Hurt spread over his face. “If I told you about it, it would take away your choices. I don’t want you to be with me because I saw it. I want you to be with me because you feel the same way about me as I do about you.”
With those words that delicious tension was back, enticing her body toward him. She resisted only because she was still mad at him.
“I figured if you wanted anything more between us,” he added, “you wouldn’t be wasting time with Alex.”
Was he that dense? She loved him. That had never been the problem. The problem was they had barely been reunited, and she’d pretty much screwed up any relationship she’d ever had, or her ability messed it up, and she needed his friendship more than she needed a lover. But if she’d had any idea that she could have both, and have it work long term, she might have made a different choice.
“And now it doesn’t really matter,” Jaxon continued. “Because it’s only one timeline. Like Kentley said, all roads may not lead where we think. And who’s to say how much of my vision is only because I want it so bad?”
His voice broke on the last few words, ripping her heart into shreds. “Kentley doesn’t know what we know. You can’t listen to him. One alternate scene with the children in the cave doesn’t mean you mistrust all your premonitions.”
Jaxon’s blue eyes seemed to grow even more intense, their stare searing her. “This morning during the gunfire, I told Eagle to target the Special Forces shuttle. Then I had a premonition. I saw Dani in front of the shuttle and when it exploded, she was ripped apart. I told Eagle not to fire.”
“That’s a good thing. You saved her.”
“But it means that vision of us isn’t certain, no matter what I thought. Telling you would have only forced you to make the choice to be with me.”
“No,” she said. “Not telling me took away that choice altogether. We’re never going to be normal, Jaxon. You should know that by now.”
His chin jutted out stubbornly, but was that hope in his eyes? Or rejection? Reese knew him so well, but for once she couldn’t be sure. She wanted to throw off the anger that had settled on her and step into his arms, but stubbornness immobilized her feet.
A knock came on the door, and a second later Eagle stuck his head inside. “We’re heading out,” he said. “Even on the night train, we won’t make it to New York before ten, and Lyssa has her meeting two hours later.”
Reese exchanged a glance with Jaxon, and this time she understood his expression. They were soldiers first and whatever was between them would have to wait.
“Later then,” she said.
He nodded and followed her out to the waiting shuttle.
Chapter 18
DANI WAS WIDE awake as Special Forces marched her through the deserted corridors of the Headquarters Enforcer Division. Exhaustion leaked from them, and she had to stifle a feeling of superiority. It wouldn’t do to underestimate anyone here.
Would they put her near Tauri? Back in Dallastar it seemed reasonable they would take her to the same place, but now she worried. How many cells did they have for people like them? Both of them were fringers, both of them were missing from the public database, both of them had an ability. Except the enforcers shouldn’t know about Tauri’s gift yet. If they did, he might be dead already.
Someone likely knew about their relationship, even if they hadn’t shared it with the enforcers who’d brought her here. She anticipated that it would be used against them. But she trusted in her ability and Tauri’s related one. However less sustainable, it was deadly—if she could get him to use it.
Not for the first time, she pondered that she should have been gifted with his ability. She’d gladly suffer the consequences if it meant she could use it in the upcoming fight. Tauri didn’t feel the same. Still atoning for actions he hadn’t been responsible for, he wanted to pretend his ability didn’t exist.
They weren’t heading to the underground level where the prison cells for “regular” people were located, cells she knew were full of jukeheads or saucebags that would likely face reconditioning, or students who needed to be put back in their place before they grew up to become a real problem. Only occasionally would a more serious violator be captured. Like a man trying to create an alternate to the Teev, or a pregnant woman whose birth control implant didn’t work. The former would face permanent employment for the CORE, and the latter, if she was lucky, might be permitted to give birth for one of the Elites. The babies from accidental pregnancies were never permitted to remain with the birth parents. Not ever. Only those with a birth order could have and raise a child. Besides, too many of the children born by accident had genetic problems that would require termination. At least that was what everyone was told.
They went up four levels, which surprised Dani. Maybe they realized she’d have slightly more difficulty escaping from the upper floors. But if it meant she’d be reunited with Tauri, she didn’t care. Her hands itched to break free of the shackles—and this place. It felt oppressive. She forced herself to take a deep, steadying breath. The panic faded into confidence and strength. It would work out. Besides, her crew would be coming for her, Jaxon and the others. But they were only her backup, and she didn’t plan to need them.
The guards left the elevator and marched her down a wide hallway to a set of double doors. Enforcer Gedet pushed a call button and the door emitted a soft whir as it opened. Inside, the enforcers indicated that she should approach a wide desk where two more enforcers sat in front of a huge holo screen. Her eyes riveted on it. In the main image, doors lined a long white corridor, a least a dozen of them, illuminated by dim lights at regular intervals. The holo looked as real as if she could walk down it herself. Below the main image were two smaller feeds of individual prisoners.
Only two, she thought, not sure if she should be relieved or appalled that of so many who had disappeared only these few were saved. Or maybe only these two had refused to cooperate. The lights in the rooms were dark, and she couldn’t tell by the faint outline of the people in the narrow beds if one of them was Tauri.
