“Are you sure?” Anderson wanted to know.

  “I’m sure.”

  “This must have something to do with the Reapers,” Anderson said.

  Unfamiliar with the name, Kahlee asked, “Who are the Reapers?”

  Anderson hesitated, as if he was gathering his thoughts. Or maybe wondering how much he could say.

  “They’re a species of massive, hyperintelligent starships trapped in the void of dark space. They wiped out the Protheans fifty thousand years ago. Now they’re looking for a way to return so they can wipe out all intelligent organic life again.”

  Kahlee blinked in surprise. “I’ve never heard anything remotely like that before in my life.”

  “I know how crazy it sounds,” Anderson admitted. “But it’s true. When Saren led the geth army against the Citadel, they weren’t following him. They were answering to the Reapers. Saren was just an agent under his control.”

  “Saren Arterius was a traitor,” Sato interjected, his voice sharp and bitter. “Don’t try to excuse his actions with some crazy story.”

  Kahlee knew Saren was a sore point for the turians. Though he was once revered as a hero of his people, his betrayal had made him a source of shame for the species. But Anderson had no love for him, either. He had no reason to mention this unless he believed it.

  “If this is true,” she said, still trying to wrap her head around the idea, “then why haven’t I ever heard of it before? It should have been all over the vids.”

  “The Council suppressed the story. They said there was no real evidence, and they didn’t want to cause mass panic. But I worked with Commander Shepard. I saw the uncensored reports. The Reapers are real.”

  “It’s still a hell of a leap to trace this all back to Qian,” Kahlee noted.

  “You told me Qian had become obsessed with some kind of ancient, hyperadvanced AI technology. I think he found something connected to the Reapers. Saren must have gotten his hands on it during our mission to Camala.”

  “Okay. But I still don’t see the connection with Cerberus.”

  “A few months ago, Cerberus learned the Collectors were abducting humans from remote colonies in the Terminus Systems so they could conduct horrific experiments on them.

  “Cerberus stopped the Collectors, and they discovered they were working for the Reapers … just like Saren!”

  “How do you know all this?” Sato demanded.

  “I’ve seen the mission reports,” Anderson assured them. “I’ve talked to people who were there. I’m not making this up.

  “Cerberus must have recovered some of the Reaper technology from the Collectors. That’s what they were doing here—experimenting on Grayson the same way the Collectors were experimenting on the colonists!”

  “This is ridiculous!” the tech declared, and the general murmur from the turian scientists in the room seemed to support him.

  “Look at the files,” Anderson insisted. “You’ll see I’m right.”

  Everyone turned to Kahlee, waiting for her opinion on the matter. She wasn’t going to condemn Anderson’s theory, but she wasn’t ready to support it yet. Not without further evidence either way.

  “The files will tell us the truth,” she reminded them. “But whatever Cerberus was up to here, we need to figure it out.”

  FOURTEEN

  Kai Leng wasn’t worried about being recognized as he made his way through the twisting thoroughfares of Omega. The last time he had been here his appearance had been carefully altered. This time, as per the Illusive Man’s instructions, he wasn’t wearing a disguise.

  Still, he was wary. Though he appeared calm on the surface, his senses had entered a state of hyperawareness. It was always a good idea to be on the lookout for trouble when visiting Omega. The lawless station was overrun with mercenaries and criminals; every encounter had the potential to suddenly erupt into violence.

  Kai Leng glared at a pair of batarians approaching him, his eyes burning into them, sizing them up as potential threats. The four-eyed freaks noticed him staring. He could see a moment of indecision in their eyes: was this a threat worth confronting, or one they should just walk away from? In the end they made the right choice and crossed over to the other side of the street.

  When the Illusive Man had first told him of his latest assignment, Kai Leng had expressed his skepticism.

  “I don’t think Aria T’Loak is a fan of Cerberus.”

  “She’s a businesswoman,” the Illusive Man had assured him. “At the very least she’ll listen to our offer.”

