“Is Lachlan so determined to ensure we all study for our exams?”
Jasmine smiled. Her teeth were imperfect, which was just as well—she would have been despicably beautiful otherwise. “We’re trying to be discreet.”
“Well, you’re a distraction here. You’re intimidating the students. Look at this bare section of lawn around you.”
“If they’ve nothing to hide, they don’t need to be afraid.”
Mineko’s face must have shown her disdain, because Jasmine blushed. “That’s a foolish response, Agent Turani. They’re afraid you’ll imagine indiscretions they haven’t committed. A healthy, rational fear.”
“Yes, Ms. Tamura.”
It was fascinating. Students barely ranked higher in the Codist hierarchy than the old man sweeping the station, but Agent Turani clearly didn’t see a student in front of her. She saw the girl who sat at Gaspar’s right hand while drinking wine without reprimand. The daughter of the most powerful official in the Codist military. The young woman who could address Commanding Agent Reed by his first name.
“My mother would suspect you’d invented this as a cover story,” said Mineko. “An excuse to come here and ogle.” She pointed out a group of sweaty students chasing a football across the lawn some distance away, and Jasmine blushed deeper. “But my mother has a lurid imagination.”
“It’s not like that at all. I’ve been told to apprehend anyone matching a certain description. Infiltrators, Mr. Reed says. Revolutionaries.” Jasmine adopted a resolute expression. “I’m diligently doing my job, ma’am. Duty means everything to me.”
Mineko’s lips twitched, but she kept her amusement constrained. “Of course it does. I’ll convey to my father your commendable attitude.”
“Really, would—I mean, how kind of you. May I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming exams?”
“I don’t rely upon luck in my pursuit of success, agent.”
At the frosty retort, Jasmine flinched, adding to Mineko’s satisfaction. She was enjoying this exercise of power a little too much. But why not? She’d finally stopped caring about projecting an image of quiet humility. The tumultuous week had taken care of that.
Mineko continued on her way, leaving Jasmine to her surveillance. It seemed that, knowing Mineko to be complicit, Lachlan was using her as bait. Perhaps he sensed that a rescue operation might take place and that this would give him the opportunity to obtain fresh clues in the hunt for Lexi. Hence this pervasively menacing atmosphere, this frisson of apprehension spreading through campus at Lachlan’s behest.
But Mineko was unafraid. She was a Tamura, and she would make her parents proud even as she broke their hearts. And then she would reject her birthright and be free.
CHAPTER 25
Waking up next to two gorgeous lesbians should have been the stuff of fantasy, but not this early in the day. Not when they were chattering away like two lyrical birds on a wire, just begging to be shot.
“Go back to sleep,” Lexi said.
“Are we bothering you?” said Callie. “We thought you were awake.”
“Why would you think that?”
“You groaned,” said Riva. “We asked, ‘Lexi, are you awake?’ And you made a groan that sounded like a yes.”
Lexi sighed and struggled upright. The grubby underground bunkroom was tiny, and each slim bunk barely fit its single occupant. “If you want to hear a groan that sounds like a yes, crawl into bed with me.”
The radiator plinked. It was still blazing, its bars bright orange, and a comfortable heat filled the room. That had been Callie’s idea, of course. Lexi’s suggestion for keeping warm would have been a lot more fun.
“You shouldn’t sleep with your makeup on,” said Callie. “You look like somebody gave you two black eyes.”
Tempting though it was to bludgeon Callie with a pillow, Lexi refrained for Riva’s sake. She was especially pretty this morning, her Mohawk down and its pink strands swept to one side. “Did you rest well, Latour?”
Riva’s mascara-smudged eyes crinkled at the corners, intensifying Lexi’s urge to hug her. “Just fine. With you two here, I wasn’t even a little bit scared of the dark.”
“You’re too cute,” said Callie. “I might have to steal you from Lexi.”
“She’s not mine,” said Lexi. “So go right ahead. Give her a passionate good-morning kiss.”
Callie glanced at Riva’s lips, blushed, and bounded to her feet. “Time to take a shower. I’ll check on Amity too, see if she’s better.”
