Authors: Catherine Asaro
Tags: #Fiction, #science fiction, #General, #Action & Adventure, #Space Opera
Undercity (11 page)
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“But you see, while I lay in the dark, I remembered why my parents gave me such a gift. I remembered their love.” He spoke with difficulty. “I want to leave. But I cannot.”
I thought of Corejida and Ahktar at the Lake of Whispers, both crying. It gave me a strange feeling. Envy? Grief? No one had ever stood on a shore or anywhere else and wept for me.
“You’re sure?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’m sure. I will go home.”
Jak spoke. “Maybe after all this, you can convince them to give you more freedom.”
Dayj tried to smile. “Perhaps.”
None of us said the truth we all knew, that it could never happen.
IX
Homecoming
It was still night when the jeeper reached Majda territory. The comm crackled with a woman’s voice. “You have entered restricted airspace. Identify yourself and await instructions.”
I spoke into the comm. “This is Major Bhaajan. Notify General Majda that I’m coming in.”
“Please hold, Major,” the woman said.
“Understood.” Apparently the jeeper’s shroud didn’t work all that well given how fast they had detected us. But it probably still hid the people inside. I reached forward to deactivate the shroud. Once they knew we carried Dayj, we shouldn’t have any trouble.
“Wait,” Dayj said. “Not yet.”
Jak glanced at him. “It’s too late to turn back.”
“I know,” Dayj said. “I just—I want a few more minutes of freedom. Even knowing it’s about to end.”
A new voice snapped out of the comm, hard and clipped. “Major, this is Chief Takkar. Where the hell have you been?”
Takkar. Oh, great. “Around,” I said.
“Don’t rizz with me, Bhaajan. You’ve hidden
continuously
since we told you to stop with the shroud. You’re going to need a damn good explanation, and this one had better not involve some disreputable undercity kingpin.”
Jak’s eyes gleamed. “Don’t you like me, Captain?”
Takkar swore like she never would have done if she’d known a Majda prince was listening. I glanced at Dayj. He smiled slightly and shrugged.
I had other issues with the captain. “Tell me something, Takkar,” I said. “Where is Oxil?”
“She’s off-duty,” Takkar said. “Why?”
“You don’t wonder where she is?”
“No. Why do you?”
“I have my reasons.”
“What reasons?”
“I’ll explain when we land.”
“Damn right you will,” Takkar said. “The police are escorting you to the south park.”
“Understood,” I answered. Takkar sounded angry but not defensive. It was hard to tell from a voice over the comm, but my intuition said she didn’t know about Oxil.
“Captain,” I said. “Can you have the Majda sisters meet us when we land?”
“Why?” Takkar asked.
“I have news for them.”
Tension snapped in her voice. “What did you find out?”
“I’ll tell them.”
Takkar just grunted.
I toggled off the comm and turned to Dayj. “How well do you know Chief Takkar?”
“She’s been with our police force for decades.” He smiled, his teeth a flash of white. “I’ve always liked her.”
It was the first time I had seen his full smile, and I barely heard a word after that. That grin could fry the brains of any woman within a ten-kilometer radius. No wonder Scorch had fallen so hard. She must have seen that dazzling smile when she spied on his visits with Oxil to the aqueducts. Scorch had tried to attain the unattainable and paid for it with her life.
“Do you think Takkar knows about Oxil?” I asked Dayj.
He shook his head. “Chief Takkar is loyal to my family.”
Although I disliked Takkar enough to wish he was wrong, his opinion fit my impression of the chief. “They’ll give her a lie detector test.”
“She’ll pass.” He pushed back his tousled hair. “Or maybe I am just a bad judge of people. I thought Oxil was a good person. The first time she snuck me out to the canals, I expected she would want something in return. She never asked for anything.”
“She wanted you to trust her.”
He looked out the window at the landscape below, the lush hills of the Majda forest, such a contrast to the rest of Raylicon. “I did trust her. I was stupid.”
“Dayj, no. They were scum. And Oxil was the fool. Scorch would have killed her.”
He glanced at me with his dark gaze. “Except you did it for her.”
