She tapped the phone. Several trills later, it emitted a quiet click. “Mineko?” said a deep, puzzled voice. “Why are you calling me at work?”
“Dad.” Mineko sobbed as tears—perhaps real ones—formed in her eyes. “You have to help me.”
Blackmail. But it was no surprise that Mineko knew that art form. Her entire life, she’d witnessed her father’s craft, and now she was putting the lessons to work…
Lachlan paled and gripped the lectern. Apparently, he was beginning to understand how it felt when somebody else held the strings. Mineko smirked at him, a contemptuous, superior twist of her lips.
“Help you?” said the astounded voice of Gaspar Tamura. “What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?”
“I’ve been taken hostage. They’re district people. Lachlan tried to save me. Him and Agent Turani, they risked their lives for me…”
Now that was one hell of a game-changing move. Sparing Lachlan, yet forcing him to remain complicit in order to enjoy mercy. Judging from Lachlan’s dazed expression, the implications hadn’t been lost on him either.
“Who has you?” said Gaspar. “Where are you? Describe anything you can see. Stay on the line, we’ll track you.”
It was time to do what little he could. Kade held out his hand. Mineko frowned at him but surrendered the phone. “Agent Tamura,” Kade said. “This is Kade August. I have your daughter.”
“What do you want from me?” The fuming tones of a powerful man in a situation outside his control.
“I want you to stop exploiting us for cheap labor. I want you to break the gangs instead of lending them your support. I want your internal oppression to end, for your caste system to be dismantled, for Codists to be allowed to express themselves as they choose. I want you to join us as comrades. To share the burden of a broken world.”
“Radical drivel. What do you really want?”
There was only one path to take now. Kade took a deep breath. “I did this alone. That’s all you need to know for now. I did this alone and nobody helped me.” He ended the call with a tap from his thumb.
A second later, Lachlan’s breast pocket buzzed. Still staring at Mineko, he answered the call.
“Reed here. Yes, sir. It’s true, sir. Yes. He was heavily armed, I couldn’t—yes, I’ll be there straightaway. Yes, every detail. Of course. We’ll get her back, sir. I’m sure August wouldn’t harm—yes, I know. Yes. I was wrong. Clearly. Yes, sir.”
He lowered the phone and locked gazes with the unsmiling young woman opposite him. “Your mother will be heartbroken.”
“Someday, she’ll understand,” said Mineko. “Meanwhile, I hope you appreciate what I’ve done for you and Jasmine. My father will never doubt my version of events. You’ll be pardoned, and Jasmine will get the promotion she’s been craving. Be sure to remind her often that she owes it to my lie. Ambitious as she is, she’ll understand her career now depends upon supporting our version of events.”
Mineko ejected the battery from her phone and tossed it to Lachlan. “They’ll try to track me through this, so take it and dump it in the street. Now you’ve spoken to my father and endorsed my deception, it’s impossible for you to turn back. Furthermore, if you harm my friends, I’ll call home and let them know you facilitated my escape. You’ve lost, Lachlan.”
“To think I’ve been refusing to blackmail you, and now I’m the one being blackmailed. It’s like I told you, Kade. Her father’s mind.”
“Did you plan this?” said Kade. “These choices, this outcome?”
“I’ve reacted to circumstances.” Mineko clasped her hands behind her as she stared out the window. “I’ve long committed myself to the project of overcoming my own weakness, unlike Lachlan, who tries to delude himself that he has power inside here.”
Lachlan pressed his fingers to his temples. “Get out. Leave me to clean up your mess.”
Mineko inspected him the way a bird might contemplate an insect. “I know you intend to kill Lexi or to sabotage the Project in some other way. One of my parents will catch you in the end.”
“Be warned. Your family name means nothing out there.”
“Don’t think I’m running. Remember, breathing is an involuntary act. Resistance must be chosen.”
Where the hell had Mineko read Beatrice Abramo? But there was no time to ask, and she was already halfway to the door.
“I’ll meet you outside,” Kade said. “Five minutes.”
“Five minutes.” Mineko closed the door behind her.
