QE

The Quintan Edge (Roran Curse #2)

1. The Red Zone

“This area is restricted to adults. Travel at your own risk.”

The large red warning signs were not just for show. Jenna Donnell never traveled into the infamous Red Zone of Omphalos without making sure she was armed and prepared for anything. Nothing was illegal in the Red Zone. One could use drugs banned elsewhere, hire a prostitute, drive like a maniac, join a high-stakes gambling ring, or fly a skiff through the narrow alleyways.

One could also rob, rape, and murder with impunity.

Not a place for a young woman to walk at night. Not a place for anyone to walk at night, really. Yet here she was, heart racing, every nerve on edge, palms clammy, trying to walk casually into the Red Zone when she’d rather be hurrying the opposite direction.

Jenna usually gave the Red Zone a wide berth. She had no interest in mind-altering drugs, no interest in gambling, and definitely no interest in becoming a pillage-and-rape statistic. However, the most lavish (and notorious) resort in the whole Planetary Union was also located in the Red Zone: the Quintan Edge. Unfortunately, this was the one place where Jenna had to spend more and more of her time. It came with her job.

Jenna had graduated with honors from the University and had the astounding good fortune to get hired with the most prestigious architect firm on the planet Zenith: Carter & Yen. Her position was very junior, and she often felt like a glorified errand girl, but she had hopes to climb higher and eventually make her mark on the capital city of her home planet. With the current boom, there were hundreds of new buildings going up and plenty of work for her firm. She had proven herself with the minor, routine jobs so well that when she received the message that Mr. Carter, one of the founding members of the firm, wanted to speak privately with her, she had hoped that he was about to offer her the lead on a project where she would have real creative license.

She should have known better, considering that all the project leads at Carter & Yen had years more experience than she did. Instead, she had gotten a different kind of assignment. One related to the young man walking at her side.

“Are you hungry, Jenna?” Zane asked solicitously.

“A bit,” she admitted, her eyes still roving in all directions. They were almost past the signs marking the line between order and lawlessness. Zane didn’t even seem to notice. Maybe being the son of the owner of the Quintan Edge made him feel invulnerable. Zane had explained to her that his father had private security that monitored the stretch around the resort. It would be bad for business if Mr. Quintan’s rich and high-profile visitors were regularly attacked before they could even enter the front doors.

Jenna still didn’t relax her vigilance. Horrible things tended to happen to the people around her. It would be her luck that some reckless Red Zone criminals would dare to attack them, despite the private security. Fortunately, the walk to the entrance of the QE was only a short one past the looming red warning signs. So Jenna was inordinately annoyed when they reached the nondescript metal door that was the official entrance to the resort and Zane insisted on lingering outside, chatting meaninglessly about some improvements he’d made to his rocket sledge. She wanted to drag him inside the door, but she held her peace, her only sign of impatience a slight tightening of her smile. She couldn’t afford to offend Zane. She’d been ordered to court Zane’s approval and interest in hopes that Zane would choose Carter & Yen to design his father’s new resort, Quintan West. Mr. Carter had been blunt. Carter & Yen wanted that project; it was going to be huge and probably the most high profile project the planet had ever seen. Jenna was the bait they were going to hook Zane with. At least, Jenna had to catch Zane if she wanted to keep her job.

It made her feel slimy every time she thought of it.

Luckily, Zane had seemed to take an interest in her without her having to resort to anything at all. The first time they had met to go over the preliminary project proposal, he had asked her out to dinner. Over the last few months, Zane and Jenna had continued to date, Carter & Yen’s design proposal had made Mr. Quintan’s short list of favorites, and Jenna had kept her self-respect intact. Zane was a nice enough guy, and he was pleasant to go out with. He was even attractive, in a tall, dark, and brooding sort of way. In time, maybe she would actually feel some romantic interest in him. If not, she hoped that their casual dating could last long enough for Carter & Yen to win the bid. In the meantime, she just had to keep from offending Zane.

So she kept her mouth shut and smiled at him, all while scanning their surroundings for threats.

“I wonder what’s keeping Jimmy and Grier,” Zane finally mused.

“Oh, are we waiting for someone?” Jenna asked, trying to keep her voice neutral. She had thought this was going to be just a typical night at the QE, watching Zane race with his friends. However, first Zane had commed her saying he wouldn’t be able to pick her up and asking her to meet him at the tube stop nearest the QE. Now they were going to stand around and wait outside the resort for who knew how long. She eyed the empty street nervously. The building across the way had several dark stairwells leading down to basement entrances. Anyone could be lurking in the shadows over there. She hoped Zane had bodyguards just out of sight.

