It seemed someone had enjoyed the sim-sunrise wakeup.
“I’ll be out in twenty,” I grumbled. “Then I’ll be ready to go in ten. I have a battery pack you can borrow for your craft. It’s on the wall. It should be enough to get you back to the barracks for a refill.” I shut the lid before he had a chance to respond. It’d been careless of him not to make sure Seven was recharged once we’d arrived back in the city. His situation could’ve been a lot worse.
Twenty minutes went by too quickly, especially with the delicious light tingling and energizing my skin, but at least my muscles were loose and pliant now. The heat felt incredibly good. I stretched within the confines of the pod, curling my toes, bending my elbows over my head. I didn’t usually take my dose of UV with so few clothes on, so it felt extra nice. Any more than twenty minutes and I would’ve burned. I knew my limits.
Once out of the pod, I headed to the waste room, relieved Case was in the living area. I heard him moving around, likely making something to eat. We were supposed to be at the Emporium soon. The fact that nobody had reached out on a tech phone was good. It meant there hadn’t been any trouble overnight.
Dressing quickly, I grabbed my weapons and headed to the other room.
My wall screen was on, and the wispy clouds drifted over a deep blue background. Hot water had been left on the counter, an open bag of protein flakes next to it. I dumped the water in without comment and ate my meal, positioning myself against the counter, facing Case, but not looking at him.
It was nice that everyone in the room was fully dressed.
In between bites, I said, “Everything is tasteless since we had Walt’s printed food. I miss his cupcakes. I’m pretty sure they’ll always be my favorite food, no matter what happens or how many recipes I try.” I was pretty sure my dreams last night revolved around the flavor and consistency of that first cupcake, and not at all about Case without his shirt on.
The outskirt was seated on the bench, a pack of batteries he’d taken from the wall in his hand. “There’s no joy in eating anymore.”
“Exactly.” I finished the bag, crumpled it up, and threw it in my grinder, punching the button. “But, honestly, did it ever hold any pleasure?” I went into the hallway, placing my finger on the upper right quadrant of my closet, where I kept my stash of extra weapons, my jacket, and my vest.
I slid on the shell first, then the vest, which fit me perfectly. My seamstress had outdone herself. I’d have to remember to give her some extra coin the next time I saw her and find Lockland something for his trouble.
Case walked up behind me, positioning his trench over his shoulders. He had the batteries. “I think one pack is enough,” he said.
I nodded as I zipped up my clothing, patting the pockets to make sure everything was in place. “That should be plenty. To get it hooked up, take the wires here—” My bare hand brushed his, and I snapped it back automatically. Then, trying to cover up my odd behavior, I decided to grab the entire thing out of his hand. “I’ll just show you when we get there.” I shoved the battery pack into a pocket, then slid on my gloves. “We can fly Seven to the Emporium together. Luce is parked a few buildings away, and it’ll take me an hour to get to her, so this works better.” I started for the door. After a second, I realized Case wasn’t following. Glancing over my shoulder, I asked, “What?”
He shook his head slowly, his mouth quirking up on one side in amusement. “Nothing.”
“Good. Let’s go.” I pulled open the door after casually engaging the heat sensor and headed out. Instead of my usual route, which would’ve taken us to a hatch that led to the roof at the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of the door that went to the balcony. The same one Case had come through last night.
I was certain no one else had tried to breach it last night, as my alarms would’ve sounded, not to mention the explosions. But checking was always advisable. It kept you alive. I placed my ear to the door. Case stood to my right, still grinning.
“Honestly, what?” I asked. “By the way, you look like a different person when you’re smiling. I’m not used to it. It’s making me uneasy, like you might have a seizure or something. What exactly do you find so amusing?”
“I was just imagining you wearing that outfit from last night.”
“My pajamas?” I narrowed my gaze. “You found them funny?”
“They didn’t exactly look…formidable.”
