Part Three

Full dark was less than an hour away when Sandy decided to seek out the comforting openness of the field.  There she found a spot on the big rock at the edge of the tall grasses. Da’sin had looked up from his conversation with Parr when she passed through the common room. As she went out the door she overheard Parr say to him, “Go on.” 

She felt more than watched as Da’sin walked out across the field. He didn’t ask to join her, he just sat down. She remembered so many times he had done just the same, joining her while she kept watch among the dunes. Her hands were stuffed deep into the pockets of her borrowed clothes and she kicked at the dirt under her feet.

“A lot more humidity than you get in the wastelands,” he said.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “And the sand’s all wrong...”

“’Cause it’s dirt,” he said.

“That’s right,” she smiled sadly. She could barely see his face in the last of the light. She took a deep breath and could smell his scent from the borrowed tunic and from him so close by. It was real, she assured herself, not another of those dreams she always woke up from.

“Did you go straight to working for Alston after you left?” Sandy asked, knowing but finally not caring that by asking she was opening herself to answer questions in return. Questions whose answers she didn’t have the energy to hide from Da’sin if he chose to ask.  

“Sort of. Parr an’ I go way back. He had just met Alston when he wrote to me about a job. I just knew it was time to move on from that valley. It was what I’d needed for a while to clear my head, get away from the real world but I couldn’t do it forever.” Sandy was looking away. When she was younger she used to watch him intently while they spoke but now she felt so timid. He touched her shoulder. It surprised her and she looked up. “I guess you couldn’t either?”

She felt his hand on her shoulder and was reminded of how precious a gift his touch used to be. Since leaving the valley her solitude had never been what it once was, but almost all of her interactions had revolved around business. She had never formed a closeness with another for its own sake like the one she’d had with Da’sin. Not even with Carrie and Brett.

She sat quietly. Maybe she could tell him everything... She had imagined it many times but that didn’t make it any easier. “You know when you think of a hundred ways to say something, then you get to it, and don’t know what to say?”

“None of it seems to work at the time,” he agreed. She looked straight at him now, her eyes were intense, her hair was pulled back, her tattoo just showing in the dim light. For the first time in over four years she wasn’t hiding; she finally had no reason to.

“I ran away,” Sandy started. “I had no money, no place to go. I got in with some kids who stole for hire. Smuggled stuff. I lived with them, learned the ropes, and when it got around that I could handle the wastelands I was even more desirable as a runner and a guide.”

Sandy was twenty but she felt older. She’d been on her own so long- fighting to get by; just like Da’sin. Maybe she was wrong to think he couldn’t see her as she was now.

“What made you leave?” he asked.

The question pained her; she had to gather strength to face it. Sandy knew he was watching her, waiting, wondering what could have caused her to abandon all she had known. She mouthed a word with barely a sound just as Alston yelled from the front porch.

“Meeting time! You too, Sandy, come on.”

Sandy jumped up and headed for the cabin. Da’sin was slower to follow. Had he caught that right- had she answered, “You.” ?

“Okay gang, this is the last deal,” Alston started. “You all know after this one, I’m out.”

Sandy looked around the kitchen at the others as they nodded. They knew. She wondered if they would all continue on future projects after Alston was gone or if he had been the one tying them together. He talked about his latest correspondence with the client and what they had arranged for the final meeting. 

“Thing is, with this location we can’t all go barging into this club armed. I’ve checked it out; it’s very exclusive; a great cover for the client and he’ll be hindered by the same issues we are,” Alston explained.

“He can’t expect you to go in with no cover!” 

“Whoa- no one said a thing about no cover, but here’s the situation. Our client’s an important figure and he’s being watched very closely by his government. This can’t look like a sale; it has to look like anything but. It’s not even safe to transfer the schematics electronically; that’s why we’re meeting in person to pass him a hard file.” Alston went into his plan for everyone’s positions.

When he finished Parr asked; “Who’s going in with you?” 

Alston looked over at Sandy. Then they all looked at her.

“What?” She asked, paranoid. 

“This is the kinda place where no one would look twice at a man with an escort-”

“Escort? Wait a minute-”

“It’s the least suspicious combination of people,” he stated matter-of-factly. Then he smirked, “You’re the one who gave me the idea back when we met.”

Sandy started to get up from the table, “If you think-” she raised her voice.

“Hold up, it won’t be like that,” Alston was laughing. 

“What about her?” Sandy pointed to the other woman. They all started laughing as the woman, Mavis, grinned and flexed her muscles.

