Page 29 of A Monster’s Future

It was a strange Earth custom to include the family name. We didn’t do that back on Nova Vita.

Chris leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as he spoke to her in a low voice. “We appreciate you making the trip out here.”

“An opportunity to buy the ore straight from the source? We’d never miss it.”

Her accent was different from the ones I’d been hearing around the station: warmer, almost friendly. It sounded more like the way we spoke in Vokira, and I wondered if she was mimicking the way we spoke to make herself sound more trustworthy.

Her team sat next to her, two on either side. And two more armed guards stood behind them. They’d brought someone to record the meeting as well, a young man who was sitting on the other end of the long table.

I adjusted my dress, smoothing out the fabric. It was one of Kat’s old outfits, one of the few things she’d managed to recover from her past life as a Nova Vitan councilor’s assistant. The cut was professional and clean, but it was a bit loose on me. I’d filled out in my years living with the Kadrixans, but I wasn’t as shapely a Kat. It was also obvious that the style was a little outdated. The fabric was too stiff, the fit just a little too boxy. Still, I looked the part as long as you didn’t look hard enough, and that was all that mattered.

The assembly room was too much of everything. Too big, too grand, too ostentatious for a trade negotiation with a small, backwater settlement. The ceiling stretched high above us, adorned with intricate carvings. The walls were lined with polished stone, with veins of gold and silver glinting brightly in the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long shadows across the empty chairs. The long table in the center where we sat was made of a dark, glossy material.

Grtirr and Trsak stood behind Chris, Sergio, and the rest of the Ellaston team. They were acting as guards, their forms statue-still. Tessa’s eyes kept straying to them with a mix of fear and interest.

Igor was just outside the door, and we had people stationed all the way down the hallway.

I fiddled with my earpiece as Annabel’s voice came through the speaker. “Refreshments incoming.”

As warned, there was a knock before the front door opened to several men and women pushing carts into the room. The carts were topped with domed covers and clear jugs of icy water and juice.

My mouth was suddenly too dry. A nice cold drink would be amazing right now.

When the servers lifted the cloche, it was the Vossell guards on the side of the room closest to the door who reacted first. From my position, I had a great view as Trsak and Grtirr moved too, suddenly pouncing clear over the table and across the room. All I saw was the sleek metal of guns and weapons being lifted from inside the cloche before everything descended into chaos.

I dropped to the floor, my heart hammering in my chest, as sounds of gunfire, glasses crashing to the floor, and angry shouts filled the room. The acrid smell of smoke and spilled alcohol burned my nose, and I pressed myself flat against the carpet, praying the chaos would end, but knowing it would not.

Grtirr gripped the edge of the table even as the rest of us scrambled away. His red knuckles lightened to a pink, and he strained against the heavy table. Then, with a roar, he overturned it.

“Get behind the table,” he ordered.

I scrambled behind the bulletproof table. Sergio was there too. He pulled Tessa behind the thick table with him. The woman was shaking like a leaf, and so were the others from Vossell who’d come to talk. Our eyes met for a split second, and hers were wide with fear, eliminating the tiny thought that perhaps she was in on the attack.

The front door of the meeting room burst open, and Igor stomped in, eager to get in on the action.

“What’s going on in there?” Annabel asked through the earpiece with a panicked voice.

“The refreshments were a setup,” Sergio answered.

That was when I saw Chris leaning against a chair, his hands to his stomach.

“Chris!” I grabbed Sergio’s arm. “He’s out in the open!”

“Shit!”

“I’m fine,” Chris groaned.

“The hell you are!” I yelled back. Stupid men, always fronting, even when they had a hole in their bodies.

Sergio and I traded spaces as a round of gunfire hit the other side of the table. Well, at least we knew the claims of bulletproof furniture were no lie.

“Charlene’s hurt too,” Sergio said, his words rushed. “I don’t think I can move her.”

I looked over to see Charlene on the floor. Blood seeped onto the carpet, and she was completely still. Bile rose to my throat, and I shoved it back. I was not going to be sick and add more to the chaos.

“Let’s move the table,” I said, thinking fast.

We all pitched in, Ellaston and Vossell representatives alike, and damn was the table heavy! The thing weighed a ton. But together we were able to shove the table to the side a few feet to block their injured forms from any more stray bullets.