Mitchell's Revenge

Lucy fought every instinct in her body as she passed Anja and Daria in the hallway backstage. As soon as they were out of earshot she told Lou who they were. They made a circuit of the facilities, bought some water from a kiosk, and then continued back to their seats in the auditorium. They were seated in the second tier seats on the short side of the floor, right next to the aisle. They had easy access in and out. Their first round was the fifth event on the program.

“She’s here,” she whispered to Grabb when they returned. “First event. Watch for a tallish blond girl, very pale. Down there.”

She pointed to the corner of the floor where the first round dancers were coming on to dance. Aleks and Anja were in the first heat. As soon as he saw the firefly pattern on the blue dress Grabb knew who he was looking at. He thought they were a handsome young couple. He watched intently as they started their waltz. They seemed a little nervous at first, but he could see that the Ostrakov boy had excellent musicality and a powerful presence on the floor. He thought he remembered watching the parents compete a long time ago.

Lucy scanned the auditorium, looking for the Orlovs. She found them diagonally opposite in the next tier down. Yuri Orlov was seated in the aisle seat, Daria next to him. Two empty seats for the juniors and then the Ostrakovs. A sullen, scar faced man sat directly behind Yuri, and an attractive, compact woman sat a row further back, diagonally behind the group. Lucy quickly sent their images to Matt on board Mitchell’s Revenge.

“Can you identify these two?” asked Lucy quietly. Moments later she had their names and as much information as Matt could find about the two mercenaries.

“Only two?” she asked. “There must be other protection. He’s the head of the IGM after all.” Matt searched for more information.

“Only regular Tiberion security,” he replied. “Circulating around the arena, checking on them from time to time. There is an arena cam focussed on their seats. I’d say it’s being monitored by the arena manager.”

“Good, thanks,” replied Lucy. “If you can find Natasha Orlov that would be helpful too. Keep me posted if anything changes. We’ve got to go in a minute.”

Grabb stood up and dropped his coverall onto the seat behind him. He touched the tab on his wrist and was suddenly clad in a tail suit. Lucy stood and did the same. Now she was clad in an elegant silver dress. Lou thought they made a very fine couple. She snapped an image of them as they smiled at her. Em stuck her head out from underneath the seats where she lay hidden and growled at them.

“Very fine indeed,” sounded in Lucy’s mind. She bent down to scratch the panther’s head.

“See you soon,” she said to Lou and Em. “I’m about to find out if I’m any good at this!”

She followed Grabb to the stairwell to make their way down to the marshalling area. Grabb had watched the first round of the junior event carefully. He explained to Lucy what he saw as they walked.

“Those kids are quite talented,” he said. “They seemed very nervous for the entire first round, but I think it will be enough to get them through to the next one. If they can relax and just focus on their dancing they should do well.” Lucy nodded.

“What about us then?” she asked, smiling at Grabb.

“We’ll soon find out!” he replied. “Remember that we have to stand away from the floor between each round. This one will take a while to run, so we can come back here and sit down, or practice if we want. Once the number of couples comes down, we’ll stay by the floor between each heat. OK?”

“Yep,” she replied. “You might have to remind me as we go along.”

They stepped through the curtains at the rear of the stage to join the competitors milling around the marshalling area. There were hundreds of couples and it took the marshals a good half an hour to arrange them all into heats. As they moved into line for their heat Lucy noticed Anja and Aleks standing on the edge of the practice floor with Daria Orlov. She could just make out Daria’s voice over the hubbub of dancers waiting to compete.

Both juniors’ heads were bowed as Daria reprimanded them for a poor performance in their first round. She waved her hands in the air as she spoke. She suddenly flicked Anja on the side of her face with her fingers. Anja cringed away. Daria quickly reached forward and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back into position next to Aleks. The boy looked shocked but made no move to protect his partner.

Lucy fought the impulse to dash to Anja’s side. She latched onto Grabb’s arm instead and hissed in his hear.

“Look! That bitch just slapped her. I can’t just stay here.”

“Yes, you can,” Grabb hissed back. “Don’t interfere. I’ve seen coaches berate their couples worse than that. Stick to the plan. You can’t do this on your own. Take a deep breath. We’re going on now.”

He looped Lucy’s arm through his and drew her forward onto the dance floor. She looked around as she walked on with him. She took several deep breaths. The lights were very bright. She could see herself in the vid feed above the stage. Her dress really did look lovely. She and Grabb made a tall and handsome couple. There were fourteen couples in their heat, including one of the top pairs from Menageron. Grabb was excited to see how they would fare. They walked to their starting position for waltz as the music started.

