by Melissa Good
“They were waiting for us,” Jess said. “I heard the hatches clamp just before Joshua turned on me.” She studied her hands. “He hadn’t had a chance to send comms before we got there. I would have heard it.”
Bain nodded. “Someone else within Interforce was compromised.”
“Is that why you shot him?” Elaine asked. “Bricker, I mean. Was he the leak?”
“No.” Bain regarded her. “I shot him because he was a blithering idiot.” He paused. “Although, that could possibly have been the reason for the compromise.” He cleared his throat. “The problem is, he was put in place by someone at a high level, who was put in place by someone else at a high level, who was put in place by me.”
“Ah.” Jess nodded.
“You run out of magnesium slugs after awhile of that,” Bain said. “So the truth is, people, we don’t know where the hole is.”
Kurok snorted softly and shook his head.
Jess looked at her two fellow agents. “So someone is leaking our ops to the other side and it could be all the way up.”
“Yes.”
“So, Josh was probably turned from the inside,” Jason said, slowly. “We’ve been trying to figure out when he was nicked, and no one could.” He looked at Jess. “Maybe he never was. Maybe someone was just talking him into it over dinner, here.”
“So we have another quandary,” Bain said. “Obviously we need to go and assist the two teams who are now trapped under fire. However, outside this room I cannot tell you that the very plans we make might not be sent ahead.”
“Outside this room?” Stephan asked. “So you consider this group secure.”
“Yes,” Bain said. “Congratulations. No one else is going to die here today.”
Everyone flinched a little, except Kurok. He cleared his throat. “So the issue is, you can’t trust the outsiders. That includes your techs and most of the staff inside this facility.” He looked at Jess. “That was why Bricker came and asked us to design a set that could be programmed for the job. We know what’s in their minds. You can’t say that about anyone else.”
Jess returned his look. “Doesn’t do me any good if they can’t do the job.”
“How do you know Dev can’t?” Kurok countered. “Listen, I know you people think what we do is just create amiable rag dolls for slave labor, but I wouldn’t be here with her if I didn’t think she could be of value to you. Regardless of what Doss promised. He doesn’t own me.”
Bain chuckled softly. “No one ever did.”
Kurok glanced sideways at him, then returned his attention to Jess. “You’ve met her. You tell me. Mindless?”
Jess was aware of the silence in the room, and very aware of the intent looks focused on her. She thought about her few minutes with Dev, running their conversations back in her mind. “No.” She answered, in a somewhat surprised tone. “More complex than I expected, but that doesn’t mean she can be a tech.”
“Drake.” Bain leaned on the table again. “This is the bottom line. For this plan here,” he pointed at the screen. “We’ll send your colleagues there to stand by, to cover for the two trapped teams. But to get them out, we need to distract. For that we need you, and you need someone with you that you trust, since you’ll be putting yourself in the wolves mouth.”
“Why me?” Jess asked. “Send someone else.”
“Because they want you.” Bain said with a thin smile. “You were stabbed and we lost four good teams, all because they were intent on keeping you. And they would have if you hadn’t been just that much better than they anticipated.”
Jess felt cold. “Me?”
“Crap,” Jason muttered.
“You,” Bain said. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know why. Likely you made some enemy on the other side who has now gained high level there.”
“So you’re going to throw Jess into the fire?” Elaine asked. “Since you know they want her?”
Bain straightened up and paced around at the head of the table. “Yes. It will provide the distraction we need. When they send all their assets after her, we set the other teams free.”
Stephan stood up. “Wait a minute. Sir—”
“Stephan, sit.” Jess waved him down. “I’ll do it,” she said. “We’ll give this experiment a try. Worst I can end up is dead.” She pointed at the displays. “Send a burst to my account. I want to study the layout. I’ll do the setup.”
“Jess, c’mon,” Stephan said. “I thought you said this was asinine! Isn’t this the very same thing you were quitting about this damn morning?”
Jess nodded. “It was. But I didn’t have all the intel I needed to make that choice. All I had was your pitch of what Bricker said. Bricker’s dead. The story’s changed.”
Bain gazed at her with surprising fondness. “You are a throwback, aren’t you?” He said. “So you will accept Kurok’s little project, hmm?”
Jess nodded.
“Jess!”
Was she crazy? Maybe. Jess felt a sudden and surprising shame over walking out and figured maybe this was just her ego’s way of erasing that. Right? Wrong? Who the hell knew. She looked up at Kurok, who was studying her with quiet, intent eyes. “Can she drive a carrier?”
“Yes.” He said in a quiet tone. “She’s been programmed to.”
Jess stood. “Give me the dump,” she said. “Stephan can you plot the weather? I thought I heard a storm coming in.” She glanced around the table. “Are we done here? I’ve got gear to settle.”
“So you don’t wish us to go over the plan, Drake?” Bain asked. “All of us together?”
“No.” Jess said. “It just became not your plan.” She gestured to Jason and Elaine. “We’ll meet later. Prep to go less twenty-four.”
Silently, the other two agents rose and followed her and she left the conferencing center, the door sliding shut behind them with a soft metallic thump.
“HM.” BAIN GRUNTED.
