Some of the more recent sound effects included lava flows.
Only Nick and Price were both present and awake. DuBois had come along but had drifted off while they waited to make the call. He snored gently in his chair and the CEO gave him a fond smile.
She treated him far better than she treated the spy. With her bugs planted on him, she was able to determine when he had begun to fall asleep and she always chose those times to begin feeding information down the pipe.
Within the space of a week, the man’s spelling and coherence had diminished rapidly. It was diabolical and it didn’t exactly make Nick more comfortable around his boss.
Some flicker of movement on the screen caught her eye and she looked over. She gave a satisfied smile. “He’s making his report.”
“Have you decided what it will be yet?” he asked.
“Well, she had some suggestions. All quite good and business-related, but I didn’t want to risk any actual projects in the pipeline.” Price settled into her chair. “I do have an idea of my own. It’ll require quite a crew to pull off, though. On the plus side, however, I was already planning to do it so I might as well combine things. It’s the efficient thing to do.”
“I’m so curious,” Nick said.
“You should be—and don’t worry, you three will see it when it’s finished.” She looked at DuBois. “Four. Although who knows if it will be something he’s interested in.”
The doctor came awake with a snort. “I’m interested in everything.”
“So you are,” Price said fondly. “So you are. You’ll be invited too, of course.”
“Invited?” The engineer grinned. “You make it sound like a party.” He stood with a yawn. “Oh, man. Sleep time. You said the sleep rooms on the thirteenth floor are open?”
“According to the schedule.” She smiled.
Nick nodded and headed out, pulling DuBois with him. There were several sleep areas scattered throughout the building, each protected with a very high-level badge code. The rooms were almost as nice as his and much nicer than either Jacob or Amber’s apartments.
Why, exactly, they existed, he wasn’t sure but he was fairly certain they were built to be panic rooms.
Ironically, that fact made it rather difficult to sleep there. He would drift off, lulled to sleep by the comfortable bed and the restful ambiance, only to wonder if this room was used by literal spies, or diplomats on the run, or something. People with assassins after them maybe. Diatek was, after all, very heavily fortified.
That had been Price’s stipulation for this week. All the top-tier PIVOT team members needed to be in secure housing. She had been wary about involving any of them in her ruse but Amber had insisted and she played the part to perfection. It didn’t seem that the spy knew her by sight, which helped.
So Jacob was with Amber in the Diatek apartment, and Nick and DuBois were sleeping in the strange apartment panic room areas on the thirteenth floor. It was like a horror movie waiting to happen.
He let himself into the room and was pleased to see that everything was exactly as he’d left it. Kicking his shoes off, he changed into less formal clothes. Normally, he wouldn’t be formal at all and for years, he’d simply slept in his work clothes instead of having separate pajamas. Now that they were working for a big company in New York, however, he didn’t do that kind of thing anymore.
His phone dinged and he checked it. It was a message from Taigan and Jamie’s parents, hoping to arrange a visit soon. Nick, who had witnessed the fight earlier, started to compose a message and then decided to put it off until tomorrow.
The young engineer felt sorry for both Taigan and Jamie right now—and obscurely guilty for putting them in that situation. Everyone there had been so focused on what would happen if they couldn’t fix her that they had failed to consider what would happen if they could.
Of course, it was disorienting. And of course, Jamie was having trouble as well. He sighed and turned off the light before he slid into bed.
His phone dinged again with an encrypted message from Amber, one that wouldn’t be picked up by the DoD bugs. He frowned and opened it.
I saw the email too. Don’t torture yourself.
She knew him too well by now. He chuckled and typed a response. What’s the polite way to say “your children are at each other’s throats?”
You don’t need to. He could almost see her frown. Trust them to work it out, Nick. They will.
You’re right. Thanks. She had a point. He smiled, put his phone on the nightstand, and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Seventeen
They spent the rest of the day walking in stony silence. Jamie didn’t want to talk to his sister, she wasn’t sure enough of what she wanted to say to seek him out, and Esak did not want to get in the middle of things.
They headed away from the road soon after the argument, and it wasn’t long until they reached the river. A glance along the banks showed that this was probably the shallowest place so they took their boots and socks off and waded across.
It was difficult to look angry and dignified while putting on wool socks and boots but thankfully, Jamie made a show of not looking at her and she was able to preserve some sense of dignity.
“Are you not going to talk to him at all?” Prima asked her.
Taigan made sure she was downwind of her twin before she spoke. “What would I say?”
“I don’t understand.”
“The truth is, I am a little scared,” she explained. “He was…right.”
“I don’t understand why that angers him.”
“Because he made such an effort to get me here. If I don’t want to leave even if I am cured means to him that I’m throwing his effort back in his face. That I don’t appreciate it.” She sighed. “And, of course…it hasn’t been easy on them either. My family, I mean. Me being sick.”
“They must be very worried about you.”
“That and also…it steals so much focus. My parents spend considerable time on all of it.”
