My blood boiled at the knowledge that the president had made a move like this, without consulting the people of our nation. America was supposed to be a representative democracy, but I was pretty sure nobody but his closest aides and military advisors would know he was here. It was Area 51 all over again—a national secret, kept hidden away. I mean, trust a world leader to think that even bigger weapons and even more dangerous technology could fix disputes on Earth.
“Did you speak with your dealer here?” the president asked.
“The shipment has yet to come in,” Ezra replied, his tone bitter.
“I guess it’s never easy to run a rebellion,” the president joked, revealing just how much he knew about the coldblood infiltration on Earth. My anger was rising with every word he said.
“You have no idea,” Ezra muttered. “Ever since my sister’s death, things have taken a perplexing turn. Orion has been unable to think straight after the loss of her. One day he wants to blow everything up; the next he has no taste for war anymore. Fortunately, he seems to be returning to his senses. After all, a rebellion is nothing without its figurehead.”
The president nodded. “Very true. I imagine you’ve made quite the deputy during his grief. He’s lucky to have a smart guy like you to fill in for him.”
Ezra shook his head coyly. “You flatter me, Mr. President.”
“How are you faring? Surely, you’re grieving too?”
“I have dealt with my emotions in a less volatile manner, Mr. President. I am sad to have lost her, as she was a supreme warrior, one hell of a military mind… and, she was my eldest sibling, but it is not in my nature to express my feelings in an outward fashion,” he explained, evidently attempting to cater to the president’s human sensibilities. I doubted he would have understood the often callous-seeming ways of the coldbloods.
All of a sudden, the pieces came together in my mind, and my blood ran cold. Ezra was Pandora’s younger brother. It certainly explained the similarities in their brand of cruelty, messing with the minds of their victims as well as inflicting physical suffering.
“What was her name? Did I have the opportunity to meet her?” the president asked. “I apologize if I did. I meet so many people that it’s hard to keep track sometimes.”
Ezra smiled. “Her name was Pandora, Mr. President, and I’m sad to say you never had the pleasure of meeting her. She traveled a great deal and was rarely able to visit the base. I am sure she would have been delighted by you, had the two of you met.”
I gulped as my suspicions were confirmed. Pandora and Ezra were siblings, making me wonder what terrible fate might greet me if Ezra ever found out that I was the one who murdered his sister. While it was true that coldbloods weren’t particularly big on showing emotion, they were definitely huge advocates for revenge of a family member. He would hunt me to the edges of the universe to make me pay for what I’d done.
Wait, where are Bashrik and Angie? I thought, peering farther into the room, realizing they’d never showed up… unless they were really good at hiding.
“Are you refreshed, Mr. President?” Ezra asked.
“Yes, thank you. This drink was better than any coffee I’ve ever had. Perked me right up.”
Ezra inclined his head. “Then, perhaps we should retire to the ship and continue on our tour of the local planets? There is a delightful leisure planet just beyond the asteroid belt that I think you might like to add to your list of vacation destinations!”
“The first lady does love a vacation.” He laughed loudly, rising from his chair. “I’m ready to go when you are, Ezra. Although, tell me something—how am I getting back to Earth after all this?”
“My associates will return you to your home planet once you’re finished seeing the sights,” Ezra assured him.
“You’re not coming back?”
Ezra gave a heavy sigh. “I would love nothing more, Mr. President, but I need to be back here in a few days to collect my shipment. It’ll be easier to hang around the area, instead of making multiple trips between this sector and Earth. I hope you understand.”
“Of course, Ezra. It’s just me sticking my curious nose into your business, that’s all,” he replied good-naturedly.
“Excellent, then follow me.”
With that, Ezra stood and led the president out of the lounge, closing the door behind them. I realized that the supplier Ezra was waiting for was probably Stone—as I’d overheard the ambaka saying he was due to rendezvous with a client of the same name during one of our last encounters—which made me even more anxious. That three-eyed scavenger had Yorrek’s notebook, and if he somehow ended up selling it to Ezra, we were well and truly done for. Orion might not have been able to save his girlfriend with an immortality elixir, but he could supply his rebels with it, creating an unstoppable force that nobody could overcome.
