It was late. The dome was black above us, and the sidewalks were nearly deserted. We crossed onto Stewart’s Ring, a street on the south side known mostly for a clot of insurance agencies. I had been here before, though mostly on the rooftops. Kel entered a building through the front and I followed her to a bank of elevators, my mind and emotions reeling.
Did she know that Sam had been killed? Had she just pulled me out and rescued me so she could destroy me? I could not read her expression. I was terrified and grateful and sick to my stomach with grief.
She placed a thumb on the elevator controls and selected 22. We shot up to the building’s twenty-second floor. The elevator doors hissed open to a spacious apartment that was elegant, but austere. Kel led me toward a wall decorated with large panels displaying a glowing rotation of family images. There were two adults, with the same deep, dark skin as Kel, standing over three little girls. The oldest one had to be Kel at seven or eight years old. Her eyes were just the same. It was not a posed photograph, but rather looked like one that had been culled from an Ad screen in a park. Another picture showed Kel and her sister, laughing wildly. They were both dressed poorly in public domain clothes, walking along the street. This image, too, looked like it had been taken by an Ad screen in a part of the city I didn’t recognize—or perhaps even a different city.
A wave of resentful despair washed over me. I had heard that you could do this—go back and rescue images from your past held by data companies. I would never be able to afford to do this for Sam. Sam’s images and scans and data would slowly erode over time, until it was like he no longer existed. No company would see any value in him or his data. Worse, it was likely they would scrub him away intentionally, to hide the crime of the three brothers.
Kel put a hand on my shoulder, but I shrunk away from the gesture.
A picture faded in to show Kel dressed in a satin robe, accepting a paper scroll under a banner that read Georgetown Law®. She stood proudly beside her family, with one girl missing.
She touched the picture almost thoughtfully, like she wanted to connect. The panel pulled in and slid away. The Squelch behind it was unremarkable, except that it had shelves of books inside. I had never seen this before. People who owned books always wanted them displayed. Even Henri’s hung on a wall. Kel, on the other hand, hid hers. The more I knew about her, the less I understood.
She ushered me in quickly, and the door closed us inside. Her Lawyer’s outfit unsettled me. She unpinned her medals and stowed them in a pocket, and then she waited. I didn’t know if she was offering me a chance to speak, or hesitating because the words she wanted to say were difficult.
Sadness and regret washed over me again. I had betrayed her. I had betrayed Henri. I had broken Margot’s heart. Sam was dead. Saretha was with Silas Rog.
I had nothing left.
“I’m very sorry, Speth,” Kel said in the sparest whisper.
I wished she hadn’t said it. It meant she knew what had happened. Something erupted in me, and I wanted to slap her, but that made no sense. I balled my hands into fists to control myself. Why hadn’t she stopped it? Why hadn’t she helped? She had to know an end like this was coming. How had the world turned into the Copyrighted, litigious, lethal monstrosity that treated us this way? How had anyone let this happen?
A low sound, like a moan or an animal cry, filled the air, followed by a sob that wracked my body. I clamped my hands to my mouth, disgusted and horrified. The sound came from me. Me. My lungs gulped for air. Had I kept my silence at the expense of Sam’s life, only to disgorge this awful, meaningless note?
Kel wiped her eyes.
“Involuntary sound is not communication,” she said, and then, more forcefully, like an incantation, “and charges stemming forth constitute a breach of Law. Said sound does not obligate or bind to payment the party from which said sound emanated. This includes laughing, coughing, sneezing and other bodily sounds for which a reasonable expectation of control cannot be demonstrated.”
I could not remember anyone ever using Legalese to console me. I let go of my fury at Kel. Silas Rog deserved it more. Sam once said, after he turned fifteen, he would learn to communicate through farts. The memory of his irreverence soothed and unsettled me at the same time.
“All the good I thought I could do as a Lawyer...” Kel shook her head. “It came to nothing. I thought I could change things. I thought I could get in and get us back some rights—some freedom. For years, I sought proof that freedom of speech is a right, but I can’t find it. There are hints and clues, but none of it matters.” She gestured to the books around us. I realized they were all books of Law.
“I’m certain it used to be different. I’ve seen where the Law started out as protection for the people, and somewhere it was perverted, like there is a missing link where the Law changed. Copyright became perpetual. Trademark expanded beyond Brands. Patent turned into a game of war. I tried to discover how, but everything surrounding the change is suppressed, censored and classified into an opaque Legal fog. It’s possible the change is recorded in the book people whisper about—the book they say Rog possesses. But I never found any evidence of it.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and drew a breath. I tried to understand. Why was it always Rog? He wasn’t our city’s leader, though it seemed like he controlled everything. Wasn’t there a world outside, beyond him?
I yearned to ask Kel questions, but she had been clear; she respected my silence. I had to keep it, at the very least until I had some revenge. Was the book the revenge that I needed?
“I did everything legally and out in the open. It galled them. Suits mounted against my family and me, all of them spurious. I could not defend against the volume. They took one of my sisters well before I started, and the other to teach me to back away. I had been too obvious and too threatening. So I dropped out of sight. I became a Placer. I tried to make a difference there, too, knocking out the WiFi and giving people a chance to talk, but that backfired. Rog took control of every node and hid them underground.”