  “And if she refuses?”

  “We’re not looking for a fight,” the Illusive Man had reminded him. “We’re trying to form a partnership.

  “I need someone I can trust for this mission,” he’d continued. “Just say and do everything exactly like I told you and it will all work out.”

  Kai Leng rounded the corner and came in sight of Afterlife. As was typical, the line to get in stretched down the block before disappearing around the corner. He had no intention of waiting in the queue, however.

  Marching up to the krogan bouncer at the entrance, he declared, “I need to see Aria T’Loak.”

  “Name?” the krogan asked, ready to relay it to someone inside for confirmation that he was expected.

  “I’m not on the list,” Kai Leng admitted.

  “Then you don’t get in.”

  A pair of thousand-credit chips suddenly appeared in the assassin’s hand. He reached over and pressed them into the krogan’s massive palm.

  “You can’t bribe your way into Afterlife,” the krogan declared with a deep laugh, extending his hand to return the credits to Kai Leng.

  “Tell her I have information about a man named Paul Grayson,” Kai Leng insisted, refusing to take the money back. “She might know him as Paul Johnson,” he added.

  The krogan’s eyes narrowed to thin slits, but he did reach up to activate the transmitter built into the collar of his suit.

  “Relay a message to Aria,” he said to someone inside the club. “Some human here to see her about Paul Grayson. Or maybe it’s Paul Johnson. He’s not on the list.”

  There was about thirty seconds of silence as they waited for a response. Then the krogan’s eyes went wide as he heard the orders coming from the other end.

  “Yeah. Right. I’ll send him right in.”

  He turned back to the waiting human. “Aria’s sending someone to meet you. Head inside to the claim check.”

  Once again he offered the credits back to Kai Leng.

  “Keep them,” he told the bouncer, following the Illusive Man’s orders to try and make a favorable impression.

  The krogan shook his massive head. “Aria says you’re to be comped for everything tonight. Including door fees.”

  Kai Leng took the credits back and slipped them into his pocket, then made his way down a short hall to the claim check. In addition to the two armed krogan and the pair of whorish asari behind the counter whom he’d seen here on a previous visit, a batarian was waiting at the checkpoint to greet him.

  “Put all weapons on the counter,” he insisted.

  “I thought patrons were allowed to be armed inside the club,” Kai Leng protested.

  “Not if you want a personal meeting with Aria,” the batarian replied.

  Kai Leng hesitated, reluctant to leave himself vulnerable while walking into a veritable lion’s den.

  “You could always put your name on the list and come back after we run some background checks on you,” the batarian mocked. “Should only take a week or two.”

  Kai Leng placed his pistol and knife on the counter. One of the asari took his weapons away and disappeared into the back. The other handed him a claim ticket and flashed him a lurid wink. Kai Leng ignored her.

  “Stand still for the body scan,” one of the krogan grumbled.

  Once he was cleared, the batarian led him into the club. He pushed his way through the crowd, parting the way before them. Kai Leng was glad he didn’t have to squeeze through the stinking, sweating bodies of the alien patrons himself.

  The club was much as Kai Leng remembered: a den of disgusting filth, with drunk and stoned individuals from every species gyrating against each other on overcrowded dance floors to the relentless beat of uninspired techno music.

  They climbed the staircase to the upper level, where the music’s volume was at least bearable and the crowds were somewhat tolerable. The batarian led him across the club to where Aria T’Loak was sitting at a table in an elevated booth.

  An asari handmaiden was seated on either side of her. Standing close by was the largest krogan Kai Leng had ever seen. Well over eight feet tall, he had to weigh at least five hundred pounds.

  In addition to the weapons Aria’s menagerie carried, Kai Leng knew the three asari were all powerful biotics. It was possible the krogan was, as well; biotics were rare among the reptilian species, but not unheard of. Even if he wasn’t, however, he was clearly capable of physically overpowering anyone else in the club.

