The chaos over the comms made Jasper roll her eyes. She’d known this was coming, but she’d hoped she could put off explaining until after the race.
She dodged pipes stretching overhead and stepped over awkward gaps in the walkway that hadn’t seen use in years. The entrance to the apartment was an unfortunately placed window that faced the wall of the next building. Jasper knelt down and opened it. The family who owned the place was on vacation, making it the perfect location to stash her ride.
Technically, she could have used the car. It fit into the wide range of vehicles allowed in the races. But if she was going to do this, she was going to do it her way. Her ride had to be fast enough to give her a shot at winning. She would be sacrificing protection for agility, but she could handle any attacks that came her way. Hopefully.
She peeled off her coat as she entered the apartment and tossed aside some of her extra weapons. Waiting for her in a kitchen cupboard was her change of clothes. Her motorcycle suit.
“Jasper, where are you?” Thea asked. “Did you enter the building you were climbing?”
“Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute,” Jasper replied as she started changing. “I have to make a quick stop in the parking garage.”
She only half-listened to the others talking over each other, asking questions she didn’t bother answering. She strapped as many weapons to herself as she could without compromising maneuverability. Then, she twisted her ponytail into a tight bun.
“Thea, please tell me when you have a visual on her,” Holly said.
“I’m in the lower end of the Prism District.” Jasper stretched one of her arms across her chest. “There’s a parking garage that exits onto Skyway F. I’ll be there in three minutes.” She switched arms.
“Hang on,” Thea said. “I’m getting into the security system for the building you just entered. Are you in the apartments?”
Before Jasper could respond, Holly cut in. “Jasper, why didn’t you tell us only qualifying racers get the next location?”
Jasper left the apartment and headed for the garage, using her night vision to navigate the dark halls. “Because I knew you’d say something like—”
“This doesn’t have to be a big deal. Don’t draw attention to yourself and keep a low profile until we take care of Ringmaster. No need for your—”
“Theatrics?” Jasper asked. “You know me too well.”
“Unfortunately,” Holly muttered.
“Heads up, Jasper,” Thea said. “Five Blades are coming up a fire exit near you.”
Jasper paused. “Which direction?” She could take five, but it would put her behind.
“North. They’re just around the corner.”
Blocking the path to the garage. Of course. Jasper sighed and drew a dagger. “Fine.”
“How long until the race starts?” Dax asked. “I don’t think we’ll want to be here when Ringmaster shows up.”
“You guys getting out depends on when Thea gets done.” Jasper kept her voice low as she crept down the hall. “So maybe she should stop watching me and get back to downloading.”
“The download’s running,” Thea said. “It’s almost done. Holly’s keeping lookout. And I’m trying to help you!”
Jasper hoped her mind’s computer had finished syncing with the electronics in the motorcycle suit. She mentally commanded the lights to come on.
The hot pink lines running along the sides of the black suit lit up, casting a faint glow on the Blades’ faces as they came around the corner. She stretched out her arm and pressed the hidden button on the dagger, lighting up the matching line on the blade.
“What are you wear—?”
Thea’s voice was lost in the torrent of gunshots. Jasper strolled toward the Blades, dodging and deflecting bullets. Once she was halfway to them, they started backing up. She broke into a run, jumped, and used the wall to propel herself higher into the air.
As she sailed over their heads, she slashed at the nearest Blade. He dropped to the ground with a gash running down his face. Two others fired. One bullet missed by a few feet, but the other grazed Jasper’s left arm.
She landed, sprang back up, and jumped again. Her feet crashed into the next Blade’s chest. As she came back down, she slashed again at another, snatched his gun from him as he stumbled, and fired at the Blade coming from behind.
Two more shots, and the Blades were all on the floor. Jasper glanced at her left arm as she sprinted down the hall. It was sore, but the bullet hadn’t even broken the fabric of the suit. “This is good stuff,” she muttered as she ran a hand along the material.
“Messages are all downloaded,” Thea said. “We’re leaving.”
“Good,” Holly replied. “Because the intern’s almost to you.”
Thea groaned. “I thought you were keeping an eye on him!”
“I am! If he gets too close before you guys are out, I’ll intervene. But I want to see what he’s here for.”
Jasper flung open the door to the stairs and flew down them four at a time. “Thea, could you start reading me the messages?”
