During this whole time, he could see her trying to look around at the stratport without appearing to really look around. In reality, it wasn’t that different from the spaceport at Luna City, except that here you saw blue skies and darker blue mountains instead of the bone-bleached surface of the Moon and the eternal black of space. But it was the same sort of architecture, functional rather than elegant, although on one wall there was a rather attractive mural depicting the area before climate change had altered its appearance so drastically. The same mountains, but a true desert landscape, highlighted with the spiky outlines of the Joshua trees that had once covered the area, now almost extinct.
The waiting area was likewise nondescript, rows of chairs with dark green cushions, people looking bored or impatient, depending on their particular reasons for taking this flight. Here it was slightly different than in other stratport sections, simply because no one heading to China was going there to vacation or visit family. For the most part, there was no one left to visit.
In recent years, though, Shanghai had begun to bounce back, and now had a population of almost ten thousand. Nothing compared to its glory days, when it had teemed with millions of people, but Derek supposed you had to start somewhere. Shanghai was their first destination, a destination shared with the scientists and engineers and support staff currently waiting along with him and Cassidy.
The men and women waiting to embark shot a few curious glances in their direction, and he could feel himself stiffening. The pool of experts going to and from China was small enough that there was always the possibility someone might know who he was. It was a calculated risk, one he couldn’t avoid. But he saw no flickers of recognition from any of the people who shared the waiting area, and he realized their curiosity was more because they couldn’t quite figure out who he was or why he was there.
And, he realized, with a small pang of jealousy that was quite unlike him, it was also because some of the men were looking more closely at Cassidy than he would like. Not openly ogling, but still.
In fact, one of them detached himself from the group he was with and came over to where Derek and Cassidy stood, blatantly ignoring Derek while going straight to Cassidy.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” the man said, flashing what he probably thought was a charming smile at her. “Are you with GARP?”
“No,” she replied calmly, as if being approached by strange men in stratports was something that happened all the time. She even flicked a lock of hair back over her shoulder, and the man’s smile widened at what he seemed to think was a sort of invitation. “My partner and I are with NBN.”
The barest hint of a glance in Derek’s direction before the stranger returned his full attention to Cassidy. “Really? I don’t think I’ve seen you on the vid before.”
“Oh, I’m not a vid-caster. My official designation is research assistant, but just between you and me, that’s a fancy name for lackey.”
That remark elicited a chuckle, and Derek could feel his hackles go up. Never mind that he knew deep down Cassidy was handling this just right, that being friendly…but not too friendly…was far better than coldly shooting the guy down. Even if they had the horrible luck to be seated by him on the strat, it would only be for a few hours, and then he’d be off to his own assignment, and they’d be going on to their own far more subversive mission.
“Isn’t that right, Phil?” she added, sending a sweet smile in his direction. “Of course, Phil’s a senior research assistant, so I guess that makes him a senior lackey.”
“Something like that,” Derek agreed, although it pained him to do so. The stranger’s glance in his direction was dismissive, and Derek had to quell the desire to tell the jackass that he was pretty sure he possessed just as many advanced degrees as the stranger, or more. After all, Derek didn’t know him, so he had no idea whether the man was an engineer or a scientist, or maybe even support staff.
“First time going to China?” the stranger persisted.
“The first,” she told him. “I’m sure it’ll be quite an adventure.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” He paused, acting as if an idea had just occurred to him, although Derek had a feeling the man had been considering the notion pretty much the whole time he’d been talking to Cassidy. “Say, if you’re going to be in Shanghai for a while, you should let me show you around. This is my third trip there, and I know all the good places to go.”
“Well, as appealing as that sounds,” Cassidy replied, something in her tone telling Derek that she considered such a hookup only slightly more appealing than being pushed out an airlock, “we’re heading out up-country almost as soon as we land. So I don’t think that will work, unfortunately.”
For a second or two, the stranger looked disappointed. But then he perked up, saying, “What about when you come back? I’m actually stationed in Shanghai — I’m part of the staff at the air-quality station there. So I’m very flexible.”
The way he said that seemed to indicate his “flexibility” extended far beyond his schedule, and Derek had to grind his teeth and remind himself that chopping a strange man in the neck in a stratport waiting area was not a particularly good idea for anyone who wanted to remain inconspicuous.
Cassidy shifted her weight, clearly uncomfortable now. “Well, our trip is sort of open-ended, so I can’t really make any commitments. But — ”
The universe saved her then, as the speakers hidden in the walls came to life, saying, “Flight 89A, stratliner to Shanghai, is now boarding. Make sure you have your electronic tickets prepared for scanning.”
“Thank God,” Cassidy murmured to Derek after the stranger startled, then excused himself to go meet up with the rest of his team. “I was starting to think the only way to get rid of him was to knee him in the nuts.”
“You and me both,” he replied grimly. “You handled it well, though.”
She flashed a grin at him. “Honey, believe me, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to fend off a stranger in a spaceport. Okay, first time in a stratport, but the techniques involved aren’t all that different.”