Rog, I thought. He was there again. They taught us in school about the two branches of government—the Legislative and the Judicial. We had a representative for our dome, and a Commander-in-Chief Justice who was in charge of the country, but Silas Rog didn’t seem to answer to either of them.
“The best I could do was set aside extras for Henri and Margot to pass along. I swore to do it all legally—no stealing, no breaking in. I—”
A knock came at the door. She put a finger to her lips to tell me to be quiet, but then remembered who she was talking to. My eyes felt raw and my head was spinning. My head and elbow still ached.
Kel opened the door. Henri and Margot stood waiting. Margot’s face was grim and anxious. Henri’s flushed with relief when he saw me. Kel pulled them in and sealed the door.
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“What happened?” Henri asked. His brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Her brother’s dead,” Kel said in a rough, unsteady voice. “They are saying he jumped.”
“Did he?” Margot asked, her voice low and cool. She crossed her arms.
I glared at Margot, and my eyes welled with fresh tears. I wanted to scream no, but I would not say it. No. Whatever happened, I would not speak until I saw things change—or, at least, until I saw Rog taken down. Sam did not want me to give in. I was sure of it.
“I’m sorry,” Henri said, avoiding my eyes.
“I got her out, but Collection will be coming,” Kel said, regaining her normal, orderly tone. “They’ve already put in the claim. Rog has a hold on her purchase.”
Everyone looked a little startled.
“You should not have her in your home,” Margot said to Kel.
“Why?” Henri wanted to know. He lifted a bag up and handed it to me—my bag. He must have retrieved it from my apartm
ent.
“Why?” Margot mimicked him. “Are you stupid? Silas Rog bought her.”
“So?” Henri asked again.
Margot exploded. “Do you have any idea what Rog will do if we interfere? She is only using us, anyway! She does not care about us. Why do you care about her?”
I felt a twinge of disappointment in Margot. But what, exactly, did I expect?
“They took her sister away,” Kel said, as if Margot had said nothing. “They’ve been deleting her data all day. I’ll try to get a better update when we leave...” She waved a hand around the room. Her Pad wouldn’t update again until the door opened and we went out into the WiFi tether.
“We need to go,” Margot said. “Now! They are sure to track her Cuff.”
I held out my forearm, bare of the Cuff.
“Oh. Right. How did you manage to remove that?” Her eyes shot to Henri. Henri felt back to his pack and, of course, the little blue device wasn’t there. An oppressive silence filled the room. Henri’s eyes glistened, realizing that I’d used him. That our kiss had never been real.
“Well.” He swallowed hard. “We still have to help. I could hide her at my place.”
I wanted to throw my arms around him, but Henri would get the wrong message, and Margot would only be further enraged.
Margot stamped her foot. “She cannot stay with you. You don’t even have a Squelch. If you are ruined, too, how will that help anything? How?”
Henri tried to answer, but Margot wheeled around on me. “I have a family, too, and I am sorry, but I will not let you destroy us! My sister is eight years old. Do you want Silas Rog to buy her?”
Of course I didn’t want that. Margot’s eyes darted around quickly like a nervous rabbit. She seemed to grow even more angry and frustrated. “I am sorry about your brother,” she added through her teeth. “You see what he does to us?”
She meant Rog. The room seemed to be narrowing around me. There was nothing they could do, and Margot was right. I was only endangering them.
I crossed to the door. I had my bag with my gear now. I had zero idea where to go, but I had to keep them safe.
Kel put a hand on my shoulder and held me back.
“Margot,” Kel said, “do you remember the night Henri went down to that alley? Do you remember how you whispered, ‘It’s the Silent Girl’?”
Margot nodded very slowly.
“You practically squealed,” Kel said.
“I did not squeal.”
Had Margot been excited? I hadn’t seen it. I did remember how she’d bandaged my chin.
“Do you remember how annoyed I was?” Kel asked.
“You hate all talking on the job,” Margot said hoarsely.
“After we let her follow us—after she’d gone—you told me she was the only hope this city had.”
“That is how miserable things are,” Margot said, frowning.
Kel turned back toward me. “Speth, I don’t really know what your plan was—or if you ever had one. Maybe you thought you would inspire people, or maybe you are just a fifteen-year-old girl who never saw this coming. I wish you could tell us what it is you want.”
I wanted my family back. I wanted Sam to be alive. I wanted his death avenged. I wanted the world changed. I wanted things made right. I wanted us all to speak free.
Margot shook her head, as if Kel was wasting her time.
I took the Pad from Kel’s hands. I typed in the search box what I most wanted.
Silas Rog.
It was the best I could do to explain. I wanted him destroyed.
The Pad started beeping. The map scrolled to the heart of the city. Henri’s head cocked quizzically, and Kel’s brow furrowed. She leaned in, trying to glean what I had done.
“Oh, no,” she breathed. A new assignment appeared on our itinerary.
We had a Placement in the office of Silas Rog.