“Yes, James Forrest and Grier Nuris. You’ve met Grier, though you probably don’t remember. He is one of my father’s drivers and bodyguards. He’s making sure James makes it here without any problems. He just arrived today from Terra.”

The guy must be special, Jenna mused, if he’s being escorted by Mr. Quintan’s own driver. Her interest was piqued.

“Who is James Forrest?” she asked curiously.

Before Zane could answer, she spotted two figures striding down the opposite sidewalk. Well, one of the figures was striding. The other trailed a little behind, clearly more interested in his surroundings than in reaching the entrance to the resort. They drew close enough that Jenna could recognize Grier. She did remember meeting him; he had driven Jenna and Zane the first time they had gone out to dinner. His bald head gleamed under the streetlamps. She was reassured by his thick, muscular arms and broad shoulders. Any thug would think twice about attacking them when Grier was around. Her eyes flitted to the mysterious James Forrest. He was short, barely taller than Jenna herself, and he had a bounce in his step and swung his arms loosely as if he were on a pleasant sightseeing expedition rather than entering the most dangerous part of town. His dark hair stuck up in wild curls that she could see even from across the street.

“Why are they walking?” Zane spoke suddenly, his tone annoyed. “Grier is supposed to be driving him in my transport!”

“Maybe it broke down?” Jenna suggested doubtfully. Zane’s luxury personal transport was brand new, so that wasn’t likely. Then she noticed the eager way that James was ogling his surroundings like an oblivious tourist and wondered if he had chosen to walk to the Quintan Edge like a regular guest on purpose.

The new guy was still craning his head backward at the red warning signs when a dark figure rushed from the shadows and swung a club directly at Grier’s head. Grier crumpled to the ground and his assailant rounded on James, who had stopped dead in the street.

James’s cry of alarm shattered the quiet night. Zane reached for his netband, but before he could even speak, Jenna pulled her atlatl gun from her purse. James was backing away from the thug, who was now shouting incoherently as he raised his club. Jenna took a deep breath, aimed carefully, and fired four shots in quick succession.

All four darts hit him in the back, the electrical charge snapping loudly. The thug’s body jerked violently, and he toppled to the ground, his legs still twitching. Jenna didn’t lower her gun, keeping it trained on the inert figure. Four direct hits from an atlatl gun was usually incapacitating, if not fatal, but there had been cases when men had shaken it off and recovered enough to resume their attacks. Jenna was not taking any risks at all.

Zane rushed over and knelt by Grier. Security poured out of the resort through some unseen doors. In less than a minute, several of them had surrounded the downed man and several more were with Zane, checking over Grier. Jenna carefully disarmed her gun and put it back into her purse.

James was still rooted to the same spot, barely a foot from the attacker’s fallen body. His eyes locked with Jenna’s. She grimaced a bit, wondering if this friend of Zane’s was appalled by her actions. Was he one of those peace-at-all-costs types that seemed especially likely to come from Terra? Maybe he would think that she should have just waited for the security to handle it. Of course, by then James would probably have been lying on the ground helpless and injured like Grier. She had been right to stop the assailant. No telling if he would see it that way, though.

Well, she was about to find out. James’s frozen stance had cracked, and he threaded his way through several security officers to reach her. She braced herself for recrimination, but when she looked at him, he was smiling broadly.

“You are my angel of deliverance,” he declared gratefully. “Another moment and I would have had a rotten ending to my first day on Zenith.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips in a quaint gesture, something she had seen only in old vids. Her skin tingled at the touch of his lips, sending shivers up her arm. Her stomach twisted pleasantly, something that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Careful, Jenna, she warned herself. Don’t let your hormones get the best of you. She gently extricated her hand. 

“I’m glad I could help,” she said smoothly, trying valiantly to mask any awkwardness. “All those hours spent practicing with the atlatl paid off.”

“Jenna! Are you all right?” Zane swooped in and took both of her hands. She glanced over his shoulder and saw that the security guys had stretched Grier out on a gurney and were floating him toward one of the previously concealed doors in the face of the QE. Another trio of security officers had their attacker strapped down to another gurney to follow. He moaned and shifted. Still alive, then. Though if the rumors were true, he would wish otherwise once the QE security was through with him. Their notorious reputation usually kept any sane criminals from attacking anyone headed to the resort.

Zane pulled her to his chest, and Jenna noted with satisfaction that her hormones were firmly under control now. No tingles when she touched Zane. “I cannot believe you had to shoot someone. Do you need to sit down? We can get you straight into the lounge.”

