by Julian North
The Korean must’ve sensed something was amiss because he didn’t wait for an answer. He yanked his pistol from its holster. Katrina’s hand shot forward at the same instant, her fingers jabbing for the Korean’s throat. It took a mere blink to unfold. Even for highborn, they were both unbelievably fast, but the Korean was faster. He twisted out of Katrina’s reach by the barest fraction of an inch. However, the cost of his maneuver was that he couldn’t get his force pistol aimed before Rhett plowed into him. The Korean stumbled back from the impact of Rhett’s attempted tackle but kept his feet and jabbed an elbow at his attacker’s surprised face. Rhett recoiled in pain but didn’t lose his grip on the man, at least not initially. The two soldiers grunted as they struggled like opposing rams battling for dominance. Rhett was bigger, but that didn’t mean he was stronger. With a heave of unexpected strength, the Korean forced Rhett backward, propelling him into Katrina as she tried to get a clear shot. She fired anyway, barely missing Rhett’s shoulder as he crashed into her. She missed the Korean again. I couldn’t believe it. It seemed like the man had barely moved, each motion was so efficiently minimalistic. He was something more than highborn. An enhanced soldier of some kind. Deuces.
I didn’t bother trying to draw my own weapon and shoot at him. I wasn’t a soldier, and if Katrina couldn’t hit him, I didn’t have a chance. Instead, I drew the cold of my will, instructing the Authority soldier. Ice flowed through me as I dashed toward the Korean as if this was a sprint for my life—which it was. He had enhanced reflexes, but I was the fastest person in Manhattan. My choice surprised him, as did my speed. He couldn’t seem to decide if Katrina or I was the greater threat. That was enough for her to get another shot off. Yet, somehow, she missed again. The Korean dropped to the floor, bending into a squat-like pose as Katrina’s blast flashed over him. I was already in the air with a misdirected leap as he turned his pistol on me. The barrel aligned squarely with my chest. I would be dead in half a second. Only a second force blast saved me. This one was fired by the Authority guard, whom I had instructed to protect us. The attack from an expected ally was too much even for the soldier’s augmented reflexes. He spun from the impact as the blast put a hole through his ribcage. Remarkably, even that didn’t put him down. The Korean kept rolling, coming up with his pistol trained on the Authority officer. Katrina fired again. The trilled Authority officer fell as Katrina put a force blast through the Korean’s neck.
Rhett and I dragged ourselves to our feet as the sound of reinforcements echoed from the corridor to the left. Katrina and Rhett positioned themselves, pistols ready. The Authority officers who arrived never had a chance. Katrina peeked a single eye around the corner. The black boot guards fired at her as they galloped forward, but their blasts sailed by harmlessly. They had no effective cover in the corridor and wore no body armor. Katrina finished them with two efficient bursts. She scouted the corridor for any sign of further reinforcements.
“That made a lot of noise,” Rhett said. “Why aren’t there even more soldiers here? Why aren’t alarms sounding?”
Katrina checked the power level on her force pistol. “This floor may be isolated. Let’s find out why.”
“Which way?” I asked.
“To the right. Left one leads to private quarters. It’s not five o’clock yet—everyone should still be at work.” She turned to go.
“Wait.” I ran to the fallen Authority officer nearest to me.
“We don’t have time to check on the wounded. Leave him.”
He was indeed alive, but that wasn’t what I was doing. I’m not so kind-hearted as that. He was Authority and had gotten what he deserved. Rather than help him, I pulled the viser off his arm.
“This will have the prisoner manifest.”
“We don’t have time to look for your brother now. Jose will handle it. Let’s go.”
I handed the viser to Rhett. “See what you can do with this. I want access to the prisoner location system. They’ll be tagged with locators, and I bet every guard has access to that information.”
Rhett took it as Katrina glared at us. She led, pistol in her hand. Rhett covered her. I kept the cold will flowing through me. I was ready to fight as well—my way. The corridor turned and led us to a duraglass security screen. The barrier was as thick as my fist.
