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A guard murmurs into his slate. By the time the paperwork arrives, a second sheet lies beneath it with a name, a district and a number.
After finding Jade Mercer’s name on the second sheet, I scan the address beneath it and finally have something that leads straight to him. I fold the paper into my pocket, already calculating how fast I can get there.
Vasco signs first, each stroke of the pen harder than the last. I sign beneath him, and the dealer checks both signatures before sliding the contract into its case. “Congratulations.”
When we stand, the guards part without being told to.
“Clement.”
I look back.
Vasco remains in his chair, watching me. “You really think you can walk into my house, play one game, and leave with everything I built?”
I lift the contract case. “That’s what the deal says.”
A low chuckle leaves him. “Then I’d watch every step you take from here on out. Calder has plenty of places where a rich man can disappear.”
I smile. “Good thing I’m hard to bury.”
Outside, the night still cooks the streets as the holo-cab glides to the curb. Ryven drops into the back seat first, grinning from ear to ear. “Well, that was fun.”
I give the driver the address. “Northern mining district.”
Ryven sinks into the seat. “Two pretty blondes and half a district in your pocket. That’s what I call efficiency.”
Seren checks his slate. “Apparently, our receptionist is waiting upstairs.”
Ryven turns to stare at him. “...You absolute menace.”
The holo-cab glides away from the casino, and within minutes the marble and crystal give way to rusted balconies, patched roofs, and streets lined with men too tired to look up. Children kick a dented can through the dust as their parents queue outside ration stores beneath apartment blocks that should have been condemned years ago. Every other building bears the same company crest.
Vasco calls this ownership.
I call it neglect.
Somewhere out there in the red dust is a mine with my name on the deed now. If my prey still swings a wrench in it the way he told me he does, then after one game of cards I own his shifts, his wages, the roof over his head, and the debt with his brother’s name on it.
He doesn’t know it yet, but every bite he eats this month will come from my hand. My pet has been fed, housed, and paid for since I sat down at that table tonight, and he still thinks he’s feeding himself.
He’s going to hate it when he finds out, but hey, I don’t mind it nearly as much as I should.
Yeah, Jade might have crossed half the Reach to get home, but I crossed the other half and bought the ground he landed on.
12
JADE
The scrubber screams as the entire filtration unit shudders to a stop.
“Mercer!”
I slide beneath the housing, wrench already in hand. Heat presses down through the overhead steel as red grit rains into my hair whenever another conveyor starts somewhere above us. The blockage gives with a hard twist, and the motor coughs, rattles, then roars back to life.
“There’s my boy.” Kellan claps a dusty hand on my shoulder as I crawl back out. “Knew you’d get her running again.”
I wipe the grease from my hands onto a rag. “I guess she just needed a little convincing.”
Old Dregg leans down from the gantry and drops half a protein cake into my hand on my way past. It’s still wrapped. “Saw you skip the mess again,” he grunts, already turning back to his gauge. “Eat it, or I’ll tell your brother.”
