“Yes,” he says. “Every second of every day.”
“I can’t—”
“Of course not.” He cuts me off. “Hello, I’m undercover in Company headquarters. I have better things to do than sit here and talk to you all day. In fact, I have somewhere important to be right now.”
His fingers come into the picture, about to end the link.
“Wait,” I say. I hope he can’t see the heat staining my cheeks. “Do you ever go into New City? The one above ground,” I add before he can make a scathing comment about where he is right now.
“Sometimes.”
I lick at dry lips and see his gaze follow my tongue. How I hate to ask him for a favor. Another one. “Could you look out for Rael?”
“I thought the runt left with you.”
“No, she stayed. She thinks her parents are there. I couldn’t ask her to give up on finding them. I know too well what it’s like to be alone.” I don’t mean to say the last. Letting Davyd see inside me is akin to walking back into interrogation and asking Doctor to show me how the device works again. But my usual filters don’t seem to be working since the interrogation.
He darts a look behind him. “I have to go.”
I breathe out in a rush. I didn’t notice my slip. “What about Rael?”
“If I trip over the runt I’ll make sure we have a chat and a catch up.”
The screen goes dead.
“Thanks for nothing,” I say to it anyway.
There’s movement across the empty square. I duck back against the wall. This place seems deserted, but appearances can be deceiving. I have no intention of walking into a Company trap. I hold still, watching my surrounds, but when minutes pass and there’s no other sign of movement, I head in the direction of the gaming bar.
However, instead of going inside, I push at the door to the empty place next door. Stepping inside, I have to squeeze past a broken sign decorated with the unlit outline of a naked woman. Heavy red curtains grace the windows, and the light seeping through the narrow cracks reveals broken glass littering the floor. Broken tables and the stench of spilt alcohol suggest whoever was last here didn’t leave quietly.
I settle in to wait and watch through the dusty windows. I lean heavily on the sill, trying to ignore the lingering pain of the knife wound in my leg. The Lifer fast healing means the rest of my wounds from my time with the Company are already healing. Physically anyway. Thanks to the way the window juts out a little into the street, I have a good view of the gaming bar from here. I can’t help but think of Samuai with a wave of longing. This was the place he found safety when he was Blank. The place he found Megs. She would have loved the fact that I left him behind.
The memory of Davyd’s head lowering toward mine in the bathroom pushes the seed of jealousy away. Knowing all I know about who he is, how can I have even briefly wanted to kiss him back?
I didn’t kiss him though. I made a choice.
I hold on to the fact, scrunch it tight, and bury it deep inside me. I am strong and in control.
I trust Samuai and he trusts me.
My hand wraps around the wristband. Even now, knowing Davyd is connected to me isn’t as horrifying as it should be. He’s helped me too much to make the hate I was once so sure I felt for him anything more than a distant memory.
But he, unlike Samuai, is not to be trusted completely.
Movement across the square breaks into my memories of Davyd in Company gray shepherding me into the van. I stare through the glass, carefully using the end of my jacket to wipe some of the dirt away.
There’s nothing.
I must have imagined the figures. Expecting help was a mistake. I’m better to rely on myself.
I check the long shadows across dirty walls created by the weak sunshine through the window. It’s still early. I’ll wait until the sun is overhead before heading in the direction of camp.
This delay might have already thrown any Company followers off my track. If I’m lucky, they’ll have already given up and returned to deal with the aftermath of the fire at the compound.
But will Doctor just let me go?
A flash of sunlight on metal across the square has me pressed against the glass, my breath making it foggy. There is someone there. Two people. And if I’m not mistaken, they’re headed right this way.
Chapter Twenty
[Samuai]
The gaming bar is deserted. We enter, check we’re alone, and slide the lock into place behind us. The overturned games and splintered tables tell of the ransacking that must have happened after Gan left. I scan the ruins, trying to reconcile the mess with what was a thriving business only weeks ago.
The stir in the air makes me turn. The door I locked a minute ago stands wide open, thanks to Megs I guess, and framed within its arch is a familiar silhouette.
“Asher?” I cry her name in a voice I don’t recognize.
She blinks, adjusting to the comparative darkness in the bar after the light of the square. Her mouth curves slowly. And then she’s smiling and she’s running and then she’s in my arms again at last. I hold her tight against my chest, feeling her warmth fill the cold places left empty while she was gone.
She stands on tiptoe and I press my face into the curve of her neck. I whisper her name over and over into her hair, breathing in the unique scent of the soft skin in the hollow beneath her jaw.
She’s speaking, but I can’t make out her words. Explanations can wait. I close my eyes and feel her turn and the graze of her lips on my unshaven cheek. Tingles spread through me.
Something unlocks in my chest. I’d begun to fear I’d never see her again. Now she’s here and real.
I pull back and hold her so I can see her face. There’s a bruise on her jaw and scratches on her skin. Her eyes are shadowed, darker than before she left. Now that I think about it, she limped as she ran to me. Much has happened in the days we’ve been apart.
As her fingertips trace the line of the bandage Cyril gave me, my hand cups the back of her head. How do I tell her about what the Company has done? And Kaih?
