Moonful of silver, p.19
Moonful of Silver, page 19
She dropped the scanner and removed her helmet, gripping her throat, gasping for air as she fell to her knees. The artgrav kicked back in with a jolt, and even in the thinner gravity of the street, its pressure ground her into the silt.
What was happening? It couldn’t be a system reset. That was impossible, wasn’t it? She hadn’t triggered any commands. That kind of override could only come from Lunar HQ. Unless . . .
Her deductions were halted by the blunt force of a fist that struck her mouth. Blood bloomed, trickling down her chin. Another set of hands removed her pistol from its holster and the rest of Esteban’s men swarmed her. Fists jabbed at her from every side. By the time she’d regained equilibrium, they’d pulled her upright and forced her toward the captain.
“Get Maria inside,” he commanded. Then, to Nameless, “I think you owe me an explanation. Don’t you?”
MARIA
Present
Men clutched Maria’s arms like two falcons fighting over a kill. As with prey, her struggle was pointless, but still she tried to jerk free. No way would she take this repeated humiliation quietly. People had to know she was no meek little mouse satisfied with life in a cage.
The men’s grip tightened, burning her skin against the friction of their hold. “Knock it off!” One of them grabbed her behind the neck and pinched.
She suppressed a yelp and complied, her heart thumping like a scared rabbit. They were all the same—Esteban’s men. She caught them eyeing her more than once, with leers spiked with cruelty. If Esteban had one good quality, it was that he’d kept men like these away from her.
So far.
Could she really call it a good quality if his only motivation for protecting her came from wanting her all for himself? Selfish moondog.
That’s what this was truly about. Possession. Well, just because he had the power to keep her here didn’t mean she had to like it.
The men ushered her into the greenhouse. They shoved her, making her stumble. Maria caught her balance and spun around. “Get out, sabuesos!” She spit at them in a spray.
They threw her lecherous sneers. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop from recoiling and crossed her arms.
The greenhouse door clanged shut and she was alone. Her chest heaved as she reeled. The tremble in her hands spread through her body. Her chin quivered and her eyes watered. Part of her wanted to rush to her room and throw herself on her bed to cry. But she dared not turn. A glimpse of Benito’s orchid would break her.
The door clanked with someone intent on entering. Her façade shattered as she leapt back, preparing to run, even if she had nowhere to run to. That it might be Gabe or Sanchez kept her rooted in place.
The door eased open. Her chest tightened. She tried to swallow away the dryness of her throat but it caught. Esteban appeared. A war raged on his face. He said nothing, merely scowled like an angry bear. Despite her trepidation, she met him with a lift of her chin.
“Why do you keep trying to run away?!” he bellowed. “You have everything you want right here!”
Everything? Everything! Fire sparked, breaking her out of petrification. “I don’t have my husband!”
She’d meant it as a barb, but he softened instead. “I could be your husband, Maria. If you’d just let me.”
Blood drained from her head, leaving her a shell. He approached, hands out. She shoved aside her shock. “I would never marry my husband’s killer,” she snarled.
He paled but his face shifted to red so fast, she wasn’t sure she’d seen it. His hand snapped up as though to slap her. “Not this again! We’ve been through this. I didn’t kill my brother! I loved him.”
“You’re a filthy liar!” His impotent fury spurred her to say things she’d wanted to for so long. “You never loved him. You’ve only ever loved yourself. You’re the most selfish, greedy, estupido sabueso-lunar I’ve ever met!” His hands turned into fists. She glared, daring him to cross the line. Inside, her heart raced. A small corner of her mind sounded an alarm but she ignored it. “I hate you.”
Esteban bared his teeth and his fist convulsed. The air between them crackled. “You ungrateful piece of dust! After everything I’ve done for you!”
“All you’ve done is hold me prisoner!”
“To keep you safe!” He dropped his fist and flung out his arms. “To protect you! So you can keep the life you had with Benito!”
