Deadly in Pink Read online

  Ynna didn’t understand what she was hearing. The people she thought she knew were nothing like what they had seemed, and she felt foolish and naïve. The world was also much grimmer than she had perceived from her estate. She wanted to press her mother for more information but couldn’t find the words.

  “Let me tell you something,” Karen said, looking into Ynna’s eyes with a seriousness she had never before seen. “This world is governed by money. We have lived the way we have because we had it. We won’t now, and you will see what the world is like for the other ninety-nine percent. They are no better off than drudges. They work as cogs in a corporate machine that has put everything in your lap until now. I will do everything I can to keep you from becoming like your cousin, but you will have to learn very quickly that the world is a harsh and unfair place.”

  Ynna had never heard her mother speak like this. She seemed like a different person from the one she had known her whole life. Ynna had known her mother had not always been the wealthy debutante who had raised her. Now, she felt like she was seeing the woman who had existed before.

  “So, where are we going?” Ynna asked, looking out the window of the cab to see a part of the city she didn’t recognize. Gone were the luxurious homes and familiar skyscrapers. They were replaced by ramshackle structures that looked more like rubble than buildings.

  “That’s the thing, my love. I’ve thought about leaving your father for so long, but it wasn’t until he said I should leave that I realized how alone I am,” she said, deep sadness coating every word. “All of my friends are the acquaintances of wealth. Friends of lifestyle rather than substance. When we got in this cab, I understood for the first time that I am alone. I should have thought about where I would go after leaving him, rather than just the act of doing so.”

  Ynna’s mouth hung open as she listened.

  “What… what about Bette? You guys seem so close,” Ynna offered. Even after hearing what her mom said about feeling alone, Ynna figured her closest friend might offer them help.

  Karen dropped her head, long raven hair falling in front of her face. “She would take us in, and she would love it, but not for altruistic reasons. She would love the superiority. She would tell all the ladies at the club how we came to her in our time of need, rub it in their faces and mine. Smile as she pitied me. I would rather die in a gutter than live through the condescension.” Karen’s voice cracked as she said the last words.

  Karen unfurled her palm and made a call. After two rings, an olive-skinned man with graying black hair appeared on the screen.

  “Karen,” he said, and it sounded more like a question than a greeting.

  “Hello, Hector,” Karen said.

  “This is a blast from the past,” he said with a confused smile, his English heavily accented.

  “I’m by your place and need your help,” Karen told him.

  “You can have it, always,” Hector said, his round face friendly and open.

  The cab set down on a crumbling landing pad, and Ynna had a difficult time stepping down. Loud music of accordions and trumpets blared from down the street, and the combined smell of petrol and open cooktops filled the air.

  This part of the city was like a different world to Ynna. The streets were mobbed with citizens in threadbare outfits, sweaty and tired from hard labor. Ynna was nervous. She had never seen poverty before. She didn’t understand that people lived this way.

  People’s eyes scanned the two women in their finery, and Ynna’s hands began to shake. Before too long, the man from the screen appeared through the crowd and waved. Karen gave a wave back, acting completely at ease with their surroundings.

  She hurried over and embraced the short, plump, middle-aged man who Ynna recognized as Hector.

  “This is my daughter, Marina,” Karen said.

  “Ynna,” her daughter corrected.

  “Good to meet you,” he said, extending a sweaty hand that Ynna reluctantly shook. She hoped he didn’t notice as she wiped her hand against the side of her skirt.

  “Come, come,” he said, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

  He turned and plodded down the bustling street. They moved through some people dancing as three older men played music and sang. They wore clothes that looked as though they had not been washed for some time, if ever, but also joyous smiles.

  A young woman rushed over to them holding a robotic leg.

  “Cheap, cheap,” she told them before Hector waved her away. Ynna couldn’t imagine a person wanting to get upgraded so desperately that they would purchase cybernetics from a street vendor.

  She stayed close to her mother, who seemed to be reveling in the moment. Karen turned a kind eye on her daughter.

  “You doing alright?” She whispered, seeing the nervousness.

  “Sure,” Ynna mustered, not knowing how she felt. Her life had changed so much in such a short time, and she had no idea how it would be progressing from here.

  A man yelled to them from behind a cart with what Ynna could only imagine was meat cooking on the surface. His words were in a language Ynna did not recognize, and as he finished, a metal plate fused to his neck barked, “bacon-wrapped hot dogs,” in a synthetic voice.

  Karen looked from the man to Hector. “I see you are still too proud to get a translation mod.”

  Hector shot them a smirk. “Is not pride. I prefer to speak my own words in a broken language than let a computer speak for me.”

  Karen nodded slightly as Ynna considered his words. Having just witnessed the effects of modern technology on her father, she was heartened to hear that the man did not want to rely on it.

  Hector guided them to a three-story building covered in spray-painted artistic renderings of citizens throwing rocks at Carcer officers.

  “You can have the room of my sister,” Hector offered them.

  “That’s very kind,” Karen told him. “I will also need a job.”

