Hopscotch

by Kevin Anderson

  Teresa tried to hide her instinctive relief. “It sounds like just the kind of thing Rhys would do.”

  The weary man snapped back to the situation at hand. “Sorry, can't talk anymore. We've got work to do. Our group has been evicted from the building. No more togetherments, and we have to be out by today. I've still got some packing to do.” He sighed. “Well, not much to pack, really.”

  Teresa realized that it would do no good to keep asking. Jennika was just a name in an unremembered body; her loss had been of no consequence to the Sharetakers, especially not now, when everything was gone.

  She looked around, trying to recapture a single warm memory of this place where she had spent so much time, where she had once felt loved and at home. But she only felt as empty as the repossessed rooms.

  Walking away from the enclave, Teresa tried to think of where else to search. She had not even returned home in a day. Restlessness kept her moving, searching. As always.

  Now, though, she hadn't gone more than a block before she heard shouts and running feet. Weapons sensors activated with a crackling zzippp.

  “Eduard Swan! Freeze!”

  A swarm of dark-uniformed Beetles converged from side streets, drawing heavy weapons. Overhead, with a loud whirring sound, an armored chopter cruised low. Long barrels of laser-tracking munitions protruded from the hull plates, all zeroing in on a target. On her. She was in Eduard's body.

  Teresa stood motionless. “I'm not Eduard.” Her hoarse voice was drowned out by the chaos of apprehension activities. She made no threatening move, no twitches or gestures. They wouldn't bother to use stun projectiles this time.

  The remaining Sharetakers who had slogged outside with packages and crates dropped their possessions and scrambled back inside, perhaps thinking that this was a raid on their enclave.

  “I am not Eduard!” She held up her hand, turning the ID patch for all to see, but no one came close enough to read the code.

  Orders were bellowed from loudspeakers. BTL troops surrounded her, but they maintained a substantial distance, as if her body might be wired with explosives. Teresa stood in the middle of it all, very slowly turning to show that she was no threat to anyone.

  The apprehension commander came forward without lowering his weapon. He glared at her through a face-protective shield. “Prepare to be taken into custody. Be advised that we will show no tolerance for resistance.”

  “My name is Teresa.” She quietly repeated it, like a mantra. “Run an ID scan, and we'll clear this up.” At any instant she expected the weapons to fire, the first shot taken by an enforcer who imagined a threatening motion, or even sneezed at the wrong moment.

  The heavily armed chopter cast a shadow over the prisoner. Another BTL hovercar streaked down the street, coasting to ground level with a blast of exhaust. The door swung up on glide pistons, and an Inspector leaped out.

  Teresa saw him, and her heart swelled. “Daragon!” The name came out in Eduard's familiar voice.

  Daragon marched forward, face grim. He snapped at the other Beetles. “Lower your weapons! I want no shooting.” He pushed two of the armed hunters aside. “Absolutely none.”

  “But, sir—” the apprehension commander said.

  “If you believe one unarmed man can break through your entire cordon, Sergeant, then the Bureau needs to train its troops better.”

  “We haven't ascertained yet that he's unarmed—”

  “Of course he's unarmed. I know Eduard—” Then his face paled as he got his first real glance at her. “Teresa!”

  She tentatively lowered her arms. “That's what I've been trying to tell them.”

  Daragon slapped the apprehension commander's weapon away. “Back off! This isn't Eduard—he's already hopscotched into a new body. We knew this would probably happen.” He stared long and hard at her. “I just didn't think the red herring would be you.”

  “Eduard has done the same for me, whenever I needed it. Whenever.”

  The Beetles grumbled at each other, disgusted. Daragon ordered them to fall into ranks. “This person is in my custody for now, until we get the matter straightened out.” He took Teresa's arm, walking boldly through the encircling ring of troops, getting her away from all the weapons. The uniformed men parted with a rattle of boots and firearms.

  Daragon looked into her eyes with disappointment and saw only Eduard there. “How could you help him like this? Where did he go? Tell me. You must tell me—it's your duty.”

