The Man between my crosshairs (girl X assassin)

Chapter 32/Blood diamonds

A/N - We are back from the festive season with a three chapter bonanza! The last chapter gets hectic remember to keep your head down.  Happy New Year! RK&Reb.

It had been a couple of days after. Harry seemed concerned about his daughter's disappearance but he wasn't sitting by his phone. This hadn't stopped him sending out every detective in the city looking for Cathy. Zoe still couldn't get a good pattern analysis. He seems to be flying everywhere. A swarm of bees had more predictability than Harry Styles. Ryder and Zoe were also trying to simultaneously be difficult targets, while they hunt the other. Ryder had turned up late one evening, they had fought with knives and ended up sleeping together again. Ryder was becoming an easy addiction for her. Zoe felt bad about herself, he was a gateway drug to caring about people. She couldn't afford that kind of habit.

The next morning Ryder was getting dressed.

"Have you been invited to this ball?" Ryder asked.

"Invited? I've been made the guest of honour" Zoe said pulling a shoe on.

"Are you going?"

"Probably. The ballroom is above us." Zoe said.

Ryder checked himself out in the mirror casually "If you are thinking of breaking out of the ball to leave a remotely controlled bomb I wouldn't bother."

Zoe tried to look like Ryder hadn't invented mind reading.

"I might not. But why not?"

"I happen to get a peek at the weapons sweeping robot. A lot of the sector high ups are invited including the sector governor. There is a government security grade sniffer robot. It was just in here. You're not going up get past it. It would sniff a bomb out in a minute. Anyway assassination wasn't high on my list today. There is the jewellery store in the city, a classy one, just beyond the museum. I'm told it's where you go if you want to spend big money on jewellery."

Zoe kept an eye on Ryder in the background unfolded a knife up her sleeve.

"Yes," Zoe said.

Ryder looked on "I was wondering if you might go along and help me select something."

"Sure," said Zoe shrugging shoulders, putting an earring in, and wondering what Ryder wanted there.

****************

They stood in the lift, each ready in case the other was willing to attack.They moved slowly orbiting each other in the elevator. Then Ryder grabbed Zoe and kissed her. Zoe kissed back and then slapped him she missed his face but caught his nose.

"Still jealous of Alux?" said Ryder.

"You know I saw you kissing on the construction site?" Zoe said.

Ryder smiled "That's the way I organised it. Look, you were the one who asked me to drop Cathy. You said she was too delicate. So I did. Now your complaining that I did."

"You're insufferable."

"Painful isn't it" said Ryder looking into Zoe's eyes. "Painful to need something you know you can't have. You're jealous of Alux and I'm jealous of every footprint you leave behind in the expensive carpets. At least they have touched you, held you, supported you in a way I can only envy."

"Stop saying things like that." Zoe said "there is no happy ending. We can't be together, one of us has to die. It's stupid to think we can escape it. We can't escape the Dark Orbits."

At this point, the elevator reached the entrance space and they left and Zoe couldn't say anything.

*****

The trip to the jewellery store was torturous. Zoe couldn't talk openly to Ryder and he clearly knew it. They had to keep in character in public. Zoe felt the wind on her face as they stood against the railing on the high-speed travelators.

"I didn't know Alux was gay," Zoe said.

"He wasn't," Ryder said smirking "well not until I turned up."

"Wow, your an arrogant sucker," Zoe added. "Where were you born planet ego?"

Ryder looked up "Yep on the dark side, look the place is down there, up ahead"

The stepped from the fast to intermediate to the slow lines and got off. They walked casually into the shop. Like most of the shops on Archigram, it was compact but bigger than many. The walls were a dark colour to show off the silver and diamonds. A robot arm hung down to move items around and a single well-dressed man.

"What are we looking for ?" Zoe Asked Ryder.

Ryder's eyes looked at what was on displays"An engagement ring something which shouts undying love."

"Who's it for?" Said Zoe.

"Alux obviously, he's not used to being in love and doesn't know how to process it. Fortunately, his hands are almost exactly the same size as yours, so if we get something which suits you it will work on him.

Ryder's eyes scanned over some Martian gold rings.

"What kind of budget are you going to throw at it?" Zoe "they say you should spend about six months salary on it"

Ryer looked around "Well I doubt they have any signal item worth that much around here. What are the limits? For the right ring it's pretty unlimited. Either I'm going to be dead, in which case what use is money dead or I'm going to be too sad to spend money ever again. So yeah, either way, it's not an object." Ryder added.

"What about this" Zoe said pointing at the most expensive item she could see to test him.

"Excellent choice madam." Said the salesman "It's a hand-picked ruby from the fire world of Quie. The rubies fall like rain from the hot side. Inside each one is a tiny piece of neutronium mined from a dead pulsar found in deep space in sector seven.

"I like the color of the rubies they match the color of blood, so you. Try it on" Ryder said.

The salesman set to work finding out her size then picking the appropriate ring. Zoe slid it on her finger.

"Wow it feels heavy" said Zoe waving her index finger around.

"That's the neutronium trapped in the ring." The jeweller said. "It's handmade naturally in the Payappo style. We import them directly from Kassover itself and I think we are the only ones who sell them on the planet. It says 'not for me some machine printed thing from the nearest orbital shop. But a ring which has outlasted a star."

"But will it make at the man or woman of your dreams say 'I do'?" Said Ryder.

"Colt" Zoe said.

"He or she would be a fool not to" the jeweller said.

"Hmm said Ryder. I think Alux has eyes like yours deep nordic blue. Like attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. Perhaps some blue Venusian sapphires would do. Do you have any gems from the Earth?"

Now Zoe knew, Ryder was joking. Anything from the homeworld was precious. Mining on Earth was practically banned, there was nothing they could mine on Earth which couldn't be mined for a tenth of the cost off planet. People would always want souvenirs from Earth, but with one hundred billion people off planet there that could create a huge demand and the export regulations made it very difficult.

"We have a few items in the vault sir. It will take me a moment to open it." the Keweller said.

"I want something good enough for a Styles," Ryder said looking deeply into Zoe's eyes.

"I can't," Zoe said.

"You can't?" Asked Ryder.

"I can't do this. I can't help you" Zoe said her eyes bulging.

With that, she ran out of the shop. She jumped on to the next moving sidewalk hopped up to the high-speed section and sat on a bench, for the first time eyes burning.

Later that afternoon Zoe gave up trying to get to see Harry Styles again. Max had told her that she really was unlikely to see Harry before the D orbiting ball. He would be very busy organising the de-orbiting procedure. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to try and get a tactical advantage on Ryder and agree to go to his jewellery store.