Kill by Numbers: In the Wake of the Templars Book Two (21 page)

The crew outside all stepped away from the window. Raena spread out to hug the crate beneath her, trying to relax.

The window popped. Everything in the room got sucked out into space. There was a chaos of klaxons and debris and flashing red lights. Showtime.

Raena waited until the boxes she was strapped to rotated. Half the team had gone into the apartment. The other half waited outside, rifles at the ready. The demolition crew was already packing up their equipment and getting ready to walk back to the maintenance hatch where they’d come out of the station.

She was moving away from them fast, but it didn’t take long for them to establish that the apartment was unoccupied. She watched the helmets turn in her direction.

The Stinger was a sporting weapon, meant for hunting in atmosphere. It would fire in space, but its range was limited. She waited for them to come to her. Once she began to fire, she would have no cover.

Ten soldiers. She counted them down, firing at rocket packs, guns, boots. These were just guys, doing a job. No need to kill them, if she could dissuade them. Besides, Mellix hadn’t wanted her to do them any permanent damage.

Unfortunately, her initial judgment had been correct. These were professionals. Those that could returned fire.

Raena flung herself forward, changing the momentum of the crates she was strapped to. The whole set of them started to tumble.

She got the Stinger up and ready, because when the boxes came around, she really was going to have nowhere to hide.

Someone landed on the other side of the pallet. She couldn’t hear him, but she felt the crates begin to spin a different way. She was ready when his helmet popped up over the edge of the crates. Too bad he wasn’t.

She made a grab at his rifle, but it was tethered to his arm and she didn’t have time to cut it loose before the rest of the team came at her.

Two of them fired on the crates, but missed her. She puzzled over that, then realized her matte black suit must be hard to see against the black slave cloth. They should have waited until she came around to face the lights of the station. By the time the third one figured out where she was, it was too late. He was too close for her to miss.

The last one had lost his weapon. The scorch where she’d hit it smudged the front of his armor.

She got the knife out of the top of her left boot. When he swung for her, she slashed his glove.

The low-tech attack caught him entirely by surprise. She pushed him away with her feet as he struggled to seal his suit with his off hand.

When the crates tumbled over again, Raena saw the
Veracity
swooping toward her. Haoun was aiming the cargo door toward her.

Raena scrambled to unhook her tethers so she wouldn’t be crushed beneath the pallet when it landed on the
Veracity
’s deck.

CHAPTER 10

M
ykah glanced down at the comm bracelet on his wrist. “Trouble,” it read. “Wait in the elevator vestibule.”

Coni was standing in line at the bartending machines, waiting to get them some drinks. Vezali was out on the dance floor somewhere. As Mykah stood to look for them, he saw Coni’s head turn his way and knew she’d gotten the message, too. Vezali stretched two of her tentacles up to the lighting rig above the dancers in the low-ceilinged room and swung herself out of the crowd, to applause and a roar of approval from below.

“Are they okay?” Vezali asked when she reached him.

“We know Raena knows what she’s doing, so we’ll have to trust she has it handled,” Mykah said.

“Either she had some warning or it’s already over,” Coni pointed out. “The message came from Haoun.”

They edged their way through the packed club toward the corridor outside. Clubs, bars, and restaurants filled this part of the station, one up against the next. People desperate for a good time jammed the walkway.

“How do we get to the elevator?” Vezali asked.

“I left my handheld with Raena,” Coni said.

“There’s a transit hub up the way. Climb on,” Mykah told Vezali. She wrapped enough of her tentacles around his torso that she could hold on. The other tentacles she curled into little spirals that she held close to her body. Vezali hid her eye against his shoulder. She seemed to weigh almost nothing.

Mykah launched himself sideways up a storefront, grabbed a railing, flung himself forward, kept moving. He’d missed this. Capital City didn’t have the intoxicating heights he’d enjoyed free-running on Kai, but it had plenty of interesting things to catch hold of or jump off of. He didn’t look behind, knowing Coni would keep up.

The metro platform bustled with revelers heading home. Unfortunately, once Mykah, Coni, and Vezali got onto the train, it emptied out as it drew nearer and nearer the elevator. Mykah wasn’t liking the quiet, but he wasn’t sure what else they could have done. They couldn’t have run the whole way; taking a cab seemed like putting too much faith in a stranger. Mykah was pretty sure Raena wouldn’t have done that, but he couldn’t guess what she would have done.

When the train reached the terminal station, the three of them were the only people to get out. Mykah waited for the attack to come down as they passed through the echoing station, but no one accosted them.

Faced with the empty plaza outside the elevator’s waiting area, Mykah realized he had no idea what to say to the guards. He couldn’t very well admit that they had an exit window in two days’ time and just planned to hang around until then. He wished Haoun—or Raena—had given them more direction.

Three Dagat—Vezali’s people—flowed toward them across the plaza. “I told my siblings why we’d come to Capital City,” Vezali explained. “Vezari is the Planetary Consul for our homeworld.”

Once they got closer, one of the Dagat said in a high-pitched girlish voice, “We came as soon as we heard.”

“Heard what?” Vezali asked.

“There was an explosion at Mellix’s apartment in the Heights,” another said.

“Oh, no,” Coni said.

“Anyone hurt?” Mykah asked.

“They haven’t said yet. It may have been an accident. Security hasn’t blamed terrorists so far.”

Coni took Mykah’s hand, but didn’t say anything.

Vezali introduced her siblings, but their names all sounded so similar it was difficult for Mykah to pick up the nuances.

“How did you know to come here to meet us?” Mykah asked.

“We have been monitoring our sibling to ensure zir safety.”

“When you are arrested,” another of them said, “we will go with you.”

