Terminal Point

by K. M. Ruiz

  “What caused me to punch Lucas isn’t your business.”

  That smile never changed, though the look in Kristen’s eyes became predatory. “And here I thought all they beat into you dogs was obedience.”

  “Would we be here if that was the case?”

  “You would be wherever it was Lucas needed you to be.” Kristen abruptly sat back, lifting both hands to tuck strands of hair behind her ears. Her eyes became half-lidded; the smile never fading. “I can make you be whatever I want you to be.”

  “Kristen,” a sharp voice said. “What did Lucas say about cornering people?”

  Threnody looked away from Kristen, knowing that Quinton would keep the girl from going for their throats, and watched as Samantha approached their table. Even in this cramped place at the bottom of the world, Samantha still looked put-together. Built like her older brother, she was tall and thin, gorgeous enough to shine from a news stream, but that wasn’t her place anymore. Samantha came to a stop behind Kristen’s chair, attention on her sister and no one else.

  “Sammy-girl,” Kristen drawled, canting her head back to look at her sister. “Did Lucas put you in charge of holding my leash today? How boring.”

  A malignant pressure slid against Threnody’s mental shields, saturated with negative emotion. Quinton must have felt it as well because he was getting to his feet, ready to fight. Samantha placed her hand on Kristen’s head, stroking her fingers through straight blond hair. Affection almost, or so Threnody thought. Right up until Samantha gripped Kristen’s hair with one hand and slammed the younger girl’s head against the tabletop.

  Bright red blood splattered across the cracked plastic. Kristen choked on her laughter as the low hum of conversation in the cafeteria faded. The pressure in Threnody’s mind disappeared. Quinton remained standing, but didn’t intervene.

  “Not broken,” Kristen said, even as she lifted her head and straightened her crooked nose with both hands, blood dripping down her face. Her skin was starting to swell. She pressed her teeth into the cut that split her bottom lip, sinking the edges into a faint line of red.

  “Come along, Kristen,” Samantha said, her gaze flicking over to the other pair at the table, gaze icy. “Lucas wants you. All of you.”

  Threnody picked up her fork and tapped it against her bowl. “When I’m done.”

  The contemplative look Samantha gave her made the hair on the back of Threnody’s neck stand on end, as if the teenager were thinking about how to take her apart in the slowest way possible. “Now, Stryker.”

  Deliberately, Threnody took another bite. Samantha’s expression became remote and Threnody could feel telepathy claw against her mental shields. The vast power of a Class II telepath flowed around her mind, digging hooks into her defenses.

  I won’t pretend to understand why Lucas chose you. I just know that he did, Samantha said against the outskirts of Threnody’s mind. Stand up, or I will make you. It’s a process you will not enjoy.

  I thought Lucas didn’t need an enforcer, Threnody said, letting her thoughts sit where the telepath could barely reach them without inciting trauma. He’s done just fine without one all these years.

  Lucas is breaking the world. I’m simply ensuring I remain on the winning side.

  Your usual position, yes? Threnody arched an eyebrow and took another bite of her food. Always second, never first? Unless we’re counting your twin. How is Gideon, Samantha?

  Really now, Lucas interrupted as he telepathically put himself between Threnody’s mind and Samantha’s sharply focused power. As amusing as this is, I have better things to do than fix the both of you again. We have a meeting. It starts in five minutes. None of you will be late.

  He pulled out of Threnody’s mind, taking Samantha with him. The younger girl didn’t seem offended at his interference, merely turned her back on Threnody and Quinton with a disdain that no one could miss. Threnody didn’t take it personally as she watched the sisters leave the cafeteria, Kristen skipping ahead.

  “If Lucas gives her half a chance,” Threnody said quietly, “she’ll kill him.”

  “Which one?” Quinton said.

  “Take your pick.”

