by Vanessa Muir
“Jesus H. Christ on a slice of rye bread,” Levi muttered.
Charlie hadn’t heard him swear often, but she agreed with the sentiment.
“So, you have your evidence, Spade, but the problem remains… if Jayce was dirty, then what do we do? How do we know that the information he gave you was legitimate?” Cole leaned back against the wall, then pushed off from it. He looked ready to burst out of his skin. “What do we do? We have what we need, but what do we do with it?”
They fell silent, Levi stroking his chin. He was a good leader, allowed others to plan and talk unfettered and only gave his opinion when he thought things were getting out of hand. He didn’t impose his views on anyone.
“It was too easy,” Charlie said at last.
When she’d been inside the facility, it hadn’t seemed that way. But now she saw the truth. It had been too easy to get inside and get what she’d wanted. Too easy to find the late Henrietta who’d taken her exactly where she’d needed to go.
“There weren’t enough guards. It felt guided,” Charlie said. “Like they wanted me in there doing it.”
“Why would that be the case?” Cole asked.
“Do you think they fed us false files?” Levi rose from his seat, pressing two fingers and a thumb to that polished desk’s surface. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“No. I don’t know. It’s all—”
A knock clattered at the closed door. Cole flinched.
“Enter,” Levi called.
It opened and one of the younger techies popped in, bobbing her head. She wore her hair bright pink and tucked behind pixie ears. Her cheeks reddened at the sight of the three of them, gathered and serious.
“Sorry to interrupt, Levi, but, um there’s a call for you?”
“A call. That’s… impossible. We don’t have phones.”
“It came through on this.” She lifted an old SSG watch. “We were in the lab when we heard it ringing in storage.”
Charlie’s eyes widened. That was likely her old watch, scavenged from her apartment or the trash, she didn’t know. Or maybe it belonged to one of the other SSG agents who’d joined Black Mars.
“Hello.” The voice was tinny through the damaged speaker.
Ice trickled through Charlie’s veins. It was her father’s voice.
Levi took the watch from the young woman and dismissed her with a wave. The door shut, and silence followed.
“This is Levi Daniels,” he said, after a beat.
The three of them shared eye contact, blinking, sweating. God, what did he want?
“That’s quaint,” Nathaniel drawled, “but you’ll have to forgive my rudeness, Levi. I’m not actually calling to speak to you. Is my daughter there?”
“What do you want with her?” Levi asked, raising a hand to stop Charlie from answering first.
“What I want is to save her. To save all of you, really, provided you help me with what I need, of course.”
“How are you going to help me?” Charlie asked.
Levi held out the watch. His hand was rock-steady, despite the situation.
“You were never stupid, Charlotte, and I’m hoping that hasn’t changed. Or I haven’t misjudged you on that account.” Nathaniel sniffed airily. “You know what Absalon is planning, and you know the ambassadors are coming to Corden Prime to meet with him.”
Charlie didn’t answer. Nathaniel would use anything she said against her.
“But you must understand by now that the information my agent, Jayce, gave you is false. You have no in. You won’t get into the SSG headquarters, and if you do, it will be at the wrong time on the wrong day.” Nathaniel sighed. “I can help you get in, and I can help you get to the ambassadors. And you will bring that ambassador to me. I will give him the information he needs to know about the State and about Absalon. The world will know the truth, and society will resume as normal thereafter.”
“There’s got to be more to it than that,” Charlie replied.
“Not really, Charlotte. I’ll be contacting you in two hours to hear your decision. You will do this, or you will be destroyed along with the rest.” And then he hung up.
Charlie read Levi’s face. She shook her head. “Don’t say it. Don’t you say it.”
“We’ve got to do what he’s asking,” Levi said.
“I won’t work with him. He doesn’t care about me. He’s using me as a bargaining chip.”
“That doesn’t matter, Spade.” Levi took her by the shoulders and squeezed, his thumbs pressing her shirt to her skin. “We have to get close to the ambassadors.”