In that moment he felt a warm rush of emotion go over him, one he couldn’t quite identify. Admiration, tinged with amusement, but it was far more than that. She was constantly surprising him, this woman who had more or less fallen into his life, and he knew he wanted to keep being surprised by her.
Was it fair, then, for him to be dragging her halfway across the world, and for what? Some sort of vindication?
No, it was more than that. If the only thing at stake was his personal reputation, he would’ve taken Conrad Waite’s confession and disseminated it to as many people as possible. Even that wasn’t so very important. Derek knew his mother had had her belief in her son’s innocence substantiated, and that would have to be enough. His father was a lost cause, but oddly, Derek found he could live with the situation if he had to. They’d been estranged even before Theo’s death; the accusation of murder and resulting prison sentence had served to deepen the rift, but they certainly hadn’t caused it in the first place.
Perhaps he was being naïve, but Derek believed the truth about the supposed “cleansing” of the Asian continent should be exposed. After all, he had only seen one of these processing plants. Who knew how many of them were scattered about the region, performing their grisly tasks with no one to see or know? And if he didn’t try to get the word out, who would?
He felt a brush of fingers on his sleeve, and looked down to see Cassidy gazing up at him, expression troubled. “Everything okay? We really should be getting on board.”
“I’m fine,” he told her. “Let’s do this thing.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Flying on a stratliner had sounded as if it might be vaguely glamorous, but in reality the main passenger cabin was cramped, with not enough leg room and a seat that felt as if it should have been replaced years ago. Derek had graciously allowed her the window spot, but after takeoff and the first few min
utes of flying through Gaia’s atmosphere, there really wasn’t all that much to see. A dark blue expanse far, far below that he told her was the Pacific Ocean, and above them the equally dark blue reaches of the upper atmosphere. She couldn’t quite see the stars, and she couldn’t see land. It was as if they were flying in limbo, neither here nor there.
All in all, she was looking forward to landing…or would have been, if it weren’t that they’d be heading out into the wastes of China’s interior, searching for the all-important evidence of the Consortium’s illegal practices there. What exactly Derek intended to do with it, she wasn’t sure, but it seemed as if their benefactor was extremely connected, in all possible senses of the word. Maybe Derek planned to pass the evidence on to him…or her…and see that it got sent to the right places.
Would that be enough to exonerate him? In a perfect world, maybe. In this one, it seemed more likely that it would simply provide another reason for Consortium authorities to lock him up and forget the code to his cell.
There wasn’t much she could do about it now, though. She’d agreed to come along with him, and once she’d given her word, she’d see it through to the end. Anyway, she was fooling herself if she thought this was all about not breaking a promise.
A quick glance at the man sitting next to her reminded her exactly why she was here. His expression was abstracted, mouth tight as if he were thinking of something not entirely pleasant. Musing about what lay ahead of them? Probably. He knew far better than she what exactly they had to look forward to when they headed out to Hunan Province. He knew, and was going anyway, because it was the right thing to do, and Derek Tagawa was not a person to flinch from doing the right thing.
Quite a change from the men she’d encountered so far in her life. She had to wonder if her father would laugh at her for falling for some crazy-eyed dreamer, when she’d always vowed that she’d live her life alone.
A life alone. That was the last thing she wanted now.
She reached over and wrapped her fingers around Derek’s hand, wanting the reassurance of his touch. Luckily, the clueless stranger who’d attempted to pick her up in the waiting area at the stratport was seated at the very front of the main passenger compartment, while she and Derek sat in the rear, so there was no chance of the man seeing her holding hands with someone who was supposed to be only a work colleague.
Derek said nothing, but she could feel him twine his fingers with hers and give the faintest of squeezes. It wasn’t as if they could say anything of any import, not with strangers sitting directly in front of them and to the side. But she could feel his strength in even that quiet touch. I’m here, it seemed to say, and she had to content herself with that.
All the same, she hoped they would land at an inopportune time — the middle of the night would be perfect — so they’d have to find a place to stay and wait to strike out on the next leg of their journey in the morning. Maybe it was cowardly of her, but she wanted to be with him wholly before they ventured into dangerous territory. It might be the last chance she ever got to lose herself in his arms again.
Since she couldn’t say any of that aloud, she had to settle for allowing her hand to rest in Derek’s, to feel the warmth of his flesh against hers as they flew westward at speeds that would have been unimaginable a few centuries earlier. In that moment, she wished the stratliner weren’t quite so fast. It was bringing them closer and closer to China, and she worried that, once there, they might never leave again.
* * *
Shanghai didn’t seem to have changed much in the three years since Derek was last there. Possibly a little more congested, a bit noisier, but that was to be expected, he supposed. Humanity would always try to fill a void when it could. The Cloud hadn’t settled as heavily here because of the ocean breezes, and people had started coming back some five decades or so after the mass dying.
