“Well, I’m thinking we’d better just get wherever he’s taking you,” Eagle said. “Mind if we tag along? You might need backup, I don’t think there’s anything else out here.”
“Sure, but we get the credit for catching him.”
“Of course.”
The woman’s eyes drifted to Thane. “They make ’em younger and younger.”
“Yeah,” Eagle said. “Training sucks.”
The woman jabbed her rifle into Namon’s upper arm. “Get going. Every time you stop, you’re going to swallow a rock. Just in case stopping means you’re hungry.”
“Wait.” Eagle held up a hand and lifted his eyes to the path beyond them. “Did you hear something?”
They turned to stare, shaking their heads. Eagle set off the first explosion with the detonator in his pocket.
“That’s something big,” the male enforcer said, his face crunching with concern.
“Lucky shot,” the woman retorted with a sneer. “Fringers are probably randomly launching some of their stolen weapons in the hope they won’t be caught with them. I bet they haven’t seen us.”
Eagle set off the second charge while they were still staring down the path, followed closely by the third. “We’d better take cover,” he said, pointing at the ruined building. “That’s our best bet. We checked it out earlier, and it’s solid. Has an escape route out the back too. Let’s go!”
He started running, but slowly to make sure they kept up. He situated himself between them and took Namon’s arm as the woman pulled him forward. It would be easier to let the enforcers go into the building with Namon, but Eagle couldn’t forget his mother’s pleas. He had to try to save the man. He pulled back on Namon’s arm, slowing him considerably.
When they were near the building, he set off the fourth distraction charge. This one was larger and close enough to spatter debris over them. As it did, Eagle pushed out his rifle and tripped Namon, who fell. Eagle threw himself on top of the man. “Stay down,” he gritted near Namon’s ear.
The woman enforcer had let go of Namon as he fell, but as Eagle faked a struggle to his feet, she pointed her rifle at him. “Get up fringer, or I’ll put a bullet through you.”
Eagle made a show of checking his pulse. “He’s alive but unconscious. I’ll carry him. Get to the building!” This was the weak point of his plan. If the woman didn’t follow her partner, who was already ducking inside the building, he’d have to shoot her and set off the charge before her companion could return fire.
Without waiting for a reply, he bent to lift Namon, his body protesting at the effort. Eagle knew he wouldn’t be able to carry him for more than a few steps, if at all. The woman hesitated, then moved to help him. Cursing under his breath, Eagle dumped Namon’s full weight on her, bringing up his rifle to slam into her face. She went down without a fight, crumpling under Namon’s weight. The fringer rolled away and dived behind a twisted freezer as bullets sprayed from the ruined building.
Eagle jumped away, tucking and rolling as he hit the ground. He reached inside his pocket to set off the building’s charge. Boom! It came down just as planned, and the shooting abruptly ceased.
“You okay?” Eagle asked Namon, who nodded. As miraculous as it seemed, they were both uninjured.
They staggered to their feet. Eagle freed Namon from his cuffs and replaced them on the woman. “We should kill her,” Namon growled as Eagle removed her iTeev, careful not to leave fingerprints, and smashed it with a rock.
“I know, but we’re not going to.” With his helmet and glasses on, it was unlikely she could identify him. Eagle jerked his head to the path. “Come on. We’ve got to get back to your mother and the kids.”
Namon blinked at him, his shoulders straightening. “They’re safe?”
“For now. Let’s go find Thane.”
They found Thane near where they’d left him, but to Eagle’s horror, he was sprawled on the ground. Blood gushed from the side of his neck, seeping into the dry earth beneath him.
“No!” He hurried to the boy.
Eagle clapped a hand over the bloody mess, trying to stem the flow. Red gore continued dripping between his fingers. Desperately, he searched for something to tie around the wound. But Namon was already taking off his shirt, folding it inside out, so they could press the cleaner portion against Thane’s neck.
Thane’s eyes fluttered. “I-I stayed put,” he said, his body jerking.
