Superego (30 page)

I didn't know if she said that out of frustration or was seriously considering suicide again. I felt I should do something, but once again I was extremely ill equipped to know what that was. I pulled her closer to me, and she rested her head on my chest. “If you did that, I never would have met you.”

She laughed. “And that's been nothing but a blessing, right?”

It was hard to say. She certainly had changed me. “Just don't discount the value of your own life.” I'd never really cared before if someone else lived or died; that did seem to make her special.

“My life isn't mine to take anyway. I just don't know what I can do with it that's of use to anyone. It seems so stupid now that I thought I could reform myself while living a lie. Look what I brought on the people who showed me such love when I didn't deserve it. And if Nystrom decides to go after more of my friends from church, I'm powerless to stop them. They're too powerful, and they control the police force. And if somehow Nystrom were defeated, it would mean nothing to the universe as a whole, since that would just leave the other syndicates in power. Just look at the officials attending the conference! All of them are….”

Diane was silent a moment, and then she smiled. More my type of smile. She sat up and faced me. “I told you before that I've been working in my spare time tracing the syndicates' connections within the government, and I can identify every major player at the conference as being in the pocket of one syndicate or another. And knowing that Nystrom is planning something, all the players have brought more security in the form of syndicate thugs. I mean, all the syndicates want to destroy each other, but they're all going to be in a room together playing nice, because they think Nystrom overstepped with Zaldia and there is a chance to eliminate them. But all those criminals, all those murderers, will be pretending to be civilized for the cameras, and most people won't notice a thing.”

I smiled too. “Unless we put a match to that powder keg.”

“Exactly! We're too small to fight them, but we can get them to fight each other. They won't destroy themselves, but with a big enough spectacle we can at least open everyone's eyes and show them who exactly controls the government now.” Her smile grew wider. “I think this is something we can do.” She finally noticed her bare chest and pulled up the sheets to cover herself.

I wasn't so sure that rubbing everyone's faces in the fact that they were surrounded by criminals would amount to anything, but I loved the mission idea. All the major syndicates were going to be in a room together, and we just had to get them to erupt into an orgy of violence. Nystrom would have their own people in place to seize control when Gredler was eliminated, but if those people were dead along with all the other syndicates' “respectable” frontmen, there would be no one to seize control—no quick path back to normality—only chaos and a lot of criminals now out in the open to deal with. Nystrom's plans of easily grabbing control would be ruined along with the plans of any other syndicates for holding the reins of power in secret.

It wouldn't be easy to get all the syndicates to turn on each other, though, as they'd all be very careful not to cause a disturbance and draw attention to themselves. In all likelihood, were Gredler shot in front of them, they'd even play that low-key. Still, it seemed like a doable mission. We just had to figure out the right impetus so they couldn't help but attack each other. “We'll need to find some way to get access to the conference hall.”

“Agent Dawson would know how to get us access.” I could see a glimmer in her eyes that said she was looking for vengeance for what had happened to her friend. Not helpful right now.

“No, she'll be expecting us to go after her.” She really would, and she would probably win that fight, by my guess. She'd said I was too predictable, and I took the criticism to heart. By teaming up with Diane, I was already doing something new. Now I just needed to do something else that was crazy and stupid enough that she wouldn't see it coming. “So how much weaponry do you have in your hideout here?”

“A decent amount. I've…confiscated some things while in law enforcement.”

“Explosives?”

She almost looked embarrassed. “I was able to obtain quite a bit, actually…just in case.”

“Body armor?”

“Well…only in my size.”

I thought for a moment. “You definitely have skills as an assassin. How comfortable are you with a siege?”

“Well…” She seemed to really think about it. “What do you have planned?”

CHAPTER 33

I watched the forest pass below us. It looked so serene, but below the green canopy was a constant struggle of life and death. A simple one, though—no talking, no emotions. The less advanced creatures of the world knew exactly what they wanted and worked for it without hesitation.

“You like the forest?” Diane asked.

“It's peaceful…in its own way. If I were to settle down, I think I'd like a place out in the forest.”

Diane laughed. “Not on this planet.”

I smiled. “No. I don't think that will be an option.”

We were silent a moment, then Diane said, “Can I ask you something?”

I looked at her. She was in black body armor, which didn't quite flatter her figure, yet still looked cute on her. Her skin was back to its normal color, and without a wig her hair was a dirty blonde. Her face right now, though, was quite serious. I didn't think I wanted her to ask me her question. “What is it?”

“Rico Vargas—police officer from a backwater planet…is that the story we're still going with?”

She was a mass murderer, and it seemed kind of silly for me to still hide who I was from her. Yet I didn't think she'd really understand what I was, and I didn't want to explain. “Do you believe I'm on your side?”

“Yes.”

“Then let's leave it at that for now.”

She nodded. “Well, you tell me what you want to tell me whenever you're ready.”

It was inevitable that she'd eventually have to know exactly what I was if I planned to stay around her, but that was a problem for another time. “Anything else?”

She thought for a moment. “Are you in love with me?”

I considered for a moment what would be the most useful response and then just decided to be truthful. “Yes.”

“Why?”

That was quite a question. “It's my understanding that there isn't always a rational basis for love.”

“You've never been in love before?”

“No. How about you?”

She let the question hang for a moment. “I've learned that love is a verb. You love someone—it's a choice. I spent a lot of time without any love, so now I try to show love to everyone.”

I didn't know what that crap meant other than that she was dodging the question. “And how's that working out?”

“Considering my recent body count and what we're planning today, I guess I could be doing better.”

