His brows came together. “Look — there’s something strange going on with those Dead Shift guys — especially Zack. I didn’t want to tell you about them because I don’t completely trust them.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have contact with the Dead Shift every once in a while. About a year ago Peter Barnes, the former leader of this group, arranged a meeting. He said it was stupid that both our groups were after more or less the same thing, but weren’t working together.
“The meeting went well, and we agreed to meet again to map out a combined strategy. But a couple of days later, out of the blue, SecureCorp attacked our compound.” Travis looked away. His hands clenched into fists, and his voice shook as he continued.
“Of the one hundred-twenty Rebels that were there, only seventy got out alive. That’s when Peter Barnes himself was killed.”
He hung his head and shook it slowly.
“We couldn’t figure out how SecureCorp knew we were there,” he said, looking up. “Nobody but us knew about the place. Later, one of our people admitted that he’d said something to Zack that hinted at our location. He’d been afraid to mention it, and figured it wasn’t a problem, since the Dead Shift were supposed to be on our side.
“We met up with Zack later. It took everything I had not to kill him on the spot. I was sure he’d given us up. I don’t know why. He claimed that he had nothing to do with it — that SecureCorp must have found us some other way. I didn’t believe him.”
“Maybe he was telling the truth,” I said.
Travis shook his head. “I can’t prove anything, but I’ll give you some advice — even if we find him, don’t trust that guy — there’s something fishy about him.”
“But he’s my uncle.”
“You don’t know that. And, from what I’ve seen of him, I doubt it.”
CHAPTER 23
A Run
After the story he’d told me about the Dead Shift, I wasn’t sure I believed Travis’ claim that he was doing his best to locate Uncle Zack. I had nobody else to turn to, and I figured I was safer with the Rebels than being alone, so I stuck around. But once or twice I caught a couple of the other leaders eyeing me, especially Rolf, Travis’ second in command. I still had a few days to decide whether to meet with Zack, but the deadline was coming up fast.
One day, Travis announced that we were going to conduct a raid the next morning on a SecureCorp outpost on the very edge of the Quarters, one of the closest to the Dregs. He’d gotten reports that a lot of the soldiers had been called away on a prolonged mission to deal with riots nearby (a Rebel diversion?), and that the place was only thinly defended. The Rebels were looking for weapons. I was bored, so I said I wanted to go. Travis said it was too dangerous, and insisted that I stay behind.
That night I heard him arguing with some of the other leaders in one of the offices. I tried to sneak closer to hear what they were saying, but there was a guard posted outside the door. The argument was pretty intense. There were lots of shouts and what sounded like fists pounding on tables. I managed to get close enough to see who came out when the meeting was over. There was Travis, Rolf, and a couple of the other guys who’d been glaring at me. None of them looked very happy.
Early the next morning Travis changed his mind and said I could come with them. I snuck away, grabbed the crypted phone, and stuffed it in my pocket, just in case something happened and I couldn’t make it back. I was waiting in one of the empty rooms for the group to get organized, when Laura came to see me.
Every nerve in my body lit up as she took my hand. Again I was swamped with a confusing mix of guilt and excitement.
“Don’t go,” she said.
“It’s just a raid,” I answered, smiling, trying to sound braver than I felt. “It’s no big deal. I’ll be back this afternoon.”
She looked up at me. “I’ve got a bad feeling about it. Something’s going to happen─”
“I gotta pull my weight around here,” I said. “I already said I’d go. I’m not going to back out now. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
She removed a small brass medallion hanging on a string around her neck.
“At least take this,” she said. “It’ll bring you luck.”
She reached up and hung the charm around my own neck. Then she grabbed it, pulled me close, and kissed me, full on the lips. I thought I was going to explode.
We heard footsteps approaching, and she broke away.
“Be careful,” she said.
One of the fighters came through the door. He nodded at me. “Time to go.”
I was gawking back at Laura, still stunned by her kiss, as the guy led me away. There was a thin, sad smile on her face as she stood and watched me go.
We gathered on the front terrace. I scanned around, and was relieved when I couldn’t see Rolf anywhere. We were about to start walking when he suddenly showed up.
Travis was pissed. “I thought you weren’t coming,” he said to Rolf.
“Changed my mind,” Rolf shrugged. “Jimbo said he’d look after things.”
Travis stood and glared at Rolf for a few seconds. Finally he turned and we headed out. I’d been scared shitless during my ‘rescue’ from SecureCorp, so I was stressed out about the prospect of another battle as we slunk through the darkened alleyways toward the outpost.
Half an hour later we reached an area I recognized, where I’d been captured by Cash and his gang. As we entered an open square, Travis held up a hand for us to stop. I followed his line of sight and saw the reason. A half-dozen crows were feeding on something in the center of the square. The crows exploded into the sky as we approached, and a dozen or so rats scurried away.
As we got closer, I could see what was left of several bodies scattered on the ground. We approached cautiously. I guess you never know when it might be some kind of trap. At close range there was no doubt. All of them had been dead for a while.
