The Color of Rain (26 page)

“I did,” I say through clenched teeth. He's squeezing my wrists so hard that my fingers are growing stiff.

“She was different before. Less confident. Liable to cry. I used to make her weep.” His tongue lingers on the point of his eyetooth. “Would you cry for me?”

I can't answer. My hands are numb except for a pain that shoots up my arms every time he twists his grip.

“You wouldn't, would you?” He yanks me onto his lap, wrestling my chest under his arm. I want to fight back. I could take him in this state—probably—but Ben's words sound through my head.

Don't give him a reason
.

He reaches into his pocket with his free hand and pulls out a small silver lighter, the same kind of lighter that the Earth City factory workers receive after twenty years. He pops the lid, igniting a flame as long as a finger, and holds it a foot under my wrist.

“Sure you won't give me a cry?” he says into the side of my hair. “You sure?” He brings the flame closer and closer until its warmth turns into a biting pinch. I grind my teeth, concentrating on the glass wall, on the forest beyond. On the trees . . .

The burning switches to a screeching pain, and hot tears fill my eyes, but I won't make a sound.

“Better than nothing,” he says, snapping the lighter shut. He fingers the wetness on my cheek. “You may not best her in looks, but maybe you're a better brand of girl for me.” He tosses me onto the footrest. My arm sears with pain, and my wrist is bubbled. Swollen and
melted
in places. It swells until my fingers curl and stiffen.

Johnny has disfigured me.

“You bastard!”

He stands, glaring down with a chuckle. He's picked up the glass—finally—and holds it only inches from his lips. “Rain, Rain. Why do I have the feeling that we'll never get rid of each other?”

I want to kill him.

“To you and your unflagging stubbornness.” He presses the glass to his lips, but a knock interrupts him. He sets the drink down and crosses to the door to face a very stunned Ben. “What is it? I didn't call for you.”

Panic and anger rear up in my body. I grab the silver lamp with my good hand and charge, smashing it against the back of his head.

Johnny crumples to the floor.

“Rain!” Ben gasps. He hurries to shut the door behind him, but I've already fallen to the floor, holding out my burnt wrist. The pain is all over me, hot and tingly like I showered in it.

Ben kneels. “
Hell
,” he breathes, taking my claw-like hand and turning it over so that he can see the full extent of the burn.
He pats his pockets but comes up empty; Johnny still has all of his gadgets.

“Hold tight,” he says, darting around the room. He rips part of the bed sheet and doses it with liquor from the bar. Then he wraps it around my wrist, and I shake as the alcohol soothes and stings as it begins to numb the burn. Ben pulls me into a hug, holding me tightly while my breath levels. “What happened? What did you do to provoke him?”

“
Do?
Are you kidding? I was simply here. Then I was not as beautiful as Crysta or as weak as her. I didn't
do
anything!” My irritation gives me a degree of stability that hugging Ben couldn't match. I get to my feet, checking the ceiling. “What about the cameras?”

He laughs and stands. “You think of that now? After you've ruined hotel property and knocked out your pimp?” He nudges the dented lamp with his foot. “Don't worry. It was a pathetically simple system to hack. The only thing they're going to see on this room's feed is that it's empty.”

I cast a look at Johnny's crumpled body and wipe away residual tears. “All right. Let's go. Let's do this.” He doesn't move, and I have the sudden urge to hit
him
with the lamp. “Well?” I step toward the door. “You ready?”

“I think we're going to attract enough attention between your hair and my race, but . . .”

“But what?”

“Walking through the casino half-naked might cross the line.”

I glance down at my underwear. “Shit!” I dart after my clothes, and Ben stifles a laugh as he hauls Johnny over to the bed
and tosses his body onto the mattress. I yank my dress over my head and tie my hair back into a braid.

“Now you look ready,” he says.

I feel the hint of a smile that I won't give him. “Not a word about that ever again. All right?” I touch my bandaged wrist, wincing a little.

“All right.” His own grin fades. “Rain, if you want to change your mind, I understand. This is damn near suicidal. I've rigged the cargo holds' security, but if he actually checks them in person . . . or if he has other ways that we don't know about . . .”

“A thousand souls, Ben.” I pause. “A
thousand
.”

T
he sky has turned from velvet to coal outside the transparent walls of the casino. We push through the stream of people, getting separated more than once. I was used to directional crowds during the factory shift processions on Earth City, but this swirling hoard is much different. Here, people change directions after only a few steps. They pause unexpectedly, causing me to run into them and other people to run into me. I'm frustrated before we're even beyond sight of the Silving Suns Hotel.

When a large group of men comes straight at us, Ben reaches back for my hand at the same moment that I reach forward for his. Our fingers weave and lock together, and I swear my heart thuds doubly because of it.

We take stairs to the rooftop parking instead of the fancy rising pedestal that brought us into the casino. I welcome the familiarity of handrails and concrete steps, but I must be gripping Ben a little too firmly because he pauses at the door to the roof and looks at our entwined hands.

“It's a weird place, isn't it?” he says as though he feels as awkward on this strange planet as I do. “Many of the spaceports along
the Void are crowded and crazy like this. Everyone is for hire here for one thing or another.”

“Is this what the Edge is like?”

He smiles. “The Edge is very different. Probably unlike anything you've ever imagined.” We release each other's hands slowly. “There are some places there that I would love to take you. Like the rockfalls out beyond the blue lakes. Or the underground steel market. Or the crystal caves on the far side of the moon.”

“Moon caves?” Now I'm smiling. “Sounds unbelievable.”

