by Vanessa Muir
“Cole’s right. Set it up.”
Charlie choked on his words. “Are you kidding? Levi, this isn’t going to work out. It has to be a trap.”
“We’re doing it.” And then Levi was out of the computer room and walking deeper into the nest of sewer rooms that served as their home and base of operations.
Charlie glared at the technician. “This won’t end well for us.”
“Sometimes, you’ve got to take chances to get what you want.” He spun around in his chair and set to work organizing the meeting that would surely see them trapped, killed or worse…
On the screen, the citizens of Corden Prime darted across the streets, brutally attacking each other. Charlie turned her back and walked from the room.
Charlie didn’t have a choice. They’d meet the fucking guy and get this over with, but she didn’t have to like it. She didn’t have to agree.
“Keep your head in the game, Spade,” Levi said.
They were in Corden Delta, where things were relatively normal. Normal in that the looting hadn’t started yet, and the crime had nothing to do with MemXor or the degradation of people’s brains because of the Memory Machines.
Charlie looked up at him.
They waited in the shadow of a tree in the local park, the only one still open. A muscle twitched in Levi’s jaw.
“You’re tense,” Charlie said.
“Of course I’m tense. Everything is on the line. The future of the people on the continents is at stake.”
Corden, the combination of both South and North America, contained millions of lives. Millions who would be manipulated by the State and the Memory Machines if the leaders weren’t kept in check.
Charlie agreed with the sentiment but hated being overridden. This was still a bad idea.
“We should—”
“Someone’s coming.” Levi nodded toward the entrance to the park.
It was late, and the lights in the street were dim—a few of the lampposts having failed months ago. No one had bothered fixing them. No one had switched on the lights in the park, either, unless that had been Black Mars’ doing for the purpose of this meeting. Levi had pulled similar tricks in the past.
A figure stood between the gates, short, hesitating, wearing a large coat—like that wouldn’t make him more obvious.
He walked in their general direction down a path that turned between the trees. Then he stepped off it and came to stand with them.
SSG operative, all right, wearing the uniform beneath a trench coat. Stocky, his face caught in the half-light. Shadows danced across his tan skin. He had sharp, dark eyes, a nose that had been broken, and thick, unruly blond hair.
Charlie didn’t recognize him. She hadn’t worked with everyone in SSG, heck she hadn’t paid that much attention to the others—her focus had always been on her cases—but it still raised a red flag in her mind.
“Levi Daniels. Good to meet you,” trench-coat guy said with an uneducated-sounding accent. He nodded in Charlie’s direction. “Agent Spade.”
“I’m not an agent anymore.”
“Right, of course you aren’t.” The guy swept fingers through his hair. “Some of us don’t have that luxury.”
“You call it a luxury to be on the run? To be hunted by the State?”
“Easy,” Levi said and touched her arm. “Easy, Spade. He’s here to help.”
Like she was a horse or an animal that needed calming. What she needed was for this man to get to the point.
“Name’s Jayce Turner,” he said. “And I’ve been working with Black Mars for quite some time. You’re new, yeah?” He had an accent too, not one that was from Corden, but across the ocean, perhaps from the European Alliance?
“New?”
“To Black Mars.” Jayce flashed an easy grin, but it disappeared fast. Neither Charlie nor Levi were in the mood for small talk.
“What do you have for us?” Levi asked, tucking his hands behind his back, keeping his head up as he scanned the park. Just in case.
They had to remain vigilant at all times.
“It’s happening a week from now. Seven ambassadors from the regions meeting with Absalon Shamood himself. At SSG HQ.”
There was so much to unpack here. “Why the HQ?” Charlie asked.
Levi gave her a look but didn’t interrupt.
The guy, Jayce, cleared his throat, stepped a little closer. “Because that’s the only place that’s safe for Shamood. There’s a rift between the two sides, right? Nathaniel doesn’t want him near the ambassadors, but Absalon gets his way. He’s the brains.”
“You know him that well?” Charlie asked.
“It’s my job to know him and your father, Spade,” Jayce replied. “If I don’t, then Black Mars breaks apart.”
The fact that he knew Nathaniel was her father meant nothing, but there was a reminder in his tone. She was new, he wasn’t. She was related to the man they had to work against, he wasn’t.
The low hum of a shuttle nearby cut across their conversation. The three of them stiffened, searched the darkness.
Jayce’s standard-issue SSG watch blipped. He checked it. “I got to go. I’ve been here for too long. You have the information you need. Don’t contact me again for a while, all right?”
“That’s all you have for us? Just the place? Can’t you give us information on who the ambassadors are?”
“Easily researchable,” Jayce said. “Ask Cole to look into it. Two each from the regions apart from the European Alliance. Only one from them. I gotta go.” He lifted one foot and then the other, shuffled backward. “I’m outa here.” He turned on his heel and darted back down the path toward the exit of the park.
“What the hell was that?” Charlie muttered.
“A man being cautious, I assume.”
A light flashed in the street opposite the park, the blue and red of a police shuttle’s lights.
“He’s right,” Levi whispered. “We’ve stayed here far too long.”