  The batarian led him up the small staircase into the private booth, then stepped off to the side. Aria didn’t ask him to sit; even if she had, Kai Leng would have declined. Perhaps she knew that, which was why she hadn’t made the offer.

  Kai Leng suddenly understood why the Illusive Man had insisted on planning out everything he was going to do and say in such detail. They hadn’t even made their introductions, and the negotiations had already begun.

  “You have information on Grayson?” Aria said, breaking the silence.

  “You want to find him,” Kai Leng replied, following the script he’d memorized. “So do we. I think we can help each other.”

  Kai Leng noticed that the batarian and the krogan had subtly shifted their positions to stand behind him. Aria’s people now had him surrounded.

  “I don’t get involved with people I don’t know,” the Pirate Queen informed him. “So let’s start with you telling me your name.”

  “You know I wouldn’t give you my real name,” Kai Leng replied. “I can make something up if you want, but it seems like a waste of time.”

  “Are you willing to tell me who you’re working for, at least?”

  As instructed, he answered truthfully. “I work for Cerberus. Grayson used to be one of our people.”

  Every alien in the booth tensed, except for Aria herself.

  “Why is Cerberus in my club?” she demanded coolly.

  “My boss wants to make you an offer,” Kai Leng replied.

  “Why would I help an organization sworn to eliminate me and my kind?” Aria asked. “Maybe I should just kill you right here instead.”

  “I’d take at least three of your people with me,” Kai Leng warned, forgetting his promise to stay on script. “Maybe even you, if I get lucky.”

  Behind him the batarian laughed. “You’re not even armed. What are you going to do?”

  Aria tilted her head to the side, a contemplative smile crossing her lips.

  “Don’t be a fool, Sanak,” she said. “It’s obvious our friend doesn’t need a weapon to kill.”

  “This can end in violence,” Kai Leng noted, his voice as calm as if he were discussing the weather. “Or it can end with you making a very tidy profit.”

  “You have my attention,” Aria admitted.

  Aria had studied the human as he’d crossed the floor of the club and approached her booth. The lean, tattooed man was obviously a highly skilled assassin. He showed neither fear nor bravado, moving through the crowd with the easy grace of a predator on the prowl.

  Yet she was still able to pick up the revulsion in his body language. He was disgusted by the other patrons; they were lesser life-forms in his eyes. If pressed, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill any one of them, and she was certain he would feel no remorse over his actions.

  “The Illusive Man wants to speak to you himself,” the assassin told her. “Somewhere more private.”

  “I prefer to do my business in the club,” she informed him. “He can come meet me here if he wants to negotiate.”

  “He’s not foolish enough to set foot on Omega. You can contact him through a secure comm channel. He’s waiting for your call, if you’re interested.”

  Aria had to admit she was intrigued. She was eager to find out more about the man she’d known as Paul Johnson and his possible role in Liselle’s death. Plus, Cerberus’s anti-alien bias was well known; she was curious to know why they had come to her so openly. And the chance to speak to the Illusive Man was an opportunity she wasn’t about to pass up; it was amazing how much one could learn about an adversary through a single conversation.

  “Come with me,” she said by way of agreement.

  Her handmaidens slid out from behind the table, allowing Aria to do the same. She led the human through the club to the private rooms in the back. Most of these could be rented out on an hourly, daily, or even weekly basis by patrons of the club. But there was one chamber Aria always kept reserved for herself and those rare occasions when she wanted to conduct business away from the eyes of Omega’s curious public.

  They entered the room and Aria took a seat at the comm terminal. The human stood off to one side while her own people took up positions scattered about the room.

  “Do you have holographic relay technology?” the human asked.

  Aria didn’t rise to the obvious bait, but from off in the corner Sanak snorted, “We’re not savages.”

  “Give me the comm channel,” Aria said, ignoring the batarian as she activated the holo projector.