“I wasn’t trying to be formidable.” I crossed my arms, bracing a shoulder against the wall. “I was trying to relax. Something I do less than one single time per year. And I can’t believe I have to point this out, but I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t dressed for battle last night. Perhaps you’d like to strip down for the meeting today? Maybe take a shirt off and relax? I’m sure the crew at the Emporium would appreciate the visual of your naked chest.” I didn’t wait for him to answer. Instead, I yanked the door open with a little more force than necessary. It snapped Case in the forehead midswing. “Whoops,” I said. “Sorry about that.” Not sorry.
I was down the corridor before Case caught up, rubbing his head.
My hand popped the latch quickly, my back to the outskirt as I disarmed the bomb inside. Out on the balcony, I sidestepped my other traps and grabbed the cable from where Case had attached it to the wall after he’d swung over last night.
Climbing up on the railing, I turned to Case. “See you on the other side. Try not to blow yourself up while I’m gone.” I stuck my foot in the loop and leaped off. The view from fifty stories up could mess with your brain. It was best not to look down. I’d been scaling buildings my entire life, so it didn’t register.
This particular swing was mounted on the building I was heading toward, meaning, if left to swing on its own, it would land there.
I crossed the railing no problem, arching my back to land easily on the ground, my gloves trailing down the cable, keeping it in my grasp once I landed. In one motion, I turned toward Case on the other side, twenty meters away. I contemplated not tossing the cable back and just taking Seven and leaving without him. After all, I had the battery pack with me, and the outskirt had irritated me, making me feel things that I wasn’t interested in feeling.
It would be easier if he just left altogether. Or if I did.
He saw my hesitation and slowly shook his head.
“Damn,” I muttered. “If I don’t send this back, the bastard will just show up unannounced again.” I lifted the cable behind my head and lobbed it toward him, giving it a strong sendoff. Then I headed through the residence.
If he didn’t catch it, not my fault.
This building was unstable at best, its structure almost completely shot. I made my way up to the roof by way of a rickety stairway. It listed in the breeze, creaking and tottering as I took the steps two at a time.
The new battery pack took a few minutes to attach, and I was sliding out from under Seven when Case finally made it to the roof. He was a little out of breath. I stood, clapping my hands off, grinning. “Took you more than one try?”
Case’s expression changed as his eyes landed somewhere over my shoulder, his face going slack as he dove for me. One arm curled around my waist as he yanked us down to the ground, rolling under a chunk of metal attached to a lookout shack I’d crafted long ago so I could see the roof of my residence.
We crashed to a stop, and before I could say anything, he whispered, “UAC.”
The air had been completely knocked out of my lungs on impact, and I struggled to catch my breath. Once it leveled out, I whispered, “What direction was it moving?”
“It was coming up over the top of the building.”
We lay still for a few more seconds. “Our location is already compromised,” I pointed out. “Seven is sitting right there, out in the open. I think we should make a run for it. So far, the UACs have only been monitoring the situation. None of them have engaged.” I tried to move, but Case was in the way, his arm still caught beneath me. I began to untangle myse
lf from him by lifting up my back and shoving at his shoulder. “Let’s go. I don’t hear anything.”
“These don’t make much noise,” he whispered, accommodating me by finally easing his arm out from under my waist.
“How do you know?” I strained, trying to listen. “Have you seen one up close before?” I’d gotten only a glimpse of one from a distance, not close enough to hear anything.
“Yes,” he said, his voice gruff.
“If this one has laser capacity, and they shoot at us, they declare war,” I murmured. “They won’t do that until they assess the threat and figure out who we are and what we know. There’s low risk of going into battle right now.” That was my best guess anyway. “We get in Seven and try to lose them. It’s the only option we have. We can’t just stay here, huddled under the shack.”
After a moment, Case responded with a reluctant, “Fine, but we go fast, and I’m flying.”
I didn’t argue.
He rolled out first, lofting the pilot-side door. I jumped in, sliding across to the passenger seat, shoving my arms through the shoulder harness as Case roared Seven to life, launching us off the ground.
