Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson
77
Mercy
There’sa contingent of ghosts following us down the crowded market streets. Diligent Custo, with alert eyes and a hair-trigger finger. They’re not just there for me. They’re looking for someone, the person they call Target One, a high-ranking Trad in the Master’s inner circle.
My hands are bound and my lips painted to look bloody and split. Smudges of soot cover make my pale skin shadowed and gray. No one that saw me on that video, helping the pregnant woman, would recognize me today. But just in case, my recognizable hair is hidden and wrapped in a scarf. The plan will only work if I get inside and on the block. I can’t be discovered before.
“Ow,” I cry, going for an Academy Award.
“Watch your step,” my escort snaps. “Pick up the pace.”
He yanks us through the crowd down a dark alley. One ghost, cloaked in black, follows me.
Behind a restaurant and a tiny shop selling tea, Rhise stops and bangs on a non-descript door. He looks around, not making eye contact with me or the person tailing me until the bolt slides and a Trad dressed in all black opens the door. He looks over the three of us, eyes appraising me.
“I’m here to deliver a product to the auctioneer,” Rhise says. “Valuable product.”
“They’re not taking merch off the streets.”
Rhise flicks a speck of dust off his shoulder. “This isn’t street merch. This is top of the line, desired product. Valuable goods. Trust me, the auctioneer wants to see this.”
The guard’s eyes narrow. “Who are you?”
He reaches for me and the ghost behind me grips his arm. Red scales shimmer on the back of his hand. “She costs more than your life.” Alex’s voice is surprisingly fierce.
“There’s only one female that the auctioneer values so much and she’s protected by the Resistance.”
Rhise smirks and turns to face me, slowly unwrapping my scarf. My hair tumbles out like fire against a bleak sky. The guard gasps and reaches for me faster than Alex can react, yanking me into through the doorway. Both Rhise and Alex follow quickly.
“Where did you find her?” he asks in a low, scared voice.
“That is a long story,” Rhise says, “and there’s not enough time before the auction starts to clean her up and tell it. Give me access to the dressing room and you fetch me the auctioneer. I need to get her on the block.”
The guard nods, eyes glued to me, so overwhelmed that he doesn’t notice the fake horns protruding from Alex’s forehead or the false fangs pushing into his bottom lip. He doesn’t realize that he’s just let in three of the Custo’s secret weapons, and as he scurries ahead, we’ve just accomplished phase one of the plan.
We’ve infiltrated the building.
* * *
We’re depositedin a vacant dressing room and Rhise sets to work. Alex stands at the doorway, terrifying in his Trad skin. We needed someone no one would recognize. A human dressed as a Trad seemed feasible, especially with Alex’s handsome face and perfect body.
Rhise has just stripped me down to nothing but my bra and panties, prepping me for the showers, when the door opens without warning. When I see the face of the man that enters, I need something to hold onto and I grip the nearest chair.
“Mercy,” Kane says, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. “I definitely didn’t expect to see you again.”
“Trust me,” I say, completely rattled. I force myself not to look at Alex or Rhise to know if they expected this. “I didn’t think I’d see you either. I thought you were dead.”
“Ah, wishful thinking. Unlike my predecessor, I don’t like getting caught.”
“Your what?” I ask, hating the fact that I once found him attractive and considered a relationship with him.
“My predecessor.” He gives me a glare. “The Master. I’ve taken over. This is my first big event.”
“He’s only been dead for two days,” I say.
“Has he? Dead, captured. It’s all the same.” He shrugs and moves closer to me. I try not to flinch when he tries to rub the dirt off my cheek. “Someone has to keep the business running.”
“The Resistance and the Custo are trying to take you down.”
“I’m aware that your little boyfriends are plotting against me.” He smiles when I look surprised. “You do realize I have people still on the inside of the facility, right?”
“Like this one?” I jerk my head at Rhise, who smiles guiltily. “That’s why I’m here. He tricked Damon and Kai into believing his loyalty.”
“I played quite the hero,” Rhise brags. “Saved her life.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“Thank you for your service,” Kane says to Rhise. His eyes dart to Alex, who stands motionless and at attention. I glare at him with contrived hate. “Where’d you pick this one up?”
“A guard from the dungeons,” Rhise says. “He’s trustworthy—fought off the Custo long enough to get us out of there.”
“Well, you made it just in time. I’m selling off the product at this brothel. Too troublesome for the current environment. With the birthing ring occupied, there’s just not enough room right now to keep up the business.”
“Where will all the women go?” I ask.
Kane smiles. “How could I forget your inquisitive nature and how much you care for your fellow females.” He runs his hand down my arm. “They’ll be sold to private bidders and taken out of Cryron. Any pregnancies will be handled on a local level.”
I understand how dire that plan is. Once those women are out of the brothel and spread across the planet, we’ll never find them again. I rear back and spat at Kane, spit flying through the air, landing on his face. “You’re disgusting.”