“Will we be arrested?” Coni asked.

“Assuredly. It is this local government’s practice to blame, rather than take responsibility. If the explosion was not caused by terrorists attacking Capital City, then there is a fault in the design of the station. People are already very close to panic. Terrorists are less frightening than the station falling apart around us, because terrorists can be caught.”

And who better to blame than a human
, Mykah thought. He hoped Raena had gotten out safely.

Raena picked herself up off the
Veracity
’s deck and began tethering the pallet down. Haoun commed back, “All right in there?”

She ran through the switches in the unfamiliar suit until she found one that let her respond. “Thank you. I’m good. Can you find the pallet outside that contains Coni’s handheld? I set its beacon for you.”

“Got it locked. I can get over to it, but you’re gonna have to get out there with a jet pack and push it in.”

“I can do that.” She found the correct locker and pulled the jet pack out.

As she was shouldering into it, Haoun added, “We’re in trouble. They’re threatening to scramble fighters unless we move away from the station.”

“We need that pallet. Get us over to it, then stand down. We need to get Mellix onboard to sort this out.”

“All right. It’s coming in slightly above us.”

Raena blasted out to get it. She got it turned and aimed toward the ship, tucking it inside like a ball into a pocket. She tethered it, then closed the hatch. The other two pallets would have to wait.

As soon as the atmosphere had settled, she pulled off her helmet and drew a deep breath.

“They’re coming,” Haoun warned.

“Stand down,” Raena repeated. She opened the crate with Mellix and the kiisas. “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” she told him, helping him to sit up.

“Where … ?”

“You’re on the
Veracity
,” she said. “We’re in trouble again. The air force is on its way to accuse us of attacking Capital City.”

Mellix rubbed his face with his paws. He looked faintly ridiculous in his pale blue pajamas, but Raena didn’t point that out. After an enormous yawn, he asked, “I assume you have video of what really happened?”

“Haoun?” she said into the air.

“Yes,” he answered over the comm. “I haven’t played it back yet, but the cameras did record something.”

“Good,” Mellix said. “Can you put me through to Station Security?”

Raena guided him to stand in front of a screen. As Haoun made the connection, Raena leaned back against the wall beside Mellix: out of view, she hoped. He nodded like he understood her. She guessed he must be well used to dealing with shadowy figures.

“Mellix!”

“Good to see you, Commander,” Mellix answered.

“What happened? There was an explosion in your apartment.”

“We’re sending over the video now,” he said. As Haoun complied, Mellix watched it for the first time himself. “As you can see, a team of assassins attacked my apartment. Luckily, I was prepared for them. I’m now aboard the ship you arranged to remove my things from Capital City. We are in the process of collecting my possessions.”

“Were,” Haoun corrected over the comm. “We’re surrounded by fighters now.”

“Commander?” Mellix asked.

One of the kiisas bounced over, leaping up into Mellix’s arms. Raena fought not to laugh. He stroked it calmly, completely at ease as he stared at the screen.

“You’re safe?” the station commander asked.

“Yes. Now I’d like to collect the rest of my things and get out of your way.”

“I’d like nothing more,” the commander assured. “However, we have the movers who packed your things in custody.”

“Whatever for?”

“They are being charged with planting the bomb that destroyed your apartment and damaged Capital City.”

“You can see that they were not responsible,” Mellix argued.

“We’re investigating …”

Mellix’s good-natured voice turned steely. “Of course, they will be released, all charges dropped, and escorted to the elevator for the next available window out. Or, you understand, everyone will see that they were not responsible for the damage to Capital City and there will be accusations that Station Security is not adequate to its task, in addition to allegations of a cover-up.”

Raena was impressed by how easily the threat left Mellix’s lips. She’d seen the companies and governments he’d faced down in the past, but now she could reconcile the amiable squirrel with the fiery journalist.

“I will confer with Elevator Security and Flight Control and find out what your window at the elevator will be.”

“Thank you, Commander. In the meantime, can we continue to retrieve my possessions before they all float away into space?”

“Go ahead,” the commander said. “Just be cautious flying so close to the station.”

After the connection was severed, Haoun huffed, “Cautious? I was born cautious.”

Raena laughed at him. But before Mellix could turn away, she said, “Thank you for keeping me out of trouble.”

Mellix swept forward and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for saving my life. Goodness. I can’t believe anyone would send so many soldiers against me.”

One of the kiisas launched itself at Raena. She caught it, fumbling just a little. It was buzzing as it snuggled up against her.

“Just doing my job,” she assured. “Can you collect up the kiisas and clear the hold? I’ll go out and gather up the rest of your boxes so we can go rescue my crew.”

Raena didn’t mean to fall asleep, but after she’d stowed away all of Mellix’s crates, she made the mistake of sitting down in the lounge. Apparently, that was all it took.

She was a teenager, not yet fifteen. She was traveling with Ariel and her father on a sales call to Nyx. The girls spent the day shopping, Ariel’s favorite pastime, looking for jet bike helmets in a mall near the city center. Ariel wanted a night-vision helmet, but it had to be stylish without being silly. That was proving to be a tall order.

Dissatisfied, they had returned to the street, headed to retrieve their rented jet bikes. Without warning, the sky platform overhead exploded. Bodies and debris rained down.

Raena dodged right as large pieces of the platform crashed onto the mall behind them. The skyscraper collapsed, spilling shattered masonry into the street. In the dusty chaos that followed, Ariel got separated from Raena.

From her hiding place, Raena watched Ariel mount up on the surviving jet bike. Ariel raced off without a look behind. Her father had been supposed to be on that platform, meeting with city fathers and an Imperial delegation. Ariel must be confirming that he had escaped the destruction.