Beneath the Fallen City, Jamie A. Waters [ebook reader .TXT] 📗

you where we discussed.”

“On it,” he replied.

By the time she climbed out of the hole, Veridian was already driving away. She grabbed the cabling device and attached it to her bike. Glancing up, she saw three bikes rapidly approaching. She leaped on to her speeder and fired up the engine.

With a grin, she pulled back on the throttle and took off speeding over the landscape with the three bikes following her.

Leaning forward, she pulled back on the thrust lever. The bike engine roared and shot forward at near breakneck speed. Let’s see how well you can ride, Carl.

Kayla crouched low, the wind rushing around her as she pushed the bike to its limits. Angling into a turn, she shifted herself slightly toward the edge of the seat and brought the bike nearly to the ground before pulling out of the turn. She glanced into her mirror and saw she’d left the other bikes far behind.

Kayla continued driving for another ten minutes until she was sure she’d lost them. She and Veridian had designated meeting locations for those times they needed to outrun traders and their crew. She turned her bike around and went the long way back toward Sector Three, one of the few cleared sectors, making sure not to cross Carl’s path.

When she arrived, Veridian was already waiting for her under the UV guard. He was clearly agitated, pacing under the artificial shade. “You lost them?”

Kayla pulled off her helmet. “Of course. I drove around making sure before heading here.”

She removed the cabling device from her bike and handed it to Veridian to reattach to his bike. “I didn’t think they’d be onto us so quickly. Carl must have known you’d try to go back into the ruins before the week was up.”

Kayla shrugged and opened her backpack to make sure the artifacts hadn’t been damaged. A beep from Veridian’s bike radar made her look up.

“What is it?”

He stared at the radar. “Shit, we’ve got three bikes headed this way. They must have followed you.”

She shook her head in denial. “No freaking way. I lost them.”

“Could they have gotten back into our comms?”

Kayla considered the possibility for a moment. “I don’t see how. Why the hell are they chasing us down for a couple of stupid artifacts? He’s worse than a rash that won’t go away.”

“Do you want to take off?”

“Nah.” Kayla stretched her arms over her head and leaned against the bike. “Not much point if the bastard is tracking us. Let’s find out what he wants.”

Veridian frowned but didn’t object. They waited while the three bikes pulled up and Carl dismounted, along with Xantham and Cruncher.

Xantham pulled off his helmet and stared at Kayla. “Fuck me sideways. Where the hell did you learn to ride, girl? I’ve never seen anyone with moves like that.”

She grinned and winked at him. “You pick it up quick when you have to outrun traders and their crew.”

Carl tucked his helmet under his arm. “Kayla, we need to talk.”

She yawned. “Nice to see you, too, Carl. But I’m a little busy right now getting my much-needed rest. You see, I’m still technically grounded, but I thought the fresh air might do me some good.”

“You sure looked pretty damn healthy for someone flying out of Sector Twelve earlier.”

Kayla blinked at him. “Business for you traders must be really slow if you’re willing to chase me across half the district. If you need the credits so bad, go ahead and search us, but keep Leo out of this. He didn’t know I was coming here. I waited two days, which was more than fair.”

Carl shook his head. “No, it’s not that. I need to talk to you about Ramiro.”

Kayla’s shoulders tensed. She wasn’t about to discuss Ramiro beyond what she’d revealed the other day. “There’s nothing to talk about. The guy’s an asshole, and I plan on staying as far away from him as I can get. I’m more interested in knowing how you knew I’d be here. I know for a fact my comms and Leo’s system are squeaky clean. I spent the last two days—” Kayla’s eyes widened as a thought struck her and she jerked upright. “You sneaky bastard. You put a tracker on my bike when I came to your camp the other day, didn’t you?”

“Kayla, that’s not important right now,” Carl began.

She ignored him and crouched next to her bike, pulling a flashlight out of her pocket. If there was a tracking device somewhere, she’d find it.

“Ramiro’s gone off the deep end. He’s looking for you.”

Kayla ran her fingers along the underside of the engine, wondering what it would take to get him to drop the subject. “Yeah, yeah, what else is new?”

