Page 33 of Last Chance to Save the World

I am so, so,soglad I’m going to fuck him over when he thinks he has a chance to fuck me.

“Anyway,” I say, walking deeper into the room, toward an enticingly interesting bank of consoles that all look very important. “I know I shouldn’t be here, technically, but—”

“But you’re the type of girl who doesn’t care about technicalities,” Fetor says.

Au contraire, dumbass. But I let him think that.

“Well, you’re here now,” Fetor says. “This is it—the room where all the magic happens.”

Bymagiche means all the communication systems used by the whole galaxy. The nanobots being released today when that fancy holo countdown hits zero outside? They’re going to save Earth. But the comm sys? That’s...everything.

Far, far more valuable.

Far, far more worth stealing.

“Don’t run off,” Fetor says sharply, turning to Rian, who’d been inching away, trying to break off from us and locate the nanobots. “I can understand wanting to impress your date, but don’t think that this isn’t still a secure location.”

“I expect nothing less,” Rian says. Fetor Tech’s governmental contracts started here. Probably Fetor was only approved for the climate-cleaner program because he already had the communication-networking contract in place.

Fetor turns his attention back to me. “Well, as you can see, this whole place is quite boring.”

I’m not sure if he really means that, but he could not be more wrong. Nothing about any of this is boring. He leads us in an ambling stroll around the entire facility, dismissing the intergalactic receiver hub as “just a booster,” and calling the primary communications array a “backup” without seeing the look of shocked displeasure the woman manning that station gives him. He doesn’t even know what half the stuff in this room is; he just likes the shiny buttons and pretty blinking lights, and he thinks everyone will be as impressed by it as he is.

For all that Rian says I like to break the law, it should be illegal for any one man to be both this dumb and this rich. It’s astounding, really. Any of his employees could run circles around him, but it doesn’t take brains to buy stuff. Strom Fetor sees nothing clearly except profit margins.

The bots aren’t here,Rian tells me subvocally.

Are you sure?I ask.

He nods subtly.

Fetor’s cuff buzzes, and he pauses, looking at the screen on his wrist. “Time for the real party,” he says. “I’ll even allow the gate-crasher to come.”

As he strides to the door, I meet Rian’s panicked eyes. There’s no way we can break away from Fetor now.

Even if Rian had been able to locate the nanobots, it’s too late.

13

Fetor’s personal offices overlook Triumph Square. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows we can see the illumination of the countdown displayed for the growing crowd below. The party out there is gearing up to be a rager. We’re too far up to hear the thrumming beats of loud music or smell the foods being sold by vendors milling through throngs of people, more’s the pity.

“The party’s better up here,” Fetor tells me. An obvious lie.

But then I spot the chocolate fountain. A glorious display of cascading, creamy chocolate with skewers of fruit and cake just made for dipping. A part of me wants to unhinge my jaw and stand under the direct stream of liquid chocolate, but I don’t, because I’m a lady.

Now that we’re contained in the office, Fetor moves on to more important guests. A pair of chairs has been set up against the wall, framing the countdown happening outside, and a small woman with braids shepherds him over for an interview as I make a beeline to the food.

This is an even posher spread than the tables the caterers were setting up for the office celebration on floor forty-two. I spot Haoyu Long, and he raises a glass of champagne at me. A server walks by, displaying a bottle with a label from Rian’s family’s farm. Fetor must have had this shipped in from Rigel-Earth.

Rian sidles up to me. He’s a smart man; he knew not to interrupt me until I had dipped into the chocolate fountain.

“We need to get out of here,” Rian says in my ear.

He follows my gaze to the door, to the guards in position. If we leave now, it will be noticed.

Rian curses under his breath. “We don’t even know where the nanobots were relocated to.”

“Mm,” I say.

---