“He’s my father’s second-in-command. The only Codist cyborg.”
“Lexi’s a cyborg too. She’ll kick his ass.”
“He’s six foot six, Callie.”
Callie chuckled. “So I’ll help her do it. Relax. I’m not worried.”
“But I’ve destroyed your life.”
“I’m in trouble, sure, but it’s trouble that makes me come alive. All you did was break me out of a quiet spell.”
Mineko pressed herself closer against Callie’s side. She was so warm, so solid. “But your home, all those wonderful things you own…”
“Forget about that. It’s just junk. I’m way more worried about you. Does anyone suspect anything?”
“I don’t think so. But last night, I had dinner with my family. They talked about you, and Lexi, and Project Sky. And the whole time I was thinking…” Mineko’s voice wavered. “I’m betraying my own parents. They’ll hate me if they find out, yet I don’t have a choice. I’m stuck.”
She was rambling, but she’d never before had a chance to express her fears, let alone with a comforting arm around her. “I love them, but I hate the life they’ll force on me. I want to be free, but I don’t dare leave. I don’t belong anywhere.”
“That’s not true.” Callie’s smile brought out the full force of her dimples, and Mineko’s eyes blurred again. “Hey, you know how I got here? A big Harley-Davidson.”
“A what?”
“A motorbike. Motorcycle. You know, two wheels, vroom-vroom?” Callie turned an invisible throttle in the air, and Mineko laughed, finally diverted from her inner tremors. “Yeah, you get it! It was a beautiful ride. Tearing down the streets, leaning into the corners, the engine snarling beneath me. Someday I’m going to take you for a ride. You’ll love it.”
“But I don’t know how.”
“It’s easy. You just sit behind me and hold on.” Callie’s smile became wistful. “We’ll cruise down to Bappy’s in the Rail District, where they serve the best spicy tempeh burgers you’ll ever taste. The cinema across the road does 3D screenings on Saturdays. It’s not much fun alone, but when you’ve got someone with you…”
The ache was back. “You know I’ll never be able to do any of those things.”
“Sure you will. And afterward, we’ll cut across the desert and head up the mesa, and I’ll show you how the sun looks when it sets over the basin. It melts into the horizon, and the stars that come out afterward are brighter than any you’ve ever seen. I’ll teach you how to spot the constellations.”
Mineko blinked back more tears. It was beautiful, but it was torture. “Do you know many constellations?”
“Pretty much all of them. I spend a lot of time out there just stargazing. Thinking about all the wrong things.”
Mineko attempted to smile, but she only managed to make her lips tremble. “I’m sorry about crying on your shoulder.”
Callie gave a soft laugh. “Don’t be. I cry most days.” She moved her arm away, and Mineko sat upright. “I brought you something.” Callie plucked a chunky phone from her breast pocket. “This is a radio phone that uses an encrypted channel. Apparently, it goes to a receiver in the Open Hand base. They gave you a codename to identify yourself: Blue.”
A codename? That was exciting. “Why Blue?”
“They only know you as the Project Sky informant, so blue skies, maybe. It suits you, though.” Callie glanced at the door. “I wish I could stay longer, but Kade’s waiting for me, and I’m worried about him.”
She was leaving already? Mineko gripped Callie’s sleeve as she searched for some excuse. “Tell me about Kade. Do you know him very well?”
“We aren’t regular buddies or anything, but I trust him. And I don’t say that about many people.” Callie touched Mineko’s hand. “I’ll be honest. My hope is you’re going to agree to escape with me right now. We can do it, I swear. We can walk right out of here.”
How did Callie not understand that being exiled to the hellscape of Foundation was as terrifying as the threat of being Reintegrated? At least in the enclave, Mineko had her parents. She had the power of her family name. Out there, she was nothing.
“I can’t,” she said. “And you can’t come back here again.”
“But what if they catch you?”
“It’s a risk I’ve chosen to take, just as you chose to take a risk coming here. As it stands, I think I managed to get away with it. Nobody identified me, and I could well be safe. But out there, the danger is certain, isn’t it?”
