Proxy

CHAPTER 05

TIME SEEMED TO SLOW, STRETCHING OUT AROUND JETH AS his incredulity mounted. He couldn’t fathom it. How had this girl gotten here? How did she know Danforth? And how had she managed to smuggle in that gun?

Aileen spoke, and time snapped back into its normal pace. “Head that way.” She indicated the direction with a nudge of the gun. “Your part in the plan stays the same.”

Furious to find the situation reversed, Jeth considered half a dozen ways to wrest the gun from her. But in all of them, he saw himself getting shot. He couldn’t cover the distance between himself and Aileen quickly enough.

Jeth turned and headed toward the door she had indicated, racking his brain for a solution while Danforth made a show of introducing his new partner through the comm.

Anger thrummed through Jeth. His dislike for the man turned to hatred, black and intoxicating. With an effort, he pushed the emotions away, trying desperately to keep cool. He needed to stay focused, now more than ever. This is a job, he told himself. One that’s gone sideways. Think your way out. It sounded easy in his head, but impossible in his heart as Lizzie’s name kept pounding inside him.

The door opened onto the bathroom, which was surprisingly tame in decor compared to the rest of the suite.

“You know what to do,” Aileen said. “But make sure you take it easy with that wrench. I promise I can shoot you faster than you can throw it.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Jeth said as he stooped next to the toilet. Other than its gilded edges and golden handle, there was nothing special about it—it was a toilet like any other. Same with its plumbing, a design that hadn’t changed in probably a thousand years of human innovation, Jeth thought. He set the ruby on the floor, still wrapped in the pillowcase, and then with both hands, he turned the valve to the water pipe, shutting off the flow. Once done, he fitted the wrench over the first of the bolts on the toilet’s base.

In seconds he had the bolts off. He glanced up at Aileen, whose position hadn’t changed. She must be stronger than she looked to hold the gun aloft for so long without tiring. A 357 was on the smaller side, but still heavy enough. He never should have underestimated her.

“Unless you fancy getting wet,” said Jeth, “you might want to stand back.”

Aileen wrinkled her nose. “What’s the point? You’ve already ruined my dress.”

“Suit yourself.” Jeth slid his hands around the widest part of the toilet and then hoisted the whole thing into the air. Water gushed out, dousing his legs and shoes. The spray hit Aileen, and she skirted backward, gasping at the cold. She also lowered the gun. It was just a few centimeters, but that was all he needed.

With an almighty heave, Jeth threw the toilet at her. It fell short, but the spray of debris as the porcelain shattered did the trick well enough. Jeth leaped over the wreckage and seized Aileen’s wrist before she could react. She was definitely stronger than she looked, he discovered, struggling to overpower her.

She also knew a thing or two about hand-to-hand fighting, as she first stomped on his toes and then landed a punch to his gut. If she’d been a little bit bigger, it might’ve worked. But Jeth held on, a grunt of pain escaping his lips. A second later he had the gun in his hand and, with no small amount of relish, he jabbed the barrel against her breastbone, hard enough that she choked on a gasp.

Somewhere, in the deepest, darkest part of him a voice screamed: Kill her now. Even worse, that dark part of him wanted to do it with a cold, logical yearning. It would make the most sense, solve a massive problem in one quick, efficient blow. For a second, he even saw himself doing it, one squeeze of his index finger and it would be over. At this range, they would have to scrape pieces of her off the floor afterward.

Disgusted with himself, Jeth drew a breath. “There’s been a change of plans, Danforth. That is, unless Aileen intended for me to get ahold of her gun. You should pick your crew better next time.”

“What did you do?” Danforth said.

Jeth grinned. “Hit her with a toilet. Well, almost. Gotta say that makes for a first.”

Danforth swore. “Stupid girl. But it doesn’t change a thing. Lizzie is worth far more to you than Aileen is to me or my employer.”

Aileen, who Jeth guessed was wearing a comm unit similar to his, went rigid at Danforth’s words. “You wouldn’t dare to double cross me.”

Jeth laughed. “Clearly, you don’t know who you’re working with, Trouble. Danforth’s only loyalty, it seems, is to his Odyssey addition.”

“His what?” Aileen’s nostrils flared, her expression a cross between indignation and outrage.

“Oh, but surely you must’ve—”

“Shut up, both of you,” Danforth screamed loud enough to make Jeth wince. “We’re running out of time.”

The panic in Danforth’s voice was enough to scatter any remaining doubts Jeth might have had about the addiction.

“Don’t worry,” Jeth said. “When I get caught, I’ll send them your way.”

