by Jus Accardo
There were a few moments of static and some feedback, and when the picture came back into focus, Karl Anderson was standing at a podium, Cora on one side, and a tall man in a dark suit on the other.
“As most of you know, our son, Noah Emeal, was found dead not long ago.”
There was a soft whisper through the crowd as Cora gripped his arm and held tight. I got the impression it was for show.
“As the news reported, he took his own life and left a note. Kindly, they did not disclose the contents of that note, and neither my wife nor I had any plans to do so. However, things have changed.”
The camera panned out to capture the crowd’s surprise and a growing feeling of dread seeped into the room. A few feet from the TV, Ash had gone pale. Her mouth was open and at her sides, her fists were balled tight.
“Noah’s note claimed that he was unable to live after being so cruelly toyed with for years, then discarded, by someone he cared deeply for.”
She shook her head and took a step away from the television. “No…”
“Ashlyn Calvert, the young Bottom Tier orphan girl we took into our home, the girl we fed and clothed. Unknown to us, she carried on with my son for years. My wife witnessed the sick affair with her own eyes! This girl seduced him, made him care for her—only to play with his affections. Information has come to light that now leads us to believe that the note left by Noah was, in fact, a fake forged by the girl. A source has informed us that Noah tried several times to cut the ties of their sick relationship and that Ashlyn refused. She intended to use her relationship with him to boost her tier level, knowing that in just a few short months she would turn eighteen and be returned to where she belonged.”
“Sonofabitch,” I cursed. I’d kill them. I’d fucking kill them…
“Last night…” Cora stepped forward. “My other son, Corey, was found dead in the woods. The last message on his phone was from Ashlyn Calvert, who confessed to me personally that she was meeting with him despite my pleas for her to leave my family be. We believe that when her efforts failed with Noah, she turned to a devastated and emotionally vulnerable Corey in hopes that a tryst would evolve.”
“This is not happening,” Ash said, backing away from the screen. “How could they do this?”
“We believe that she is working with a Skip,” Karl said. He slammed his hand down on the podium. The microphone rattled and crackled. “Another world’s version of Noah. We believe he is here to sabotage the Infinity Division, having allied himself to Miss Calvert who has vowed to make us pay for having her listed.”
She looked crushed and furious at the same time, and for some damn reason, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and tell her it was all going to be fine. “Ash…”
She snorted and ran a shaking hand through her hair. “Well, they got that part right. I did promise they’d pay…”
“These people are insane,” Cade said. He slid from the bed and began to pace. “Now not only do we have to worry about the cuffs malfunctioning, we have a target on our heads.”
“Technically the target is on Ash’s head. Mine, too, since they’re not thrilled to have me walking around with their son’s mug and all,” I said. He was right, though. This was going to make things ten times harder. I turned back to Ash. “And you’re sure no one will help you? Law enforcement? Friends?”
She frowned and sank onto the edge of the other bed. “Do you have listed on your Earth?”
I shook my head and she held up her hand and rolled her sleeve. On the inside of her wrist, there was what looked like a small black circle tattoo.
“See this mark? It means that I’m one of the listed. Basically invisible. No one is allowed to speak to or help me in any way.”
Now it made sense. “That’s why no one came for the fire.”
“Fire?” Kori said.
“Yep.” Ash pulled her sleeve down over the mark. “Because I’m under eighteen, they’re required to keep a roof over my head. The Andersons couldn’t stop them from giving me a spot at the compound. When I turn eighteen in six months, though, I’m out.”
“That’s barbaric.” Kori was always horrified over something on every Earth, only this time I agreed with her. This system was twisted and wrong. “If no one can speak to you, then how will you work? Feed yourself?”
“Once I turn eighteen I have the option of being employed by one of two companies—neither of which is pleasant.” She glanced back at the television, eyes narrowing to thin slits. “Hundreds of people are listed every day, some whose biggest crime was simply refusing to sleep with someone in a higher Tier than them. Hundreds of people, yet there are only about a thousand worldwide. There’s a good reason for that. The suicide rate in this country is the highest in the world.”