  Quinton nodded agreement. Threnody took one last bite of her food—her third bowl in the past twenty minutes—before they got up to deposit their dirty dishes in the designated area. Everything was reused down here since they had no way to bring in new supplies unless it was either flown or teleported in. The only shuttles Quinton had seen at the outpost were the nine they arrived in. Lucas had effectively trapped some of Matron’s scavengers in Antarctica for over a year. It was a wonder none of them went mad during the long polar day and even worse polar night.

  The two were the last into the heated room for the meeting. The only people who looked happy to see them were Jason and Kerr, though the smile Kerr gave Threnody was pained. Despite everything they’d gone through since the Slums, it was hard to reconcile the changes that had happened among the four. Blame was just as devastating as hate and they were struggling not to feel either.

  Threnody wouldn’t apologize for surviving. Kerr would never believe it if she did. They still stood together, shoulder to shoulder, to face what came next.

  The room was cluttered with work terminals. Novak and Everett were hunched over one, muttering to themselves about issues with a hack, while Matron and Zahara watched their progress in silence. Samantha and Kristen huddled in a corner by themselves, far from where Lucas stood next to Korman with three strangers.

  Threnody thought they belonged to Matron, but then the tallest man opened his mouth and her attention locked on him. “Now that we’re all here, can we upload the damn program so that me and mine can get a flight off this continent?”

  The man was middle-aged, with a scar like a second smile curved around his throat. Biomodifications showed in his jaw and neck, his altered voice coming through electronics. The sound was the harsh burr of a reality no one liked to be told about, familiar from a decade of riding the pirate streams that the government could never quite kill.

  “In due time, Fahad,” Lucas said as he studied the datapad he held. “We have other things to discuss before I let you go.”

  “Yeah?” Matron asked. “Like what? We got the seeds and everything else. That’s what you wanted and it cost us.”

  “I really don’t care how many people you lost, Matron. We’ve gone over this.”

  The group shifted uneasily. Matron scowled, her metal teeth scraping together. “Those were good people, Lucas.”

  “They weren’t mine.” Lucas set the datapad aside before looking up at everyone. “We’re coming up on a week since Buffalo and from what I can tell, the government isn’t as settled as it claims.”

  “Is anyone surprised about that?” Threnody said.

  Lucas shrugged. “The fact that they aren’t immediately beginning to transfer the people on the colony lists to Paris means we still have time to implement our plans. We need the government to break from its current course. I want them to panic.”

  “Breaking into the seed bank will go a long way toward meeting that goal,” Jason said. “But I don’t think you’re stopping there.”

  Lucas nodded. “Fahad will be flying to Johannesburg. Evidence of the Ark will be uploaded on a pirate stream from Africa within twenty-four hours, but we need some lead-up time to get things sorted. We aren’t risking what we’re hiding by having the stream go live on the premises. Matron, you’re giving up Novak for the cause. Samantha and Kristen will be in charge of that mission.”

  “Why don’t you just shoot me before dumping me on that shuttle with your sisters?” Novak said with a scowl, jerking his head up. He ran a hand over his tattooed skull, wiping away sweat in a nervous gesture.

  Lucas ignored him. “As for the rest of you, we aren’t finished stealing from the government yet.”

  “Don’t tell me they have another hidden warehouse full of supplies?” Kerr said.

  “No. You Strykers have n
ever been hidden from the public. Your former Syndicate is our next target.”

  “What do you want with the Strykers Syndicate?” Threnody said.

  “The same thing that I got from you four—an alliance, of sorts.”

  “You really do like fucking with Nathan, don’t you?” Samantha said. She had her fingers curled around the collar of Kristen’s skinsuit, keeping the other girl close.

  “I need to pass the time somehow,” Lucas said. “Korman here has spent the past year working on how to program nanites in a controlled environment outside of a biotank.”

  Korman’s expression, moved by muscle and wire, was bitter. “And by controlled environment, you mean human.”

  “No one misses bondworkers, Korman. They aren’t worth your grief.” Lucas neatly turned his attention to the next item on whatever internal schedule he was keeping. “Korman will explain what needs to be done on your end, Jason. He produced the same results you got on the shuttle with Threnody using the nanites, only this time they won’t be forcing regeneration and they won’t need your power.”