The rage coursing through her burned too hot to extinguish. “How dare you compare this prison to the life Benito gave me! You’re not even a shade of the man he was!”
“You’re wrong!” His composure, so close to breaking, finally snapped. He yelled at her in a voice she’d never heard before—with an ire as pure as blood. “I’m better than him! I always have been. All anyone ever saw in him was a smile to outshine the Moon. What about me, Maria? Don’t I deserve the same as him? The same as my own flesh and blood? Don’t I deserve to have his life, and everything that goes with it, including you!”
She stomped her foot. “Never! I’ll never subject myself to you and your filth!”
He stormed forward and roared, a predator sick of waiting, ready at last to pounce.
She flinched back, forgetting how she’d wanted him to cross the line, fearing the pain he’d give her instead.
But he didn’t hit her. He halted close enough for her to smell his rancid breath as he glowered. His chest heaved and his eyes sparked with lightning. “I will have you,” he said in a dangerous tone. “Get ready for your wedding . . . before the next Moonnight.”
Her terror won over and she trembled. “No. I won’t.”
“If you refuse . . .” His voice came out low and gravelly. He didn’t have to say it. The words would have only diminished the threat in those murderous eyes.
She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He jutted his chin. “You keep accusing me of killing my brother. If that were true, you’d have to ask yourself—is there anything I wouldn’t do?” He waved his hand as if he were swatting a pesky fly. “I’ve had enough of your obstinance. You have only one choice. Now make it, mi corazon.”
She tried to swallow, but her mouth didn’t work.
The door slammed shut behind him, and she collapsed. Despair almost as deep as the loss of her husband engulfed her like a drowning wave.
Death it is, then.
LUNAR HQ
[Redacted]
Congratulations, gentlemen. We just broke the ceasefire.
Is it just me, or is it hot in here?
Temperature says it’s normal.
Must just be the stress of all this. Making history, you know?
Jimbo. You don’t look so good. Neither do you, Toku. How much have you had to drink?
Shall we celebrate with the last of the bottle? I thin—
Toku! Toku, are you alright?
Perfectly. I just slipped, that’s all.
Is the room spinning?
Room’s fine. Don’t worry. You’ll stop spinning soon enough.
Blu . . . Gur . . . G’arhhhhh!
Dust, if you’re gonna vomit, do it in a bin or someth . . . is that blood?
Ronin. Ronin, I . . .
What’s in this drink?
You remember the samurai? When they did something dishonorable, they’d take their life.
Oh, silt. What have you done?
I know it’s not exactly a sword, but Earth East will appreciate the gesture, don’t . . . you . . . thi . . . nk?
Toku! Toku, wake up! Toku! Jimbo! Oh no. Why is it so hot? Initialize video. Begin broadcast to all LunarCore personnel. Authorization, Ronin One..
. . .
Can you hear me? Anyone. Can you . . .
NAMELESS
Present
Esteban’s goons dragged Nameless into the mine. As they approached the rim, they tossed her helmet into the massive, yawning hole. It disappeared into the endless nothing. How long might it be before she followed it?
Into a tunnel, they pushed her. Every shove seemed harder than the last, and their smiles grew with each blow they struck on their descent into the shaft. Confidence could be a terrible thing.
The tunnel opened onto a storage room where mining gear hugged the wall. Two tables stood in the center, packed with oddments. These were cleared, and she was fastened to one by a ring of silver that plunged into her biceps.
She winced at the sharp pricks that pierced her skin. The men around her laughed.
“You think that hurts, wait until the captain shows up,” they mocked.
She didn’t give them the satisfaction of a response, and their laughter faded into a slow death.
An eternity passed before footsteps floated through the shaft, followed by the form of Esteban.
He signaled his men and they parted. Behind Esteban, a couple dragged a body and slammed it on the table beside Nameless. Ramone.
Esteban placed Nameless’s pistol and scanner on top of the body, and tossed her a strip of fabric from a captain’s jacket.