“Dammit, Kayla.” Carl sighed, then walked over and pulled the miniature tracking device off her bike. He handed it to her, taking away her distraction. “Will you please talk to me now?”

She looked at the device and pouted. “I would have found it.”

He nodded. “I know. I’m trying to save some time. We have a problem with Ramiro. He’s been trying to access my comm system.”

“That sounds like your problem, not mine.” She stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants.

“I’m afraid it’s not. Xantham went ahead and let him into our system enough to find out what he was looking for. He’s looking for you. Cruncher did some checking and found Ramiro’s put a price on you.”

Kayla paused while she tried to wrap her mind around what he was saying. Her brow furrowed, and she gave a slight shake of her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. He might have gotten a little worked up the other day, but the Aurelia Data Cube incident happened a year ago. Why would he bother doing something now? Besides, he already knows he hurt—” She pushed away those thoughts and straightened her shoulders. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. It’s done. It’s in the past. I stay out of Ramiro’s way, and he leaves me alone.”

A look of guilt flashed across Carl’s face but disappeared so fast Kayla wondered if she’d imagined it. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple anymore. Ramiro broke the rules. You may think that as a trader we can do whatever the hell we want, but that’s not the case. Based on his own admission, I petitioned OmniLab to have his trader status revoked.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “Why the hell would you do a thing like that? Shit, Carl, he’s going to blame me. If he didn’t already want to permanently dump my databanks, he will now. If you wanted me out of your district so badly, you could have at least given me a head’s up to get the hell out of OmniLab territory.”

Veridian ran a jerky hand through his hair, looking worried. “Can you call OmniLab and tell them you made a mistake?”

“I can’t,” Carl said simply. “The other two traders have signed off on the petition, and OmniLab is investigating. But even if I could call it off, I wouldn’t. As it is, you don’t trust us. The only way we’re ever going to be able to repair the relationship between traders and ruin rats is if we’re held accountable for our actions.”

“At the risk of getting Kayla killed?” Veridian demanded.

“Not if I can help it.” Carl turned to Kayla, holding out his hands in apology. “I wasn’t expecting Ramiro to respond this way. For that, I take full responsibility. I know what you think of traders, but I can protect you. Ramiro’s going to be throwing all his resources into hunting you down. He seems to think if he gets rid of you, he’ll eliminate the threat of being removed as a trader. If you accept the offer I made, I can help you. I can keep you safe.”

Kayla’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

“If you join my crew, you’ll be in a secure base. You’ll have my resources backing you. Otherwise, you won’t last more than a couple of days on your own. Look how easy it was for me to track you down. It’ll be just as easy for Ramiro.”

She gaped at him. Were they really back to that again? She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Oh, isn’t that convenient? Forget it. I’ll take my chances with Ramiro. At least if he kills me, there’ll be some poetic justice in that.”

“Kayla.” Veridian’s voice was soft but insistent, his eyes full of concern.

She shook her head. “Oh no, V, don’t you look at me like that. You know I can’t. I won’t do it.”

Veridian walked up to her and took her hands in his. “Carl’s right. You need to do this. I’ve been trying to help you pick up the pieces for the past year, but I can’t help you with this. You owe it to Pretz to accept this offer. Don’t let Ramiro hurt you.”

Kayla tried to pull away. “Don’t you dare bring him up.”

Veridian gripped her tighter, not letting go. “I can’t lose you, Kayla. You’re the only family I have left.”

His pained words tore through her, and she bowed her head, closing her eyes tight. She wanted to scream in frustration. The thought of hurting Veridian was like a knife in her gut, but she didn’t know how she could reconcile her emotions enough to work for OmniLab.

As though sensing her need for movement, Veridian released her. She stepped away, feeling conflicted. Pacing around the small area under the portable UV guard, Kayla kicked at her bike. Running her hands through her hair in agitation, she contemplated her options. Sadly, there weren’t many. She turned to Carl, who seemed to be waiting for her to come to the conclusion he’d already reached. She swallowed and hung her head. “How long?”

“The contract would be for a year,”