“They’re leaving!” I whispered, noting that Bashrik and Angie still hadn’t appeared, which meant they definitely weren’t hiding anywhere inside the room. “Come on!”
I grasped Navan’s hand and pulled him back over to the far side of the room. He used his strong arms to help me clamber haphazardly through the window, then followed quickly after. The two of us rushed around the side of the building, just in time to see a sleek ship take off in a cloud of dust.
“Should we go after them?” Navan asked, looking around.
I was about to mention Stone and the stolen notebook, when I noticed Angie and Bashrik standing at the entrance to a shadowed alley, being crowded by a gang of eight grizzled thugs. Bashrik was lunging at them, trying to land a punch while they struck at him, though he kept Angie behind him, using himself as a blockade. The thugs looked like pirates, most of them clad in leather and loose shirts, with piercings and tattoos, and several limbs missing between them all.
“Reapers,” Navan hissed, his eyes narrowing in anger. “The lowliest of pirate scum. They steal, they kill, and they give nothing back to anyone or anything.”
My worry grew. “You have your gun?”
He flashed his at me. “And you have yours?”
I lifted the edge of my shirt to show the handle of the pistol in my waistband.
“Okay, well, stick next to me, and act tough,” Navan said, looking nervous.
Shaking off a tremor of fear, I stayed close to Navan’s side, and the two of us approached the gang of pirates. I kept my hand on the butt of the gun.
“What’s going on here?” Navan asked coldly. The gang turned.
“Who’s asking?” a squat, one-eyed troll with blue skin replied, his words slurring.
I stepped up. “We’re asking. You’re harassing our friends, and we’re here to make you stop.”
“You’re going to make us stop?” the troll retorted, smirking with his toothless mouth.
“Are you deaf as well as blind?” I asked, trying to keep my expression stoic.
A ripple of nervous amusement moved through the gathered group, who looked to the troll, as if expecting him to lunge forward or do something in retaliation. I was ready for him if he did, although I’d only resort to shooting him if I absolutely had to. Navan took a step closer to me.
“You got balls of serrantium, lady.”
I smiled. “So I’ve been told.”
He hurtled toward me, swiping a fist at my stomach, but I dodged the blow with ease. It was like the floodgates had opened, as two grisly-looking twins with tiger stripes and mohawks surged toward Navan. He held them off without much effort. The two of them tried to use brute strength over actual skill, but Navan had both.
Meanwhile, I got a couple of good punches in, my knuckles grazing the troll’s jaw and cheekbone, while his blows failed to land. I was just trying to figure out the best Aksavdo move, when an unexpected sound stopped me in my tracks. All the fighters turned to see where it was coming from. Unbelievably, someone was laughing—it was a high-pitched cackle that crackled through the air like a gunshot, making it impossible to ignore.
“Hey, Zi
ppi, you tryin’ to tarnish the merchandise?” a female voice asked, in between bouts of laughter. It was coming from one of the female pirates, who stood on the outskirts of the brawl. She was a curious mix of things, from the look of her, with the face and stature of a fae, but the gills and shell-shaped ears of a merevin. Her skin blended from vibrant pink to more muted, oceanic blue scales, which covered her body in erratic patches.
The troll scowled at her. “What you interruptin’ for, Kirin?”
“The red hair ain’t fooling me. You’re fighting this week’s number two!” the female pirate, named Kirin, replied.
The troll turned in shock, though the expression on his face didn’t make much sense to me. I was under the impression that Kirin was trying to insult me, but the troll didn’t seem amused. In fact, everyone in the Reaper gang seemed to be looking at me, each one wearing the same dumbfounded expression.
“This spindly thing? She looks like she would break if you flicked her too hard!” the troll muttered.
