The Abyss Surrounds Us (The Abyss Surrounds Us #1)(68)
“You can’t be that stupid.”
“I’m that stupid and more. Pursuit’s disabled. That enough to give me an audience with the captain?”
“I’ll check.” His voice pulls back to a distance as he hollers, “Hey, captain? Got a bogey underneath us who seems to want a word with you. Says there aren’t any more boats on our tail.”
There’s a thunder of footsteps, and then Santa Elena’s harsh, musical voice is right in my ear. “Cassandra, I seem to recall instructing you to surrender to the pursuit ships. Kind of defeats the purpose if you’re back here with us.”
“I wanted to run an alternate arrangement by you. Can I get a promise that if we surface, you won’t riddle us with holes? I had a little trouble from the SRCese on that point, so I’d like a guarantee.”
“I’m a pirate queen. I don’t make promises.”
“Fair enough. We’re coming up.”
If I act casual, maybe I’ll fool myself into being calm about this. So far it isn’t working.
When we break the surface, the crew’s already mostly assembled on the main deck. Phobos and Diemos are pointed straight at us, and a pair of spotlights snaps on. The acrid smell of smoke washes over me, and I inhale sharply as I get a good look at the damage Bao took in the fight.
His right eye is gone, a charred mass of flesh left in its place. I was so caught up in getting to the boat engines that I completely neglected his protection. I used him as a shield, and this is the price he had to pay. His hide is marked with bullet pocks, and a small chunk of his shell has been blown off where another rocket struck him. My stomach churns at the familiar scent of burnt Reckoner flesh, and for a moment I taste bile. I spit my respirator out and mouth, “I’m sorry.”
My focus shifts to the figures on the Minnow’s deck. Santa Elena hops off the ladder from the navigation tower, and I spot Swift tailing reluctantly behind her, almost as if she wants to hide behind the captain’s shoulders. But she’s alive and well and relatively unshaken, and it makes my heart turn backflips at the thought of what I’m about to try.
Santa Elena lifts a radio to her lips, and a second later, her voice snaps into my ear. “Your orders were to dismantle the pursuit and then surrender. The purpose of those orders was to get the damn SRC off our tail. You do realize that by coming back here, you ensured that all of that hard work was for nothing, right? I’m just so curious about what possessed you to come chasing after us. It sure as hell isn’t Swift, here. You can’t possibly be in that deep.”
I set my jaw and lift my goggles up onto my head. “I upheld my end. Mostly. But in the interest of self-preservation, I didn’t turn myself in.”
“Because?”
“Because there’s no place for me with them anymore,” I growl through my teeth. The truth in my mouth tastes like salt and blood, and I hate it. I hate its necessity. “If you want to go back and see exactly what I did to those boats, be my guest.”
“I’ll take your word for it. But stop dancing around the topic, Cassandra. You came back here for something, didn’t you?” The captain folds her arms, daring me to speak.
My eyes fix on Swift, and I can tell instantly that she wants me to do anything but what I’m about to. She’s got her hands shoved deep in her pockets, her eyes downcast,
and I can’t help but think back to what she said that night
beneath the stars about choices and snares.
But no matter the snares, it’s worth it to have a place that’ll let you call it home, and so I lift my chin and say as loudly and clearly as I can, “I want in.”
I don’t have to see the smirk curling over Santa Elena’s lips. I can all but hear it across the fifty yards that separate us. Behind her, Swift deflates.
Before tonight, my safety on the Minnow was tied to Bao. My bout in the Slew made it clear enough that I can’t defend myself on my own. But if I’m going to make it in this big blue world, I’ll have to learn. And if I’m going to learn, I need the best teacher the seas can give me.
“You have an empty trainee slot,” I say, fighting to keep my voice even as I think of what happened to Code. “I’ve gotten used to sleeping in that bunk, and I want everything else that comes with it. Sign me on as Code’s replacement.”
“Name your terms.”
This is the tricky bit. I’m still delirious from that blow to the head, and exhaustion is weighing heavy on my shoulders. I can’t flub this negotiation, or it’ll all be for naught. With fumbling fingers, I pluck the Otachi from my left wrist. “The people on those boats know exactly who and what came after them. They don’t want me back—they want Bao taken out. Me, I’m nothing. I’m just another person from the fringes now. But he’s a threat to the NeoPacific’s economic ecosystem, an imbalance that needs to be corrected. As long as we have him, they’ll be after us.” I hold out the device with one hand and unlatch the line-hooks from my belt with the other. “So my first condition is that Bao goes free. I’ll set this to call him and then drop it. He’ll follow it to the depths until he can’t any more, and the Minnow takes off. We give him the slip and never go near him again.”
“And what’s your second condition?” the captain asks.
The smell of Bao’s singed flesh is overwhelming as I gather my courage and say, “You never ask me to kill a Reckoner. Give me a place on your ship and I’ll do anything you command, except for that.”