by C. J. Hill
Tariq pressed the end of his handle, and a ball of light appeared, hovering above his paddle. “When it’s my serve, I send my ball to a wall. If you intercept it with your ball before it comes back to me, you get a point.” He flicked his paddle, and his ball flew to the wall. It silently hit, bounced against the floor, and returned to his paddle. He gave Sheridan another smile. “It’s tryst. Trust is a game that takes much longer to play.”
It was. And he excelled at that game too.
This time when Sheridan’s cell door slid open, the burly guard who had a face like iron marched inside.
Her stomach did a twist, momentarily replacing the sensation of hunger with fear. She called this guard The Tough One because he wouldn’t ever talk to her. He hardly even acknowledged her when she spoke. At first she’d thought he couldn’t understand her, but she had practiced the accent since she got here and had it down pretty well now. He still wouldn’t speak to her. It was never good news to see him.
“How are the wife and kids?” she asked him. She kept hold of the hope, however vague and wispy, that if she got him to see her as an actual person, he might treat her better. Maybe he would even look the other way when she escaped. Not if—when.
The Tough One held a laser box loosely in one hand and motioned for her to come. “You have a visitor.”
An interrogation, more likely.
“Everything is good at home then?” Sheridan went on. “Everyone is happy and healthy?” She took a small step toward the door.
The Tough One stared at her coldly.
“I bet I remind you of your daughter, don’t I? She’s probably charming, smart . . . helpless against men with laser boxes.”
He didn’t answer, just motioned again for her to come.
She took another small step. “I bet you don’t like the guys your daughter dates. Do you do the big bad Enforcer routine to scare them off?”
He glowered at her. “I can stun you and carry you out. I get paid the same.”
“You’ll never get grandchildren that way.”
Apparently The Tough One was touchy about grandchildren. He raised his laser box and shot her.
Chapter 26
Taylor knew she needed to roll over, to get away from the car that barreled down the street toward her. She jerked to the right—or tried to anyway. Her boot was hooked underneath the rail. She pulled at it. The boot was stiff and wouldn’t bend enough to free her.
Great. She was going to die because of a fashion choice.
The ground beneath Taylor vibrated as the car neared. She twisted her foot, uselessly trying to release herself.
She felt hands grasping her underneath her arms, lifting and yanking her backward. She knew it was Echo even though she hadn’t seen him run over. His grunt of determination turned into a yell of aggravation. He hadn’t seen that her boot was caught, and now it was too late for him to bend down and free it. All he could do was let her go and get out of the way.
She waited for him to drop her. He pulled harder. The fasteners that ran up the length of her boot broke and popped open. Her foot slid free, and both she and Echo tumbled backward. Taylor hit the ground again, this time landing on Echo’s chest. The car whizzed by them, sending out a breeze that fluttered strands of hair into her face. And then it was gone. She was safe. Alive. She went limp with relief and lay there, motionless, feeling Echo breathe in deeply.
He shifted, moving her off him so that he could look at her. “Anything broken?”
“Maybe my ankle.”
“Sorry about yanking you like that. It’s easier to heal a broken foot than a severed one.”
Taylor’s gaze went to the rail. Her boot lay in a limp, shredded heap several feet farther down the street than it had started out. That shredded heap had nearly been her foot. The thought made her feel nauseous and dizzy.
Echo glanced around. Several people on the walkway had stopped and were staring at them. “Car malfunction,” Echo called to them. “She’ll be fine.”
Most of the people turned and went on their way, perhaps embarrassed to be caught staring. A few others kept watching them. No one offered to help.
Echo lowered his voice. “We need to get out of here.”
Taylor wasn’t sure if she could walk. And now that she wasn’t in fear of being run over, she noticed her hands were throbbing. Both palms were scraped and bleeding. A flap of skin on one hand hung loose. The knee on the right side of her pants was ripped, and a stream of blood trickled down her leg. She looked at her injuries with a sinking feeling of despair. How could she have let this happen to herself now, when she needed more than ever to be in control of the situation?
