Juliet was surprised to find Applebaum waiting at the storage facility, standing beside their unit with the rolling metal door up and open. Angel pulled the car up close, and Juliet stepped out, leaving her prisoners inside for the moment. “Hey,” she said, smiling at Leo, feeling a little unsure of herself. She was battling with the realization that she was glad to see him, despite their default interaction usually being more along the lines of him badgering her and her feeling irritated by him. “Thanks for showing up, but I really just need to unload these two . . .”
“It’s best to have a partner watching your back when dealing with prisoners.” He gestured to the nearly empty, rectangular storage space, and Juliet saw a stack of cardboard boxes in the far corner. “I brought shrink-cords, a chemical toilet, and a case of water and protein bars. Wasn’t sure how long we’d need to keep ‘em in here.”
“How did you pick all that up and still beat me here?”
“Oh, we had this stuff in storage back at HQ. My apartment’s in the same building, remember?”
Juliet smirked, leaning back against the car. “Really? A chemical toilet? It makes one wonder what you all were planning to get up to on Luna.” She looked up and down the row of identical storage units. So far, the automated storage facility seemed deserted, but cameras were everywhere.
“Frida ordered all sorts of stuff before we left Titan. And, yeah, in our usual line of work, locking people in a room without a bathroom comes up more often than you’d think.” He leaned against the wall beside the open door, his arms folded over his racing jacket. Juliet reached out and gripped the material where the zipper hung open, feeling it between her fingers.
“Synth-leather? I like it.”
“Oh yeah?” He grinned and pulled the zipper up a little, smoothing it down, clearly feigning self-consciousness. He wore a semi-automatic pistol inside the waistband of his black jeans, and his feet were clad in sturdy combat boots. He looked ready for a fight. He noticed her looking him up and down and grinned, arcing an eyebrow.
She shook her head. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Give me that smoldering, know-it-all look with those fake blue eyes.”
“Fake? Hey now! Yeah, I have retinal implants, but this color’s all-natural.”
“Mmhmm. It says a lot about a guy, you know? These days, there’re plenty of flashy options for eyes, but you went with the vid-star blue.” She nodded, grinning, knowing she’d pushed a button. “Yep, says a lot.” She sighed and jerked her thumb to the bulbous, tinted window of the assassins’ rental car. “How do we get them out of this and into the unit without the cameras picking anything up?”
“Eh, the door’s right there. You stand on one side, I’ll stand on the other, and we’ll make ‘em crawl out and into the unit. I’d have you back in, but the doors wouldn’t open.” He frowned and looked around the facility. “I’m just worried about how you’re going to keep them quiet while we’re gone. If they start banging on the door, someone will notice eventually. If we tie ‘em to the far end of the unit, they won’t be able to move around, and we’ll need to check on them more frequently. If we knew we’d just have to hold ‘em for a day or two, I’d say just sedate ‘em, but that carries some risks . . .”
“Relax. I’ve got control of their PAIs. I’ll be able to monitor what they’re doing and also give them a little electro-shock therapy if they start acting up.”
“What the hell? You can do that?”
“I mean, it’s not hard to install that kind of software. Plenty of corps do it.”
“I get the monitoring part, but the electro-shock? Was that a joke? I thought you had to install special hardware to do something like that.”
“Everyone’s PAI is entwined with their nervous system, some to a greater or lesser degree, but it doesn’t take much to deliver a tiny spike of voltage. You know your data port has a bio batt built-in, right? Just need to remove a few safeguards and, voila, instant, built-in stunner.”
He reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, but . . .”
“But the guy who sold you that hardware told you it was perfectly safe and that there were hard-wired safeties built in?”
“Yeah.” His smug expression had completely fallen away, and Juliet felt like she was seeing his real face for a change. “Freaky. Even Lee doesn’t have software that can do that. I’ve seen her shut people down. You know, turn off their implants, but I didn’t know you could zap ‘em.”
“Learn something every day, buddy.” Juliet grinned and added, “Just make sure you don’t let someone who doesn’t like you jack into your port.”
“That’s what she . . .”
“Oh no!” Juliet cut him off, chuckling. “Don’t even!”