“Arm,” said one of the enforcers at the desk, a large woman of indeterminate age. Her skin was darker than most, but still three shades lighter than Dani’s. When Gedet grabbed her arms and extended them over the desk, the woman rolled her eyes. “Remove the cuffs.”
“Not until she goes into her cell.”
She stared at him flatly. “I can’t put this on with the cuff, and she can’t change and shower either.”
“What, you scared I’m going to hurt you?” Dani sent a mocking smile at the man.
“Shut up,” Gedet snarled at her. But reluctantly, he unlocked the shackles. All three male enforcers took a step back and pointed their assault rifles at Dani.
The woman put a thick strip of what looked like pliable metal under Dani’s left wrist, curling it up and fastening the ends, one on top of the other. Dani flexed her muscles to make sure it didn’t go on too tight. “That’s your ID,” the enforcer told Dani. “Since you don’t have an implant.” She smiled. “Yet.”
Dani didn’t react. Would her skin tag mask that ID as well if she reactivated it? She’d have to experiment later. So far these idiots hadn’t found it on her neck. If it didn’t mask the wristband ID, she’d have to try to break it, and there was a limit to her strength. At least the band was on her left arm and not her right, which would be the stronger of the two after her wound healed.
A signal chimed and the male enforcer behind the desk brought up a holo screen in front of him and pressed something. The door to the hallway opened and a man with a medical bag strode into the room.
“Couldn’t you bring her to my office?”
“Apparently not,” said the woman enforcer.
Dani stood quietly as the doctor looked at her wound. “This looks like it’s already healing,” the doctor said after cleaning it. “Nothing more I can do but give you an injection of antibiotic and a patch of RealSkin.”
“No injection,” Dani said
. Who knew what would really be in it? “Use a topical and the RealSkin.”
The doctor regarded her for a moment, amusement on his face. “I don’t typically inject anything dangerous into my patients.”
“I think you do anything the Controller tells you to,” Dani retorted.
The doctor looked suddenly uncomfortable. He hurried with the RealSkin, topping it with a bandage that was more to hide the wound from sight than to protect it.
“Come with me,” the woman said when the doctor finished. She waved at Dani’s escorts. “You too, if she’s that dangerous.”
The female enforcer walked to a place in the wall where seams indicated a sliding door. As she approached, the door opened to reveal a small bathroom. With her handprint, the enforcer unlocked a cabinet and removed a white bodysuit that would cover most of Dani’s body but left nothing to the imagination. No one was hiding any weapons wearing that.
Dani had taken two steps toward the door when Gedet’s rough hand shoved her forward. She stumbled and fell to her knees on the floor’s hard, glossy surface.
“Undress and get into the sonic cleanser,” the woman said. “If you are carrying any weapons hidden in interesting orifices, you need to dump them in the disposal unit there.” She pointed to a hole in the wall. “The doorway will scan you for electrical emissions on your way out. It’s the most advanced of its kind and will find anything with even the faintest signal, activated or not.” She sneered at Dani. “Don’t make me fish for anything. Tap on the door when you’re finished.”
Dani nodded, surprised when the woman left the room and shut the door on the eager faces of the male enforcers.
Stripping quickly, Dani removed and discarded a knife strapped to her inner thigh that the other enforcers had missed. She hesitated over the skin tag. It was mostly plastic, but there was more than a chance it would set off the scanner, and she couldn’t risk them becoming aware of the tech that allowed fringers to walk among them, or risk her escorts taking out their frustration on her because of disobedience. No matter how they treated her, she couldn’t kill any of them until she found Tauri.
With regret, she pretended to rub her neck—for the benefit of any possible cameras—to peel it off, and then used the toilet, subtly sending the tag into the sewer.
She stepped into the cleansing unit, a curl of disgust on her lips. The cleanser resembled the real-water shower she had in her apartment in Newcali, and while it removed all the bacteria and dirt, she never really felt as clean as water made her feel.
She stepped out and pulled off the doctor’s bandage. She wouldn’t need it now and had only left it on to protect the RealSkin patch in the shower. She pulled on the bodysuit. It was comfortable, at least, and not see-through or as tight as she’d expected. It still hugged her curves and screamed that she was a prisoner. She lifted her hand to examine the metal wristband, which was snug without being uncomfortable. The edges were rounded and smooth, the color gold. It had sealed without any break that she could see, and the surface was hard now, as if it had been welded into place on her wrist.
She tapped on the door and it slid open. The men still had their weapons out, and the woman held the stiff shackles. She motioned Dani to come out of the room, her eyes on something above the door. “Come out slowly.”
Dani did as requested and the woman nodded. “Good. I see you know how to follow rules.”
So the weapon and maybe the skin tag had registered on her way in. Dani held out her arms and the enforcer put the shackles back on. They were little more than two thirty-centimeter pieces of thin metal with curved indents for her wrists, and a locking mechanism that ratcheted down to imprison her securely. The left arm with the metal bracelet felt slightly more snug but not too noticeable.