“All you have to do is sit there, play dumb, and look pretty but you’ll actually be my second pair of eyes,” Alston explained.

“How do I get into this shit?” she grumbled. Da’sin set a calming hand on her shoulder and it almost worked.

“You must like it,” Alston chuckled.

“Screw You! I’ll consider it, okay?”

“Good.”

“Consider it,” she said and slammed the door when she stormed out.

Sandy had thought it through, carefully. She went to give Alston her answer. She knew he and Da’sin were in the living-room fine tuning the plans. Sandy had started to go in but stopped when she heard her name.

“Of course this all works out best if Sandy agrees,” Alston commented.

“You’ll be lucky if she does, the way you asked her,” Da’sin said.

“What?” Alston asked innocently.

“Why do you give her a hard time?”

Alston sighed, “I’m just teasing her a bit. When I first hired her, I liked her right away, we had a good rapport, but then things went south, and she kinda bugged out. Then I just couldn’t help taking jabs at her because I didn’t know what else to do.”

Sandy chose then to barge into the room before Alston preternaturally figured out she was there. Startled, the two men tried not to look caught, and she acted as if she didn’t notice. “Fine. I’ll do it,” she said.

“Good,” Alston smiled. “What decided you?”

“I’m in the middle of this already, I might as well go all the way and become a part of it.”

“Alright then. After we’re done here, I’ll fill you in.” 

“Should I hang around the house then?” she asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll find you,” he smirked.

Sandy’s hands dropped from her hips. She glanced at Da’sin then glared at Alston briefly before storming out. She heard him chuckle as she left and Da’sin saying:

“That’s exactly-”

“I know, I know,” Alston said. “Something about that girl that brings out the worst in me.”

Sandy knew she wouldn’t be so angry if Alston didn’t mean it about finding her. He was strange, and it bothered her to be reminded of it. Did the others know he wasn’t quite human? The healing was weird but more disturbing was how he just knew things. He’d find her, would he? She wasn’t going to make it easy if he was going to be so smug.

She sat in the loft of the barn contemplating the prototype, cold and still below. She gave a small shudder.

“It’s not as bad as all that,” Alston said, stepping out of the shadows behind her.

“How did you get in?” She tried to sound undisturbed.

“My secret,” he said and sat down. “Let’s get down to business.”  

It was then that Sandy realized Alston was no longer her client or her captor but was actually going to be a partner. Now that she was free, Sandy no longer had to view Alston as an antagonist, and hadn’t she just heard him saying he hadn’t liked the way things had turned out? She easily shifted into business mode to deal with him. Business she could always handle.

With complete seriousness he explained the plan in detail and went over all the precautions.

“Do you trust these clients?” Sandy asked.

“I find it prudent not to trust much of anyone,” he answered. Sandy sympathized with that.

“But you’ll put the schematics for weapons of this caliber right in their hands.”

“Look at it closely Sandy. Do you actually see any weapons on the exoskeleton?”

She paused. “You know they’ll arm it.”

“Thus is the way of war. And before you look at me like that you should listen to what you don’t already know...”

“And that is?”

“That the military on Ardorn has already reinstated the use of exoskeletons for ‘police actions’- more like keeping their own people in line. Our buyers are those people being controlled in a military state. They could get their hands on mechs from other sources, we just happened to have a mechanical genius who could tweak the design so the pilot doesn’t have to use a neural plug and fry his brain. They’re seeking a means to even the odds; we’re simply providing them that. Are rebels always the bad guys?”

Sandy sat quietly. She’d agreed to be involved in all this assuming the worst; she was at a loss. “Don’t judge what you do not fully understand,” Alston said with an edge.

“Am I supposed to take a double meaning from that?” she asked sarcastically, back on the defense. 

“All I’m saying is, there are many things you don’t know,” he said softly, giving up the fight.

“And you know so much?” she scoffed and turned away from him. She didn’t hate Alston- she just wasn’t prepared to let him know that yet. He moved inhumanly fast to grasp her shoulder and turn her back. She refused to be startled by this trait she’d seen several times before. He took off the sunglasses that he left had on even in the poorly lit barn. He forced her to look at him.

“More than you think,” he said.

Caught in his gaze she whispered, “What are you?”

He let her go, “You ask what I am? Not who?” Alston laughed. “I know who you are, Sandressa. Where you came from, what you became...”

“Da’sin-”

“Don’t worry he didn’t give up your whole past to me- not consciously anyway.” Alston was very close to her. She didn’t move away but she visibly stiffened. 

