The Stars are Red Tonight: The Paradisi Chronicles Read online

  “There. Caroline Kuttner.”

  Saya’s stomach dropped into her shoes. Caroline Kuttner. Her own mother’s name sat staring back at her. Suddenly she felt exposed and vulnerable. Like her mother was watching her through the screen. She scrolled down a bit farther and began reading the names of her paternal aunts and uncles and their children. She blinked rapidly, not knowing what to do or say. And then she saw her own given name, Sarah Kuttner.

  “I have to go check on something,” she blurted out as she scrambled out of her chair and ran to the back of the room, going through the curtain that said ‘employees only.’

  She was breathing heavily, and she was sure her face was white when Frank looked up, startled at her abrupt entrance. He was sitting at his desk reading a book. It was his shop, but really he just managed the paperwork and billing; Saya did all the tech work herself.

  “What’s up? Thought I heard a guy’s voice out front. Is someone hassling you?” His voice was sharp, almost angry.

  “No, no,” she caught her breath. She swallowed hard and held up her hand to calm him down. Frank had always shown a sort of parental protectiveness over her, always wanting to know what she was up to. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just this guy I work with at WelCo. He has an encrypted drive he wants me to take a look at.”

  “Did he put a move on you?” Frank stood up quickly, ready to throw whoever had offended her straight out the door.

  Saya smiled, feeling good that he was so concerned for her safety. “No, definitely not. It’s just the drive he brought. I took a look at it and…” At that she trailed off, not sure of what she could tell him.

  Saya had never confided in anyone about her past. She grew up in one of the wealthiest families on the planet. But when she was twelve, her little brother died of one of the new super viruses. A few months later, her father died as well, and her mother, Caroline, shipped her off to an exclusive boarding school in New York City. Didn’t want her daughter in the way so she could focus all her energy on running AgriWW, the company she’d just inherited. In less than a year, Saya’s entire world had been taken away from her.

  When her mother finally deemed her worthy to return, Saya was happy at first. But then it became clear that her mother only had brought her back so she could be groomed to be her successor in the Kuttner empire. Caroline was consumed with staving off any attempts by other factions in the company to take control. The only problem with her plan was that Saya hated everything to do with the brutal, vicious business world. She and her mother fought all the time, and finally she’d run away, and Sarah Kuttner became Saya Smith. “Saya” because that is what her little brother had called her, not being able to pronounce Sarah when he first learned to talk.

  “What was on the drive?” Frank asked.

  Saya snapped back to the present, mumbling, “Oh, nothing. Most of it is encrypted, and we haven’t cracked it yet.”

  “You mentioned that. But that doesn’t explain the look on your face when you came in the room.”

  “What look? I’m fine. Don’t worry. It must have been your paranoia again. You know the world isn’t out to get you, Frank.”

  “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me.” Frank responded with the old joke. They both smiled.

  “I just needed a second. He’s kind of a strange guy. I can’t really read him very well.”

  “Let me take a look at him, then.”

  “Well, all right, come out and meet him.” Saya gestured towards the curtain. Then she took a deep breath and walked into the front part of the shop. Frank followed right behind her.

  She found Trevor stuffing something in his pocket, so she quickly looked at her desk. Everything looked in its place, and the drive was still plugged in. She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to get Trevor into trouble until she had a chance to ask him what he’d been up to. But he had certainly been up to something.

  Trevor had just made a second copy of the drive, and he’d no sooner put it in his pocket when Saya came waltzing back, followed by a very large tank of a man, who she introduced as her boss. He stuck his hand in Trevor’s face and announced his name was Frank. He almost shouted it, as if giving an order, which certainly fit his military bearing.

  “What are you, her body guard?” said Trevor. The words just popped out. The deepening scowl on Frank’s face made it clear that was the wrong thing to say, so he immediately apologized. “Sorry, man. You startled me. I’m Trevor. It’s nice to meet you. Saya has said nothing but good things about you.”

  Standing up to shake his hand, Trevor only came up to the man’s chin. He gripped Frank’s hand hard to compensate but doubted the man even noticed, not with his giant meat hooks. Instead, Frank looked him up and down like he was an escaped convict there to take his daughter to the prom. Not exactly a subtle sort of guy.

  “So this is your shop?” Trevor asked, hoping small talk would smooth things over. However, Frank did not respond. He simply continued to check him out, appearing not to even register he had spoken. Trevor looked at Saya, trying to signal ‘help me’ with his eyes.

  She obliged. “Okay, Frank, you’re starting to freak Trevor out. I’m all right out here. I think we’re gonna work on decoding these files for a little longer. You don’t have to hang around and watch.”

  Saya put a delicate white hand on the man’s massive shoulder, and he quit staring at Trevor.

  “It was nice meeting you, man,” Trevor said to his back as Frank turned around and walked back through the curtain, completely ignoring him. “Wow, what a super nice guy.” He tried not to sound too snarky.

  “He’s okay once he gets to know you. I know he is a little intimidating at first. Guys always react badly to him.”

  “Guys do, huh? Did you see the way he looked at me? I have had girlfriends’ fathers give me speeches that involved shotguns, and they were less threatening than that guy.”

