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She takes the bridge. Malik gestures to me with a snapping motion to follow him. I do as I have silently been told and follow Malik down to the lobby of the ship. That’s probably not the technical term for it, but it is where Shah and the others are catching their breath. There’s a smell there, the scent of seared flesh, like a barbecue, except of people.
“Someone betrayed us,” Shah growls. “They were waiting for us. We walked in and they were already there. If it wasn’t for Zeki throwing a smoke grenade, we would have all been annihilated then and there.”
Zeki is being carried off on a stretcher now, and Malik is following her.
Shah glances at me, and nods slightly, as if happy I am intact. I wonder how close I was to not surviving. I wonder how far we all were from oblivion.
“With me, Dreamy.” He snaps the order and points at his feet, calling me like a dog. I obey because he does not look like he is in the mood to be disobeyed. There is a pall over the ship, an uncustomary seriousness and intensity that I feel in my gut. What just happened was not part of their usual experience, I suppose. Normally they are the ones doing the fighting, winning battles. I have no idea what went wrong on the space station, but it was obviously very, very bad.
“Don’t lag behind!” Shah snaps at me.
I follow after him, roving the ship as he takes stock of damage and injuries. We end up in the sick bay, where there are several of his people nursing various wounds. It is Zeki who is hurt worst. Malik is by her bedside looking as grim as can be. She’s lying very still with her eyes closed, completely pale. For a moment, I think she is dead. Then I notice her breathing, shallow, but present.
There is a medic with her, a man with blue hair and a tattoo covering half his face. Nobody introduces him. This isn’t a social occasion.
“Internal burn damage is very difficult to treat. There’s organ damage, and vascular cauterization…” I don’t understand much of what the doctor is saying, but I know bad news when I hear it. “We don’t have access to a full hospital, and without one, I don’t think she is going to last the night.”
I listen to the doctor giving Shah and Malik the bad news, and I find my eyes welling with tears. I don’t know why. I’ve never mourned anybody before, and I don’t know why I would start by mourning someone who absolutely hates me. Zeki was always so full of life, and yes, she tried to get me in trouble, but that doesn’t mean I wish death on her.
“Then we’re getting her to a hospital,” Malik says. “I’ll put her in a shuttle and take her.”
“You’re not going to go in a shuttle, Malik. We’re all going. The ship is far faster than any shuttle could be. Nothing is going to happen to her. Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen. Nothing is going to happen.”
Except something has already happened. Zeki has been shot. There’s no undoing that. And though I am no doctor, she has a particular pall that makes me think she may not survive. I am shocked at what I have seen. The violence from the forces on the space station seemed extreme. They wanted to eradicate Shah and everybody with him.
* * *
“Who were the soldiers?” I venture the question quietly when Shah stalks out of the sick bay, his expression thunderous. I’m half afraid he’s going to take it out on me. I feel guilty, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I always feel guilty for no reason.
“The entire station had been hijacked by authorities. It was a trap designed to catch me. Someone on board this ship let them know I was coming.”
“There are so many people on the ship. It could have been any of them.”
“But only a handful who knew where I was going. I don’t announce my movements to all and sundry. We’re outlaws, but we’re not stupid.” He turns to me. “I’m going to secure you in my room, Dreamy. I have some business to attend to.”
8
Shah
I have the blood of my companions on my skin, and the responsibility for their deaths on my conscience. I have failed those who trusted me so deeply and so completely I can barely express it.
I have never been caught so completely off-guard. I am distracted. Dreamy has me off-balance. It is not uncommon for me to have someone warming my bed. It is very uncommon for me to be thinking about them to the extent we all get murdered. I am angry, furious with myself. I cannot afford mistakes. Mistakes get my friends killed.
I call a meeting of my people, the only people I trust to know with my destinations. These are friends and lieutenants I’ve trusted my entire adult life, people who have suffered with me and grown with me. Their loyalty is unquestionable. But I’m going to have to question it.
Malik is still by Zeki’s bedside, which means I’m left to speak with my other top lieutenants, Azriel, Rath, and Kolt. Azriel was with me down on the docks. Rath and Kolt were handling security on the ship, taking orders from Malik and executing them.
“Well, boys,” I say. “I fucked up.”
As I speak, I give each and every one of them a long, hard look. I want to see if there are any glimmers of guilt in their gazes beyond the obvious regret we all share. I see nothing but their steadfast loyalty and honor coming back at me.
“They knew we were coming.”
Each of us is a warrior. They follow me because I have led them to riches, and yes, even peace. But if I cannot do that, they will have no problem splintering from me and starting their own concerns.
Azriel clears his throat. “Has it occurred to you that the first ambush we’ve been caught out in years happens days after you take a wandering drone from the Colony in? You have to consider the possibility she’s the reason we got fucking hammered today. She could be a mole.” Azriel wears a thick, dark pair of spectacles that do very little to hide the fact that he is about as bookish as a tiger. His hair is shaved completely on the left side of his head, and the rest of it falls in a dark cascade on the right. He’s used the shaved real estate responsibly, wild tattoos displayed on the side of his skull, each with a particularly nasty meaning. His left hand is fisted in his right, and then his right is fisted in his left, back and forth, back and forth, punching his own palms in slow frustration. His eyes are a vicious green, locked on me with what could become malevolence if we are not all very careful.
“She has no connections. It’s not possible. She has not been in communication with anybody. I haven’t allowed it, and all our channels are encrypted and monitored. Anything going to the Authority would have been flagged.”
