Page 100 of The Fall

Kerr caught a gleam of metal. She had external vocal processors, not implants. That’s why her collar was so high. Her curiosity got the better of her. “Don’t you have the fancy DocPods?”

Mashö pulled her collar tighter. “We’re discussing Model 2. Where is it?”

“With Chalice.” That made no sense. Chalice had locked herself and Pinga in the vault long before they had acquired Model 2. Kerr hoped they didn’t know that.

Mashö snapped her gaze to Cinder. Cinder shrunk. “How the fuck was I supposed to know? They didn’t tell me anything!”

“Ah, right. I was about to ring the snivelling shite-sack and tell him all about it before you nabbed me.” Kerr quite enjoyed seeing Cinder put in his place, watching his optical implant jerk between her and Mashö.

“Then give us the specs for the biosig suppressor.” Mashö took a step forward, staring down at Kerr.

She tried to calm the roiling in her stomach. “If I decompress the file, it’ll fry your cyberware. That tends to kill people.”

Mashö turned slowly to Cinder.

“You still need me to finish making your weapons,” Cinder yelled, voice shaking.

“Hmm.” Mashö turned back to Kerr. “Remove his hardware then.”

“What?” Cinder stumbled backward into the arms of two Styx, their unnatural green eyes mocking him. Cinder screamed as they dragged him away.

“Don’t go anywhere.” Mashö said flatly, following. Footsteps trailed away and then, nothing. Kerr strained her aural processors, but they were offline like everything else

Surrounded by nothing but the sound of dust falling, she clenched her jaw, as if that might stop the sticky warmth spilling across her cheek. Think, she told herself. She needed to survive this first. Then she could figure out what to do about Lusa. The thought of reuniting with her, leaping into her arms, pulling those glorious noises from her throat – stop it. Kerr reminded herself that her hormone regulator wasn’t working and she had to focus. She could figure out how she had become so addicted to her later, even if Lusa didn’t want her back.

Mashö returned, striding with her long, heavy coat swishing about her ankles. Kerr craned her aching neck to get a better look. Combat boots thudding dully against the floor. Loose-fitting TacPants. Her black coat with the unusually high collar.

She was either incredibly wealthy, or…

“You don’t have real cyberware, do you?” Kerr’s face had swollen and the words came out muffled.

Mashö raised an eyebrow along with the corner of her lip. She pulled back her collar and removed the ancient prosthetic, revealing an ugly scar. She refastened it, “How did you know?”

“The coat.” Kerr shook her head. “You have no Thermabulle.”

“Clever.” Mashö waited for the implication to sink in.

They stared at each other for several moments. Kerr’s eyes widened when she realised. “You knew about the biosig suppressor.”

“There is no such thing.” Mashö righted her collar. “If you had a scanner, you would see that I also have no biosig. Nor can I use DocPods.”

“Then why…”

“He was a greedy simpleton who would have destroyed your little group and sold its women and girls to us for the chance to be in charge for a day. I disliked him.” Mashö toyed with a ring on her finger. “Let us see if I dislike you.”

Kerr spat in disgust. “You’re the one who wanted to buy us from him. You’re worse than he is.”

“Was.” Mashö chewed the inside of her cheek. “He did not survive removal of his implants.”

Kerr blanched. She hated Cinder. She remembered hoping that Lusa would kill him when she rewatched the footage from her Opti. It still felt strange to have this woman talk about his life ending with such nonchalance.

“You’re worth practically nothing” Mashö flipped her hand like Kerr was a snowflake to be brushed off her coat. “A year of revenue before you died, perhaps.”

“Then why? Why make trafficking a condition of the deal?” Kerr flexed her good forearm. They weren’t like Lusa’s. She had no hope of breaking through the bindings.

Mashö shrugged quickly, like it was obvious. “Women put ideas in men’s heads. Make them want more. Remove the women,” Mashö held out one hand, then the other. “They have nothing to fight over. No future we don’t control.”

Kerr sneered. “You’re disgusting.”