Maya edged sideways to the armory cabinet. It had a simple ring-latch that didn’t seem capable of locking. Perhaps they relied on the heavy magnet on the entrance to this room instead. Then again, it would kinda suck to need a gun now during a prison riot and have to fumble with keys or an access code. She kept her gaze locked on Paulie, reached up, stuck one finger in, and pulled the door open.
Five handguns perched on a metal rack between two shotguns set vertical against either side. Below the pistols, several red boxes contained .40 caliber ammo. Below the ammo, five yellow and black Hornet stunners stuck out of charging sockets. After a glance back to make sure Paulie still hadn’t noticed her, Maya tugged one of the stunners out and tucked it up behind her back. I need to thank Sarah’s dad. She picked at one of the ammo boxes until it popped open and dumped fifty bullets all over the ground.
“God dammit, kid!” yelled Paulie. “Get out of that!”
She took a step back, keeping the Hornet out of sight, and did her best impression of a demanding brat. “I wanted a tour and you aren’t showing me anything.”
Paulie grumbled and got out of the chair. He stormed over, wagging his finger at her. “Sit your little butt on that chair and don’t move.”
Maya feigned a gasp of offended shock.
He took a knee and started to collect the loose bullets.
“You shouldn’t yell at me,” said Maya. She flicked the selector switch to touch mode.
“I don’t care who you are.” Paulie didn’t look up. “Just a spoiled little―”
Brzzzat!
Maya held the tip of the Hornet to the side of Paulie’s neck for three seconds. He thrashed about in a violent convulsion before flopping as still as a corpse, though he did continue breathing. The odor of shit reached her nostrils seconds later, making her gag and step back.
“Well.” She glanced at the Hornet, wisps of smoke rising from the prongs. “Guess this is Plan B.”
aya dropped the Hornet and ran to the security desk. Ignoring the chair, she looked back and forth across the controls until she found a standard terminal screen. Fortunately, whatever Paulie had done to change the one monitor back to Genna’s cell had taken it off random cycling and she remained visible. Her hands shook so much she had trouble typing, but after a few false starts, she keyed a line of text and hit enter.
‹Headcrash was fucked in the head.›
A chat box popped up.
Maya looked at the image of Genna and typed BSZ-99401, the number printed on her jumpsuit.
Zeroice sent back ‹searching.›
She breathed into her hands for a few seconds, trying to think of what to do next. None of the blueberries had come back yet, which likely meant they hadn’t been able to confirm the photo shoot and a series of video calls would be making the rounds among a rather stunned Ascendant marketing team. They would probably all have panic attacks when they saw a calendar event created by Vanessa―not one of her assistants―that they hadn’t noticed before. It might be as long as an hour before someone had the balls to ask Vanessa’s executive assistant about it. Maya could not be here when that happened.
And by here, she meant in the Sanc.
She ran-wobbled on high heels back to the armory cabinet and pulled down one of the real guns, a lot heavier than she thought it would be. It had a button that looked like the one that popped the ammo out of the Hornet, and sure enough, it turned out to be the magazine release. She hit it, nodded at the loaded mag, and slid it back until it clicked.
Shit. What am I doing?
She carried the gun back to the console and clutched it like a doll while watching the text box for any sign of life. Nausea came and went, as did shivers. According to the console clock, only forty-six seconds had passed, but it felt like hours.
Text pattered into the window: ‹Got her. One sec. Dicking with the security cameras.›
Maya bit her knuckles. ‹How do I get there?›
More text: ‹Out. Turn left. Take second left. Take next right. Sixth cell on the left. Will open in one minute… starting now.›
She picked up the gun and crept to the exit. The door out of the security room buzzed at her approach. Maya pulled her shoes off before darting into the corridor. Neither loud clicking nor breaking an ankle while running appealed to her. Five feet from the door, the first heavy security barrier emitted a buzz and slid open. She slipped past as soon as the gap grew wide enough. When it closed, trapping her in a small space between barred walls, she almost fainted. Before panic could grow to that point, the inner door buzzed and rattled open.
