Superego (19 page)

She headed inside with Verg. When they were out of earshot, Diane turned to me. “What happened to your hand?”

“It was…injured.” Ripped off, to be more precise. By a surprisingly strong redhead.

“This should be a simple matter,” Agent Verg told us…or my personal translator did. His voice was an odd little hum. “We just have to be extra cautious because of current threats and the high profile of the conference. We have all of Detective Thompson's data readily available, and Agent Dawson was able to obtain adequate documentation from Rikar for Officer Vargas.” Was Verg also part of a criminal syndicate, or was he an actual federal agent on this planet? Of course, Morrigan could have been an actual agent, too; nothing prevents someone from being in the government and moonlighting as an assassin.

I kept an eye on Morrigan. I still didn't know what was going on. The agents had taken a room in the police station to interview us, and for now I was just playing along. The assumption was that Morrigan was on my side, since she had so far neglected to kill me, but it was hard to be at ease. Every time I caught her eye, she smiled at me. It freaked me out. Yes, I was being irrational, but nothing was very rational at the moment.

Morrigan turned her attention to Diane. “You have an interesting history as a police officer, Detective Thompson.”

“Everything has been visited and revisited.” She looked a little distressed. I guessed Dip didn't have full access to Diane's history; I would have liked to see the more interesting items. “If you're more comfortable with me not meeting the senator, I won't be broken up over it.”

Morrigan's expression turned serious, and she squeezed Diane's shoulder. It really looked like she cared; she was good. “You and Rico are heroes and deserve honor. This isn't about Senator Gredler. This is about highlighting how planets can work together to combat threats. We're all for that, aren't we?” Morrigan looked at me and smiled again. It was
really
freaking me out. “Bad people need to get what's coming to them.”

She was playing with me. Presuming that we were on the same side on this, I was very much
not
appreciating it. If she was going to kill me, I really wanted her to get on with it. I would have loved a rematch, and she would not take me by surprise this time.

“You'll be meeting the senator tomorrow at his residence outside of town,” Verg told us. “He'll tell you himself if he expects you to do anything at the speech. I think we're done here. But we would like to remind you both not to have any weapons on you.”

I managed a smirk. “That makes me antsy.”

Morrigan leaned in close. “Well, no need to fear. I'll be near you at all times.”

I just wanted to kill her and flee this rock, but odds were on her winning that fight.

She stood up. “Hey, if you're not doing anything this afternoon, we should catch up over lunch.”

I kept my face pretty stoic. “Yes, that would be nice.”

“Great. Do you know The Blue Feather?”

“I can find it,” I said, shrugging. A little too casually.

“I'll see you there at noon, then.”

“Okay.”

She and Verg left the room. I could feel Diane's eyes on me as I watched the door, half-expecting Morrigan to step back in and rip me apart.

“You don't seem to like her,” she said.

“No.” I usually don't care whether my victims suffer or not, but I wanted to hear her scream. Not rational, but I am only human…basically.

“So what did…I guess that's not my business.”

I forced myself to stop watching the door and looked at Diane and smiled. “Don't worry about it. There are just some unsettled issues between us.”

“Anything I can do?”

I usually work alone, so Morrigan probably wouldn't expect me to come at her with someone else's help. Of course, I assumed she was also working for the Nystrom syndicate, so I'd get in trouble for killing her.

I'd sleep better at night, though.

But using Diane's help was out of the question, anyway. “Thanks, but I should be fine.”

“Well…I guess I'll see you later, then.”

It seemed like she might have been jealous, but I really did not want to share the feelings I had for this other woman. “Maybe we can catch dinner or something tonight.” I wasn't sure why I said that. I guess it was because I didn't know what my plans would be that night, and I wanted to have dinner with her.

“Yeah, that would be great…I have a church thing, and I really need to be there with all that's been going on with Hana and her family, but after that I'd be free.”

“Okay. I'll call you later, then.” Diane's usefulness to me was over; I should have just blown her off. Even though I would much rather have spent time with her than the deadly redhead, the important thing was that “Agent Dawson” had something Diane didn't: answers. And that was all I should have cared about.

CHAPTER 22

“So you're sure this is the same woman?” Dip asked.

“I'm pretty good with faces of people who almost killed me.” I had lost so much blood, I had been unable to act. I'd been at the mercy of others to help me. I hated that. Intensely.

“But you believe she is on your side in this?”

I continued up the stairway. “If she's simply here to kill me, she's doing it in a very odd manner.”

“You think the two women you killed were associated with her?”

“That I will ask her.”

“So what is the plan?”

“I don't trust her—and I don't like her—so I'll try and put things on my terms.” Difficult when unarmed, but I am always up for a challenge.

“Do you know her beyond her cutting off your hand?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You said you don't like her. Maybe if you get to know her in a more social setting, you'll like her better.”

“She bested me. Perhaps that means I should respect her and learn from her, but I really just want her dead so I don't have to worry about her. She injured me and rendered me helpless; I do not want that to happen again.”

“You think she's on your side, though?”

“It's a cutthroat business; no one is really on my side.”

“Then just remember you have taken measures should such a situation as when you lost your hand happen again.”

“That I will remember.” It's easier to face anything that comes at you if you have a plan for it…even if it's not a great plan.

“I will remind you again that fleeing is always an option. It's a big universe; as wide as the syndicate's reach is, you could still find countless places where they would never find you. You could live in peace.”

That made me laugh. “Explain to me how
I
could live in peace.”

“That I do not know, Rico.”