“Is it following?” I craned my head around to glance out the rear window. At first, I didn’t spot anything, then I saw it darting around quickly as it pursued us. Its movements were as fluid side to side as they were up and down. I’d never seen anything like it. I turned to Case. “How is that thing powered? And how come you knew it doesn’t make any noise?”
Case was busy flying, taking turn after turn, achieving angles I hadn’t witnessed him do before, making me thankful I’d strapped in as I clutched the side of the craft to keep myself stable. “I’ve seen one up close before,” he finally said. “Once when Dixon and I were in the city years ago. We lost it, but it took some time.”
“Was it after you specifically?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“If this UAC belongs to the Bureau of Truth, that means they wanted you and Dixon and you’ve had run-ins with them before?”
“Yes.”
I swore.
There was so much we didn’t know about this outskirt, and he had patently refused to answer my questions last night. “You’ve got some explaining to do, as usual. If we manage to lose this thing, we have to get out of town and head to the barracks. We can’t stay in the city. I’m alerting the crew and telling them to meet us there.”
Case tossed me a surprised look.
“The Bureau of Truth clearly recognizes this craft,” I said, “which you just confirmed. We can’t risk luring that thing to the Emporium, so we lose it and head out to the barracks.” He didn’t comment. “What’s it going to be, Case? Are you with us or against us? The UAC never chased Lockland like this, it only observed him. It found you—or Seven—and now it’s on our trail and it’s not going to stop. We have no choice but to get out of town. After that, you owe all of us a detailed explanation of how it recognized your craft.” After a long, silent pause, I huffed, “Make up your mind, Case.”
“Fine. We go to the barracks.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Jerry, it’s Ella,” I said into the tech phone. “Change of plans. Can’t make it to Mary’s.” I braced myself against the side of the craft as Case made a 180-degree turn, then shot through a sheared gap in a building.
The UAC was ever present. We’d been trying to outrun it for the last fifteen minutes with no luck.
Lockland’s voice came over the airwaves a second later. “No problem. How about seventh?” He was suggesting we meet in Government Square, under the cover of picking up our overdue protein cakes that we didn’t need anymore, because thanks to Case and the stockpile at the barracks, we had plenty to eat.
Meeting out in the open often held an appeal, as it lent us the image of carrying on in a normal capacity without arousing suspicion.
But that wasn’t what I had in mind.
I had to be careful in my response, assuming the Bureau of Truth was monitoring all channels and bandwidths. If they knew enough about us to find our residences, then they probably knew our handles. Voice-recognition software still existed—or so I’d heard. A government group like this one would have access to things we didn’t know about.
“No, actually, I can’t make it at all. I’m sick.” My head bounced off the back of the seat as Case engaged the hydro-boost. It was a good plan, until I saw he was heading into the clouds, which was one of my least-favorite places to be. At this rate, we’d be out of the city and out of radio communication quickly. “If you could bring a jug of aminos to my residence, that will help me feel better. I’m parched, too.” My mind raced, coming up with something on the spot. “I’m having some protein cakes delivered, but they won’t arrive for another fifteen or twenty minutes.” I was essentially telling them that I needed backup and we were heading twenty minutes away, near water, and they needed to leave immediately.
Now I had to let them know how to find us.
They already knew the general area of the barracks from my previous descriptions, but since we didn’t have exact coordinates or maps for such a thing, it’d been impossible for me to tell them exactly where it was. But, ultimately, if they headed east of the city and followed the sea, I could devise a signal that would catch their attention. A fire would work.
“Will do,” Lockland answered, his voice clipped to let me know he understood.
I had only moments before we lost the connection. “My fever is heating up. Have to go—” The phone went dead.
“Do you think they got it?” Case asked.
“Yes.” We’d been up in the clouds for a few minutes, the boost beginning to slow. “Once we arrive at the barracks, we’re going to light a fire on the roof.” I glanced behind us. “Did you lose the UAC?”