“But bringing them to Nathaniel won’t help us.”
Levi’s grip didn’t ease. “We’re not going to do that part. Just what we need to. This is it: this is our way in. You understand that?”
She didn’t want to. She’d been hopeful. She’d been sure that they’d done the right thing. That they were on the right path. It was an entirely different one in front of her, now, and it had been laid down by her father.
“I’ll do what I have to do,” Charlie said at last.
10
Charlie was hyper-aware as she approached the front of SSG headquarters. This time, there were guards out front, carrying rifles and staring directly ahead. They wore those blue and yellow uniforms that had once been her daily attire.
“Can you hear me, Spade?” Levi spoke in her ear.
Charlie touched her temple and lowered the volume slightly. “Yes,” she whispered. “Nathaniel confirmed they’ll let me in?”
It was the moment of truth.
A trap laid? Perhaps she’d walk right up to the door and they’d collect her, take her back to that facility and use her as a test subject.
Tonight, the entire section of Corden Prime that contained SSG HQ had been shut off from the other areas. The screams, the thump of feet, and the impact of fists meeting flesh or stone had diminished. The State wanted to hide the truth, and they were doing a good job of it.
The buildings in the street had been repaired, the windows whole once more.
“Levi,” she repeated softly. “Can you confirm that I’ll be admitted.”
“Yes,” he said. “You’ll be let in. Nathaniel will meet you.”
Her footsteps stalled. “He’ll meet me?”
“What did you expect, Spade? That you were going to go in there, get the ambassador out without Nathaniel around? He wants the ambassador delivered to him. He can’t show his face or he’ll be targeted by Shamood.”
“But that’s not our—”
“This line might not be secure,” Levi cut her off.
He was right. They couldn’t be sure that Nathaniel wasn’t listening, and that he wouldn’t hear their plans for tonight.
Charlie took a breath and set off walking again. She reached the front of the building, and the men glared at her, narrowed their eyes. Once again, they were familiar. Men she had likely passed in the hallways at SSG when she’d worked there.
They waved her inside.
She stepped into the lobby of SSG and held her breath. The place had been transformed. Everything shimmered, lights had been put up, the furnishings changed. The tired chrome and black leather replaced by rich hues of red, brown, and gold.
They had pulled out all the stops. Shamood wanted these ambassadors believing that everything was under control. That the State and all its faculties were working at maximum efficacy.
A hand closed on her arm. Charlie jumped, hated that she had.
So much for hyperawareness.
Charlie followed the arm to the shoulder, then the face. Nathaniel wore one of his fancy suits—likely cost more than a year of her salary at the SSG—and wore a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. He wasn’t happy to see her, not his daughter, no, just pleased that she had come, after all.
“Follow me, quickly. And be quiet.” He released her, turned, and walked across the hallway to the elevator bank.
He was brazen. Hadn’t he been concerned that Absalon wo
uld find him here? That he would expose himself?
Charlie followed him. The doors opened, and she stepped inside. She kept a gap between them, gritting her teeth at having to be this close. Once, she’d been set on showing her father that she was worth his time, now, she couldn’t stand the sight of him.
And now, she had to work with him to get what she wanted. What they all wanted—well, the sane people, anyway.
The elevator doors slid closed and provided her with a chromed-out view of her father’s reflection. His lips were drawn into a thin line, that smile gone. He didn’t turn his head toward her, but spoke.
“It’s good that you came. For once, you made the right decision, Charlotte.”
“If it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have come. Unfortunately, I was overruled.” She paused, tapping her chin with a finger. “You know, I’m surprised you’re here. Wouldn’t have thought you’d put yourself in danger like this.”
“There’s a lot at stake. The freedom of—”
“Bullshit.” She cut across him before he could get the lie out. “Don’t you dare say ‘the freedom of the good people of Corden State.’ Don’t you dare. The only freedom you’re worried about is the freedom to grasp at the power you so desperately want.”