“C’mon, you gotta admit it’s good advice in any situation.” He laughed and knocked his knuckles against the car’s glass. “Let’s meet your guests.”
“Right.” Juliet opened the door, and then, after a few minutes of threats and coaxing, she got Comet and Asia to crawl out of the car, onto the concrete floor of the storage unit, and then into the back where Applebaum had stacked their supplies. After they were both sitting against the wall, Juliet knelt in front of them with her vibroblade and sliced off their shrink-cords. “You know why I’m taking these off, right?”
Asia’s voice dripped sarcastic venom as she responded, “Because you love us?”
“Because I’m in your head, sweetie. If you two make any noise or mess around in here, I’m going to give you a zap. Do it enough times, and you’ll wind up a vegetable. Understand?”
Comet rubbed his wrists, wincing, and elbowed Asia in the ribs. “We get it.”
“Don’t fucking touch me,” she hissed at him.
“Sheesh, tough luck, bud!” Leo winced. “Sounds like trouble in paradise, eh? Hope you don’t kill each other while we’re away.”
“Get melted,” Asia growled.
Juliet stood and stepped toward the door. “All right. That’s enough. My friend brought you some food and water, and there’s a chemical toilet in one of those boxes. I told you I wouldn’t kill you if you were helpful, and I mean to keep my word. Don’t make me change my mind.” Leo followed her to the door, and they’d halfway lowered it when Comet flopped to the ground, seizing and gasping, foam coming out of his mouth.
“I had to administer a shock; he reached up to try to pull his PAI out,” Angel explained.
“Yeah, uh, guys, don’t try to take out your PAIs.” Juliet nodded to Applebaum, and he lowered the door the rest of the way with a resounding clang.
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He slapped the roof of the car. “Got the coordinates for ditching this ride?”
“Yeah, Frida sent ‘em.”
“I’ll follow you, then we can head to the meeting.”
“That won’t be necessary; my PAI programmed it to dump itself.”
Applebaum turned to regard the bulbous, black commuter vehicle. “Ah, yeah. Automated. That’s cool; I’m sure you wiped all traces of your trip, right?”
“Yep, but I wouldn’t mind some help wiping the inside down. I touched a few things.”
“Hang on; I’ve got some spray in my car.”
“Spray? Not beeb, I hope . . .”
“Beeb? Nah, that shit’s hardcore—could douse a body with that stuff and wipe out the DNA. No, this is just a nano-enzyme mixture. It’ll ruin prints and trace DNA.” He jogged down the row of storage units to the corner where he’d left his sleek black SUV. Juliet liked the vehicle's look; it was aggressive with wide tires and a low profile but still had some cargo capacity in the back. When he returned with an unlabeled spray bottle and gestured for her to stand back, she did, watching as he pumped a few squirts on the door, then asked, “You touch other doors?”
“Nope.” Juliet wrinkled her nose at the chemical odor mixed with pungent lemon. Leo sprayed the inside, dousing the seats and the insides of the doors, then pushed the door closed with his foot.
“That’ll do it.”
“Thanks.” Juliet followed him to his car and climbed into the passenger seat. She’d just closed the door when the rental vehicle hummed by, taking itself on a long, roundabout journey to the dump location, wherever that was. Leo got in and started the car, and Angel had to immediately dampen Juliet’s audio input as some kind of screaming death metal erupted from the speaker system. “Holy . . .” Juliet said, reflexively slapping her hands to her ears.
“Whoopsie!” Leo laughed, and suddenly, the music dropped to a background hum. He looked sideways at Juliet and said, “What? You don’t like Kings of Titan?”
“Never heard of ‘em.” Juliet shook her head and tsked. “Not really my speed, though.”
He smiled and nodded, driving out of the storage compound at a nice, sedate pace. Something about his expression, not quite his usual smugness, but definitely a self-satisfied half-smile, irritated Juliet. “What are you grinning about?”
“Am I?” He shook his head and rubbed his chin, refusing to look directly at her.
Juliet’s voice rose with exasperation, “What?”
“Can I be honest with you?” He looked at her sideways again. “I mean, without you getting offended or something?”
Juliet sighed. “Go ahead. I’m sure I’ve heard worse.”
