It was good to play for both sides, Reiser reminded himself. It was fun to be Nether. Because you could make it up as you went. And you could choose which way you…
That was what Reiser, ex-Nether Ops operator who’d never really left, was thinking when she stepped out of the shadows and shot him from behind. The Tennar he’d wanted a “session” with. The “courtesan” called Honey. The new operative from the new Nether.
Her current working ID was Sylindia Dor. And yes. She worked for the Nether. Working quickly, knowing the Alpha and the extraction teams were heading in to take possession of the Savage artifacts and leave the right evidence that would point directly at Nether, she tidied up Reiser’s computers with a worm that ripped through all the data in seconds. Then she activated the incendiary and set it for two minutes to detonation.
It would burn so hot it would melt the very walls of the building. Nothing would survive.
She dragged Reiser’s corpse for the exit. The dirty old operator had a look on his face that seemed to indicate he wasn’t the least bit surprised at all. That he’d expected this. That he was still playing his part. But that was just the trick unexpected death had left on his face.
She reached the street as the sun rose in the east. It was quiet here in this part of the district. The day’s distresses had not yet started. The koobs were not finished with the zhee, but the fighting hadn’t started back up again. Team Nilo would still have its hands full.
But now, she thought as she left Reiser’s body on the curb where it would be found by Team Nilo’s operatives. Now Nilo knew he had leaks. And that would slow him down. Make him more cautious. More paranoid. And in the vacuum of power that was the galaxy, that might do some good if the new head of Nether Ops was right.
Nilo needed to be checked until he could be convinced to play for the right people.
No one really knew what Nilo was. They knew the “official” Nilo he showed to the press and stockholders. They had an idea about the real Nilo. But no one knew anything for sure. They just knew he needed to be stopped for the moment. This was the message that he wasn’t safe. This would slow him down.
The incendiary exploded inside the ops center with a dull whumph. She was halfway down the street and she could smell the burning fumes as everything in the warehouse burned hot and cooked down to its elements. She made contact with the Alpha team just entering the warehouse now. She still had operational control since Reiser had introduced her as Team Nilo command and signal.
Operation Firewall was coming to a close.
Too bad. She’d liked the big good-looking freelancer. She’d liked Jack Bowie. He’d been good to her. But he was just another pawn in the big game of galactic chess a lot of sides were looking to win. He never should have left the services. Freelancing was a risky business. It paid to have friends. It was safer that way. Even if your friends were dangerous and sometimes hazardous to your own health.
And she wanted Nether Ops to win. So she played to win and stuffed the feelings she’d had for him down someplace where she’d deal with them later.
And maybe she didn’t have any feeling for him at all. She was like that. She could turn it on, and turn it off. It was all part of the game and her skill set. Why she was valuable to Nether. Her price to be in the show.
“Target acquired,” she heard from the Alpha Team Leader over her comm as she found a kaff stand open early. Despite the chaos of the day before. The boundless optimism of a small business owner.
The vendor smiled at her. A Tennar, and a beautiful one at that, dressed like a freighter pilot but never mind that, had come to his stand. To him. To that kaff vendor, it was like an omen of all the good things to come that day.
Studying the blackboard menu, she thought of Jack Bowie. He was just a sacrificial lamb. Some no-name freelancer the galaxy wouldn’t miss. She could see him now. Standing there as the cleaning team entered. Suddenly aware he’d been double-crossed. He wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t beg. He’d only look at them and not flinch. He wouldn’t give them, or the galaxy, the satisfaction of begging for his life. She’d learned enough about him in the small amount of time they’d spent together to know that. She’d hacked his phone and seen all his secrets. Hacked the comm so the message he got from Reiser was off the Team Nilo net. But made to look like it came from them direct. He was a pawn. A pawn that would be sacrificed to show Nilo that he couldn’t trust anyone. Jack was someone they’d begun to trust. And here he was helping to steal Nilo’s prizes right out from under him.
Man, you couldn’t trust anyone. Isn’t that right, Nilo?
“Kaff, miss?” asked the vendor.
“Yes please.”
“Cream and sugar?”
“Go for clean?” asked the team leader in her ear.
The sun turned the dirty streets of Kublar to gold.
“Go for clean,” she