I had no answer. He had seen me shoot Scorch, probably Oxil and the guard as well. Scorch’s security system might also have a record of what happened. Any lie detector would verify I believed my actions were necessary to protect Dayj, but no matter how you spun it, I killed three people. Even if the police cleared me of murder, I knew the truth; I was no better than the criminals I tracked.
“Bhaaj, stop,” Jak said.
I looked at him and decided to smirk. It was a good way to hide my real thoughts. “It’s not every day I get to ride with a disreputable undercity kingpin.”
“Your lucky night.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He knew what I was thinking. He had held me in the past when darkness haunted my memories. This time I wouldn’t even have him for long, for he would stay in Cries, which I could never do.
* * *
Majda police fliers escorted us to the palace. Jak landed the jeeper on a long, sloping lawn behind the building. As soon as the engines powered down, I opened the door and jumped out. Four police officers waited, along with Takkar and Major Ebersole. The Majda sisters were also there. From Takkar’s thunderous expression, I suspected she wanted to slap me in the modern-day equivalent of irons. However impatient she and the others might be, they stayed back while General Majda approached me.
I’d always prided myself on my unflappable calm, but even my confidence wavered when I faced Vaj Majda. I tended to forget how tall she was, a towering two meters. Her dark eyes missed nothing, and right now they were intent on me.
We met a few paces from the jeeper. I bowed from the waist. “My greetings, General.”
She spoke in her husky voice. “You’ve been difficult to find, Major.”
“I had good reason.”
“And that is?”
I looked back at the jeeper. Jak stepped into the doorway and jumped down to the ground.
“Major Bhaajan.” The general’s voice tightened. “How you spend your personal time is your affair. I assume you have reason to bring your—companion here.”
“He helped.” I started to say more, but then I stopped.
Dayj appeared in the doorway of the jeeper.
A cry came from behind us. I turned to see Corejida staring at Dayj, her mouth open. She strode past us, ignoring even Vaj, seeing only her son.
Dayj eased down to the ground, using his good leg for support, and within moments he and his mother were embracing. Corejida kept saying, “I can’t believe it.” The chain attached to Dayj’s wrist hung down her back as he hugged her, but I didn’t think she noticed. The other chain, the one on his ankle, lay across the grass. Tears ran down her face and she made no attempt to hide them, pulverizing the reputation of the noble Houses for their legendary emotional restraint.
“Gods,” Vaj said in a low voice. “Thank you, Major.” It was the first time I had seen her control slip.
I nodded, though inside I grieved for the freedom Dayj would never know. “He’s going to need a doctor.” I hesitated, uncertain about how much to say. “A therapist, too, I think.”
Majda inclined her head. “We will see to his health, both physical and emotional.”
“And intellectual?” I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but the words came out anyway.
She considered me. “Dayj has his books.”
“It isn’t enough.” I plunged ahead. “General, I ask your forgiveness if I offend. But please listen.” I motioned toward Dayj. “He’s a lot smarter than you think. A lot more talented. He needs independence. He’s suffocating here.”
Anger flashed in her gaze. “I forgive your offense, Major, because you brought him home. But do not overstep yourself.”
“He ran away.” I had to speak even if it meant I lost the goodwill I had earned by finding him. “Doesn’t that tell you anything? Gods know, I can see you all love him. He’s a fortunate man.” More quietly I added, “If you love him, let him have his dreams.”
I thought she would have me thrown off the grounds then. If a gaze could truly have pierced, she would have sliced me to ribbons. “If he ran away of his own free will,” she asked coldly, “why is he coming home in chains?”
“Because he trusted too easily. He’s never learned to survive on his own.”
“All the more reason he should remain here.”
“He came home because he loves you all. But he wanted to weep and they weren’t tears of joy.” I was digging myself a deeper hole, but I owed Dayj. He had saved my life by bluffing Scorch with a water gun.
Majda clasped her hands behind her back. “You take liberties I have not granted.”
“You don’t strike me as someone who prefers pretty words to the truth.” Behind her in the distance, I saw people running down the lawn from the palace, including Ahktar, Dayj’s father. He must have tossed on his robe over his clothes without even bothering to fasten the ties. It billowed out behind him, flying in the wind like a cape.