“You did great.” Eagle was furious at himself that he hadn’t acted fast enough to stop the male enforcer from firing. Furious that he’d traded Namon’s life for Thane’s.
Eagle’s emergency medical training didn’t give him enough experience to know if the wound would be fatal, even if they could get the bleeding stopped. They had to try. “Let’s get him to cover. I have a med kit. I’ll go get it.”
They carried Thane awkwardly to the rubble pile where Eagle had set the final unused charge. The slab of cement atop the refuse was angled enough that it might possibly keep them safe from passing drones.
Eagle ripped off his sweat-soaked helmet, tossing it to the ground. “Don’t take your hand off the wound,” he told Namon. “Constant pressure. No matter what.”
Without waiting for a response, Eagle turned and ran. He continued until his sides ached and he felt like falling down and dying. Then he pushed himself harder. He wasted three precious minutes hiding when a drone’s path led it close enough to detect him. Then he was off again.
He arrived at the place where he’d left the others, taking no care for stealth. Nova lowered the gun in her hand when she identified him. “Where’s Thane?” she asked, digging into him with anxious eyes.
“He’s been hurt. Hurry. We need the med kit.”
“And my son?” asked Debs hopefully.
“He’s with Thane.” Did his bitterness show in the words?
Eagle turned from the gladness in her face and went through their equipment, discarding everything except the medical bag, the weapons, and Jaxon’s enforcer uniform, which might leave clues about their identity. He could replace his tech, eventually, but right now speed was more important. Without the second bag that was still with Thane, they couldn’t carry it all anyway.
He shoved the bag at Nova and picked up the little girl. “Let’s go.”
The journey back to Thane seemed to take forever, but at least they didn’t run into any drones. When the rubble pile was in view, Eagle and Nova sprinted ahead, leaving Debs to catch up with the two children. Nova threw herself to the ground as Eagle grabbed the medical supplies from the bag.
“Thane, Thane!” Nova said urgently. “Please wake up.”
His eyes opened slowly, and he smiled, his eyes unfocused. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Eagle didn’t think that was a good thing. He took out a container of skin sealant. If the wound wasn’t too bad, it might slow the blood flow enough to save his life. “We need to turn him on his side and then take away the cloth,” he told Namon. “Nova, you turn his head. Namon will rotate his body. On the count of three. One, two, three.”
They turned Thane, and Eagle dumped half the container of skin sealant over the wound, discouraged at the amount of blood already soaking the dirt beneath him. This wasn’t going to work. He sprinkled more over the wound. The blood flow slowed. By the time the bleeding stopped, he’d used all the powder.
They rolled him once more onto his back, and his eyes opened again. “I’m glad I got to kiss you,” he said to Nova.
Tears ran down her face. “You’re not going to die, you idiot.”
He grinned. “I’m still glad. Anyway, I’m not afraid. I’ve already lived seventeen years longer than the CORE wanted, and I didn’t have to die in a colony like my mom.”
“You don’t know that she’s dead.” Nova clutched at his hands, as if her touch could stop the inevitable.
“Yes, I do.”
Had he hidden the truth from Nova, or was he just guessing? Eagle had no way of knowing.
Thane let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He didn’t take another breath.
Eagle grabbed a red hypo stim and slammed it into Thane’s chest. Nothing. He put his hands on his chest and started pumping. “Get the oxygen on him,” he barked.
Nova fumbled, but Debs took the folded mask from her and put it over Thane’s mouth. Eagle kept pumping. At last Debs put her hand on Eagle’s arm. “He’s gone.”
Nova stared down at Thane’s face for a long moment. She was still holding one of his hands, but she dropped it and stepped away, her tears drying on her face. “Leave him,” she said harshly. “Other enforcers will be here soon. The drones will detect the heat from the explosions and the shooting, if they haven’t already.”
Eagle shook his head. “We’re taking him with us. It’s less than ten minutes to the tunnels.”
“He’s dead.” Her voice was cold. “It’s a waste of energy. We could still get caught.”