  The human complied, and a few seconds later the image of a well-dressed older human with silver hair and bright blue eyes materialized in the center of the room. He was seated in a chair on what was obviously a space station. A swirling but unidentifiable nebula could be seen through an observation window behind him. In his right hand he held a lit cigarette.

  “Aria T’Loak,” he said with a slight nod. “I’m the Illusive Man.”

  “I’m disappointed you lacked the courage to meet me in person,” she said, gently needling him in the hopes of goading some type of reaction.

  “Are we here to play games, or talk business?” he asked, his demeanor unchanged.

  Aria didn’t reply right away. She wanted to make him sweat.

  The three-dimensional holographic image was lifelike enough for her to easily make out the subtle clues and body language projected by the man on the other end of the call. She studied him during the long silence as he took a slow drag on his cigarette, analyzing the unconscious mannerisms and expressions of his every movement.

  To her disappointment, she quickly realized she wasn’t picking up anything useful. His actions were a confusing mélange of false signals and intentional misinformation carefully orchestrated to hide his true feelings.

  “I was told you wanted to speak to me,” she finally said, opening the negotiations.

  “Grayson betrayed our organization,” the Illusive Man told her, putting his offer on the table. “We’ve been hunting him for over two years. Now I’m willing to pay you to kill him.”

  “Somebody went after Grayson while he was working for me,” Aria said. “They killed one of my people. I think it was Cerberus.”

  “Nobody came after Grayson,” the man corrected her. “He fled because his cover was blown, then staged the scene to make it look like he was abducted in order to buy time for his escape.”

  “His cover? Are you claiming he was spying on me?”

  “Grayson infiltrated your organization. Climbed the ranks. Made himself invaluable. But the whole time he was working for you, he was gathering intel for his new employers.”

  Aria focused all her attention on the man as he spoke, carefully noting the inflection of his voice, his posture as he sat in his chair, his facial expressions and the involuntary movements of his eyes. But she was still unable to get any kind of read on him.

  Only a handful of individuals in the galaxy could successfully lie to Arai T’Loak; with some dismay she realized the Illusive Man was one of them. But the fact that he could lie to her didn’t necessarily mean he was lying to her.

  She considered what he had told her so far. Grayson had worked for Cerberus, then betrayed them. Now they wanted revenge. That much she could believe; why else would the Illusive Man have sent his representative to Omega to bargain with her?

  Given that he’d betrayed his previous employer, it wasn’t hard to believe he had done the same thing to her. However, there were still too many pieces missing for her to accept the story without further investigation.

  “Who was Grayson working for?” she wanted to know.

  “A turian loyalist group. They’re bitter over humanity’s growing influence on the Council. The want to expand turian interests. They’re planning to make inroads into the Terminus Systems.”

  The scenario was plausible enough. Though they were technically allies, everyone knew there was still lingering resentment between turians and humanity. If a group of nationalists did want to spread turian interests, the Terminus Systems would be the logical place to begin. And anyone who wanted to make inroads in the Terminus Systems would have to deal with Aria sooner or later.

  Maybe Liselle had discovered Grayson’s secret. He could have killed her to keep her quiet. But Grayson was smart enough to know he couldn’t get away with her murder. Everyone knew they were sleeping together; if she turned up dead—or even disappeared—he would have been the prime suspect. So he fled Omega, leaving behind a staged abduction scene to throw Aria and her people off his track.

  The more she thought about it, the more plausible it all seemed.

  “One thing I don’t get,” Sanak said, stepping forward as he barged his way into the conversation in his typical heavy-handed style. “Why would Grayson work for a pro-human group like Cerberus, then suddenly switch his alliance to a bunch of turian nationalists?”

  The holographic image in the Illusive Man’s chamber showed Aria T’Loak seated in what appeared to be a well-furnished suite. The projected image was centered on her, but at the edges it was possible to make out several aliens who were also in the room. Kai Leng wasn’t visible, but the Illusive Man assumed he was there as well.