Vaj turned to watch them. “Everyone has their version of the truth, Major.”
When Ahktar reached Dayj and Corejida, he threw his arms around them. Other people gathered around, two of them doctors judging by the scanners they turned on Dayj. A police officer knelt by Dayj’s ankle and began working on the manacle.
“I do know this,” Vaj told me. “I will be forever grateful that you brought him back to us.”
I couldn’t say more. I should have realized a few words from an outsider wouldn’t change anything.
The general went to Dayj then and greeted him. Although far more restrained than her sister and brother-in-law, she left no doubt of how much she meant her last words.
Jak came over to me. “I don’t know if he’s incredibly lucky or one of the most unfortunate people I’ve ever met.”
I exhaled softly. “Both, I think.”
X
New Leaves
Jak tossed my jacket onto the bed. “You want to carry this or pack it?”
I stuffed the jacket into my duffle. “Both.”
He wouldn’t meet my gaze. We had already gone through the penthouse twice to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind. Now we were stalling. I had nothing to keep me here. Dayj had told the police I acted to defend him, and Majda accepted it, which meant the city authorities did as well. They wouldn’t bring charges against me. Barred the opportunity to toss me in jail, Takkar was more than happy to kick me off the planet. I was free to go.
Except.
I stood by the bed while Jak paced around the room, checking for lost items. I tried to make a joke. “You’ll wear a path in this expensive carpet.” Ha, ha.
He turned without a smile. In his black trousers and torn muscle shirt, he made a stark contrast to the white walls and tasteful holo landscapes. The holster strapped around his torso held a pulse gun snug against his ribs. Since the business with Scorch, we both went everywhere armed.
I shifted my weight. The obvious thing was to ask for a ride to the starport. I opened my mouth, but somehow what came out was, “Leave with me.”
Well, shit. What was wrong with me? Of course he wouldn’t come. He had everything here, money, power, influence. Granted, it was illegal, but Jak had never let that stop him. It did matter to me. He couldn’t live my life any more than I could live his.
“You stay,” he said, his accent pure undercity dialect.
“Took me a long time to get out.”
He crossed his arms and his biceps bulged. “This is your home.”
I wished he would stop looking so good. “Can’t ever come home.”
“It’s my home.”
“Make a new one.”
“You make an old one.”
To hell with the undercity terse inability to express anything. “I can’t, Jak. I tried to come home once before and it didn’t work. I’ve made a new life in Selei City. I want that life, not a past with so many ghosts and so much grief.”
His jaw twitched. “I’m a ghost you want to forget?”
“No!” I spread my hands out from my body. “You come with me.”
“You stay.”
We stood looking at each other, nothing left to say.
“I have an incoming message,” the penthouse EI announced.
“For flaming sakes,” I muttered. “Your timing honks.”
“Do you wish me to play it later?” the EI asked. “It finished and I now have it in memory.”
“Who is it from?”
“It has no readable ID.”
“Oh, that’s great.” I glared at no one in particular, because I didn’t have the words to tell Jak how I felt. He just stood there, and I knew he would never say how much this hurt, either. We made quite a pair, him and me, both equally inarticulate.
“Major Bhaajan?” the EI prodded.
“Project the message on the wall,” I growled.
“It isn’t visual,”
This just got better and better. People masked themselves only if they had something to hide. “One of Scorch’s people sending us death threats?”
“I don’t know,” the EI said.
“Just play it.” I was in no mood for breathy threats but we might as well get it over with.
The voice that rose into the air was anything but breathy. Rich and deep, it made the hairs on my neck stand up.
“My greetings, Major Bhaajan,” Prince Dayjarind said.
Jar stared at me. “Gods almighty.”
I couldn’t believe it, either. “He has no access to any mesh outside the palace. No way could he send me a letter.”
“Major,” the EI said. “Do you wish me to play the recording or would you prefer to continue arguing with your visitor?”
“You know,” Jak said, “that EI can be annoying.”
“No kidding.” To the EI, I said, “Keep playing it.”
“I would like to thank you, Major,” Dayj continued. “I am unfamiliar with public meshes, so please excuse my clumsiness if I break protocols. This is the first message I’ve ever sent.”