My gut tightened when I recognized who they were. There were three of them — the guys that had captured me before. The women weren’t there — they must have taken off once the party was over. We walked around the corpses, looking for anything worth taking. One thing I knew for sure they didn’t have: the crypted phone. I fought the urge to be sick as I stood over the body of Tory, his head twisted into an impossible position, his eyes and entrails picked apart by the animals.
Travis stood scratching his head, wondering who’d killed them.
“Can’t be SecureCorp,” he said. “They would’ve just shot them.” He pointed at the body closest to him. “This guy was beaten to death with something…” He wandered over to the next closest one. “Looks like this one had his neck broken.”
The hair on the back of my own neck stood up. I thought about the snapping sound I’d heard outside the room where I was being held just before Benny rescued me. The bodies had nothing that interested us, so we left them alone and continued on.
A couple of hours later Travis motioned again for us to stop. This time it looked like we’d reached our destination, an open space in front of a collapsing low-rise building. He ordered Rolf, and a couple of other guys who’d been at the meeting, to scout the target outpost. Rolf didn’t look too happy. He glanced at me, then back at Travis, like he was trying to decide something. Finally, he turned and went off, following orders.
When they were gone, Travis brought a guy over, one of the ones who’d originally rescued me and Benny from SecureCorp.
“I don’t think you’ve been formally introduced,” Travis smiled. For a split second he was the friendly, easy-going schoolteacher I remembered. “This is Bailey,” he said.
Bailey smiled and stuck out his hand. He looked in his thirties, stocky with curly brown hair. He had a nasty scar on the right side of his face. I didn’t ask how it got there. I shook his hand and said hi.
“Bailey’s going to look out for you during the run,” Travis said. His smile disappeared and he glared at me. “Do whatever he says.”
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Bailey and Travis seemed pretty tight — on better terms than the others, anyway. Fifteen minutes later Rolf and the other scouts came back. They stared again at me, then Bailey, as they went off somewhere with Travis. Bailey and I were standing beside a low cement wall. He motioned for me to sit down on it, then sat himself.
“You’re just here as an observer,” he said. He pulled a small gun out of his belt. “Ever use one of these?”
I shook my head.
He smiled. “There’s a first time for everything.”
He gave me a short lesson on holding and firing it, then handed it to me. “Don’t use it unless you have to.”
I took the gun and stuffed it in my own belt.
“When the fighting starts,” he said, “stay right behind me. Don’t ever let us get separated by more than an arm’s length. Don’t listen to anybody else — nobody — just me. Got it?”
I nodded.
He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Travis didn’t want me to tell you this, but I think you need to understand. There’s sort of a price on your head.”
After all that had happened, I shouldn’t have been surprised. He looked up and scanned the group around us. I realized what he was saying. I’d been right — it wasn’t just SecureCorp I had to worry about — anybody here might decide to make their fortune by giving me up.
Travis, Rolf, and the others returned from their meeting.
“It’s a go,” Travis said. I swallowed hard.
There were fifteen of us, including me. We were still in the Dregs, so cameras shouldn’t be a problem, though we all monitored our HUDs just in case. After about ten minutes we reached the end of an alley that fed into a wide square.
Travis pointed to the right. “The outpost is just on the other side. The cameras start here, and they get pretty thick as we get closer, so be careful.”
Bailey leaned down to me and whispered, “Stay exactly behind me.”
I was annoyed. I was probably better at Cam-surfing than him, or any of them, but I kept my mouth shut.
Rolf took the lead, navigating slowly along one of the inside walls. I noticed that he not only avoided the cameras, but kept out of sight of any of the viewpoints around the square as well. I had to admit, he was good — but still not as good as me.
Rolf and another guy snuck away, while the bulk of us hid in a nearby alley. A few minutes later Travis got some kind of signal on his HUD. He motioned for us to move forward. As Bailey had ordered, I hung right behind him. A few minutes later our objective was in sight, the side door of a solid-looking concrete building. It was open, and the bodies of two guards in SecureCorp uniforms lay just inside. We had to step over them to get past.
We crept through a network of hallways, looking for the armoury. There were doors at regular intervals along them. Bailey and I were at the rear. So far we hadn’t seen another soul.
We entered a hallway that formed a ‘T’ intersection with another running at ninety degrees. The front of the group turned left down the new one, momentarily leaving Bailey and me alone. A guard emerged from a door right beside Bailey. He jumped at the sight of us, and went for his gun. Bailey was faster. He took out the guard, but the guy managed to get off a shot. Bailey collapsed to the floor, blood gushing from his left side.
The others rushed back to the junction, but a group of guards appeared, coming the opposite way. There was a firefight. That left me and Bailey stranded in the first hallway.
I knelt down to where he was crouched on the floor. “Can you walk?”
He managed to haul himself upright, but he could barely stand. I put an arm around his shoulder and helped him stagger back the way we’d come. We emerged from the building, and had just reached some cover when he finally collapsed, unconscious. I tried to drag him to a better spot, but he was too heavy.
I stood up, trying to decide whether to go back inside. The firefight was still going on. I could still go help the others. I was turning to leave when someone grabbed my shoulder from behind.
I jumped and turned. It was Rolf. His gun was drawn.
