Mindee Arnett - Proxy

“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.

MINUTES PASSED LIKE HOURS. JETH AND CELESTE TALKED only long enough to relay their stories. Hers was as Jeth had guessed: Aileen’s mountainous partner had ambushed her while she stood watch down in the hallway below.

They fell into silence afterward. Jeth wondered how long it would take before someone discovered them, and what was happening with Lizzie and Shady and Flynn. Maybe Danforth’s new crew would leave them alive, too. He clung to that hope. Alive, they had a chance of being rescued. The Malleus Shades were valuable to Hammer. He might spring them from whatever jail or prison they ended up in.

That is, if we don’t get executed first .

Jeth closed his eyes, swallowing down his fear. Of all the jobs he’d worked, none of them had gone this bad. There was no telling what Hammer would do when he found out.

Celeste nudged him hard in the ribs with her elbow.

Jeth opened his eyes and glared at her. “What?”

She pointed at the door, scrambling to her feet. He glanced that direction and saw a blond woman standing in the doorway. She wore an elegant red dress, the color marking her as a member of the Grakkian royal family. They’d been discovered at last.

Jeth braced for the scream that must surely be coming, but the woman only stared at them for several seconds, her expression more evaluative than alarmed. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. A moment later she hurried forward, the long trail of her dress fanning out behind her like a red banner. She stopped in front of the vault’s control panel and opened the door, keying the passcode with such quick efficiency that Jeth knew she had done it before.