“When the gravity went haywire, I sent a man to check on Maria. She wasn’t in the glasshouse, but look who we found floating around.” Ramone’s corpse must have lifted from its crude burial site when the artgrav reversed. Perfect.
“And then,” Esteban continued, “gripped in his hand, we discovered this torn piece of jacket that’s the same shade as the one you wear. So when the explosion happened downtown, I had a funny inkling you’d show up. And what do you know? There you were. Walking away from the dust moments after we caught Maria making a break for it.”
Esteban walked to a machine in the corner of the room. He flicked some switches and a panel of lights turned on. Motors whirred.
“Who are you?” he asked.
Esteban waited for an answer that never came. He stalked closer, lowered his face to hers, and scolded her with a look. Now that his mania had her as a target, it sharpened him somehow—his paranoia yielding to white-hot hate.
“Who are you?” he screamed. His spit coated her nose, but still, she merely stared, not giving him so much as a blink.
“Why are you here? Have you been the one working against me all this time?”
He reached for the silver ring that locked her in place, and he squeezed it. Spikes dug into her tissue, her biceps raging.
“I know you aren’t going to talk, scanslinger. Not without some persuading. But I had to ask. You see, a miner has a lot of tools to loosen a person’s lips. Take this one, for example.” He pointed to the activated machine. “You know what this is? It’s a drill. Doesn’t look it, right? Just a flimsy hunk of metal. But here’s where it’s really clever. In a mine, we don’t drill using metal tools. No, no. We use something far more reliable. We drill with the sun.”
Esteban walked to where the machine rested and patted its top.
“This beauty collects sunlight. Unfiltered sunlight, to be precise. You know how hot a beam of light burns beyond the atmospheric shield? Let’s just say, one drop of this stuff is enough to melt a hole as wide and deep as we want. The hole that goes all the way to the Moon’s core—it was made with something like this. Amazing, isn’t it?”
Esteban nodded to his men. They rushed at Nameless and pinned her down. She fought, but they overpowered her convulsions to keep her still.
Meanwhile, Esteban angled the machine so that it pointed over her hand.
“There are all sorts of settings on this thing. What do you think it’ll do to a person’s skin, huh? Want to find out?”
Esteban flipped a switch and a pulse of light flashed on her palm. Flesh blistered in a rush of heat that boiled her skin and scorched her nerves. Pain. Blinding pain, fierce as the sun itself overwhelmed her senses, and she cried out in a howl of agony that bounced off the walls.
Esteban leaned closer, dipped his lips to her ear, and whispered, “Now, I don’t really care who you are, or what you’re doing here. But there’s a question I want you to answer, and I hope it doesn’t take too much persuading before you decide to give it to me. The silver and water you stole from the vault. Where is it?”
Sweat dripped down Nameless’s face, mingling with her tears as she fought back the terrific pain overwhelming her every sense. Still, she refused to answer.
Esteban flashed another pulse from the machine, and she spasmed beneath the hold of the men and the grip of that silver coil.
Burns rippled up her arm, and the cool sting of the metal teeth sticking into her biceps was a balm against the raging heat swelling through her. Esteban had turned her skin to lava. It bubbled in white-hot sears that branded her anew with every subtle twitch. And somehow, the burns kept spreading, further up her wrist, her arm, elbow. The fire of his machine was eating her alive.
“The boys are sweeping for anything you’ve left upstairs. I’ll give you a little while to think over your answer. But when I come back, I expect you to tell me. Or you’re going to get very jealous of Ramone over there. Comprende?”
Esteban stepped from the table, and his men released her. She lunged at them, but found herself restricted by the piercing silver. No matter how she lurched, she couldn’t move. With her free hand, she tugged at her chains, but the coil only strengthened its hold on her.
Esteban smiled at the sight, reveling in her helplessness.
“Where’s Maria?” Nameless said.
