I’ll be having at least one more J.C. Daniels book out this year…but it’s not a Kit book.<\/p>\n
It’s not urban fantasy, either.<\/p>\n
J.C. is\u00a0trying her hand at science fiction. SF with a splash of romance.<\/p>\n
Here’s a snippet of FINAL PROTOCOL, due out from Samhain in July.<\/p>\n
~*~<\/p>\n
Some people said that this was what Old Earth would be like by now. Well, except for the population thing.\u00a0 Aris still had a thriving population.\u00a0 Disease and war had all but decimated Old Earth.\u00a0 There were rumors that those who had remained behind no longer even resembled anything that we\u2019d consider human.<\/p>\n
Personally, I think human is just another word for animal.\u00a0 None of us are worth much.\u00a0 Me, included.<\/p>\n
The ariste were a different beast altogether. Some of the kindest, most gentle people I\u2019d ever come across resided here, on this hot, desert planet that travelled too close to its sun.\u00a0 The people made me nervous and I wanted nothing more than to kick the dust of this planet off my shoes and leave it far behind.<\/p>\n
Leave these smiling people far behind.<\/p>\n
I had very little use for people in general.\u00a0 If I couldn\u2019t fuck it, then the only time I was likely to come in contact with anybody was when I was sent a contract to kill.<\/p>\n
Like this old man, with his round, cheerful face and his silver eyes\u2014ariste eyes, hidden behind the tinted lenses he wore.<\/p>\n
I was here to kill him.<\/p>\n
And he knew.<\/p>\n
A smile creased his face as I moved into the room, not bothering to conceal myself.<\/p>\n
He already knew I was there.\u00a0 Why bother to hide?<\/p>\n
Either he\u2019d called for help, which would mean I had to move things along, or he thought he could handle me myself.<\/p>\n
Neither would change the outcome.<\/p>\n
He would die, because the alternative was that I would likely die and I didn\u2019t plan on that being the case.<\/p>\n
He nodded at the table where he sat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you join me?\u201d<\/p>\n
I paused, my hand on the darts I\u2019d planned to use.\u00a0 The problem was he hadn\u2019t been on the long, narrow balcony taking his normal walk.\u00a0 He was ariste, and one of the older ones.\u00a0 They had a thing about the setting sun.\u00a0 It was a religious fascination as far as I could tell.\u00a0 All of the houses had balconies that faced the west, so they could watch as the brutal, burning sun sank below the horizon.\u00a0 Even the poorest of families would struggle to get a simple opening so the family could face the death of the day.<\/p>\n
Cree Ru was far from poor.<\/p>\n
Yet he hadn\u2019t taken his sunset walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome.\u201d He smiled at me.\u00a0 \u201cSit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing. I knew better.\u00a0 My voice could be used to track me, pin me to the crime, if anybody was successful at hunting me down.\u00a0 I\u2019d evaded capture on a dozen planets in four different systems. This was an amateur\u2019s mistake.<\/p>\n
Just like walking in that open door was an amateur\u2019s mistake, I chided myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will not sit then.\u201d Cree nodded.\u00a0 \u201cVery well.\u00a0 I\u2019ll speak a bit.\u00a0 I\u2019ve time yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
He must have sensed something because he slid me a small smile.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 The authorities weren\u2019t alerted.\u00a0 I sensed you three days ago and had the time since then to decide on the actions I\u2019d take.\u00a0 First, I had to think about who must have hired you.\u201d<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t an answer I could give him.<\/p>\n
I accepted the money, the job, all from my handler. There were other things I took from him, and some things he forced on me, but he never told me who hired me.\u00a0 It was essential, he\u2019d once told me, that he protect his clients.\u00a0 Names were never given.<\/p>\n
Cree didn\u2019t let my silence stop him as he leaned back, steepling his fingers together as he looked out into the night.\u00a0 He had thick, floor to ceiling walls of what the locals called plaris.\u00a0 It made me think of the pilastene, a manufactured material that was used in almost everything for those who\u2019d settled the New Earth colonies.<\/p>\n
The NE colonies weren\u2019t home to me, but many of my tools were NE made.\u00a0 It was what I was familiar with, what I was used to. Pilastene was nearly unbreakable, safe to manufacture and inexpensive.<\/p>\n
Plaris, like \u2018stene, was durable, and nearly unbreakable, something that served this volatile planet well, designed to endure quakes that could have leveled cities.\u00a0 His entire home was made of plaris, and the windows were the clear stuff, the most pricy form of it out there.\u00a0 Eyes on the night sky, he studied the twin moons and said, \u201cI hated to admit it to myself, but there are only two people who would have done this. Only two who would benefit.\u00a0 My son and his wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arching my brows, I edged in closer, searching for weapons.\u00a0 So far, I\u2019d yet to see a single one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot tell if the look on your face is curiosity or merely an attempt to distract me.\u201d\u00a0 He sighed and then reached out, pushed a plate toward me.\u00a0 \u201cIf you are any good at your job, you\u2019ll recognize this.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes moved to the plate, a thin disk of what looked like hammered gold.<\/p>\n
The sight of the three small berries there made my belly clench, even if I was there to kill him.<\/p>\n
Death\u2019s seal, the most poisonous plant in three systems.\u00a0 Deadly, and outlawed on almost every planet in those three systems.\u00a0 Just the touch of it on the tongue was enough to kill a child.\u00a0 Half of a berry could kill a woman my size.\u00a0 Three berries could kill three men.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to make this easy,\u201d he said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cMy son seeks to kill me, thinking he\u2019ll inherit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cree reached for a berry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait,\u201d I said, the word ripping out of me despite my intention not to speak.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u00a0 If you wish to fight him, then why do this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t wish to fight him.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled, rolling the berry between his fingers.\u00a0 \u201cI wish to deny him what he tries to take by betrayal.\u201d\u00a0 Then he shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I refuse to let him use another in his endless vendetta against me. Do you know\u2026it\u2019s our belief that for every life you take, you must save two more if you want to leave this existence with your soul intact.\u201d<\/p>\n
I inclined my head.\u00a0 \u201cI have no soul left.\u00a0 You do this for nothing if you try to spare me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had no soul, it wouldn\u2019t concern you to see this berry in my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled at me as he tossed it up in the air.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know why I did it.<\/p>\n
It should mean nothing to me.<\/p>\n
I could easily claim his death as my own.\u00a0 Poison wasn\u2019t unknown to me.\u00a0 I suspected I even knew who had provided him with those three priceless, deadly berries.<\/p>\n
But my hand moved, almost as though it had a mind of its own and the sliver-thin dart stole the berry from the air and I quickly used two more darts to destroy the other two berries.\u00a0 He could still lick the plate, I supposed, but somehow I didn\u2019t see this regal, elegant man choosing that route.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d he asked, his voice puzzled.<\/p>\n
Staring at the plate, at the thin stalks of the darts, I shook my head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I murmured.\u00a0 Then I looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cDo you count now?\u00a0 As one half of a life?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"