Finally the tension broke and Alston backed off.

“At least try to understand me a little, Sandy,” he said. His whole being had shifted. All his sarcasm was gone. “I’m sorry for the way things happened and I should have talked to you sooner. A lot could have been avoided...”

“I didn’t exactly keep my wits about me either,” she admitted, thinking of all the stupid moves she had made. After a long mutual silence, Alston spoke up.

“Sandy, I’m going to confide in you,” he said. This took her by surprise. “I want us to start from square one.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m going to tell you this because I want you to be okay with me,” he said. “We’re going to have to work closely together to pull off this job...”

Mentally Sandy sighed. The job; that was all this was about, but on some level she was slightly disappointed.

“You know I’m not normal,” he started. She looked up at him; it wasn’t what she had expected. 

“Yes, I am human,” he laughed at her expression. “I know what you thought- that’s just it, sometimes I do pick up images from people’s minds but I can’t hear what you’re thinking. When I was younger I was experimented on. I didn’t know I was a test subject until much later but, the short of it is that they altered me. Me and six others. We escaped and split up, but after this last deal is over I’m going back to them. We’re all going to meet back; it’s been almost five years.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Sandy finally managed. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk lately. I guess it’s always been the way I dealt with people who are uncomfortable around me. I start going on the offense.” Alston looked distant and lonely.

Sandy filled with empathy for him. The way Alston was had been forced on him, and she could tell it must have isolated him from others... just as she had once been. She too had made his difference a cancer on the camaraderie that could have formed between them. She found herself doing the unexpected and reached out a hand to him. 

He took her hand and held it briefly. “Thank you. That means a lot to me,” he said.

They ended up talking for a long time and comfortably joked with one another. Sandy felt like they had backed up to where they had been before the incident during the storm. Only, now she didn’t have to maintain a professional distance, and they could be equals. 

Alston told her of how after hearing some of her story from Da’sin, he had finally been able to put together a lot of the images he’d caught from Sandy’s mind. Things that hadn’t made sense, like images of Da’sin that he now realized were from before Alston had met him. “It all came together once I understood,” he said.

“I’ve met some really good people here. I’m just sorry I don’t have more time- unfortunately I’m on a schedule. I’ll be on the way back to my prior life and obligations. You two, on the other hand, will have all the time in the world after this last sale is done.” 

Sandy wondered what Alston meant but left the remark alone. He now seemed so melancholy. She decided to try and lighten his mood.

“So what will I have to do to be a convincing ‘escort’?” Sandy laughed.

“Oh, not much, we’ll buy you a dress when we get into town,” Alston said, brushing it off. Then on second thought, “And try not to fight with the Maitre de!”

She swatted at him in jest but when he caught her wrist she flinched instinctively. “Hey, that’s something else you’ll have to get over,” he said, serious again.

“What?”

“You almost always react like that when someone touches you.” 

“I know. When I’m around people they’re usually strangers. I’m just not really used to being touched, that’s all...” she confessed.

Unexpectedly, Alston reached out and pushed back Sandy’s headband. Was this a test? she wondered. He gently brushed her hair back from her tattoos. Sandy calmly let him do this but then he shocked her by leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the forehead. It made her fingers tingle. To Sandy it felt more personal than if he had just kissed her mouth which suddenly gave her the urge to try that as well. Her lips sought his and Alston found himself wrapping his arms around her. She pulled away- but not too quickly. 

“That’s enough,” she said. “One or both of us is going to get carried away.” She gave an uncertain smile. Alston sat back and started to chuckle. Sandy climbed down the ladder from the loft and glanced back before slipping out the barn door. Alston sighed. 

“I know,” he said into the darkness behind her, “that you’re in love with Da’sin.”

Sandy lay awake thinking about what had happened with Alston. It wasn’t that she had no

experience with men but they had always seemed disposable. None of them had been able to live up to her memory of Da’sin, she realized. Yet now Da’sin was back in her life. That was what Alston had meant. He was leaving but she and Da’sin... Da’sin was there, but was he within her reach? She didn’t even begin to know what he thought about her now. 

He had gone out of her life without her telling him how she felt. But Sandy wasn’t the kid she’d been running away from for so long and maybe Da’sin didn’t see that sixteen year old anymore when he looked at her. The night before she had been in a confessional mood. She had come so close to telling him but Alston calling the meeting had cut her short. 

Perhaps that would be the only great mistake of her life: not running away, not becoming a smuggler- but not taking a chance to tell Da’sin how she felt and find out if he could have feelings for her. A mistake she could avoid if she could just muster the courage. 