“Tell her I said good morning.” Riva watched, smiling, as Callie departed the room. “And how did you sleep, Lexi?”
“I had nightmares,” Lexi said. “But seeing Raffo always does that to me.”
“Did you hear Callie crying last night?”
“What?” Lexi’s cheerfulness evaporated. “No.”
“I don’t know if she was dreaming or awake, but she was definitely crying.”
“Well, she did kill someone yesterday.” Lexi wriggled down the bed and scooped her clothes from the floor. She took her time dressing until—zipper drawn, buttons fastened—she had no choice but to look at Riva again. “She’s not a happy kid, okay? You already knew that. Don’t show me that accusing face.”
“I gather she doesn’t have a lot of friends.”
“Everyone likes Callie, but no, she doesn’t have what you’d call friends. For one thing, she’s not always easy to track down. She’s like a stray dog. There’s a few places she haunts, people pet and feed her, but you can’t ever be sure where you’ll find her day to day.”
“A stray dog? That’s an awful comparison.”
“But it fits. And even though you want to adopt every stray you see, you eventually realize you can’t. That’s why she doesn’t have close friends. It’d take too much emotional investment.”
“I’d be her friend if I had the chance. Having just met you both, it’s sad to think you’re going to be leaving so soon.”
Awkward subject. To buy time, Lexi popped a mint, sucked its coating off and chewed it into powder. A knock at the door rescued her from responding. “I’ll get that.”
Lexi found Raffo lurking in the corridor, his looks unimproved by sleep—assuming, of course, that he slept. “What’s up, Raff?”
“You and I need to talk.”
“Let me guess. Callie clogged the pipes.”
“This is serious, I’m afraid.”
When Raffo described something as serious, he meant it. Lexi leaned back into the room. “I’ve got to take a walk, babe. You going to be okay?”
“Sure.” Riva faked a smile. “I’ll fix breakfast.”
That was one of the worst things about Lexi’s chip—seeing all the unhappy emotions she had no business knowing about. “Get Callie to lend you a hand, all right?”
She rejoined Raffo in the corridor, and they set off without apparent direction. “What’s the deal?” Lexi said.
“I had a phone call twenty minutes ago,” Raffo said. “Rather than expect you to rely upon my own memory, I recorded it.” He set a phone in Lexi’s palm. “Listen, my dear, and then explain to me what the hell is going on.”
Lexi tapped the screen.
“Hello?” Raffo, answering the call.
“Raffo.” The deep, rhythmic voice of Samuel Brink, better known to the hapless people of Foundation as Prince Vassago. “Where’s Lexi Vale?”
A short pause. Raffo should’ve known better—Vassago could read more from a pause than most people could from a full sentence.
“Raffo. You have a duty to me.”
“I don’t know, boss. I haven’t seen her for years.”
“Callie Roux’s van was seen in the Rail District yesterday. I’m informed the two women are together. They didn’t come to you?”
“No, boss.” Raffo’s reply was quicker this time, but there was no missing the tremor in his voice. “I can send some people out looking if you want.”
“She’s shrewd as they come. S
he won’t go to somebody she doesn’t trust completely, someone who might even be stupid enough to lie to me. And I can’t think of anyone in the Rail District who fits that description but you.”
Lexi glanced at Raffo. His battered face was unreadable, but—she crept inside—it was jittery concern that consumed him, not guilt. However this conversation had ended, he hadn’t sold her out.
Raffo’s voice piped again from the phone, hoarse with anxiety. “If I see her, my prince, what do you want me to do?”
“Tell her to get out of Foundation. The shut-ins are coming for her. Several of her friends have betrayed her already, and others are waiting on an offer. If she whines, remind her that she’s one of my best investments. I don’t like to see my investments put at risk.”
“Tell her to leave? But boss—”
Vassago cut in. “Has Contessa tried to contact you?”
Shit. Lexi had forgotten about Contessa. The self-styled Queen of Foundation would flip her shit over this. She and Lexi had a special working relationship. One that Lexi wasn’t expected to walk away from.
“No. Should I expect her to?”