I half-laughed at her joke, but I was a bit preoccupied by her not answering the question. Or the real question behind it: Was she in love with me? So it wasn't just that I was infatuated with a woman—I wanted her to love me back. Which was silly, since it wouldn't really be me she was in love with but the character I was playing.

“Rico,” Diane started to say, but seemed to reconsider her words. Then she leaned over and we kissed for what seemed like minutes. She said, “It seems pretty likely I'm going to die soon, but I'm happy I knew you first.”

It was certainly possible she'd die and I'd live. And then…I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps I didn't want to. I had lived all my life before without her, and thus losing her again would be just going back to my normal. And yet that was terrible to contemplate.

Anyway, considering our plan, if she died during the assault, I was probably going to die, too. So…moot point.

I came out of the line of trees at the edge of the forest, slowly walking toward Gredler's estate. His security team spotted me immediately, and I could see a group of four guards congregating just on the other side of the gate to the compound. “My name is Rico. I was here the other day, and I would like to speak to Senator Gredler again.”

The security team—Randatti thugs—all had their guns drawn. “What about?”

“I have information about the Nystrom assassin out to kill him.”

They opened the gate, and two of the thugs—a Corridian and a human—approached me. The Corridian seemed to be listening to something. “Okay, we'll take you to Gredler. Are you armed?”

“Of course.”

The two each took a cautious step back. “Will you hand over your guns, then?”

I shook my head. “Nah, I don't think so.”

A shot tore through the Corridian, causing the human to glance toward the forest. That's when I drew my two guns, shooting the two guards inside the gate while letting Diane take out the human next to me. The immediate threats handled, I charged forward toward more of them. I would have to be quick for this to work, and that I had to trust Diane to cover my back. This was a new thing for me, putting my life in the hands of another. I hoped it wasn't the last thing for me.

An explosion erupted on the other side of the building. That would be followed by some erratic gunfire from the gun we'd crudely rigged to fire by itself. The idea was to divide Gredler's security with some false threats. That would only last for a very short while, so again speed was of the essence.

A man came out the front door. I shot him and jumped over his body into the house. As I've said, when I'm bored I like to imagine shooting my way out of a place. And I had certainly been bored on my first visit to the Gredler estate, so I'd run over that scenario a couple times. I hadn't considered shooting my way
in
, but a lot of the same details applied, such as where security would likely come from. Thus, as I barged into the foyer, putting myself temporarily out in the open, I fired from memory at where I assumed targets would be before I even saw them. In the least it caused some of the security force to duck for cover instead of taking aim at me. A number of shots went by me, but with my speed and aim, they'd have had to make their first shots count. They would not get seconds. They missed. Five of them lay dead as I ran up the stairs to the second floor.

The layout of the house dictated that security either had to barricade Gredler in his office or take him past me. I didn't see him being moved, so he was in his office. I heard gunshots behind me, but I had to assume it was Diane doing her job and keep moving. A guard tried to peek out a doorway and lost his head. I zeroed in on the closed door to Gredler's office.

Then through my radio I heard Diane yelp. Maybe out of surprise, but maybe pain. A small piece of me wanted to stop and turn around to check on her, but I had my course of action and I was sticking to it.

I fired at the edges of the door and plowed into it. It crashed open and I hit the ground in a roll. The world was spinning, but I saw four figures inside the room firing at me. As I came to a stop I fired two shots from each gun and stood up. And now the only living people in the room besides me were the cowering Gredler and his female aide. I ignored her, walking past her to put a gun to Gredler's head. “I don't know if they relayed my message to you, but I wanted to talk to you about a threat on your life.”

I could just barely hear the female behind me reaching down to pick up a gun off of one of the dead guards. Then I heard two shots, followed by a body hitting the floor.

“There, we just saved your life from a Nystrom assassin,” I said as Diane walked over to stand beside me. Her face wasn't visible behind a black helmet, and she looked rather intimidating. There was also smoke coming from her armor where she'd obviously been hit, but I had to assume for now that she was okay.

“She was an assassin?” Gredler asked, looking rather alarmed and confused as he only briefly took his eyes off my gun.

“Despite whatever attempt at security Randatti has given you, Nystrom got an assassin in close to you to make sure you would die even if the primary assassins missed their mark.”

“What primary assassins?” He had calmed a little and was giving me his full attention.

“That would be me and my associate here.”

He considered that. “But you're not going to kill me, are you?” Part question, part statement. He was trying to take charge; politicians always like to think they're in charge.

I rested one hand on the computer on his desk, gun still pointed toward him but not directly at his head. “Tell your security to back off, and we'll talk.”

Gredler slowly walked to the intercom on his desk and said into it, “I want to cancel any alerts.”

“No one is responding near you,” someone answered, sounding panicked.

“That's because your security failed to protect me.” Gredler looked at me. “Now I'm going to talk to someone more competent about keeping me safe.” He shut off the intercom. “I want you to know that I am a politician. My concern is government, and not whatever disagreements Randatti and Nystrom may have.”

“And our concern is survival,” I said. “Now here are the facts: Nystrom wants you dead. They hired us for that, but they have many others and will make sure it happens one way or another.” I motioned to the dead female. “In fact, Agent Morrigan Dawson, who is in charge of much of the security effort for the conference, works for them. And if your people haven't uncovered that, I'd say they've been kind of useless so far.”

He was silent for a minute, wearing the expression of someone finally realizing how closely death had been circling him. “We'll have to look into that…but this seems rather reckless for Nystrom. They'll end up in an all-out war with the Alliance by going after me like this.”