Whilst I stare, Tanisira leaps into action. She moves like a blur.
The goon’s grip on me loosens, and I’m shoved out of the way. Stumbling, I catch myself on the doorframe. Tanisira punches him hard enough to knock him into the wall, face first, and grabs the gun from his back pocket. Before I can scream or cry or even blink, she whacks him on the head with it, and he crumples. The whole thing happened in seconds.
She rushes to the desk, picks up one of two packages and shoves it into her bag. Then she hurries over to where I’m still frozen in place and grabs my arm. “Quickly. They won’t be down for long.”
I have a thousand questions, but I’m an observer in my own body, and I run with her instead, taking the stairs at a dangerous speed and exiting the building through a camouflaged side door. The night swallows us as we flee. We pace through the streets, and it’s clear that my fitness level is severely subpar to Tanisira’s. Her breathing’s even whilst I heave away, my lungs burning. If the plan is to run all the way back to the hub, to theship, I’ll drop dead way before then.
She drags me into an alley just when my wheezing gets really bad. The Tower arches over the surrounding roofs, andTanisira takes me down a series of narrow side streets, ending at a dimly lit gate. It leads into a small courtyard filled with overflowing bins. My every breath is explosive, and my legs cramp. Alarmingly, my vision starts to waver at the edges. Oh, Fuck.
“Tan—”
“I know,” she grits out.
She leads me by the hand into the back of the building. It turns out to be The Tower’s kitchen, where the staff stare at us but don’t look particularly surprised. One of them nods towards a corridor, and Tanisira heads for it. She’s practically dragging me at this point, supporting most of my weight. I can’t spare the oxygen to be embarrassed.
The second we come to a stop, I collapse against a wall. Hands settle on my back, moving in slow and sweeping arcs, and I can’t muster the energy to shove them off. The wall provides support as I slide down it and drop my head between my knees, overcome with nausea. Tanisira moves away and starts to pace.
Sometime later, I lift my head. We’re in what appears to be the staff room. The white walls are plastered with posters, and two sinks stand against one end, a long line of lockers against another. Older appliances look a little worse for wear. It smells like tomato soup and cologne, an aroma that doesn’t help my stomach one bit. A hamper of chef’s whites is tucked into a corner. The pile of stained clothes makes me feel icky.
When Tanisira collects a bundle and holds it out to me, I almost throw up right then and there. I’m suddenly overcome with bone-deep exhaustion. I glare at her.
“What am I meant to do with this?”
“Put it on, Marlowe.”
Her tone gets my back up, and I narrow my eyes. “Are you gonna explain what the fuck just happened?”
She drags her hands over her face, a little pale. “Back at the ship. Put those on.” When I open my mouth to protest, she fixes me with a glare of her own. “Now.”
I’m not shy at the best of times, and right now, I don’t care who might walk in. The full body ache makes it difficult to get my clothes off, but Tanisira, thankfully, doesn’t so much as twitch in my direction. I cross my arms when I’m done, feeling a little woozy.
She gives me a swift once-over and then nods her approval. “This is going to sound convoluted, and I’m sorry, it is. We need to head back to theMidasseparately. You’ll go first, back out the way we entered, and meet me at Lunar Plaza. Head straight there, don’t stop for anything and try to look casual.”
I gape. “You made such a big deal about me not leaving the hub, and you’re sending me out there alone? After what just happened?”
“I’ll be right behind you, and someone else will be watching. You’ll be safe.”
A buzzing distracts me. When I pull out my slate, she’s sent me a location. I swipe it open and frown at the proposed pin in proximity to our location.
“This isn’t the nearest station. I can see that there’s a closer one; wouldn’t it make more sense to go there?”
But Tanisira’s shaking her head before I finish and darts an agitated look at me. “If anyone is on us—and there definitely will be—they’ll expect us to go to Nova Platform. It’s not worth the risk. Can you—” She stops, exhales deeply. “Can you please just trust me on this?”
Flesh. Trafficker. Greed.
I take a step away from her before I realise I’m doing it. Then I take my cap off and shove it in the bag, to give me something to do, so I don’t have to look at her pained expression.
Tanisira walks me to the courtyard and repeats her instructions, stressing that I keep my head down. As I walk away, the back of my neck tingles exactly where the gun barrel had been placed.
I shudder and wrap my arms around myself. Thoughts of knives and guns try to catch me out, but I glance around, surveying my surroundings for distractions as I hustle. It’s probably the only reason I see a shadow peel away from a nearby wall and disappear somewhere my vision can’t follow. My skin erupts into goosebumps. I falter, head whipping back and forth, but the figure has vanished like it was never there in the first place.
Tanisira did say someone would be watching.
Following the various signs to Lunar Plaza is easy. What’s not easy is actively trying to keep my shit together until I get there. I think I’m one more surprise away from losing my mind. But I march on, keeping my head down, trying to give off the impression that I know where I’m going and I belong here. My slate feels heavy in my pocket, but I can’t take it out, even though it calls to me with the promise of civility. After all, I could message Vee or call Beau for an update, and neither one of them would come back at me with a saviour complex, a secret life, or possible crimes committed against humanity.
It’s so ridiculous that it’s laughable. It’s also so fucking tragic I could scream.
Lunar Plaza stands inside the inner boundary of Novus Junction, and that’s reflected in the money that was poured into it. A multi-storied atrium is surrounded by platforms at different levels, connected by moving lev walkways that make it look like people are floating in mid-air. It’s big, bright, and, at this time of night, still bustling. Then again, I suppose the hour never matters on a waystation that never sleeps. I’m just glad to see two guards in uniform patrolling on both floors.