“This is new,” Katrina said. “Not on any of the plans. Durable and soundproof.” She stepped closer, examining the door seal. “It’s a magnetic seal. We’re in luck.”
She pulled a device from her pocket—it was a hand-sized disk, flat on one side, curved on the other. “Get back at least one hundred feet.” She placed the device on the duraglass as Rhett and I retreated. Katrina joined us a few seconds later.
“What is that thing?”
“Electrical surge generator—localized. It’ll disable the locking mechanism and any alarms. It’ll also play havoc with our visers and force pistols, which is why we need the distance. These walls are lined with old-time steel. It should give us some additional protection.” Katrina looked at her viser. “Three… two… one. That’s it.”
I didn’t hear anything.
“It doesn’t go boom, Daniela.”
Katrina led us through the disabled duraglass portal to a locked office door. The barrier was plastika. Katrina shot the handle off and kicked it open, pistol in one hand, stun grenade in the other. Inside, we found the nest of evil.
Chapter 12
We stepped into a chamber of hushed twilight, the air so dry and cold that bumps ran up my arms. Men and women sat at terminals arranged beside one another in concentric circles. Each person wore sinister-looking black headgear that encompassed the entirety of their face above their nose. A faint blue hue escaped from the eyepieces. At the heart of the converging circles of people was a cylinder of perfect black somewhat reminiscent of the machines on the extraction platform. No one stirred as we entered their strange domain.
The room reminded me of the research center within the Ziggurat where the controlColonies had been kept, where chipped scientists had labored incessantly, oblivious to the world around them, but this had a more sinister air. That had been a place of perverted science—this place was something else.
I approached the nearest man, examining the back of his neck. “They aren’t chipped,” I said as much to myself as to the others. “At least this one isn’t.”
Katrina studied the headgear and the terminals, glancing occasionally at her viser as she walked around each of the stations. “Several are chipped, most are not. I believe they are linked in a virtual reality environment. That’s why they can’t hear or see us. They’re working in an artificial place, perhaps networked with others.”
“What others? Where?” Was there no end to this?
Katrina shrugged. “It could be anywhere. Maybe Korea. Maybe that platform.”
Maybe they are working with Havelock.
I examined one of the strange headpieces. It looked like a mating of virtual reality device and complex transmitter. “How do we get the information we need? Or do we just bag one of them?”
Katrina pressed a palm against the hand of one of the men. He moved but didn’t react to her touch. “We certainly weren’t expecting to find them like this, but I think it’s better. The interrogation was going to be messy if we couldn’t find a non-highborn for you to trill. Now, I think I can just tap into one of their headgear feeds. I’ll be able to record what they’re doing. They don’t need to tell me anything.”
“Can you speak Korean?” Rhett asked.
“No, if that is what they are speaking. But others can, of course. We don’t need to understand the data right now, just get it and deliver it. I’ll consider if it’s worth trying to extract one to bring back to Charlotte for questioning.”
I continued to walk around the circle. It was hard to make out the faces of the people behind those masks. Every third or fourth person was chipped, but there didn’t seem to be any particular pattern to it. My stomach clenched looking at the
ugly metal leeches on the men’s necks. Katrina flicked her fingers, starting her work.
“Katrina, don’t mess with any of the chipped ones. They explode upon capture.”
“I understand. Jalen briefed me about the assassins in Central Park. I doubt the chipped slaves have the information we want, in any case.”
I wondered what these masked people were doing. It had to be something related to the chipping modules outside, perhaps more experiments—likely connected to whatever had been done on the extraction platform. With Virginia Timber-Night now in charge of the country, the precautions of having an offshore research platform were no longer necessary.
As I walked past one of the occupants, something caught my eye. At first glance, it looked like a military insignia on his uniform, but I noticed a subtle difference. The stars were interlocked, their edges joined together like hands. The memories within me that had once belonged to Kristolan told me what they meant: it was the insignia of the Korean Corporate Council. The owner of this uniform sat on the supreme ruling body of Korea. I studied the face under the headgear. My heart pumped a powerful beat. It was Ji-ho.
“I’ve got him.”
