Joston
“This is the wrong way,” Niya says as I ease the s-car toward the airfield. No speeding today. Can’t call attention to ourselves.
“It’s fine,” I say, dodging her remark.
“The prison’s in the building next to the palace,” Niya says. “You’re going in the opposite direction.”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “I’ll get there. I know what I’m doing.”
I do know what I’m doing. I’m driving Niya to the airfield. No way is she going to come to the palace—or the prison—with me.
There are other vehicles on the roads, although not many. We’ve already been stopped once, and Niya showed her flight controller credentials while I held my breath. Good thing the Engra authorities consider her job to be essential or we’d be back at her house.
Apparently my being her supposed life mate was good enough to get me through as well, although perhaps because I’m Chorynean the authorities don’t give a shit about me. Or maybe we were allowed past because a female trooper stopped us and I flashed her my most winning smile.
“What did you do?” Niya says after the trooper waves us on.
“Nothing,” I say.
“You did something,” Niya says. “That trooper’s mood changed drastically.”
“I may have smiled at her,” I say, grinning.
“Some life mate you are,” Niya says.
“Well, I haven’t had much practice at it . . . yet. Give me some time.”
“Joston, you’re not going to get to the prison going this way,” Niya says.
“We’re not going to the prison,” I say. I have to tell her, because at this point it’s obvious that’s not where we’re headed.
“How are we going to get Chlo and Lasson out of there if we’re not there?”
“We aren’t going to be there,” I say. “You are going to your job, like you do every day, while I take care of your friends.”
“Like hell I am,” Niya says. “I—”
“Think about it, Niya,” I say. “If you’re at your post, it’ll make it seem as though everything’s normal.”
“But everything isn’t normal already,” Niya says, arguing. “There’s martial law and—what the hell are you doing?”
“Surviving,” I say.
What I’m actually doing is swerving. I’m driving this sorry s-car through a deserted lot, ramping up our speed, and putting some distance between us and the barrier I spotted about a thousand meters ahead. I may be Chorynean and have great night vision, but my day vision is unusually good as well. Helps when you’re a pilot—and when you’re trying to circumvent the authorities.
“But I have a plan,” Niya says.
“Let’s hear it,” I say. Maybe her plan and my plan will dovetail.
“Your raft is on the palace roof, right?” she says.
“Yes,” I say. “It is. Assuming it’s still in one piece.”
“You’re going to get to the raft—”
“How do you suggest I do that?” I say even though that’s part of my plan too, but I want to hear how Niya’s worked all this out.
“You’re going to—Joston! Now what are you doing?”
I’ve spotted yet another barricade, only this time I have to do a 180 in order to avoid it and now we’re going back the way we came.
“We can’t risk another barricade,” I say, slipping the s-car down an alleyway that I hope to hell doesn’t dead-end.
“Because your smile only works on females?” Niya says with a melodramatic huff.
“Yeah,” I say.
“And while you’re on the roof, getting the raft ready,” Niya says as though she described how I was going to get there, which she never did, “I’m going to go visit Chlo and Lasson in prison.”
“And that’s going to rescue them?” I say as I speed up again. I don’t see any barriers ahead on this route.
“The visiting room is wide open,” Niya says. “There’s a minimum of guards. And I’m hoping there’ll be even fewer today, since there are so many troops deployed.”
“And how the fuck do you know this? Are you a regular prison visitor?”
“I was,” Niya says, “when Chlo was in prison a few years ago.”
“I forgot about that,” I say. “I defer to your expertise. Go on.”
“I have a hat in the trunk,” Niya says. I’m catching her drift. Chlo’s orange hair is a dead giveaway.
“I put it there when you were in the shower,” she says.
“Won’t they have prison uniforms on?” I say.
“I’m hoping not. They were just arrested last night and Chlo never had a prison uniform years ago.”
“Lasson is pretty well known,” I say.
“But not as recognizable here as he is on Choryn,” Niya says. “I think we can get away with it—assuming we can get out of the visiting area.”