“How did you end up listed?”
Ash shifted from foot to foot. “The Andersons. Cora never liked me. She always hated how close Noah and I were. If they did really have something to do with his death then this is a perfect way to support that suicide note. Grief-stricken parents banish the girl who broke their son’s heart? Classic. They told the court I stole from them. It wasn’t hard to get it approved with their rank and power. I doubt anyone even looked at the paperwork before it was pushed through.”
“Maybe we can help each other.” Cade stopped pacing. “That guy who attacked you? The one who killed your Corey? We’re here to stop him.”
“Except the device we use to go from one Earth to another is on the fritz,” Kori added. “His movements have been erratic.”
Cade nodded. “He killed Corey, but there’s a good chance he’s not finished yet. There are three other people that might be in danger. We need to find them before he does, but we also need to see if there’s some way of fixing our cuffs. If you could help us find someone at Infinity who could give us some information, then maybe we can help you figure out exactly what happened to your Noah. Clear your name.”
“I’m not sure how much help I can be to you. In case you misunderstood, not only am I listed, but I’m also now a murder suspect. Most people at Infinity know who I am. I doubt any of them would talk to me.”
“Please,” Kori prodded. “There has to be someone. Anyone?”
Ash thought about it for a minute before sighing. “I know someone inside Infinity who might talk to you.”
“Cade and Dylan don’t seem to have been born here,” Kori said. “We did a little digging while we were waiting for you. And no one will recognize me.”
I nodded. “Then you and Cade work on tracking down Penny, Miles, and Odette. Ash and I will see if we can make contact with her friend.”
There was a murmur of agreement, but I didn’t miss the way Ash cringed when I’d said friend, which worried me.
Chapter Six
Ash
How could they do this? I knew the Andersons had never liked me, but murder? They knew damn well I hadn’t hurt Noah. They knew because they’d had something to do with it. I couldn’t let them get away with it. If I could somehow manage to prove they were responsible, then maybe I could get the courts to take another look at the theft charges. Maybe I could have my listed status revoked. Helping this Noah and his friends might actually be the key to my freedom.
I pulled the hood of my borrowed sweatshirt just a bit tighter. Kori had loaned it to me since mine smelled like smoke. We’d parted ways with Cade and her—I still had a hard time getting right with a female version of Corey—and were off to try and get some information on Infinity. Noah had been quiet and it was starting to drive me insane. “So what’s the deal with this Dylan guy?”
Noah kept walking, eyes remaining front and center. He was going out of his way not to look at me and I was dying to know why. Had he known me where he’d come from? If not for the way I caught him looking at me sometimes, with a mix of desperation and greed, I would have thought he had—and hated me. As it was, I had no idea what was going through his mind. My Noah had been so easy to read. This one was a locked box. I
was desperate to ask, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t tell me. “He’s a bad guy.”
“I got that. Why is he a bad guy?”
“Because he kills people. In most societies, that’s earmarked as bad. Unless of course you’re talking about here, where apparently it’s a privilege for some.”
Comparison number two: not a great conversationalist. My Noah had been a smooth talker. Smart and witty, he could charm the nun right out of her habit with a single conversation. He loved to talk—sometimes a little too much. Obviously this one hadn’t learned the skill. “You’re just a load full of sunshine, aren’t you?”
He sighed. For a brief moment it almost seemed like he was going to apologize—something else my Noah would never do—but instead, he said, “Who is it that we’re trying to see?”
“His name is Phil. He was one of Noah’s best friends.”
That got his attention. He stopped and turned, eyes wide. There was a shimmer of excitement there. “Rabbit?”
“No… Phil is a person.”
“Rabbit is a nickname…” The spark died and he grumbled something under his breath before saying, “Never mind,” and starting forward again. “So Phil. He’s your friend?”
