Chapter 20

Ferro huddled in the corner of the work bay where once Quiyo had seduced him. The light fixtures still had a faint buzz from dust settling in the ballast. The sound ate at him.

He was hiding in a back room like a fugitive and he didn't like the sentiment at all. When he had dreamed of becoming a member of Volentin, the vote was followed by a big party and a night of passionate lovemaking. In reality, there wasn't even juice and cookies. A few handshakes, hugs, and some good thumps on the back were his prize. Riata did kiss him thoroughly albeit briefly. It was all over in five minutes.

Benni pulled him aside while most of the Family made for the lifts. They waited quietly with a few others as the deck cleared. When the last of the Family departed, Benni turned to Ferro with Riata at her patriarch's shoulder.

"You're up to your neck in trouble," Benni said. "We expected no less from you."

"What happens now?" Ferro said. He was still hoping against all logic that everyone was rushing upstairs to prepare the welcome party. It was easier to think of a party than a Marine execution squad.

"Now?" Benni said with a slight smile. "Circumstances are moving apace."

"Huh?" Ferro said. "I just murdered a colonel whose boss has a finger on the trigger of an entire taskforce surrounding this station."

"The general is still onboard Callisto," Benni said. "He isn't going to give the order to fire until he is out of harm's way. As much as he fears us, he fears his own death more."

"But..."

Benni stopped Ferro from commenting further. "The building of the ships will continue as we planned. You have done your part. Without much prompting, you shifted authority to the rest of your staff and allowed them to continue the work without interference from you. Already your second, Torrin, is chairing many of the staff meetings."

"I'm the architect," Ferro said with anger rising in his voice.

"Slow down, fuck bunny," Riata said, trying to be helpful. "You've done more than your share on this project up to this point. You recognized the same need to delegate even if your reasons were different."

"You knew that I was going to kill that officer?" Ferro asked. The revelation of plans within plans shot through his brain. "You knew they were going to target me?"

"You were the focal point," Benni said, confirming Ferro's statement. "The most likely scenario was that they would arrest you and make you disappear. The second most likely scenario was your assassination. While we did our best to keep you safe, today's events were entirely their choice."

"They never considered that I, a civilized man, would want to become a member of a Family," Ferro said with the hushed awe of sudden insight in his voice. "They must have thought all of my training was purely academic. Kay knew how well I trained, which means that you knew how I would react when they threatened the Family."

"The General and his colonel didn't know the trigger. They didn't know what would set you off," Riata said. "Even more, they expected you to bolt in fear when threatened."

"They're going to kill us," Ferro said. "Colonel Higgens wasn't trying to scare me as much as he was making a promise. He meant every word about slaughtering the Families."

"I've no doubt," Benni said. "These men are greedy for money and power, but they lack imagination. Their worst mistake was their belief that we wouldn't figure out their shallow plans. We counted on their arrogance and unearned sense of superiority to blind them and they delivered. The only question we cannot answer is whether their masters, the Imperial Council, are directing the Marine Corps or whether the Corps is acting on its own."

Another device strapped to Benni's side beeped. Benni unclipped the device from his belt and handed it to Riata. She read the information on the small view screen and shrugged.

"Low level ID scans," she said. "They're coming from outside the station from two opposite and equidistant points. It's a standard Marine seek-and-search pattern."

"Your computer, please," Benni said with an open hand to Ferro. "No sense making it easy for the Mutawabe to find you. The game begins anew and our first move is to make the rabbit disappear."

"This is a game?" Ferro said as he handed over his computer like he was giving up his precious child. He felt naked. "I need to issue some last orders to Torrin."

Benni was already walking away. "Follow Chemung, Ferro. You've only had a taste of his single-mindedness as an opponent. Lucky you: you now get to experience his ruthlessness as your brother."

"We run," Chemung said as he headed for the stairwell. He wasn't smiling at the compliment from his patriarch.

"How far up are we going?" Ferro asked but Chemung already had his finger to his lips giving the command for silence.

Ten levels later, Chemung and Ferro emerged on a long term cargo storage level. Chemung led them to an open air lift that rose three levels to the ceiling of the room. At the top was a maintenance door. Inside the maintenance room was another small lift that was used to deliver repair parts up and down the station. The two men barely fit into the space and Ferro found the tight squeeze a bit too personal despite the usual crowding on the residential level. The crowding got worse when Chemung had to bend at the waist and reach around the entrance to hit the start button for the lift.

The elevator soared many levels, but there were no markers for Ferro to count. After a number of uncomfortable minutes, they exited the tiny lift and ducked into another stairwell and went down two levels.

They emerged on a familiar and still eerily empty corridor. Chemung stabbed his index finger in one direction. They ran. Ferro guessed that their objective was the airlock but it was on the other side of the station.

At times Chemung would suddenly stop, freezing in place. Ferro would plaster himself to the wall as he tried to calm his breathing. They were both listening, trying to parse the muffled sounds that echoed down the passageway. After the third such stop, Chemung took three metal canisters off of his utility belt and snapped them together. Popping out a trigger below and a sighting device above, Chemung held a nasty looking weapon.

They walked carefully, hugging the interior wall. Chemung was leading with the muzzle of his weapon pointing downward. Soaked with sweat and scared, Ferro followed. He wasn't shaking though and that gave him a bit more courage.