“Yes. And I need you to lie to her just as you’ve lied to me.”
The recorded conversation ended. Lexi passed back the phone.
An uneasy silence ensued. Raffo waddled. Lexi prowled. They glanced sidelong at each other. The silence continued. Raffo cleared his throat. Lexi adjusted her collar. Raffo licked his lips.
“How long is this fucking corridor?” Lexi pointed down its endless darkened length. “We’ve been walking forever.”
“No idea. It’s part of a maintenance grid that runs under the entire district.”
Lexi stood facing him, hands in her pockets, and stared him down. “What do you want to know?”
“A crumb of truth, perhaps?” Raffo held out a cracked palm, his seven fingers bent upward. “A morsel of confidence, something to explain why our high and mighty master is shitting bricks on your behalf? If shut-ins are hunting you, why didn’t you go to Vassago?”
“Raff…” Lexi probed his thoughts a little deeper. His mind was actually quite attractive—animated, vibrant, sparking with an earnest desire to help, warmed by nostalgic fondness for her. Much nicer than the exterior would suggest. “I’ve kept something from him.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that I have the only working suicide chip. I’m unique, baby. A one-of-a-kind cyborg. I can’t tell you what the chip really does, but when Vassago and the others find out, they’ll be very pissed off.”
“So you’ve betrayed him, is that what you’re saying?”
“Not exactly. Maybe I played by my own rules, but I’ve still gotten him everything he wanted. There’s peace in the inner districts, and I made a lot of people rich in the process.”
“Yourself included.”
The pointed observation gave her pause. Here was a heavily disfigured man who chose to skulk inside disused tunnels, a gangster who embraced his grotesque image because it gave him street cred. Why else had Lexi been drawn to Raffo and his crew if not because of her instinctive desire to be among misfits?
And as a forbidden cyborg, wasn’t she now a pariah herself?
“Listen.” Lexi took out her wallet. “I’m getting out of the city, just as Sammy wants. I know things might get a little hot around here, so take this.” She peeled off half the notes she owned and forced the wad into Raffo’s claw. “You might need it.”
Raffo squinted through the half-light at the money. “This is more cash than we get from our business in three months.” He riffled the notes. “Why give it to me?”
“You lied to him. We both know that’s not easy.”
“Of course I lied. He’s the chief, but you and me go back further.” Raffo folded the notes before tucking them into his pocket. “I can’t afford to refuse this, but let’s say it was for services rendered, shall we? Accommodation, garage rental, that sort of thing. My conscience winces at taking money simply for keeping my word.”
“Deal.” Lexi stuck out her hand. After a moment’s delay, Raffo shook it. “Funny. All these years refusing to touch you, and this feels just like any other hand.”
Grinning, Raffo wiped his palm on his shirt-front. “And to my horror, yours feels disgusting.”
Lexi laughed. “Fuck you.”
* * *
Amity pushed her plate across the plastic table. “I don’t want this.”
“You gotta eat.” Zeke looked meek but hopeful, like a tiny animal trying to befriend its natural predator. “I know you ain’t feeling so great, but you need it. Force some down.”
“If I eat, I’ll vomit. And I refuse to vomit.”
Zeke held out a fork. “C’mon. Here comes the airplane.”
Amity narrowed her eyes.
“This is ground control,” said Callie. “Conditions too hazardous. Abort flight. Return immediately to the tarmac.”
On the opposite side of the table, Riva and Lexi laughed, and Amity gave a grudging smile. “One bite.” She allowed Zeke to put the fork in her mouth. Adorable.
Breakfast had been surprisingly enjoyable, despite the dining venue: an ancient vault filled with rusting, unidentified machine parts. After a quick investigation, Callie had deemed the scrap to be useless, though with Raffo’s permission she’d pocketed a weathered cube with prongs on one side. An auto part, Callie had told them. It could have been a sex toy for all Lexi knew.
“I hope Kade made it back.” Callie swung on her chair, ate from her plate and talked all at once—it was even money whether she’d choke on her food or fall over first. “Do you think he could convince Nikolas to help Min?”
