Marked

[Toaster]

A little under an hour later, the Lovebird rendezvoused with a small transport near the edge of Pittsburgh's debris field. The Gull waited, hidden between slabs of metal junk, as the Kingfisher approached it. A small airlock extended from the the transport's bow section.

Olivia nudged her craft forward, until her cockpit was immediately below the airlock. With a strange, sucking sound, the hose latched onto the Lovebird, pressurizing itself. Olivia unlatched herself from the pilots seat and unlocked the canopy. With a slight hiss, it slid open. As the fighter's artificial gravity shut off, she pulled herself up towards the hatch to the transport. It opened before her, granting her entrance. Within the small chamber on the other side waited a red haired woman, roughly Olivia's age. Her arms were crossed in front of her, her face distorted into an angry frown.

"Kelly," Olivia greeted her as the hatch closed behind her, her feet touched the steel deck as gravity clasped at her again. "Good to see you."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I can say the same. What kinda mess did you get Arthur into?"

Olivia raised her hands defensively, lowering her gaze. "It's Pedro." The mere mention of the name caused Kelly to involuntarily take a step back. Her face paled. "Turns out, we were both after him," Olivia continued. "We took out one his men but Beige got arrested. I barely managed to get away."

Kelly averted her eyes, mulling over what she'd just been told. "You mean you left him behind," she finally spat, glancing back at Olivia, venom in her gaze.

The mercenary sighed. This was a waste of time. Every second spent explaining the situation to Beige's wife was adding to Moretti's lead. And there was no way in hell Olivia would leave Pedro to the Xeno. The bastard was hers.

"We got separated," Olivia lied. She reached out for Kelly, lightly resting a hand on the woman's elbow. She locked eyes with her, trying to look as reassuring as possible. "I'll help get him out. But first, we have to get to Pedro." Retracting her hand again, she fished her PDA out of her vest, handing it to Kelly. "That's the address. Can you get me there? Fast?"

Kelly glanced down at the screen. Finally, her shoulders slumped and she dropped her hands to her sides.

"Yeah," she muttered, turning towards a ladder at the back of the chamber. "Come on." Olivia followed her up into the ship's small bridge, settling down at one of the consoles.




Leaving the Lovebird behind, hidden away behind heaps of scrap and debris where no one would ever stumble across it, the transport cruised towards the nearest trade lane. Olivia allowed herself to relax. The LPI wouldn't know - at least not yet - that she was personally involved in the mess that had occurred on Pittsburgh. Now, all she had to do was let Kelly ferry her to Manhattan in her not-wanted transport and get to Pedro's location from there. With access to the lane network, the trip wouldn't take much more than an hour. With any luck, Olivia would reach her target before Moretti even got close. But she knew better than to underestimate the man. She would have to act quickly, regardless of her current advantage, if she wanted to secure the kill for herself.

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Olivia Sable