Dark Star (28 page)

“Off,” he barked at Stefan. The kid obeyed on Helios-ingrained instinct, but his expression was full of questions.

“What–”

“No time,” Pip cut him off and flipped open the bike cargo, pulling out his pack. He threw it at the boy. “Follow me.”

Pip jogged as fast as his aching body would allow. He could already hear the sound of another vehicle coming in. He reached the closest elevator tube and punched the buttons for the ground level, but grabbed Stefan before he could get in.

“No, we’re going another way.” He pushed him towards a low grate barely visible in the wall.

“Sewer vents?” Stefan sounded strained.

“Only way.” Pip pulled the grate out, ignoring the sound of footsteps. He motioned sharply for Stefan to climb in and he followed, dragging the grate back on as the first operative ran around the cars.

By the time they’d travelled the five kilometres of tunnels between the parlour and the nearest exit to the Game Pit, both boys were covered in grime and sweat and Pip was shaking. But they’d escaped the Helios grunts. At least for now. He got Stefan out into the streets of the Rim and to the back door of the Pit without them being seen. It was after midday and the streets were rowdy and heat-baked, gang bikes roaring up and down the road and clusters of people on corners watching from narrowed eyes. Here, the two of them in their dirty state drew barely a glance. Pip leaned on the back door of the Pit and thudded hard, well aware how shallow his breathing was.

Fury finally opened it.

“Keep that pounding up and I’ll pound you.” She stood back to let him in, her gaze going to Stefan.

“No bugs,” Pip said. “He’s clean.”

“I know, already scanned you. And by the way,” she called to their backs as Pip led Stefan down the hall, “people been waiting for you here all night.”

“Thanks.” Pip kept going.

“This ain’t your personal meeting place!” she shouted at his back. A door slammed. “Ignore her.” Pip wearily gestured Stefan to follow.

“Pipsqueak, you look like a bad day on Venus.” Essie greeted him from the bar.

“Thanks.” He stepped into the main room and stopped as Riley rose from the table he’d been sitting at with Cassie.

“Riley.” They regarded each other a moment. Riley seemed older, thinner.

He came towards him, his attention shifting to Stefan behind him. “Who’s this?”

“Stefan.” The kid spoke for himself.

“From the Enclave?”

“I was working with Sulawayo. Who are you?”

A thin humourless smile curved Riley’s lips. “A wanted man. You can sit over there.” He indicated a table against the wall. Stefan grimaced as if he was going to argue, but there was still enough command left in Riley for him to clamp his mouth shut and slouch over. He sat in the chair, resentment and weariness emanating from him as he watched them. Essie took him a sipper of water.

“So you let her go,” Riley said.

Pip gave him a dark stare.

“You’re hurt.” Cassie joined them.

Pip was trembling with fatigue. “I gotta sit down.” He made it to a chair before he collapsed and Cassie was immediately there with a medikit, pulling up his shirt, examining the gel patches. He’d felt them stop working some time ago and they were now dried and covered in dirt. “Stop trying to get my clothes off, woman!” He made a weak attempt to fend her off, but she smacked his hands away.

“Idiot, sit still.” She ripped the gels off fast, pulling a layer of skin with them.

“Ow!” He thumped the table, but she ignored him and began cleaning and reapplying new patches.

“Drink this and shut up.” Essie shoved a sipper filled with orange liquid at him.

He gulped it down glaring at Riley over the rim.

The man was as calm as ever. How he could show up here like this after everything and be pushing them all around again? It made Pip want to punch him in the face – if he’d had the energy. “So, you happy,” he said, “now Rosie’s off risking her life for you again?”

“She’s not doing it for me,” Riley said. “You know that.”

“Do I?” He finished the drink.

Riley sat down in the chair opposite and Pip had the feeling he was going to get one of his, “I’m right so do as I say” speeches about saving the world et cetera.

“Just don’t, Riley,” Pip said in a low voice. “Really, don’t try and tell me everything’s going to be A-OK because I really won’t take that well right now.”

Riley said quietly, “I wasn’t about to. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure it will be.”

“But you still sent Rosie back in. How’s that feel, sending her to do your dirty work?”

“What do you suggest I do?”

“Be a man and step up for a change, stop running away. How’s that for starters?”

Riley studied his hands on the table. “I know you’ve lost a lot to Helios, Pip, but so have I, so has everyone and we all stand to lose a lot more if Jebediah succeeds with his plan.” His pale brown gaze was steady, controlled. “I don’t want to take Rosie away from you, but it’s her decision and her life. I know you love her and I’m counting on that being what saves her. I need you in this, as much as I need her, or Essie, or Cassie. Maybe more, because I know you’ll do anything for her, and right now she needs you to let her do this and be there to get her out. So don’t turn your back on me, not when Rosie needs you the most.”

That was a low blow. “You’re a son of a bitch.” Pip was furious.

“I know.”

“So, what exactly is your plan – if she does manage to get the Dark Star blueprints?” Pip took in as deep a breath as his injuries would allow.

“Sulawayo contacted Essie a few hours ago.”

“She got out?” Pip couldn’t say he was surprised.

“Her cousin, Nerita, owns the old Helios ship the
Cosmic Mariner
. Sulawayo must have had some distress call set up. Nerita picked her up. You should have seen the ship out there.”

“I was busy escaping,” Pip said.