“And, assuming you can get out of the visiting area, how are you going to get to the roof?” I say.
“We’re not,” she says. “You are going to come get us.”
“Well, you’re not going to be able to do any of that, because you’re going to be at your post on the airfield,” I say as we pull up to the back gate, where Ozker is waiting for us.
“What?” Niya says. “I’m not doing this.”
“I commed Ozker while you were in the shower,” I say as I open the hatch.
“Joston Lynar, you are one sly devil,” says Ozker. I get out of his s-car and the two of us embrace. “And you have some very clever friends as well.”
“I do,” I say. I guess he had a chance to talk with Nik and Aymee before they left.
“Ozker, I’m not staying,” Niya says.
“Well, come with me and rest for a minute anyway,” Ozker says, winking at me. Good—he understands that Niya has to stay here.
But when we walk past the outermost docking bay and Ozker steers us toward it, I wonder what’s going on. And I wish I could ask Niya if she really trusts this guy. Because this is starting to smell like betrayal to me.
So I get ready to make a break for it, even though I no longer have Ozker’s card. But, really, it’ll be easier to dodge the barricades on foot.
Niya
Joston looks like he’s ready to run, so I get ready too. I’m worried that Ozker’s being coerced by the authorities, because why would we be heading for the docking bay?
“How are the kids?” I ask Ozker, thinking that if he’s been threatened, they’d be at the heart of it and maybe he can tell me something without actually telling me anything.
“I told Mirz to take them out to our country place,” Ozker says. “Safer there.”
I look at Joston and nod my head. Ozker and Mirz do have a country place and it probably is safer there. The troops won’t bother with the outlying areas right now, I don’t think.
Ozker opens the side door to the docking bay just as Joston makes a break from us and sprints back toward the gate.
When I see who’s inside the docking bay, though, I call out to him. “Joston! Come back!”
He stops, looks at me, and I gesture for him to follow us. Because inside the docking bay are Nik, Aymee, and their brand-new baby, who’s no longer wailing.
Aymee picks up her daughter’s tiny arm and waves it to me and I wave back. In the midst of all this craziness, I’m instantly overwhelmed with joy for my new friends.
“What in the name of . . . ?” Joston says when he comes into the docking bay and sees who’s here.
“I said you had clever friends,” Ozker says. “I’d better leave you to it. Any minute now they’re going to notice I’m not at my post.”
“You didn’t think we were really going back to the Marinax, did you?” Nik says.
“And leave the four of you stranded?” Aymee says, finishing her husband’s sentence.
“But—your baby,” I say.
“She’s fine,” Aymee says. “When you’re born in the front seat of an s-car, you can make do with anywhere.”
“This blows my plan to hell,” Joston says.
“What were you planning?” I say, since he never told me.
“Something involving Chlo’s rebel pal—”
“How are you going to find him?” Nik says.
“He might have given me his comm channel,” Joston says.
“And you gave him yours,” Nik says.
“Perhaps,” Joston says. “But I haven’t contacted him yet.”
“And then what?” I say. I can see this is getting more and more dangerous. I like my idea much, much better.
“Something with explosives, diversion, and getting to the palace roof,” Joston says.
“And how are you going to get to the roof?” I say. I’d left that maneuver out of my plan, hoping to figure it out on our way to the prison.
“See?” Joston says. “I knew you didn’t have that part down.”
“Stop arguing, you two newlyweds,” Nik says as Joston scowls at him. I scowl a little myself.
“You can get to the palace roof the easy way,” Aymee says.
“Do tell,” Joston says.
“On the transport raft that Niya and I used to get here,” Aymee says.
“I hadn’t figured that into my plans. I thought you and Nik would have used it to get back to the Marinax.”
“Those idiot troopers all left with their prisoners,” Nik says, “and forgot about us. Staying here was dead easy.”
“Okay,” I say, putting everyone and everything together into a workable scheme. “Here’s what we’re going to do . . .”