Reintegration

by Eden S. French

  “They tried. They forced me down and stripped off my jeans. Then they started laughing. Soon the laughter stopped, and they began kicking me. Calling me…well, you know what they called me.”

  Her remembered humiliation ignited the air between them. “Please tell me this is when Amity intervened.”

  “At that very moment. A shot rang out and the men ran, leaving me lying beside a gutter. Degraded. Naked from the waist down. And after having seen the contempt and disgust in their eyes, I shared their revulsion. I found myself wishing that Amity’s warning shot had been aimed straight at my head.”

  “Oh, babe…”

  “Amity reached me before I could cover myself. She looked down, just quickly, but she saw. Then she held out her hand and said, ‘You’re a strong woman. You’ll survive this.’ Those words saved me, I think. She brought me back to Bunker One, and I’ve been with Open Hand ever since. She still brings me my pills and watches over me. My guardian angel.”

  What was it Nikolas had said? I alone saw the fallen angel… “When I first met her, I never would have guessed she had a soft side.”

  “She terrifies me too, but I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”

  “Reed said something about Ash being Amity’s best friend. I can picture that, actually. Ash was always drawn to strong personalities.” Lexi breathed in the wafting cloud of sauce and spices, but her appetite had long gone. “Even as violent and unfriendly as she is, I can’t help but find Amity sexy.”

  “She told me you’d done something sexual with her.”

  Surely Lexi had misheard. “She told you about that?”

  “She only said, while blushing to her ears, that you performed a ‘sex act’ on her. I asked if she’d enjoyed it, and she told me to shut up.” Riva giggled. “Don’t look so startled. She knows I have feelings for you, so she considered it her duty to inform me. She didn’t want to feel that she was betraying me somehow.”

  “And did you feel betrayed?”

  “Of course not. I’m just happy she let her guard down to you. And amazed, to be honest. I can only imagine what the circumstances were.”

  Before Lexi could think of a response, Callie bounced through the door. “Hey, cute things,” she said. “I’m surprised you both have your clothes on.”

  Lexi grinned. A timely interruption. “We were waiting for you.”

  “So this is going to be that kind of friendship, huh?” Callie dumped the empty plate into the sink. “Get out some candles, then, and seduce me over dinner. I’m so hungry.”

  “First, Amity needs her soup.” Riva tapped a spoon against a bowl of white, watery goop. “I’ve made it specially for her.”

  “Lucky Amity. By the way, I popped my head into her room. She, Zeke and Isaac are watching some film together.”

  “What the hell would those three watch together?” said Lexi.

  “It’s a cartoon with lots of talking birds and ghosts and things. Amity seemed peaceful. I guess she must be on some serious drugs.”

  “In that case, Zeke and Isaac can have their meals now too.” Riva laid two more bowls on the tray. “Would you mind?”

  Callie hefted the tray. “Anything for you, chickadee.” She winked at Riva and strutted from the room.

  “She’s definitely into you,” said Lexi. “You tempted?”

  “And explain again what I keep in my panties? I can’t bear to think about it. Too many girls react like I’ve just turned into a spider.”

  “I wish I could say she’d be okay with it, but I don’t know her well enough.” Lexi poked a finger into the nearest pan and tasted the warm, salty sauce. “But if you keep cooking her food this good, I don’t think anything could stop her falling in love with you.”

  “I thought she was in love with Mineko.”

  “Nah. Well, maybe.” Lexi shrugged. “I promised I’d help rescue the kid tomorrow. Damned if I know how, though.”

  Riva gave a slow nod. “I’d like to help. Even though I haven’t met Min, I know how she might be feeling right now. I understand what it’s like to be trapped in a self-preserving deception, afraid the people you love will turn against you.”

  A touching sentiment, but there was no way. “Shut-ins are bad news. Leave the dangerous work to me and Amity.”

  “Amity can’t do anything that might take her into an enclave. It’d get her in serious trouble with Nikolas. I’m sure he feels sorry for Mineko, but he’d never take the risk of helping her defect.”

  “Wait, seriously? Wouldn’t rescuing someone like Minnie be a big revolutionary victory?”

