The Peyti Crisis: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Five of the Anniversary Day Saga (Retrieval Artist series 12) Read Free Page A

light.
    Frémont was nowhere in sight. Had Didier let him out? Was Frémont going to attack her?
    Her heart rate went up even farther, although she hadn’t thought that was even possible.
    “Hurry,” Didier said.
    She looked around. The walls nearby were black from the closed cell doors. She couldn’t see any androids at all.
    There was, as far as she could tell, no place for Frémont to hide.
    Her mouth was dry. She swallowed against it anyway. She couldn’t remember ever being this frightened as an adult. As a child, yes, but as an adult—
    Her mind skittered away from the thought.
    She took another step, and then another, not sure how she was managing to make her feet work. Somehow she was, though.
    Somehow.
    She peered over that bed, and finally saw Frémont. He was sprawled on the floor, legs twisted, one arm still on the bed, the other extended toward the toilet.
    The smell was coming from him, and it was so bad here that her eyes watered.
    “What the hell…?” she muttered, but she did so not to be answered, but because she couldn’t remain quiet.
    Something had dried around his mouth, and there was a lot of liquid on the floor. His face was bloated—or it seemed that way. She couldn’t tell if it was a trick of the light.
    “What the hell?” she repeated, this time looking at Didier. “Is he dead?”
    Didier smiled at her. “Yep,” he said. “And we only have a few minutes before the administration finds out.”

 
     
     
     
    THREE
     
     
    JHENA STOOD NEAR the entrance to the cell. She stared at PierLuigi Frémont’s feet because she didn’t want to see any other part of him. Certainly not whatever was causing the stench that seemed to get worse with each passing minute.
    She kept a hand over her face, and really wished she had worn an environmental suit. Then, at least, she would be able to breathe fresh air, with the proper amount of oxygen, and she wouldn’t be so cold.
    “You didn’t report his death?” Jhena asked. “My God, do you realize what they’ll do—”
    “They won’t do anything. Not if we act fast.” Didier looked like some kind of alien she’d never encountered before with his black guard’s uniform reflecting the flaring red emergency light.
    With that thing on, wouldn’t the authorities know something was wrong?
    She let out a small breath, warm against her palm, reminding herself that she and Didier were the authorities. At least for the moment.
    “Surely, someone will come to check. My links seem to be off,” she said. “And you know that triggers terrible alarms. Everyone will come here shortly, and we’ll get in trouble—”
    “Believe it or not,” Didier said with a grin. The red reflected off his teeth, making them seem sharp. “Frémont severed the links, not me.”
    He couldn’t have. Jhena knew that much. Prisoners in Earth Alliance Maximum Security prisons couldn’t access systems.
    Of course, prisoners couldn’t kill themselves either. They didn’t have the tools. They didn’t have access to the tools.
    She glanced at Didier. Had he provided Frémont with something that would kill him? She didn’t want to know if that was the case. She wasn’t going to ask.
    She wasn’t going to ask anything.
    Jhena crouched.
    The stench seemed milder down low, or maybe she was just getting used to it. Still, the smell of feces and bodily fluids was so strong that she pinched her nose closed, which then made her breathe through her mouth, which was a mistake. She could taste the smell now, and her stomach turned again.
    Frémont must have shut down more than links, because the environmental systems should have cleared out the smell by now, certainly cleared it enough that it wouldn’t be so strong that she could almost feel it.
    She shivered, and knew it wasn’t just because of the cold. Her head ached, and she wondered how long she’d been here.
    “Why would he do that?” she asked. “I mean, if he could do that, shouldn’t he have tried to