“Says the one who can’t land a punch,” I fired back, irritated that people were laughing at me. I turned to the half-fae, half-merevin, who was leading the mockery. “You want to come and call me a number two to my face?”
Kirin kept laughing, pointing her finger up to a huge screen on the wall above us. It flickered on and off every couple of minutes, revealing blown-up images of wanted posters, with the bounty for each criminal scrolling along the bottom. To my abject horror, the next picture to flash up was mine, my face staring out of the bright screen. At the top right corner, there was a symbol that I couldn’t read. Judging by Navan’s face, it wasn’t good news.
“What’s this about?” he asked sharply, gripping one of the tiger-striped twins by the neck.
“Relax, grayskin, no need to go breaking any windpipes today,” Kirin said. “It’s a daily list of the quadrant’s most wanted, ordered by risk versus reward. Your serrantium-balled friend here is categorized as being the least dangerous with the highest reward—otherwise known as the jackpot!”
I gasped. “Me?”
“Hey, nothing to be ashamed of here,” Kirin said comfortingly. “I mean, son of a harridan, you’ve got one impressive rap sheet! Hijacking a Fed ship, stealing from a pawnshop, setting fire to said pawnshop, chopping the snake heads of a Pulsydean shopkeeper, beating up a Fed officer, branding a Fed officer, evading capture on several occasions, and stealing a Cassidian princess’s pleasure barge, worth a million credits!”
Whoever had written this rap sheet had evidently used some poetic license in the embellishments. If this was what the Fed thought I’d done, I was in a whole new world of trouble. Angie had been right: we’d never get them to help us, with a rap sheet like this looming over my head. Navan looked horrified, moving over to where I stood to slide a protective arm around my waist.
“I suppose you’re looking to cash in the bounty on my head?” I said, struggling to keep the nervous tremor out of my voice.
The gang of Reapers recoiled in disgust, muttering amongst themselves, sending disapproving looks in my direction. I didn’t know what I’d said, but at least they didn’t want to beat us up anymore. In fact, they’d pretty much forgotten all about Bashrik and Angie, who were tucked into the shadows of the alleyway, keeping out of the way. Even so, Bashrik was standing in front of Angie, putting himself between her and the Reapers.
“We’re not snitches, lady!” the troll barked, folding his arms across his barrel chest.
Kirin nodded. “We don’t betray our own, especially not someone with a sheet like that!”
“Like I said—balls of serrantium!” the troll agreed, flashing a toothless grin at me. “The name’s Zipiniko Fastood, but everyone calls me Zippi. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sorry for all the ugliness back there. Pirates gotta pirate, Reapers gotta reap.” He held out his hand, which I took tentatively, before he shook mine so hard I thought my wrist was going to snap.
“I’m Riley, and this is Navan,” I said, feeling disoriented. “And those two are Bashrik and Angie. They’re friends of ours.”
“Any friends of yours are friends of ours, too!” Zippi enthused. “Sorry about trying to take your weapons, guys!”
Their sudden shift in mood was alarming, but I didn’t want to ruin their impression of me by questioning it. They clearly thought I was some kind of badass.
“Hey, you wanna come with us to The Empty Purse?” Kirin asked brightly.
I was worried it was going to be a brothel of some kind, in the same vein as The Legless Merman—the online place that Mort apparently liked to visit. It certainly sounded unsavory, and I was worried they might kidnap Navan and Bashrik, after the attention those other women had shown them earlier.
“Isn’t that where the… prostitutes are?” I said shyly, prompting Kirin and the rest of the pirates to burst out laughing.
“No hookers in The Empty Purse, number two. Just strong drinks and a million ways to gamble away your credits,” Kirin replied, giving me a playful nudge in the arm. “So, whaddya say?”
“We should probably be getting out of here, if my face is up on a billboard like that,” I murmured uncertainly. “It was nice to meet you all, though.”
Kirin looked disappointed. “Come on, it’s not every day you meet a cool new gal! One drink, that’s all, between new friends?”
