His friend moved toward me as I scrambled to my feet and stuck the barrel against the side of the other one’s head. He held up one hand, the one with the gun, while he kept the other on his wounded foot.
“Drop it,” I told him. He let the gun fall to the floor, and I took it. I dropped it in the Escher tablet with the rest of the stuff.
I backed away, moving the pistol from one of them to the other as I made my way to the door. The one with the broken fingers glared after me while his friend kicked his shoe off. His drenched sock left prints across the floor as he limped toward a stack of boxes. Before he could reach them, I slipped out, and took off back down the hallway the way I’d come.
“Thanks a lot, Dao-Ming,” I said under my breath, heading for the stairwell.
“You’re welcome,” the guy on the floor slurred, face still pressed to the tiles.
Chapter Nine
I left the hotel, more worried the dealers would come after me than I was the cops ever showing up. Neither one made an appearance as I joined the flow of foot traffic and took the first gate out of there. I kept my Escher tablet deep in my side pocket, and moved as fast as I could through the crowd. When I felt sure no one had followed me out, I relaxed a little, but not much.
How had she known? The thought kept nagging at me. Somehow, Dao-Ming had snuck some kind of tracer on me… something on the 3i? Something through eyebot, maybe? Something let her pull the contact info for those dealers after I set everything up, because no one else but me had it. She’d followed up with them, and promised them more cash, a lot more cash, for bigger stakes. She’d sent me in there blind, knowing damned well what would happen, and if anything went wrong and we got caught, I’d be left holding the bag.
Sam?
The message flashed in front of me, the 3i’s chat window floating over the back of the man in front of me.
Screw you, Dao-Ming.
I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure you’d go along if—
You’re goddamned right I wouldn’t.
At least hear me out.
No. I don’t want to hear you out. I don’t want to know. Stop talking over the 3i.
You might not see it now but we have to be realistic about things. If you really want to change things, we’re going to need to—
We’re not doing anything. You’re not getting your hands on any of it.
Sam—
I mean it. Don’t contact me again.
Sam, I’m warning you, don’t you dare cut me off.
“Excuse me.”
I heard the man’s voice from behind me a beat before I felt his hand on my shoulder. I turned, and my stomach dropped as I found myself face-to-face with a security guard. Eyebot painted his face, and began spitting out information about him as he looked down at me.
Sam, Dao-Ming sent. Answer me.
Don’t contact me again, I sent, and blocked her.
“Excuse me,” the guard said again.
“Is something wrong?” I asked him.
“You tell me.” When I just gaped at him, he touched my chin, and angled my face so he could see the side the dealer had punched. “Someone hit you?”
“No,” I said.
“No?”
“I’m fine.”
The Escher tablet felt like lead in my pocket, and I felt the urge to do something, anything to cover it up or get rid of it but I made myself stay still. The Escher tablets the haan used couldn’t be scanned, at least not by us, but when they shared the tech with us one of the conditions the government had was that they be fitted with security overrides. Any guard, including this one, could look inside it and see what I had in there if he got it in his head to do it. He had no reason, but they didn’t always need a reason. If he scanned me, he’d pick it up, and if he did that he’d look inside for sure. He’d—
“You don’t look fine,” he said.
“No?”
“You look scared.”
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s really not as bad as it looks. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I have a sitter watching my brother…. Can I please go?”
He watched me a moment longer, not looking suspicious so much as concerned. He just wanted to know who beat me up. He didn’t suspect me, at least not yet. In the end, while he didn’t look convinced, he gestured for me to go on my way.
“If someone’s bothering you,” he said, “flag one of us down. That’s why we’re here.”
“I will.”
“Take care.”
I turned and made myself keep a steady pace, heading toward the nearest jump gate I could find. The jump put the Row miles across town, and left no way for anyone there to track me. I took two more jumps to Tùzi-wo just in case, then made my way up to my apartment.
At my apartment door, I flashed my keycard at the scanner but when I went to open it one of the inside bolts held it shut. I thumped on it with one fist, annoyed.
“Yun, Alexei, unlock the damned door,” I called. I heard stirring on the other side. After a minute, I thumped the door again, harder. “Guys, it’s me, let me in!”
I heard the bolt turn, and then the door opened and I saw Yun standing in the doorway looking a little flustered.
“What the hell, Yun?”
“Sorry.” She looked at my face where the guy had decked me. “Shit, Sam, what happened?”
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s a long story. Did something happen? Why’d you have the door locked?”
“Someone came by,” she said. “He spooked Alexei. Me, too, a little.”
“Who came by?”
“I don’t know. Some guy. Wanted to talk to you. I shut off the TV and pretended we weren’t here but he said he knew you were in here. He hung around for a while, and then he left.”
“Oh.”
“Do you know who he was?”
“No,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. Thanks again for watching him.”
She looked back over her shoulder, then back at me. “He’s getting really bent. Getting shuffled around like this.”
“I know.”
“He thinks neither Dragan nor you has time for him. He ditches him with you. Then you turn around and ditch him with me. He just—”
“I know,” I said. My face hurt like hell, and I felt worn down, and tired. “No one’s ditching him… he has to work, you know? I have to work. We’re doing the best we can.”
“He’s nine though, he doesn’t get that—”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Because he—”
“I said I’ll talk to him.”
She shrugged, looking like she might say something else, but didn’t.
“He’s in bed,” she said instead. “See you, Sam.”
She left, and I headed inside. I locked the bolts behind me, and headed back toward my bedroom. I’d almost stepped through the doorway, when I heard Alexei’s voice.
“Sam?”
I stopped, turning toward the sound. Alexei had been waiting for me. He’d gotten out of bed, and stood in the doorway of the room I’d set up for him.
“It’s late, Alexei,” I told him.
“I know. I—”
“You should be in bed, you have school tomorrow.”
“I know.” He looked at my face. “What happened to—”
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
Who hit you? The message came over the 3i, through the translator.
“No one,” I said. “Just… go to bed.”