Heart of Tartarus Read online

  Smog curls into the night sky above my head, and my body sways slightly as someone carries me. For a moment, I wonder if the night looked the same hundreds of years ago when people lived on the ground. Sometimes, it feels like I’m so close to the stars, I can reach out and touch them.

  “She’s awake,” someone says, gripping my arm and lowering it back to my side. I didn’t realize I had reached up.

  Dark brown eyes appear above me. “I see that. How’re ya doing?”

  “Did I win?” I slur.

  A low chuckle reverberates against my ears as thick, corded, arms pull me closer against a strong chest. “You sure did, Firecracker.” Something slams into the man holding me and he stumbles, nearly dropping me.

  Another voice, low and smooth like steaming hot water, slides over my ears. It’s the voice from before. “They’re catching up, we need an exit strategy.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  Smokey air hits my nostrils. The man holding me breaks into a sprint and overhead, I see his curls bouncing next to a square cut jaw. Hot.

  Not! I mentally pimp slap the fuck out of myself. He is not hot, and he is not your friend.

  “There,” the low toned voice snaps. “Turn there.”

  Faint sirens howl in the distance and humid air is wet against my cheeks. It’s not the worst way to fall asleep, I think as I drift back into darkness.

  When next I wake, there’s dirt clogging my pores and the faint scent of engine oil and trash lingers in the air. Something warm and heavy slides over my waist and I snuggle closer instinctively. It takes several moments for me to wade through the heavy fog in my head to understand what’s wrong with these circumstances.

  I crack open one eye and the lull of heavy sleep bursts like a diseased boil. Every gross feeling comes rushing to the surface; a pounding headache, a nauseated stomach, and sore muscles screaming at me all at once. I groan and shift on the semi-hard mattress.

  “Well, hello there.” I freeze, my neck stiff as I turn slowly to look up. Dark curls fall over equally dark eyes that sparkle with amusement. “How’re you feeling this morning?”

  I blink up at the somewhat familiar face. “Like shit,” I say honestly.

  He grins before rolling away and sliding his feet to the floor of a small bedroom not unlike my own. “Not surprising,” he replies. “You out drank a man with over a hundred pounds on you.” He strides across the room; the plain metal walls are curved slightly, making him appear that much larger.

  “Whose pod is this?” I ask.

  He retrieves a small familiar satchel from a desk on the far side of the room and tosses it to me. “It’s mine,” he says.

  I flick a glance at him before opening my bag and sifting through my things, making sure nothing was stolen while I was incapacitated.

  “Why the hell were you sleeping in the same bed as me?” I ask. “Haven’t you ever heard of chivalry?”

  “Chivalry died when the human race moved to the sky,” he replies lazily.

  The heavy weight of Richie’s revolver slides over my fingers and I yank it out with surprise. Thayer jumps out of the way as I hold it up, feeling its weight. “Hmmm, maybe you should be the first to rectify that, huh?”

  “Try not to point it at me while we’re together, yeah?” He moves slowly around the room until he’s next to the door leading out. A small porthole window above the bed shines morning light on his gruff face.

  “Don’t be too concerned.” I slide the gun back into my satchel, standing and anchoring it over my shoulder, onto my hip. “I’m leaving anyway.”

  “Aww, so soon?” Thayer props himself against the door as I glance around. My feet are bare and cold on the smooth floor, my boots nowhere to be found.

  “Where are my boots?” I demand.

  He shrugs. “Have you checked under the bed?” I turn and do so, growling low when all I find are empty boxes for hovercar parts and old, worn engineering books.

  I whirl around to glare at the offending asshole chuckling at me.

  “Seriously,” I snap, “where the hell are my boots?”

  He shrugs again. “I really have no idea; you ditched them sometime last night when you crawled into my bed, Firecracker.”

  “Fine,” I say. “I’ll go barefoot.” I stop inches from his chest and wait for him to slide to the side and let me out. “You gonna take all day or can I leave now?” I snap when he doesn’t move.