Callie frowned. “I guess.”
“Don’t think it isn’t a hard decision to make. It’s the hardest I’ve ever faced in my life. I want to be free. I don’t want to live under the Code. But I don’t want to be dead or alone, either.”
“You won’t be alone. I’ll watch out for…” Callie trailed off. “God, I’m dumb. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t listen to me, either. You don’t know me from anyone.”
“I believe you’re kind and sincere. But it’s a huge thing you’re promising. I don’t know how anyone, even the best of people, could guarantee it.”
“Yeah.” Callie patted Mineko’s wrist before standing. “Okay, I’ll go. For now. But you better keep winding that watch.”
It was so unfair that they had to part already, while the warmth of Callie’s body was still imprinted on her own. “I still don’t understand why you gave me such a beautiful present. I don’t feel like I deserve it. I don’t feel like I deserve anything.”
“I often think that way too, even though I know better. You have to stop listening to that voice. Trust what other people think of you.” Callie walked to the door, averted her eyes—had those been tears?—and reached for the handle. “If you ask me, a girl like you deserves the world.”
The door opened and closed, and she was gone.
CHAPTER 9
The alleyway stank, but it beat being caught in the open air. Kade waited beside the big bike while trying not to breathe through his nostrils. There wasn’t much risk Callie would be detected—she was a professional, after all—but he couldn’t help but be nervous.
Footsteps echoed at the far end of the alley. There she was, thank God, apparently unharmed, though her face was grave.
“She didn’t want to come,” Callie said. “I begged, but she still said no. I fucking hate the Code.”
Kade looked away as Callie unzipped her uniform. She was dressed underneath, but that didn’t make it right to watch. “Hold on to that anger, and you might become a revolutionary yet.”
Callie stashed the uniform in the bike’s storage compartment. “Not if it means taking orders.”
“You think I take orders?”
“You have an editor, right?”
Kade laughed. “That’s not really the same thing.”
“If you say so.” Callie ran a hand over the bike’s polished chassis. “I wish I could keep this.”
“You’d just end up pulling it to pieces to see how it works.”
Callie gave him an impish grin. “I already know how it works.”
“Well, if you’re in the mood for another joyride, I could use a lift back to the Gazette.”
“Sure. Any excuse to keep it a little longer.” Callie swung a leg over the bike. “Hop on.”
Kade sat on the back seat and held Callie by the waist. As much as he trusted her, the tickle of anxiety in his chest just wouldn’t subside. “You won’t get me killed, will you?”
“Not if you don’t let go.” The engine started with a roar that vibrated through Kade’s chest. “And no hugging. That’s for girlfriends only.”
Callie knocked back the kickstand and twisted the throttle. The bike tore through litter as it punched out of the far end of the alley. Callie leaned, bringing the bike into a sharp turn away from the University walls, and they rocketed out of the turn and blasted down the street. The wind built to a screech, and Kade tensed as Callie kicked up another gear.
The street ahead was mostly empty, a
long strip of battered asphalt between residential buildings and food stores. The same street Kade had walked Mineko down, as it happened. As much as he wanted to ask Callie more questions about her, it was impossible to speak over the sound of the wind. Easier just to wait for the ride to be over.
Two intersections flickered by, and Callie swerved to avoid a pothole. She might have been young, but the sureness with which she directed the bike hinted at the seasoned expert she was.
As she slowed to weave around some kids playing ball on the road, Kade took the chance to speak. “Did Mineko tell you anything?”
“She said there’s some guy named Lachlan Reed hunting us.”
Lachlan? Hell. That was going to make a difficult situation a whole lot worse. If anyone could outwit and overpower Lexi, it would be Lachlan—or Commanding Agent Reed, as he was called these days. “I see.”
“The Gazette is under the ice cream place, right?”
“The very same.”
“Does it actually serve ice cream?”
“That it does.”
Callie punched the air. “Hell yes!”