Kade glanced over to Lachlan. “She outplayed you.”
“Yes.” Lachlan moved to the window and stared out. “Gaspar will have squads all over campus within the next half hour. They’ll rake over her room and interrogate students. I have to admit, covering it up will be a challenge.”
Kade joined Lachlan by the window. “But you do love a challenge.”
“I’ve seen for myself how Callie Roux can drive, so I suppose they might even make it to Port Venn. Will Amity be going with them?”
“I doubt it. Foundation is her soil.”
“Which she fertilizes with blood. Dear Amity. Did she recover quickly?”
“Very quickly. You’d best hope your paths don’t cross again.”
Lachlan shrugged. “Perhaps she’ll come to forgive me.”
“Unlikely. What about the gang boss who interfered with you yesterday? Do you plan on hassling her?”
“That she-colossus? Of course not. It would be a sin to remove such an astonishing specimen from Foundation’s ecosystem.” Lachlan breathed a soft, weary sigh. “You noble idiot.”
The window sill was made of real wood, coarse, warmed by the sun. Kade pressed his palm to it. Hard to believe the entire world had once felt as alive and honest as this. “Noble doesn’t seem the right word.”
“You gave your name to Gaspar so that he would focus his search upon you. Desperate to regain Mineko, he’ll devote the majority of our resources to that pursuit. Lexi will have every chance now of escaping the city. In other words, you’ve sacrificed yourself for her. It’s far from a fair trade.”
“You don’t know her.” Kade traced a whorled knot on the sill, following its wild shape. “She and Ash adopted me. A family distilled into two people. Lexi was a sister and a brother both, and Ash was our caretaker.”
“It’s hard to imagine you irresponsible enough to need a caretaker.”
“Ash was older than us by a year. Mature as she was, it felt like a decade. That didn’t stop me falling in love. And somehow, she returned my feelings.”
The room brightened. Ironic that just as his heart was hurting most, the clouds outside had chosen to disperse, fully unveiling the sun and leaving the sky clearer than he’d ever seen it.
“Love,” Lachlan said. “In times like these, you’d think we’d have moved on from that concept, yet here it is, still commanding us.”
“I want Mineko to know what love feels like. Yes, it can be cruel, but my scars are the map I follow whenever I’m lost and frightened. Amity and Nikolas ask me why I never seem to despair. It’s because I know that Ash died loving me. As love is deathless, that means she loves me still.”
“And so she’s the hero, while I’m the coward. You all claim to be repulsed by my treachery, yet when you thought it was only my own people I’d betrayed, you all admired me. In truth, I’ve betrayed nobody. There’s no betrayal in ensuring one’s own survival.”
“A useful rationalization, I’m sure.”
Lachlan stared at Kade with unguarded intensity in his eyes—an emotion somewhere between desperation and anger. “You grieved for Ash. You always will. But did you ever once grieve for me?”
“Only until I felt like a fool for doing so.”
“Do you really think I never considered staying? I longed to. But Ash saw my motive, and she hated me for it.”
“What are you talking about? What motive?”
“She’s the one who reported me to Sarabelle. Never once letting me defend myself
. She hated me because she saw from the beginning what you’re too stupid to see even now.” Lachlan touched Kade lightly on the cheek—a moment of fleeting contact that left a warm and lingering imprint on his skin. “I know very well how cruel love is, you arrogant son of a bitch. Had Ash only let me, I would have stayed for you.”
He strode from the room. Kade stared after him, unable to speak. Confusion like an ache winding around his ribs. All these years, and he’d never even guessed.
Mineko peeked through the doorway. “Lachlan just stormed out. Why?”
“He said goodbye.” It seemed truth enough.
“Good. Let’s leave before the situation changes. We can take a rear exit to avoid the students outside.”
“Sure. We’d better grab Callie and Riva first.”
“Do you think Callie is disappointed with me?”
The plaintive question instantly exposed the vulnerable young girl beneath the armor. Kade inspected her with renewed sympathy. Her eyes were penetrating, true, but it was her mouth that made her seem so thoughtful. Her fragile lips curved slightly upward even in rest, as if they bore the imprint of some past happiness that refused to entirely fade.