  “Protecting you is the victory he’s looking for right now. Lexi, you can’t enter an enclave either. Not even for Mineko. Tomorrow, you and Amity should return to Bunker One. Take Isaac and Zeke with you.”

  Being commanded around by Riva was so unexpected, it took Lexi several seconds to grasp for an objection. “But Callie…”

  “Won’t be left on her own, I promise. I’ll help her to free Mineko.”

  “Babe, you can’t—I mean, you might—I shouldn’t—” Shit. Usually, Lexi was never short of a reply. But what could she say?

  “Mineko’s backed into a corner,” Riva said. “She must feel the world is against her. I know what that’s like, and I have to prove to her it’s not true.”

  Funny. After so many years brushing eager women away, here Lexi was, clinging to the first one she wasn’t sure she could keep. “But you’ll get hurt. They’ll wipe you.”

  “I did well enough today, didn’t I?”

  “That was different. You had…” Kade. Now there was an idea. If anyone could talk Riva out of doing something stupid, it would be him. “If you’re going to do this, make sure you find Kade first. Ask him to help you.” At which point he would talk her out of it. Surely.

  Riva bowed her head, and a shy smile lifted her lips. “You’re really worried about me.”

  Unexpected heat climbed Lexi’s neck. “I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

  Riva looked up. The gleam in her eyes hinted at what might be coming, but it gave no warning of the intensity of it—a sudden, forceful kiss that pinned Lexi to the bench behind her. Their mouths joined hard, their lips and tongues moved, and Riva’s thigh pressed into Lexi’s groin. To ensure it stayed there, Lexi grabbed Riva by her small, firm ass and pulled her even closer.

  God, Lexi had been aching for this. She wanted to fuck Riva right now, to stroke, grip, and squeeze every part of her body—the soft curve of her tits, the bony edges of her hips, the cock stiffening under her tight jeans…

  A wolf-whistle shrilled from the doorway, and Lexi and Riva separated, gasping and flustered.

  “That was hot,” said Callie. “Do it one more time?”

  CHAPTER 23

  He rode into the evening, his bike shuddering as it rattled down corrugated lanes of earth where rails had once rested. When headlights pierced the night and an engine roared behind him, Kade braced for the worst.

  An Open Hand jeep, military green with a purple palm on its door, pulled up alongside him. Nikolas rolled down the window. “I suppose you assumed I was a Codist.”

  “It crossed my mind. How’d you find me?”

  “Alexis suggested you might take this route home.”

  “The tracks make good bike paths. I rode them all the time as a kid.”

  “Will you accept my offer of a lift? It’s much warmer in here.”

  “The cold’s no problem.” Not quite true. The longer Kade sat still, the more the chill insinuated itself under his coat, cooling the sweat on his skin. “When Riva said somebody from Open Hand would be coming, I didn’t expect it to be you.”

  “I wanted to speak to Amity personally. Now, please, get in. I have a passenger who may be comforted by your presence.”

  Truth be told, Kade hadn’t been looking forward to plunging into the district’s dark streets, and it was with some relief that he stowed his bike in the crowded storage area just behind the jeep’s rear seat.
The vehicle was well-stocked with tools, a spare tire, medical kits, and dried food: Nikolas never went anywhere unprepared.

  Warm air cloaked Kade as he settled into the front passenger seat. Isaac was sitting in the back, looking as miserable and evasive as ever. A short, slender Open Hand revolutionary sat beside him. Her taciturn features, dark-green eyes, and chestnut bob were familiar. Audra. One of Nikolas’s most trusted guards, a quiet woman who never carried a gun and rarely spoke.

  “You’ll be fine, Isaac,” Kade said. “This is a friend.”

  Isaac nodded his unkempt head. “Okay.”

  Nikolas accelerated, slowly, with one hand on the wheel. “Amity was surprised to see me.” He kept his eyes on the road, his gaunt features lit by the glow of the dashboard. “She seemed heavily sedated. Calandre Roux, on the other hand, was very lively. When I refused to help rescue the Tamura girl, she had more than a few choice words for me.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Alexis narrated the day’s events. Battling Codists in the streets. Besting our turncoat comrade. Quite an adventure for you, old friend.”

