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  "Mr. Dantes." She spoke evenly despite the anger in her own blood. "You hired us to do a job. You signed a contract that says we do the job our way. We've allowed you to join our search, but we will not let you interfere with our methods. This isn't negotiable. You will wait here tomorrow while we follow this lead, and we'll report back to you with everything we learn."

  For a taut moment, she feared Dantes would argue. There was little they could do if he continued to insist. They had no leverage. They could refuse to perform the contract, but to what purpose? They'd already guided Dantes this far. Refusing to finish the job wouldn't prevent him digging deeper on his own, but it would give him grounds for withholding their fee. They could agree to his terms, but Ilsa bristled at the thought. She refused to let her own actions put a client directly in the potential line of fire, even if that client had more than once proven himself a stubborn bully.

  Finally Dantes deflated, nodded, and Ilsa breathed easily again.

  She spared a glance towards Kai and wished, fleetingly, that she could convince him to stay behind too. Images of his blood, the too-deep gash in his injured shoulder, were still fresh in her mind. Her every instinct screamed at her to protect and keep him out of harm's way.

  But it wasn't her job to protect Kai. They were partners—they watched each other's backs—and any danger they faced, they faced together, whether Ilsa liked it or not.

  *~*~*

  Kai woke at an unnatural hour the next morning. He had set no alarm the night before, well aware he wouldn't need it. The excess of nerves and energy beneath his skin roused him early, eager to finally have an outlet. After days of standing uselessly on the sidelines, Kai was anxious to get his hands dirty again. Confronting Tullia Roy was the necessary conclusion to the search that had brought them to Praxica VI, and Kai felt primed and ready.

  His gut told him they were about to learn what had happened to Abigail Dantes, one way or another.

  Kai waited as long as he could bear before barging in on Ilsa, their old patterns restored now that other complications had been put on hold. He found her dressed and ready to go, checking the charge on her gun before slipping the discreet weapon into the side of her boot. She had dressed in a style that managed to look both practical and professional. There were stiff creases pressed into her gray pants, and the short sleeves of her blouse wouldn't hamper her movements if things got interesting. Kai had tried for a similar effect, but with significantly less success. His dark clothes made him look more intimidating than professional, and he had to concede that this time he really did look the part of bodyguard rather than partner.

  "Ready?" Ilsa asked him. She picked up a jacket with longer sleeves, but draped it over one arm instead of putting it on. As a prop it was effective, dark fabric that could be anything. If she actually donned the garment, its simple style would broadcast clearly that she wasn't at all the sales executive her documents claimed.

  "Ready," Kai agreed and followed her out the door.

  He moved beside her along the hall, into the lift, through the lobby. They squinted in unison at the too-bright sky that stretched cloudless and imposing overhead. Despite the painful glare of the sun, the air was almost uncomfortably cool, and Kai glanced at Ilsa's bare arms with raised eyebrows. She raised a single eyebrow back at him in turn and gave a careless shrug. If she was cold, the fact clearly didn't trouble her any more than the bright sun or sporadic wind.

  "We should catch a transport," Ilsa murmured, glancing down the street. "The weather can change in a heartbeat here, and if we get caught in the rain we won't look the part well enough to get past security."

  Kai glanced down the street. Dusty walkways and skinny buildings climbed to staggering heights, and he had difficulty imagining rain. There was a red sheen to both stone and metal in every direction, and the sharp glint of fewer windows than he might have expected on the towering edifices that lined the road. He had glanced at a map the night before, and he knew exactly where they needed to go, but Roy Vis was at least a dozen blocks away. Even without the improbable threat of rain, they should hire a transport to cover the distance.

  A rattling hover cab carried them to their destination in a short matter of minutes. The cab parked beside the looming facade of a truly mammoth building. Three sets of double doors faced the street, each at least twenty feet tall. Artful patchworks of colored glass comprised each door, and the panels were set into seams that allowed the doors to slide apart automatically for anyone who approached.