She expected to be taken to the corridor of cells, but the door the enforcers marched her through opened to a circular room in what could have been the sitting room of an expensive house. Unease rippled through Dani. Everything was decorated in tones of white, from the walls and carpets to the two facing couches on the right side of the room. The lights overhead were too bright, making everything seem whiter. The only thing not white was the elaborately carved, golden-brown wood desk, set so far to the left near the wall that it almost seemed to be in another room. The plush chair behind it was also off-white.
Besides two Special Forces who stood inside the door with assault rifles, the only occupant of the room was a man resting on one of the luxurious couches. He had medium brown hair, burning blue eyes, and a strong face that could belong to a forty-something Teev star. His smooth cheeks had to be a result of Nuface therapy, but his face didn’t have the plastic appearance that was normal for so many of the older population who’d had the therapy for too long.
He unfolded his tall frame and arose, inclining his head as he came toward her. “Hello, Dani Balak.”
He looked familiar, but it took a few seconds for Dani to recognize him. This was the Controller himself, the Elite CORE leader who was second only to the Director, and debatably more powerful. In concept, the Administrator, who oversaw transportation, food, water, electricity, and city managers, and the Regulator, who was over population control and birth orders, were equal in power to the Controller, all three reporting to the Director, but every enforcer in the CORE Territories ultimately answered to the Controller, which meant he was the one with the true power. He’d given the command to carry out all the deaths at Colony 6, and for that she hated him.
Fighting down both her panic and fury, she dipped her head calmly. “I see you have me at a disadvantage,” she said. “Who are you?”
He smiled indulgently, as if not quite believing she didn’t recognize him but willing to let her pretend. “I’m Warrick Ramsey. In case that doesn’t ring a bell, I am the CORE Controller.”
She cocked her head, studying him. He wore shimmering black pants and a deep V-neck shirt with long sleeves and cuffs. The blue eyes and the high widow’s peak on his short hair reminded her of Bensell Summers, the pus bag who’d tried to capture Jaxon and the others six weeks ago. But was it a true resemblance, or simply the air of an Elite, which registered on her senses like a stench?
“I thought you’d look older,” she said. “You’ve been Controller since before I was born thirty years ago.” That meant his hair couldn’t be his own color, unless they’d found a way to regenerate that too. “I’d say it was nice to meet you, but that would be lying.”
His smile didn’t change. He transferred his gaze to Gedet and the other enforcers who had accompanied her to Estlantic. “You may go.”
Gedet looked ready to protest, but he glanced at the Controllers’ two guards and nodded, stepping back with the others. The door slid shut and hid them from sight.
“Please, have a seat,” Ramsey said.
Dani sat on the nearest couch, noting as he passed her to sit on the opposite one that he had a cowlick on the back of his head. He’d come from his bed to meet her, and apparently either used a sonic shower or came without cleansing altogether. That showed he wasn’t as calm as he appeared.
“You have your office adjoining a prison cell?” she said. “That surprises me.”
“This is simply an observation room.” With a few hand motions, the walls at the far end of the room shimmered and the holo screens embedded there now showed three different rooms.
Dani sat up straighter to see inside, noting immediately that the rooms weren’t for observation as Ramsey had indicated but for experimentation. Or testing. One of the rooms beyond the glass had metal walls, while the other two were concrete. Heavy vault-like doors stood open at the end of each room. One of them was scorched black.
“Let’s cut right to it,” Ramsey said, “as I’m sure you’re tired from your long journey.”
She gave him a bland smile, leaning back into the couch that cradled her body like the softest of beds. “Actually, I feel quite rested, thank you.”
He nodded. “Ah, yes. You’re from Colony 6.”
He leaned forward. “And yet those readymeals kept you alive. You had food, lodging, an education. The colony was an investment in your future. In all our futures. You were supposed to become a contributor to the whole. But you took advantage of the generosity of the people because since leaving the core, you haven’t given back. Don’t you feel you owe us?”
She regarded him, bitterness welling up past her caution. “I do owe you. I owe you for imprisoning my family in the guise of helping them. I owe you for my parents’ deaths. I owe you for experimenting on us. I owe you for killing ten thousand of my people.” Her nostrils flared and her muscles clenched, sending a pleasant buzz of readiness throughout her body.
“We took care of you.” His voice was forceful.
“No, my grandmother paid for me by working in your factory. As my father and mother did before you killed them. They paid for me with their blood and their lives.” Strength flowed through her, and without thought, she yanked her arms in opposite directions and the shackles popped apart, falling to the carpet.
The Special Forces started forward, their guns pointing at her, but Ramsey raised a hand, signaling them to stop. They froze but didn’t lower their rifles.
“Look,” Dani grated, “I am not one of your pus licking, mindless punks that you can control with pretty words and empty promises. Or with threats.”
He sat back slowly, crossing his legs. “I’m sorry you feel this way,” he said mildly. “We have had to react to violence in Colony 6, but I assure you the rest of your accusations are unfounded. The Commonwealth Objective for Reform and Efficiency saved our people after Breakdown, and you now have the choice to willingly participate in building up our great nation or return to a colony to live out your life.”
Visions Page 21