Page 113 of Gunslinger Girl
“Joined up a few years before the end of the war,” Siena said. “She was the most natural sniper I had ever seen, as good as anyone with twice her years. But we were on different missions when the turn came. I heard she got captured but not what happened after.”
It wasn’t a question, but Pity knew Siena wanted an answer. “She was in a prisoner camp for a while. But CONA couldn’t execute or jail everyone, so she bargained herself into a spot on an agricultural commune, with a marriage and the promise of children.”
“And?”
“And the marriage was hell, but she had three kids anyway and spent the rest of her years walking the wall and drinking herself toward a fall and a broken neck.”
A fog of silence fell.
Finally, Siena spoke again. “That’s a poor end for a woman like Joanna Jones.”
Pity nodded in agreement, not trusting her voice for the tightness in her throat. With concentration, she found that she could now raise her right arm. Weak as an old woman, she wiped at her eyes. As she did, Siena opened the door and stepped out into the desert, pacing off into the receding darkness.
“Hey! Come back!”
But Siena ignored her. Abandoned, Pity assessed her surroundings, angling her half numb body as best she could. There was a good-sized space in the rear of the vehicle. She saw a cot, a supply of tins and water, and an arsenal that rivaled that of a small commune. There were nonlethal instruments as well—flash grenades, shock sticks—and a variety of restraints. She smelled gun oil and steel and, underneath, the gut-quivering perfume of old fear.
A Reaper.
Pity fit the piece of information into the memory of her mother, the missing bullet in the chamber. She remembered her mother’s eyes, so caring sometimes, so haunted at others. By how many dead men? No, it was never ghosts that had haunted her mother—it was the cage she had found herself in.
A poor end…
She shook the thought away. There was nothing she could do for her mother, and if they didn’t move soon, it would be the same for Max and Casimir.
Agonizing minutes passed before Siena returned. “It’s been my experience,” she said, climbing back into her seat, “that folks who have fallen afoul of Selene’s Tin Men aren’t typically in a rush to return to Casimir. You want to tell me exactly what’s going on?”
With Santino’s betrayal as fresh as a new wound, Pity’s tongue twisted with the urge to stay silent. There was no one in Casimir she could trust now—only herself and Max. “No.”
“Okay, let me try that another way. Where’s your boyfriend? The real one, not the one you’ve been pretending with.”
Though she thought her surprise spent, Pity felt the breath go out of her again. “How—” She shook her head. “Take me back to Casimir. Now.”
“You’re in no position to make demands. Where is he?”
“Nowhere you can get to him.”
The bounty hunter chuckled. “You might be surprised. I’m not going to ask again. That young man is a very large payday, and even Joanna Jones’s daughter won’t be keeping me from it.”
“Too late,” Pity snapped. “He’s already been sold away. Or at least he was until Selene took him captive.”
“Shit.” The amusement fled from Siena’s face. “So Selene found out Sheridan was planning to snatch a treasure out from beneath her nose?”
“You know about Sheridan?”
“Of course,” said Siena. “He hired me to help get the boy safely back to his parents.”
“You’re helping him?” Pity fought the stiffness in her limbs, pushing herself up with the power of rage. “Betraying Olivia and everyone in Casimir for money? Don’t you care about what’s going to happen to them?”
Siena blinked at her. “What are you talking about? Sheridan’s paying me for control and transport—that’s it.”
Pity deflated at the honest confusion in Siena’s face. She fell back in her seat, exhausted. You were ready to betray them all, too, she reminded herself. Maybe her reason was better than greed, but that wouldn’t matter to the folks caught in the crossfire.
“He contacted me while I was after Daneko,” Siena continued. “Said to let him know when I was headed back to Cessation, that he had a sensitive retrieval job for me there. Didn’t much care to tread on Selene’s toes, but the price was right. I was supposed to keep an eye on the boy and be ready to move when Sheridan was.” She paused. “Suddenly that doesn’t sound like the wisest deal I’ve ever made. How sideways is this, kid?”
“Very.” Pity closed her eyes. Siena Bond, another one of Sheridan’s pawns. Drawing the lines was getting easier: while Daneko and Casimir’s traitors solidified their control of Cessation, Sheridan and Siena would finish the trade with Drakos-Pryce. “Those Tin Men weren’t Selene’s, not anymore. I was trying to warn her when they got me.”
She let the story spill out of her, revealing the truth behind the botched assassination and Sheridan’s new plans, and praying that Siena would see the urgency of the situation. She was a part of Casimir, too, in her own way.
