Kingdom of Cages(72)

“Not really.” He walked forward. He moved back and forth, as if he were constantly looking past her for a way out. It should have made him look furtive, but it didn’t. It made him look wary and frightening. “But I have some unusual requirements.”

I shouldn’t even be talking to this guy. What would Sadia say? This guy helped disappear her father.

A hundred positives for one job.

“Such as?”

The grin stretched wider. His face really was round, like the full moon, and about as pale. The fast walk brought out red blotches on it. Chena was sure she’d never seen anyone so ugly.

“It needs to be loaded into the Library terminal at Offshoot.”

The light switched on inside Chena. Sadia had it wrong. This guy wasn’t a tailor. He was a hacker. He didn’t want to mess with anyone’s genes, just their info-systems. “Not for all the worth of God’s garden.” Chena turned away and started walking again.

“How about three hundred, then?”

Keep walking, Chena tried to tell herself. Instead, she turned around in midstride. “You don’t have that much.”

The tailor walked quickly up to her, mincing as he went, ready to run at any second. He pulled a small wallet from the dangling sleeve of his tunic, and from the wallet he pulled a bright red chit.

“I give you one-fifty,” he said pleasantly, hiding the wallet away again. “The disk goes to the library terminal. I confirm that the library terminal reads it, and I give you another one-fifty.”

The chit burned a red patch on her retina. Don’t do this. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know what kind of trouble this is.

This is three hundred worth of trouble.

“No.” Chena clenched fists and turned away.

“It’ll get done,” he said to her back. “Why shouldn’t it be you that gets the pay?”

Not worth it, not worth it. I’m too far over the edge as it is. I will not blast this.

Chena did not look back. She didn’t even look up. She focused on the sun-bleached boards in front of her shoes and walked away as fast as she could.

And ran smack into a man’s chest.

“Hey, Chena!” said Farin. “Where’s the leak?”

Chena backed away hastily. Farin stood in front of her dressed in tan slacks and bulky red sweater that made his hair look coppery. He smiled down at her, a real open smile, nothing like the hacker’s slimy expression.

He had his arm wrapped around a woman. She was tall and tan, with short black hair, a scarred face, and a politely interested smile.

“Hello,” Chena said, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I’m, um, sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“I could tell.” Farin laughed, just a little, but her cheeks burned even hotter. “It’s okay, Chena. There’s not a lot of room to maneuver on these walks. Do I have any messages today?”

“No.” She didn’t want to look at him for some reason. She definitely didn’t want to look at the woman. She hitched up one of the straps of her pack. “Sorry.”

“Next time,” he said, “make sure you stop by to see me before you leave town. I’ll probably have something for you.”

Stop being a baby. Chena forced her eyes around to look up into his face. His expression was pleasant, not harsh or embarrassed or judgmental. “Sure. Thanks.”

“Thank you.” Farin gave her a quick salute. “Now I’ll let you get where you were going in such a hurry.” He stepped aside, pulling the woman with him. She smiled up at him and snuggled a little closer into the crook of his arm.

Chena bit down hard on her lower lip and hurried past them.

Don’t be stupid, she told herself as her throat constricted. Of course he has a girlfriend. What do you think? He was waiting for you?

But even as she thought it, she felt sick. She had to lean on the boardwalk rail and take a couple of deep breaths before she could risk a glance around. Farin and the woman had disappeared, and so, thankfully, had the tailor-hacker-mushroom man.

Chena pushed herself away from the railing. Okay, it’s just a weird day, she told herself. Nothing big. Better go find Sadia and get back home before anything else happens.

She checked her list and hurried back into the dunes. She also checked her comptroller. Eleven-fifteen, and there were still a couple of deliveries to make.

But by the time she was able to return to the market, it was well past noon and Chena was beginning to worry about getting home. The days were already at least an hour shorter than they had been in summer. The bikes had lights, and there wasn’t supposed to be anything in the dark that could get through the shock fences, but Mom worried, and besides, Chena wanted to get the Offshoot deliveries made tonight so she could pay Sadia something major for the day’s work.