I hadn’t spoken to Phil in several months. While he’d never disliked me in the same ways Cora and Karl did, he wasn’t my biggest fan, as he was a huge supporter of the Tier system. You couldn’t blame him—or half the people our age. We were raised in the system. It was a way of life. He always insisted that Noah was crazy to treat me as an equal. I was beneath him. He could do better. I was holding him back, playing with his head, keeping him emotionally unavailable, the whole thing was sick and twisted—the list went on for days. Never mind that Noah and I, until that one stupid night, had never been anything other than friends. Forget that I would never have risked our friendship in that way.
Except I had, hadn’t I?
God. Why had I done it? In hindsight, it was probably one of the stupider moments of my life. A milestone mark of idiocy.
“Not really,” I said, pushing the heavy feelings of guilt aside.
We reached the bridge under the Seventh Street overpass and I slowed, remembering the last time I’d been here. It was with Noah. Just like I was now, he’d been here to leave a message for Phil. On the way home we’d gotten ice cream. Half my cone ended up smeared to the side of his face—an ice cream duel gone bad—and when we walked back through the door at home, we were still laughing about it. That was what I missed most about him. There were so many things, but his ability to make me laugh, to brighten my mood in even the darkest situation, was like a black hole in the pit of my soul.
“So then why are we going to him? If you’re blacklisted, then why not go to someone you consider a friend?”
Phil was a little on the weird side. Okay, scratch that. He was a lot weird. Probably the weirdest person I’d ever met. He didn’t own a house phone or a car, and refused to tell anyone where he lived. The rumor was, even Cora and Karl didn’t know—not that they would care. Scoring Phil for Infinity had been big news and a huge win for the company. The guy was a genius, and from what Noah had told me, hadn’t come cheap.
“I don’t have any friends.” The bitterness in my tone was unmistakable. I’d tried. With Corey, with the people at their posh school, but it’d been no use. I was an outsider. Someone who didn’t—and would never—belong. “And neither does Phil. Other than his mother, who he’s close with, Noah was the only one he’d really talk to. That’s why I’m going to him. Because if anyone will help me, he will. For Noah.”
For some reason, Noah was really the only one he trusted—and even that had its limits. He still refused to tell him where he lived, insisting on this strange method of communication whenever Noah wanted to talk to him. Something that had happened increasingly often in the days prior to his death.
“This is where we’re meeting your contact?” Noah snorted and gestured to the bridge. Moss grew in huge clumps along the rim of the ceiling, and every once in a while something in the distance dripped loudly. “Is he a troll?”
“No, this isn’t where we’re meeting him—if he meets with us. And he’s not my contact. He was a friend of yours.” Heat flamed to life in my cheeks as his brow lifted. Crap! I couldn’t even believe I’d slipped. This Noah was nothing like mine. Not that he’d been mine. “Of his.”
I turned away quickly and hustled to the middle of the underpass, where there was a loose brick. Digging in my fingers, I wiggled it back and forth until there was enough room for me to grab the stone. Once it was off, I dipped my hand into the small hollow space and pulled out a cell phone.
I powered it on and opened the camera app, then hit record. “Phil, I need to talk to you. It’s important. Meet me in two hours. The same spot you met Noah last Christmas Eve.” I hit stop, replaced the phone and brick, then turned back to Noah.
He blinked several times, looking from me to the brick, then back again. “Now what? That was it? That’s how you contact Rabbit? A regular phone call is just too easy?”
“His name is—”
“Phil—whatever the hell he calls himself here. What’s up with the Mission Impossible crap?”
“Phil is crazy paranoid.”
“I got that.” He looked like there was more he wanted to say on the subject, but sighed instead. “And how do we even know he’ll get it before two hours pass?”
I pointed upward, to the tiny camera mounted in the corner. “He already knows I left him a message.” I waved to the camera and started walking back the way we’d come. Staying in one place too long was bound to be bad for my health.