“Why are you here, dear child, if you believe that I’m only interested in grasping at that freedom?”
“Because there are things that have to be done. And those choices aren’t always up to me.”
“How noble.”
“What would you know about that?” Charlie asked.
Nathaniel inhaled through his nose. “I gave you everything you needed, child, and you—”
“Everything I needed? Does that include Serum mX? You gave me that too.”
He stiffened. “This conversation is pointless. You never saw sense, and it seems you’re not willing to start now.”
They fell silent, and Charlie forced herself to take deep breaths. Reacting to him was easy, but controlling her rage would ultimately pay off here. She had to get the ambassador out and away from both Absalon and Nathaniel.
The elevator doors swung open, and Nathaniel led her across the bullpen and into the hall containing the offices. He opened Boss Ink’s door and she entered, half-expecting to find her old supervisor seated behind his desk, head in hands and staring at the screen.
But it was empty.
Charlie stopped inside. Nathaniel closed the door, walked to the desk and perched on it, lifting one leg slightly and swinging his foot—ensconced in its designer loafer—back and forth. He folded his arms.
“You’re to remove Ambassador Grigori from the room and bring her to me. I will be waiting here. We won’t have much time from the moment you enter to get her out and ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“You’ll see. You’ll have your opportunity to speak to the ambassador, Charlotte. Consider that an allowance from me. I will present Ms. Grigori with the information she needs, and she will be taking that back to the Sovetan State to be discussed.”
“And what happens then?”
“I assume Absalon will be dealt with,” Nathaniel said, a smile spreading across his lips. “Thereafter, the unrest on the streets will be managed.”
Charlie didn’t budge. She didn’t buy a word of it. Nathaniel and his scientists had come up with a method to insert false memories into people’s minds, to brainwash them into doing exactly as they said. What was to say Nathaniel didn’t have a Memory Machine waiting on his private shuttle? He could make the ambassador do anything he wanted, and helping Charlie and Black Mars wouldn’t factor into that.
The plan remained the same.
She would remove the ambassador herself, take her into hiding until she could be returned to her State. And then the evidence would be shared. The end of Corden State would come, swiftly.
“You know what you have to do,” Nathaniel said.
“Abduct an ambassador. Yes. I received the memo.” Her words were bitter.
Nathaniel pushed off from the desk and walked around it. He bent and slid one of its drawers open. He withdrew a gun from inside, then walked over to her.
“Here,” he said. “This is what you’ll use.”
“I have my own weapons.”
“This looks like a standard-issue weapon for the SSG,” Nathaniel said, thrusting it toward her, “but it contains sedative darts, just in case Ambassador Grigori takes exception to being removed.”
“You expect me to carry her out?” Charlie asked.
“I expect you to do what is necessary for the plan to succeed.”
Charlie accepted the gun and examined the weapon closely. It looked no different to her than the one she’d carried when she’d been an investigator.
“I expect this plan to succeed. My entire team is ready for this, Charlotte. For once, don’t let me down.”
She turned her back on him and slipped from the room, hating who she had been and who he had tried to make her.
11
Charlie took a breath, clicked the safety off the not-gun, and opened the misted sliding door that led into the conference room.
“—you understand how important it is to us, that the global perspective on how we operate remains positive. After all, we’ve strived to provide all of the regions with an adequate amount of…” Absalon Shamood stood at the front of the room, his hands pressed to a chrome conference table, shifting his gaze from one person seated at it to the next. His dark eyes were sharp.
They hadn’t noticed her yet, and Charlie took that split second to scan them.
There were women and men, dark-skinned, light-skinned, white-haired, redheaded. The influx of information was almost too much to take.
Levi spoke in her ear. “You’re looking for a petite woman with pale skin, dark hair, and thick eyebrows. She usually wears pantsuits. She’s young, might be wearing makeup. Conventionally attractive.”