Esteban laughed. “You expect answers? No. You’re in no position to expect anything. But I’ll tell you what—you give me the location of the silver and I’ll answer your question. Do we have a deal?”
Nameless met his eyes, her gaze as fierce as the beam that had been turned on her. She nodded to beckon him closer.
Esteban approached, dipping his ear toward her lips.
Nameless waited until he was a whisper away, then spat in his face.
He peeled back, wiping her spittle from his cheek. “No matter,” he said. “It’s only so long before we hack your collar, and then we’ll know everything. All you have to do is stay alive. Think you can do that for me?”
He motioned for his men to leave. They exited into the tunnel.
Esteban lingered by the machine until only the two of them remained, his malice tempered only by his arrogance. “Do try not to die,” he whispered. He hit the switch and shot the beam at her hand, then left her with only her screams for company.
ESTEBAN
Present
Esteban stormed outside, the inferno blazing within threatened spontaneous combustion. His chest heaved. If he were a dragon, he’d be spurting flames.
“Curse it all to dust!” he screamed. One of his men turned his way, but scampered off when he glowered back. Good. Let them be afraid.
Someone was helping this stranger, but he had no idea who. She must’ve befriended others in the colony, but the only ones he’d seen her with were his own crew. They wouldn’t help her, would they?
Dread smacked him like a sledgehammer. If he couldn’t trust his own people, who could he trust?
They’re turning against you, hermano, Benito said.
Esteban turned from his brother’s ghostly image and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “Shut up! They’re loyal. I’ve made sure of that.”
Money can’t buy loyalty.
Esteban spun around. “I said shut up!” he shouted, only Benito wasn’t there anymore.
Sanchez, about fifteen meters away, halted and put up his hands.
Esteban sucked in a deep breath and shook his head, then waved the young man over.
He approached at a hesitant pace, eyes darting. “I didn’t say anything, sir. I swear it.”
Esteban flicked his hand toward the tunnel. “I need you to watch her.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.” He jabbed his finger at the young man’s chest. “Do you see anyone else around?”
“Uh. No, Sir. Um. What do you want me to do, exactly?”
“Just make sure that scanslinger stays subdued, you niño incompetente,” he snapped and immediately regretted it. Keep it together, you fool.
Sanchez bobbed his head.
Esteban left. He didn’t entirely trust that fool, but he’d sent everyone else away. Plus, it would do Sanchez good to see what happened to those who crossed him. Let the boy see the pain Esteban was willing to inflict so that by the time he killed that woman, it would seem like a kindness.
Was it out of kindness that you killed me? Benito asked from beside him.
Esteban halted and clutched his skull. “Get out of my head!”
Benito chuckled. You put me there, hermano. Kick me out whenever you want.
Esteban shook. “I’m trying, but I can’t.” Why must he be so cursed? So what if he’d killed Benito. The idiot deserved it. “I need a drink.” Anything to get his brother’s voice out of his fraying mind. Not that it ever really worked like that, but he clung to the idea like a suckling pig.
He stomped to his office. When he entered, Benito was already sitting on the corner of his desk. With folded arms and shaking head, he said, You’re doing this all wrong, hermano.
Esteban exploded. He grabbed an ornament from the top of the filing cabinet and hurled it at his brother. It sailed right through and shattered against the wall. The smash fueled his rage. He snatched more things and flung them about like debris in a storm. Even after Benito disappeared, his anger wouldn’t be satiated.
When he ran out of stuff to break, he tore into the furniture. The cabinet crashed to the floor. He ripped open the doors and tossed everything out. A blizzard of file folders and paper swirled through the room. He toppled his chair and kicked it again and again until a roller flew off. With a shove, he upended his desk. A satisfying racket ensued as the contents clanked and thudded inside.
Panting from the exertion, he planted his hands on his hips. Each breath slowed his aggravated heart. The rage abated. Looking up at the blank ceiling, he filled his lungs and let out a long exhale.