Without meaning to, I’ve stepped back, remembering too late that we’re not alone and for all I know Davyd is about to walk through the door behind her.
Megs is leaning against the wall, watching our reunion. Her mouth purses in what I guess is supposed to be a smile but is more like a grimace.
Asher follows my gaze. “You’re not alone?”
I think that’s what she says, anyway. Unlike Megs, she doesn’t yet know to speak slowly and simply and make sure I follow. And part of me doesn’t want to tell her. It’s not that I’m afraid she won’t love me, it’s more basic than that. Who’s going to be hot for a deaf guy?
Instead, I watch the dust stirred up from her entrance floating in the rays of the sun coming through the narrow gaps in the blinds. They disappear and then reappear. A shadow.
“We have to get out of here,” I say, my voice low. “Someone’s coming.”
Asher reacts first, but she heads for the door that I remember leads upstairs to the rooms Gan used to rent.
“This way,” I say, following Megs to the door marked ‘Staff Only.’
We push through just in time. From the girls’ faces, I guess that the dull thud I might’ve heard is the door to the gaming bar being forced open.
We retreat behind a steel bench, armed and waiting. I study the door, muscles tense. They might not come back here. I try to picture the room again. We hid the bike behind a dumpster across the square, but we stirred up dust with every step. A half-decent scan will tell them someone was in the bar recently.
Fear mixes with adrenaline and spreads through my body.
The girls either side of me are silent. Their eyes, too, are fixed on the door. Asher’s thigh touches mine, the closeness of her …
Megs moves, my head comes up. Stupid. I lost focus, and they’re coming in. I fire, but the door shuts fast, the bodies in Compan
y gray diving for cover as it closes.
“Asher hit one,” Megs says.
I turn to Asher. She nods. “Chest. One to go.”
Obviously she wasn’t overwhelmed by my nearness.
I shake myself into action. “Keep their attention. I’ll circle around the front of the bar.”
Asher looks like she’s about to argue, but I’m on my feet and heading toward the back exit before she can. I pause by the door until both girls nod. We have to be a team.
Crouching, I hurry around the side of the building, keeping to the shadows. I check around the corner. The square is deserted and the door to the bar stands open. All I need to do is get in behind the officer and he’ll have nowhere to hide.
I press against the wall, hoping my steps are quiet as I approach.
We could run, but it’s better to deal with them now. My plan relies on the officers being alone, but I’m willing to take the risk to be able to take our time deciding what to do next.
I’m close to the door, on my knees. I strain to hear what’s happening inside. Strain without success. Too late to think I might not be the best person to head out alone.
I take a breath and crawl the last few feet to the doorway. Peering around the frame and into the bar, I see nothing. No movement. No body.
Am I too late?
I edge forward, shoving away images of what might have happened to Asher and Megs in the minutes it took me to round the building.
There. He’s behind a shooting game, facing the other door. The officer jumps up, fires toward the girls, but is down again before I can react.
I think I hear a cry. Asher? Megs? Nothing but my overactive imagination?
My fingers tighten on the weapon as I lift it. I don’t dare breathe as I line him up. Next time he stands I’ll be ready.
Seconds pass.
He stands. I fire. He falls.
***
We hide the Company bodies in what was the kitchen of the gaming bar. We shift broken furniture to temporarily barricade the door and take posts at the windows. We divide the rations, and I chew because I know I need the energy more out of weakness than hunger.
Asher says something about being followed when she left the Company compound. Her hand rests on her thigh. Could a wound there be the source of the limp I noticed earlier? There’s a lot she’s not saying.
“Anyway,” she pulls a small vial from her pack. “I have the serum.”
I clench my hand to stop myself from reaching for it. Right there could be the cure for this thing in my head.
Like she can feel the want radiating off me, she tosses me a vial. She explains in a jumble of words how to use it, but all I care about is the dose. My fingers tremble as I hold the serum up to the light. I have it.
“… some now?” Asher asks.
Do I want some? Desperately. But I shrug as though I’m unconcerned and slide it into my pocket. “I can wait until we’re somewhere safe.”
I don’t want to screw this up, not what there’s more than a simple temper tantrum at stake.
“We received a message,” I say.
She frowns and then glances down at the black band around her wrist. “Davyd.”
“Where is he?” I’ve been half expecting him to walk through the door, with his usual swagger.
“He stayed,” she says simply. “To spy.”
I don’t need to hear her to read the doubt in her, but I can’t tell the reason behind it. Is she unsure it was a good idea, or unsure of his motives? I know which way I lean. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see him at Maston’s side in Company uniform.
“What now?” Asks Asher.
“We have the serum,” Megs says. “We should go to camp.”
She’s right. And if I’d set out looking for Asher and the serum, I’d have no problem following her suggestion. But as much as I want to get help back to the settlement, I need to find this ship.
They’re both looking at me.
“Did I miss something?”
Asher is pale and her eyes wide. “Is it true?”
My gut cramps. A million thoughts race through my head. Has Megs told her I can’t hear? I hesitate.
Her throat works. “Is Kaih a prisoner?”