  Despite Kai's earlier skepticism, the weather had turned in just a few minutes' travel. The chill breeze had transformed into a strong wind, carrying ominous clouds across the sky and bathing the city in dull grays. The rain began just as Kai was paying the driver, counting half a dozen credit chips into a furred and padded palm. There was a faint trickle of moisture as he and Ilsa darted from the cab to the narrow overhang fronting the building, and they reached cover just in time. Then the deluge began. The deafening clatter opened up just as Kai and Ilsa slipped through the leftmost set of enormous doors.

  "See?" Ilsa murmured smugly. The doors slipped silently shut behind them, leaving only a distorted glimpse of the sudden rainfall outside. Kai snorted. He hadn't spoken his incredulity aloud, but of course Ilsa had read it on his face. He glanced about the lobby instead of acknowledging her victory.

  The building's elegant entry hall was enormous. Vaulted ceilings towered so tall Kai had to crane his neck to see the golden clusters of artificial lights high above. Nearer to ground level there were walls of smooth stone, not marble but something very like it, and a pristine floor to match. Wherever corners jutted inwards there stood massive pillars. The sculpted columns must have cost more money than Kai could fathom, let alone count.

  He expected a prominent security checkpoint, but there was only open floor leading to a tall wooden desk that spanned the entire back wall of the foyer.

  Before he could comment on the strangeness, three slickly-dressed security agents approached and cornered Kai and Ilsa near the doors. All three wore suits designed for humans, though not one of the three agents fit that bill. Two had the same shaggy, clean-furred look of the driver from the hover cab—the closest Praxica VI had to a native species—and the third had the eerily smooth, pale and featureless skin of an Aian Vere.

  "Is there a problem?" Ilsa pitched her voice to carry confident authority even as she kept her tone low to avoid drawing extra attention. It was an impressive balance. It was also one in which Kai took especial pride, as he'd spent several months coaching her on it at the beginning of their partnership.

  "No problem, sir," the Aian answered in a smooth hiss. "Newcomers must submit to standard security protocols. No inconvenience intended. If you would please follow?"

  "Of course." Ilsa threw Kai a glance, and Kai offered an imperceptible nod in turn. There was nothing suspicious about this turn of events. It made a great deal more sense than the apparent lack of security he had first supposed. Kai kept his mouth shut as he followed Ilsa and the three security agents into a small room off the main lobby. Elaborate scanners and sensor equipment lined the far wall, but the trio of agents made no move towards any of the showy apparatus. They seemed content to use more traditional methods.

  There was still a chance they would discover Ilsa's weapon, but it was hardly uncommon for businesswomen to travel armed. Kai's main fear of discovery rested on the fact that if security found the weapon, they would confiscate it, leaving Kai and Ilsa to face Tullia Roy at a marked disadvantage.

  But the security agents did only the most cursory check of Ilsa's person, patting down the jacket folded over her arms, making her turn out her pockets. They didn't discover the gun tucked low in Ilsa's boot.

  By comparison, they spent what felt like an eternity searching Kai. They patted him down with an admirable thoroughness that would surely have turned up any weapons if he were carrying. As it was, they came away empty-handed, exchanging nods between themselves as though silently
congratulating each other for a job skillfully accomplished.

  "Well," the Aian said. "Have you an appointment?"

  Ilsa pulled a portable data screen from the pocket of her folded jacket and tapped the corner before handing it over for the agents to inspect. Kai assumed it contained both their falsified identification and proof of the meeting Ilsa had scheduled on the Roy Vis Medica system. The agents passed the screen between themselves for a moment, peering closely, before handing it back with identical nods.

  "Here you are then, sir." The Aian handed Ilsa two small visitor badges, the kind that looked like inexpensive name plates but would affix to any fabric and most metals once activated. "These will allow you to enter the lifts and access the corporate offices on the upper floors. Please return them when your business is concluded. If you attempt to leave the premises without returning them, you will trigger automatic security measures."

  "Understood." Ilsa affixed her own badge before handing the second to Kai. She ignored him as he attached the badge to the front of his dark shirt.

