David Gunn - Deaths Head

EPILOGUE

G OLDEN MEMORIES is almost empty when we walk through the door. A handful of half-dressed girls sit in one corner chatting. Per Olson, the man from the breaking yard, is at a table with his son, whos dismantling a spider bot with the single-minded intensity that only small boys can bring to such tasks.

Lisa sees me first.

And then Lisa sees the Aux behind me. Maybe its the sight of us all; maybe something in Shils eyes warns her that things have changed. Whichever, Lisas both a survivor and a quick learner. She walks across the barroom and kisses me carefully on both cheeks.

Its been a while.

Yeah, I say. Longer than I expected. Hows my niece doing?

Niece? Shils eyes flick to my face. The others are content just to listen.

Helping Angelique.

A memory of Lisa and her cousin floods my mindtheyre naked and slightly drunk and very very willing. I try to shake it away.

What, sir? Franc demands.

Old memories, I tell her.

It gets better, says Haze, and Im grateful for his interruption. Like the headaches. Youll lose the feedback soon.

Shil scowls, because weve agreed not to talk about this stuff in public. Only Golden Memories isnt in public, and I probably need to let Lisa know that. The Aux know already, though theyre puzzled by my reasons. Mind you, as Im beginning to learn, thats not always a bad thing.

Lisa

Yeah?

Gesturing at the group around me, I say, These are the Aux. As of now, they own this bar.

He owns it, says Shil firmly.

Ignore her, I say, to Neens obvious amusement. We own it among us, also the caf next door and the lodging house beyond. You will be running this bar.

Lisa looks like she wants to hug me.

Shil, on the other hand, looks cross. Theres something Im missing about Shils unhappiness, but I cant work out what it is. We got a bounty for killing Duza; this is what Im spending it on. She ought to be pleased to have a base and somewhere to call home.

Lisa? Someone calls from the street outside, and two girls come tumbling through the door, clutching a basket between them. Its hot and damp out there, and Farlights heat has glued tendrils of hair to their faces and left their skin shiny with exhaustion.

Sven, says Angelique.

Sticky arms wrap themselves around me, and her kiss only just misses my mouth. And then she sees Shils scowl and disengages, although I suspect its too late. But Ill deal with that later, because my eyes are on the girl standing frozen in the doorway.

Wont be a moment, I tell the others.

Aptitude has grown up. It would be wrong to say she belongs here, but shes no longer the spoiled child I dragged from a burning building, having just killed her entire family. Well, the bits of it that werent locked down on a prison planet.

I didnt think you were coming back.

Her voice is quiet, so quiet that I have to strain to hear it myself, and Im standing almost directly opposite.

She puts out a hand to shake.

I put out my own.

Her fingers are sticky with sweat and callused from hard work. A twist of gold circles one finger; her ring is cheap but pretty, something she bought for herself from a local market. Sven, she says.

Aptitude.

We look at each other.

I will always come back, I say. I promised Debro and Anton that Id look after you, and I will.

And suddenly shes crying in my arms, childlike sobs that shake her shoulders and rasp in her throat. I didnt think you were coming back.

And Ive told you.

I know, but I didnt think She wipes her nose with the back of her hand, then sees the mess shes made of my jacket and looks as if shes about to burst into tears all over again.

Its Shil who walks over to give the girl a tissue. Im Shil, she says. I take it you know this lunatic?

Aptitude smiles despite herself.

Shil glances at the bar, at the dampness on my shoulder, and then at Aptitude. Shes putting things together. Thats what the fuck this is about?

I nod.

She sighs. Why didnt you tell me?

SHIL AND I kill a bottle of cachaca that night, sitting under a pine tree in the yard out back. She asks if Ive fucked Angelique and I admit I have. So she asks if I intend to do it again and I tell her thats not the way I work, which ends up with me having to tell her how I do work. Something that is trickier than I thought, since I hadnt put it into words before.

She doesnt ask about Lisa, so I leave that confession well alone.

Shils so drunk I get to know more than I want about what happened to the boy she was meant to marry. Death in battle sounds a lot better to me by the end of it.

And then we talk about Aptitude.

Shil has her head on my shoulder, although thats probably just the drink. The fan in the bar is chugging in a lazy swirl and the night noises of this strange city are distant enough to sound less threatening than they should.

You havent

Turning, I look at her. Aptitudes a kid.

I know men who would.

Yeah, but thats not the point.

You want to tell me what the point is?

And so I end up telling Shil about being locked down on Paradise. I dont tell her whose child Aptitude is, because she doesnt need to know. But I make it clear that shes the daughter of two people who matter to me and Ive promised to protect her.

This isnt where she grew up, is it?

My gaze takes in the darkened yard, the broken hover bike in the corner, and the bundle of fur and bone watching us from the top of the wall. Apparently Aptitudes adopted a stray cat.

No, I say. Where she grew up is a million miles from here.

Thought so.

Before we finally fall asleep where we sit, Shil asks me one last question. Its about my meeting with General Jaxx, which happened three days earlier.

What did he want?

He wants us to take it easy and enjoy our vacation.

She scowls at me.

Im serious, I tell her.

Maybe, but what does he actually want?

This isnt a conversation Ive been planning to have, at least not until the end of next month, which is when were due to present ourselves at an elegant building in an area of Farlight that really is a million miles distant in every way that matters from the clapboard boardinghouse in which we now live. But Im drunk and Shils leaning against my shoulder and I still cant get over the answer myself.

The Free want to borrow us.

They what?

You heard me. Apparently, Paper Osamu asked for us by name. Well be told why when we present ourselves at their embassy in five weeks time.

Were working for the U/Free?

Yeah, I say. Thats the plan A request from the U/Free is as good as a command from anyone else. And theyre rich, filthy rich. Seems to me it wont hurt if some of that wealth rolls in this direction. Taking another gulp of cachaca, I swallow the fiery spirit before passing Shil the bottle.

Drink up, I say.

She does as ordered.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Smartly dressed, resourceful, and discreet, D AVID G UNN has undertaken assignments in Central America, the Middle East, and Russia (among numerous other places). Coming from a service family, he is happiest when on the move and tends not to stay in one town or city for very long. Gunn lives in the United Kingdom, and this is his first novel.

CHAPTER 1

T HE CAGE opens at the front, a double loop of chain hinging its door at the bottom. At the top a thicker chain and a fist-sized padlock keep the cage safely shut.