“Now tell me, Mr. Sabato,” Ryke said “Who freed you?”
Jan knew any hesitation or dissemination could get him killed. “The woman who purchased my freedom was Senator Tarack.”
Silence for a moment, then a moderately heavy sigh. “Did she give you any hint as to why?”
And now the more complex part. Should Jan reveal the true nature of his job to Miss Ryke? A woman who might be Emiko’s ally, but was also the most ruthless and powerful crime lord in Star’s Landing? What if that tipped Fatima off he was coming for her? What if not saying anything got him killed?
“Senator Tarack hired me to retrieve an item for her,” Jan said, hoping Ryke would let him get away with just that. “I came here today to ask Emiko to assist me.”
“That’s far more vague than I deserve, isn’t it?” Ryke’s shadow rose and glanced over her shoulder. “How tough is he?”
“What?” Emiko asked from outside the door.
“The two of you ran together, did you not? Do I need to go out to the car and get my knives, or will he break with one good kick to the balls?”
Jan couldn’t close his legs. “Ah, please don’t kick me in the balls. I’m telling the truth, as Emiko can assure you.”
Ryke’s shadow turned back to stare at him from the dark. “Can you?” she asked. “Assure me?”
There was a very long, very pregnant pause, followed by four words that hurt Jan where he least expected it.
“He’s holding something back,” Emiko said.
A crushing impact between Jan’s legs sent white-hot fire screaming into his thighs, through his stomach, and into his chest. He coughed so hard he couldn’t breathe and gasped as muscles clenched uselessly. His body tried to curl into a fetal position, but couldn’t, given the restraints.
Getting kicked in the balls was never fun, but knowing he was going to get kicked in the balls again, very soon, made it far, far worse. The moment he could breathe again, he heard a heel click and a rustle of cloth.
“A disc,” Jan announced, voice hoarse with agony. “Tarack hired me to retrieve a disc.”
“What kind of disc?” Ryke demanded. “Details, Sabato!”
Was she lining up for another kick? His stomach was on fire. “I only know it has a quantum crux drive! The Golden Widow stole it!”
Cloth rustled, but nothing else kicked him in the balls. “Is he making this up? Emiko, what’s your read on this?”
“He’s telling the truth,” Emiko said, voice trembling. “The Golden Widow stole our ...” She gasped, as if realizing what she was giving away, but Emiko didn’t make mistakes like that.
She wasn’t making a mistake right now.
“So that’s why Tarack pushed back delivery by a week.” Ryke scoffed. “Oh, chin up, Emiko. Everyone slips up. I’ll take it out of your pay, of course, but it’s not like this idiot’s going to tell anyone about our little deal.”
Emiko was throwing him a lifeline. She’d been trying to save Jan’s life this whole interrogation. She’d probably been trying to save Jan since she’d kissed him, which was why she had intentionally applied the wrong amount of lip gloss.
“Ah,” Jan said, “could I offer an alternative suggestion?”
“To killing you?” Ryke asked. “Sure, why not?”
“You seek a delivery from Senator Tarack, yes?” Jan needed to turn this interrogation around before it became fatal, and Emiko was doing her best to give him a way to do that. “And this delivery is, you believe, the quantum crux drive that Tarack no longer possesses. Because the Widow stole it, yes?”
“You can summarize,” Ryke deadpanned.
“As I may have mentioned, Tarack hired me to retrieve the disc you wish to buy.” Jan could only guess where Emiko intended him to go with this opportunity, but this felt right. “I can do that, and if I do that ... and I give the disc to you instead ... that would save you a great deal of money, yes?”
Nothing but silence in response.
“I have no particular loyalty to Senator Tarack,” Jan continued, setting aside the torture nanos as a problem for later. “I have no loyalty, period, save to financial compensation. And, of course, my balls.”
More silence. More inside fire burning from his chest to his toes. Then, at last, words.
“What makes you think you can find the Golden Widow?” Ryke asked. “She’s elusive. She’s a ghost.” Ryke was listening.
“Jan knows her,” Emiko said, before Jan could. “He knows the Widow’s true identity. They were partners before, which means he might actually be able to find her. That must be why Tarack sprang him, for his connection to the Golden Widow.”
Jan didn’t like where Emiko was leading him. Did Emiko want him to give up Fatima to Ryke? Fatima had betrayed him, certainly, but even she didn’t deserve to be tortured to death.
“Who is the Golden Widow?” Ryke demanded. “Her real name?”
Jan hesitated just long enough to hear cloth rustle and feel a growing pain in his stomach. “Fatima Blaize.”
“Wait,” Ryke said. “Really?”
“You have my most sincere guarantee.”
“Her last name is Blaze?” Ryke sounded dubious. “That’s not, like, a name she made up to sound cool and dangerous?”
“No. It is her true name, though one adds an I.”
Five years ago, Jan would have died before giving up such information, but five years ago, Fatima had betrayed him and sent him to orbit for
