Page 55 of On A Rift's Edge
“You’re not a soldier anymore. You’re hired security for a group of ratkind thieves.” Lyall watched the timer tick down, wishing he had given the hopper less time. “As for Evangeline, she likes me. By the way, she also belongs to Giana Gatti, and the don’s wife won’t be happy he took her. I’d stay out of that domestic dispute if I were you.”
Teo frowned but nodded. “This is valuable information. What do you want to know from me in exchange?”
“How did Arimanius know that Kat had been selected by the Matchmaker for me?” Lyall asked.
Teo opened his mouth, then did something with his tongue. “I can’t say the name in this form. The little scuttling creatures that unlocked the stasis chamber, that’s how he knew.”
“The trash scorpions told him?” Lyall hadn’t expected that. Damn crabs.
“Not told him, no.” Teo shrugged. “The species is known for the ability to identify the Matchmaker’s choice. They are protected and given gifts for this ability by my clan and others. The capitán knew of your gatito and wanted to find out why you had taken such an interest in a human. He told me you don’t care for them much.”
Lyall grunted. “True enough. So, Arimanius stole a trash scorpion and put him in that art exhibit, then conned Kat’s sisters into bringing their brother there.”
Teo nodded. “But he didn’t expect Kat to make friends with the head of the trash scorpion clan and convince them to let me out of the stasis chamber. Your pet human is quite charming.”
“He’s not a pet and get his name out of your filthy mouth.” Lyall snarled the warning even as he turned the new information over in his mind. “You don’t think Arimanius planned to take you out of stasis that soon.”
“If at all.” Teo sighed. “I didn’t lie to you before about wanting you to go away and be happy with your pretty human. I’d like to be free myself, but I signed a contract with a new capitán because if my people find me they will kill me on sight. If I have to be a servant, I’d like to be the top dog, at least.”
Teo broke into laughter at his own joke.
“This has been a blast, but your time is up.” Lyall pointed to the floating timer Evangeline had set up.
“One more thing.” Teo leaned over and held out his hand for the bottle.
Was scotch dangerous for hoppers? Well, it was poisonous to humans and they drank it. He took another chug of the amber liquid to show him what to do and gave him the bottle.
“Zale sent a message to the capitán, but I made sure to intercept it.” Teo eyed the scotch with a mix of trepidation and curiosity. “He’s made a deal with someone on the inside to grab the control object and bring it here.”
“A deal with Remi?” Lyall was puzzled. His friend was great at cons, but he knew his father better than anyone. Attempting to beat Arimanius at his own game was too big a risk, no matter how much Remi might want to help Lyall out.
Teo gripped the bottle’s neck, preparing to imitate Lyall’s maneuver. “He made the deal with Kat. Your little gatito is headed here to try and save you.”
Lyall shot to his feet, alarm racing through him, as Teo tilted the bottle up and took a large gulp.
The hopper bent over, coughing and grabbing at his throat. He spat the liquid onto the floor.
Lyall gave him a whack between his shoulder blades and dragged him upright. “No, I’m not fucking going to let him do this, and you’re going to help me.”
It tookLyall a solid twenty minutes to get Teo in good enough shape to stand and talk with any degree of coherence.
What a fucking lightweight.
The full story from the hopper wasn’t much help. Kat had sent the text to Arimanius’s phone, which Teo had been able to intercept because he had been told to work on transferring Evangeline from one e-watch to another.
Evangeline was more helpful. In return for an update on Bug—cyberbugs reproduced asexually, but the two had always been sweet on each other—she provided additional details. Kat had messaged the mafia boss yesterday afternoon from a strip-mall restaurant not far from his parents’ home.
Why the hell was Kaveh letting Kat leave the monstertown at all? The young human must have been frantic to reassure his family in person and talked the Azdaha into letting him see them. But stopping for lunch on the way back while a ratkind mafia boss was hunting him was an unnecessary risk.
Calling said mafia boss and offering to swap a sentient killer egg for Lyall’s freedom was top-tier recklessness.
Lyall would have admired that sort of ride-or-die commitment from anyone but Kat. Part of him felt a bubbling sense of relief and hope that Kat cared about him enough to try some half-baked plan to set him free.
The rational part of Lyall knew he had to stop Kat’s rescue plan in its tracks.
Evangeline was as fond of Earth plastics as Bug, and bribing her to wipe out the message wasn’t difficult. Neither was sending a fake message from Arimanius to have Kat meet him at the art gallery where the mafia boss had imprisoned the trash scorpion.
Hopefully it would make sense. The gallery was a public location and a quick check online confirmed that it was open. Arimanius might plausibly have chosen it to reassure Kat it was safe place to meet. It wasn’t, of course. There was no safe place for Kat anywhere near the don.