  “If I get your name first. You never did tell me last night.”

  “You don’t need to know,” I reply. “You’ll never see me again after this. Now, let me out.”

  “What’s in a name, sweet Firecracker? Even if we never meet again, I want to know the name of the loveliest creature I have ever had the chance to behold with my own eyes.” He smirks as he leans down in my face.

  “What are you, a Shakespearean reject?” I scoff. “You should be on Basra if you want to be on stage. Now, move or you’ll be singing soprano.”

  “I’m actually from Dendera,” he says smoothly. “And trust me, Firecracker, you don’t want to hear me sing. It’s not pretty.” He shifts so that he’s leaning down. “And you’re not leaving here until I get a name. I don’t usually let girls with no names spend the night, but now that I have, I feel slightly taken advantage of. Just give me a name and we’re good.”

  “It’s Kida,” I lie. It’s the name I’ve been going by for a few months now, hoping that my best friend, the real Kida, will come looking for me. “Now, let me pass.”

  Dark eyes harden, amusement snuffed out. “Not with a name like that, Firecracker.” He steps forward, forcing me back.

  I blink up at him in surprise. “Excuse me?” I harden my voice even as he towers over me, all playfulness and easygoing behavior completely falling away as if he were shedding a second skin.

  “I don’t know what you did,” he says so quietly that I almost can’t hear. A low deadly growl to his voice. “And I don’t care. But, you’re in a lot of trouble, Kida.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I’m proud of the way my voice holds steady. Not so much of the way I step back as Thayer advances towards me. There’s a knock on the door and the metal latch holding it closed lifts, distracting the raging hulk of a man in front of me long enough for me to dive around him and shove through the doorway into the hallway. I catch a glimpse of familiar hazel eyes filled with surprise, and a head full of dirty-blonde hair before I’m slamming into the opposite wall of the pod hallway.

  Thankfully, most pod housing units on Tartarus have the same layout. I don’t know if it’s the same on the other cities, but here, every pod unit I’ve ever rented has had the exact same sizing and format. Thayer’s is no different, thankfully. I turn away from the guys, sprinting for the open end which leads into the dining, living, and kitchen area. The front door is right there next to a row of porthole windows designed to keep any toxic fumes from leaking into where people live.

  Just as my hand grazes the front door’s latch, I’m grasped around the waist, spun around, and lifted into the air. A shocked squeak slips past my lips as Thayer throws me over one bulky shoulder. I grunt as all the air comes rushing out of my lungs when my stomach hits. A sharp slap resounds through the room and the sting on my butt has me whipping my head around.

  “Did you just slap my ass?” The same muscle that twitches in my eyes whenever I’m battling the urge to maim someone starts up, thrumming along with my heartbeat. “Who the hell do you think you are?!” I wiggle and kick out trying to roll off his shoulder, slapping at his back, pulling at his hair as I try to escape. “I haven’t done anything! Let me go!”

  Thayer slaps my ass again. “Calm down, Firecracker, or I’ll cuff you.”

  “Cuff me?! What gives you the right—” A dawning realization shatters over my head. “You’re enforcers?!” No, that can’t be right. If they were enforcers, then why had they run last night? That means they must work for one of the crime bosses on Tartarus.

&nb
sp; My squirming and fighting kicks up a notch. “Shit.” Thayer hisses out a breath when I slam my fist into a spot on the back of his other shoulder, nearly dropping me. “Haze! Fucking get in here and help me!”

  Thayer practically throws me into the arms of his friend—Haze—before he turns his back on me, ripping the recycled synthetic cotton shirt over his head. I blink against the onslaught of gorgeous male skin. It’s marred only by the white gauze covering his back right where I had punched him. Cold metal is snapped around my wrists, the chain between the cuffs pulled tight until my wrists are pressed together with no room to move them apart.

  The man holding me drops me on the ragged, worn sofa before pointing a finger at me. “Don’t move.”

