Chapter 9
REESE HURRIED BACK to where she had left Jaxon and Eagle after asking the shuttle to pause momentarily. They were no longer there, which was a good sign. Cameras were likely picking her up now, but that couldn’t be helped. She was still masking her face with the skin tag and now tapped it to also hide the CivID.
The safehouse was in a residential area that was different from the apartment housing they’d seen in Santoni thus far. These were single family dwellings, set close and small, but still something of a luxury for someone who’d spent her first ten years in a welfare colony.
She found the men resting against the side of the safehouse, out of sight of any visible camera. Seeing them was a bit of a shock, and she couldn’t say which of them looked worse. Jaxon was almost as pale as Eagle, and his bright eyes were feverish.
“Should we activate new CivIDs?” Eagle asked.
“No. If these people are who we hope they are, they won’t care,” Jaxon said. “If they aren’t, the less they know about us the better.”
“There is another option,” Reese said, still not comfortable trusting Nova. “We could turn on our real CivIDs and go to the local division. We might be able to track Dani that way.”
Jaxon shook his head. “We can’t risk it. Even if we convinced them we just happened to be in the neighborhood, those enforcers saw our faces, and they may not be able to trace us electronically because of the skin tags, but they’ll recognize us this soon after our confrontation. And Eagle’s been hit. We can’t exactly walk him in there and say we were attacked.”
“You could leave me here.” Eagle wiped blood from his mouth onto his shoulder.
“No,” Reese and Jaxon said together.
“Dani made her choice,” Jaxon added. “We stay with you.”
“You really think she wanted to get caught?” Reese found it hard to believe Dani would decide that was the best way to free her brother.
“I know she did it on purpose,” Jaxon insisted, “And we’re not risking the rest of the crew until we find out more about where they’re holding her.”
No one had a response.
Reese peeked around the house. “Uh, we might have a problem,” she said. “There doesn’t seem to be a way in. Just a boarded door. Porch doesn’t even look safe.”
Jaxon started to speak but doubled over instead, grabbing at his head and then curling down and clawing at the ground as his knees buckled.
In a brilliant flash, Reese saw again the children she had drawn the night before. She sucked in a breath that seared her throat and made her want to vomit. The images from Jaxon’s mind brought to life all the nightmares she’d ever experienced about radiation and the desolation zones. Colony 6 was near enough that everyone living there had worried about getting sick, about becoming one of the crazed.
By the CORE, Reese thought. Those poor children.
Reese tightened her fists to stop her shaking. Who were the children? And how were they connected with their future? Hopelessness spread through her. Jaxon’s visions always came true. There was never a change, except when he saw two separate visions of the same event, and that had happened only once, one premonition right after the other. She wanted to blame him for showing her the horror—to blame anyone—but it wasn’t his fault. He twisted his neck to look up at her sorrowfully, his face as haunted as she felt.
She extended a hand, but he shook his head and lifted himself up. She knew he was trying to spare her, but it was too late. She’d seen the sketch and would have to draw it. Again.
She looked away. “You good to move, Eagle?” she forced out.
“Sure. This is nothing that rest and heavy painkillers can’t cure.” He sounded breathless. “I wish I’d thought to take some from my blues.”
She thumbed in her pocket for a tiny tube. “Took this from the emergency kit in the shuttle. It’s not much, but maybe it’ll help.”
“Thanks. Can you open it? I don’t think I . . .”
She broke off the lid and held the tube to his lips. By the time they finished, Jaxon’s eyes had lost their intensity. He held a pistol in one hand and pulled the nyckelira case onto his shoulder with the other.
“Let’s go then.” She grabbed one of Eagle’s arms and put it around her neck. On the other side, Jaxon did the same.
“Who’s holding who up,” Eagle rasped, but he fell silent at Jaxon’s glare.
Reese wasn’t exactly sure where they were going, until she detected the slightest shimmer over the back of the house. Ah, a holo she thought. “They could be watching us already,” she whispered to Jaxon. “Better put away the gun.”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded and slid the Enforce nine mil inside a hidden holster. But his hand hovered nearby. Reese shook out her own hand that was itching to draw the children—no, that demanded to draw them. The image still seemed to dance in front of her eyes.