“Yes, but we’ll do it anyway. For his father.”
Not only for Silas, but also for Eagle. Because at that moment, everything they’d been fighting for came into focus. He had to stop real monsters from hurting innocent people like Thane. He would never doubt their cause again.
Using twisted metal and Jaxon’s enforcer uniform, he made a simple stretcher to carry Thane’s body. He and Namon picked it up, while Nova, her face without expression, picked up the little girl with the hurt ankle.
Mere moments later, they passed the stark line that marked the border of the woods and the rubble. They had been so close, Eagle thought. For all the good it had done the boy.
They were nearly at the tunnels when he heard movement in the trees ahead of them. He motioned for everyone to stop as he set down his end of the stretcher.
“What?” Nova mouthed as they crouched behind the brush. The little girl whimpered, burying her face in Nova’s neck. Eagle knew exactly how she felt.
He shrugged and whispered, “Stay here while I check it out.”
Chapter 16
JAXON STARED DOWN at the burnt-out house. Nothing could have survived there. He could almost smell the soot, though that would be impossible at this distance. He handed Dr. Kentley back his iTeev, glad the magnification feature didn’t require being connected to the Teev feed.
“That’s actually a good sign,” Kentley said as they climbed down the remains of what had once been a sky train station. “Debs is supposed to do that when they leave. They didn’t leave me a message, but that means they got out.” He powered down the unit again to keep it from being detected by any passing drones. Body heat was easier to hide in the wreckage than an iTeev signal, even one not connected to the feed.
“No telling how far they got,” Reese said.
A furrow creased Kentley’s brow. “They’d go to the tunnels.” For a moment, he seemed despondent, and Reese touched his arm.
“Are the two children yours?” she asked gently. Her eyes were troubled, and Jaxon guessed she’d received a sketch from the doctor.
Kentley shook his head and then nodded. “Not biological, but they are mine. One was the result of a hidden pregnancy. The woman’s implant didn’t work, and she wanted a child so much, she didn’t abort. The other was the child of a friend.”
He didn’t need to tell them the friend was dead. “So they’re mine now,” he said. “Though the boy’s mother does visit him periodically. The fringers told me about the house, and so I took them there, and stayed myself to help. There have been other women there besides Debs, but she’s the only one now.”
“You know the way to the tunnels?” Jaxon asked.
“Yes. But they’ll have drones out. We’ll have to stay close to the sky train line, or what’s left of it. We can use its cover most of the way, and by then we’ll probably be far enough that they won’t detect us. We should hurry.”
They followed Kentley, who moved like a man in a dream—or a nightmare, rather. His face was haunted, his movements robotic. Jaxon figured he was in shock.
A flash of a premonition made Jaxon stumble. It was the nyckelira case again, but this time with Dani opening the secret compartment and drawing out weapons. This was followed by another vision of two enforcers waiting for them in a place very like the one they were walking in now. He pushed at the images in his mind, trying to see more.
The next thing he knew, Reese was gently slapping his face. Rocks poked painfully into his back. He opened his eyes to find Reese and the doctor poised over him.
“What did you see?” Reese asked.
The vision of Dani was irrelevant at the moment, but the other could be important. “Two enforcers near the end of this line. I-I think.”
Reese glanced at the doctor. “We’ll have to choose another path. His visions always come true.”
“They didn’t this time,” Jaxon said. “I didn’t see everyone dying. Just the boy, and not like this.” The helplessness he’d often felt with his gift had become an impossible burden. Before, he’d always trusted that there was nothing he could do to change his visions, but today something had changed.
“The children were still there,” Reese insisted. “And so are those enforcers.” The way she said it told him she’d seen the image from his mind.
He pushed himself to a seated position. “Maybe. I can’t tell if we’re going to be safe.”
“You were out fifteen minutes,” she said. “You should have been able to see more alternates, if there were any. The enforcers will be there. So we have to choose another way.”
