Shadow of the Coalition (The Omni Towers, #2)

Chapter 2-1

Chapter Two

Kayla strode into the tech room to find Veridian and Cruncher hunched over one of the computer terminals. Veridian glanced up when she entered and raised an eyebrow at her expression. “You look like you want to hit something or someone. What’s wrong?”

She glowered at him and slumped down in an empty chair. “Alec wants me to go back to the towers.”

Cruncher snorted. “You think? The guy’s been pissing Carl off more than usual lately. He’s had to start giving him our daily scavenging schedules and coordinates. Not to mention he’s been tied into our communication systems. It’s making Xantham twitchy.”

“He what?” Kayla jerked upright in the chair. This was news to her. “He’s been monitoring us?”

“Yup,” Cruncher said with an amused expression. “I guess since you won’t talk to him, he has no way of keeping tabs on you. He just about flipped out when the earthquake happened. Never thought I’d see the High Council leader lose his cool like that. Carl thought he was going to run straight out of those towers and head here himself.”

She slammed her hand down on the desk. Veridian jumped at the sound and shot Cruncher a warning look. “That bastard! I should have known. I’m tempted to go to those towers and kick his a*s personally. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Cruncher shrugged. “Probably to keep you from heading back to the towers and kicking some High Council ass.”

Veridian sighed, running his hand worriedly over his frizzy brown hair. “Well, it’s not like we didn’t see this coming. Alec wasn’t exactly thrilled when you left. You have a tendency to attract the wrong sort of attention. Leo always said you sucked at keeping a low profile.”

When she glared at him, Veridian held up his hands in surrender and grinned. “So… are you going to go back there? Or are you going to keep hiding out here?”

“I’m not hiding,” Kayla retorted and folded her arms over her chest. Okay, maybe she was hiding. A little. Dammit. She was more transparent than she thought. “I’ll just tell Alec to mind his own business and quit checking up on me.”

“Uh huh. Right. I’m sure that’ll work,” Veridian said, turning back to his terminal. Cruncher snorted in agreement. Neither one of them even bothered to pretend that Alec would listen to her.

Kayla huffed, suspecting they were right. The idea that Alec watched her every move was more than a little creepy. It only reinforced her decision not to return to the towers yet. If he was this controlling when she was miles away, it didn’t bode well for when she eventually returned.

Drumming her fingers on the desk, Kayla tried to figure out the logistics of disabling the two-way communications with OmniLab. It would serve Alec right if their contact were temporarily cut off. The lesson would do him some good and give her a little breathing room. Too bad this whole aircraft thing was happening. Cutting off communication with the towers right now probably wasn’t the best idea.

A loud beep emanated from Cruncher’s machine and drew her attention. He studied it for a moment and leaped from his chair, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash. Grinning widely, he gestured to the screen. “Un-f*****g-believable. You’ve got some crazy luck, girl. Check it out.”

Thankful for the distraction, Kayla leaned over to take a peek. “You already finished testing the water samples?”

“Yup. They’re clean.” Cruncher pulled her out of the chair and twirled her around. A laugh bubbled out of her at his exuberance. “We ran three separate tests, and the water’s safe. We’ve got ourselves a clean water source here.”

She turned to look at the display more closely. The test results showed the water was completely potable with only minor contaminants. Ever since the war had rendered most of the planet uninhabitable, clean water sources were like mythical unicorns—they just didn’t exist. Even with OmniLab’s technology, traces of contaminants still remained behind. They had to use specially developed hydrating packs for regular drinking use.

However, Kayla was a realist at heart and eyed the screen with skepticism. Things that seemed too good to be true usually were. “I don’t trust it. We can’t afford to make any mistakes on this. Aren’t there some other tests we can run to check for microbial contaminants?”

Cruncher narrowed his eyes. “You’re too young to be so cynical. Besides, we don’t have a spectrophotometer here in camp for that sort of analysis. Although, you could always go flutter your eyes at Alec and get him to send one our way.” With a smirk, he added, “On second thought, maybe not. If you so much as crooked a finger at him, he’d probably send over a dozen, along with the techs to run them. We don’t have that kind of room with all the other crap he’s been sending us.”

Kayla groaned and half-heartedly punched Cruncher in the arm. The former ruin rat chuckled and turned back to the display. Alec’s generosity had been over the top since she returned to Carl’s camp. Over the past several weeks, they’d received several shipments of new prototypes and state-of-the-art equipment from OmniLab. It bothered her that everyone knew OmniLab’s “generosity” was a direct result of her uncomfortable relationship with Alec.

Before she could say anything else, someone cleared their throat behind her. Kayla spun around, surprised to find Carl had slipped into the room. His expression was troubled, and she wondered what Alec had said after she left. At her questioning look, he simply shook his head. “Find out anything?”

Apparently, he didn’t want to discuss it. She could respect that. Kayla sat back down and pointed to the contamination report on the screen. “Cruncher’s gotten three test results back. All of them are negative for toxicity.”