Don’t lose it now, she told herself.
They walked forward slowly, expecting . . . what, Reese didn’t know. She put a foot onto the step and then the next, and suddenly the world around her changed. The boarded door vanished, and the porch was strong and solid under her feet. Two people sat on the porch. One was Nova, her eyes looking wide in her narrow face but otherwise undamaged. The other was a gaunt man with a black beard and dark eyes that held an unmistakable suspicion. In his hands he held a gun. which he didn’t raise but angled so that it was almost on Nova.
“So, these are your friends,” he said.
Nova bit her bottom lip, probably to stifle a crude retort. “I just told you they were as they walked up here. El Cerebro sent all of us.”
The stranger inclined his head. “Then welcome. I won’t ask names, but you can call me Silas.”
“Thank you, Silas,” Jaxon said. To Nova, he added with a touch of concern. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” the child insisted.
Reese tried to look at her more closely without taking her eyes completely from the man. In fact, Nova seemed completely changed from the undisciplined undergrounder Reese normally saw. Her hair was carefully combed and held back in a clip, her face clean, and she was wearing a tailored yellow blouse and gray pants. Reese had seen Nova looking “normal” once or twice before but only briefly. She hadn’t expected it today.
“I’m fine.” Nova glanced at a boy who came out the back door, a mug in hand.
Reese could smell some kind of brew. Not the expensive kind from the guardana leaves grown in Colony 2 that made her mouth water, but the bitter stuff from the stems that still had the same kick. He handed the mug to Nova, who nodded at him graciously instead of rolling her eyes.
“Look, our friend’s hurt,” Reese said. “Do you have a med kit?”
“No,” Silas said. “Or not one with anything in it to help him. We’ve been stretched thin, and medical supplies are difficult to purchase. Go on inside,” he told Reese and Jaxon, obviously wanting to keep them in his sights. To the boy, he added, “Hold the door, Thaniel.”
Reese tugged at Eagle and got him moving again. The door led directly into a kitchen, which was larger than the nice one in Reese’s apartment, but barren except for a large table, a sink, an ancient refrigerator, and a stack of unopened readymeals on a narrow counter next to the sink. The single cupboard held only a few dishes. The aroma of brew was stronger here.
“Let’s get him on the table,” she told Jaxon. “We need to see the damage.”
Eagle groaned as they hefted him on the table, his leg dangling over the edge, where Reese unfastened the hooks in his shirt, removing it.
“Hey, that’s a clipper vest!” the boy exclaimed. “Are you enforcers?”
Jaxon appeared ready to pull his gun, but Silas didn’t seem concerned. “If he’s hurt wearing that, I hate to see what hit him.”
Reese released the magnetic seals on the vest’s sides and eased it off, wincing at the damage. Eagle’s back had become a mass of red and mottled skin that was rapidly turning green and black.
Beads of blood had come to the surface and now smeared over his skin. Whatever he’d been shot with, it hadn’t been only one bullet, but a spray, at the least. It was a wonder his vest had stood up to such force. He began coughing again, and blood stained his lips.
“We need to lay him down.” Reese asked Silas. “Do you have anything to put under him?”
Silas motioned to Thaniel, who disappeared from the room and returned shortly with a blanket and two tattered rags. “The rags are for the blood he’s coughing up,” explained Silas.
Eagle appeared better lying down, even with his feet still poking over the edge, but Reese’s eyes met Jaxon’s. “We need a med kit.”
Nova started for the door, and Silas stepped in front of her. “Where are you going?” he asked, his voice harsh and suspicious.
“I have their med kit,” she said. “I left it outside.”
“And why did you do that?”
Nova gave an exasperated sigh, sounding more like her old self. “Because I had no idea what I was walking into. El Cerebro wasn’t quite sure about you.”
Silas didn’t react. “Go with her, Thaniel,” he ordered.