To my surprise, Navan was the one who stepped in. “I say we go with them. Be rude not to.”
“Listen to the grayskin!” the troll whooped. “Never thought that would come out of my mouth!”
“I suppose we could stay for a little bit,” I said, giving Navan a questioning look.
He shrugged, a smile playing on his lips, before leaning close to my ear, lowering his voice to a whisper. “We can see if these pirates know anything about Stone while we’re at it. They might know where we can find him.”
I nodded, turning to whisper in his ear. “We’ll need to stick around until Ezra comes back to pick up his shipment anyway, in a few days. I heard him talking about it with the president. I’m guessing he’s going to get it from Stone.”
“Look at those lovebirds, whispering sweet nothings,” Kirin cheered. “I love me an interspecies romance. If my mama and papa hadn’t fallen in love, I wouldn’t be here today. Shame they were terrible parents. If they hadn’t left me on a moon, all by myself, where Reapers picked me up and saved me, I could’ve been—”
“Empress of the universe. We know the story!” the tiger-striped twins chorused, making the rest of the gang laugh.
Kirin glowered at them. “I’m just saying, I could’ve been someone if they’d given a crap about me.”
“Aww, Kirin, you are someone!” Zippi interjected. “You’re empress of our universe.”
A sharp-toothed grin spread across Kirin’s face. “You always know just what to say, Zippi!” she said, giving the troll a friendly slap on the back, before turning to us. “So, you guys coming or what?”
“I guess we are,” I said, secretly excited by the prospect. These pirates thought I was cool, and I’d never been cool before.
“Then follow the leader!” Kirin hollered, setting off down the alleyway where Bashrik and Angie were standing, grabbing Bashrik’s hand and yanking him along as she passed by. Angie tried to snatch him back, but the half-fae, half-merevin was too strong. Laughing at the mortified sight of her boyfriend being hauled along unwillingly, Angie waited for us to catch up, before walking alongside as we headed for The Empty Purse.
“That was a close one,” she whispered. “Where’s Lauren?”
I grimaced. “It wasn’t her.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t her?”
“Believe me, no one was more shocked than I was, but the person in that building wasn’t Lauren. She must still be out there somewhere,” I said regretfully.
“Why, who was it?”
Taking a deep breath, I relayed everything I’d seen in the lounge to Navan and Angie, watching their expressions shift with ev
ery word I said. I didn’t think Angie’s eyes could get any wider, by the time I finished telling them what I’d witnessed. Navan had already been told it was Ezra and the president of the United States, but he hadn’t been able to hear the rest from his position.
“What do you think it means?” Angie asked, breathless.
I shrugged. “I think it means they’ve struck a deal, and that can only be a bad thing.”
“Do you think Ezra is trading weapons?”
I sighed deeply. “I think it has to be something along those lines. He said it would open up the secret to the stars, so that’s got to be either weapons or technology that will allow humans to travel in space or defend themselves against alien threats.”
Navan nodded. “I imagine it might be something that combines the two.”
The thought of that sent a shiver up my spine. Humans with space gunships? That was the last thing the human race needed when they couldn’t even be trusted with regular firearms and nuclear weapons.
“I just want to know what the president is offering in return,” I said grimly.
Angie pulled a face. “My parents are really going to wish they hadn’t voted for him now.”
I thought about Ezra, out there somewhere, destined to return in a couple of days. Maybe he’d even come back sooner. I realized our best bet was to stick around and keep an eye out for him, considering he was due to return for whatever Stone was bringing with him. After all, Stone wouldn’t be able to tell us anything about the situation with Earth, but if we could get hold of Ezra at the same time and take him by surprise… maybe we could find out everything.
Moreover, Stone still had Yorrek’s notebook—having them both back here on the Junkyard would give us the chance to retrieve it. I knew we could chase after Ezra in the hopes of cornering him in some quiet part of the universe but that would mean postponing our rescue of Lauren, which, frankly, wasn’t an option. No, it was better to stay and hope our two targets came together in one place.