“Well, when I found out who you were, I mean, after Frida’s run-in with you on Callisto. I did a little looking into you. Before we ever met, when I heard Frida’s report and saw a couple of drone images of you, I gotta admit, I thought you were pretty.”
“Oh, brother.” Juliet had a feeling where this was going. “Look, if we’re going to work together . . .”
“That was before I met you, though. Since then, I can see I’m not your type, and well, I’ve been telling myself I need to forget your looks and think about your personality. It’s clear we’re having trouble gelling, right?”
Juliet squinted her eyes at him, trying to figure out if he was going to keep insulting her or compliment her or what. “Are you getting to a point?”
“See?” he laughed, “I was just grinning a minute ago when you didn’t like my music. Just kinda reaffirms what I’ve already figured out—we’re not meant to be.”
“Because I was startled by sudden, blaring, death metal from the dark moon of Saturn?” Juliet snorted.
“What? Are you fighting to be back in the running?”
“The running? Oh my god! Get over yourself.” Juliet shook her head and laughed. She had to admit, his confidence was pretty funny.
“But seriously,” he said, and she could tell he was fighting the urge to wink at her, “What’s the deal with that friend of yours? I’ve been wanting to ask if she had someone in her life . . .”
“Honey? You stay away from her, Leo Applebaum,” Juliet growled.
“What? Why? You guys aren’t like . . .”
“No!” Reflexively, Juliet snapped out a fist and slugged him in the shoulder. He winced and laughed. “You’re pretty damn fast, aren’t you? Were you wired up when you had your run-in with the boss?”
“You don’t know the story?” Juliet turned toward him a little and leaned into the corner where her seat met the door.
“You kidding? He won’t say a word about that shit. I’ve wanted to ask you about it all week, but it’s kinda hard with the boss hanging around the, uh, dojo. You know?”
“It’s . . .” Juliet sighed, suddenly not in a teasing mood. “It’s not an easy thing to talk about. I was pretty raw, but I guess it’s not as bad as it was. I’ve had to confront those feelings a few times since coming back and meeting Tanaka.”
“Talk about raw. He’s been a different person. We were all pretty confused. At first, I thought he wanted to kill you, but there’s no way he’d send Frida out for that kind of job. God, Hawkins and I were freaked out when you shot her, you know that? Tanaka would’ve killed us . . .”
Juliet felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “I didn’t want to do that. That’s kind of what I meant by being raw.”
“Yeah, she told us. As soon as she said his name, blam!” He chuckled, holding the wheel with one hand and leaning sideways against his door, mimicking her posture. “I can laugh about it now, but shit, that would’ve sucked.” When Juliet closed her eyes and swallowed, and several seconds went by without a response from her, he added, “Hey. I get it; we’re good at antagonizing one another, but I’m not trying to upset you right now. Frida’s okay, and that’s what’s important.”
“She’s kind of a sister to you, huh?”
“You could say that. I was young when Tanaka took me in, and so was she. I guess the age was just right for me not to be attracted to her; she was something like fourteen. So, yeah, I felt like a big brother.”
Juliet nodded. She’d seen them together. They were definitely close but not romantic. “Anyway, about my run-in with your boss, he was beating the shit out of me, but I overcharged my cybernetic arm and got a lucky punch in with a vibroblade clenched in my fist. That’s it. Just a single lucky shot, or he’d have tortured and killed me.”
“Jesus.” He looked at her, something like sympathy in his eyes. “You thought you killed him?”
“Yep.”
“No wonder you kinda snapped when Frida told you he sent her. He should’ve prepared her better for that kind of possibility. He should’ve told us all. No way I’d have sent her alone to talk to you.” Juliet gave him a double-take—he sounded angry. He wasn’t finished. “Yeah. That’s on him. If you killed her, that would’ve been his fault.” He got quiet after that, and Juliet watched the moon slip past as they cruised on the interdome highway toward the main Luna City dome.
In an effort to change the topic, she asked, “What’s the name of the club?”
“Grave Matters.” When he said “Grave,” it sent a shiver down Juliet’s spine as a hundred memories danced through her mind—images of Houston laughing, Commander Garza bravely taking her side, White as he fired his gauss rifle, Granado and the creepy Commander Gordon, Jensen and his freakish speed, all the weird, crazy things with the GIPEL subjects . . . “You good?”