Lou and Em watched from the stands. Lou didn’t know much about ballroom dancing, but she recognised talent when she saw it. Grabb and Lucy were as good as the couple from Menageron. In her view they were the two stand out couples in the round. She cheered loudly as they finished their quickstep and left the floor. Grabb had explained how to check the recalls after each heat so she studied her handipalm and saw that both Aleks and Anja and Grabb and Lucy had made the next round.

The junior field had been cut from two hundred and eighty couples to one hundred and eighty, while the adult field had gone from five hundred and twenty to two hundred and sixty. The numbers would progressively reduce each round, with the finals being held in the evening.

Lucy and Grabb returned to their seats. They plopped down next to Lou and reached for their water bottles, thirsty after the exertion under the heat of the bright lights.

“You were fantastic,” said Lou. Lucy grinned at her. “You and the couple from Menageron were the best in that round! You made the next one.”

Grabb high fived his partner. “We might make it through some rounds after all!”

“I’m surprised,” said Lucy slowly. “I actually enjoyed it. The music, and the freedom to move around the floor. The challenge of avoiding the other couples, and remembering the choreography. It’s quite an exhilarating thing to do!”

“See,” said Grabb excitedly. “It’s not so bad after all!” He grinned at the two women.

“Just remember we have a job to do,” said Lucy. “And from what I saw downstairs, the sooner we do it and get off this moon the better.”

She quickly filled Lou in on what she had witnessed. Lou looked directly opposite them and saw Daria re-touching Anja’s makeup as the girl sat rigid in her seat. Aleks looked preoccupied. His father’s arm was round his shoulders and he was talking earnestly to his son. The boy nodded from time to time.

“They’re both scared,” said Lou. “And Daria Orlov is angry. I think she’s a nasty piece of work.”

With the touch up complete, the juniors rose and made their way back towards the marshalling area to prepare for the next round.

“We’d better get ready too,” said Grabb. “We’re on again after the kids.”

The next few hours passed quickly. They fell into a routine of dancing their heat, coming back to their seats for food and drink, and watching the party diagonally opposite. As they continued through the rounds, Grabb got more and more excited. The juniors continued through the rounds as well, improving with each dance.

“The Orlov woman is less angry now,” observed Lou. “Those kids are very good.”

The juniors made it to the round of eighteen. Just before they were to dance, Natasha Orlov arrived with her little dog in tow. She spoke with her father and then sat behind her parents, next to the scarred mercenary. They spoke briefly while Natasha petted the little dog which sat on her lap. They watched the juniors and cheered them loudly as they took a bow at the end of each dance. They made the semi-final.

Grabb and Lucy also made the round of eighteen, much to Grabb’s delight. As they walked onto the floor, Lou saw Daria watching them intently. She pointed them out to Anja and Aleks, as if to say “you should watch these two”. Lou suddenly felt sick. She hoped they had not been recognised. Of all the dresses in the arena that day, Lucy’s was the only one with any similarity to Anja’s. The firefly patterns were not identical, but very similar.

Lou got up and stretched. She decided to walk around the arena to get closer to the Orlov group. As she walked along the aisle behind them she heard Daria say to Anja that the silver dress was very like hers, just a different colour. Then she said “What a pity yours isn’t the only one like that.” Anja nodded her head meekly and gazed intently at the dancers on the floor. It was the dark haired woman who had winked at her backstage.

Lou kept walking. She could feel the child’s excitement as she recognised Lucy. Then she felt her dampen it. A sense of desperation replaced the excitement. Lou walked to the end of the aisle, turned around and walked back the way she came. Em was still lying hidden underneath the seats. She looked questioningly at Lou as she returned. Lou began to pack up their belongings.

“We have to move very soon,” she whispered to the panther as she packed. “Anja knows Lucy is here. She just recognised her. You need to get into position before the junior semi-final.”

Em stretched as best she could in the cramped space and then started to slink under the seats towards the Orlov party. Lou finished packing and waited for Grabb and Lucy to return from the floor.

“It’s time,” she told them as they arrived. “Anja recognised Lucy. She finally realised what the pattern on your dress means. We have to move now.”

Grabb was studying his handipalm.

“Dammit,” he exclaimed. Lucy and Lou stared at him.

“What?” they asked together.

“We made our semi-final too!”