The Rise of Io (22 page)

She never finished her sentence. Rurik walked up to her and punched her in the gut. The wind rushed out of her and she collapsed, falling to one knee and sucking in deep gulps of air.

“Don't
ever
question my orders again, Shura,” he growled. He grabbed her by the collar and hauled her to her feet. “Don't think I didn't know what you were trying to do, and don't think I won't make you pay for it. Do you understand?”

Shura nodded. “Yes.”

Rurik put his hand around her throat and squeezed. “Yes what?”

The room dimmed. Shura barely managed to utter the words. “Yes, Father.”

“Good.”

The iron grip on her throat loosened and Shura fell back to the floor, her hands shaking. This time, she wasn't shaking from pain or humiliation. The coward had attacked her unprovoked with his rank and a horde of bodyguards at his back. This was the only way he would have dared laid a hand on her. Well, she would show him how far she dared. Her hand drifted toward her waist.

No. This is not the time. Rurik has two guards here and half a dozen more outside the door. If you make a move, you will not survive the fight. Even if you do, your life will be forfeit. Bide your time. We will strike once we are covered, no sooner.

Shura's hand froze, and she stood up. She looked in the mirror and studied the angry red marks around her neck. She turned to Rurik, coolly. “Is there anything else, Father?”

Rurik walked over to the table and, with a swipe of his arms, cleared all the markers from the map onto the floor. “Call in the police. Get in there and arrest anyone who still trespasses by tonight. I want it all demolished by tomorrow.”

Within two hours, Rurik's cadre of elite bodyguards, leading a group of a hundred policemen and three hundred of Mogg's thugs, swept over the Jain temple. A protest grew and was violently dispersed. Clashes broke out along the blocks near the streets bordering Dumas, spilling out into the surrounding neighborhoods. The conflict spread like a ravaging disease from street to street, cluster to cluster until it eventually consumed the entire western half of the slum.

By nightfall, Crate Town was in upheaval.

E
lla stayed away
from the west side of Crate Town during the first four days of the riots. The fighting had spilled into the streets and spread block by block with each passing day. The majority of the chaos and violence were far enough away from her neighborhood that most days, the only thing she noticed was the heightened tension hanging in the air, and the worry that no one could conceal. By the end of the week, after the military had been called in, Crate Town had settled down into a simmering boil.

Usually, she stayed away from local and regional politics, and was only vaguely aware of the cause of the conflict between the west-side residents and the government. It had something to do with the construction site and the Jain temple in Dumas, so all the devout were up in arms.

However, this particular situation hit a little closer to home. It felt personal. Maybe it was because she had been scouting the build site every day, maybe it was because she knew it had something to do with the Prophus and the Genjix, or maybe because it appeared as if this construction was eating up huge chunks of Crate Town. In any case, she found herself wanting to take sides and join the people. However, Io counseled hard against it, and Ella reluctantly stayed on the sidelines.

Do not get involved more than necessary. You have a job to do, an important one.

“But isn't everyone just fighting the Genjix? Isn't that something we should be supporting?”

The people of this slum have no chance. The more they fight, the more they will suffer. Do not join a losing cause. I have fought enough of those for both of us.

Ella spent most of the days indoors, learning her letters and helping Io get caught up with the digital paperwork. Due to the sensitive nature of her work, she had to filter the data sent to Command through a series of security measures, encrypting and jumping through clouds and translating through several different languages. She didn't know who she was sending the information to, nor could she replicate the instructions without guidance most of the time. She didn't really need to, anyhow. Io just told her what buttons to push, and she did it.

The secrecy was completely intentional. After the recent disasters with Bijan and the recon team, her alien was keeping her orders on a need-to-know basis. Ella didn't mind being kept in the dark when it came to stuff like this. It was actually kind of exciting.

For all we know, the leak could be your coach. What do you really know about him? Hamilton was the one who found him. And Emily had only worked with Hamilton for a few months. He is as much a stranger to me as the others.

On the eve of the fifth day after the initial violent clashes had calmed down, Io surprised Ella by telling her she was resuming her regularly scheduled surveillance the next morning. This time, Ella packed eight knives, up from the four she had taken to carrying.

The threat level should not dictate how many knives you carry. A pistol makes all of this irrelevant.

