Bloodlines by Chris Wraight

Author:Chris Wraight [Wraight, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781789993684
Published: 2020-06-30T11:50:18+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

She looked, as expected, terrible. The tubes were mostly gone, leaving heavy bruising around her mouth and cheeks. Her skin tone, which had been a pale brown, was now a pale grey. Intravenous lines still ran in clusters from her arms and chest, and a nasty-looking monitor in the shape of an iron skull was clamped to her forehead.

It took her a moment to recognise him, it seemed. The lumens in the chamber were set low, and Zidarov hunched on the room’s only chair, pulled up to the cot’s edge. The rain drummed against the windows, leaving black streaks across the armourglass panes.

When her eyes finally focused on him, she managed a smile that was more like a grimace. ‘Zido,’ she said.

Zidarov didn’t really think their friendship had been that close. ‘Borodina,’ he replied, softly. It felt like an intrusion, suddenly.

She croaked something, and he reached out for a plastek cup, which he filled at the sink and handed to her.

‘So, how’s it going?’ she asked, and cracked another lopsided smile.

He smiled back. ‘Ah, well, you know,’ he said. ‘You feeling better?’

‘I feel like death.’

‘You looked worse when I visited last.’

‘Imagine I did.’

Zidarov reached out for a drink of his own. He could still taste chems at the back of his mouth, and felt vaguely light-headed. He might have to ask Vipa for something before leaving, just to get the sludge out of his system.

‘Are you good to talk?’ he asked. ‘If not, we can do–’

‘I don’t know who did it,’ Borodina croaked. ‘Sorry. Didn’t see them.’

‘What happened?’

She thought back, her brow wrinkling. The monitor flashed a red light, and she winced. ‘I was following a lead. The Vidora were getting active. Something to do with off-world shipments. You know that’s been getting harder? It made everything difficult.’ She took another sip. ‘I was closing in on something. That feeling you get – things in your sights. I was getting near.’

Zidarov let her talk. He deactivated all but critical-level comms from his iris intake. He didn’t activate a recording, just let her get her thoughts in order.

She suddenly looked distressed. ‘I remember – I think I was… So, I remember worrying. They seemed to be all over our movements. Remember when we talked, at the Bastion? I was due to head back then, and when I did, my contact was missing. Dead, most likely. But we’d been careful. So, I remember thinking that my veil-link might have been breached. It happens, I guess – they crack a protocol, or something. I did some work, sent a trace back to the analysers, but got no reply. Then I had to go after one of the First, who I knew was deep into something on the Colossus platform – one of the big receiving discs. But I couldn’t find him, and I’d taken on Rovach for protection, because it was getting snaky up there.’

She needed to drink again. Her words tumbled out a bit, her parched lips moving quickly. Her hands, lying on the coverlet, twitched a bit.

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