4
Charlie and Levi crept from the park. It was the opposite of how she’d operated in SSG. Then, she’d walked in daylight; she’d questioned people, investigated, arrested. She’d never snuck from alleyway to alleyway, fearing that others would capture her.
It was criminal behavior, and she struggled with it. Struggled with the people they had to trust, things they had to do to stay on top.
You made this choice.
She’d been dutiful for too long.
“There,” Levi whispered, gesturing toward the entrance to an alleyway. They’d been using the sewers to get around—in and out of the underground operations—and thankfully, the ones in Delta sector were open for use.
The flashing lights from the police shuttle moved along the walls of the buildings down the street. Charlie and Levi crouched in one of the bus shuttle alcoves, waiting.
Cops milled around in front of an apartment building. Delta was known for crime, so that wouldn’t have been a concern for Charlie, except… the police had long ago abandoned this sector. Left it to develop its own economy, almost its own political atmosphere if not for the singular authority of the State.
They weren’t here for a disturbance or to police the streeters who clopped down the sidewalk in their impossibly high heels.
They were here for Black Mars.
“Levi…”
“I know,” he said softly. “We’re fine. Lay low. We’ll move across once they’re done.”
But the police shuttled didn’t move off. It stayed, the officers moving across the street, blocking it in one long line. And a figure had appeared, walking from the alleyway they’d wanted to enter. It was Jayce, still in his trench coat, his face panicked as he passed under a lamppost.
He made a beeline for Levi and Charlie, and her stomach turned.
He’d out them if he came over. Had he been trying to get underground too? Was the way shut off?
Jayce reached the midpoint of the street.
Levi rose and lifte
d his palms, shaking his head, hidden from the police, but clear to their SSG informant.
I knew this was a mistake. Levi should have listened to me. Charlie was used to doubting those around her, but so far, Levi had been on top of things.
A shout rang out from the shuttle at the end of the street, and Charlie craned her head, daring to peer out at it. Cops ranged toward them, toward Jayce in particular.
“Shit,” Charlie whispered. “Shit. He’s going to expose us. It’s a trap.”
“No.” Levi waved a hand at Jayce.
The other man froze, staring at him. Jayce had two options, as far as Charlie could rationalize. To run toward them, hoping they had an out. They didn’t. Or he could turn and hand himself over, save the leader of the rebellion and their entire cause.
Jayce took a breath and stepped back. He rotated and walked toward the officers, raising his hands as he went. “Don’t shoot. I’m unarmed.”
Charlie pressed her back to the alcove’s wall, shrinking inside and out as flashlight strobes fluttered over the pavement.
“Hands behind your back.” A cop’s gruff command.
“I haven’t done nothin’,” Jayce’s voice warbled. “I’m just taking a late-night stroll. What’s the problem with that?”
“Do you think we’re stupid?”
“I’m an SSG agent. You can’t arrest me,” Jayce said, indignant. “You’ll hear from my supervisor right quick.”
“We know exactly who you are. On your stomach. Hands behind your head.”
Charlie dared peek out again. And there he was, lying face down. The cops surrounded him. They lifted him. They carted him off to the shuttle and threw him in the back, and after that, they packed into it and drove off, the flashing lights disappearing at last.
“Cole was right about him,” Levi said slowly. “Good man. Let’s go, Spade. Back to the underground. We’ve got plans to make.”
Charlie hesitated, lingering only to reel, mentally. Cole had been right; her suspicions had been misplaced. Perhaps, she could trust Levi’s decisions after all? She followed Levi into the underground.
5
“This is what I have,” Cole said, rolling back to afford them a better view of his screen. “I’ve figured out who the Sovetan ambassadors could be. Chancellor Ivanov and Chancellor Grigori. One male and one female. The others, I’m not sure about. The best shot you’ve got is to, well, frankly, take one of them.”
“From the meeting?” Charlie said, nodding. “That makes sense.”
“Agreeing with me for once?” Cole asked.
Charlie laughed. “I agree with you when you make sense. Is that so hard to believe?”
“It’s remarkable to me that you think I make sense when I suggest kidnapping.”
“Abduction,” Charlie replied. “There’s a difference.”
Levi paced the room with his hands still tucked behind his back. In the time she’d known him, Levi had been a rock. Even after their narrow escape from the Memory Facility in Corden Prime, he had been welcoming and calm.
Charlie had been the one who’d struggled with an overdose of MemXor. It had been dealt with, the edge taken off by the doctors down here, and worn off, finally. She was back to normal, at last, except for the suspicions, the waxing doubts about everyone.
Was it part of who she was? Or was it a side-effect of the formula she’d been given? One that hadn’t exactly been MemXor, but something else, entirely.
“We abduct one of them,” Levi said, “and we show them the truth.”
“The State has been pumping out international and national propaganda, claiming that the recent crime wave is the responsibility of the rebels.”
“Of course, they’re blaming us,” Charlie said, realizing the words she’d used. She’d slipped into identifying as a Black Mars operative shockingly quick, given that she’d been all for the State a few weeks ago. Or months. When had the realization started? After the death of Natalya Maxis? Or after Jones’ departure had shown SSG’s true colors?