Maya sprinted out and rounded the second left turn into an off-white corridor filled with plain metal doors bearing tiny rectangular windows at an adult’s eye level. A pushcart piled high with dirty food trays sat against the wall. She dipped around it and headed for a right turn a few yards later. At the sixth door on the left, she stopped. It struck her that holding a gun in the middle of a prison would probably not rank on her list of smart accomplishments. She tucked it under her dress and held it between her thighs. Not four seconds after she smoothed the dress down to cover it, a blueberry emerged from a hallway deeper in and came walking up to her. She pivoted to face him and keep her back to the wall, knowing the gun’s handle would be sticking her dress out behind her.
The officer rushed over. “What the hell are you doing―?”
“I am having a tour.” She held her nose high. “Officer Cole told me to wait here because he had to piss.”
“Oh.” He gave her a wary look while raising one hand to hide his nametag. “Okay.”
Maya exhaled once he walked away. The Xenodril tablets in her bag rattled as she drooped.
“Maya?” whispered Genna. “Is that you out there? Am I going nuts?”
“Mom.” Maya put her hand on the door. “Mom… I’m here.” She started to cry.
“What the devil are you doing in this place, baby?” Plastic shoes scuffed around, pacing in the cell.
Maya pawed at the door without handles. All the dread she’d felt at possibly losing her mom crashed into the joy of their almost-reunion, blooming into a furball of emotion stronger than anything she knew how to cope with. Maya couldn’t force a single word out of her throat and emitted a pitiful whine, never having hated anything before as much as this inch-thick steel door. Tears grabbed her mascara and ran off with it. Indigo spots pattered on the pure white floor around her feet.
Buzz.
The cell door slid to the left, gliding into the wall. Genna fell on her knees and grabbed her by the shoulders for two seconds of eye contact before crushing her into a hug. It took all she had, but Maya fought the urge to break down sobbing.
“W-we gotta go,” mumbled Maya.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“You already said that.” Maya sniffled. “I brought you something.”
Genna swallowed and wiped her nose. “You look adorable.”
Maya pulled her dress up.
“God damn.” Genna grabbed the pistol, checked to ensure it had a round chambered, and stuffed it into the pocket on the front of her prison-orange jumpsuit.
“Try to act calm.” Maya sniffled. “They think I’m here to take publicity photos with a well-behaved inmate.”
She took Genna by the hand and pulled her back the way she’d come in, holding her breath until the airlock gate opened and let them out. Zeroice had to be monkeying with cameras and security doors, keeping blueberries away from them. Only the front reception area stood between them and the outside world.
Officer Cole emerged from the security room. “Command, we got a situation here. Paulie’s down, there’s a weapon missing, and the VIP is gone.”
He turned three shades paler when he looked up and spotted them.
“I found the prisoner I’m supposed to take pictures with.” Maya tried to smile, but her voice had too much cry in it.
Cole raised his left hand. His right crawled toward his sidearm. “Easy.”
Maya hung limp, not fighting. “Please don’t shoot me.”
She’d directed the comment at Cole, but Genna’s arm tensed.
Cole raised both hands. “Think about what you’re doing, Orange. You know who that is? You pluck one hair from that head and you’re ass is meat.”
“Back up. Toss the gun in there.” Genna nodded at the security room. “Ain’t no one need to get hurt here.”
Maya reached both hands up and gripped the arm across her chest. It didn’t matter that Genna had a gun to her head; her mother held her. She lost control and sobbed out of joy. The blueberry and Genna took the outburst in two entirely different ways. Genna secreted a kiss to the back of Maya’s head while Cole looked clueless.
He threw his sidearm into the security room and backed up while yelling, “Okay, okay.”
They moved in a slow creep to the visitor center lobby where she had first entered. Cole kept his hands in the air as they passed the empty desk and deserted lounge chairs.
Maya sniffled and blinked. “Please do what she wants. You can catch her later, but you can’t fix me if I die.”