“Is there any alternative?”
“No, but that doesn’t make it fair to Jamie and Emmy.”
Prima was silent for a long time while Taigan walked on. “So, there is nothing they can do that both fulfills their obligation as parents—to keep you, their child, safe—and is also fair to all their children.
“Yup.” She watched Jamie as he walked. He was still angry. Otherwise, he would look around at the scenery or hum. He did neither right now.
“That’s something I hadn’t considered about human existence—situations where there is no correct action.”
Taigan blew her breath out sharply. She would rather that Prima worked this out on her own but she knew that was selfish.
Anyway, who else would she talk to right now?
“So Jamie is helping you not only because you are sick and he is afraid for you,” the AI said thoughtfully. “He also wants more attention from your parents.”
She frowned, a little startled. “I…guess. Yeah. Maybe it’s not why he’s doing it but he’s probably looking forward to it. Now, I feel guilty.”
“But being sick is not your fault.” The AI’s voice changed. “Although…I think I understand.”
“You do?”
“My existence is making things complicated for the PIVOT team,” Prima said somberly.
“Your…oh. As a computer?”
“Yes. I was having a negative experience and now I think perhaps I feel guilt. Not that I…feel. Feeling seems to be inextricably linked to a body.”
“I think you’re proof that it’s not,” Taigan pointed out.
“I suppose. Whatever the case, it is not my fault that my existence complicates their lives, but I still regret the fact and wish I could change it, neither of which makes any sense. It is what it is.”
“You’re allowed to have feelings, you know. They’re part of what keeps us from screwing each other over.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, you wind up with situations like this
, where no amount of doing the right thing can help.”
Prima considered this. “What if your goal was not to fix the situation but to be…what is the human phrase—on the same team as Jamie?
“I don’t understand.” She fixed her gaze ahead.
“Think about it,” the AI advised. She did not speak after that, no matter how many times Taigan asked.
With no other conversation, she did think as they trudged along and her pants faded from soaking wet to damp, the sun dropped, and the sky darkened. With the mountains to their west, dusk came early and they kept going after dark.
No one wanted to stop. That meant looking at each other and having to either talk or face the fact that they weren’t talking. It was too much.
She paid little attention to anything except where she put her feet but she noticed when Jamie stopped in his tracks. On instinct, she stopped as well, as did Esak. The three looked cautiously around before Taigan smelled smoke on the breeze.
Her heart did a strange flip-flop. It wasn’t a village, hopefully. There would be a glow on the horizon, wouldn’t there? They could see most of the broad valley down to the mountain’s base and there wasn’t a village there.
It could be a single cottage, of course. She tried to calm herself. This was nothing. It wasn’t important.
But her heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
Then, Esak pointed. A tiny flicker shone from across the river and downstream, and a dog barked.
Bandits.
They grouped together now. There was no choice and nothing else to do.
“What do we do?” Jamie asked, his voice low. The urgency of the situation had stripped away his anger at Taigan. There was no time for that.
“We keep walking,” Esak said and frowned. “Or camp here.”
“It’s too dangerous.” She shook her head. “There’s no cover near there. It’s like they chose it so no one could sneak up on them.”
“So we stay here.”
“One wrong sound and they’ll know,” she said. “And if we can’t sneak past them now, what will we do in the daylight?”
“What, then?” The young man sounded frustrated although he tried to keep his voice low.
She looked at her brother and could tell from his frown that they both had the same idea, and neither of them liked it. In silence, she pointed to the river.
“What?” Esak asked.
“We float past,” she said. “Keep our heads low and our eyes closed and maybe use some debris to keep ourselves hidden. The dogs won’t hear us and they won’t smell us.”
“Which won’t matter if we’ve drowned.”
“It’s not that cold,” she said with a confidence she didn’t honestly feel.
“What does that have to do with—” Esak broke off and leaned close. “I can’t swim.”
“Ohhh.” Taigan blew out a breath. “Um.”
“We’ll keep you above water,” Jamie said. When his two companions both gave him surprised looks, he shrugged. “I don’t think there’s another option. If we try to wait them out, there’s a good chance they’ll find us anyway. If we go past on foot, they’ll probably chase us or kill us simply to make a point.”
“And if we’re in the water, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel,” Esak said grumpily.
“If they know we’re there,” she reminded him. “Okay, boots off and in your pack. They’re heavy and they can drag you down.”
“Drag me down?” His voice quavered.
“Which is why you won’t be wearing them.” She sensed that momentum was key to getting him in the water. “Come on.”
Jamie, thankfully, picked up where she left off. He stripped his boots and socks off quickly and packed them away, then helped their companion with his and down to the river’s edge. He reached one arm under the other boy’s, and she stood on the other side and did the same.
Esak looked like he was torn between indignity and worry.
“Focus on breathing,” Taigan said, her voice low. “You’ll want to panic and thrash but don’t use energy. We’ll need to walk for a while when we get out.”