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A chill ran down my spine. What we were seeing was impossible. The WiFi was supposed to be blocked, but a red dot blinked ominously on the map. The layout of Butchers & Rog’s central tower, previously blank, filled in with an elaborately detailed blueprint.
“Um, how could the schedule change?” Henri asked. “We’re in a Squelch—there’s no WiFi.”
“Maybe the room is not sealed,” Margot said darkly.
Kel’s face twisted into an expression of both horror and admiration. “It’s not the room. We triggered something inside the program,” she said, taking the Pad back. “It’s a snare.”
“Does Rog know we’re here, or not?” Margot asked sharply.
“Not yet. Not until we open that door,” Kel said, looking over at the crack of the door, flush and sealed in the wall. I felt as if the very air outside was poison, threatening to seep in.
“Who would have access to a Pad’s programing?” Henri asked.
“Who do you think?” Margot said.
“But isn’t this Placement exactly what we want?” Henri asked. “We could use it to get that book everyone talks about. This could change everything. We could broadcast it. We could do Placements of it!”
“Oh, Henri,” Margot said, as if Henri’s simplicity was almost too sad for her. “There is no such book. It cannot be.”
I didn’t truly believe it existed, either, but hearing Margot say it cut me to the quick. It felt as if she wanted me to feel like everything was hopeless.
Kel examined the Pad more closely. “He isn’t tracking us specifically. This trap wasn’t meant for us. It has been there all along—it would have tripped up any Placer who typed his name. Rog wants to flush out anyone foolish enough to search for him.”
“Good,” Margot said with relief. “Then we destroy the Pad.”
“What? Why?” Henri cried.
“So it doesn’t uplink when we open the door!” I could almost hear the word dummy at the end of her sentence. “If we destroy it, everything can go back to normal.”
I can’t, I thought. But maybe normal for her meant a world before I joined the team.
Kel’s head shook ever so slightly as she mulled this idea over in her head.
Kel tipped the Pad toward me. “This is where he wants us to go,” she said, indicating a large, curved office that was tagged as Silas Rog’s. “The layout shows us exactly how to get there—shows us the surrounding floors, all in great detail.” Kel flipped it around, showing me one floor and then the next. “He wants us to bring him chocolates.”
I almost laughed out loud, despite how desolate I felt. Margot leaned into the wall and slid down to a seated position. She hid her face in her hands. “This is insane. Why would we walk into a trap?”
“Because we know it’s a trap,” Henri said, as if this was our ace in the hole.
“Henri, you are just saying words,” Margot fumed.
Margot was right. Rog would be waiting for us. As much as I wanted to face him, it would be absurd to hand him the advantage.
“Henri’s right,” Kel said.
Henri could not suppress his broad grin.
“Knowing it’s a trap is our advantage,” Kel went on. “Silas Rog is brilliant and horrible, but he loves to deceive and manipulate so much he won’t think we can do the same.”
My skin felt warm. A spark of hope ignited in my gut. The word sounded in my mind, almost like I couldn’t control it. Hope. It was my voice in there, but also Sam’s, my mother’s and my father’s. Was Saretha in there, too?
Kel knelt down to her bag. It was sitting, zipped and crisp, waiting for her next Placement. She checked her gear. She meant to go. I felt terrible for how I had treated her—pushing her away, stealing when I knew it would hurt her. How could I let her know how sorry I was?
“This is suicide,” Margot s
aid, arms crossed.
“No. This is war,” Kel said fiercely as she moved on to check my bag.
Margot shook her head. Henri cleared his throat. Kel made sure my grapple hook and sleep gas were secured, and that I had chocolates and a way to light them.
“Maybe that book is real,” Kel said, like she wanted to believe. I desperately wanted to believe it, too. “That central building is a fortress. He has to be protecting something in there. Getting inside is half the battle.”
“What are we doing?” Henri asked, puzzled.
“We’re going to deliver chocolates,” Kel said, zipping my bag closed. I always liked how carefully she spoke, enunciating each syllable.
“I won’t do it,” Margot said, tightening her crossed arms and glaring at me.
“I don’t want you to,” Kel shot back, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. Margot’s mouth dropped open.
“Henri, you and I will do the Placement and act as a distraction, so Speth can get to whatever it is Rog does not want her to find.”
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Kel didn’t give me time to argue—not that I could argue. Her Pad shuddered and pinged the moment we stepped out the door. Butchers & Rog knew we were coming now, and we didn’t hesitate. We made our way quickly toward the city center. The faster we got there, the less time they’d have to prepare for us.
Margot peeled off from us with a quick, sarcastic salute and swung away, red-faced and furious. Henri was crestfallen. Kel saluted back, but never took her eyes off the center of the city. I was strangely glad for Margot. If we failed, she might go on. Her sister might be spared. I was painfully aware that Sam had not been. I prayed I could make his death mean something.
The city felt ominously quiet as the air whipped by us. The Butchers & Rog Tower ahead had a seamless glass panel façade. The smooth, mirrored array made it difficult to make out individual windows or floors. But, near the top, a single, tall window was out of place; the elongated reflection of the city was askew from the reflected panorama. That was our way in.
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