  “To let you kill my friend?” Teresa yanked her arm away. “How can you side with a monster like Ob? He addicted Eduard's body to illegal drugs—oh, just look at me!” She plucked at her shirt, touched Eduard's scarecrow chest.

  Daragon shook his head. “So you believe that crazy story, too? I knew Chief Ob as well as I knew Eduard.”

  “Have you tried to check his story at all? Did you find Ob's other caretakers?”

  “I have teams working on it. All three are still missing.”

  Teresa's body trembled, aching from Rush-X withdrawal. “Doesn't that make you at all suspicious?”

  “Chief Ob dismissed his caretakers because they were unreliable. I didn't really expect to find them working comfortable jobs.”

  “So, all four were dismissed for being unreliable? A coincidence, don't you think? And what about the gardener? He saw it all. He was the one who warned Eduard.”

  “He didn't have proof of anything. But even if it were true, that changes nothing in the eyes of the law. If a hungry man steals from a store, he is still a thief. If a disgruntled employee kills an abusive employer, he is still a murderer. Eduard murdered a man, a powerful man, and he fled.”

  “It was an accident,” Teresa said, setting her jaw stubbornly. “Deep down inside you know Eduard isn't a killer.”

  Exasperated, Daragon forced himself not to shout, not at Teresa. “I could arrest you for aiding and abetting a wanted murderer. How can I protect you from this? Do you know how much I've already done for you and Garth—and, yes, dammit, Eduard, too! Why didn't he trust me?”

  “You aren't exactly giving him the benefit of the doubt right now, either. This is Eduard we're talking about!”

  A cascade of emotions flowed across his face, and he tried a different approach. “Teresa, aside from Soft Stone, I was the only one who ever listened to you talk about the mysteries of life. When Eduard was sneaking out of the monastery, and when Garth was painting the walls of the basement, I was the one who sat next to you. I listened to you.”

  Her expression remained torn. She had once cared deeply for him, but the Bureau had turned him into a stranger. “Oh, Daragon, you only came to listen to me back then because you wanted to be my friend. You didn't care about those questions any more than Garth or Eduard did.”

  Daragon nodded slowly as if she were his confessor. “No, but you three had a different, closer bond. I wanted to be friends like—”

  She shook her head, frowning at him. “Friendship like that was only possible because we would have done anything for each other. Anything. You tried to be close to me, but you always kept a piece of yourself hidden. And now that uniform has made the wall even thicker. Until you realize that, and as long as you keep trying to kill Eduard, we'll have nothing to talk about.”

  Teresa shook her head, feeling the stiffness in her neck, the pounding in her skull. “Eduard's probably swapped out of my old body by now anyway. I honestly don't know where he might be.”

  Daragon's voice lost all compassion. “Are you telling me the truth now, Teresa?”

  “I would never lie to you.” She turned back to him, her face rigid. “I thought you knew that.”

  “But you wouldn't do anything to harm Eduard, either, would you?”

  Teresa didn't even hesitate before answering. “Of course not.”

  Frustrated and hurt, Daragon didn't press the issue. He knew the other Beetles would be disappointed, even outraged, but he couldn't ask her more. He longed for the closeness they had shared in the past
.

  But before he could say anything, she walked away in Eduard's drug-ravaged body, leaving the Beetles behind. She didn't even glance back at him. The priorities of the Bureau meant nothing to her.

  47

  On the run for his life, with limited resources and limited possibilities, Eduard used every scrap of his abilities to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

  And worst of all, Daragon knew him very well. Years ago in the monastery, Eduard had shared his dreams of becoming a Phantom, of disappearing into the cracks of the city to live as an invisible immortal. He had shown young Daragon how to slip out of the Falling Leaves, to elude pursuit, to dart in and out of crowds. . . .

  Now all that would come back to haunt him. Daragon knew Eduard's tricks—so, he'd have to come up with new ones.

  On foot, he drifted along the streets. All routes out of the city would be blocked by now, or at least closely watched—and Eduard didn't want to do anything stupid.

  Once Daragon found Teresa, he would need only a glance with his eerie talent to see that a switch had been made, and he would begin pursuing a different body. Her large-eyed, narrow-featured face would be transferred throughout COM. Everyone would be looking for him in this form.