“Don’t worry about Callie,” he said. “It takes time to really understand someone, and you two will have plenty of it.”
“But will I ever get to know you? You aren’t coming with us. I can tell.”
“I’ll be staying in Foundation. But just because I’m not physically beside you, that doesn’t mean I’m not with you in every moment that matters.”
“I don’t understand.”
Kade laughed, and Mineko gave him a bright, puzzled smile. At her age, he wouldn’t have understood either. But now there was no fact he understood with more certainty or intimacy.
True, the price had been too great. Even so, it was paid.
CHAPTER 34
A titanic, gleaming monster swept aside the remains of a fallen skyscraper. With a grinding roar, the giant robot caught a fighter plane and smooshed it.
“How much do you think that cost?” said Zeke. “The robot, I mean.”
From her comfortable position at the other end of the couch, Lexi frowned at him. “It’s not real, dumbass. It’s a special effect.”
“I know that. I mean, how much do you think the effects cost? These old movies seem so fucking expensive. Cars blowing up, buildings falling down. And look at that dude in spandex spinning around shooting beams from his fucking hands. How much did he cost?”
“How the hell would I know? It probably didn’t matter back then. They thought this was art.”
A tank rolled down the street, shells spitting from its turret, only to be smashed beneath the robot’s left foot. A second robot—bulky, green, covered in lights—hurtled into the first. The spinning dude promptly fired another sparkling beam from his hands.
“History. I don’t get it.” Zeke nabbed a peanut that Lexi had dropped between the cushions. “I’d take a good porno any day over this shit. Hell, we oughta watch one together right now. Bond over it.”
“Surely by now you know I’m never going to sleep with you.”
“C’mon, admit it. I’m your guilty fantasy.”
Lexi flicked a peanut at him, and it pinged off his bald head. “When’s the last time you got laid?”
“Hey, I get laid regular.” Zeke took his electronic cigarette from his jacket pocket. “Granted, fifty percent of my sexual congress is people blowing me for a discount, but it counts.” The blue light flared at his lips. “I hear Port Venn has good clubs. You gonna come with me when I check out the scene?”
“Sure. We’ll take Riva and Callie, show them a fun time.”
“What about Min?”
“I guess the kid can come too. But I’m not going to babysit her.”
“Huh.” Zeke sucked at the cigarette. “You don’t think she and Callie are going to be soulmates or whatever?”
“I fucking hope not. Min’s packed with neuroses. Doesn’t know what the fuck she wants. At this point in her life, Callie needs someone mature. Sensitive. A babe who’s able to articulate her own dreams and desires.”
“So…we set her up with Riva, then?”
Lexi stretched back, grinning. “I don’t think we’d have to do much. Just leave them both in the same room, close the door, check back in an hour.”
“Can she come with us, Lex? She wants out.”
“I don’t make the decisions. Don’t ask me.” Lexi popped a peanut into her mouth. “If you and Callie like the girl so much, you two ask her.”
“Don’t play dumb. You know she won’t come unless you want it too.”
The more Lexi thought about Riva, the more her stomach felt like a scorpion pit. It had been hours since Riva and Callie had left, which meant Kade hadn’t succeeded in talking them out of it. And that meant…
“Let’s not talk about Riva right now,” Lexi said. “I’m anxious.”
“Yeah, me too. But I got faith in Callie to bring her back. I saw her catch a rattlesnake once.”
“No kidding?”
“Fucking thing was in my lounge. I didn’t know what the hell to do about it, so I called her in. She corners it, catches it, and I swear to God, starts patting the slithery son of a bitch. She thought it was cute.”
Gazing into Zeke’s eyes, Lexi took an idle trip through the memory. Callie holding the writhing snake behind its head, laughing as it coiled around her wrist… Jesus, Callie, put that fucking thing in the cage already…
Zeke pouted. “You’re reading me, aren’t you?”
“Not really. Just skimming the surface.”
“Why can you read me from over there, but some people you gotta touch on the face? I never understood that.”
