by C. J. Hill
Joseph didn’t ask. He didn’t want to frighten Sheridan and Taylor in case Mendez gave the wrong answer.
The trees were greener, taller, than any he’d seen in wilderness programs at the VR center. They also smelled rich with some unfamiliar scent. Many of them lay on the ground, knocked over by—pues, what was strong enough to knock down such huge trees? All afternoon the group had to keep climbing over fallen ones.
When Joseph had asked about them, Mendez said, “They’re pine trees. Storms come through every once in a while and pull some down.” And then he wouldn’t say more on the subject.
Sheridan, however, happily shared information about the outdoors. “Hear that chirping sound? That’s bird language, which is something completely different from English.
“See those annoying little black things flying around? Those are bugs. They also don’t speak English, and if you get too close, sometimes they fly up your nose. Actually, I was kind of hoping they were extinct.”
Joseph reached over and swatted her with his half-empty water pouch. “Do you remember how I said that if I got out of the city alive, I was giving up girls? I haven’t changed my mind about that.”
She laughed and took hold of his hand, swinging it back and forth as they walked. “You just hate to admit that I was right and you were wrong. Men haven’t changed at all in the last four centuries.”
He knew she was happy. Happy for perhaps the first time since he’d met her. The sadness had left her eyes, and in its place was optimism. And beauty. Like something you could look at and never grow tired of.
She squeezed his hand. The feel of her fingers in his was comfortable. Perhaps Jackalville wasn’t going to be such a bad place after all.
Taylor was also excited about the city, laboring on her accent so she could ask Mendez questions that he refused to answer. He just smiled and said, “When you’re safe inside, there will be time for questions.”
So Sheridan and Taylor had to indulge their curiosity by talking to each other, guessing what Santa Fe might be like. Sheridan hoped they would have pets and a library filled with classics and novels that had been written over the last four hundred years. Taylor wanted parks with trees, a physics program, and at least one hot bath.
“I bet they don’t have ranks,” Sheridan said, already sounding relieved.
As they walked, the ground beneath them crunched and snapped in an unfamiliar way. Joseph had to constantly watch his feet so that he didn’t trip over tree roots or the rocks that lay everywhere. That was another detail the wilderness program at the VR center had left out. Real dirt was so unstable.
Mendez stopped walking and held up one hand, the signal to silently wait. A minute went by. Not only Mendez’s, but every head turned, searching the scenery for anything unusual.
Rocks. Trees. Shadows. A bird hopping from one branch to another.
Mendez put his hand down and motioned for them to start again. “A group of vikers is following us.”
“How can you tell?” Joseph asked.
“When the wind is right, I can smell them.”
Joseph took in a deep breath of air. He couldn’t distinguish the stench of the vikers from the other smells around him. “They followed us all the way from the city?”
“It’s a different group. Some of them live in the forest. They won’t attack as long as I keep my laser box visible, but we’ll need to hurry.”
Taylor trudged behind Mendez, her boots making crackling sounds against the fallen pine needles. “Great. My legs are already killing me.”
Sheridan shifted her backpack and increased her pace. “Better your legs than the vikers.”
“We’d all be safer,” Joseph said, “if you gave me back my laser box.”
Mendez shook his head. “You’re safe enough. We’ll meet up with a group from the med clinic in about half an hour. They’ll lead you the rest of the way blindfolded. But don’t worry. The vikers never attack large groups.”
“Even if part of the group is blindfolded?” Taylor asked.
Mendez didn’t answer her.
Joseph watched the shadows the tree branches cast across their path. They shifted as the wind swayed through the trees. “How many of us will be traveling to Santa Fe?”
Mendez sidestepped a boulder, hardly making a sound as he trod across the brittle underbrush. “Enough. Elise and your father are waiting for us at the med clinic, so you can travel together.”
“My father?” Joseph repeated, not sure he’d heard right.
“Jeth is your father, isn’t he?”