  Security directed them to a hall that ran behind the back wall and welcome desk, where a sequence of lifts was positioned in a precise row. Kai and Ilsa bypassed the wide desk and rounded the corner into the hall as instructed. They waited amid a milling handful of people, mostly employees who paid them no mind at all. By maneuvering and a hint of luck, Kai and Ilsa managed to secure a lift to themselves, and Kai drew a steadying breath as the opaque doors slid shut.

  "Tullia Roy's office is on the seventy-third floor," Ilsa said as she selected their destination. The lift felt like it was hanging completely motionless, but the ping of lights told Kai they were actually rising quickly through the tall building. Ilsa continued, "If we meet anyone in the hall, let me do the talking. But once we've got Roy cornered, she's all yours."

  "This might get ugly," Kai pointed out. The warning was unnecessary, but it felt good to say the words aloud. Grounding. Conspiratorial. Ilsa threw him an exasperated look, but Kai only grinned at her. When the final floor pinged and the door to the lift slid open, Kai waited for Ilsa to exit first, then followed a step behind as befitted a bodyguard or assistant, whichever he was supposed to be.

  There were fewer people on this floor. The handful they passed were either hard at work or hurrying along the hall too quickly to acknowledge the visitors in their midst. By the time Kai and Ilsa reached the grand suite of offices at the end of the hall—the entrance demarcated by a tall plaque proclaiming Tullia Roy's name in nine different languages—there was no one in sight at all. Kai and Ilsa slipped through the main door without apparent hurry, maintaining their roles for the sake of the security camera Ilsa had spotted in the hall and pointed out with a discreet nod.

  The first room was a lobby, sleek and plush and eerily empty. There was a tidy desk at one end of the airy space, standing like an unmanned sentry post beside the hall that led to the business offices themselves. There should have been an admin at that desk, especially at this hour on a standard business day, and Kai slowed his pace as his senses rose to high alert. Beside him, Ilsa tensed, her fingers twitching at her sides as though itching for a weapon to hold onto. She didn't reach for her gun, though, and a moment later, she let Kai lead the way around the corner and down the empty hall.

  There were no visible security cameras here, Kai noted, but he knew better than to assume their absence meant anything. There could be any number of clever hiding places for more discreet monitoring equipment. From the fact that Ilsa kept her weapon out of sight, Kai knew her mind was following the same paths as his own and reaching the exact same conclusions.

  Voices reached them as they approached the open door at the end of the hall. The conversation was too quiet to decipher at first. Whoever was in that room was speaking in a deliberate undertone, and Kai couldn't make out any words at all until he took up a position just behind the doorframe.

  "You must think you're exceptionally clever." That was Dantes speaking. Kai recognized the familiar baritone of displeasure. "Making me look a complete fool, building an empire out of my money. You should have seen this day coming from the first toe you put out of line."

  Kai exchanged a backwards glance with Ilsa and found matching anger on her face. Slow and cautious, he edged carefully forward to peer around the door frame. Squeezing close beside him, Ilsa did the same, the difference in their heights allowing her to catch a simultaneous glimpse of the scene unfolding in that office.

  Rage gripped tight in Kai's chest as his eyes confirmed what his ears were already insisting. There stood Eleazar Dantes, not ten feet away from him. Dantes wasn't facing the open door. He wasn't paying the empty hallway any mind at all.

  Neither were the two Morann toughs who stood flanking Dantes to left and right, and for a moment, Kai wondered if Dantes had managed to get himself taken hostage. Moranni were fearsome in reputation, a sturdy race known for thick hides and astounding physical strength. They looked more human than most Alliance races, stocky and strong, but with a gray pallor that appeared sickly by comparison. They also stood a third again as tall as any human. The two standing to either side of Dantes were just shy of having to stoop beneath the office's ceiling. They appeared unarmed, but Kai had no doubt they were both packing a personal arsenal. The matching stiffness of their postures screamed hired muscle so clearly that an observer would have to be asleep to miss the signals.

  A second glance quickly dispelled any suspicion that the two Moranni were a threat to Dantes. They weren't even looking at him. They were too busy staring down whomever Dantes was addressing.