The boy looked only too eager to go with Nova.
Silas retreated from the table, gun still in hand, though pointing toward the ground. “Why are you here?” he demanded. “What do you expect from us? What does El Cerebro expect?”
Reese tore her eyes away from Eagle, wishing Alex were with them. She might feel ambivalent about their relationship, but he’d know how to fix Eagle. “Just a place to hide until this passes over. And information.”
“Hide from who?” If anything, Silas grew more wary.
Reese and Jaxon exchanged another glance before Jaxon said, “Special Forces.”
“And what do they want?”
“A doctor,” Jaxon said readily, “and we interfered, so now they’re after us.”
Not exactly all of the truth but close enough. Reese was content to let Jaxon’s words stand. “One of our friends was taken,” she added. “I know the whole city is on alert, but we’d like to find out where Special Forces is keeping her.” They wouldn’t relinquish Dani to Brogan’s custody, but he might be able to stall their taking her to HED in New York. Maybe they’d come up with something.
“I can ask around,” Silas said, “but she’s probably in the division prison. You won’t be able to break her out. Not without inside help.” He let that hang, but neither Reese nor Jaxon took the bait. “About the doctor,” Silas continued. “Was it Doctor Kentley?”
Reese arched a brow as a sketch of Kentley came to her from Silas’s mind. “You know him?”
“Of him. Everyone does. He’s revered in these parts. He’s not above helping people who can’t legally get medical care.”
“I see.” Jaxon studied the man, as if considering his words. “El Cerebro sent us to talk to him, but he left with two men in gray uniforms shortly before Special Forces came to detain him.”
Silas’s gaze became hooded. “How bad do these Special Forces want him?”
Reese considered his expression. There was something Silas wasn’t telling them, but she didn’t know the right questions to ask. “They won’t stop unless he’s dead. Or captured.”
Long moments of silence passed before Silas spoke again. “Then you can’t stay here. They’ll search door-to-door. You have to leave as soon as possible.”
“Where do you suggest we go?” Jaxon’s words were tight and hurried, as if he expected Silas to call Special Forces and turn them in himself.
“There is a place in an empty zone west of here. They’ll be watching everywhere else.” Silas’s voice held a challenge.
“Fine,” Reese said after meeting Jaxon’s eyes and seeing agreement there.
Silas jerked his head at Eagle. “Then get him ready to leave. I’ll need to contact some people. I’ll also ask about the Special Forces to see if anyone has heard of a prisoner, but I think your friend is long out of reach.” Silas finally tucked his gun into the belt holding up his brown pants, and took out an iTeev, unfolding it to a larger screen. His thumb swiped over the surface.
“What about Dr. Kentley?” Jaxon asked. “Can your connections trace him?”
Silas shook his head. “If he knows Special Forces is after him, he’d be a fool to return. You won’t find him in Santoni. Or anywhere nearby.”
Reese stifled her frustration. He was right. The doctor, wherever he was, would stay hidden. “The men he left with, you think you might know them?”
Silas shrugged. “It’s possible. Most of us do favors for each other, like I’m doing for you, but fringers are not all the same.”
“So I’m learning. What about the gray uniforms?”
He shrugged. “Could be scavenged. Like your friend’s protective vest.” His tone invited confidence, which Reese ignored.
Nova had returned with two of the weapons bags they had left at the C-lodge. Admiration swept through Reese. “You thought to bring them?” she asked.
Nova hesitated. “Oh, right. I was at the C-lodge when Jaxon called. It made sense for me to grab them as I ran out the door.” Her smile widened, and her eyes were perfectly innocent, which was exactly how Reese knew she was lying. But she’d deal with that later.
Every enforcer carried nominal medical supplies on their blues, three of which were in Reese’s bag, but she’d also stashed a larger med kit inside, which meant she didn’t have to bring out the uniforms and endure more scrutiny. Silas was already eyeing the bags hungrily. Reese looked at Jaxon and flicked her gaze at Silas, warning him to be on the lookout. He immediately stepped back from the table to keep a closer eye on the older man.