She had more confidence in his ability than he did at the moment.
His eyes lifted to the doctor, who shook his head. “I don’t know, but all that tension I felt earlier in you is back. I’m sorry. Some of that is my fault. I don’t always have a choice about when or who I take pain or emotion from, and when it stops . . . I must be tired.” He paused and looked down at the ground as he added, “You need to understand that eventually nothing I do will help the madness. Until I find a cure. But without a sample, that’s not happening soon. I’m sorry.”
“What about my vision of those sick children?” Jaxon asked. “Normally my premonitions come true down to the last detail. At least it always has before today. Any idea, medically speaking, why that would change?”
Kentley raised his gaze and heaved a sigh. “Maybe everything changes with the choices we make. Or maybe there are always alternatives, but most choices lead to the one you see. Or maybe your ability is growing.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “It’s also possible it’s a symptom of your madness.”
Great. Nothing like giving a man hope.
“I’m not sure if I should say this,” Kentley went on, “but it might be important to you or anyone else looking for a cure. It’s about the effect the hallucinogen juke has on people with abilities.”
“Juke?” Jaxon couldn’t imagine what effect the illegal recreational drug could possibly have on their abilities. Certainly nothing good.
“Yes. You know juke’s everywhere, even in the colonies.” Kentley gave a snort of disgust. “Maybe especially in the colonies where they can least afford it—anything to find relief from what they endure. When it all began—the madness, I mean—those who used the drug soon discovered that it intensified or increased the occurrence of their abilities.”
“Are you telling me that if I took a hit of juke I could cause myself to see a sketch?” Reese asked, “even when nothing was coming to me?”
The doctor nodded. “But ultimately, it speeds up the development of the ability, which also speeds up onset of the madness. Jukeheads were the first to go mad, and then because the madness has no cure, more and more turned to juke for relief.”
“Which made them more crazy,” Jaxon said.
Kentley nodded. “Afraid so. I tried making an antidote from the juke, thinking it had to be related, but it was missing something. I still believe they’re related. Maybe derivatives of the same original concoction.”
Jaxon wondered how many
people from Colony 6 had been killed by Special Forces before the Elite realized their science project was the cause of the craziness.
Reese offered him a hand up. “Let’s go. We can’t stay here. We’ll continue on the sky train line for a while and then veer off and make a run for it.”
“I’m going with you,” Kentley said.
Jaxon blinked at him. “Of course you are. We’ll get you safely to the tunnels.”
“I mean to Amarillo City.”
Jaxon didn’t hide his surprise. “What about your patients? I thought you had others.”
Kentley nodded and was quiet a moment before adding, “Back there, in the middle of all that shooting and death, I just wanted out. I didn’t care about looking for survivors or trying to save anyone.” A sob shook his throat. “I hate myself for that. I hate that I didn’t even think about my two wards, that I thought only about my own life until we escaped. With El Cerebro in the Underground, it’s safe, right?”
“As safe as anywhere these days.” Jaxon steadied himself on a twisted metal beam. Something was battering at his mind, the pressure of a vision, but he had to stay on his feet.
“Ultimately, everything I did for those people means nothing,” Kentley went on. “Same thing for all the others I’ve helped. They still have no CivIDs, no rights, no freedom. I have to help you stop this. For them—and for my kids.”
Jaxon should have been pleased that the doctor had given into their argument of the many versus the one, but he wasn’t pleased. He was angry that it was necessary. He couldn’t bear looking at Reese because he knew she’d feel the same.
Kentley stared down at his useless iTeev. “I would like to try to find Debs and the children first, see if they’re alive, but after I’ll go with you to the underground.”
“First let’s get out of this place.” Reese started forward and the men filed along behind her.
They followed the ruined sky train rails nearly to the end and then veered left. The sun beat down on them more now that they were out in the open. Jaxon’s shakiness had eased, but he felt on edge. Dani would soon be in New York at HED, and Eagle and Nova were still somewhere out there. Time wasn’t in their favor.
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