  Kai realized with a shiver of apprehension that Dantes was armed. He held with competent ease the oversized firearm Ilsa had borrowed on Depsis. He wasn't aiming it directly ahead, but he wasn't exactly standing down either. Clearly he had decided to circumvent Kai and Ilsa—to confront Tullia Roy himself—since they had refused to include him in their plan. Fresh anger surged in Kai's chest at the thought, and it was with difficulty that he kept from growling Dantes's name.

  Little attention as anyone in the office was paying, Kai decided to chance leaning farther forward, angling for a look at the rest of the room. The office was plain but obviously expensive, full of sleek decor and polished surfaces. Narrow windows were spaced artfully along the two walls Kai could see from his limited vantage point. There was minimal furniture beyond a couple of perplexing chairs and a slate-colored desk, behind which sat—

  Kai blinked in faint surprise. Abigail Dantes sat behind the imposing gray desk. Her hair was darker, her face thinner, but it was unmistakably her. Kai had been so resigned to their worst case scenarios, he had difficulty believing the evidence before his own eyes.

  The office was empty but for the seated woman and her three uninvited guests.

  "Fine." Abigail's voice carried impressive calm. Even from where he stood, Kai could tell she was making a deliberate effort to keep both hands visible. She was reacting to her father like a threat. Kai silently conceded there was no other way to read the situation. Abigail was facing the door, but if she noticed Kai and Ilsa peering past the jamb, she gave no outward sign as she continued, "You've found me. Congratulations. What do you want?"

  Kai glanced down and met Ilsa's eyes at an uncomfortably close angle. They exchanged a tightly packed look, and Ilsa nodded. She crouched and drew the gun from her boot, then paused for another fragment of a second.

  They needed no signal. The instant Ilsa moved, Kai moved also, two perfectly timed charges into the enormous office. Kai ran the faster, and he didn't slow until he was near enough to twist the weapon from Dantes's grasp. Then Kai retreated as quickly as he'd closed in, holding the gun like a talisman as the two Morann toughs tensed like coiled springs.

  "Don't try it," Ilsa's voice cut grimly through the astounded silence, "or I'll burn a hole through your boss's skull." In his peripheral vision, Kai could see Ilsa leveling her gun straight at Dantes's head.

  The Moranni subsided unhappily, looking
to Dantes for instruction.

  Distaste shivered beneath Kai's skin as he leveled Dantes's gun at the tall figure to Dantes's left. Kai had no intention of actually firing the damn thing, but he wasn't going to forfeit his tactical advantage without attempting to bluff. He held the barrel perfectly steady as he circled his way to a position opposite the desk, away from the threatening trio. His movements made an awkward triangle of opposing forces with himself at the apex, Abigail and Eleazar Dantes at either corner.

  Kai stopped only when he reached Ilsa's side. He spoke in a clear, even voice. "If I might politely interrupt. What the fuck is going on here?"

  Instead of answering, Abigail glared straight at Kai and demanded, "Who the hell are you two? Where is my security detail?"

  From his own position, with his wall of hired muscle posturing impatiently to either side of him, Dantes answered first. "Your security detail has been... inconvenienced."

  Kai threw a startled glance at Ilsa, doing his best to keep his expression blank. Ilsa didn't take her attention off of Dantes or her own carefully aimed weapon, but she didn't have to. From the faint tightening at the corner of her mouth, Kai knew she had reached the same conclusion he had: Dantes had at least one other element in the building, completing a sweep even now. The two security agents in the main foyer had unquestionably been Roy Vis Medica employees; impostors would never have allowed Kai and Ilsa into the building in the first place. Dantes must have made his move in the corporate offices first, then sent people to secure the building once he'd attained his objective. It made a certain inevitable sense. Taking on the ground floor security too soon could have tipped his hand and cut off his access to the upper levels.

  All this Kai deciphered in a fleeting heartbeat, as beside him Ilsa breathed a barely audible curse.

  Dantes's voice turned stony as he tossed a careless look toward Kai and Ilsa. "As for these two clowns... they're supposed to be working for me." He looked genuinely offended that they had put themselves in his way, and Kai could almost laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He would have laughed if it weren't for the unsettling weight of Dantes's gun in his hands, or the gauging stares with which the Moranni were now regarding him.