Charlie didn’t reply, but she nodded. He could see what she did, through the uplink.
“There. Woman furthest from Absalon,” Levi said.
Ambassador Grigori sat at the end of the conference table, just to the right of the head of it, staring at Absalon through slightly narrowed eyes. Clearly, she wasn’t buying what he had to sell.
Charlie didn’t blame her.
“Now would be a good time, Spade.” The gentle nudge from Levi brought her to the present. She couldn’t focus on the nerves barreling through her stomach, bouncing off the walls.
Charlie brought the gun up and aimed it at Absalon. “Nobody move.”
He cut off mid-sentence, spotted her there. “What’s this?”
“You know what this is, Shamood,” Charlie said, trying for bravado she didn’t feel. She crab-walked across the room, toward Ambassador Grigori. Every eye was fixed on her.
Charlie kept her breathing steady, though it threatened to catch in her throat.
“Ah, it seems we’re in for a show.” Absalon gave an ingratiating laugh. “My sincerest apologies, ladies and gentlemen. There are a few clowns still left in the State. I’m sure you’ve heard of our struggles with the rebellion.”
“Black Mars.” The words came from Grigori. She bore a thick accent. “We have heard of this organization.”
“Terrorists,” Absalon said, almost dismissively. “And never good at it, either. It seems that some people don’t understand when they have a good thing going. Who sent you, dear? Was it Levi Daniels?” He kept the conversation going, but Charlie wasn’t fooled. Absalon had backed up a few steps, and his hand was stretching outward to the screen on the wall.
Likely, he would summon SSG agents by touching it. Or start a recording that would condemn her. Not that she hadn’t already reached that point in her “career.”
“Move and I’ll shoot,” she said, gesturing with the gun. “Step away from the screen, Shamood.”
He pursed his lips but ceased his advance toward the screen. “To what do we owe this interruption?”
C
harlie reached the table and pressed a hand to Ambassador Grigori’s shoulder. “I’m taking the ambassador with me,” she said and brought the woman out of the chair.
Surprisingly, Ambassador Grigori didn’t struggle. In fact, her gaze had sharpened with intrigue rather than fear.
“If you follow, I’ll shoot her.”
“Don’t,” Absalon said, and he wasn’t smug this time.
Charlie looped her arm around Grigori’s throat and pressed the barrel of the gun to her head, praying Shamood wouldn’t call her bluff.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Charlie said as she backed toward the door. Each step took an eternity. Grigori kept an even pace, her form relaxed. “Stay where you are after we’re gone for five minutes, or I’ll detonate the bombs that have been put in place. I’ll kill us all.” It was a wild contingency plan that didn’t exist, but Charlie used the lie. It was what they would expect of a terrorist.
Would Shamood believe her? Probably not. She was already out of time.
Charlie brought Grigori out of the room, slammed the sliding door shut and locked it from the outside, then grabbed the ambassador by her upper arm.
“Which way?” Charlie asked.
“Are you asking me?” Grigori raised an eyebrow.
Charlie ignored her, waiting for Levi’s response instead.
“Right, follow the hall away from Nathaniel’s meeting point. I’ll direct as you go.” Levi’s voice was certain, and Charlie took comfort in it.
She dropped the gun Nathaniel had given her. “This way, Ambassador,” Charlie said and frog-marched the woman down the hall, following Levi’s direction. She had the metal cylinder, the Detractor, out of her pocket and pressed against her palm, ready for their escape bid.
“Where are we going?” Grigori asked.
Charlie didn’t answer. She swept them around the corner, then pulled up short.
Nathaniel stood in the center of the hallway, flanked by two guards. They had their guns out and aimed at Charlie.
“There we are,” Nathaniel said. “I would be disappointed, Charlotte, but I expected this of you. Unless, you thought I would be waiting at your designated exit rather than mine?”