  Kade stared at the darkening sky. It seemed wrong that the sun still set on Bare Hill, as if Ash hadn’t been the reason it shone at all. “Mineko risked her life for us.”

  “So I was told. Many times. With increasing amounts of profanity.”

  “We owe her, Nikolas.”

  “I can’t get involved.” The jeep bounced over a rough section of road. “I’ve lost Riva Latour over this. She insists on helping them.”

  “Is it really such a terrible thing to rescue an innocent girl?”

  “You don’t understand how volatile Foundation is. Only patience will ensure a minimum of suffering in the days to come.”

  There seemed no point arguing with him. Instead, Kade continued to look out the window. The sun trailed downward, its red light gleaming on the rails…

  He started from his reverie as they cruised by the wrong intersection. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking a detour.” The darker it grew, the stranger Nikolas became in profile, with his rangy shoulders, mad mop of hair, and the odd smile skewing his lips. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I’m always occupied elsewhere. Monitoring the streets, the Codists, my people…”

  “How is it you keep so well informed?”

  “I exchange stories with Lachlan Reed.”

  It was as unexpected as a knife in the dark. “What do you mean?”

  “Every month, he and I meet to talk. Nobody knows but Audra, who accompanies me as a precaution.”

  “What could you two possibly have to talk about?”

  “A mutual interest in stability. Amity makes him nervous, so he places infiltrators in our ranks. But he also agrees that Open Hand plays a vital role in our city’s delicate balance.”

  “Why tell me this? I’m the last person who should keep it secret. I’m a reporter, for Christ’s sake.”

  “I want you to understand how far I’ll go to keep Foundation stable. I can’t permit the Tamuras, who I understand love their daughter very much, to tear this city to its…well, to its foundations.”

  Once again, Kade gazed out the window. A confusion of light, shade, and broken stone had supplanted the sensible waking world. “Are you seriously telling me that Lachlan gives you insider Codist information? And that you give him intelligence in return?”

  “Yes. He’s already told me, vaguely, about Project Sky. Not the specifics of the chip, what it does, but merely that it was a present Codist interest. He advised me to expect some intensification of our warfare.”

  “Did you tell him about Lexi?”

  “Of course not. I only reveal to him such information as is mutually useful. In particular, information on gang activity, which is an irritation to both of us. If a gang conflict threatens innocent lives, Lachlan often warns me ahead of time, allowing me to intervene however I can.”

  “But Code Intel is allied with the major gangs. Lachlan acts as mediator.”

  Nikolas frowned. “I despise his lack of conviction, but he’s not an evil man. He won’t be turned away from Codism, because it affords him the greatest possible power and luxury. But he understands that Codism itself is a pernicious doctrine, and he’s as keen to rein in its excesses as we are. Thus the duplicity, the deception, the double-dealing. He’s a figure for our troubled age.”

  “But not a role model, I hope.”

  “No.” Nikolas nodded at the road. “Stay alert. We’re almost there.”

  * * *

  Kade should have guessed.

  He watched, huddled in his coat, as Nikolas laid a bouquet upon her grave. “I’ve only come here once,” Nikolas said. “Is she in fact buried down there, or is this all purely symbolic?”

  “She’s down there.”

  Nikolas knelt and touched the slab. “I miss you, comrade.”

  A familiar, desperate tightness seized Kade’s throat. The evening had become oppressive, its shadows too dense, the tinge of night above the glowing band of horizon somehow unsettling. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

  “Audra is pregnant. Six weeks. Is it old-fashioned I’m hoping for a son?”

  “Yes. Let the child be what it will.”

  Nikolas gave a quiet laugh. “Consider me properly chastened.”

  “This morning, Lexi and Riva woke to watch the sunrise, and Lexi thought of Ash then. Now here I am, thinking of her as the sun sets. Lexi’s at the beginning, while I’m facing the end.” As much as Kade tried to keep his voice level, he couldn’t keep it from wavering. “Please help Mineko. Do it for me.”