I catch the sigh of relief before it can escape. Megs didn’t tell her about my hearing, she told her about Kaih. Whatever Megs told her won’t have included the real reason behind why Kaih’s there despite her innocence. I have to decide, do I trust Megs with the truth or lie to Asher?
I nod. “She’s been accused of killing Tesae.”
“She didn’t.” Asher’s denial comes without hesitation.
Megs folds her arms. “There’s evidence.” She goes on about what Charley found and I don’t try to follow. I know it’s not true.
I interrupt. “Kaih’s innocent.”
“But—” Megs begins.
“Keane and Charley have framed her to make sure what she discovered remains a secret.” I try to explain about the hidden room and the files and Kaih helping me. About our thoughts on the location of the other ship. And as I speak I watch the reactions on the faces I know so well.
Megs withdraws, and is kept from interrupting by my unwillingness to pause long enough to allow her a chance. She knows I can choose not to listen.
Asher shows nothing on her face. No emotion. None of the betrayal I feel whenever I think of how I trusted Keane.
When I finally take a breath, it’s Asher who speaks first. “We go to the ship.”
“No,” Megs finds her voice at last. She faces me, imploring. “You know Keane. There’s an explanation.”
I’m in no condition for complex arguments. And there are none that could sway me. The difficulty in straining to hear what sound I can, and match it to the movement of their lips, has left me wanting to immerse myself in quiet and quit having to try so damn hard.
I’ve come this far, I have to know if there’s another ship. “I’m going.”
“I’m coming with you,” Asher says.
Megs shakes her head. “You’re both crazy.” She’s so angry she forgets to make sure I can hear her, and I lose most of the rest but watch as her face reddens and she kicks out at a broken chair. Dust stirs as the wooden frame splinters. She must see the confusion on my face because she slows down to finish. Her finger jabs at my chest. “You owe Keane.”
I get why she’s upset. By questioning Keane, I’m questioning her people, but I’ve been screwed over too many times to think there’s some explanation behind their lies. The facts are simple. Keane and Charley know there was a second ship, and they’re keeping Kaih prisoner to make sure she can’t tell.
“I’m going,” I repeat.
Megs won’t be swayed. “What about the serum?”
“It’s only a couple of hours delay,” I argue. “They’ve waited this long.”
Megs looks to Asher. “You went through so much to get it.”
Asher step across to stand at my side. “It can wait.”
Megs blinks and her eyes fill with tears. I’m about to reach out—to do what I don’t know—when she blinks them back. “You two deserve each other. I’ll take the serum.”
My hands clench and unclench at my sides. I hate to see someone I care about hurting but I can’t let it influence me, not when I’m so close. I can’t quite bring myself to properly meet the hurt in Megs’ gaze.
With our plan decided, I make another circuit of the bar, making sure there’s no one waiting for us outside.
Megs and Asher talk softly.
“Samuai?” Megs has crossed the room. She touches my arm to make sure I’m looking her way before she continues. Is my focus on Asher so obvious? She hesitates. There’s a hint of misery in her eyes. No matter what she says about believing Keane, today I’ve planted a seed of doubt that will not die. But now her concern is more simplistic. “Be safe.”
“I will.” I place my hand over hers. She might
not agree with me, but it will not divide us. “What will you tell them?”
Her eyes dart to Asher. “I’ll tell them you were delayed.”
I squeeze her hand, appreciating the simple promise in her words. “Whether I’m right or wrong about the ship. We won’t be far behind you.”
I don’t watch Megs leave. As it is, the hand I lift in farewell feels too much like ‘goodbye’ rather than ‘see you soon.’ I take comfort knowing she’s taking the serum back to those at the camp, like Mother and Kaih. If something happens to me they’ll have a chance.
I stare at the alley wall and plan our ride up the hill to the statue. I have to ignore guilt at the thought of her travelling alone. It’s her choice to head straight back to camp. She’s the one who refuses to entertain the idea that Keane and Charley are lying to us all.
Asher watches though. I want to ask her what she’s thinking. If she feels a flood of victory the way I do that she’s here with me and not with Davyd. Davyd who makes no secret of his interest in her—nothing as pure as love, but a continuation of the rivalry he’s fostered between us since he could toddle.
I don’t ask. Not only because the answer will need to be translated from a rumble and movement of her lips, but because I’m not confident enough I’ve won.
Asher returns to my side. “Can she be trusted?”
It’s a fair question after everything I said about the green robes and Keane, but Megs is not them. “I’d trust her with my life.”
She reaches out and touches the bandage on my head. “Looks like you already have.”
I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. When she arrived, it was easy to throw my arms around her and be carried away by the sheer brilliance of seeing her again. Now we’re alone, and there’s still so much I haven’t told her and so much I don’t know.
“There was a rock fall on our way here.” It doesn’t begin to cover what happened with Cyril, but we don’t have time for long explanations; not when there’s something more important I need to tell her. “That doesn’t matter now. Before I left, I talked to Charley.” I hesitate. I never imagined breaking the news of the cancer to Asher in a rundown alley next to an overflowing dumpster with the smell of urine thick in the air. I guess it’s as good a place as any. “The rage thing, it’s because of the Company.”
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