  So Eduard had to become someone else, and fast, much as it saddened him to leave Teresa's waifish body behind. He had defended and tenderly nursed this battered physique back to health. But he had no choice.

  He stopped in front of his reflection in a mirrorglass window, propped one hand on his narrow hip, and inspected Teresa's body. She was small-boned, her hair a mop of mousy brown hair framing delicate features and a finely structured face. The breasts were small, barely noticeable, her hips narrow. After Rhys's abuse, Teresa had not felt inclined to look attractive to anyone.

  But Eduard could see the potential there, especially in her big, dark eyes. His own intensity burned behind them now, making the gaze bright and flirtatious instead of haunted and withdrawn. This woman's body could be sexy—if she wanted it to be. Attitude was half the battle. He lifted his chin high and stepped along with a saucy confidence in his walk.

  He used some of Garth's unmarked credits to buy a set of impractical, scanty clothes and a nonprescription pheromone spray. Prismatic makeup to highlight the eyes, blush around the cheekbones, some mousse for the hair, a splash of color, a hint of costume jewelry.

  An oil-slick wraparound tube top drew more attention to the exposed skin above and below than to the small breasts themselves. The bare midriff was flat and strong. A temporary sunburst tattoo surrounded the navel, with enticing flames that dipped into mystery below the waistband of a glistening short skirt.

  He laid a trail of sparkle powder along the backs of both smooth calves, feathering and widening out as the line rose up the backs of his thighs to disappear tantalizingly beneath the high hem of the scarlet skirt. It would draw the eye, fire the imagination.

  Finished, Eduard headed toward the lifters. He saw eyes turn, tentative smiles, eyebrows rise appraisingly. Because of Teresa's withdrawn shyness, most people wouldn't have noticed her before (which was in itself a blessing), but now he needed to set a hook. He was confident enough in the animal magnetism that he could have seduced any of those looking at him. Given time.

  But he was in a hurry, and Eduard knew where to find a sure thing.

  The buildings towered high above him, taller than he remembered. It had been a long time since he'd spent his days dangling in a mag-lock harness. Years ago, fresh from the Splinters, he'd worked the windows of these skyscrapers.

  He took the lifter to floor 26. There, outside the broad windows, he spotted the autoscaffolding that held a maintenance specialist. As Eduard had suspected, even after all this time, his former coworker Olaf Pitervald hadn't changed jobs, hadn't been promoted to anything better. He remained stuck in his unambitious rut, right where Eduard could find him.

  Knowing that Olaf spent more time gawking through windows than paying attention to his job, Eduard caught his eye, making the lanky man reel, as if he might fall backward off the autoscaffolding. Eduard strolled forward, swaying his hips as he kept his eyes on the window. His smooth thighs flashed beneath the skimpy skirt.

  Dangling on the autoscaffold, Olaf blinked in disbelief. Watching Eduard approach in his sexy body, the gangly man looked as if he might panic and zip upward a few levels. Eduard paused and flashed a sensuous smile, then strutted forward again. Olaf froze, and stared.

  Eduard stepped right up to the windowpane, pressed Teresa's body against the smooth surface as if he desperately wanted to get closer. He touched his lips against the glass in a big, moist kiss. “I've always wanted to do it on the roof of a skyscraper. . . .” Eduard raised his delicate eyebrows. “Think you could help me out?”

  “On—on the rooftop?” Olaf grabbed his mag-lock harness to keep his balance. “Hey, I've got access!”

  Eduard blew Olaf another kiss and pointed upward. “Meet me up there. I'll take the lifter, but you'll have to open the main door.” Olaf swallowed visibly and nodded. The autoscaffolding hummed, carrying him up and out of reach.

  Slightly queasy at what he was doing, Eduard took a fast lifter to the top level and made his way to the locked access door in the maintenance shaft. Normally, no one would come up this high except under special circumstances. Eduard checked his skimpy clothes, shivered, then used another light mist of pheromone spray. It felt oily on his skin, like old sweat. He hoped Olaf hadn't lost his nerve.

  He didn't consider Olaf the least bit attractive, or even interesting. But he had endured dental surgery for this man—he doubted sex with him could be much worse.