  “Ash would have moved the heavens for that girl, but I’m not her. She was the future taken from us. We’ll never know what might have been. Now I can only do what I feel is right.” Nikolas’s cheeks glistened where the dying light met the trails of his tears. “I’m so tired.”

  “It’s been a hard week for all of us.”

  “Perhaps none more so than you. You almost seem bereaved again.”

  “It’s seeing Lexi. The more time I spend around her, the more it sinks in that we can’t ever be friends again. At most, she’d learn to tolerate me.” Kade breathed out. “And that hurts.”

  Nikolas remained silent, his head bowed. If someone didn’t know the man, they might have thought that he was praying.

  Westward, the night sky was suffused with neon—the radiance of the club district where Lexi’s life had taken its recent turn. Beneath that colorful shimmer, Foundation’s more fortunate inhabitants would now be gathering, dressed for enticement and hungry for oblivion. Strange that even on the brink of extinction, the rituals of a dead age continued.

  “They’ll make an example of you,” Nikolas said. “The streets are restless. The Committee are afraid. Even Vassago is nervous.”

  “Good. That thug deserves a few sleepless nights.”

  “Do you even care if you live or die? Or is it all the same for you now?”

  “No. I’m not fatalistic.” Kade stared down at the grave. Lexi had paid for it, and though Ash would have disliked that blood money was responsible for her resting place, Kade had chosen not to protest. “I prefer to live.”

  “If that’s true, then leave Foundation with the others.”

  “I can’t. Ash loved this city, and someday, I’d like to understand why.”

  * * *

  The last thing Kade needed at this bone-wearying hour was to run into Sarabelle. Yet there his editor was, sitting at Kade’s desk, eating a chocolate bar and frowning at the unfinished article on subway safety.

  “I don’t like your opening sentence.” Sarabelle pointed to the screen with the half-chewed bar. “The participle phrase makes it clunky.”

  “I suspect the revolution will survive.” As Kade left the stairs, Goldie perked his ears. “Goldie’s here, but no Mahesh?”

  “You know how he was researching restaurant hygiene? He did some firsthand investigation. Result:
food poisoning.” Sarabelle grinned. She was only in her mid-thirties, but the creases in her brown skin and the gray flecks in her messy black hair betrayed the rapid aging that came with leadership of a revolutionary cell. “I’m looking after the big pup, though I’d much rather you were doing it, given my allergies.”

  “Hint taken.” Kade patted his knee, but Goldie only buried his snout deeper in his blankets. “I’ll watch him tonight.”

  “I hear you’ve been hanging around with Open Hand.”

  “Solidarity, that’s all. And some personal business.”

  Foil crackled as Sarabelle reached the end of her chocolate bar. “Careful. Amity is batshit.”

  The timeworn shot at his friend rankled more than ever. “I can assure you she isn’t.”

  “Bat-fucking-shit crazy, Kade.” Sarabelle balled the wrapper and tossed it across the room. “A helicopter was spotted at dawn this morning. And now there’re rumors, nothing I can verify, that a Codist operation went wrong. Agents killed. You know anything about that?”

  Kade made a non-committal sound. “I did hear Lachlan Reed is back and throwing his weight around.”

  “Don’t mention that scumbag.” Sarabelle stood, still scowling at the article. “Now you’re here, I might take off. I promised Mahesh I’d bring him some medicine.” She wagged a finger at Goldie, who opened one eye. “Behave for Kade, you questionable sentinel.”

  “Nikolas sends his regards, by the way.”

  “I’d rather he sent money, but I’ll take what I’m given.” Sarabelle retrieved her beloved fedora from the hook by the door. “You aren’t in some kind of trouble, are you? You look a little ragged.”

  “No more than usual.”

  “Then take some time tonight to finish this damn article.” Sarabelle reached the first step and looked back with reproach in her eyes. “And just when are we going to have that drink?”

  He’d been waiting for it. They’d had one date, just one. Sarabelle had ranted about grammatical pet peeves, abused the waiter and, after Kade had escorted her home, tried to drag him into her bedroom. During his escape, he’d promised to someday take her out for drinks. It was an event now marked in her mythology, as significant a moment as the return of a messiah or the end of all things.