“Yeah, we’ll camp out in a nearby office so I can take a look.”
Jasper entered the garage and jogged past an array of vehicles. Her black and pink motorcycle waited at the end of a row. She picked up the matching helmet and gave it a quick inspection to make sure there were no scratches on the visor. Or the pointed cat ears.
“Where’d you get the motorcycle?” Thea asked.
“You’re still watching me?” Jasper slid the helmet on. The motorcycle suit, the helmet, and the vehicle itself had all been custom-made as various favors she’d earned over the years in Kronos’s criminal underworld.
“Yeah, I—oh, that’s strange.”
Jasper mounted the motorcycle and did one last check: weapons, explosives, everything secured. Favorite sword strapped to the vehicle’s side. “What’s strange?”
“The messages addressed to Ringmaster aren’t incoming. They’re outgoing,” Thea explained. “This isn’t a conversation between Ringmaster and Starr, although Starr is mentioned.”
“Ringmaster wasn’t actually there?” Jasper’s hands tightened around the handles.
“No, it looks like he has someone else keeping an eye on things for him. They’re referred to as the ‘Apprentice.’ I can show you the rest after the race.”
“No, keep going,” Jasper told her. “Tell me everything interesting you find.”
“But the race is starting soon.”
“I can listen and drive.” The engine roared to life. Jasper grinned.
Her excitement was cut short by the sound of shouting. Some of the Blades must have gotten back up. Jasper pulled out the sphere hosting Mia’s A.I. and slid it into the dock in front of her. “Mia, send the race map to my screen.”
While the overlay loaded in Jasper’s vision, voices and footsteps came closer. She hit the gas and shot forward. “Holly, any sign of—?”
“I left the building,” Holly cut her off. “There was a commotion outside, and I figured since the others were safe—”
“We need to find this Apprentice person.” Jasper shot past the Blades entering the garage from the stairwell and waved at them. “They might show up to monitor the race.”
“Jasper, the streets are crawling with Blades. I think they’re looking for you. They’re following the race map, and your involvement with Grace probably has you at the top of Starr’s wanted list right now.” Holly paused. “Well, almost at the top.”
How did the Blades know what the course was going to be? “I’m on a motorcycle. I can handle them,” Jasper told Holly. “Go find the Apprentice. He could make tracking Ringmaster easier.”
“Ringmaster’s doing a job for Starr and doesn’t want people wondering why he’s running all over the star system,” Thea said. “The races are a cover.”
“Seems excessive,” Jasper replied. “There has to be more to it.”
“If there is, he hasn’t told the Apprentice.”
Jasper reached the parking garage’s exit and opted to jump over the concrete wall rather than following the street that curved down.
“Ringmaster’s in Kronos right now because he has a meeting with a Red Blades leader,” Thea continued. “He’s picking up sensitive information they’ll need for their mission. ‘They’ being him and the Apprentice.”
Jasper landed on a roof and cut across it, slowing as she approached the edge. She was almost to the race’s starting point. “Mission?”
“Again, Ringmaster has kept things very vague here.”
Jasper turned the motorcycle and came to a halt at the edge of the roof. The next building over was a couple stories shorter, allowing Jasper to peer down at the villains gathering on top. On the other side was the Prism Spire, one of the tallest structures in Kronos. It glittered iridescent in the night and reflected an array of colors onto the crowd.
“Wow, Ringmaster pulled in villains from all over the Janus System,” Jasper said. There had to be at least a hundred people waiting on the roof below. She picked out a few of the more recognizable ones. Cutthroat, the infamous space pirate. Grim Machine. And South Siren, of course.
Jasper stretched out her arms. Maybe she should keep a low profile after all. Only do well enough to learn the next location. The better she did, the more people would target her, and she had worn herself out more than intended over the past few days.
“Holly,” Jasper said. “You find the Apprentice yet?”
“I got locked out,” Holly replied. “Finding another way in.”
“Have one of the others help you.”
“No, I can get back in before the race is over,” Holly insisted.
A few golden birds flitted past Jasper. Something buzzed in the air overhead. She tipped her head back as a golden orb, not much bigger than the average smartsphere, soared over the starting point.
“May I have your attention please. The race will be starting shortly.” The announcement came from the orb. The shrill voice wasn’t particularly loud, but the orb’s amplification carried Ringmaster’s words through the crowd of villains.