Page 28 of True As Steel
“The mushrooms used to produce Dalirium,” Jarog said, in understanding.
“Correct,” Haelin said.
“So, killing you is the only way he can appropriate your business,” I said pensively. “Chop off the head and the others will flee.”
“Exactly,” Haelin replied.
“But why don’t you kill him first?” I asked. “You could take over his territory which, as I understand it, is quite vast. And if you’re not interested, it would at least make whoever takes over the Ferein Cartel think twice about messing with you again.”
“I definitely don’t want to do that,” Haelin said, shaking her head. “Grellik is a pain in the ass, but he’s a useful evil. As long as he runs his cartel, no one else can move into the area. It was a mistake on my part not to have prevented the Ferein from kicking out the Zundek from the Merinik Plains. Their Rygow trade post had helped keep a certain balance in the region.”
“We slept there on our way here,” I explained. “They conquered it, yet they are letting it go to waste.”
“They wanted to stop the Zundek expansion that would have crippled theirs,” Yelena replied. “If Grellik dies, every single one of the southern cartels will flock here to fight over his territory. I don’t care about the bloodshed, but it will destabilize the region for a long time.”
“The territory will end up fragmented, with a bunch of idiots each owning too small a portion to truly develop anything worthwhile, so they will keep plotting, scheming, and backstabbing each other in an effort to do so,” Lanish added.
“But won’t that eventually settle with a clear winner?” I asked.
“Unlikely,” Haelin said. “None of those cartels are big enough, strong enough, or with a smart enough leader to hold on to such vast lands. What is more likely to happen is that some really powerful son of a rahashi will come settle on Xyva and take over once all of those smaller cartels have weakened themselves to the point of near extinction. And then I will have a really nasty rival knocking at my door.”
“And taking over his lands wouldn’t make sense for you as it would be too vast to control,” Jarog concluded.
“Exactly. It would be foolish of me to spread myself thin when everything I need is right here, profitable, manageable, and above all secure,” Haelin said. “Greed has caused many a cartel’s downfall. It will not be mine.”
“While I agree with the soundness of your logic, isn’t allowing Grellik to threaten your life in all impunity—aside from the poor assassins who get caught—undermining your authority and standing?” Jarog asked. “Without retribution, he will only grow bolder.”
“Agreed!” Yelena said, before casting a meaningful glance at her leader.
By her tone and expression, the female operative had that discussion many times with Haelin before, without much success.
“You are correct,” Haelin conceded, “but retaliating for the sake of revenge is only going to start a tit for tat war that will be a drain of resources. I don’t want to have a skirmish every other day. I want to strike once and make a statement that will scar him so much, he will think twice about fucking with me again. And the thing he cares about the most is his wallet.”
“You want to hurt his business?” I asked.
“I want to set him back so hard that instead of making credits, he will spend loads of it over the next few months rebuilding his infrastructure,” Haelin said with an evil grin.
“Now, you’ve piqued my interest,” Jarog said.
Mine as well.
Haelin launched into a detailed explanation of her plan. It was freaking bold… and beyond exciting. The only concern was the narrow window to act. We wanted Dr. Timmons to mend the Cyborg, but we couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t include some control chips on Grellik’s behalf should their captive not cooperate. While Claudia might be able to remove it—if it came to that—we had no way of knowing how much damage the Cyborg would sustain because of it.
“Timmons won’t be in Tarkis for at least another week. That gives us time to finalize our plans and iron out any details,” Haelin said. Yelena and Lanish will be your main points of contact for anything you need, from our available arsenal to our best trained operatives.”
“Good. Let’s get to work,” Jarog said.
Chapter 11
Jarog
The past few days preparing for the mission had been soothing, if not therapeutic. It almost felt like being back in the Cyborg Military Elite. Granted, the Narengi operatives weren’t Cyborgs, but they possessed impressive skills. However, nothing could replace the almost symbiotic bond I had shared with my pod brothers. The closeness and trust we’d built over the years nearly allowed us to anticipate each other’s thoughts and actions. And for the other times, our closed neural network allowed us to communicate in words, images, or transfer tons of data which we could assimilate in seconds.
I would likely never experience that again.
If I were honest with myself, my desire to see this mission through wasn’t entirely altruistic or because soldiers left no man behind. He was my chance to belong again, if only temporarily, and not to feel like the last of my kind. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Other Cyborgs had survived Gorkon and whatever other destinations they had fled to, but who knew if or when our paths would cross again?
In a few minutes, we would set off on that mission. Tamryn had confirmed that even after it was completed—assuming all went according to plan—she would remain here with Haelin until she could reunite with her family. It hadn’t surprised me since we’d already pretty much reached that conclusion during prior discussions. However, she had hoped to receive a similar confirmation from me, which I couldn’t give her.