“That won’t save your sister,” said Danforth.

“Sure it will. She’s just a kid. They won’t hurt her. They’ll be far too preoccupied with the only adult involved.”

“Are you willing to spend the rest of your life in a Grakkian prison?”

“Are you? I’m not the one with an addiction to feed. I hear Odyssey detox can kill you.”

Danforth said something in response, but Jeth didn’t hear it. Another noise had captured his full attention: the sound of footsteps coming his way. He grabbed Aileen by the shoulder and swung her around with her back to him. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist, pinning her. With the gun pointed at her temple, he pushed her forward through the door and into the bedroom. Whoever was out there, whether security or servant, they might mistake Aileen for a noble as he had done, giving him a little leverage.

Two people had arrived in the emperor’s bedroom. Jeth’s stomach dropped to his knees when he realized one of them was Celeste, held at gunpoint by a man Jeth recognized as the blunt-axe sentry in plainclothes. He looked like a mountain of sinewy flesh and muscle, dwarfing Celeste completely.

“Put your weapon down or they’ll be picking her up in pieces,” the man said.

Jeth swallowed, a shiver going through him, both at the threat to Celeste and at the way the man’s words echoed his earlier thoughts. He doubted this guy would have any qualms about making good on his threat.

“And here comes the cavalry,” Danforth said, his tone unbearably smug. For a wild, insane moment, Jeth considered opening fire. He was a helluva good shot, and the man a large target. But one look at Celeste’s face and he decided against it. He’d never in his life seen her so afraid. A massive bruise was forming over her left cheek and blood trickled from a split lip. Her servant’s uniform was torn in three places. She might’ve been cowed by the man, but she hadn’t gone down without a fight.

Defeat like suffocation crushed down on Jeth as he let go of Aileen and set the gun on the floor. She grabbed it at once, wasting no time before pointing it at him again.

“Finish the job,” she said.

Gritting his teeth, Jeth turned and reentered the bathroom. He picked up the now sopping-wet pillowcase with the ruby still wrapped inside it. A whirlwind of desperate ideas tore through his mind, but none of them stood any chance of coalescing into an escape plan.

Jeth turned toward the exposed pipe on the floor where the toilet had been. The dark hole seemed to leer at him as he leaned toward it. He carefully unfolded the pillowcase and then dropped the ruby down the hole. It made no noise as it fell, making the long trek through the pipes and down into the sewer system beneath the palace—the only way to get it out without alerting security.

“It’s done,” Aileen said from where she stood in the doorway, no doubt talking to Danforth. “We’ll meet you at the rendezvous point.”

“Farewell, Jeth,” Danforth said a moment later. “I’m quite certain our paths will never cross again.”

Jeth tossed the pillowcase on the floor. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Hammer will find you no matter where you go.”

“True.” Danforth sighed. “But just because he knows where I am doesn’t mean he’ll be able to get to me. Soleil will see to that.”

“Shut up, Danforth,” Aileen hissed.

“Soleil Marcel?” Jeth laughed at the absurdity. Soleil was one of Hammer’s biggest competitors, a crime lord with territorial claims to the Antares System. She was powerful, no doubt, but also ruthless and cruel, as vicious as a starving snake. “If you think Soleil will keep you in her employ after this, you’re even more of an idiot than I thought. She’s liable to turn you over to Hammer herself rather than risk trusting you with her business. You’re just a pawn, Danforth. A walking dead man.”

“That’s enough,” Aileen said. “Come on out of there.”

Jeth shrugged, judging by Danforth’s silence that his words had struck hard. As he stepped out of the bathroom, Aileen ordered him into the vault, where her partner had already put Celeste.

So they’re going to leave us alive, Jeth thought, not daring to believe it. It was the opposite of what they should do, that cold part of him knew. Death was cleaner, but he wasn’t about to point that out. He stepped inside the vault, then turned to face Aileen.

She beamed at him with that devilish glint back in her eyes. He wanted to gouge them out. “It’s been a pleasure, my little Peacock. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get to play again sometime.”

“If we do, I promise it won’t turn out like this.”

Aileen laughed. “Let’s hope not.” She pressed a button on the control panel and the door slid closed, locking Jeth and Celeste inside.

As Aileen and her partner made for the exit, Jeth pounded on the glass with his fists. He kicked it, slammed against it with his entire body. Beside him, Celeste did the same. But it was no use.

Sagging in defeat, Jeth ceased his futile attempts to break out. He walked to the back of the vault and sat down, resting his head against the glass. Then he closed his eyes and waited for his doom.