“You wanted her to participate.” Kurok leaned back, a faint grin on his face. “Someone used to tell me to be careful what I asked for, as I recall.”
Bain gave him a dour look.
Stephan got up. “Would you excuse me, sir? I’ve got things to do.” He waited until Bain nodded, then he turned and left the room from a different door, heading back up the secure hallway to central comms.
Bain sat down and swiveled his seat to face Kurok. “Not a good situation, DJ.”
“No.” Kurok agreed. “And I’m not sure we’re going in the right direction in solving it.”
“Hm.”
Kurok glanced up at him. “Been a damn long time since I was called that.”
Bain smiled briefly. “You may need to get used to hearing it again.”
JESS STEERED HER slightly rabid sounding followers into the caffeine station. “Look.” She held a hand up. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”
“Jess, how can you even consider going out with one of them?” Elaine asked. “Why not just find a cat outside and let them drive? You’re going to get yourself killed. No one wants that.”
“Maybe I do.”
Utter silence fell for a long and uncomfortable moment. Jess fell back to lean against the wall. She ran her hand through her dark hair, avoiding their eyes. “It’ll be fine.” She said. “Worse comes to worse I can drive the damn thing.”
“What if they catch you?” Jason asked. “You heard what he said, they want you, Jess. Why put yourself in their hands? Tell these guys no. You can. I’ve heard you.”
Jess studied them both. “Because it’s not the right thing to do.” She said. “We’ve got four people trapped there—”
“Who could give a crap about you,” Elaine said, bluntly.
“Doesn’t matter if they give a crap about me,” Jess said. “Doesn’t even matter if someone dumps the plan. I’m not going to sit here on my ass while four people are out there getting shot. If you two don’t want to go out—don’t. I’ll be the decoy then figure out how to get over to them
and get them out.”
“Jess.”
“So I’m an asshole and it’s impossible.” She shrugged. “Who cares?” She pushed off the wall. “Now I’ve got to go prep. Hell if I know what’s secure around here. If you’re interested, I’ll let you know when I’m ready and we can meet in my quarters.”
Jason sighed. “Do we bring Tucker and Brent?” He didn’t even look at Elaine, sure of her answer. The two had been in training together, were several years older than Jess was, and were frequently paired in the field.
“Do you?” Jess turned the question back at him. “They’re your partners.”
Elaine went to the dispenser and requested a bottle. “I hate this.” She turned around, holding the bottle between both hands as though warming them. “How in hell do we know what’s safe and what’s not?”
“Tucker and I have worked together for ten years,” Jason said. “Brent’s been part of the team for twelve.”
“And Joshua was for nine.” Jess shrugged. “But if what you said in there was right, Jace, and he was turned recently, then time in service doesn’t matter.”
Jason scratched his scalp at the back of his neck and looked at Jess. “Shit. Maybe your damn bio alt makes sense after all.”
Elaine snorted softly. “Until it drives you into a cliff wall.” She studied her bottle. “I say you and I meet with Jess, Jace. We can fill them in later. This sounds more like an in and out anyway, no hard tech.”
Jess nodded. “Deal.” She reached around Elaine and requested her own bottle. “Let’s hope the weather clears and we can get this done.”
“Let’s hope the weather clears regardless.” Jason followed them out and down the hallway, heading back toward the residential corridors. “We don’t need any more floods.”
JESS CLEARED INTO her quarters, glancing around as she entered and spotting the evidence she’d been reprovisioned in her absence. She could see the uniform module in service, and her duffel had been delivered back and was sitting next to her bed.
She dropped into the chair at the workspace and swung the pad around. She reached over to trigger her console, freezing as she heard a slight noise beyond the sliding portal to her left.
For a moment, she’d forgotten. “Ah.” She studied the door with a frown. Then she got up and went to the inner door, pressing the annunciator chime and waiting.
After a very long pause, the door opened and she was facing Dev.
Dev had changed, she noted, into the dark green field service kit. “You get settled in?” she asked.
“Yes,” Dev said. “They brought everything I needed.”
“Good.” She held her hand against the door so it wouldn’t close. “Um.”
Dev tilted her head a little to one side. “Is this where you live?” She pointed behind Jess.
“Ah, yes,” she said. “It is.” She watched Dev nod thoughtfully. “We’re going to have a planning session later on in here. We have to go and get some people out of some trouble.”
Dev’s body posture altered as she straightened up a little and her chin lifted. “We?”
“That’s what you came here for, right?” Jess asked. She looked curiously at Dev. “They did program you to do this, didn’t they?”
“Yes,” Dev responded. “They did.”
“Okay.” Jess said. “So I’ll call you when we’re having the session.” She watched the woman nod again. “Did you get a meal?”
Dev turned and pointed at the refrigerator. “They left water and crackers there. I had some.”
Jess winced.
“I liked them,” Dev said. “Were they not for eating?”
“Let me show you where the mess is,” Jess said. “C’mon.” She motioned Dev forward. Once Dev cleared the door she let it shut, then she led the way to her own outer door. “You can eat those. Not sure why you’d want to, but they’re survival rations.”
“Oh.”