“Jeth is with Elise?” Joseph asked.
Mendez glanced at his scanner. “I processed them together.”
Jeth had left the city? Willingly? At that moment Joseph couldn’t picture his father—all he could see was the office. The office full of old-twenties furniture and artifacts. The computer filled with research and theories and methods of study. Jeth’s entire life was in that room.
And he had left it?
Mendez looked over his shoulder at Joseph. “You’re not happy that your father went with Elise?”
“I didn’t think he’d ever want to leave the city.”
Mendez smiled and went back to scanning the area.
Joseph kept walking, vikers completely forgotten. Why had Jeth left Traventon? He wouldn’t have been tagged with the blame for the time riders’ release from their detention cells. That was clearly a Dakine operation. At most he would have been censured for leaving the girls alone before their first attempted escape.
Then the truth occurred to Joseph. It wasn’t the government Jeth was afraid of, it was the Dakine. They were looking for Echo and the time riders, and the first places they had searched were Jeth’s apartment and the Wordlab. They’d probably threatened him.
So, not only had Joseph contributed to his brother’s death, he’d endangered his father and forced him out of the city. Sangre, when Joseph made mistakes, he maximized them.
A few more minutes passed. Mendez stopped again, one hand aloft. He held out the scanner, turning it in a circular motion as he examined the area. He made an unhappy grumbling noise, then squinted through the trees behind them. “We have a problem. Someone from the city is tracking us.”
The words hit Joseph hard, leaving him breathless. The government must have discovered he wasn’t Echo and turned his crystal back on. “How many?”
“Seven. About eight minutes behind us. Usually the Enforcers won’t come out this far. They must think you’re important.”
Not Joseph. The Enforcers wanted Taylor, and they couldn’t be allowed to capture her. Joseph put his hands on his backpack straps, easing the pressure on his shoulders. “I’ll leave the group and go in a different direction. That way the rest of you will be safe.”
Sheridan took hold of his arm. “You can’t leave now.”
Taylor stared off in the direction that Mendez was still surveying. “I thought you said vikers were following us. How did they suddenly become Enforcers?”
“They’re both following us,” Joseph said. “Mendez’s scanner can pick up other people’s crystals. The Enforcers finally got close enough to register.” To Mendez he said, “Are they on motor-walks?”
Mendez shook his head. “Machines can’t make it over this trail. They’re on foot like us.” He slipped one side of his pack from his shoulder and drew Joseph’s laser box and disrupter from a compartment. He handed them to Joseph. “Farther up, there’s a dry creek bed that divides the hill into ridges. Go up the west side. I’ll take the girls up the other. When the Enforcers follow your signal up the hill, I should be able to shoot out a few of their knees before they reach you.”
It had to be their knees because the Enforcers wore helmets and deflector shields around their torsos, arms, and legs, as well as the palms of their hands. Only their fingers, joints, and small slits at their waists were left unprotected to allow them movement.
“What about the ones you don’t manage to shoot?” Joseph asked.
“They’re the reason I gave back your laser box. I’m hoping you know how to use it.”
It wasn’t the most encouraging of answers. “I know how to shoot,” Joseph said. Since Echo’s death, he had put in a lot of practice.
As they walked, Mendez kept scanning the forest. “Only use the disrupter if you have to. It won’t do us any good to disable their laser boxes when ours will stop working too. Our best strategy is to shoot the Enforcers while we stay hidden. I’ve got camo tarps, so they shouldn’t be able to find me or the girls unless they step on us.”
The military used camo tarps made of a material that reflected the color, shape, and texture of its surroundings so well that it could fool the human eye and most sensors. It wouldn’t fool a sensor that had homed in on Joseph’s crystal.
Mendez quickened his pace, and Joseph followed after him, gliding his thumb over the buttons of the laser box.
“I’m a good marksman,” Mendez said. “And they won’t expect to be shot from behind. They can’t protect their joints forever.”