Jenna shook her head, smiling a little. “I’m fine, Zane. Tougher than I look.” She was fine. She’d always heard that shooting someone was seriously disturbing, but it wasn’t bothering her at all now that her heart rate had returned to normal. He had attacked violently enough to kill; she’d had the means to stop him. It had been straightforward. Though perhaps it would haunt her later. All kinds of things haunted her when she woke in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Zane stared at her a moment, his brow furrowed. “How is Grier?” she asked hastily. She didn’t want him to think she was a heartless monster.

“He’ll be OK. The preliminary scan showed a concussion. They’re taking him into the infirmary now. Security will certainly hear from me tonight! Their perimeter sweeps are clearly not good enough,” Zane fumed.

“Zane,” Jenna interrupted, hoping to distract him before he stormed off and terrorized the QE security force, “you haven’t introduced us.” She gestured at James.

“My apologies. I had forgotten, in the midst of all the commotion, that you two haven’t met before. James, this is Jenna Donnell, the most beautiful woman in all Omphalos.” Jenna didn’t even blush. She was used to Zane’s standard line; he used it every time he introduced her to someone new. “Jenna, this is James Forrest, the son of my father’s Terran partner.”

“Call me Jimmy,” he corrected, taking Jenna’s hand for the second time. Her traitorous stomach flopped again in response. Stop it! she ordered herself. You are not some silly teenage girl! “You’ve earned the right to call me by my nickname, I think.” Jimmy smiled a quirky, lopsided grin. “My father shipped me out here to be of some use in the family business. He’s tired of my lazy, useless ways. He thinks I can learn something from Zane, since he’s the model businessman’s son.”

Zane smirked. “I’ll get you whipped into shape in no time.”

“I intend to do my best to corrupt you, Zane,” Jimmy countered playfully. He was still holding Jenna’s hand. She finally pulled away. Her cheeks were burning. Not only was her body absolutely betraying her—she had no intention of falling in love with anyone, ever, so she definitely needed to squelch this attraction right away—but the last thing she wanted to do was alienate Zane. Her job was on the line.

She couldn’t quite keep herself from sneaking another glance at Jimmy’s dark eyes, though.

“Now what?” Jimmy asked, looking around at the remaining detachment of security officers, who had formed a perimeter around the trio, though they kept a comfortable distance away. Most of the officers had vanished back inside the buildings with both hover stretchers. “Do we need to wait for the police, give a statement or something?”

Jenna snorted. “You did see the big red warning signs, right?”

“We are not under the jurisdiction of the local law enforcement here, Jimmy,” Zane explained, his tone businesslike.

“Well, that makes things simple,” Jimmy said. “No need to file endless reports.”

“Shall we take this discussion inside?” suggested Zane. Jenna gratefully assented, and Zane took her arm. Inside the nondescript sliding glass door, Zane pressed his thumb to the scanner, and the heavy metal blast door slid open. They walked through the doors into the noise and bustle and bright lights of the casino. They skirted the outside of the gaming tables until they came to another unmarked door. Zane thumbed the pad of this door and then held it open for Jenna and Jimmy. In the room there was a large square glass-topped table. Zane strode right to the far end of the table and sat down. He tapped a password on his end of the table, and it grew opaque, showing the layout of the entire building. Jenna moved closer to the table so she could see it better, and Jimmy moved in beside her. There were green lights all around, indicating that the security was active, she assumed. In fact, the only red light seemed to be in the room right next to them.

“Our safety holomap,” Zane explained as he glanced up at Jenna’s puzzled expression. “The green lights show us where everything is considered normal, a red light tells us that there is a security problem.” He tapped a few more commands into the tabletop.

“Useful,” admired Jimmy.

“So what’s that red blinking light for?” Jenna asked, pointed to the red flashing in the room next to them.

“That’s where security is holding our attacker. They’ll brief me here when they have some information for us,” Zane explained, gesturing to the swiveling stools lining the table. Jenna perched on one, trying to get comfortable. It was difficult. She kept sliding around, and there was nothing to do but sit ramrod straight. Jimmy watched her and then leaned against a wall instead, trying to avoid the artwork. They clearly were not in a room meant for lounging of any kind.

“He must have been on drugs,” Jenna guessed. “No sober person would attack right outside the QE entrance.”

“Well, no sober and sane person,” added Jimmy lightly. “He could have just been starking, you know.” Jenna smothered a giggle at the Terran slang. It sounded so funny coming from a real person and not a comedy vid.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that a deliberate hit was intended,” Zane said seriously. Jimmy snorted. Jenna stiffened and almost tipped right off her stool.