“People are different. And to be honest, I’m getting better at it. Like this morning when I wiped all those gangsters at once.” Lexi stared at the erratic light bulb above them. “I wonder what the limits are. Usually when I hit a wall, I stop, but lately I’ve been tempted to keep pushing. See what happens.”
The bulb’s filament trembled. Sometimes it was hard to believe she wasn’t controlling such things too, willing the world to bend or break.
Zeke twirled his cigarette between his fingers. “Scary to think what a bad person might do with that power of yours.”
“But I am a bad person. Gang scum. Vassago’s flunky. Contessa’s bitch.”
“You think Contessa knows anything about all this?”
“Sure she does. She’s the Queen of Foundation. And she’s not going to be happy when she finds out I’m gone.”
“What’s she like in person? Is she sexy?”
“Yeah, but she’s got a huge fucking ego. Take that fancy penthouse of hers. Her gang fixed up an entire luxury hotel, made it just like it used to be. Except for the view. Not even Contessa can make that pretty.”
Zeke leaned closer. “You ever fuck her? If it ain’t too sleazy to ask.”
Sleazy in the extreme, but that had never stopped Lexi before. “In the course of our usual business, sure. And to tell you the truth, I don’t much enjoy it. She calls all the shots. Likes to dominate me. Pushes my head between her legs, bends me over her desk, that sort of thing.”
“She bends you over her desk? Like, with a strap-on?”
“That, or just to spank me.” Lexi frowned. “I once got offered a hundred thousand to ice her. I said no, tipped Contessa off, and the gangster who suggested the deal ended up in a dumpster. No wonder Ash stopped wanting to have anything to do with me.”
Zeke reclined again, his eyes thoughtful. “I remember when Ash would come to pick you up from my lounge, way back in the day, before you fell out with her and Kade. She was drop-dead fucking gorgeous. Smiled at me once. It was weird how good it made me feel.”
Why had she let the topic shift to Ash? She didn’t need any more another reasons for her stomach to twist inside out. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“The day she died, you told me tha
t you had nothing left. Then you cried on my shoulder. I’d never seen that side of you before. I’ve never seen it since, but once was enough. Now I know it’s bullshit when you act like you don’t need people. You ain’t pushing us all away because you don’t want us. It’s because you’re scared of this shit. This needing people.”
Lexi stared at the glowing tip of the cigarette. Fucking Zeke…
She was rescued from answering by the dramatic arrival of Amity, who rushed wide-eyed into the rec room. “They’ve come back. Kade phoned ahead and told me they have Mineko Tamura. I had to force Nikolas to open the garage door.”
“Force?” said Lexi. “You mean he tried to turn them away?”
“He was conflicted, so I made the decision for him. They should be driving in now.”
Zeke jumped to his feet. “Are they all okay? Nobody got hurt?”
“I don’t know much.” Amity gave a breathless laugh. “Mineko Tamura is coming here to Bunker One. Do you have any idea what that means?”
“The kid needs a better agent?”
“No, you idiot. It means all hell is about to break loose.”
* * *
Callie’s van rolled down the ramp, a grubby white box on wheels that just happened to contain pretty much all the people Lexi gave a damn about.
Open Hand had turned out to meet the arrivals. Nikolas looked even more ragged than usual, his ginger hair disarranged and his body language agitated. He moved without rest, pacing and fidgeting. In contrast, Amity exuded all the grim triumph of someone who’d just dug themselves out of their own grave.
A tanned, black-haired woman stood with Nikolas and Amity. Her scuffed brown coat, tilted fedora and casual stance set her apart from the Open Hand stiffs around her. Her creased face suggested somebody more likely to frown than laugh, and she didn’t seem in the mood to smile now.
Lexi nudged Zeke. “Who’s the tired-looking woman in the hat?”
“She came in earlier. That’s Kade’s boss. I forget the name.”
Callie jumped out of the van. Whatever disguise she might have worn on her little adventure, she’d already ditched it. She took off her cap, brushed back her messy hair and grinned at Lexi. “Miss me?”
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