  “I’m no scientist,” Jason said. “I don’t even know what I did to save Threnody. And you still haven’t told us what this mission is.”

  “You’re a psion and a hacker. That is all I require of you.” Lucas glanced over at Threnody. “We won’t be able to extract the neurotrackers like we do in the Serca Syndicate following a retrieval. What we’re doing is simply turning off the kill switch. The signal will remain active. Strykers will continue to show up on the government’s security grid, but they won’t die. An extraction takes time, something we don’t have right now, so we had to get creative.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?” Threnody said.

  “You built a virus,” Jason guessed, looking to Lucas for confirmation. “You’re going to infect the neurotrackers on a wide scale.”

  Lucas nodded. “They’re bioware with a system that can be hacked, housed in the best biological entity this planet has ever made. The nanites Korman programmed will infect only the neurotrackers with the virus and nothing else. Every other biomodification will be spared.”

  “Are you sure? Nanites are tricky to program and the neurotrackers have some serious defensive programs built into them.”

  “My family created this technology. It’s why we could unlock the neurotrackers without the government’s assistance when we retrieved Strykers.” Lucas shrugged. “The government has the code to fully deactivate the neurotrackers, which is different from the code that activates the kill switch for termination. My family knows both. We supply those codes every two years.”

  “If an encrypted password is the only thing keeping those things in Stryker brains, why hasn’t anyone tried to hack them before this?” Novak asked derisively.

  Lucas gave him a cool smile. “The encrypted password for deactivation is two hundred digits long.”

  Jason whistled. “That would be a problem.”

  “Not for too much longer. The government might want the Strykers dead, but I don’t.”

  “How are you going to administer this virus?” Quinton said. “The Strykers know we defected and they’ve got standing kill orders for each of us.”

  “There are ways around that.” None of the Strykers looked as if they believed him, but Lucas didn’t care. Pointing at Fahad, he said, “Get your people and your gear. Novak will fly you out of here. You will follow Samantha’s orders to the letter.”

  “About fucking time,” Fahad said, shaking his head. “One more week in this place and I’d have gone mad. Been here three months too long.”

  “You get used to it,” Zahara said.

  “To the dark, yeah. But to the cold? Never.”

  Fahad and his two assistants left the room, followed by Novak and Everett. Samantha leveled her brother a cool look as she let Kristen go. The empath trailed after the humans, tapping at her recently set and swollen nose with one finger.

  And when we’re finished? Samantha said between them alone.

  I’ll find you, Lucas said.

  It was a threat as much as it was a promise. Samantha left without a backward glance. Matron spat on the ground in her wake.

  “Your sisters ain’t got your back, Lucas,” Matron said.

  “I have them, which is all I’m concerned about,” Lucas replied. “Korman, I want you to consolidate your work on the virus-carrying nanites, then prep your operating room. Jason needs to familiarize himself with the virus, and Quinton is going to need replacements for his biotubes. Matron, go help him.”

  Korman and Matron left the room. Kerr looked around at everyone who remained and said, “Got something to say you didn’t want anyone else to hear?”

  No one missed how Lucas glanced at Threnody. Quinton sighed. “Thren, you keeping secrets again?”

  “Wasn’t a secret Lucas shared until last night,” Threnody said.

  “Is that where he got the swollen lip?” Jason asked.

  “As amusing as this conversation is, we’ve got business to discuss,” Lucas said. “Tomorrow, Jason is going to teleport Threnody and Kerr to the Strykers Syndicate and retrieve my daughter.”

  Jason gaped at him. “I’m going to—what?”

  “You have a daughter?” Quinton said.

  “She’s not born yet,” Threnody said calmly, the only one other than Lucas who wasn’t shocked by the announcement. “Lucas, I thought we’d get more time?”

  “We can’t afford to stay our hand. I want my daughter, Threnody. I trust you to get her for me.”

  “Who’s the mother?” Kerr asked.

  “Ciari.” All three men glared at Lucas, who only shook his head. “It didn’t happen like that. I didn’t rape her.”