“He’ll be okay,” he said, nodding at Bailey. He eyed the gun in my belt. “You won’t need the gun. Just come with me.”
He had the same look I’d seen at the hideout.
“What about the others?” I asked him.
“They’ll catch up in a few minutes.”
I didn’t move. There was still gunfire in the background. “It sounds like they’re still fighting,” I gestured with my head. “Shouldn’t we help them? How did you get out here?”
“Travis said if Bailey got taken out, I should look after you,” he said. He motioned with the gun down a nearby alley. “Follow me.”
I stepped back. “You’re full of it.”
Rolf moved toward me, his gun pointing at my head. “There’s no time to argue.”
I turned to run. Rolf grabbed me by the arm.
“Let me go!” I yelled.
“You got any idea what your ransom would do for the revolution?” he said, finally showing his hand.
“Screw you!” I yelled, trying to pull away.
There was a blast from behind me, and a patch of red expanded on Rolf’s chest. He let go of my arm and collapsed to the ground. I whipped around. Bailey was lying there with a smoking gun in his hand.
“Get away from here,” he whispered.
“What about you?” I said. “I can’t just leave you.”
“I’m in no shape to go anywhere,” he answered. “If the others get out they’ll help me. Go — now!”
I wasn’t going to leave him lying there. I got him to his feet and managed to walk him back to our original gathering point. I hoped the others would come back there.
I laid him down by the wall we’d sat on, and opened his shirt. There was a big gash in his side that was still oozing blood. I tore off part of my own shirt and wrapped it around him, hoping to stop the bleeding.
Then I ran back to the outpost to find the others. I peeked around the corner where we’d hidden before. Two SecureCorp guys were standing at the side entrance. One of them spotted me and pointed.
The closest one raised his weapon and fired at me. I took off.
CHAPTER 24
At the AMP
It was too dangerous to go back to the Rebels. Rolf was dead, but there were others like him. Bailey was either dead or seriously injured, and I wasn’t sure whether Travis would still be there to protect me.
The way I saw it, I had no choice but to meet with whoever had called me. It might be a trap, but I’d just have to take my chances. It took three hours, crossing into the Quarters, sneaking through back alleys and skulking along walls to avoid the cameras. I finally made it to the furniture factory — the place we in the Lost Souls called the AMP.
By now it was three in the afternoon; I had an hour to kill. I spent half of that time casing the place, suspecting some kind of trap, but there was nobody there. Like a lot of the buildings, the factory was basically gutted; it was nothing but a big open space, the floor a carpet of dust, glass, and wood chips. I climbed what was left of a broken staircase and found a hiding place with a view of the entire floor below.
I sat down and waited. I thought about Travis’ story. He obviously believed Uncle Zack had betrayed him, but I didn’t see why it couldn’t have gone down the way Zack had said. Zack was my blood relative — or at least, he might be. I had to believe he was a good guy.
Just before four PM there was a scraping sound on the north side of the building. I had to shift to see what it was. Five men were sneaking along a clear space by the north-east wall, too far away to make out who they were. They were searching for something.
I leaned out from the corner I’d been hiding behind to get a better look. I finally saw them clearly and my heart almost stopped. SecureCorp. They were following a swarm of fucking drones.
Shit! I thought. Travis was right!
I scoured the building for a way out. I was so preoccupied th
at I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me until it was too late. An arm wrapped around my chest with an iron grip, and a hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to scream but nothing came out.
“Shhh,” a voice above me whispered.
I tried to turn to turn my head but I was held too tight.
“Shut up and hold still,” the voice said.
My captor slowly shifted backwards, dragging me with him, so that we were deeper in the shadows. I could still just barely make out the line of soldiers, their guns drawn now, scanning around them. They passed by our position and continued to the south.
As soon as they were out of sight, the voice whispered again: “I’m here to help you. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. Scream and I’ll be gone and SecureCorp will get you.”
I nodded.
The hand was removed, and the arm loosened. I turned. A man stood facing me, his features blotted in the shadow.
He leaned over and whispered in my ear: “Stay exactly behind me and don’t make a sound.”
We picked our way, crawling carefully along a solid section of the floor. Far in the distance now I could hear the voices of the searchers. I froze when a faint hum approached us from the north. My companion heard it too. We turned and looked. A dark cloud of drones was moving toward us, their edge-detected outlines crowding together like stitches in the shadows.
My companion pulled some kind of device out of his pocket and pressed a button. The cloud stopped instantly and dropped from the air, producing a barely audible rain of clicks on the floor below. The SecureCorp guys started shouting and running back and forth looking for us. They knew we were around, but without drones they had no idea where.
My companion motioned to me and we kept crawling. After a few minutes I saw an opening in the wall ahead. We made for it and the footsteps of our pursuers faded as we passed through and outside.
We climbed down a ladder-like tangle of broken framework outside the building. I thought I was the master at getting around SecureCorp’s surveillance cameras and drones, but these guys were at a whole other level. A stealth-equipped car was waiting beside the building, and a cloaking device hid us while we rushed for it. Whoever they were, they must be loaded to be able to afford gear like this.
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