Katrina’s eyes shot up; she was beside me in two quick strides. “I’m pulling all I can from that other data feed, but Ji-ho is our highest priority. For him we take the risk: we should get him to Charlotte for interrogation. Unless you can… trill him?”
I knew that Kristolan had once tried to control this man. “No, his mind is shielded by a wall of impossible fire. To even attempt it would be foolish.”
Katrina glanced at her viser, then pulled a syringe from her vest. “We’ve got twenty-two minutes remaining. We can do it the old-fashioned way.”
She tried shaking him first. “Wake up, jack-A.” It was like jiggling a piece of fabricated meat. “Okay then, we’ll be a bit more insistent. Rhett, would you be so kind as to point your pistol at this gentleman’s head while I remove that thing covering his eyes and ears.”
Rhett stepped back and obliged. Katrina holstered her weapon. She grabbed Ji-ho’s headgear with one hand. The syringe was poised in the other. In a single motion, she yanked the VR goggles upward over Ji-ho’s head. He gasped as if he’d been punched in the gut. His head flew backward, his eyes rolled into his skull. His body convulsed as he struggled for air.
“Dammit!” Katrina swapped one syringe for another. She struck the choking man’s arm. He continued to gasp and flail before gradually settling. Ji-ho’s chest heaved. His head steadied, then his eyes crawled forward to their natural position. His irises were an angry shade of red. The rest of his face was almost as alien—his skin appeared stretched over his face, with his jaw and cheekbones pressing against the skin. Gradually, he regained focus. Ji-ho stared at Katrina, contempt on his lips. She grabbed her force pistol and the original syringe.
“That was incredibly stupid, even for migum salam.” His English was accented but understandable. His voice was so graveled that he didn’t sound entirely human.
“How are you controlling people in the Southern States?” She pressed the nose of her pistol to his forehead. “Tell me and I won’t put a hole through your skull.”
His eyes assessed her. “An FRH-Mk II force pistol and Arsel-80 in a syringe.” His eyes drifted to me, then Rhett. “Three Class II humans: Katrina Homer-Yale, also known as Katrina Vitacious, Rhett Banks, and Daniela Machado. There is really nothing any of you can do to me. This body is getting used up anyway. And if you do not get out of here rather quickly, you will all end up dead.”
“Yes, you’ll be used up soon. So this is your last chance to do this the easy way,” Katrina told him.
“If the chemical in that syringe enters my bloodstream, this body’s functions will terminate. I cannot be interrogated.”
“This body?” I asked. “You got another one somewhere?”
He turned to me with those chillingly luminous eyes but ignored my question. “Nor can my mind be manipulated by your genetic enhancement, fascinating though it is. Yes, we have that data now and are processing it appropriately.”
I shivered. He knew all about me. I didn’t know what “processing” the data meant, but it didn’t sound pleasant. I think Katrina knew she couldn’t successfully interrogate him, but she had her mission.
“You had better answer my question,” she warned.
“It would be best for everyone if you let me resume my work. There are critical matters to deal with.”
“Tell us, and you’ll get a chance to go back to work… perhaps,” Katrina said.
His barely human eyes regarded her with curious contempt. “You have nothing to bargain with, and you’re out of time.”
The person next to Ji-ho turned suddenly. With a series of strangely mechanical movements, he removed his headgear. He was Korean, his eyes tinged red like Ji-ho’s.
“Password,” the man said in an inhuman monotone. An ugly rectangular control chip rested at the base of his skull. My throat tightened.
“Deuces.” I looked at the exit, judging the distance.
“Incorrect response. Enter password immediately.”
Ji-ho emitted a hyena’s chuckle. “You, and all you will ever be, are stuck in this room. I warned you.”
Katrina realized the same thing I had: if we didn’t provide a password, this man was going to self-destruct. She dropped the pistol and the syringe. In a single motion, Katrina ripped the viser from her hand and hurled it at the exit like a baseball.
“Run!” she screamed as she plowed into the chipped slave, the interlocked pair tumbling over the wall of terminals in front of us.