Jess led the way down the corridor and around the bend toward where the communal area was. She passed a number of people, most of whom did a double take on seeing her, and then a second on seeing her companion.
Mild entertainment. They crossed the large central hall and paused as Stephan caught sight of them and hurried over.
“Jess, here’s the weather.” Stephan glanced at Dev, then at the film. “Nothing good. Don’t think you can.”
He stopped talking as Jess put her hands over the report and stared at him. “Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate your checking.” She folded the film and put it in a pocket. “We’re going to the mess.”
Stephan glanced again at Dev. “Oh.”
Jess circled around him and continued on down the corridor, moving past the operations desk and down the left hand turn that would take them into the operations dining hall. “Only field ops in here.” She scanned the door open and motioned for Dev to precede her.
Dev stepped inside and looked around. The room was large, with many different levels to it, the same dark gray as the rest of the facility but with somber splashes of color in the fabric of the chairs arranged around the small tables.
In the back, on the highest platform, there were several large tables arranged near the wall, with seats behind them. They were empty. Two of the smaller tables were occupied and the people at them turned to stare at her and Jess when they entered.
Dev was getting used to being stared at. It didn’t bother her. She returned their gaze with a mild neutral expression, waiting for Jess to instruct her further on what they needed to do.
“C’mon.” Jess indicated a food line in the back. “We line up for everything but dinner when we come in here. That they serve.”
“All right.” Dev followed her willingly as they passed through the tables. She watched what the other woman did and picked up a tray, putting it down on the railings as they moved down them. “We had facilities like this in the crèche.”
Jess glanced at her. “Did you?” She pointed. “That’s lunch.”
Dev studied the now incomprehensible things facing her. There were dispensers and trays of what she assumed were edibles, but the smells and sights were completely unfamiliar. “Yes. But there was only one thing. They just gave it to us we didn’t have any choice about it.” She looked back. “What do you do now?”
“You pick what you want.” Jess frowned. “You know how to do that? I didn’t figure lunch was a challenge.”
Dev’s face twitched a little. “I don’t know what any of this is,” she said. “We had different foods in the creche.”
“Ah.” Jess rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then she turned and punched in a set of numbers, waiting as the dispenser rumbled and clattered. She opened it to reveal a divided tray of steaming food. She put it down on her own tray, then coded in the same set again. “This has never killed me so it probably won’t kill you either.” She took the second portion and gave it to Dev.
Dev studied it as she followed Jess down the line, finding a glass of something added to her selection before they picked up the trays and walked over to a small table. She sat down, glad now that Doctor Dan had brought her to the fancy place to prepare her.
People were still staring at her. She retrieved the utensils, reaching over and taking a sip from the glass to give her a moment to study what was on the plate.
The taste in the glass made her pause though and she pulled it back and looked at it. “What is this?”
Jess looked up from cutting her food. “What?”
Dev lifted the glass. “This?”
“Kack,” Jess said. “Generic caffeinated grog with vitamins.”
It was very odd. Dev took another sip of the dark orange beverage, trying to decide if she liked it or not. It was faintly spicy, and a bit sweet, with a hint of effervescence. She put the glass down and took a bit of one of things on the tray and put it in her mouth.
It had a mildly chewy texture and a nice taste. “And this?” Dev asked. “It’s good.”
Jess swallowed a mouthful of it.
“Fish stew. Most of what we eat here is fish based.” She pointed down and to the left. “Locally got.”
“Fish.” Dev spoke the word thoughtfully. “That is, I believe, an animal that swims in the water.”
“Yeah.” Jess pointed at the rest of the tray. “That’s fish, and this is seaweed, but they make it taste like something.” She pointed at the last section. “This is mushroom. They grow it in caverns near the bottom of the cliff.”
Dev tasted a bit of the seaweed. It seemed to be in a creamy substance and she found she liked it as well. The mushrooms were dense and rich. They reminded her very faintly of the protein cakes from the crèche.
All good. She dug in with a sense of relief. Doctor Dan had warned her there would be very different things to contend with downside, but she was very glad to see not all of them were different in a bad way.
“That all right for you?” Jess asked, after a moment of silence.
Dev nodded. “It’s very good. Thank you.”
Jess was silent for a few minutes more, then she looked up again. “What did you have upside?” She asked. “Plastic pellets or something? Must have been if you could eat those crackers.”
“Well.” Dev took a sip of kack. “Tea mostly, to drink. And they just made a cake for the main thing. I think it had beans or soy, with greens and maybe some fruit. It depended on what the test facility was working on.”
“Fruit.” Jess said. “Maybe Bain knows what that’s like.” She went back to her plate. “None of us could afford it.”
Dev paused and studied her for a moment. Despite the words, there didn’t seem to be any resentment in her voice, just a matter of fact commentary. “You know, only the really important people in the crèche would get to have something like this.” She pointed at her plate. “So I guess it’s relative?”
Jess glanced up, a look of dark humor in her eyes. “You think?”
Dev wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She felt a little bit confused as those pale eyes watched her, almost glad when a throat clearing at her right side made them both look up. A woman was standing there, dressed as Jess was.