Juliet’s voice was quiet when she answered, “Oh, um, yeah. You just reminded me of something.”
“Looks like I stirred up some ghosts.”
“That’s one way to put it.” She nodded and tried to change the subject again. “Grave Matters? It’s a bar or what?”
“Yeah. A ‘social club’ with a dance floor that only opens after ten.” He made air quotes when he said social club. “I’ve been there a few times to meet clients here on Luna. Been trying to stay busy while the boss mopes around.”
Juliet snickered softly. “Frida said as much. I thought the ‘boss’ told you all to keep your plates clean, though.”
“Yeah, well, we did for a while. Anyway, I don’t take anything I can’t put on a back burner.” He was hardly driving—the car had auto-nav. He seemed to give up the act and turned to regard her more fully, taking both hands off the wheel. “You should be glad about that, by the way, seeing as we’re all about to get into this situation you’ve gotten yourself mixed up in.”
“Mixed up? It’s a job! I’m hiring you, not asking you to rescue me.”
Leo nodded, assuming a speculative expression, and scratched at the stubble on his chin. “That right? What’s the pay?”
“What’s your standard weekend rate?”
“Depends on the risk level. What exactly do you want us to do? Who were those goons we just locked up? Who’s the ‘corpo-sec officer’ you were watching?”
Juliet groaned and rubbed her temples. “You’re exhausting. Is that how you treat all your clients? Get all the details first before quoting any sort of fee?”
“Depends on how badly I need the job.” He snorted and smirked. “Depends on if I like the client.”
“Whatever. Tell you what, I’ll give you five percent of whatever I loot from the dirty cops and corpo execs, or twenty k for the weekend. Your choice.” Juliet had no idea if she’d make any bits during the job, but she figured there was a good chance. If she could get access to any bit vaults, she wasn’t going to leave those funds lying around; she had no qualms about stealing ill-gotten gains, and, as far as she was concerned, anything she could get out of Life-Ultra was pure gravy.
“Twenty k for a couple of days’ work? Yeah, I’ll get on that train.” He grunted in irritation and gestured to the road ahead—traffic was grinding to a halt. “I’ll message Frida. We’re going to lose a half hour in this backup.”
“What’s the deal? Shouldn’t be this much traffic on a Saturday.”
“I’m seeing reports of a traffic accident near the Luna City exit,” Angel said.
At the same time, Applebaum answered, “Wreck ahead.”
“Anyway, you sure you don’t wanna think about it at all? The pay, I mean? Might be a bigger cut the other way . . .”
“But you’re only offering five percent. You’d need to walk away with more than four hundred k for that to even out, and I doubt you’ll squeeze some dirty corpo-sec boys for that kind of scratch.”
“I’m going to be nice and not hold you to that. Not yet. I want you to hear the full briefing first, and then I’ll make the same offer to the whole team.”
“You’re going to throw a hundred k our way? I hope your payday is looking sweet. You have a client, right?”
“Theoretically.” Juliet chuckled at his mock-startled expression.
“Care to explain?”
“He’s missing. Anyway, I’ll spell things out when we’re all sitting down together. Right now, just know I’m going to pay you for your time, so don’t go getting all judgmental on me. This isn’t a rescue!” Despite his earlier comments, Juliet was having fun bantering with Applebaum. She grinned as she decided to push his buttons just a little more. “This has been good, Leo.” He raised an eyebrow. “Driving with you, it’s been revealing. I think it’s sweet that you’re trying to turn my rejection around, rewriting history to say you figured out you didn’t think we were ‘gelling’ when, in reality, I figured out we weren’t a match from the second I saw those totally fake blue eyes.”
“They’re not fake!” Apparently, he couldn’t help himself, breaking into a laugh as he protested. “Okay, okay. They’re a little lighter, a little more blue than I was born with, but c’mon, it’s not like you’re all natural!”
“You shouldn’t have exposed your belly. I’m a predator, Leo, and now I know your weakness.” Juliet smiled, closed her eyes, and leaned her seat back, fully reclining. “Wake me up when we’re there.”