Joseph’s gaze went back to Sheridan. Her eyes were wide, frightened. “You’ll be fine,” he told her.
“I wasn’t worried about me,” she said.
No one spoke after that. They were listening to every rustle of the wind, every birdcall, concentrating on where to put their feet next. An urgency hung about them, pushing them forward. Joseph couldn’t hear footsteps coming up behind him, but he could feel them.
The group reached the dry creek bed, and Mendez stopped walking. “This is where we diverge.” He pointed left to a ridge on the hillside. “Hide in the bushes so the Enforcers can’t shoot you from a distance. We want them to walk up that hill so I have a good shot at their knees. I’ll do my best to stop them before they reach you.”
“Thanks.”
Mendez turned and headed toward the other hill, motioning for the girls to follow him. Taylor did. “Good luck,” she called to Joseph.
Sheridan didn’t move.
“Go,” Joseph told her.
“What if …?”
He bent down and kissed her quickly. “I may not have given up on girls after all, so you need to go now.”
She took a reluctant step away from him. “I’m holding you to that.”
“What does that mean?”
Another step, a smile. “You’ll see when we’re safe.” She turned and took long strides to catch up with Taylor and Mendez.
EIGHT MINUTES. That’s how long Mendez had said it would take for the Enforcers to catch up with them.
How far up the ridge should he go? He turned and looked at the opposite ridge. Through the collage of trees and bushes, he spotted splotches of greens and browns moving—the other three climbing. As Joseph watched, Taylor and Sheridan went behind a low-growing pine tree and didn’t appear again. Mendez didn’t join them. He positioned himself where he could get a clear shot of the other ridge.
Joseph had better hide soon too.
He walked a few more meters, then went up the biggest pine he could find. The lower branches didn’t offer much cover, so he put his laser box between his teeth and climbed higher.
Trees in the VR center were always so sturdy. This one swayed as he climbed, the branches bending under his weight. He settled in one of the higher branches, hoping the brown-and-green clothing would hide him.
Then he waited, his laser box in hand.
Each chirp from the birds seemed especially loud. Bark and the needles of knobby branches dug into his legs. He kept as still as he could while he searched the forest floor for movement.
Nothing.
Nothing.
And then he saw them. The men hadn’t taken the trouble to camouflage themselves, and they emerged from the trees like a trail of black shadows. Six Enforcers and one government official. Even from high up in the tree, Joseph recognized the black-and-gray-striped hair. Helix had come personally on this outing.
The Enforcers each held a laser box. Helix held something else. A large metallic contraption Joseph hadn’t seen before.
The group stopped to get new scanner readings. Joseph pointed his laser box and waited. They would pick up the reading on his crystal, turn their backs on Mendez, and trudge uphill. He hoped Mendez had good aim.
The men spoke to each other, to Helix, then turned—but not toward Joseph. They began climbing up the other ridge, toward Sheridan and Taylor’s hiding place.
For a moment Joseph didn’t move, didn’t understand what was happening. He waited for them to turn around again and walk back toward him. They couldn’t know where Sheridan and Taylor were hiding. They couldn’t. And yet they did. They were walking directly toward the place where the girls hid, and Joseph was too far away to help them.
chapter
42
Sheridan saw the men first. The large camo tarp that Mendez had put over them only had two small spots they could see out of, and those were blurry—like peering through scratched glass. But it was hard to miss seven men dressed head to toe in black. Helix was one of them, his black-and-gray-striped hair peeking out underneath an Enforcer’s helmet. “Helix,” she whispered to Taylor, and then added, “What’s that thing he’s carrying?”
The metallic device was the size of a pillow with a bowl-like bottom and a meter on top. Helix paused, consulting it, then turned away from the hill where Joseph hid and began hiking up the hill toward them. All six of the Enforcers followed, laser boxes held loosely in their hands.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Sheridan said.