“Anyway,” Essie said, “Sulawayo is pissed about Jebediah playing her on the rebellion thing and wants to bring him down. She wants to help and has offered to get back into the Enclave and help Rosie any way she can. Nerita has agreed to let us use the ship to get up to Dark Star. Then we destroy the command station, and all the satellites linked to it will go down as well.”

“Yeah, sounds easy,” Pip said. “They’ll kill her before they let Rosie out of there with that information. How are you going to stop that?”

“They won’t think she has the Dark Star plans. I’ll make sure Jebediah thinks I have them,” Riley said. “I’ll contact him myself. And, Pip, I will have them. I’ve figured out a way to get into the Enclave, get to Rosie and download the plans from her implant, she won’t have to run with them. Then I’ll take the implant out of her and destroy Dark Star myself. I’ll be their target, not her.”

“How do I fit in with your grand plans when there’s an army of operatives out there looking for me?”

The ghost of a smile crossed Riley’s lips. “That’s what I’m counting on. Since Sulawayo let slip to the Senate that someone whose blood could cure the MalX had cured Rosie’s dad, they’ve been searching for that someone. We’re simply going to let them know it’s you and give them a few hints on your whereabouts. Essie’s contact in the Senate, Whitely, will make sure a full force is sent after you.”

Pip got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “So instead of just Helios operatives after me, the goddamn Senate Elite will be on my case as well?”

“Exactly, and they’ll follow you, especially if we tell them you’re running to the Enclave and it’s a Helios training base.”

Now Pip saw his plan and despite still wanting to punch the man in the face, he had to admire Riley’s balls. “You’re bringing an army to the Enclave’s doorstep, aren’t you?”

“Well, they asked for it,” Essie said. “People should learn not to mess with the Black women.”

Tell me something, anything.” Alpha’s furious face was centimetres away, close enough so Rosie could see the veins in his temples throb with frustration. The manacle seared the skin at her temples and across her skull and sweat wet her face. Or was it tears?

“When I was five I lost my favourite toy,” she said, and suddenly that was funny. She saw her mother’s face in her mind, talking to her, but she couldn’t hear her, and then she saw her dad and he had that grin she hadn’t seen for years. He was laughing with her.

Alpha made a sound and tweaked the manacle and Rosie screamed. Cold fire was flowing over her scalp, down her arms and back. She twisted, seeking to escape but the straps held her fast to the chair, biting into her wrists.

“Tell me!” Alpha whispered in her ear, but she couldn’t speak. Images filled her head, but they were old: her childhood; school; meeting Riley in a strange dark place like a bunker, the reflection of a holo in his eyes; then Pip, his gaze blue and clear. She tried to stretch for him but couldn’t reach. All else after that was a blank, a wall thrown up.

“Pip,” she whispered.

Alpha grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her, excited. “Yes, where is he? Where has he gone? Back to Riley? What is his plan?”

Rosie grimaced against the pain. “He was born on Mars, but he likes the river more.”

Alpha’s dark eyes seemed to turn black. Mouth set, he tweaked the manacle again. Rosie arched up against her restraints, her teeth clicked together hard, and this time the pain was so white she ceased to exist. She was nothing and, without making a sound, she let it swallow her.

When she woke up, she was lying on the cot, alone in the cell. How long had she been out? The air was frigid, cold enough to see her breath. Alpha had taken the blankets, the pillow, leaving only the thin hard mattress. The single light in the ceiling flickered. She could hear nothing from outside. There was a faint smell of old urine coming from the open lidless toilet.

Slowly, carefully, she sat up. The burns from the manacle stung and her head and body ached, but not like an effect of the implant. It was still dormant thanks to Cassie’s serum. The pain was purely from the manacle and from Alpha, where he’d dug his fingers into her shoulders in frustration. She felt bruised. She looked around for water but they’d left her nothing. She wore only the regulation Helios thin T-shirt and pants and she rubbed her arms with numb fingers to get some warmth, but it didn’t work. Rosie forced her aching limbs to stand and did a few star jumps, then rolled her shoulders back and forth and ran on the spot to get the blood moving.
Can’t let them win
. It was a litany in her head.

The door opened and Gillian came in. Rosie stopped mid step, panting for breath.

“Gillian.”

“Hey.” She held a tray with food and water. The left side of her face was swollen from under her eye to her lip.

“I thought you’d be in another cell or …?” Rosie didn’t want to finish what else she thought might have happened.

“Yeah, well, I was. I did some fast talking, about being sorry, said I got confused by things you told me …” She took in the burn marks on Rosie’s temple and winced. “Sorry.”

Rosie took the tray and went to sit on the cot, balancing it across her legs. She took a slow drink of water. There was something furtive about the way Gillian was acting.

“So they let you out?” Rosie said.

“I’m under strict surveillance. One of Alpha’s goons follows me round all the time, like my own personal stalker and they locked me in last night. It’s afternoon by the way – in case you’re wondering.”

Rosie nodded. She watched Gillian clasp and unclasp her hands then fold her arms across her middle. Rosie guessed there were more bruises hidden by her T-shirt. Alpha was no doubt listening to every word they said and she wondered what his game was, sending Gillian in here. What was he expecting might happen?

She put the cup down and picked up a spoon, pushing it through the unidentifiable mush of food on the tray. “Do you know if Dalton’s okay?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen him since we got caught.” Gillian sat beside her.

“Sulawayo?”

“Gone, I think – unless they took her somewhere else.” Gillian suddenly started coughing like she had something stuck in her throat. She hunched forwards towards Rosie, almost upsetting the tray.