“Think about it, Orange. There’s no way you’re getting out of here with that kid.”
“Let me go,” said Maya. “Do you have any idea what that woman is gonna do to you?”
Genna pointed the gun at him. “Cuff yourself to that desk. That woman don’t give a damn about this girl.”
Cole’s eyebrows notched up. “It was you on the roof. You’re one of the mercs who grabbed her.”
“That pilot cadet’s got some imagination.” Genna kept the gun on him.
“Yeah, well.” Cole smiled. “Calling someone a damn murdering coward while you’re trying to shoot them in the back tends to leave a mark.”
“Cuff yourself or I gonna do somethin’ more permanent.”
“I saw the fallout report. I know what went down.” He looked at Maya. “Amazing. We thought you’d been killed out in the mud pits. How did you even get back into the Sanc undetected? You’ve got a lousy poker face, kid.” Cole flopped in the chair and pulled cuffs from his belt. “Worst case of Stockholm I’ve ever seen. It almost seems like you’re really happier with her.”
“Vanessa doesn’t want me,” whispered Maya. “Genna’s my mom.”
“Yeah.” Cole locked himself to the desk. “She is a bit on the cold side.”
“Just a bit,” said Genna.
“You go out that door and it’s a one way trip, Maya. No more power. No more servants. No more easy life. Make sure it’s what you want.”
“I’m sure.” She tried to pull her mother’s arm even tighter against her chest.
“That was fast,” said Cole.
“‘Cause it’s real.” Genna lowered the gun. “We out.”
“Authority used to enforce the law. Now you only do what Vanessa wants.” Maya looked down. “I don’t think you’re all bad. When are you going to stand up to her? She’s killing people.”
Maya held on as Genna ran, carrying her down a short corridor, the nylon bag bouncing and clattering. She rushed down a shallow staircase and out tinted glass doors―into the sights of ten blueberries with rifles trained on them. Maya whimpered when the gun jabbed her in the side of the head again.
The Authority officers aimed in silence. Genna’s hard breathing puffed down the right side of Maya’s neck. No one spoke or moved for almost a minute, until a shimmering cloud of light formed a few feet in front of the line of armored figures.
A hologram of Vanessa Oman materialized, in a low cut violet evening gown. The image made her look over six feet tall, but thin. The two women seemed to stare at each other for an eternity before Vanessa’s purple-painted lips twisted into an amused smirk.
“Well, well. You’re still alive.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Maya glared.
Vanessa sighed. “I was talking to the criminal holding you. Oh, Maya. You mistake my refusal to be manipulated with the want to harm you. I hope that someday you realize I did what I had to do in order to protect everything we have. You are too young and too naïve. You will learn how the world works eventually.”
“She don’t want your blood money,” said Genna.
Maya glared. “If you wanted me, you’d have answered the phone when I called to say good night. You’d have talked to me. You’d have not left me alone all the time locked in that apartment. You might’ve even had me as a baby instead of ordering me like a pizza! You called me an it!”
Vanessa pursed her lips, foot tapping. The line of blueberries shifted, exchanging fearful looks.
“Emotions are a weakness to be exploited,” said Vanessa, eyes narrowing. “There are too many people out there who present a threat.”
Genna glared. “So you keep your own damn kid out of sight so ya don’t bond? That ain’t even human.”
“No!” yelled Maya. “I’m not her kid. You’re my mom!”
Vanessa sighed, glancing at her watch. “I don’t care who you are or what you want. I don’t have time to deal with yet another ‘crisis.’ Whatever you did before, surrender now and you won’t die.” She held up a silencing finger. “Before you bore me with the whole threatening nonsense, the child is easy enough to replace.” The image flickered, performing a 180-degree turn in an eye blink. “Give her four seconds, then fire. I’d appreciate it if you at least tried to aim around the girl and save the cost of having another one grown.”
The illusion of Vanessa Oman disappeared.
Genna let her gun arm fall limp.
Maya gulped. “I guess she doesn’t want to watch this time.”
