But he didn’t want to. He couldn’t stand Jordan, and besides, he doubted Cassia trusted him enough to speak freely with her general. As she accepted the transmission, he reached for the door latch. But then he heard a man’s nasally voice say “Hello, dear Cassy,” and his blood turned colder than a butcher’s heart.
Glowering at them from the center of the room was none other than Marius Durango’s hologram. Kane glanced behind the image, but Jordan was nowhere in sight. He didn’t recognize the furnishings in the background, but the rich wood tables and plush chairs indicated Marius had somehow returned to his palace.
Cassia froze with her mouth forming a perfect circle. The question how? was etched on her face, but she couldn’t seem to force it past her throat.
“Yes, my dear, I promised I would find a way out of your prison, and I always keep my word.” Marius drew out his final syllable in a clear attempt to remind them of his other promises, like I’ll have your eyes gouged out and every inch of your skin flayed from your bones. “Your general was kind enough to link me to your band…after I threatened to drop poison capsules in your city’s water supply.”
“What do you want?” Cassia asked.
“My queen at home, where she belongs.”
“And where’s that? In the family crypt?”
Marius laughed coldly at her. “As if I would spend eternity rotting beside you. No, when I kill you, I’ll bury your remains someplace more fitting. Like the landfill.”
“You are as charming as they say,” Kane quipped. “How could any girl resist an offer like that?”
Marius fixed his gaze on Cassia when he spoke. “She won’t resist. Because now I know what’s making your people sick.” He flashed a razor-thin smile that transformed his face into something monstrous, like a wax statue with a slit where its mouth belonged. “My father earned quite the reputation for his neurological inventions, a reputation that reached all the way to Ari Zhang on Earth. It turns out the mafia commissioned my father for a delightful project before he died—a poison to subdue the masses.”
“And let me guess,” Cassia cut in. “In exchange for this poison, the mob agreed to supply him with weapons.”
“A win-win deal.” Marius’s smile widened. “My father handed over his greatest invention, but he reserved plenty for himself. I just discovered it in his lab, along with his journal. It seems he wanted to study the long-term effects of the product before using it on our people, so he set his equipment to release small doses to a different kingdom. You’ll never guess who he’s been using as test subjects.”
Kane clenched and unclenched his fists. If he could use one of his theoretical wishes right now, it would be the power to strangle a hologram.
“That’s right,” Marius said with barely contained glee. “Our neighbors to the south. And for each day my queen refuses to come home and face me, I’ll allow my scientists free rein to find out exactly how lethal this product can be.”
“But I’m nowhere near Eturia,” Cassia argued. “It’ll take weeks to get there.”
“Then I suggest you don’t make any stops, or you’ll have no one but corpses to greet you. When you arrive, return all my missiles—deactivated, of course—on an open barge with no hiding places for your troops. Pilot the craft yourself and come alone. Anyone who follows you will die.”
With that, his image vanished.
Cassia hissed a swear. “How did he escape?”
“Let’s worry about that later.” Kane verified that the link had closed, then pointed at Cassia’s band. “Call your general. Tell him to spread the word that everyone should stay inside on days when the wind comes from the north. Whatever this sickness is, it’s airborne. If we can limit their exposure, it’ll buy us some time.”
While she flew into action, he sat on the edge of the lower cot and tried to brainstorm a way out of this mess. Assuming Marius wasn’t bluffing, he had three weapons at his disposal: water contaminants, a legion of troops unaffected by sickness, and his father’s twisted science experiment. Jordan’s men could reassemble the confiscated missiles and threaten to use them against Marius, but that would take time, and half the population might be dead by then. Somehow they had to find a cure for the sickness; otherwise Marius would hold it over their heads for generations to come.
Kane thought back to the inhalers Fleece had given the infected hatchery workers. If he could get his hands on one of those inhalers, the Rose lab could replicate its contents and distribute it throughout the colony.
An idea struck.
Kane bolted upright, hitting his head on the top bunk. He rubbed his skull and tapped the com-link pinned to his shirt. “Captain, I need a favor. Put your ear to the ground and find the nearest settlement outbreak. I want to take the shuttle there while you have Belle’s implant removed.”
The answer had been in front of him all along. To find the cure, all he had to do was embrace the sickness.