Sandy thought of kissing Alston. It was kind of crazy, she thought, here Da’sin was so close and she was out in the barn kissing another man. Though honestly, she couldn’t even imagine herself in a moment like that with Da’sin. Sure, Sandy was attracted to and liked Alston; maybe in another life there could have been something. She would be sorry to see him go, but Da’sin was the one she had been chasing after in her dreams all these years.

During the long trip out of the country, Sandy looked from Da’sin to Alston. She hadn’t been alone with either of them and would not have a good opportunity to be until this mission was over. She didn’t let it bother her. It gave her more time to think about what she would say to Da’sin, though she already knew planning wouldn’t help in the end. 

When they first reached the city Alston had them make a side trip.

“Sandy, you’re coming with me.”

“Oh,” she followed after him. “Okay.”

She was still gawking at the interior of the shop when after a few minutes Alston thrust three dresses into her arms.

“Try those and pick one.”

Sandy gave him an incredulous look.

With his customary chuckle he said, “I have an eye for these things.” 

Everyone looked impressed when they saw her in her socialite disguise. Alston smiled appreciatively and nodded. Da’sin looked at her in a way she had never seen him do before. Had he come to some realization about who she was, connecting the past and the present, or maybe he saw her as someone completely different from the one he thought he knew? When the others were out of earshot, Da’sin lingered nearby.

“You look great,” he commented casually. Sandy beamed back at him confidently. She was more reassured about the decision she had come to the night before than about the outfit.

Alston looked their way.

That evening at the club, Sandy was making a distinct effort not to fidget even though feeling self-conscious. Compared to some of the other women, she was dressed conservatively but to Sandy it still felt outlandish. She brushed at imaginary dirt on her ridiculously white dress, but she did have to admit that she looked good. 

She had thought the restaurant of her first meeting with Alston had been fancy but compared to this it was nothing. Well dressed gangsters and equally rich punks all mingled together with drugs and intoxicants abounding in every form. Even she had a glass that at another time would gladly have been emptied but she needed to be alert in the midst of all the distraction.

The club had three levels; the main bar and gathering place being in the center with staircases twining to the ground floor and up the overlooking balconies. Despite the wide open ceilings and skylights, the place was far too crowded as people moved in and out between the levels. Also there were too many dark corners and enclosed spaces. Sandy didn’t like it. 

As she sat with Alston at the bar, Sandy went over the plans again. 

“I don’t really expect anything to go wrong- but be on your toes,” Alston had said before going in. He leaned over and affixed a small transmitter behind her ear. “Da’sin will be listening from this.”

Da’sin placed the receiver in his right ear. “I can listen in but you won’t be able to hear me,” he had explained. 

  Da’sin and the others were on call for any trouble, but right now it was up to her to keep her eyes open while trying not to look like it. She kept up her laid-back smile and giggled appropriately when she heard Alston tell a joke. 

He tapped her shoulder then nodded almost imperceptibly to their left. “Show time,” he whispered in her ear as he stood up and held out his arm. She slid gracefully from her bar stool and went to his side, letting him lead across the floor. Sandy and Alston made their way through the crowd casually until they reached the client and his assistant. If Sandy hadn’t known better even she would have thought it a random encounter as they struck up a conversation with the two men.

Alston made polite introductions using all false names and they kept up the small talk as they moved to a table with their drinks. 

“What interesting tattoos; are they real?” one of them asked her.

Alston pulled out a chair for her and she smiled vapidly and answered, “Of course,” while sizing up the situation. The client wasn’t what Sandy had expected. He was young and seemed at ease in the club’s atmosphere but she didn’t really know what she had expected a rebel leader to look like. His assistant was tall and bookish; an advisor who didn’t look like he’d be much good for backup. 

Once sitting, the client went straight to the point, “Is everything in order?”

Sandy barely listened as the men talked. That part wasn’t important to her but several minutes into the conversation Sandy started to get a bad feeling. There was tension building but not from those around the table. Her eyes darted around the room. Everything near the bar seemed normal, then she scanned the upper level. Alston too had stopped, sensing her unease. 

“What is it?” the assistant asked.

Sandy saw a man on the mezzanine pushing his way towards the railing- he was pulling a gun. She called out and went for her hidden weapon. Alston was already in motion.

“Down!” he shouted, just as a shot parted the air, missing the client but taking out his advisor. Sandy threw her dagger with all her strength. Her aim was on and the blade stuck fast in the sniper’s shoulder. The assassin dropped his gun, giving Alston a chance for a clear shot.