Echo scooped her up in his arms. Taylor wanted to protest and tell Echo he shouldn’t carry her when he had a shoulder injury. She could walk. She didn’t say anything, though. She wasn’t sure she actually could walk.
Echo headed off the street toward Allana. She stood on the side of the road, shaking her left hand as though it stung.
“I’ve got Xavier’s med pack,” Echo told Taylor. “I’ll work on your injuries as soon as we get into another car.”
When Echo got to Allana, he set Taylor on her feet, keeping his arm around her waist for support. With his free hand, he pulled out his comlink and signaled for a car. He looked up one side of the street and down the other.
Taylor slowly tested her weight on her hurt foot. Pain shot up her leg. Not a good sign.
“So”—Allana eyed Taylor, taking in her injuries—“you had trouble with your jump. Did you stumble over that massive sense of importance you carry around with you?”
“Shut up,” Taylor said.
Echo kept gazing around. “Did you see anyone reporting us?”
“No,” Allana said.
People were still staring at them, although now most were just cutting them curious glances as they walked by. A few people were talking on their comlinks, but those didn’t seem to be paying attention to them at all.
“Hopefully a new car will get here soon.” Echo clipped his comlink back onto his belt and held his hand out to Allana. “Give me the crystal.”
“The crystal?” she repeated, blinking.
“The mobile crystal,” he said, hand still out. “The one you used to program the last car.”
Allana swallowed uncomfortably. “I . . . I didn’t take it with me.”
Echo stared at her, his expression growing grim. “Why would you do that when you knew we needed another car?”
“I forgot about it,” she said, then added defensively, “It wasn’t my fault. It’s not normal to have to carry around a crystal.”
Echo raked his hand through his blond hair. His voice came out sharp, like someone chopping things into pieces. “What part of this day has been normal? Running into assassins? Escaping off the roof of the Scicenter? Being shot at by gasbots? Maybe those things should have clued you that we left ‘normal’ a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Allana folded her arms and pouted, reminding Taylor of one of those sullen magazine models from her day. Beautiful, haughty, and perpetually in a bad mood. “I guess we’ll have to call someone for help.” Allana lifted her chin challengingly. “I suggest my father. He’ll come himself to get us.”
“And bring Enforcers with him,” Echo said. “He’ll never let us leave the city, and Taylor . . .” He didn’t finish; instead he turned to Taylor. “Call your contact.”
Taylor put weight on her injured foot again, this time enduring the pain without flinching. If she could do this, she could walk. She wasn’t helpless. “I can’t let my contact know we already destroyed the QGPs. Joseph’s team might not rescue Sheridan if they know.”
Echo let out a low-sounding growl of frustration. “Joseph said he would rescue her. Trust me, he’ll do everything he can.”
Taylor shifted more weight onto her injured foot. She willed it to support her, to let her walk. “But Ren and Lee might not, so I can’t let anyone know where we are until Sheridan is safe.” The throb
bing pain in Taylor’s ankle became so intense, she gasped and put her weight back on her uninjured leg.
Allana peered around the street, perhaps hoping to see someone she knew. When she didn’t, she huffed out a sigh of exasperation. “If you won’t let us call anyone, then one of us will have to take off our blocking band so we can use a car. We can’t walk to the Recreation Plaza. It’s fifteen kilometers away.” The look she sent Echo made it clear she thought he should be the one to do it. “I’m sure the laser cutter could take your band off.”
“Yeah,” Taylor said. “I’m sure it could take his hand off too.”
Allana crinkled her nose at Taylor. “I wasn’t suggesting he use the surgery tools.”
Echo leaned closer to Taylor’s ear. “Laser cutters,” he explained softly, “are programmed not to damage skin cells.”
He didn’t speak softly enough. Allana raised her eyebrows, incredulous that Taylor didn’t know this information. Allana didn’t comment on it, though. She turned to Echo, her pout back. “Please. We can’t stay here, and Taylor can’t walk. We need a car.”