  Hector scoffed as he put a key into a steel gate door. “My dear, everyone needs a job these days, but I may be able to help you.”

  “My friend, I will never be able to repay you for this,” Karen said, placing a hand on his sweaty shoulder while he guided them up a flight of stairs.

  Ynna nearly tripped on a loose thread from the worn carpet that lined the steps. She considered taking off the shoes but thought better of it as she noticed the jutting nails and staples that worked hard to keep the fabric in place.

  They had to step over a man, eyes black, a cord extending from his head to a socket in the wall.

  “Many prefer false reality to the world around them,” Hector informed them. Karen did not seem surprised, but Ynna was aghast as she watched the man twitch and smelled the dry urine. She had known that people struggled outside of her sheltered existence, but she had never truly understood until now.

  As Hector pushed his front door open, Ynna’s mouth fell open as she realized he hadn’t left it locked. Her house was a fortress, not only from without but from within as well. Even she couldn’t access portions of her own home without codes.

  They stepped onto the linoleum coated floor, yellowed and faded from where the light seeped in through torn curtains.

  A small boy of about five stood on a step stool with a grill pan sitting atop a range in one hand and a spatula in the other. He grinned at them with pride as they entered.

  “Making lunch, papa,” he announced, turning to face them in an apron that was far too large for him and bore some corporate logo that Ynna did not recognize.

  “Bueno. Good boy, Marco,” Hector said.

  “Jamón,” he said as he flipped one of the sandwiches in the pan, sending cheesy grease spraying.

  “Follow me,” Hector said to the women and guided them to a room smaller than Ynna’s closet at home. It was hot and cramped. A mattress lay on the floor with reasonably nice-looking bedding folded neatly on top. A fan wobbled overhead, looking poised to drop to the ground at any moment. Posters of soccer players without their shir
ts on were nailed into the cracked drywall, and a large television sat on the floor.

  “Take some time to get settled and find me,” Hector said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.

  Karen smiled graciously and closed the door. Ynna set down the backpack and sat on the floor, her mother sitting beside her and wrapping an arm over her shoulder.

  “We are going to be okay,” she said.

  “You don’t seem as thrown off by this as I would have expected,” Ynna told her.

  Karen let out a little chuckle. “I’ve known this day was coming, and this was how I grew up. This is how most people grow up. The world we were able to give you is just a fantasy for almost everyone. But, as I said, I’ve scraped my way up from the bottom before and can do it again.”

  “How will I get to school?” Ynna asked, flattening her skirt against her leg.

  Karen grimaced, looking forlorn. “Oh, honey,” she said, her eyes welling again.

  “Oh,” Ynna said. Her heart broke at the idea that she would likely never see her classmates again. She knew her friends to be vain and cruel, but they were also the only people she had. The boys in her class were mean and pigheaded, but she still liked to compete for their affections.

  Everything she knew had changed in an instant, and she hated herself for stealing the eyeliner. Despite her mother’s words, she couldn’t shake the knowledge that if she had just put it down, just bought the one thing, they would be sitting in a fine restaurant right now rather than squatting on a floor.

  She watched as specks of dust fluttered in a beam of light cast through a hole in a curtain. “So, what will I do now?”

  “I won’t be able to afford to send you to school, and we won’t get anything from your father, so you will probably have to do VR classes once we can afford a rig,” Karen said. She looked to her daughter with a smile. “But you are already so smart. You will be able to do great things.”

  “Thanks, mom,” Ynna said. She had never liked school, finding herself bored in class. She did well on tests and projects, but they never excited her. The most interested in learning she had ever been was watching the girl they had tricked into hacking their homes. Ynna had found herself fascinated watching as the security systems fell.

  Even though she had not enjoyed school, she felt lost without the prospect of attending. It had been her life’s trajectory, and now she needed to find a new one.

  This time, she struggled to assure herself, it would be of her own design.

  Ynna and her mother changed into some casual attire she had brought from the house and walked back into the living room. Hector sat on a couch with a beer in hand, eating one of the sandwiches his son had cooked up. The kid rushed over to them with a plate in hand.

  “Eat!” he exclaimed, and the women grabbed the warm food gratefully. Globbed cheese, frozen in time from contact with the pan stuck to the sides. Ynna was accustomed to fine, small bites presented just so, and she looked at the sandwich dubiously. Not wanting to be rude, she took a bite. Flavor from the meat, cheese, and spread filled her mouth, and her eyes went wide with delight.

  It was delicious.

  She devoured the whole thing and scooped another off the plate, much to the delight of the kid who looked between them and his father for approval.

  “It’s wonderful,” she told him, her mouth full, grease dripping down her arm.

  He beamed. “Hear that, Papa?”

  “Good job,” he told his son and slapped the couch next to him. “Ladies, join me.”

  They walked over and sat on the couch, springs groaning under their slight weight. He produced two beers from a cooler next to him and held them out by the necks. Ynna looked to her mother for permission.

  “Marina, I’m no fool,” she said, and Ynna grinned, grabbing a beer and opening it quickly. She had drunk alcohol and taken drugs, but never with her parents’ knowledge. It wasn’t a surprise to her that her mother had known, but she realized then that little would surprise her anymore.