“He sounds a lot better,” Jak said.
“He does.” Dayj’s voice had lost its hoarse desperation.
“I have had many talks with my family,” Dayj went on. “As a result, next year I will attend school, probably Imperial University on Parthonia if I pass the entrance exams. My uncle is a psychology professor there, so I can live with him and his family.”
Holy freaking blazes. I gaped at Jak. “He’s going to college?” I wished I could have been a beetle-bot in the room during
that
negotiation with his family. “That’s incredible.”
“Maybe they finally woke up,” Jak said.
“Aunt Vaj isn’t happy with the decision,” Dayj was saying. “But she has given me the blessing of Majda. Her decision to accept it apparently has something to do with a conversation she had with you. Whatever you said, thank you.”
Jak cocked an eyebrow at me. “You talking tough with Majda?”
“I said a few things.”
“You got a suicide wish, Bhaaj.”
I winced. “Just ornery.”
“I must go.” Dayj’s voice lightened. “I look forward to the future. Please also give my thanks to your friend, the man with the jeeper. May you be well, Major Bhaajan. I wish you the best.”
Then the room was silent.
“This is a good thing,” Jak said.
I smiled. “Who would’ve thought?”
He scowled. “It shouldn’t have taken almost losing him forever to make them wake up and realize he had to go.”
“Sometimes you have to take risks.” I went over and clasped his hands, a gesture of affection unusual for me, to say the least. He looked flustered. I said, “Come with me. You don’t have to stay here, running your damn casino. You could do so much more.”
“I like running my damn casino.” He didn’t drop my hands, though.
“Haven’t you ever wanted to see new places? Travel? Go to the stars?” I knew from the spark of interest in his eyes that he hadn’t lost that desire. Wanderlust.
“A whole universe is out there for you to conquer,” I said.
His wicked grin flashed. “I would, you know.”
Gods he was sexy when he smiled. “Worth a try,” I said.
“Got no job offworld.”
“Find one.”
He laughed. “What, no offer to make me a kept man, Bhaaj? Damn, woman, you can afford it. Majda made you sinful rich.”
I flushed. It was true, this morning a sum of credit even greater than I expected had appeared in my bank account. I just said, “Figured you wouldn’t want that.”
“I don’t.” In a gruffer voice than usual, he added, “Makes a difference that you knew.”
“Enough to come with me?”
“You know the answer.” After a moment, he said, “Might visit, though.”
He had never made that offer before. “I’d like that.”
He spoke dryly, “Got Braze’s people after me. It’s a good time to fold up the Black Mark for a while.” His eyes gleamed. “Maybe open it somewhere else.”
“Jak,” I warned. He had better not try that in Selei City.
He laughed, deep and full. “I swear, those glares of yours could incinerate a man.” His smile became something gentler, much more frightening than his grin, something that almost looked like love. “Just a visit, while things cool down here. Later—we’ll see.”
“Major, I have another message incoming,” the EI interrupted.
Saints almighty. “Who is it?” I growled.
“Chief Takkar.”
“Tell her I’m not here.”
“The chief is aware that you are here,” the EI said. “Also, the message is top priority.”
Tough. I didn’t work for the Majdas anymore. I didn’t have to answer their police chief. Then again, this was Majda. Best not to piss them off.
“Put her on comm,” I said. “Audio only.” Let her chomp on that.
Takkar’s curt voice snapped into the air. “Major, you can’t leave the city.”
“I’ve a flight out later tonight,” I said. “I plan on being on it.”
“If it were up to me,” Takkar said, “I’d put you on that flight myself. But this comes from the Matriarch in her capacity as General of the Pharaoh’s Army. In other words, it’s an ISC order.”
I stiffened. “Why? What’s going on?”
Takkar spoke grimly. “Those weapons you found were slated for a Trader spy, part of an interstellar ring of weapons dealers. Which means this has gone from a personal matter to one of ISC security.” She sounded like she had bitten into a sour fruit. “In the time between when you found the cache and our people arrived, the crates disappeared. General Majda is putting together a team to find out what the hell is going on down there.” With a disgust almost as great as when she talked about Trader spies, she added, “And you’re on the team.”