I reached the top of the stairway and slowly opened the door to the building's roof. The restaurant Morrigan had mentioned was in a nice little plaza downtown. It was one of the most popular places in the city, filled with musicians, artists, fancy restaurants, and quaint shops. It was not a place for privacy. Morrigan didn't trust me—which was smart, because I wanted her dead and had intentions to follow through on those wishes. As for Morrigan's intentions for me, those were hard for me to determine. Assuming the two women I'd caught following me and killed were associated with her, she wasn't just an ally in this. But her position seemed to suggest she was entrusted with more info about the job than I was. Things still didn't feel right, and I wasn't going to walk into the plaza without getting some leverage myself.

I had headed out for our meeting quite early and scoped out the area around the plaza. There was one building in particular that provided a good vantage point of the whole area. It was an office building, with lots of people coming and going. This made it easy to get into. And as I moved out onto the roof, I saw right away that my gut had called it correctly. A sniper—looked like a dark-haired woman—was perched at the edge of the roof, watching the crowd below.

I crept up behind her carefully and knelt down next to her. “What's with all the chicks with guns? Some sort of amazon assassin squad I don't know about?”

The woman whipped around with a panicked look on her face. I slammed her head into the metal roof and pulled a pistol out of her jacket. It was nice to be armed again.

She clutched her bloody face. “D-don't kill me! We're on the same side!”

I casually pointed the gun at her. “And I'm being friendly. See how I haven't killed you yet?”

She was rather pathetic-looking for a trained killer. She was crying, and it wasn't just an act to get me to drop my guard. She seemed pretty useless for anything…except as a decoy. Realization came just as something struck me in the back, and electricity shot through my body.

“Rico, you were unconscious, but since your vitals were normal I did not institute emergency measures.”

I didn't respond to Dip. I was lying on a soft bed on top of red satin sheets; I was quite comfortable, and part of me wanted to keep lying there and ignore my failure. I smelled something strange—maybe incense. I sat up. The room was dimly lit by candles scattered around a few small tables and hanging in sconces. A thin, pink sheet fell in a canopy around the bed. A young platinum blonde woman stood near the bed looking down at me with a mocking smile. It was at this point that I realized I had no pants.

“Where am I?”

“A brothel. A very exclusive one.”

She was wearing pretty normal-looking, functional street clothes. “You don't look like a prostitute.”

“I don't know how to take that.” She seemed to be enjoying this.

“So why did someone take my pants? Was it you?”

“Nope. I'm guessing Morrigan did it because it was funny. ‘Hey, you know that Rico guy who is the universe's deadliest hitman? Let's steal his pants.'” I think she was trying to make me angry. She wanted me to know she wasn't afraid of me. Noted.

“I guess I can see the humor in that.” She did succeed in making me want to hurt her, but there was nothing to be gained from that. “I was supposed to talk to Morrigan.”

“I'll take you to her.”

“Good. Let's go.” I got off the bed and picked up my shoes, which were conveniently next to the bed. I moved toward the door of the room, but just as I walked by the woman, I quickly stopped and turned to face her, just inches from her. “And you are?”

She flinched ever so slightly but kept up her smirk. “Vance.”

“Nice to meet you, Vance. You're cute. I like you.” I didn't.

“Well, don't get any ideas just because you're pantsless in a brothel.”

She led me down a softly lit hallway, careful to keep me in her peripheral vision. All I could see were numerous doors. I couldn't even hear if there were other people in the brothel. Eventually we stopped. Vance knocked on the door. “He's awake and ready to see you.”

“Bring him in.”

This was another small room furnished with a heart-shaped bed, more candles, and a couple of nude paintings—one of a human woman and the other Corridian—quite tastefully done. Morrigan sat on the bed, working at a computer. Next to her were my neatly folded pants. She looked up at me and smiled a very friendly smile that I didn't buy at all. “I know this is an odd place to meet, but there are lots of regulations that guarantee privacy to brothels and the people going to and from them, so it works pretty well for our purposes. I'm afraid the women you see here aren't actually in the business of sex for money.”

“You told us what we do here on our own time is our own business,” Vance said.

Morrigan laughed. “See, Rico? That's the attitude I like to see in the people working for me. We do some very dark things, which I think necessitates that we joke around a bit and have a fun work environment.”

“Morrigan! Why didn't you tell me you were using me as bait?” shouted a woman as she barged through the door. It was the sniper I'd met on the rooftop, now with a bandaged forehead. When she saw me, she stopped immediately and backed up a step. She then glanced at my lack of pants with a little confusion and took another step away from me and looked at Morrigan. “Did you see what he did to me?” She pointed at her bandage. “Are we going to stand for this?”

Morrigan let out a sigh. “I know. It's awful, Donner. Did you tell Harper and Atkins about it?”

This seemed to give the woman pause. “Well, no, they're…”

“Oh yes! They're dead!” Morrigan shouted. “He killed them! Isn't that awful? Now they can't hear about the bump on your head!”

“Well…um…”

“I need to speak to Rico alone and brief him on what's going on, okay? So shoo.”

“But—”

She scowled. The intensity of her gaze almost made me back off, and it wasn't even directed at me. “Shoo!”

Donner took one last, wary glance at me and sulked off.

“Need me to leave you two alone as well?” Vance asked.

Morrigan rolled her eyes and waved Vance away. “If I need someone to rescue me from the mean man, I'll scream really loud.”

Vance left the room and shut the door behind her. “I hate Donner so much,” Morrigan said. “She's someone's niece or something, and I got stuck with her despite the fact that she probably wouldn't even make a competent prostitute. I'm basically now middle management in Nystrom, and everyone above me thinks they can force whatever crap they want on me. Anyway, thanks for hitting her in the face for me. I'd probably get in trouble if I did it, but with you, we can write it off as another little misunderstanding.”

This was a lot of nonsense for me to deal with, but I thought I was doing pretty well so far. Now was the time to start unraveling the situation piece by piece. “You stole my pants.”