“Don’t,” Taylor told Echo. “The Dakine will find us.” The palms of Taylor’s hands burned. She wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. How could she though, when she couldn’t even walk a few steps?
Allana stepped over to Echo and whispered, “If it’s really been two and a half months, the Dakine stopped searching for our signals long ago.”
“Really?” Taylor said. It was a statement more than a question. “Are you an expert on the Dakine or are you guessing?”
Allana ignored Taylor. “The Dakine must have assumed we left the city. What would be the point of searching for us months later?”
Taylor wasn’t sure if Allana was being manipulative or just stupid. “Wouldn’t the Dakine have some scanning program that automatically searches for wanted people? And wouldn’t that program notify someone if a fugitive suddenly popped back up in the city?”
Allana sent Taylor a razored look. “You don’t know anything about it.”
Taylor’s hands were throbbing worse than ever, and drops of blood dripped from them. She looked like she had stepped out of some sort of horror film. “I can walk,” she said. “The DW left more than one mobile crystal around. We’ll have to get the nearest one. Where are we?”
Echo brought up a city map on his comlink and showed it to Taylor. Most of the crystal locations were close to the Scicenter, and that was the last place she wanted to go. She pointed to a spot on the comlink. Marshal Street. “That’s our safest bet.”
Allana peered over Taylor’s shoulder at the map. “That’s four kilometers away.”
“Right,” Taylor said. “We can walk that in less than an hour. If Joseph calls me before that, we’ll have him come pick us up.”
“I could call a friend,” Allana suggested. “Or if you don’t trust my friends, have Echo call someone he knows. His father. Or that silly little wordsmith who was always in the way. Either of them would help us.”
Echo’s gaze circled around the street again. “Jeth and Elise both left the city. Everyone knows the Dakine and the government are looking for us. They probably both have rewards out for our capture.” Done searching the street, Echo turned to Allana. “I don’t trust my friends with that sort of temptation, and I’m not about to trust yours.”
Allana gave an almost imperceptible stamp of her foot. “I can’t believe you’re being so paranoid.”
Echo tightened his grip around Taylor’s waist but kept his eyes on Allana. “If you don’t want to spend the rest of your short life worrying about assassins, you need to come with us. Otherwise, I’ll give you back your comlink now and you can call anyone you want.”
Allana stared at him, nostrils flaring, her lips bunching in and out of an angry line. It was clear she wasn’t used to being given ultimatums and didn’t like this one now. She didn’t answer.
Echo waited for another moment, then pulled Allana’s comlink from his belt and tossed it to her. “Good-byes just got a lot easier for me.” He turned away from her. “Good luck, Allana.”
With one quick motion, Echo picked Taylor up and strode down the walkway with her in his arms.
Taylor shouldn’t have felt relieved they were parting ways with Allana. What Echo had said was undoubtedly true. If Allana stayed in Traventon, sooner or later the Dakine would kill her. Probably sooner.
Still, Taylor was relieved. This meant Echo wasn’t so in love with Allana that he was going to throw away his life doing her bidding. This meant Sheridan wouldn’t have to deal with Allana throwing herself at Joseph when they made it back to Santa Fe. And this meant Taylor wouldn’t have to keep worrying about Allana doing something stupid that got the rest of them shot or captured. If Echo died again because of Allana—how would Taylor explain that to Joseph?
Echo turned off the main walkway that followed the road and headed down one that led to apartment buildings.
“Where are we going?” Taylor asked.
He nodded toward a tall yellow building. “We’ll go inside there so I can take care of your foot. Once you can walk, we’ll go for the crystal.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying me,” Taylor said, remembering his injury. “You’ll hurt your shoulder.”
“It’s fine.” He shifted her in his arms, holding her so that his damaged shoulder carried less weight. “Put your arms around my neck and giggle. Act like we’re in love and this is a game. We’ll be less conspicuous that way.”
Taylor adjusted her pant leg to hide the rip. “I’m not really the type of girl who giggles.”