I reached out for Rhett, yanking him toward the exit even as I launched myself away from Ji-ho and the forthcoming detonation. I moved as fast as I had in any race. One step, then two, then a third. I knew what was coming. Ji-ho’s wicked cackle continued to ring out. Jump!
I leaped into the air as the explosion ripped through the room.
The initial blast was followed by another, then another. The boiling air ripping through the chamber caught me from behind, the fringes of the inferno nipping at my legs. I hit the ground just outside the doorway. A wave of flame shot outward above my head. Katrina’s viser was just in front of me. I spun around and looked behind me. Rhett had fallen a few feet short of where I’d landed. His pants were on fire. I grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to his feet.
“Roll, dammit!”
We battled the flames with our open hands until they were out.
“Can you walk?” I asked him.
“It’s not bad. Just some cooked skin. But Katrina—”
I shook my head. “She’s gone, and this place is going to go crazy.”
“At least we’ve got the uniforms. They won’t know exactly what happened, and we look just like guards. But I agree, we’d better get to the rendezvous point.”
I grabbed Katrina’s viser. “I’ve got this, but I’m not leaving without Nythan, Alissa’s dad, my brother, and the rest. Where are they? Did you get that guard’s viser to work?”
Rhett flicked the device. “Your brother is classified as hospitalized on the prison system—he was in the infirmary, but he appears to be on the move. I think the team have got him. His location shows as being near Indigo Gonzales. There’s no sign of Nythan. Or Matias Gonzales. They aren’t in this facility any longer.”
The words punched me in the gut. Nythan and Matias were gone. Probably chipped. Like Alexander. No!
“That can’t be. Nythan was only here a couple of days.”
“Maybe he was never here, or they moved him elsewhere.”
I barely heard the words. He was placating me. My body was shaking. “I will not lose Nythan.” Raw power surged through me. “This cannot be.” The words were cold smoke from my lips.
“I’m sorry, Daniela—I don’t know what else to say, except we haven’t got much more time. We will search for Nythan—for both of them. Harren Stein is on this floor. There’s a special holding area
for high-value prisoners, down the other corridor.”
The name of Alissa’s dad restored a measure of clarity. I clenched my teeth, trying to focus. I needed to help those whom I could help. I pushed Nythan from my thoughts for the moment. He was not gone. If he was chipped, I would save him, just as I would Alexander. For now, I had to deal with Harren.
“Katrina said it was sleeping quarters on this level.”
“She was wrong. Or she lied. But according to this, he’s down the other corridor. Take the last right turn.”
I didn’t want to think that Katrina had lied to me. She had died for us, and to get the viser and its data back to Jalen. I might not have sent her here, but it was still another death, another person who had died trying to protect me—I didn’t deserve it.
“Send the map to my viser. Let’s go get him.”
“We’ve got less than ten minutes before the extraction team arrives.”
I helped Rhett to his feet. Despite his brave words, it was clear he was hurt. He favored the left leg, and I could smell his burnt flesh. Sweat marshaled on his forehead.
“You just get to the extraction point. Jose has a medkit. I’ll get Alissa’s dad.”
“I can’t leave you alone here.”
“You can barely walk. You’re slowing me down. Just go. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t give him a choice. I took off at my best sprinting speed. There was no way he’d keep up in the condition he was in.
The explosion had set off alarms within the prison. Red lights flashed from the ceiling. There were claxons and bells. An announcement declared the facility was on lockdown. I ran for my life, and those of my friends.
I passed through an area of small, private apartments, as well as several dormitory-style rooms. I spun around a corner, stopping only when I encountered a locked security door. It was an older model, made of metal rather than duraglass, with an electronic locking mechanism. A surveillance camera stared down at me, but I was long past caring about being discovered. I fumbled with the Authority officer’s viser till I found the proper door codes. My hands were shaking, but I got the door open. There were five cells beyond the portal, each with a display screen showing the activity of the single prisoner within. A chair with an attached terminal had been placed to one side of the corridor—probably a security station, but it was empty. I suspected its occupant had been one of the men we had killed in the elevator lobby.