Noah caught up and fell in step beside me. “Where to now? Because if you didn’t have a preference, I’m starving.”
“You’re—” A purple police car rounded the corner and headed right at us. “Crap!” I whirled and grabbed the front of Noah’s shirt, then swung him around and propelled us into the small cluster of trees at the edge of the underpass.
There was only a tiny space that wasn’t visible from the road. A small crevice within the trees. In order for us both to fit, I’d had to cram myself up against him, and damn me to hell if it didn’t send a healthy and embarrassing rush of heat to my cheeks—and parts beyond—despite the situation. This Noah was nothing like mine. He was brash and jagged and darkness, and a part of me found that fascinating. I’d always been secretly attracted to my Noah, but until that one night, I’d never felt truly compelled to act on it. Ever since meeting this Noah, though, I’d found myself having to focus harder than I should have on the situation at hand rather than reaching out to graze his skin, or staring just a moment too long.
Noah obviously hadn’t seen the car. He snickered and let his arms fall slack at his sides. “This is how we say hello on my world, too. Only with more lips—and a lot more tongue.”
It was something my Noah would have said. That flirty, sometimes-crossed-the-line quipping that girls of every age found so damn appealing. Everyone had loved him. Beautiful, rich, super-smart…but there’d been so much more than that. Few people had really known him. Sometimes I wasn’t sure I had known him.
The car slowed, but finally passed without incident. Once it was out of sight, I stomped my foot down on Noah’s and backed away. “Jackass.”
“What?” He threw his hands into the air, a mock show of surrender that my Noah had mimicked a million times over. Comparison number three: Some of the same mannerisms. While I found it a bit comforting, it also reminded me just how much I missed him.
I sighed. “We should get moving.”
“Where, though?”
“To meet Phil.”
We started walking, keeping to the darker parts of town. As we went, Noah watched the scenery, and every few minutes he’d kind of cringe. “What’s up with all the people sitting on the sidewalk?”
“They’re Bottom Tier.”
“Okay…so why are they just sitting there?”
“Some of them are
hoping for work. Occasionally someone from a higher tier will venture down to this part of town looking for an employee for a few hours. Some live here.”
He stopped walking. “Live here? Like, right on the damn street?”
“Pretty much.”
“Your society is pretty fucked up. You know that?” He snorted and glared at a tall man talking to one of the women sitting up against the building. He was grinning. Laughing and animated, but she wasn’t as interested in the conversation as he seemed to be.
When she didn’t respond the way he wanted, he grew angry. “Stupid Bottom Tier trash.” He brought his leg back and let loose, kicking the poor woman hard enough to knock her over.
There was no hesitation on Noah’s part. He cursed and threw himself at the man. It was over in several swings, the man scampering to his feet and tripping all over himself to get away.
Noah sank to the ground and balanced on his heels, then helped the woman sit up. Tears streaked her face, and I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but he nodded and spoke back to her, voice low. When he was finished, he stood and the woman flashed him a grateful smile.
When he reached me again I found that I was speechless and unable to tear my eyes away from him. His stance stiffened and his demeanor slipped back into the same surly exterior it’d been a few moments ago. “What?” he snapped.
“Nothing,” I said, hiding a smile.
Maybe there was more to this version of Noah Anderson than his looks.
...
Meeting Phil someplace run of the mill wasn’t going to happen for two reasons. One, the obvious, Noah and I were both wanted. Knowing the Andersons, there were cops pulling triple time patrolling every corner of the city looking for us. Two, Phil would never go for it.
It was a rare occasion that he left the lab. Noah and I once argued if it was his choice to stay locked away—or Cora’s. He was a treasure that other companies had tried stealing away multiple times. On special events when he did venture out, he couldn’t deal with crowds. Small get-togethers—usually him, Noah, Corey, and I—were about as much as the guy could handle without a meltdown.