Free Nemesis by Emma L. Adams Page A

up again and waiting to make a move? Where’d you hear that?” I hadn’t, and I always kept on top of the Alliance’s latest. But then, I’d never have pegged Aglaia as a threat.
    “I was on Valeria not long after the attack happened. Power shifted there, after the Campbell family got taken out. They didn’t just trade with the Alliance, there were other Earth people involved. Rich tycoons, mostly. And there were some odd rumours about volatile offworld substances going missing.”
    “Yeah, I saw some of that,” I said. “Those ravegens last week got hold of some. Turned themselves invisible.”
    “Damn.”
    “I know,” I said. “See, that’s what we ought to be dealing with.”
    “You want to be where the action is,” said Raj. “I get it. There were other rumours on Valeria, too… kind of got lost in the ruckus around the Campbells, but someone mentioned witnessing questionable stunts and traffic violations on that day. Might you have had anything to do with it? Just out of curiosity, mind.”
    Hardly a subtle way of probing for information, but he wasn’t the first. In the modified version of the story I’d been forced to relate a hundred times over the past few weeks, I’d glossed over the race through Valeria’s capital to find Ada and the Campbells, and people were more interested to know about the final standoff at Central. I’d had to report to Ms Weston with the understanding that nothing I’d done on Neo Greyle would be used against me. The Balance had been at stake. No one was going to arrest me for hijacking a hover car, jumping onto a moving train, breaking into private property… even killing people.
    Stop that. I was far from the only Alliance guard to commit murder that day. I’d nearly died, and so had Ada. That was why I couldn’t afford to regret what I’d done. Quite apart from the fact that I’d had years of preparation for the moment when I’d finally crossed that line. The past was a closed book, for a damn good reason.
    “Depends what the rumours said, exactly.” I kept my tone neutral, but I couldn’t say I liked the idea of rumours of any kind about what had happened on Valeria–especially with Ada.
    “Nothing specific. Does it matter?”
    It did, if Ada was concerned. On Valeria, the Campbells had forced her to demonstrate her abilities as a magic-wielder on others who the Alliance had used as experiments. I only hoped the few people who’d known were all dead. It was a good thing her family was registered under the Alliance’s protection now. But the collective offworld council had their eyes on both me and her, and I suspected they didn’t buy into my claim that she’d just used regular magic to take out the Campbells. I’d never have offered her the job if I thought anyone in the Alliance would hurt her, but there was more than one way to harm someone.
    Like the others who’d helped her and her guardian, and the Enzarian refugees. At least the London Alliance was on the way to setting up a proper shelter network of its own, helped by an anonymous donation. Now all I needed to do was convince them to give Ada’s guardian, and the others her family had worked with, Alliance approval to carry on helping offworlders like they had before. I knew her family must be in financial trouble, but they’d never accept charity. Least of all from me. I still got the feeling she’d joined the Alliance from a lack of other options—a choice we’d forced on her.
    I hadn’t seen Ada in two days, because I’d been stuck in these blasted meetings and she’d been in evaluation. The last thing she needed was more complications, and God only knew anything that happened between us would fall into the category of “complicated”. I hadn’t thought ahead. It wasn’t like we could just hook up and walk away, and no doubt that was the last thing on Ada’s mind now I’d been a total dick to her. Yet it was still a feeble excuse not to at least apologise.
    We reached the