Last Chance
When she hung up the phone, Kani’s hands were shaking. They shook as she told Fantoni the news, and they shook as she hugged Simon good-bye, and he kissed her, tears in his eyes. On the train, through the field in the dead of night, into the shack, the whole way, her hands wouldn’t stay still.
She sat on the bundled tarp in the corner of the shack, the world so dark she couldn’t tell if she was scared anymore. She closed her eyes to sleep, but it wouldn’t come. She lay there, thinking ahead, running through the motions, the words, the things expected of her.
Sometime before four, Stacey’s phone rang, and she slipped it from her pocket, put it to her ear.
“Hey kid,” said Kaso. “How you holding up?”
“I’m good,” she lied.
“You sound it. You know if you stay in one place for as long as you have, you’re gonna get blood clots and die, right? Happened to a friend. Don’t do it. Get up and walk.”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Stop spying on me.”
“Me? Spying? Never!”
He coughed awkwardly, and she laughed.
“You’re a good guy, Kaso,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “Thanks for confirming it, though.”
She said nothing for a few moments, watching the wheels of the Incessna in the glow of the phone’s screen.
“You know what I just realized?” Kaso said, breaking the silence. “You and me, we both have four letters in our first names, and they both start with the letter ‘K’.”
“Yeah,” she said. “You’re really quick, aren’t you?”
“That’s nothing!” he said. “Try this on for size: Kilt. Kebab. Kerfluffle. Kin… um… kiss…”
“Stop hitting on me,” she said, and sat up. She smiled a bit, despite her best efforts not to.
“Say Tundra,” he said. “You can tell me things, you know. I’m not like a lawyer or anything, but you know I have your back, right?”
“I know,” she muttered.
“So if there’s something you need to talk about, I’m ready to…”
“There’s nothing,” she said. “I’m fine, Kaso. Really.”
“Okay,” he said.
He started whistling a tune with no melody, then stopped abruptly.
“You know what’s funny?” he asked.
“I have a feeling I’m about to find out.”
“When you were having that trouble with Fat Tony, I was searching through your old transcripts, trying to see which members of your old teams you might’ve got along with. See if I could hit ‘em up for money on your behalf.”
“That’s really not—”
“Turns out you weren’t very popular. Can’t see why not. Well, except for losing freighters. That’s definitely full-on suckage.”
She lay back down, covering her head with her arm. Her sleeve smelled like blood.
“Anyway, one thing I wanted to ask you. And I dunno how to say this, but… back on your first mission, Ricochet asked you what your name was, and you said what sounded a lot like ‘stay’.”
Kani froze, held her breath.
“And I guess I’m just wondering,” he said, “if that makes any sense to you. Because it’s confusing the hell outta me.”
She didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t know what to say. She opened her mouth to reply, but he beat her to it.
“You were trying to double-cover,” he said. “It’s pretty common with newbies. They use some other name instead of their own, think that’ll throw the SEF off, if they go looking for the wrong person.”
“Um…” she said.
“But really, Tundra, you shouldn’t use your best friend’s name in situations like that. You could get her in trouble.”
“Oh. I… thanks for the tip.”
“I live to serve,” he said. “Any time. My door’s always open. Really. Stop by. I’m lonely.”
She laughed, sniffled, sat herself back up.
“How do you do this?” she asked. “Doesn’t it just drain you? The fear? The paranoia?”
“Me? I’m safe where I am. Guess it doesn’t hit me as much. I can appreciate why it sucks for you guys, but to me, it’s like a game. Find the spy, catch the mole, that kinda thing. It’s just a game.”
“Yeah,” she said, but knew it was anything but.
“Speaking of which,” he said. “One game I love to play to catch moles is this thing called the ‘encoder chip game’. I make the mole go running around, looking for something that doesn’t exist.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Great for laughs. Well, on my end. When I tell the higher-ups, they’re never laughing.”
“I…”
“So yeah, Tundra. If you ever get told to look for an encoder chip, make sure you laugh it off, or people’ll get the wrong idea, right?”
“Right,” she said. “Thanks.”
“Especially Rook. You know what I’m saying? He’s already jumpy. You’ve got to be extra careful around him.”
“I got it,” she said. “And I noticed.”
“Okay, then. You should get some sleep. Big day today. Stop bugging me, all right? Calling me at all times of the night, wanting to chat about your girl problems. Sheesh. I’ve got things to do, lady. Things!”
She laughed, probably more than she would have on any other day.
“Thank you, Kaso,” she said. “You’re a good friend.”
“Oh go on.”
“I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You’d better, or I’m gonna come over there and kick your ass.”
“Good luck leaving your room,” she said, and turned the phone off right before he started howling.
She let the phone light the ship for a few more seconds, then put her head on the tarp and the hours of stress carried her off to sleep.
It was a short sleep.