Page 158 (1/2)
I look up as Volga trudges out onto the balcony We ca with the Duke and paid cash for one of the suites at the penthouse level They are sound-sealed and colass for privacy I reach under rip eun
I look back down at the city that has been est pup of six I was just a governovern for the pack I never trickedmy city cared about me, but I cared for it in a way I never cared for the Society I fought to free it I fought for it when Gold caes around me Old sed by new And at the heart of the new is so I don’t understand Soainst all
I played along, but it wasn’t me
The more I think about the Syndicate, the row bored of running the petty cri, for politics I gave them a boost
Why do they want the children?
I thought I could close the book on this job just like the rest But this is different, bigger, and I can’t foolit down Cyra and Dano are dead because I pulled them into this Not just the job with the Syndicate, but this life I look across the deck at Volga, who has her arms barricaded around her chest like bulwarks My only friend She wasn’t a criminal till she met me She was in love with the idea of the city So many people from so many places Then I pulled her into the shadows because I needed a guard dog She’d be better off without me Everyone is better off without me
In the grip of the zoladone, the idea is served cold, wrapped pristine in logic
Sound fro roo for Hyperion The Reaper has been spotted on Mars and Obsidians are disappearing all over the Republic There’s been no news of the kidnapping on the holos Nothing but a blip of how a government ship went down from mechanical failure and that all on board survived
The silence is part of the game
The Sovereign is compromised They have her son But she keeps it a secret to keep Dancer and his ilk fro the upper hand on her So ill the Syndicate demand as ransom? That is the trillion-credit question
“Do you regret it?” Volga asks
“Bemocked by a psychopathic crimelord and now hunted by sociopathic Golds? Fun stuff Orthe tension inin my brain, I pull out a second zoladone and roll it around in my pala knocks it out of my hand and takes the dispenser off the table beside me
“Volga, don’t be a twat”
“No more”
“Give a…”