Men and women screamed as they raced for the exits.

Alston fired. 

The sniper dropped forward over the balcony into the now chaotic club. The corpse crashed through a table; the thrown debris added to the havoc.

Sandy began to get back up when a third shot rang out on the main floor. The fleeing crowd split as another man fell. The client shouted when he recognized the new victim as one of his rebels who had been hidden in the crowd. The second assassin turned towards them as the client dove behind an overturned table. Sandy was stooped behind the same table, wishing she had been able to hide a gun under her dress as well as the knife. Alston and the client were both armed and traded shots with the assassin.

“We’re cornered!” Sandy said, seeing no way out from their position. 

She heard a blast and the return fire ended. 

“Come on,” Alston pulled Sandy up and she saw that Mavis had come in behind the assassin and put a bullet through his skull. Alston’s other muscle ran in a second later.

“I wiped another,” he shouted.

Sandy checked for a pulse on the advisor and found none. Alston wiped at blood on his grazed shoulder, no one would have time to notice that it healed.

“They must be from the state, but how-?” said the client.

“There might be more,” Alston said. 

Sandy ran to Mavis, “Where’s Da’sin?”

“When the signal was jammed, he sent us in and went for the vehicle,” she explained. 

Sandy grabbed the dead man’s gun and ran from the room. The lower level of the club was still a mess of fleeing people, so she skipped the downward stairs and went for the upper level. She ran through the lounge, pushing past the few people left. If the transmitter had been jammed Da’sin didn’t know what was really going on- the plan was that if things went bad, he would pull up to the back exit to get them the hell out of there. 

Sandy heard more shots; he might not know there was a whole group of gunmen. She shoved open the glass doors and ran outside, surveying the parking lot from the balcony. 

He was at the meeting point, the engine running, standing next to the vehicle with his gun ready. Sandy wanted to call out to him but didn’t to avoid drawing attention. Miraculously, he looked up then and saw her. He was surprised and confused; he tapped his ear to let her know he couldn’t hear. She nodded as her heart leapt. He was okay. 

She tossed her gun to the bushes below then knelt down and grasped the edge of the second story balcony. She hung from it to shorten the distance she had to fall then dropped skillfully to the ground, grabbed the gun, and started towards him. She hated that from ground level she couldn’t see as much around them. 

The adrenaline in her system caused her heart to explode with every step.

All that mattered was that Da’sin was safe. Sandy’d had enough. Screw Nak’s payment, she thought, when this was over she was going to give up this sort of work, smuggling, all of it.

She saw Da’sin’s concern but also the acknowledgement of her relief. 

Maybe Da’sin would give it up with her.

“Sandressa-” his eyes went wide, then slack, as red blossomed from his chest. The blow had come from behind; he started to fall forward. A scream ripped from her throat as Sandy dropped her gun and reached out her arms, her fingertips falling too short to catch him. 

She collapsed over his body with a sob of agony. She raised her eyes to those of Da’sin’s shooter and numbly watched him take aim. 

She was frozen as Alston shot the man, saving her life.

The gunmen had been government agents thwarting a rebel attempt to gain arms. Alston’s band and the rebels had barely gotten away and not without losses. The outlaws were now even more so, but Sandy didn’t care about any of it. Back at the cabin, they covered their tracks, said their farewells, and went into hiding as fast as they could. 

Only Sandy, Parr, and Alston were left. She sat on the ground next to Da’sin’s grave and didn’t move. 

“I was going to leave everything to Da’sin but Parr, it’s all yours if you want it,” Alston said. Parr nodded. They both looked across the field at Sandy by their friend’s grave. 

“I remember him telling me about her once,” Parr said. “Of course, I didn’t know it was her. But I remember him talking fondly of the girl he had befriended in that valley...”

Alston nodded silently, then pat him on the shoulder. “Good-bye Parr. Live well.”

No matter what had happened he still had to go. He walked over to Sandy and stood beside her awhile. He didn’t exactly know how Da’sin had felt about her. Given more time what would have happened? But Alston owed it to both Da’sin and Sandy to help her now. He knelt down.

“Sandressa, come with me.”

At that name, she finally looked up at Alston. She knew that he meant for her to leave the planet with him. Once, she had thought she would never even leave her wasteland valley but inspired by Da’sin’s departure, she did. 

“Alright,” she said, taking Alston’s hand and letting him help her up.

After losing Da’sin again, she was going to leave her world.