  “You wouldn’t need to. You’d just have to mindwipe her.”

  “Shockingly enough, we discussed this issue as adults.”

  Kerr grimaced. “Ciari got brought before the World Court. How do you even know the fetus is alive?”

  Lucas touched a finger to his jaw. “As Threnody so thoroughly pointed out last night, Ciari wouldn’t risk her own child. Given the chance to save her, Ciari would take it. I have to believe that.”

  Maybe it was the quiet way he said the words. Maybe it was the faint hint of uncertainty in Lucas’s voice when he had only ever been arrogantly assured. Either way, the Strykers didn’t argue. Plans weren’t set in stone and even Lucas wasn’t immune to chance, despite Aisling’s orders.

  “We won’t kill fellow Strykers,” Threnody said.

  “You handle this mission as you like, so long as you don’t return empty-handed.”

  “I’m going with them,” Quinton said.

  Lucas shook his head. “You’re getting biotubes put in tonight and you’ll need a bit of recovery afterward. Jason can only help so much with that.”

  “Then put me in a biotank. I’m not staying behind.”

  Threnody stepped closer to her partner, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Quinton, no. Don’t argue. I’m planning this mission, so you don’t have to worry about me, okay? Things will work out.”

  If it were Lucas pressing the issue, Quinton would have argued. With Threnody giving the order, he kept his mouth shut. Shaking his head angrily, Quinton left the lab. Threnody gave the microtelekinetic a pointed look and Jason reluctantly followed Quinton.

  Then it was just the three of them. Lucas picked up his datapad. “I need to show you something.”

  Threnody and Kerr approached with slow steps. Lucas tapped at the datapad for a few seconds before handing it to Threnody. Kerr looked over her shoulder, both of them staring down at the screen with its listing of encrypted files and several hundred names. The one highlighted was her own. The one above hers was Lucas’s. More names were listed after hers. Carefully, she tapped the icon beside her name, and a command window popped up, asking for a password.

  “What is this?” Threnody said.

  Lucas leaned back and braced himself against the table. “Aisling.”

 
Both Threnody and Kerr shot Lucas identical incredulous looks. He met their stares without blinking. Weeks on the run, following where he led, told them this wasn’t a joke. Lucas didn’t have a sense of humor.

  “What’s the password?”

  Lucas shrugged. “I don’t have it. That’s your file, Threnody. Only you can unlock it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Type in the password. You know it, whether you realize it or not.”

  Threnody stared down at the datapad, studying the blank command window. She raised a finger to the keypad image, but didn’t touch the screen. “What if you don’t like what it reveals?”

  Lucas shrugged one shoulder, but the tension in his body was impossible to miss. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Lucas.”

  “Threnody. It doesn’t matter.” When she looked up at him, he held her gaze. “I’m not going to ruin what Aisling started. Maybe someone else will, or did, but it’s not going to be me, and it’s not going to be here. Not this time. I’ll follow what she says, like I always have. Even if I don’t like it.”

  He gave Threnody a strained, lopsided smile. “She told me to find you and you’ve been a right pain in the arse, Threnody. But I’m listening.”

  Threnody nodded slowly, then tapped out a string of numbers that represented the date of the first time Quinton was introduced as her field partner. The first time she got someone she could call family after becoming a soldier, even if it was only in the deepest part of her mind.

  It was a wild guess, but the encrypted file unlocked. Opened. Began to play.

  The camera was focused on a small table in a white room, with a woman on one end and a child hooked to machines on the other. The caption pinned to a corner gave a date and a location that made Threnody swallow hard. Kerr sucked in a sharp breath. In the room, the child turned her head to stare at the camera, and the image magnified on its own until bleached-out violet eyes were staring directly at them.

  “Hello, Threnody,” Aisling said over the sharp whine of machines.

  Threnody almost dropped the datapad, too shocked to make sense of what she held in her hands. Kerr steadied her grip with his own hand, the pair of them looking at Lucas with horror in their eyes. Lucas stared them down, his gaze unwavering.