  Saya kind of giggled at that. More of her chocolate brown curls fell in her eyes as she tried to hide her smile. His heart soared, and he forgot all about Frank. If only he could make her laugh again.

  “Really, Trevor, I swear, he is nice. And he cares a lot about me.”

  “I can see that. So you’re going to help me break this code?”

  “Maybe.” She sat back down at the computer and started quizzing him about what he had already done to try and decrypt the files. Then she said, “I’m gonna try something different, okay?”

  “Sounds good to me. I gotta take a break. Where is the bathroom?”

  “That door to your right.”

  “Thanks.” He walked away as she peered intently at the screen. He silently thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t have to go in the back with Frank. He was in no hurry to see that guy again.

  The bathroom was small and dark. A sink with no mirror sat in one corner, and directly next to it was the toilet, shoved in the other corner. He lifted the seat and started peeing. He was zipping up his pants when he heard a deep voice echoing through the bathroom walls.

  “Hello, ma’am.’”

  Trevor completely stopped breathing or moving at all. It was Frank’s voice he was hearing through the vents, no doubt about it.

  “There has been a development,” Frank said next. “There’s a boy here from her other job. He brought her a drive with an extremely tough encryption on it and asked her to help him break it.”

  Trevor started to sweat. Frank was reporting to someone about him?

  “From what I overheard, it sounds like at least some of the information on the drive is about the Paradisi Project.”

  Paradisi? That was the name on the folder with all the encrypted files.

  After a pause, Frank spoke again, “Yes, ma’am. They mentioned ten ships, and they were talking about the fact that it didn’t seem these ships were going to Mars. There is one more thing. It sounds like the boy got the drive from someone who also works at WelCo. They were only able to open some of the f
iles, but they are working on decrypting the rest of them. I believe these files could have additional sensitive information concerning our partners at WelCo and the Paradisi Project.”

  Trevor went cold. Who was this man? Who was he reporting to? And what the hell was on that drive? His mind raced with questions. He started breathing again, small shallow breaths, which made him feel light-headed, like he was going to pass out.

  After an extremely long pause, Frank spoke again, “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.” And the conversation was over.

  Trevor heard Frank begin to move around in the room, presumably to carry out whatever order he had just received, but he didn’t want to wait around to find out what the man planned on doing.

  Running out of the bathroom, he made Saya jump and squeal again.

  “Stop doing that. What is wrong with you?”

  She looked irritated, but he didn’t have time to smooth things over. “We have to go, now. You and me, we have to leave, immediately.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I will explain later, but right now I need you to trust me and come with me.”

  He could see the skepticism in her eyes, underneath those adorable curls. He needed to say something to make her come with him. And he needed to do it before Frank started chasing him with a gun or whatever he planned to do. So he took a deep breath and leaned in really close so that his mouth was next to her ear, his lips touching her hair, and his nose filled with that beautiful scent.

  He whispered, “We are in danger here; come with me, and I will explain as soon as it is safe.”

  When he stood up straight again, he could see the words had found their mark. Her eyes were huge.

  “All right,” she said and ejected the drive from her laptop, stuffed the computer in her backpack, and stood up. “Let me at least tell Frank I am ...”

  “No time, we need to go out the front.”

  He cut her off and grabbed her hand at the same time.

  “Trust me,” he said again and began walking rapidly towards the front door, Saya close behind, clutching her bag in one hand and her other hand held firmly in his. Any other day and he would have been consumed with ecstasy that he was even touching her. But adrenaline was rushing though his veins, and he didn’t have time to rejoice. Instead he pulled her out the front door and down the street as fast as he could.

  “Where are we going?” She trotted next to him.

  “We are going to go see Bobby.” Trevor looked right at her. “To find out what the hell he has gotten us into.”

  After the third block, Saya jerked her hand out of Trevor’s grip and stopped, saying, “I am not taking another step until you tell me what’s going on. Why did we have to leave, and why didn’t you want me to tell Frank?”

  Trevor turned around and said, “Do you have any idea why Frank would be reporting your activities to someone over the phone?”

  The question so stunned her she just stared at him. “What?” she finally got out.

  “When I was in the bathroom, I heard Frank talking on his mobile in the back. He was reporting what we were doing to some woman. He told her about me and about the drive. He even knew things about what we found on the drive. He told her that he believed we had the plans for the Paradisi Project—which was the name of the encrypted files, but I wonder if it also refers to those ships and where they are going. Then he took orders from her, and that is when I got us out of there. Now please, let’s go.”

  “Wait, Frank knew what was on the drive?”

  “He seemed to, yes. Now, come on.”

  “How do you know he was reporting to a woman?”

  “Because he kept calling her ma’am.”

  Still stunned, Saya put one foot in front of the other. Slowly. “Are you sure you heard Frank? It wasn’t a video? He watches some mystery vids on an old computer when he is back there. Maybe you overheard that.”

  Trevor said angrily, “No, Saya. I didn’t mistake Frank for a vid or a vid for Frank, or whatever. I know what I heard, and that is what I heard.”