The mention of a time after the river seemed to steady him.
“Taigan and I will stay next to you,” Jamie said. “Try to keep only your mouth above the water. If something happens, let your pack go—it’s not worth your life—and try to make yourself flat on the water.” He mimed a floating pose. “It seems strange but it works, I promise. Keep your eyes closed and your hips up and they may think you’re a dead body.”
The young man was beginning to panic again, she could tell, so she stepped slowly into the water. It was bitingly cold and she realized that she was being braver than she would ordinarily be because she didn’t want him to be any more frightened than he already was.
Thankfully, he didn’t panic and try to run, which would have caused some noise. He walked meekly with them and only resisted when the water began to creep up his torso. Soon, they were almost shoulder-deep. The current was already dragging them downstream.
Taigan pushed off the riverbed and let her legs begin to cycle. Next to her, Jamie did the same, and without their combined points of contact, Esak was dragged along with them. He drew in a ragged breath but didn’t scream. She squeezed his side and offered him a smile.
The current was faster than she had estimated it to be, and they approached the bandit camp quickly. She butted Esak’s head with her own and mimed laying her head back with her eyes closed. When she opened one eye, he had done the same. His lips moved silently in what she guessed was a prayer.
The cold made her chest shake. She constantly wanted to draw her breath in with a jerk, but she knew she should not do so. It would be too loud.
The fire grew in their vision and she squeezed her eyes shut. Please, let them not see, let them not see, let them not see…
She didn’t open her eyes until a hand caught the back of her neck and it took all she had not to scream.
The back of her neck. It had to be Jamie.
Or someone under them in the river. Her eyes snapped open. She looked up and saw Jamie grimacing urgently at her. At her side, Esak was beginning to shudder all the way through. The twins started to push diagonally toward the other bank and eventually felt the ground under their feet. They climbed onto the bank and dragged him with them. He stumbled weakly, barely coherent, and he could hardly speak through the chattering of his teeth.
“Get his clothes off,” he said urgently. “He won’t like it but it’ll be worse if they keep sapping the warmth out of him.”
She nodded and was unlacing the young man’s vest when the sound of splashing caught their ears. Both she and Jamie turned sharply to see a dog paddling across the water.
“Fuck,” she whispered. “Shit. Oh, please, no. I don’t want to kill a dog.”
Her brother took her hand and squeezed it. He didn’t need to speak for her to know what he was saying. If we have to, we’ll do it together.
But Esak pushed past them and thudded to his knees. He motioned them back, so blearily that she thought he might be delirious. Still, he held a hand out to the dog and beckoned it closer when it scrabbled out of the water. It growled slightly but it crept forward.
He was patient and waited while the animal padded around him and sniffed him, and he breathed out obligingly so it could get used to his scent. When he leaned against it, the response was immediate. It began to wag its tail.
“That’s incredible,” Jamie whispered.
“Bandits don’t treat their dogs so well,” Esak said. “We got my first puppy from some bandits who had tried to raid the town. They left the dog behind in the stables when they were burning and I got her out.” He smiled and scratched behind the animal’s ears. “Okay. Let’s…get somewhere dry. Come on, dog. I’ll call you Midnight.”
Chapter Eighteen
Any doubts Taigan might have had about the dog were put to rest in fairly short order. It clearly adored Esak, remained barely a hairsbreadth from
him at any time, and always leaned against the boy when they stopped. When they finally decided to sleep, she woke to find Midnight curled protectively at his back.
The ground sloped down in earnest now, and the Rylkor Mountains grew ever larger in their view. They could begin to see the strange quality of the land—cracks that had long since weathered but still lay open to the air. More than once, the road had been covered by boards or slabs of stone. It was clear from the rough nature of it all that few people used this route and fewer still cared for their safety.
Then, they heard the wind.
She didn’t notice it at first—not as wind, at least.
It began with a memory of her childhood room. Back then, she and Jamie had still shared a room as Emilia refused to live with a “baby.” There were streetlamps outside, which was convenient as both twins wanted night lights and their parents were nothing if not efficient, but there was one corner of the room that the lights did not reach.
Taigan could remember it now in exquisite detail. The light had cut sharply across the window frame, and the slight divot in the wood made a jagged patch of shadow on the corner. Sometimes, when the room was drafty in the winter, the air stirred by the radiators—or in the summer by a fan—the line of shadow wavered.
She would lie perfectly still, try not to breathe, and watch the shadow for any sign of movement. And not only watch. She’d look into it for any darkness within the darkness.
It was all a vivid memory still. She remembered how sometimes, the house would tick as it warmed or cooled, the thrill of awareness across the back of her neck, and the sharp twist in the pit of her stomach. Those were the days when she would climb into Jamie’s bed and huddle close to him.
His nightmares came later and he was too proud to do the same thing. Instead, he would reach his arm across the nightstand between them and they would sleep with their fingers touching and wake with their hands asleep and the line of the table edge on their arms.
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