  “Or what?” I snap, fighting to at least sit up instead of lying there, vulnerable.

  “Or I drug you is what,” he threatens before moving to Thayer. The white gauze is darkening in the very middle and seeping through.

  Thayer gasps as Haze lays a hand to the side of the wound and pulls the bottom of the bandage up to look beneath. “Shit that hurts!”

  “She reopened your wound; I have to stitch it again.” He shoots me a cool glare before gesturing for Thayer to sit down across from me. “Watch her; I’ll go get the supplies.”

  I wait for Haze to leave the room before barreling up and towards the door. Thayer reaches for me, wincing. He shouts for Haze just as my tied hands reach for the latch. The door swings open and I slam head first into a hovertank-sized man.

  “Levi! Grab her!” Strong arms band around me almost immediately as Haze runs back into the room.

  I gasp as the man—Levi—picks me up and walks me back into the pod, slamming the front door closed behind him. A masculine sigh of irritation sounds behind me before I hear metal clinking against glass and a warm chest pressed against my back, pushing me further against the new guy. I look up into twin pools of darkened sunset as a needle presses against my neck.

  “Stop.” The pinch as the needle enters my skin makes me flinch and the arms around my body squeeze slightly, my bound wrists pressing uncomfortably close to Golden Boy’s crotch. Sharp heat sears my neck as Haze—I assume—presses down on the plunger of the syringe in my neck and dizziness overwhelms me.

  “Hell, man, what’d she do?” The chest against my face rumbles as the man above me speaks over my head.

  “Her name’s Kida,” is the last thing I hear.

  I don’t even have the opportunity to tell them that they have the wrong girl, that I lied.

  Two

  Steamer Town & Hollow Pointe

  I wake to stifling heat that causes sweat to drip and pool on every inch of my skin. Even though it’s dark, I can hear the noises of people bustling about and vendors yelling. I realize it’s because there’s a bag over my head, tied close enough to my neck to stay in place but not so close that I feel suffocated.

  “Are you sure he’s here?” someone asks. The voice is one that I barely recognize; a niggling at my consciousness tells me that it’s new.

  “This is the same place that the messenger told us.” The second voice is lower, a baritone that’s tightly controlled yet still somewhat pleasant.

  I blink my eyes against the scratchy material over my head and slowly take in the rest of my body. My hands are cuffed behind my back, the cool metal pressed hard against my skin. I have small hands, but there’s no room to slip even a piece of paper between the metal and my wrists. I’m right. I know those voices. The drug that those bastards had given me was still making my head fuzzy, but the two voices speaking over me are Thayer and Haze’s.

  “Messengers aren’t as reliable as communicators.” There’s a pout in the first voice. It’s odd because when I picture Thayer talking, I remember him the moment I lied and said my name was Kida—all darkness and danger. Not pouty.

  “As soon as Noaz can convince D to give us some, we won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

  What kind of power could their boss have if he was able to get them digital comms? To my knowledge only Tartarus’ government workers and enforcers could afford that kind of technology.

  “I think she’s awake.” I freeze as two coarse hands reach for the bag over my head and untie it, lifting the fabric up and over my face. I cough as new, hot air squeezes into my lungs.

  Even if the bag was hotter than the air, there’s no breeze in this part of town. As I glance out the windows of the hovercar where I’m lying across the backseat, I know exactly where we are: Steamer Town. The section of Tartarus just above the boilers and engines that hold the city afloat. Where the exhaust from the engines beneath escape and filter out of the vents along the edges of the magnetic strips of road.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Thayer’s hair is tied back at the nape of his neck, the curls slicked down and there’s a smudge of something dark across one cheek.

  “I’d feel a lot better if I weren’t tied up and coming down from a drug high,” I snap, wiggling into a sitting position.

  “We did what we had to, Kida,” Haze says from the driver’s seat.

  I glare directly at him, unleashing the brunt of my rage at him through my eyes. “Don’t call me that.”