The bike released a furious growl and shot forward with enough speed to set Kade’s teeth buzzing. The road became a high-paced smear, and he clutched Callie’s waist, not caring anymore about whether he was holding too tightly. Smugglers were a daredevil breed, and Callie Roux was one of the wildest. Still, she knew what she was doing.
A bicycle flew out of an intersection ahead, and Callie jinked, almost clipping its back wheel as she passed. She laughed. “That was close!”
That did it. Kade closed his eyes.
* * *
The Revolutionary People’s Gazette, being something of a clandestine operation, was concealed in a basement beneath the cheerful front of Smiletime Soy Ice Cream. Callie secured the bike in the shop’s fenced back lot, and she and Kade entered via the rear door.
Tubs of colored ice cream crowded the shop floor. “Help yourself,” said Kade, and Callie grabbed a cone and stacked four rainbow scoops atop it.
Kade descended the narrow stairs to the basement, followed by the busy, messy sound of Callie enjoying her treat. She had plenty of talents, but eating pretty wasn’t one of them.
As he left the final step, Kade fumbled for the light switch. The lonely overhead flicked on.
“Ritzy,” Callie said.
“It’s not so bad.” In truth, the room still looked like a grotty basement, with the addition of a few tables and chairs, some desktop computers and, lurking in one corner, an immense multi-function printer. “Looks like everyone’s still in bed.”
“Or the Gazette is only you. Admit it. You invented the other contributors.”
“You got me. It’s all an excuse to eat ice cream.”
Kade ducked into the kitchen. Now that he was giving a guest tour, it looked a little shabbier than he’d remembered. Sad microwave, sadder fridge, tiles that seemed ready to pick themselves off the floor and crawl away. “We do clean in here, just so you know.”
“Is that one of your cleaners?” Callie pointed to a cockroach. It waved its antennas at her before fleeing beneath a cabinet. “Or is that your editor?”
“You’ve got something against editors, haven’t you?” Kade opened the fridge, and its low hum intensified. “You want a beer?”
“No thanks. I’ve got ice cream.” Callie slurped some bright goop off her cone. “So, what’s the latest in revolutionary news?”
Kade retrieved a can and ripped back the tab. He took a sip of the bitter brew before returning his attention to Callie. She had ice cream on her chin, but she’d find it herself sooner or later. “The most important development right now is Project Sky. But I can’t report on it until Lexi is safely in Port Venn.”
Callie licked ice cream from her lips, completely missing the blob below her mouth. “She really hates you, doesn’t she? I can’t understand why. You’re, like, the least hateable guy I know.”
Now there was a subject best avoided. “She has her reasons.”
“I’m sure they’re stupid ones.” Callie bit off the end of her cone and sucked out the remaining ice cream. Her eyes widened. “Ah, fuck! Brain freeze!” She groaned as she crunched into the cone again. “I can’t stop. It’s too tasty. But it hurts so much.”
Kade chuckled. He’d first met her a decade ago, back when she’d been an incongruous teenager working the smuggler routes alongside hardened men and women. He’d taken a photo, too, and still had it somewhere—same messy auburn hair, same dimpled grin. But despite the smile, there’d been a deep sadness in her eyes. That hadn’t changed, either.
“She’s so arrogant.” Callie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “She doesn’t care about anything or anyone.”
“Lexi’s arrogant, but she’s not uncaring. Just the opposite.” The subject twisted Kade up, as always, and he took a deep breath. “Anyway, let’s get off that topic. I want to know what Mineko told you.”
“Just let me wash the sticky off.” Callie twisted the sink faucet, which gave an alarming groan and issued a splurt of tin-scented water. She splashed the water on her hands and rubbed them together. “I changed my mind about wanting a drink. I’m thirsty now.”
“Help yourself.”
Callie rummaged through the fridge and took out a bottle of fizzing soda. “My mom never let me drink this stuff. As soon as I could crawl, she wanted me to drink whisky. Such a goddamn drunk. Never stopped swearing. Her last word, honest to God, was ‘cocksucker.’”