For a second, I think he may slap me. His face twists in anger but his hands remain at my side. “Your days of fighting for your mission is over, Mercy. You had your shot. Now you’re nothing but a hassle and a liability. Your auction will be filmed and shown all over the data network. People will understand what happens to those that fight back against the system. You won’t be a hero. You’ll be a warning.”
He walks out before I can respond, passing Alex without a glance. The door slams and I exhale, finding my balance.
“Did you know he was here?” I ask the two of them. Rhise shrugs but the look in Alex’s eyes tells me everything I need to know. They knew Kane was here. Which also means something else.
They mean to take him out.
* * *
Rhise goesabout his job of cleaning me up. When I get out of the shower, he’s sorting supplies. This dressing room is not as nice as the one on the ship or back at headquarters, but he scrounges up a few things to work with.
“What is this room for?” I ask, picking through the closet. Most of the clothing is lingerie and not the sexy, frilly kind. Most of this is so minimal, just scraps of fabric tied together, that I may as well be out there naked.
“The brothels are like…well, you have these on Earth, right?”
“Sure,” I say, but then think about how it’s not something I’ve ever seen in real life, just movies and TV. “I mean, I guess.”
“The Trads want that experience—the fantasy. Sexy women at their service. Fertile ones to lay their eggs. Others just to fornicate with.” He nods at the clothing. “This just hypes the moment.”
“So basically, men are the same regardless of planet.”
“Hey!” Alex says. I turn in surprise. He’d been so quiet I almost forgot he’s still here. “Not fair. We’re not all pigs.”
I walk across the room holding what I think is a pair of panties. It looks like floss. I’m in nothing but a towel wrapped around my body. “Are you saying you wouldn’t want to see me in this?”
He eyes the panties. “You? Yes. Another woman that I don’t know? Absolutely not. My sex fantasies don’t involve women I’m not in a relationship with or ones that have to be with me by force.”
That little twist of desire that builds every time I’m near one of these men churns in my stomach. I realize that even with the horns and false teeth, he gets me going. It confirms that my attraction to him isn’t purely physical. It goes way beyond that.
“Feminism is sexy,” I say with a little smile.
“Too bad they haven’t figured that out up here yet.”
“If I have anything to do about it, they will.”
He smiles and beneath the makeup I see the man I love. “If anyone can, it’s you.”
“Okay love birds,” Rhise says, holding up two scraps of fabric. “It’s time to get you ready.”
Usually Rhise has his prep girls but we all agreed it’s too dangerous to bring them here so he does the work himself. Alex watches us closely, the angst of his jealousy rolling off him in not-so-subtle waves. Rhise isn’t a threat. He’s asexual from what I understand—him and his prep girls. I’m nothing more than a product to prepare. So when he ties the sparkly halter behind my neck and zips the butt cheek-grazing skirt at the waist, it’s nothing more than preparing a pig for slaughter. Except this time the pig has a weapon.
“These rings pop open like this,” he says, after pushing one on both hands. He presses the insides and a sharp blade appears. Next, he slips on matching bracelets one for each hand. “These de-magnify those cuffs.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Alex says from across the room. “The Custo brought along a lot of their own artillery, but we also over took the Master’s. He had some cool things in there. When the time comes, you use both, understand?”
I nod. My job is specific. When the Custo storm the building, I’m to get the women in the brothel to the cloaked and awaiting ship on the roof.
“I think you’re ready,” Rhise said. “Kane will be pleased.”
“Thank you,” I tell him. “You stay here until the all clear, got it?”
He nods. “I’ve got no interest in being involved in that blood bath.”
I hug him and he chides me for messing up my makeup, but his arms are tight. In my ear he whispers, “Let’s end this and I vow to stop dressing you like a whore and we’ll work on a mating dress instead.”
I pull back and give him a look of shock. He chuckles. “You think this is going anywhere different?”
I truly don’t know.
He continues to laugh and heads back to the back of the dressing room, finding a safe spot to hide.
I turn and face Alex. He’ll escort me to and guard me at the auction—or at least that’s what we need Kane to think.
“You ready?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I grimace. “Even knowing you’re going to be there and that it’s under control, I really hate this.”
“Trust me,” he says, closing the distance between us, “I don’t like any of this either.” His eyes sweep over me and he touches my belly that’s revealed in the skimpy outfit. “I definitely don’t like anyone but the four of us seeing you like this.”
He bends and brushes his lips against mine. “Be safe,” he says. “I’m watching and right there, okay?”
“Okay.” I breathe him in and then kiss him one last time.
From the back of the dressing room, Rhise shouts, “Don’t mess up my make up!”
We both laugh and he eases away, face slipping from the man I love to a terrifying Trad whose job is to escort me to the auction block. With a final look in my direction, he opens the door and it’s time to destroy this little piece of hell.