  She felt her steps speed up as her mind began to race. What could this mean? Could she even trust what Trevor was saying? She knew Frank way better than she knew Trevor. She’d worked for him for over three years, for heaven’s sake. At least she thought she knew him. But what reason did Trevor have to lie to her? Why would Frank be reporting to some woman about her? Saya gulped and started walking even faster.

  “We’re here,” Trevor announced when they reached the transit stop. He was slightly out of breath, and his eyes were running wild. The local trolley pulled up and sighed to a stop. Trevor pulled her on quickly and just as quickly swiped his mobile twice and typed in the code for a stop. He said they were going to the Queen Anne district where Bobby lived. He then found them a spot in a corner where they were close to a door and he could still have eyes on all the other doors. They plopped down on the hard, orange seats.

  Saya was grateful to be sitting down. Trevor seemed to be still on full alert, practically hovering a few inches above the seat, as if ready to run or attack at a moment’s notice.

  Once the trolley began to move, he relaxed a little bit. He sat back in his seat and turned his attention to her, saying, “So do you know whom Frank could be reporting to?”

  Saya gulped again. “No, I have no idea,” she lied.

  Her face felt hot. That was the one part of Trevor’s story that rang true to her. It was the one part that was plausible, particularly given the name she had seen on the list, and it made all the rest terrifying.

  Saya found herself shaking her head. “I just can’t believe it. I have been working for Frank for nearly three years now. I spend hours in that shop, almost every day. There has to be a logical explanation. Why would he report to someone about me?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  Then they both sat in silence. Trevor shifted in his seat and began biting the nails on his right hand, radiating anxiety.

  Saya reached over and took his hand, noticing that he was trembling. He twitched slightly at her touch, but when he looked at her, his face softened. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand, trying to reassure him … of what, she didn’t know.

  He stopped his nervous twitching, sat up straight, smiled at her and held her gaze, his green eyes now warm and comforting. For a moment, those eyes were the only things Saya could see. They were the only things she wanted to see.

  Then the trolley lurched to a standstill, ripping her out of the moment and back into reality. She took her hand away quickly. Why did I do that? What’s going on with me?

  “This is our stop,” Trevor announced, standing up. “Bobby’s place is just two blocks from here.”

  “Let’s get a move on and figure this out then,” she said, hoping to get another smile out of him. But the strong reassuring Trevor was already gone as he looked nervously around the empty street.

  It was only a couple blocks north of the transit station to Bobby’s place. Trevor had been there many times, after work or on the weekends to play video games or just hang out and drink beer. But tonight, everything looked different. Maybe it was his mood, maybe it was the events of the day, or maybe it was this time he had a very pretty girl with him. Whatever it was, the street looked ominous. The shadows from the streetlights seemed to hide invisible thugs around every corner.

  Trevor looked over at Saya. She seemed lost in her own thoughts. Her brow was a tiny knot, and suddenly she looked up at him. He quickly shifted his eyes to the road in front of him. Why does she always make me so damned nervous? He silently swore at himself, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  He wasn’t sure what answers he expected to get from Bobby, but he had to do something. He definitely had to get Saya away from Frank. When he told her what Frank had said, Saya said she didn’t believe him, but something in her eyes said differently. Somewhere, deep down, she must know or at least suspect he was telling the truth; otherwise, why did she agree to leave with him without
telling Frank?

  Bobby’s apartment complex was visible even from the trolley station, towering into the sky, like some great dark monster with a hundred glowing eyes looking out into the night.

  Saya surprised him as they entered the empty lobby when she took his hand again in hers and gave him that reassuring smile. Through all the strangeness that was going on all around them, the feeling of her hand in his made his heart light.

  They took the elevator up to the eighteenth floor. The metal box made some very disturbing squealing sounds as it rose higher and higher. Sara’s grip on his hand tightened, and she moved closer to him.

  They walked down the hallway, cautiously. There were no other people around, although the pounding of bass could be heard from different apartments. They passed one place that had the unnerving rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire exploding from inside. Saya jumped a little and then giggled at herself. Just a video game, he assured her, patting her arm.

  Once they stood at Bobby’s apartment door, he paused before ringing the bell. Trevor wasn’t sure why, but the apprehension might be getting the best of him. He could feel the tension in the air, and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up. In fact, all of his skin seemed to be sensing something, and goose bumps ran all over him. Suddenly aware of how sweaty his hand felt in hers, he wasn’t sure if it was from him or her, or both. He looked down at her.

  Worry was written on her delicate features, and she said, “Should we go in?”

  It wasn’t until she said this that Trevor noticed that Bobby’s door was cracked just the smallest bit. It wasn’t enough for the latch to fall and the door to swing fully open, but it was just enough so that the lock hadn’t clicked closed. With one small push, someone could …

  “I don’t know. It’s strange that it’s open, right?” he asked.

  Saya nodded, never taking her eyes from the doorknob, as if it might come alive at any second and try to bite her. She dropped his hand but moved slightly behind him so that he was in between her and the door. Trevor squared his shoulders, and then he gently pushed open the door. He could tell Saya was holding her breath.