“I’m really fine now,” Eagle protested. “Must have broken a rib or two. That’s all.”
Reese put her hand on him to keep him down. “Lie still. I’ll give you a stronger painkiller.” She held a blue pain hypo against his arm and pressed the button on the end. It wouldn’t be too much, even with the medicine from the shuttle.
Seconds later, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Ah, much better.”
She dabbed the blood from his skin, gently rubbed ointment over his back for the bruising, and sealed it all with a large patch of RealSkin, which was normally used for deeper wounds that had been repaired but would stop the blood from beading again. Lastly, she gave him an injection with standard issue, emergency-use only nanoparticles. They weren’t the more effective pre-breakdown nanobots that Alex had access to, but they should help Eagle heal faster, as long as he wasn’t too bad to begin with. There was a laser, too, in the bag, but that was for surface wounds that needed sealing and wouldn’t be any better than the RealSkin here.
“Thanks,” Eagle said, relaxing now that she wasn’t hurting him. He closed his eyes.
Reese returned the med kit to her bag and set it on the floor near Jaxon, who was keeping an eye on everyone in the room. Nova and Thaniel had pulled two chairs to a corner of the barren kitchen and were chatting like old friends. Silas was tapping again on his iTeev.
“My son will take you to the empty zone,” Silas said, looking up from his screen. “There you will all be able to rest in safety. However, you will need to agree to be blindfolded part of the way. You understand, I’m sure. Your young friend has the code, which tells me El Cerebro sent you, and he himself knows of the place we are sending you, but he may not know everything about you, and we are not under his command. We have our own to protect.”
“I understand,” Reese said.
“And our supplies?” Jaxon added. Reese knew he really meant their guns.
He shrugged. “You may take them with you, but understand if there is any problem, El Cerebro will not be able to count on us again—for anything.”
Reese nodded. “The place you’re taking us to is in no danger from us.”
Silas didn’t release her gaze. “I hope that is true. El Cerebro will still owe me a debt. Don’t forget.”
Reese didn’t suppose any of them wo
uld. “Thank you. Any word on our friend or the doctor?”
Silas shook his head. “Nothing good. There were six Special Forces. One is dead. One is close to death. Ten minutes ago, three of the remaining four got on a sky train heading east. They had a female prisoner.”
Reese’s gut wrenched. So, Special Forces had acted quickly, apparently not willing to give them any chance to free Dani. Anger and relief boiled inside Reese. Anger because Dani was part of their crew, and relief because they might be tempted to risk anything for her and now they’d be forced to plan more carefully.
Jaxon blew out a frustrated breath. “The doctor?”
“I have no news for you there.” Silas pulled his son away from Nova and stepped into another room, presumably to give the teen instructions.
Jaxon moved closer to Reese. “He’s hiding something,” he said quietly.
“He’s probably hiding a lot of things.” Reese glanced past him at Eagle, who appeared to be asleep on the table. He didn’t look comfortable, though the meds had eased his pain. “But he’s risking his life and his son’s life. I don’t see that we have a choice.”
“They know about the doctor,” Nova said, appearing next to them with a stealth Reese hadn’t expected but should have.
“What do you mean?”
“Thane’s an illegal child, and the doctor delivered him. He spent most of his years hiding in an empty zone.” She frowned. “I think I might have known him or seen him before, but I just can’t place where.”
“You’ve been in the underground for what—two years?” Jaxon said. At Nova’s nod, he continued, “A lot of time has passed. Kids change a lot.”
“Just keep thinking.” Reese moved closer to the table to see if Eagle’s RealSkin was dry and holding. “It might come to you.” The moment she’d seen Jaxon, she’d known him, even after twenty years apart. But they had spent their first decade together, neighbors and best friends in the Coop.
As if hearing her thoughts, Jaxon’s eyes met hers, their intensity back. She didn’t look away, but after a few seconds, he retreated, heading for the door, one finger kneading at his temple. “Going to get some air,” he said. Reese and Nova watched him leave the kitchen. Out on the back porch, they heard the scrape of a chair.
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