  As she sipped at her drink, Hector shifted on the couch to face them. “Karen, mi amiga, I spoke to a man who may be able to get you a job. It is not much, but it will pay. You can stay here until you get back on your feet.

  “In the morning, you will meet the man, and I will take Ynna to sell those shoes I saw her wearing. It will help, I think.”

  “We actually have quite a few things to sell,” Karen said and looked back at her daughter with pride.

  “You are smart,” he told Karen, who shook her head.

  “My daughter is smart,” Karen said.

  “Excelente,” Hector said, smiling his big friendly grin. He turned his eyes on Ynna. “You will do well out here.”

  “She will,” Karen agreed. “But we will need to get her into school.”

  “Tomorrow, we will ask Killian about an access rig,” Hector assured her.

  Chapter 3

  The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. Hector regaled Ynna with stories of her mother before she was the woman she now knew. She learned more about Karen in a few hours than she had in her whole life. The exhaustion of the day caught up with both women, and they crawled into bed as soon as the sun set.

  Ynna was awakened throughout the night by yelling and the sound of gunfire (as she would later learn). Nights had been so quiet at home, and here, in the real city, she came to understand how the night truly sounded. She was groggy when Hector knocked on the door, saying, “Is time.”

  She rubbed her face, feeling slimy and gross.

  “Think I have time to shower?” Ynna asked, not sure if her mother would know the answer.

  Karen shook her head slightly. “Maybe, but water isn’t cheap.”

  Ynna was confused by that. “Isn’t water free?”

  “Nothing is free.” Her mother chuckled.

  “Ugh,” she groaned, “so I can’t even shower.”

  “Once we can pay our own way, of course,” Karen explained, leaving Ynna to realize she would have to feel sticky all day long. It was hot in the room despite the threatening fan.

  Karen stood and stretched. “I’m going to change if you want to ask Hector about your day,” she suggested, and Ynna nodded.

  She stood. Her body felt sore and achy. She made her way out to the living room and found Hector sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee. Like her, he wore the same clothes as the day before, and she assumed he had slept in them as well.

  “Young lady, ready for the day ahead?” he asked. She appreciated that, despite how little he seemed to have, he was eternally upbeat.

  “Yep,” Ynna told him, holding forth the backpack. “Packed up some things we can sell today.”

  “Good,” he said, taking a sip of his steaming drink and turning back to look at the television as he spoke. “I will be your guide for the day. You learn much. Café on the pot. You want?”

  “Sure,” she said.

  After so many late nights with her friends, she had taken to drinking coffee most mornings. Though her father always groused that with all the cream and sugar, what she drank was more like, “A liquified candy bar.”

  “Mug’s on the counter,” Hector said, pointing while not taking his eyes from the screen. The newscasters were prattling on about the unseasonable heat in the district.

  Ynna poured herself a mug and, seeing nothing to add to the drink, joined Hector on the couch. She had been unable to get a straight answer from her mom, so she asked him, “What do you do for a living?”

  He tried to cover a smirk with his mug, but Ynna saw it.

  “This y that,” he said, as obnoxiously cryptic as her mother had been.

  Ynna fumed. “I’m not a child. You know?”

  “No, no,” Hector laughed lightly. “First day out here, you are a pinche newborn.”

  Ynna wanted to throw the coffee in his face. She hated being talked to like she was less-than, hated when teachers and adults felt the need to speak to her like a kid. But looking around the room and thinking about
the previous day, she had to admit to herself that he had a point.

  The only thing she did seem to know was that she knew nothing of the world.

  She took a sip of the coffee and nearly gagged but forced the warm liquid down. “So, you’ll teach me?”

  He turned his large, chestnut eyes on her. She noted that one eye was colored slightly different and suspected that it might be cybernetically enhanced. If that was the case, with how close the color match was, it wasn’t some cheap version. If her suspicions were correct, she found it amusing that he would take some technological enhancements.

  He smiled. “Yes, I teach you.”

  Ynna smiled, too.

  After he had given Karen instructions on where to go, he led Ynna out into the street. Even early in the day, it was warm. The people who weren’t on their way to or from work sat at street-front cafes, enjoying the morning. Others clambered up scaffolding to repair the side of a building, and Ynna was struck by the fact that people were doing the work rather than the drudges she was accustomed to seeing.

  As they walked, a heavyset blond man hurried over to Hector and whispered something in his ear as they shook hands. He hustled off as quickly as he had appeared. When Ynna shot Hector a quizzical look, he simply grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

  “Pays to have friends,” he told her, unintentionally emphasizing the word, “pays.”

  At that moment, Ynna came to understand that there was much more to this friendly man than she had assumed. This sense only grew as she watched the way people looked at him. It wasn’t the fear her father’s underlings showed, nor the reverence her friends showed when some celebrity mom showed up at school, but something else.

  Respect.

  She saw it in the eyes of those they passed, and the slight head nods. She had been too scared the day before to notice, but now it was clear as day.