Amity shook her messy blonde head. “The Commander has spoken.”
“You don’t have to listen to him, though, right? You could still help us.”
“Don’t force her to choose loyalties,” said Riva. “Besides, she needs to stay by Lexi’s side. And Lexi certainly can’t go.”
Nobody seemed inclined to disagree with that. Not even Lexi. In fact, it had begun to dawn on her just how much trouble she was in. It was one thing to have oddballs like Min and Nikolas trying to scare her out of town, but when even Vassago said it was time to run…
“So, I’m in a mood to save my ass,” Lexi said. “Assuming we allow time for Callie to rescue Minnie, what’s the earliest we can split?”
“You could leave Foundation today,” said Amity. “It’s a little earlier than we had planned, but time isn’t on your side. You all need to come to a decision among yourselves.”
Zeke raised his fork. “I vote for today. After that raid on my lounge, my life here is a fucking lost cause anyway.”
Lexi nodded. “I’m with you.”
“Works for me,” said Callie. “I’ll drop in at Bunker One, grab Min from the University and high-tail it back. A quick service of the van, and we’re on the road by late afternoon.”
“I’ll come with you to the University,” said Riva. “I want to help.”
What little color Amity had regained drained from her face. “What?”
“I know what you’re thinking. I don’t have the skills you four do. I’m the weakest of us physically. But even so, I can make a difference.” Riva smiled at Callie, whose mouth hung open, showcasing the last of her breakfast. “I’d hate you all to think I’m just the girl who cooks and cleans.”
“I’m sorry, but no,” said Amity. “I order you to come back with us.”
“I told Nikolas my intentions. He said he wanted me to reconsider, but I insisted, and so he finally gave his blessing.”
“I don’t care what he says. You aren’t going.”
“Hey, don’t boss her around,” said Callie. “She makes her own decisions, okay? And she’s coming with me.”
Riva gave Callie a shy smile. Under her asymmetric pink bangs, her blue-gray irises were bright and untroubled, evoking the quiet clarity of a cloudless winter sky. “Thank you, Callie. And Amity, please don’
t worry about me. We’ll ask Kade to join us.”
“Good idea.” Amity latched on to the suggestion with as much enthusiasm as Lexi had the night before. “Go to him first and explain in detail what you have in mind.”
“But…” Zeke jittered in his chair, as agitated as Lexi had ever seen him. “Look, I want Min out of there too, but this is so fucking risky.” He gave Callie a pleading look. “I still remember how you used to swagger into my lounge as a little kid, cheeky as all fuck. You’d hit on the women, make ’em laugh. They thought you were the most adorable fucking thing. We all did. Hell, you still are.”
Callie blushed. “C’mon.”
“But it’s true. You’d take some junk out of your satchel, old chips and mods, and I’d give you money and a hot meal. You kept coming back. You grew older. The women stopped cooing and started swooning instead. But you never stopped being a sweetheart. The most honest smuggler I ever met. You give me a fair price, never let me down, always keep your end of a deal.”
“Of course. You’ve always been good to me too.”
“But that’s not true. I’ve ripped you off every chance I got. I’ve shortchanged you on so many fucking deals, and you just shrug and trust me. And now you’re going out there today, risking it all. If we lose you, I’ll never get to pay you back.” Zeke broke eye contact and stared at the wall. “What kind of—” His voice broke. “What kind of fucking world would this be without you in it?”
As Riva comforted Zeke and Amity awkwardly offered Callie a tissue, Lexi focused on eating the last of her breakfast. She’d lost her appetite, but she couldn’t look these people in the eyes right now. Not if she wanted to maintain her tough reputation.
* * *
Raffo flicked through a set of keys while Lexi and her crew suffered the freezing air. The high, skewed walls of the alley blocked the morning sun, and frost sprouted from the weeds that wound through the brickwork. In her big black coat, Amity seemed unaffected by the cold, while at the other extreme, Callie hopped from boot to boot, bare legs bristling with gooseflesh.
“Here it is.” Raffo flourished a small key. “And may I say, it’s been a pleasure having you.”
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