“I would have thought that was impossible,” Carl mused, stepping behind her and leaning over to look at the data. He rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing small circles as he read through the data. “If this is accurate, do you have any idea what this could mean?”

Kayla nodded, resisting the urge to groan at the way his hands worked her sore muscles. His attentions made it difficult to focus on the conversation. “Mmhmm. OmniLab’s going to freak out when they get this news. We need to do further testing before we get their panties wet. I also want to find out where this river goes.”

Carl considered her words for a moment. Her head lowered seemingly of its own volition as he hit a particularly tense spot on her neck. The man had magical fingers.

“I heard you tell Cruncher you wanted to do some additional testing. As it happens, I need to return to the towers for a few days. I’ll take a sample directly to OmniLab and have them test it using their equipment. That would be the fastest way to get answers. I’ll also see about making arrangements for some underwater imaging devices while I’m there.”

Kayla tensed, negating the past several minutes of work he’d done on her muscles. “You’re going back to the towers? What the hell did Alec say to you? And why didn’t you tell me he was spying on us?”

Carl dropped his hands and glowered at Cruncher. “You told her?”

The older man shrugged. “She needs to know, Boss.”

Carl sighed in resignation. “It’s not what you think, Kayla. Can you come with me to my office? I need to show you something.”

Her curiosity mounting, she followed Carl back to his office and took a seat on the edge of the desk. He sat, entered in a few commands on a small tablet terminal, and then nudged it toward her. It was an official notice from OmniLab requesting access to all of Carl’s information, including communication logs, trade agreements, and financial records. The record request went all the way back to three years ago when Carl first accepted the trader position. It was long before she’d even met Carl, much less begun working at the camp or scavenging in his district.

Confused, Kayla looked up at Carl. “What’s this? What’s going on?”

He sighed, leaning back in his chair, and eyed the tablet with distaste. “I probably should have told you weeks ago about Alec monitoring our camp, but I knew it would bother you. As you know, OmniLab owns the trader camps and we’re all under contract with them. It’s unusual but not unheard of for them to demand access to our daily records and communication logs. Requests for that type of information have been rolling in since we left the towers. Granted, this level of surveillance is a bit unusual. I figured Alec wanted to make sure you were safe, and this was his way of going about it.”

Carl gestured to the tablet and his jaw tightened. “But this new demand is something completely different. After you walked out, Alec sent this over to me. Director Borshin wants to audit all my records. They’re looking into my finances and interactions between the ruin rat camps now. They’ve asked me to return to the towers immediately so I can go through my records with them.”

Kayla glanced down at the tablet again. “I don’t understand. Why would they want those records?”

His expression was grim, and he didn’t respond immediately. Finally, Carl sighed and rubbed his fingers over his face as though tired from the entire ordeal. “I don’t know, Kayla. Your guess is as good as mine. Alec isn’t particularly fond of me, and my first thought was that he might be trying to replace me as a trader.”

She stared at him in stunned shock, her grip tightening on the edge of the desk. Before she could say anything, he held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I dismissed the idea almost as soon as I had it. That tactic seems a little heavy-handed for him, regardless of our differences. In all honesty, I don’t know what he’s looking for in these records. I contacted Rand as soon as I ended the transmission with Alec. They’ve requested his camp’s records, too, but they’re not focusing on him to the same extent they’re focusing on me.”

Kayla frowned. “But Rand’s only been a trader for a month.”

Carl nodded. “Yes, and that might explain why they haven’t ordered him to report to the towers. Rand mentioned he spoke with Warig and Henkel earlier today, and neither one of them mentioned anything about an audit. Something about this doesn’t feel right to me. But whatever it is, I’ll handle it. I have nothing to hide.”

Kayla picked up the tablet and scrolled through the long list of requested information trying to find some clue to Alec’s motivation. Carl was right though. There was no love lost between the two men, but this didn’t make sense. Both Carl and Rand had supported her decision to leave the towers against Alec’s wishes. It troubled her that they were both being targeted. Why not the other traders?

Kayla jumped off the desk and paced, too agitated to sit still. “I don’t like that you’re being singled out. You’re the best trader OmniLab’s got. Some of the High Council even pointed that out when they were interviewing Rand for the trader position. Alec better not be doing this because he’s still pissed that I left with you.”

“We don’t know anything for sure. The High Council has every right to request the information, especially since the towers are under new leadership. Maybe that’s all this is. Either way, Alec has asked me to return to the towers tomorrow to go over my records with Director Borshin. I was asked to extend the invitation for you to accompany me.”

She froze at his words and slowly turned to face him. Their eyes locked and understanding filled her. “He’s using you to try and get me to go back, isn’t he?”

Carl nodded and stood, crossing the room toward her. “That much I agree with. It’s possible he’s just using this request as an excuse, especially after you refused his invitation. If that’s the case, it’s just more of a headache than anything else. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”