Taylor pulled herself closer to the hole on her side of the tarp, then let out a punctured breath. “Oh no. They’re not tracking Joseph. They’re tracking us.”
“How?”
Taylor shifted her position, still staring. “A QGP can identify and find a person’s energy signals. They must have modified one to track us.”
Sheridan wanted to shrink back but couldn’t pull herself away from the view of the men marching up the hill. “I thought Reilly couldn’t get those to work.”
“Apparently the search apparatus wasn’t the problem.”
With each step the Enforcers took up the hill, Sheridan’s heart beat faster. Where was Mendez? Where was Joseph? Did they see what was happening?
The ripping sound of shots cut through the air. Flashes of light sizzled around the Enforcers’ legs like tiny fireworks. One of the Enforcers fell to the ground, then another toppled beside him. Both grabbed their knees, moaning.
“ALL down!” Helix yelled, and the remaining Enforcers knelt, their laser boxes pointed in front of them. Helix set the QGP on the ground and unclipped a laser box from his belt. “Stun setting only. I want no one killed until we have Tyler Sherwood bound.” He pointed at one of the Enforcers. “Scan the area and find the sniper.”
The man pulled a silver box from his belt and held it in the air, taking readings.
Sheridan expected the Enforcers to help their wounded, but the men kept their lasers up, surveying the area, seemingly unconcerned with the two who lay writhing and moaning on the ground.
The Enforcer with the scanner said, “I’m not getting any readings. The sniper either fled or has no crystal.”
Helix grunted, as though the Enforcer had just admitted to being incompetent. He squinted at the forest. “They’re here.” He turned his head to the left and then the right, still searching. “Try every known scan until you find that sniper, then kill him.”
Sheridan peered down the hill, wondering if Mendez had heard this pronouncement and if his covering would hide him from every scan.
Helix waved one hand in the direction of the wounded Enforcers. “Give them a pain eraser. Their yells will bring every viker from here to the city.”
Two of the Enforcers took kneeling steps over to their companions. Instead of being relieved by the help, the wounded men seemed more nervous about Helix’s command. “You’re not going to leave us here?” the first asked. “The vikers will take us if we’re
unconscious.”
“I don’t need an eraser,” the other said, pulling himself to a sitting position. “I’ll be quiet.”
No one answered them. The two kneeling Enforcers unsnapped a small box from each man’s belt, took out syringes, and then inserted one into each wounded man’s knee. The men went limp. The only sign they were alive was the movement of their chests rising and falling.
Helix motioned to his remaining men. “That should be warning enough for the rest of you. If you’re stupid enough to let a sniper take you, you’ll end up as dinner for the vikers. Now find Tyler Sherwood.”
Step by kneeling step, the Enforcers moved up the hill. Each kept one arm straight down, the other straight out, swinging their laser boxes in front of them like sideways pendulums.
No more shots came from behind them. They weren’t giving Mendez a target anymore.
How long would it be until they reached the hiding spot? Keeping her voice low, Sheridan said, “Can you think of any way out of this?”
Taylor gave an almost unperceivable shake of her head. “If we run, they’ll shoot us. If we stay put, they’ll find us. Joseph isn’t around to use the disrupter, and even if he was, we’re outnumbered and they’re wearing armor. Mendez already shot at the QGP and nothing happened to it. They must have some sort of armor on it too.”
“Taylor, you need to think harder.”
Taylor scowled. “Now I know why you always got so mad when I told you that.”
Sheridan didn’t comment. She had just thought of the option Taylor wasn’t mentioning.
Joseph had said that Traventon trackers couldn’t distinguish identical twins from each other. They picked up whoever was closest. The same thing probably held true for the tracker on the QGP. Which meant that in order for Taylor to have a chance to escape, Sheridan had to be closest. She needed to draw the Enforcers to herself.
“I’m going to crawl down the hill and to the left,” Sheridan whispered. “You crawl up the ridge to the right. When you get out of sight, run. You’ll be able to get away while they’re tracking me.”