, moving fast to avoid any secondary bombs from Kim or any other trouble that might come from the neighbors.
“I thought you said your next client wasn’t going to blow you up.” Thorne shouted to her as they ran.
“To be fair, she wasn’t a client.”
“So then you lied to me about going to see a client.”
“No, I think I told you I had stuff to do, not that I had a client.”
The shock was starting to set in, and Carleigh felt her body shaking. They were far enough from Kim’s that she felt she was safe enough to stop and lean up against the closest building, gasping for breath and willing her heart rate to slow.
Thorne moved close to her and offered his arms to her. She stepped into his embrace, and enjoyed the strong feeling of them wrapped around her, relieved that he wasn’t shaking like she was.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t mention it. Did you at least get from her what you came down here for?”
“Not really.” Carleigh stepped back, feeling a bit stronger. “I mean, I know for sure now that I wasn't the target, not that I really believed I was, but I wanted to be sure.”
“And now you’ve got me on your side.”
“Are you saying I’m not a suspect? Oh, wait, it was ‘interested party,’ right?”
“I heard your conversation, so it looks like a no, I'm not interested in you anymore.”
Carleigh’s eyes moved from the shards of debris on his uniform to his face, and she raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Interested as a suspect,” he stammered. “Not, you know, that I'm not interested in you as a person.”
“Oh,” she smiled. “As a person?”
He smiled back. “Sure, you do interesting stuff for a living, that’s real interesting.”
Carleigh nodded, giving him a sly look. “Alright, I see how it is. How about we continue this discussion later and get out of here before someone else throws something at me.”
“Agreed.” He offered his hand to Carleigh, who took it. “Do you have an idea of where to look next?” They started walking back toward the gorge elevator.
“Not exactly, but I do know someone who might be able to point me in the right place.”