“No guns in Crate Town,” she hissed.

Io surprised Ella again the next morning as she was about to head out.
Change of plans. Grab some cash. Head east and grab a tuk-tuk.

Ella looked back toward her bedroom and squinted. “How much cash?” She had been saving the majority of her stipend and had built up quite a hoard. At this rate, she estimated she could actually move out of Crate Town and buy a home in Surat within a year. She had had to spend some of the money on Io's requests once in a while but every time, it was only after Io had pried that cash from her tightwad fists.

Just enough to take a tuk-tuk to the airport. You do not have to worry about taking one back.

“Am I going to get reimbursed?”

No.

“Then I don't want to go.”

That is not an option. We are not paying you just so you can live in a nicer apartment. Consider these small expenses part of your generous salary.

Ella grumbled every step of the way, but eventually grabbed a wad of cash and stuffed it into her pants. She exited her cluster and followed Io's orders, hailing a tuk-tuk and wading upstream against tire-to-tire morning traffic until she reached the outside of the airport.

Instead of heading to the entrance, Io had her make her way to the southeast, toward a cluster of warehouses across a marshy field at the far edge of the airport. Along the way, Io gave her a quick update on the job.

Your recent work surveying the site has been invaluable. Command has escalated this Genjix operation's threat level, and we are now moving to the next phase of the project. They are sending in an elite black ops team to assess and take over operations. The recent upheaval in Crate Town has given us the perfect opportunity to destroy the site. You will be their local support. Your orders today will be to rendezvous with the team at the airport and take them directly to a safe house.

“Safe house? What safe house? Where is it? Did Hamilton set it up?”

I kept Hamilton out of the loop and we are going to keep it that way. Your place is not large enough to house the entire team. Besides, too many people know where you live. The team requires a more secure location for their base of operations.

Something about this mission felt different, more pressing. Ella wasn't sure if she should feel honored or terrified, but it made her feel important. She could almost sense Io's tension seeping into her. She was also grateful that the Prophus thought well enough of her work to send another team, especially after the unfortunate consequences to the last people they sent.

“Why can't they just head to the safe house on their own? Why can't I just meet them there?”

Because of the recent security issues, Command is not taking any chances. There will be no middle man. You will be their first contact when they land, and their last when they leave. There is only a handful in Command who knows they are even here.

She crept ankle-deep in water along the tall grass and waited as a plane sped by and took off. Then, staying low, she sprinted across the runway into the bog on the other side, and continued toward a group of warehouses. There was a dirt road from the north that led to the main body of the airport, but she had not seen any vehicles pass through yet.

Ella flattened against the slope and peered through the tall grass. A gray van rumbled from the far street and came to a stop inside the cluster of buildings. She waited for fifteen minutes until the van sped off again toward the airport. Ella stood up and grimaced at the mud caked to her clothing.

“I still wish you would tell me ahead of time though. What if this team needs to stop by my place during the middle of the day? It's a mess right now. I just got my laundry back from Wiry Madras and my underwear is all over the place. You have me running through sludge so often I have to wash clothes every other day.”

If I tell you ahead of time, it defeats the purpose of something being clandestine. You should just keep your place prepared for visitors at all times. You are the only designated support in this region.

“I'm too busy. If you need to control me while I'm asleep, maybe you could also clean the house a little.”

I do not take over your body to become your maid.

“I'm just saying. You should make yourself more useful. Pick up after me or do the dishes or something.”

Do not hold your breath.

Once the coast was clear, Ella proceeded to the warehouse. The morning sun was now climbing up the sky, shrinking the shadows and exposing more with each passing minute. The tall grass she was passing through rustled, making her feel as if she were being watched or followed. The cluster of buildings grew more foreboding the closer she got. Worst of all, she wasn't on familiar turf, so wouldn't know where to run if things went south.

Ella felt tingling up and down her spine. She usually didn't get nervous running cons, even when she had robbed all those gangsters. When you had little to lose, you didn't fear losing it. Sure, being dead would suck, but life hadn't been that great to begin with. Now, she felt like jumping out of her skin.

Maybe it is because you have something valuable worth living for: me.

“More like the opposite. I don't remember being nagged this much since I was a kid.”