“It'll blow your mind,” he says. I have to look away from the very affectionate tone of his voice and the sudden desire to leave everything and go with Ben to the Edge. Just the two of us. No Walker or Touched. No Johnny.

Could we do it alone? I bet we could.

The back of the exit door is hammered out of a crude metal, and the small window frame bears a familiar stamp:
MADE ON EARTH
.

“Samson was right.” I point it out to Ben. “He said I'd be impressed to find Earth City stuff at the other end of the universe. I didn't believe him, but”—I say while running my fingers over the letters,—“it's pretty great, isn't it?”

“Sure, it is.” His tone is still too low and intimate, and then the stairwell becomes too quiet. “Are you ready?” he asks.

“I'm always ready,” I say and lead us out. Tiny stars penetrate the black sky alongside dual silvery moons. We make our way through the maze of vehicles on the rooftop parking lot until we find ours.

I slide into the driver's seat beside Ben, and he grips the
steering post. “You do know how to pilot this thing, right?”

“Of course.” He clears his throat. “I could have done it when I was a kid, but . . .”

“But?”

“I'm having doubts.”

“No doubting this, Ben. All those people need us.”

“Yes, but . . .”

I wait for him to continue, but he doesn't, and I'm annoyed that he could think about going back when we've come this far. “Don't freeze up on me now. Not after what I had to do. You just had to play with the network; I went back to
his bed
for this chance. Think about that for a second!” I settle down. “Actually don't think about it. I don't know why I said that.”

“I like you, Rain,” he deadpans. I bark a laugh, and he darts a look at me. “I mean it. I thought that maybe if I say it, I can think about something else. I should be terrified about what we're going to do. I should have my mind on the plan, but I can't stop imagining what he'll do to you if he catches us.”

“You're not thinking about me. You're thinking about Bron,” I say. “It's just remorse. Believe me, I'm guilt incarnate. You don't want to feel guilty about causing my death like you do about hers.”

“Nevermind.” He circles the engines to life, and the vibrations hum up my legs. “I shouldn't have brought it up,” he adds under his breath and pulls the hover cab into a steep ascending spiral that flattens me against the seatback.

I grasp the straps. “Damn, Ben. Samson doesn't drive like this.”

“Samson isn't under a time crunch. We've only got until sunrise before what we're doing becomes obvious to any sky traffic.” He shuts off the headlights as we zoom higher over the planet.

“Whoa. I can't see a thing!”

“And that's why you're not driving.” The blue engine lights make their way up through the cracks of the cab, lighting Ben's stern face.

“So you like me?”

“You want to talk about this now?”

“You brought it up.” I twist in my seat to face him. “I like you, too. At least, I don't dislike you the way I used to.”

He cracks a grin. “That's progress.”

“Plus you don't really make me feel like a girl, so that's good.”

“Great,” he says, giving the word an extra syllable. I had said
girl
instead of
prostitute
. He should follow that, right? I watch him, teetering on the edge of giving away too much. Ben says he likes me, but as a friend or as something more? His words dangle either way . . . and I am Johnny's girl. Is there a chance that he thinks and rethinks our moments like I do?

Suddenly, I can't think of anything other than the fact that he can see my body temperature flare through the darkness.

“It's not fair,” I say, and he looks back at the controls. “No one should be able to see in the dark. That's where people need to be able to keep their secrets. Maybe that explains why people don't trust Mecs.”

“I could watch you all night without figuring you out. Believe me, your secrets are well hidden.” He adjusts his grip on the steering column and clears his throat. “We're coming up on
Imreas
.” I
peer into the night, making out a black spot in the sky that's blocking all the stars. It looms larger and larger until the dark mass becomes a wall of silver metal.

Ben inserts a few commands on the control board. “I've got the catch out. I just need to hit the sweet spot.” He brings the hover cab up to the side of the massive starship where I can see the handles of the two cargo crates fitted like drawers into the outer hull.

“That's how he gets them onboard without anyone realizing it, isn't it?” I say. “The cops put them in those crates. And Johnny takes the crates away. No witnesses except a handful of trusted crew members.”

“They were designed for food shipments. You pull them out, fill them on planet, and then hoist them back into the side of the ship. Easy. Except, of course, that Johnny's never used them for supplies.” The hover cab shifts as the catch clicks into a large loop on the side of the first crate. “But then that works to our benefit; so few people know what Johnny really does with those crates that no one will ask why we're unloading them. They'll just think it's a supply run.”

Ben steers us clear of
Imreas
, and a banging sound shakes through the vehicle. “That's just the chain letting out,” he says. Something
clangs
like a great lock, and Ben brings the hover cab further away. I squint, seeing one huge crate separate from
Imreas
's side, swinging free in the limited gravity but connected to us by a thick cable.

Ben breathes a huge sigh and pilots us back toward Entra's surface. “Now it's your turn. There's a harness and a drop line by the back door.”

I shimmy over the driver's seat and into the passenger section of the hover cab. “A harness?” I pick up a unit of straps.

“Yeah, get it on over your waist. I can't set this cab down on the surface through the trees, so you'll have to rappel down, get the door open, and lead them out.”

I find leg holes in the harness and secure the clasp over my hips, then I follow the connecting line to where it hooks to the ceiling. By the time I look out the window again, Ben has us over the forest on the far side of the planet.

Here the moons are large and looming.

A crash sounds as the crate lands on the ground below, and the hover cab comes to a jerky halt just over the tree line. I fling open the door and look down. I'm a hundred feet from the ground, nothing below but the huge crate resting between the trees on the forest floor.