Page 47 of Only Cold Depths
Her eyes glimmered with anticipation. “Bacon that’s so blasted good it shocks your taste buds. I’ll get you some different flavors to try. Why don’t you find us some seats?”
“Thanks,” I replied in a wary voice. “I’m sure my taste buds will love it, even if my arteries don’t.”
Asterin laughed and got in line. I wandered around the square. More than one cart was selling shock bacon, along with Magma s’mores and erupting apple pies. I didn’t know if I was ready for such violent-sounding desserts, so I veered away from the carts and started looking for an empty table—
A figure stepped out from behind a topiary tree and headed toward the shipping yard entrance. Like everyone else, the person was wearing the emerald green of House Collier, including a long hooded cloak that covered their head. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but their smooth, confident stride was strangely familiar. I stopped and looked at the figure, but they entered the shipping yard and vanished.
Curious, I went over to the shipping yard entrance. All the workers must have been taking their lunch breaks, because the area was deserted. No machines or hoverpallets were moving, and the only sounds were the faint murmurs of conversation and sizzling of food from the square behind me.
A finger of unease tickled my spine. Why would someone enter a shipping yard when all the workers were gone? Was the person a spy like Asterin? Someone here to steal House Collier secrets?
I glanced back over my shoulder. Asterin was still in line, too far away for me to call out and get her attention, so I pulled my tablet out of my pocket and sent her a message. I waited, but Asterin was chatting with another woman, and she didn’t reach for her own tablet. She must not have heard the alert. If the mysterious figure was up to something, then I was the only one who might be able to see what it was—and stop them.
I hesitated a moment longer, then shoved my tablet back into my pocket and slipped into the shipping yard.
Even though Asterin had shown it to me earlier, the shipping yard was much, much larger than I’d realized, and heavy machinery, stacks of metal rods, and hoverpallets stretched out in all directions. Searching for the intruder was like looking for a star in the proverbial galaxy, but maybe I could change that.
I stepped into an open space between two metal bins heaped high with coal. Then I stopped, reached for my seer magic, and looked around again. The hulking shapes of the machinery, rods, and hoverpallets remained the same, but I searched for the smallest speck of color or movement among all the dull gray metal—
There.
A bit of green fabric rippled low to the ground around a forklift, like a snake slithering deeper into the shipping yard. I yanked my stormsword off my belt and headed in that direction. Every instinct I had was whispering that I needed to follow this person, even if I had no idea who they were and what they were doing.
The sounds of conversation and frying food dimmed, then faded away altogether, and all I could hear were my own soft footsteps on the hard-packed dirt—
Gurp!
Up ahead, a muffled cry rang out, although it abruptly cut off. I hurried in that direction, then eased up to a pile of pipes and cautiously peered around the side.
The mysterious figure in the green cloak had gone through the shipping yard and was standing at a back entrance to the mineral exchange. The figure was clutching a sparking shock baton, and a guard wearing a House Collier uniform was twitching on the ground.
The intruder slipped their shock baton back onto their belt. Then they reached up and drew back the hood of their cloak, revealing their features. Wavy red hair, pale skin, green eyes, a straight nose, and a rounded chin.
Shock zinged through me just like the electricity still zipping through the unconscious guard’s body. It was Esmina Reston.
My shock vanished, replaced by a rising sense of dread. What was the corporate mercenary doing here? Had she tracked Kyrion and me to Sygnustern? Had I foolishly followed her straight into a trap?
Esmina whirled around. Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze darted back and forth, as if sensing my lurking. I froze, not even daring to breathe. A cool breeze whistled past my face, ruffling my ponytail, and I silently cursed the unwanted motion.
Esmina’s sharp, searching gaze passed right over me. Why hadn’t she spotted me? Another breeze whistled past, making my gray cloak flap around my ankles. The dull fabric must be letting me blend in with the surrounding metal and machinery. I sent a silent thanks to whatever galactic gods might be listening that I’d worn the plain cloak instead of the green House Collier garment that had been in my suite.
Esmina touched her ear, talking to someone through a comms device. In the distance, a grinding vibration filled the air, quickly growing louder and louder, like a dentist’s drill reverberating through my skull. What was that awful noise?
A small, nimble blitzer rose out of the chasm at the edge of the shipping yard, zipped over the stone wall, and landed close to the back of the mineral exchange. The instant the blitzer touched down, a door on the side slid back, and more than two dozen men wearing black polyplastic armor and carrying blasters erupted out of the dark depths. The men were all wearing helmets with black visors, so I couldn’t see their faces, but their quick, precise movements reminded me of the corporate mercenaries Rowena Kent had employed at Kent Corp.
A final man hopped out of the transport. He was clutching a hand cannon, but unlike the rest of the mercenaries, he wasn’t wearing a helmet, so I could clearly see his blond hair, brown eyes, ruddy skin, and square chin. Pollux Lamont.
Pollux and the other mercenaries headed straight for the mineral exchange. One of the mercenaries placed a small, round black device on the back door, then scurried away. Pollux hit a button on the holoscreen strapped to his left forearm, and the device exploded, taking the door along with it.
“Move! Move! Move!” Pollux yelled. “We have three minutes to get in and out!”
The mercenaries swarmed into the mineral exchange like a horde of killer bees. Pollux hurried in after them, but Esmina followed at a leisurely pace, as though she had all the time in the galaxy before someone came to investigate the explosion.
Esmina, Pollux, and their crew weren’t here to capture me—they were here to rob the mineral exchange.
For a moment, my mind went completely blank, and I just stood there, gaping like a fish out of water. Then my brain sputtered back to life, and I stepped forward. I had to stop Esmina, Pollux, and their Serpens Corp mercenaries before they hurt anyone else—
Pew! Pew! Pew!