  Eduard heard a fumbling on the other side of the lock. Lights blinked green on the panel, and the rooftop door opened, spilling sunshine into the stairwell.

  “You're here!” Olaf said in disbelief. “You're really here.”

  Eduard climbed the remaining steps. “I'd rather be . . . out there. Alone with you. Don't you get a thrill out of having sex with perfect strangers?” He smiled, trying to make his body relax, to feel some sort of arousal. “I've always wanted to do it up here, so high, under the open sky.”

  Olaf gulped. He closed the door behind him, and the keypad automatically locked it. Then he followed the petite woman's body as Eduard walked across the open rooftop.

  Eduard stripped off the oil-slick tube top, but held it coyly in front of him, covering his small breasts. He concentrated on his crotch, trying to feel a need there, trying to get wet, to be aroused. He felt no anticipation, though . . . only determination.

  “Just one condition.” Eduard delicately licked his lips with the tip of his tongue. “I want the . . . full experience. We have to do it twice, once in each body. Get undressed.”

  Olaf was only too eager to agree. He fumbled with his work coveralls, trying to undo the fastenings. His hands shook. Eduard felt guilty for using the gangly man so blatantly, but despite the inconvenience, this would probably be the high point of Olaf's life.

  He let the oil-slick top fall from his hands and gave Olaf time to gawk at the small, perfect breasts. Cool breezes chilled Eduard's skin, made his nipples harden. “If I'm distracting you, Olaf, I can find a more private place to undress.”

  Olaf swallowed hard again, and went back to undressing. “No, no—that's just fine. Hey, how did you know my name?”

  Instead of answering, Eduard wasted no time stripping off Teresa's sexy new skirt and dropping the panties. He twirled around naked, pretending to revel in the open air. He found a smooth, sunny spot on the concrete rooftop and lay back, beckoning Olaf.

  Sex with this nervous, middle-aged window maintainer was demeaning, but no worse than all the other things he had done in his life. In the end, he found he could tolerate it better if he closed his eyes. No problem. Olaf couldn't contain himself and was quick enough to finish—embarrassingly quick. At least Eduard managed to avoid much kissing during the ordeal.

  He slid out from under Olaf, who was panting
and grinning. “Now for part two of the bargain.” Eduard reached toward him. The gangly man leaned back, looking frightened—but the two of them swapped before Olaf could think of any excuses. They synched the ID patches; if he stole Olaf's identity outright, he would be too easy to trace.

  With different eyes, Eduard looked down at the naked woman, seeing her petite form, the smooth skin he had learned to know so well, both when it was his own flesh and when it was Teresa's. As he looked through the eyes of a man again, Eduard saw only a reflection of Teresa lying flushed from the hurried sex.

  Olaf seemed withdrawn and frightened behind Teresa's big eyes. Eduard guessed the window maintainer had never before experienced intercourse as a female, outside of his fantasies. “Don't worry,” he said consolingly. “I'll make it easy for you.”

  Eduard strutted around in Olaf's lanky body, stretching, feeling the muscles. “Let me get accustomed to this, so I can perform better.” He glanced at the waifish body sitting naked on the rooftop. “You'll see how easy it is.” He strolled around the perimeter of the building, peering over the edge to the streets far below.

  “Okay, I . . . I think I'm ready now,” Olaf said, shivering in the tiny female form. “But it's getting cold up here.”

  Eduard reached the spot where he had dropped his sexy new clothes. He picked up the scarlet skirt and oil-slick tube top, removed the last of the unmarked credits Garth had given him—then tossed the garments over the edge, where breezes yanked at them and carried the clothes away.

  “Hey!” Olaf scrambled to his bare feet, disoriented in her small body. “Those are your clothes.”

  Eduard quickly grabbed Olaf's coveralls. “No—they're yours now.” He fumbled in the pocket for the access card and ran toward the locked rooftop door.

  “What are you doing?” Olaf said in complete disbelief, his voice a pale reflection of Teresa's. Eduard hated that he needed to do this. It wasn't fair. But then, life wasn't fair—especially not lately.