Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

“I can’t believe you made a bid on that job.”

The words slipped out before Connor realized he was talking. If he was lucky, the rented air car’s fans would drown out his words. Or maybe the disorienting flight over the black city of Meadows would keep Selen’s attention on the dashboard. If he was lucky, going from Cerberus’s garish interior to the smelly, beat up car was enough distraction to keep her from noticing he’d even said anything.

Her glare said otherwise. “Have to make money.”

All right, so she was ticked off. The madder she got, the more her speech became clipped.

He tugged his stolen shoes off and massaged his tender feet. The Cerberus systems had been kind enough to clean out the shoe interior, but the process had left the material a little dry. “Sorry. It’s just that I couldn’t figure out a way to turn a profit when I saw the number.”

“We cut corners. If we get the job.”

Connor shrank in on himself. How could Puget pass on such a low bid? More importantly, who had tipped him off to the bounty? Something was very wrong with the situation.

“Have you—” Connor checked that Selen wasn’t ignoring him. “—wondered about everything that’s happened since we arrived?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Well, we’re barely two hours officially registered in the Sang computers, and I’ve got assassins chasing me around in Winter, and clients are refusing to let us bid.”

“It’s a computerized system. Word gets out.”

“There’s still a human element. People always get involved. They slow things down.”

Selen glowered. “Drop it.”

She sent the air car into a deep descent, and a minute later, they settled on a broad, black raised platform attached to the Silver Blossom. There were several other air cars parked in assigned spaces. Unlike theirs, the other cars were shiny and looked very expensive.

When Selen shut the air car down and darkness had settled around them again, she bowed her head. “This client—”

“Ms. Lenina.”

“—hasn’t canceled the meeting yet. Maybe we get lucky.”

“You’re thinking she might have the sort of job that our status doesn’t matter.”

Selen nodded, the angle of her nose a more prominent shadow than the rest of her face. “Makes sense.”

“Are we ready to actively tick off the Directorate?”

She sighed. “A little late.”

Meaning: Since he’d already drawn the ire of the behemoth Talon government, it was too late to worry about the Devils getting caught up in it.

They took a ramp down to the entry, stopping at the door to marvel at the faint, silvery shape of the ramp column entry a few kilometers away. It was another of the massive transportation systems connecting the upper and lower cities. And it was their escape route if things went poorly.

The Silver Blossom interior was even nicer than what Cerberus had on offer. Brighter, louder, thicker with a mix of human smells. Rather than a casino, it offered cinematic and live performances, along with art displays and…private gatherings.

Their potential client—Ms. Lenina—had rented a small room with mirrored glass walls. Inside, she reclined on a small, gray chaise longue, which complimented her long, black gown. As tall as Selen—or nearly so—the potential client had a round face and bright, dancing eyes. “You’ve come to make a bid? I’d like that.”

Selen took one of the simple chairs opposite Ms. Lenina. “You still open?”

“I’ll make a decision tonight. The job—do you want to know what it is? I can tell you.”

Connor settled in the chair next to Selen. “We’d like to hear about it.”

“Good! Are you two the only people, or do you have a team? To do the job, I mean.” Ms. Lenina’s small mouth broke into a hopeful smile.

“We have a—” He stopped when Selen’s eyes narrowed at him: She wanted to handle the negotiations.

Selen leaned back in her chair. “Tell us about the job.”

“Yes. That sounds like a good idea. You’ll want to know what I expect before you bid, won’t you?” Ms. Lenina pressed a long, delicate fingertip against her chin. “Well, I need someone killed.”

“Assassination?”

“Exactly! But it has to be done a very specific way. I want him turned into a bloody smear.” Ms. Lenina giggled. “I guess you could leave his genitals intact. Nothing else, though.”

“Messy. But I know how you’re feeling.” Selen threw some side-eye at Connor.

“Can you do it with something primitive? Baseball or cricket bats?”

“Maybe. Who is this?”

The humor slipped from Ms. Lenina. “Reuben Wu. He’s the mayor of Louden. Did you know that? And he’s a lousy lay. Isn’t that something?” She choked up and looked away, running a finger across an eye.

Connor had felt warm stepping into the mirror-walled room, but now he felt cold and queasy. Ms. Lenina wasn’t putting on a show—she was disturbed. She was also hurt and angry and all sorts of other feelings, without a doubt, but she was also stark raving mad.

But more importantly, she had money. The job offer was real.

Selen looked down at her hands. “It’s going to be messy. Louden’s a big city. He’ll have bodyguards.”

“Six of them. All big. They’ve undergone cybernetic and chemical enhancements. That’s why I’m willing to pay top rates. For video. I mean, I want what you do to Reuben on video. Not you. You can wear masks or whatever. And I don’t care about seeing his bodyguards killed. They’re okay, if you don’t mind them always looking at you like you’re a threat. I’m not a threat.”

So, the bodyguards had seen her as a threat. This wasn’t some sort of stress-induced collapse, then.

The job was becoming less palatable each second.

None of that seemed to bother Selen. She put on a face that looked sympathetic but businesslike. After a moment, she pulled out her pocket computer, typed in a number, and swiped that across to Ms. Lenina.

Their potential client pulled a pocket computer from a pocket hidden in her flowing gown. “That number is good. It’s exactly the number I had in mind.”

Selen pushed up from her chair. “I hope to hear from you tonight.”

“Oh, you will. Without a doubt.” Ms. Lenina rose and stood straight. She was taller than Selen but slender of shoulder and narrow at the waist. “Thank you so much!”

They were back at the air car before Connor exhaled. “Wow.”

“Don’t start.”

“She’s crazy.”

“She has money.”

“We kill this guy, and the entire team will be wanted for murder.”

“Only if we get sloppy.” Selen got into the car and slammed the door.

Connor slid into the passenger side. “The odds of getting caught—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “We get this job, and I’ll forgive you.”

He buckled in as she powered the vehicle up. The fans spun up to full rotation, and they climbed. There was no pushing away their potential client’s mannerisms and the terms of the job.

Beating a man—an influential and powerful man—to death…

Recording it…

It would take so much time, and there would be so much evidence…

Selen hissed and pulled out her pocket computer, which glowed with an incoming message alert. She tapped through until she could see the message, then a dark shadow passed over her face.

She shoved the device into Connor’s gut. “It’s for you.”

The text was from Ms. Lenina and read: “I just found out that your friend has a bounty on his head. That makes things tricky. I have to think about this. I’ll be in touch.”

Connor handed the computer back. He’d cost them another job.