“No, baby. She knows I ain’t gonna risk it.”
he Authority officers exchanged bewildered glances. Vanessa’s order had appeared to sow confusion among their ranks, and they hesitated. Six seconds passed with no one doing anything. Genna’s body shuddered with a tremble too faint to see. One blueberry let his weapon droop an inch, evidently unwilling to fire through a little girl.
Maya squirmed around to face Genna and grabbed her in as tight a hug as her arms could manage while sobbing. “Please don’t kill us. You heard Vanessa. She doesn’t want me. Please just let us leave.” Words failed her and she succumbed to incoherent bawling.
Genna rubbed her back, muttering comforting things. “You win. I’ma put her down and back off. No bullshit. Don’t shoot.”
“No!” yelled Maya. “Mom!”
“I’m sorry, baby.” Genna squeezed her. “I can’t let them hurt you. Better you be with that bitch and alive than dead with me.”
Maya held on with everything she had as her mother tried to put her down. She wrapped her legs around Genna and clutched fistfuls of prison orange.
The whirr of a straining e-car motor accompanied the squeal of tires. Maya screamed when a few rifle shots rang out, but felt no pain. Genna lurched into a sprint amid the scratch of plasticized armor striking the ground and skittering.
Hands that had been trying to pry Maya away clamped down tight, cradling her like a football going into the end zone. She kept her eyes closed and screamed until Genna tore her loose and threw her flat on the back seat of a mid-sized car. Maya looked up at a tan roof with a faltering dome light. A bullet clanked off the car somewhere unseen. Genna draped herself between the two front seats, looming over her, aiming the handgun out the back window, but none of the blueberries fired on the car. She rocked with inertia as the vehicle took off. Two turns later, Genna startled and raised the gun.
A shot deafened her. Maya rolled onto the floor, hands clamped over her ears. Genna’s next two shots sounded far away and underwater. Maya curled up with her head between her legs, adding her knees to the effort of keeping sound out of her ears. Fragments of safety glass rained on her like snow. Genna flew out of sight during a sudden deceleration, and let off a barrage of curses from the front seat.
Maya skidded ass-first towa
rd the passenger side door and thrust her feet out to absorb the effect of a hard left turn. Bullets holed the door above her head and sprayed her in the face with upholstery foam. She screamed again, too terrified to think.
Genna reappeared and fired three more times. Seconds later, an explosion from overhead pounded the air. “Damned drones.”
After thirty seconds of relative calm, Maya risked sitting up. Genna balanced on one knee between the two front seats, spinning around in a 360 while the car drove itself. The back window as well as the windscreen had been blown out, letting a stiff wind tear through the interior. Distant sirens echoed among the buildings.
Maya smiled. “Mom.”
“I can’t believe―”
The e-car slammed on the brakes without warning, driving Genna’s back into the console for a second time. Maya rolled against the passenger seatback and bounced away to the floor. An Authority patrol car zoomed sideways past the nose and crashed into the window of a jewelry store. Their car peeled out, throwing Genna head first into the back seat.
“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill someone.” She reached a chicken wing arm up behind her back and rubbed. “That hurt.”
“We almost got t-boned,” said Maya. “Are they trying to kill us?”
“Probably not; crash foam… but I bet they past the point of givin’ a crap.” Genna pushed herself up. “We gotta get underground. Drones are gonna be all over our shit. Already shot one down.”
She dropped the handgun on the driver seat and stripped out of the jumpsuit, revealing a plain black bra and panties. Genna wadded the incriminating day-glo orange thing up before jamming it into the glove compartment.
“What are you…?” Maya blinked. “Doing?”
“Tracker chips sewn into it everywhere. Plus it’s bright goddamned orange. Doesn’t go with my eyes.”
Maya giggled despite tears.
“Does your mother know you’re wearing that?” Genna poked her in the stomach. “You don’t got anything to show off with a neckline like that.”
“My mother is looking at me right now.” Maya pulled the dress off and rolled it up.
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