  “What will I call you then?” He turns around, hazel eyes sharp on my face.

  I turn away, looking outside. My immediate thought is that I need to tell them the truth. They’re obviously looking for Kida, and I realize just how dangerous it’s been using my best friend’s name as an alias for the last few months. Kida had been the best messenger—reliable, insistent, tough, and unbreakable. She had worked for a number of the crime lords in Tartarus, never swearing loyalty to any.

  Before, I had been unable to consider that maybe someone had gotten to her. The letter she left me in our apartment half a year ago had simply said not to look for her. It wasn’t unusual for her to leave a letter like that, but after the first month of her disappearance, I had grown wary. She was rarely gone longer than a few weeks and when that month turned into another and another, I had become more than a little concerned. I understood the reason why she had left a warning for me not to look for her. If I looked, I would find the seediest places and the most dangerous of criminals. I was a petty felon at best, not even close to the murder and mayhem that I knew she saw on a regular basis. I kept my promise. I hadn’t gone looking for her—technically. I kind of expected, though, that she would come looking for me—or whoever was using her name. However, at the moment, my decision to make her come looking for me seems to have backfired, and I’m not sure if telling the truth will keep me alive or get me killed even faster.

  “Why are we in Steamer Town?” I ask. Haze flips around and stares through the front windshield. Thayer glances between us before sighing and reaching out to me. “Hey!” I snap, leaning away.

  “If you promise not to run, I’ll take your cuffs off.”

  I pause, thinking it over before I slowly nod. “They’re starting to chafe,” I say as I bend down, pressing my chest to my knees and Thayer leans over me pressing a thumb to the screen on one cuff and then the next. They each open with a pop of air and he grabs them as I rub my sore wrists. They must have switched my hands from my front to my back while I was out because I distinctly remember my hands being in front of me when I went down.

  The side backdoor behind Thayer opens and their friend—the one who caught me when I tried to run—pops his head inside. “She’s awake.”

  “She is. What did you find?” Haze asks.

  The new guy slides into the back seat and closes the door before turning towards me. He holds out a hand. “Sorry about before, I’m Levi.” It’s an automatic reaction to take his hand when he offers it so politely.

  “You’re not from Tartarus, are you?” I ask.

  His grin is startlingly adorable. He lets go of my hand to push his glasses further up his nose. “Basranian,” he says. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Incredibly.” I nod.

  He has the cheery demeanor of someon
e who hasn’t lived in squalor their entire lives. It doesn’t come as a great shock to know he’s from Basra, the city people live to spend their vacations in. There are no vacations for people like me.

  “Well, don’t hold it against me, Troublemaker.”

  “Troublemaker?” I repeat in confusion.

  Haze turns abruptly and sets his gaze on Levi. On anyone else, the look might have been a glare, but Haze appears too controlled for that. He simply stares and waits.

  Levi sighs and directs his attention away from me. “New messenger found me. We’re meeting closer to the edge. Towards the Bay area.”

  “Alright.” Haze turns back towards the control and the locks shift into place as the hovercar lifts and maneuvers out into the heavy traffic.

  I’ve been all over Tartarus, but especially Steamer Town and the nearby residential areas. The Bay area is where aircrafts dock to unload their goods—food trades from the lower villages or more precious items from cities like the resort city of Basra, the intellectual capital, Dendera, or even the trade city of Corvallis. There will be people all over, but not enough to disappear into when I make my escape. Steamer Town is my best option.

  I glance out the window and lean into the door. My scanner is still in place; thankfully the thinness of the technology was not marred at all by the restrictive cuffs from earlier. I press a finger against the screen lightly and the dull illumination reveals a plethora of settings and easily used—albeit illegal—applications. I swipe left and then up a few times until I come to the one I’m looking for. I press down and hold as I lean even harder into the door. The subtle shifting of the locking mechanisms clicks almost silently, and I watch the guys, waiting and hoping they don’t notice.