Ella reached the first building in the cluster and pressed against the wall. She didn't know why she was lurking, but she felt the need to. She was used to the tight, cluttered spaces of Crate Town. This much open space creeped her out. A worker walked by and gave her a puzzled look. He shrugged and continued on.

Maybe you should try to stop sneaking around. You look guiltier than if you just walked normally. Go to the building marked 7B. It should be the one on the far end to the left.

“Are you sure? I feel like something bad is going to happen if I just walk around in the open.”

Just act normal. Is that so hard?

“Fine. But if I get in trouble, it's going to be your fault.”

Ella left the shadow of the building and made a straight beeline toward the warehouse at the other corner of the cluster. No sooner had she walked three meters than someone stopped her.

“Excuse me, miss. Can I help you?” a voice said from off to the side.

Ella jumped like a cat and came face to face with a short, dark-skinned man with a very round face. He was stocky, his body reminiscent of an oil drum, and he had crazy hair that stuck out in all directions. His eyebrows were so thick, they nearly covered his eyes.

“Nice job, Io. Stop sneaking around, Ella. You look guilty, Ella. Just walk in the open, Ella.”

Like I knew this was going to happen.

“I was just, uh, passing through,” she said aloud to the man.

“This is actually private property.” He smiled. “I'll have to escort you.”

Ella had no choice but to nod and do as he said. There was something about him that made her squirm. It wasn't that she felt threatened by him or that she sensed any danger. It was… his smile. She kind of liked it. He was actually sort of ugly, but there was something about the way he looked and spoke to her that made her feel a little funny inside.

You have strange taste.

“He's cute, in an unconventionally awkward kind of way. How do we get to the warehouse if he's going to lead me off the airport grounds?”

Just let him lead you outside and then double back once you lose him.

“I bet sneaking around sounds like a good idea right about now, doesn't it?

No need to be smug.

Ella tried to play it cool as she walked with the man. His name was Nabin and he was Nepalese, which surprised her. His accent was a little strange for someone from there, as if it had some British or Hong Kong to it. Nabin was an aerospace engineer who maintained the planes at the airport. He was relatively new to Surat, having only arrived a month ago on a six-month contract.

“Does that mean you're leaving after your contract is up?” she asked.

“Probably,” he replied, “unless they extend it.”

Ella successfully hid the disappointment on her face. “Well, if you need someone to show you around the city, I could be your tour guide.” She quailed a little inside. That was a lot bolder than she had meant to be.

“Perhaps.” Nabin's hesitation was only for a split second, but it was there.

Ella's heart cracked a little there too. She had had very few instant crushes in her life, and all of them were on movie stars. Anything remotely resembling a real relationship had led to nothing, and every single one of them had broken her heart. It was a good thing she was half-lizard and her organs always mended over a weekend.

Ella threw a sidelong glance at building 7B as they passed, and was surprised when Nabin turned toward it. She hesitated.

He looked back and waved at her to follow. “We have a crew digging a new drain pipe on the other side. If you're not careful, you'll end up falling into a ditch. It's safer if we make a detour. Come on.”

An alarm began to ring in Ella's head. Her gut told her to run. She looked down the path he was leading her to. Nabin stood there and waited for her expectantly.

If you take off, he will definitely know something is amiss, and will probably alert security. It will be difficult to come back later on. It should be fine.

Ella reluctantly complied with Io's orders. Just in case, her hand drifted to her long knife. She was pretty sure she could handle him if something happened. Just as they passed the door leading into 7B, it opened. Before she could react, Nabin threw his arms around her and dragged her inside the building.

Ella squirmed but his grip was a vice, so she bit him. He cried out and loosened his hold. The knife appeared in her hand and she jammed it at Nabin's ugly face. To her surprise, he dodged it at the last possible second and grabbed at her again. The man was faster than he looked, but not fast enough. Ella twisted away before he could wrap his fingers around her wrist. She slashed once at his chest and again at his throat. Both times he just managed to stay out of her reach, if barely.

Nabin tried to close the distance and smother her, but she rewarded his efforts with a nick to the arm that sprayed blood into the air. He grunted and backpedaled. Sensing an opportunity, Ella charged, swinging the knife in short vicious arcs. Nabin managed to dodge her attempts to eviscerate him, but lost his balance and fell backward. Ella straddled his chest, knife coming down at his throat.