Echo gave her a warm, intimate smile, the type you gave to someone you were flirting with. She knew it was fake, and yet it still managed to make her insides flutter. His blue eyes had a way of catching a person’s attention and holding it. “Come on,” he murmured, “arms around my neck. If people know you’re injured, they’ll wonder why I’m not taking you to a med clinic. They’ll remember us. Every once in a while demand I give you your boot back.”
“I’ll get blood on your shirt,” she said, and gave him a sultry look. “Darling.”
He leaned his forehead toward hers. He smelled of something fresh, woodsy, like the outdoors. She missed the outdoors; that was why she was breathing so deeply.
“People won’t notice blood splatters,” he whispered. ‘If they see a smile on your face and a kiss waiting on your lips, they’ll think it’s just red dye on your hands.”
A kiss waiting on her lips? She supposed that was a saying from the twenty-fifth century and not a poetic moment from Echo. Taylor carefully wound her arms around his neck. With his square jaw and perfect features, he really was unfairly handsome. She couldn’t help but notice how muscular he was. He had such strong arms. “Where have you been all my life?” she asked, and then leaned over and nuzzled his ear. “Oh yeah, you weren’t born for most of my life, and then you were dead.”
“But I’m here now,” he said, and his voice turned soft and silky. The kind of voice a girl could lap up. “That’s the important thing—showing up eventually.”
He put his lips against her temple, a touch that sent an electric sensation skittering down her back. That wasn’t supposed to happen. This was all pretend.
His lips made a soft trail down to her cheek, then he lifted his head. “How much do you love me?” The question was for the benefit of a couple of women who were passing by.
Taylor forced a laugh. “As much as you love me.”
Echo grinned, and it seemed genuine, amused. Could he tell her heart was beating faster? Was she blushing?
They were nearly to the entrance of one of the buildings. People were coming and going, their clothes brilliant splashes of color against the beige walkways. A group of benches circled the courtyard, and several people sat there eating and talking.
It was nice resting against Echo’s chest, Taylor decided, easy to nestle in his arms like this. He leaned his head so that his lips brushed against her hair. “You�
�re beautiful,” he said. “The first time I saw you, I wanted”—he paused, stiffened—“your laser box.”
Taylor almost snorted. “Okay, as romantic lines go, that one is lacking.” She glanced up at his face. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. He had turned to see who was running up behind them.
Taylor heard the footsteps then, too late to grab her laser box. She peered over Echo’s shoulder and was relieved to see it was just Allana, hurrying to catch up to them. Echo turned back around and kept walking forward.
Taylor smiled at him again, but Allana’s arrival had changed everything. She could feel the tension in his body now. “Go on,” Taylor told Echo. “You were telling me how beautiful I am.”
Allana reached Echo’s side and slowed down to keep pace with him. Breathlessly, she said, “I decided to come with you.”
Taylor looked upward. “Suddenly I’m feeling a lot less romantic.”
Echo spoke to Allana without looking at her, didn’t act like she was with them at all. “What’s wrong? Couldn’t you get ahold of any of your friends?”
“It’s not that.” Allana tossed her silver hair from one shoulder to show the suggestion offended her. “I was deciding who to call—who I could trust—and I realized you were right. Any of my friends could turn me over to the Dakine. Most of them would. Even my father won’t be able to keep the Dakine away.” Her voice turned soft. “The only way I can be safe is by staying with you.”
Taylor couldn’t tell if Allana’s words had the effect she wanted. Echo’s expression was emotionless. “Give me your comlink.”
Allana unclipped it from her belt and held it out to him. He set Taylor down and took the comlink. He pushed a few buttons on the side, checking the call history. Then he tapped in some command functions. Judging from the computer code, he was going through the internal history to see if Allana had deleted anything.
Allana knew what he was doing. She folded her arms, and her model pout returned. “You don’t trust me,” she said, sounding hurt. “I told you I didn’t call anyone.”
“And now I have the proof you didn’t.” He tucked the comlink back into his belt. “So I can trust you. If you had called your father, every Enforcer in the city would be looking us.”