“A deliberate hit?” she echoed. “What in the name of the universe?” She stared at Zane. Sure, his father was powerful, and powerful people made enemies. But to be the target of an assassination attempt? Or rather, for someone to be trying to take out his son? Zane had never seemed worried about his safety before.. He had taken her out to several different places in Omphalos without even a hint of security. But there were assassins trying to get at him?

“Not directed at me,” Zane said. He had clearly noticed her disbelief. “At Jimmy.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Jimmy. “Do you want to explain why you were walking into the Red Zone, making an easy target of yourself? You asked to meet us at the main visitor entrance, but Grier was supposed to bring you in my transport.”

Jimmy shrugged. “I wanted to travel by tube, get to see some of the real sights of Omphalos. It wasn’t a big deal. Grier stuck to my side like a cocklebur.” Jenna swiveled to face Jimmy, who was lounging against the wall and grinning.

“You’re making a joke out of your safety,” Zane reprimanded sternly. Jimmy laughed dismissively.

“Who in the entire Union would bother to try and knock me off? I’m useless. Hence the reason my father shipped me out here,” Jimmy explained, amusement making his eyes dance. Zane frowned. He started to speak and then glanced at Jenna, closing his mouth again. For some reason, Zane didn’t want to discuss it in front of her. Probably trying to protect her again. However, Jenna’s thoughts raced ahead. If Zane was right, it still didn’t explain why anyone would ever try to intentionally attack someone only feet away from the main entrance of the QE, where security would be alert and ready. Unless the man had been on a suicide mission. Jenna frowned thoughtfully. If she hadn’t been armed, he could have killed Jimmy before the security forces arrived, even though he never would have escaped. She stared uneasily at Jimmy. Was it an attempted hit? Why would someone want him dead?

The screen on the table buzzed, and a hologram flicked to life above it. It was clearly a security guard.

“Mr. Quintan, your assailant has tested positive for nanospeed. We suspect prolonged addiction resulting in hyperconfidence. He admitted to us while under the influence of the truth serum that he was tipped off by an acquaintance that Mr. Forrest was rich and recently arrived from Terra. He wanted a cash card or a finance chip so that he could purchase more nanospeed,” the guard reported without emotion.

Jimmy pointed at Jenna. “Looks like you were right, Ms. Donnell. A junkie.”

Zane was frowning. Clearly he wasn’t ready to give up on his assassination theory. “How did he know Mr. Forrest would be arriving at the QE front entrance?” he asked the security guard.

“He said that his acquaintance commed him with the details and an estimated arrival time,” the security guard answered, his voice low. Clearly he was not happy with the situation. “We have the name and location of the acquaintance. We would like to apprehend, but the direction is outside of the Red Zone.”

Jenna understood at once. The security forces of the QE had free rein to do what they wanted, but only within the confines of the Red Zone, where there were no rules at all. They could hardly go after a regular citizen living elsewhere in the city.

Zane grimaced. “Well, pass the information on to Ms. Toure. She can speak with our Armada contact. This is very disturbing, and certainly the Armada will want to know that there appears to be a spy network targeting new arrivals in Omphalos.”

The holo winked out, and Zane turned to face Jenna and Jimmy. “I need to go visit Grier, and then I’ll have to comm my father. He’s going to be furious. We have you as a guest for only a few hours, and then this happens,” he grumbled. “I’m so sorry.”

Jimmy shrugged. “No sweat off my back. Seeing as how I’m alive, a little adventure is a perfect way to start out my stay on a frontier planet!” Zane smiled, though it was a little strained. Jenna could only imagine the worry. She wouldn’t want to be the one to comm Lev Quintan and tell him about this.

Zane sighed heavily and took her hand. “Some date this is turning out to be,” he said regretfully. “I’m sorry to have to do this, but do you mind showing Jimmy around the QE? You can get some dinner if you’re hungry. Just charge it to my account,” he said, handing her a gold QE cash card. “Once I have things under control, I’ll comm you and meet up with you guys.”

“OK,” Jenna agreed hesitantly. It was a little unnerving to be handed off like that to a complete stranger. But she straightened her spine and slid off the stool. She was the local here. Jimmy didn’t know his way around, and this was his first night on Zenith. He hardly deserved to be left to find his way around this labyrinth on his own.

“Sounds fine to me,” assented Jimmy pleasantly. “Shall we?” He gestured back toward the door they had come in, and Jenna turned to go. She threw a parting wave at Zane, who was already frowning at the table screen, and headed out the door.

Now to face the evening with a stranger from another planet. Hopefully the time would pass quickly!