For all its frenetic energy, though, the place was still struggling. Only the areas along the waterfront looked basically unscathed, as they were the first places to be cleared out and repopulated. The further inland you went, the more you saw vast districts of empty buildings, still blocked off and patrolled by Consortium forces. It was a grim sight if you allowed yourself to look…but the city’s current population worked very hard not to look, to concentrate on the sections of Shanghai that were up and running again.
By the time they had reclaimed their luggage, it was almost eighteen hundred hours, local time, and Derek wondered if they should stay the night here in town. After all, he and Cassidy only had an hour or so of daylight left, which wouldn’t get them very far. Something told him that they needed to keep moving, however, so after grabbing some noodles and soy at a diner in the stratport, he rented them a heavy-duty aircar, murmuring a silent prayer of thanks under his breath that once again his altered biometrics passed muster.
When he’d told her that they should press on, Cassidy had exhaled a slight breath but hadn’t offered any protest. Not that she’d needed to — he’d seen the weariness and the disappointment in her eyes. He didn’t ask, but he thought he knew the reason for the disappointment. After the long flight, and with dark approaching, she’d probably hoped they would stay here in Shanghai for one night at least.
“There still aren’t a lot of hotels operating here in the city,” he said by way of explanation as he guided the ’car through the streets, which somehow managed to be choked with traffic even though the city’s population was not all that large. “I’ve stayed at all of the ones that are safe to stay in, and the risk of being recognized is too great. It’s better if we get out of Shanghai.”
She didn’t protest, only stared out the ’car window at the unfamiliar streets. “How long to get to Hunan Province?”
“It’s a good ways — more than a thousand kilometers, and not all the roads have been cleared yet. A day and a half, if we’re lucky.”
“So….” A shake of the head, and she said, “What’s your plan, Derek? Are we going to sleep in here?”
That actually had been his plan. Once they were out of Shanghai, they’d be in areas controlled directly by the Consortium’s peace-keeping troops. His and Cassidy’s press credentials should allow them safe passage, and he’d purposely rented a large vehicle with extra ground clearance and room to stow a good number of supplies. Speaking of which….
“It’s safest that way,” he replied. “About an hour outside of Shanghai is a supply depot, sort of the last outpost of civilization before you enter the true wasteland. We’ll get some camping equipment there, whatever we need to get us into Hunan. No one’s going to think it odd that we’re stocking up before we head into the waste. But….”
“But what?”
“You’ll need to do the shopping while I wait in the ’car. I know there’s a good chance someone at the depot will recognize me, as I’ve been there several times in the past. I’ll make up a list and send it to your handheld.”
Her expression as he told her this was dubious, to say the least, but then she forced a smile and said, “Hey, I’m fine with any excuse to go shopping.”
There wasn’t much comparison between shopping for designer clothing on Lakeshore Drive in Chicago and picking up survival gear in a dirty outpost on the borders of the China waste, but he recognized her remark for what it was — her way of making light of their situation, of letting him know she was okay with handling this part of the mission. Funny how he’d been thinking of it that way for quite some time. Possibly that was his mind’s way of making this crazy plan seem more official, less a wild goose chase that could very well end up with both of them dead.
But no, he didn’t want to think that way. Not here, not now. They’d gotten this far, which meant they at least had luck on their side.
No, not luck. He’d never much believed in luck. He did, however, very much believe in the unknown benefactor who’d provided a helping hand almost every step along the way. They hadn’t heard anything from him, or her, for the past while, but Derek supposed i
t was because he hadn’t asked for anything. If their sponsor really was tracking their I.D.s, then that person already knew they’d landed in Shanghai and rented a ’car there. No doubt he or she was sitting back and waiting to see if any more assistance was required.
Derek hoped not, but that was probably being foolishly optimistic. There were still so many things that could go wrong.
Realizing that Cassidy was staring at him, obviously expecting a reply, he said, “Just don’t go crazy with the hiking boots and the gourmet SRPs.”
“There’s such a thing as a gourmet SRP?” she inquired, tone dubious.
“You’d be surprised. I’ve had a few, when the brass came to visit the station. We didn’t have the luxury of a cook, so the higher-end SRPs were about the best we could do. Twice the price of the regular meals, but there’s a reason for that.”
She appeared to consider his comment. A lopsided smile pulled at her mouth, and then she said, “Okay…I promise I’ll only buy a few. Well, maybe half. A girl’s got to keep her energy up, you know.”
Since there was such a teasing note in her voice, he could only shrug and say, “I suppose that’s fine. Even with all the running around we’ve been doing, we’ve barely put a dent in that credit voucher.”
He’d halfway expected her to make another joke in reply, but instead she nodded, expression suddenly serious. “I’m glad,” she told him. “I want there to be a lot left on it so we can blow it on first-class tickets someplace really crazy when all this is over.”
“Such as?”
“I’m not particular. Paris. Rome. Helsinki. Eridani.” Shifting in her seat, she gave him a direct look, the kind that made an unexpected and not unwelcome heat rouse itself in his groin. “Just someplace where we can lock ourselves up in an expensive hotel and not come out of the room for days.”
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