“Too soon to tell,” Case answered as he depressed a button on the dash and all the radio signals the craft emitted went dead. “But that thing won’t be able to see through clouds, so if I keep changing direction, we should be fine.”
“This would be an excellent time to have Maisie with us,” I said. “That status reader comes in handy in these situations.” I squinted out the back window, trying not to worry about being in the clouds. “Why are we still up here? You should’ve effectively lost that thing when you hydro-boosted. Why wasn’t that enough?”
“It boosted along with us,” he growled.
“Its body is too small,” I argued, slightly shocked by his answer. “Where would it house a hydrogen canister?” The boost we’d used came from a reaction inside a specialized canister that forced the explosion outward, rocketing us forward. It needed to be fairly large to exert that much energy.
Case shook his head. “It utilizes different technology.”
I turned to him, exasperated. “How do you know that?”
He was quiet.
I was irritated.
He began our descent out of the clouds. I couldn’t tell which direction we were headed, and with the dash dark, there was no way to know until we had a visual. After a long exhale, Case finally replied, “Dixon was a member of the Bureau of Truth—a former member. That’s how I know.”
I slumped back in my seat, my eyelids sliding shut, a single index finger coming to rest at my temple, beginning to move in a slow, rhythmic circle. “Case.” I kept my head down, not wanting to look at him. I was sick of the game. “When exactly were you planning on sharing that detail with us? We talked in depth about the Bureau of Truth in Bender’s shop when we returned from the South. That would’ve been an excellent time. Or how about when Lockland explained he was being monitored by the very same UAC that just gave us chase? Or when we were trying to figure out who controls the government building that houses the only working medi-pod that can help Mary and all the other seekers? Or, lastly, last night when we were talking? Any one of those times would’ve been good enough, although anything that came after our debriefing back in town would’ve been considered late, but possibly forgivable. This is j
ust…so typical.”
Case dropped us completely out of the vapor, giving us our first glimpse of the horizon. We were a lot farther out than I’d anticipated. The city was nothing more than a speck in the distance behind us.
Luckily, nothing seemed to be following us—at least nothing I could see.
In front, the sea was roaring up fast. Case had managed to aim Seven in the exact right direction. Why was I surprised? Nothing would ever surprise me about this man ever again. He was an outskirt, blood and bone.
“It’s not like that,” he finally said.
“Not like what?” My tone was steeped in resentment. “You keep secrets—and continue to keep them—even when they’re detrimental to the safety of this group. As soon as Lockland and Bender find out that the Bureau of Truth is following us to track you down, and you didn’t say anything about it, you’re out.” I continued to rub my temple. At this point, a tension headache was imminent. “And, you know, if I were you, I wouldn’t fight it. Kicking you out without physical harm is a gift. The only reason they won’t retaliate is because you sav—helped—me in the past. Honestly, it’s better this way—”
“Dixon was in the group, not me.” Case was angry. His molars ground together as he spoke. Good. “When I flew this craft back to the city, they must’ve noticed. I didn’t know until ten minutes ago that it was going to be an issue, or I would’ve said something.”
I shook my head, dropping my hand. “Bullshit. If you had details about the Bureau of Truth—anything Dixon had told you—you should’ve shared them, or at least warned us. They control the medi-pod we need, and we’re about to launch ourselves into a war with them, yet you stayed quiet. There’s no excuse for that.”
“There is.”
“What?” I turned to give him my full attention.
“Death to anyone who knows their secret.” He paused, allowing time for that to sink in. It didn’t penetrate as deeply as he apparently thought it would, but I let him continue. “That’s why Dixon didn’t enlighten me with specifics about the agency. All I know is, he was part of the group and later defected. The UAC chased us once while we were in the city, but it wasn’t an issue. He never shared any details because he didn’t want to put my life at risk.”
Danger's Cure: (Holly Danger Book 4) Page 5