“Yeah, they are. They’re using the martial law as an excuse to put things right, and to hunt down the perpetrators of this grand injustice against the peoples of Corden Prime and Corden itself.” Cole rolled his eyes. His thin fingers gripped the arms of his chair as he rocked back and forth in it, as if he could soothe his anger. He was skinny, tall, but with a strong jaw and a crooked nose that said he’d gotten into a fight, even if it had been one-sided. “So, that’s the official party line.”
“And what they’re going to feed the ambassadors?” Charlie asked.
“Basically. Think of it like this. The other regions, all four of them, are waiting for Corden to fall. The Memory Machines are made here, the secret of how to make them stays with the State and with Shamood. And the other countries crave that. They want the power Corden has. The minute there’s unrest, the vultures circle, and it’s up to the State to make that go away before it gets any worse.”
“And if they don’t?” Charlie asked.
“War. I would assume. All-out war.”
Charlie hesitated. “That’s what will happen if we expose the State. War. Another player coming in from the outside to interfere. What if it makes things worse?”
“Worse than this? Worse than the inability to live freely?” Levi snapped it out, then shook his head. When he spoke again, his tone was far more measured. “We’ll deal with whatever happens after the State is gone. We’ll have to. We don’t want power; we want freedom for the people. The freedom to choose who they want to support. The freedom from the Memory Machines.”
“But they’ll use them,” Charlie said. “The minute there’s a war, the other powers will sweep in and take whatever’s left.”
“That’s why we have a contingency plan.” Cole winked at her and tapped the side of his nose.
“What does that even mean?” Charlie asked.
“That doesn’t matter now.” Levi drew his hand through the air, stopping midway across the room. They had cleared the other techs out to have this discussion. The metal door seated in the rough concrete wall was bolted. Just in case. “We know what we have to do. Get the ambassador and give them the truth.”
“What truth?” Charlie asked. “We don’t have anything to give.”
“We have the information from your ex-partner’s folder.”
“Jones’ evidence? That’s not enough. It’s not hard evidence.”
“Of course it is,” Cole said. “I mean, it’s memories from a trusted source.”
And memories were supposed to be the currency of the new world.
“But memories can be edited,” Charlie said. “And sure, they’re trying to brainwash everyone, to use people and MemXor as a weapon, but we need to get our hands on something real. Like… the drugs they injected me with. Information on that. The processes. Actual data downloads. Not just memories.”
“And how could we get these?” Cole asked, his pale brow wrinkling.
“I’d have to break into the Corden Prime Mem Research Facility.”
“No,” Levi said. “Not happening. You won’t get inside without being caught.”
“It’s a risk I have to take.”
“No, it’s unnecessary. We have what we need.”
But Charlie kept shaking her head. “I’m doing this, Levi, whether you approve of it or not.”
Black Mars had a hierarchy, but it wasn’t oppressive. Everyone in the group understood that if they were caught, they would be interrogated. Charlie would never give anything away, and none of the others would, either.
“You’re sure about this?” Levi stood beside her, put a hand on her arm.
“Yes.” Charlie exhaled. “But I’ll need help. Tools to get inside. Blueprints of the facility, if possible.”
The only way she could be sure this would go off without a hitch, would be to do it herself. To get the evidence, to hand it over.
Cole’s lips drew back over white teeth. “Oh, I think that can be arranged.”
&
nbsp; 6
Charlie lifted the grate above her head, muscles straining as she slid it to one side. Levi would stay behind. He was still a higher priority target as the leader of Black Mars. The insurance was that if Charlie was caught, Levi was free to continue with their plans.
A comforting thought.
Cool air washed through the hole—the early hours of the morning had come, the stars sparkling above surreal. They were ever-present while the world changed beneath them. A feral scream tore down the street, and Charlie counted to three after it had faded.
She lifted herself out of the hole and crouched in the night. She didn’t shift the grate back into place. She’d need a quick escape route and this would be it.
Charlie touched a finger to her temple and opened the blueprint for the building behind her. It was the Mem Research Facility.
Their Intel told them that it was under guard again, mostly to prevent the deranged citizens from breaking the doors down. A skeleton crew ran the research facility.
Charlie marked the entrance point she’d selected for the operation. It was a second-floor window, above her, and would let into the offices. From there, she’d be able to beeline directly toward the entrance to the laboratories.
The blueprint wouldn’t give her much more after that. Those portions were whited out—they had zero information on the inner workings of the lab, apart from what Charlie and Levi had discovered after their escape.
She knew what she had to do, and she’d do it.
Another scream shattered the night, and a man jogged past in the street at the end of the breezeway between the facility and building next to it. He was completely naked, tossing his head as he ran, jerking it from side-to-side. He disappeared from sight, and Charlie let out a breath.
She brought the device—a silver cylinder—from her pocket and directed it at the window above. She stroked the metal tube and it released a thin jet of string. It attached to the window and began winding.
“Shit,” Charlie whispered, as it lifted her off her feet.
She was slammed into the wall, dragged up it. The cylinder met the string again, and the window shattered beneath her. Charlie tumbled into the room beyond, her heart racing.