“Epileptic seizure, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. There was a dog barking outside, and she looked out the window and screamed, ‘Quiet the fuck down, you mangy little cocksucker!’ The dog barked again, like it was daring her to do something, and bam. Down she went.” Callie took a quick gulp from the bottle. “It was almost funny, you know? She’d survived through so much shit, and in the end what did her in was calling a dog a cocksucker.”
“We need to get you writing for us. You could have your own column.”
“The lonely hearts column.” Callie picked at the bottle’s colorful label. “You know anything about a Riva Latour? She’s Lexi’s latest victim. Pink Mohawk, super skinny. Pretty face, husky voice. Seems really gentle.”
“I don’t know this Latour, but I laid eyes on her briefly yesterday. I don’t have much contact with anyone at Open Hand but Nikolas and Amity.”
Callie wrinkled her nose. “What’s the deal with Nikolas, anyway? He’s weird.”
“He’s a good man. Over-cautious, but for the right reasons.”
“What do you mean, over-cautious?”
There was no way to get into this too deeply now, so Kade would just have to simplify it. “I mean he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. I understand his position, but we’re going to have to spill some blood to establish a fairer society. There’s no getting around it.”
Callie frowned. “And the woman? Amy, wasn’t it?”
“Amity. No, she’s not over-cautious. Not by any measure.” Kade drank the last of the beer, crushed the can and tossed it into the bin. “To be blunt, she’s ruthless. And I hate to say it, but we need people like her.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we ought to be better than that.”
“Don’t try to quote Nietzsche at me. It’s already been done.”
“I don’t even know what that is. All I’m saying is, if you try to out-asshole an asshole, you’ll end up an even bigger asshole.”
Kade smiled. “That’s a good paraphrase, actually. Albeit a little rectal for my readership.”
“I know, I’m stupid. I guess if I were smarter, I’d see the sense in hurting people just for wearing ugly overalls.”
She was teasing, but even so, Kade gave her a serious look. “Trust me, violence is the least preferable option. But at present, it’s our only option.”
“Why? Shut-ins aren’t necessarily bad people. I mean, look at Min.”
Min. Already using nicknames. “I’m curious to know
what you think about her.”
“She’s brave, but she’s got no chance. Even though it wasn’t easy for me growing up, at least I got to fight back. When people pushed me around, I told them to get fucked. Sometimes I even got away with it. But when you’re a shut-in, pushing back just gets you wiped. You can’t struggle, you can’t resist, you can’t escape. There’s no future.”
“Being a Codist of her status is a tremendous privilege,” said Kade. “She’s never had to worry about homelessness, hunger or sickness. But that being said, there’s such a thing as sickness of the soul.”
“The way she looked at me, it broke my heart. She was so grateful I’d visited, but even more surprised, like she’d never imagined anyone could care that much about her. You know how people cry when they lose somebody they love, how violent and desperate that is? Like their body is trying to rid itself of all that pain?”
“Yes. I know it.” Better than he knew anything else.
“She cried like that on my arm. Not for something she’d lost, but for something she was never going to have. We can’t let her go on like that.”
Brave and sensitive as always. Classic Callie Roux. “It’s funny. I remember a dirty-faced girl who looked me in the eye and told me she was going to be the richest smuggler in history. Back then, I wouldn’t have placed bets on you being alive in another year. Yet here you are, bolder than ever.”
“I’ve not been so bold. Not lately.” Despite the regret in her voice, Callie’s smile had returned, faint and thoughtful. “It’s so stupid. Back then, all I wanted was money. Now all I can think about is how I wish I were loved.”
Which was worse? To be like Callie, waiting for the love who wouldn’t hurt her, or to be like him—having known and lost a love so rich that everything in his life had seemed to branch from that one source?
“There’s nothing stupid about it,” he said. “And I have no doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
“Maybe. For all we know, Port Venn’s packed with sweet-natured women who can’t resist a rugged charmer like me. I just have to hope Lexi doesn’t get to them first.”
Back on that topic again. It was going to be a tough week. “When it comes to Lexi, give her a little time. She does tend to give respect where it’s due. Once she knows you better, you might be surprised.”
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