In My Skin

by Shannon McKenna

  The woman’s voice prodded at the shadow of a lost memory. And it hurt.

  Hale listened to the entire recording and then turned to her. “I assume you’ve already dispatched the drone to monitor LaSalle’s position?”

  “Yes. I have a live visual on the truck. A 1979 Toyota 4X4 southbound on Cardinal Ridge highway. I can visually confirm that Daniela LaSalle is driving. She’s alone.”

  “She can’t be allowed to reach the interstate. Analyze the best interception point. We have to block traffic at both ends. Move fast.” Hale gave her a suspicious look. “Jesus, R-48, what the hell is the matter with you?”

  She wiped off the sweat on her forehead, trying to control the fiery flush. “No problem, sir. Just a mild temperature readjustment. Normal after an extended submerged data-dive.”

  That was a lie, but she barely felt the sting and emotional discomfort that lying to a commanding officer usually provoked. She already felt so hot and sick and jittery, the extra chemical torture the brain stim inflicted was barely noticeable.

  “Should we get rid of Millicent Blum?” Metzer mused. “She might have seen the cleanup. Easy enough, considering her age. Heart attack, fall, stroke.”

  “The Blum woman should be eliminated immediately, sir,” R-48 blurted loudly. “Leaving her alive is a serious risk for our—”

  “I didn’t ask for your recommendation.” Hale’s voice was chilly. “And I have serious doubts about your judgment. Now is not the time to offer unsolicited opinion.”

  “Yes, sir. My apologies.” She looked down, subdued.

  “Leave Blum alone for now,” Hale said. “But monitor her.”

  “Yes, sir.” Something deep inside her relaxed. The old lady was not in immediate danger. With luck, Hale might even forget about her. But luck was nothing to count on.

  At the same time, R-48 felt the muscles around her temples and her eyeballs tighten ferociously, a deep sickening throb of pain. She paid a high price whenever she tried to manipulate a command level modified with reverse psychology. But they made it so easy with their fucking swollen egos. Who could resist?

  But oh, it was bad this time. Nausea heaved inside her.

  “Assemble a team,” Hale said. “Metzer, take the rest of the Level Twenties. Except for you, R-48. I’m keeping my eye on you. You stay right here with me.”

  “On it,” Metzer said. “I got a bone to pick with that LaSalle bitch.”

  “Don’t destroy LaSalle,” Hale growled as they left the room. “I want a chance to talk to her, too.”

  “No problem,” Metzer assured him. “There are ways to make her very sorry that leave plenty for you to play with.”

  R-48 sagged against the wall as soon as the door fell shut. Maybe she’d get lucky and LaSalle would distract them. At least for one night. Just a short reprieve.

  But the woman wasn’t going to last very long. Not with those two.

  * * * *

  The gas gauge was on empty. The only reason the pickup was still moving was because of the long, steady downhill slope. If she could just make it to another town, maybe she could find someone to help her.

  Everything was closing on her. The attackers and their mystery agenda on one side. Luke with his crazy tales and macho pride and hurt feelings on the other. And she didn’t even have Naldo’s capsule to give them now.

  According to Willis, someone had cleared away the bloody corpses of her attackers last night. She didn’t want to meet whoever had done that. She had nothing to bargain with.

  Then again. Bargain, her ass. Those bastards would kill her if they got their hands on her whether she had Naldo’s capsule or not.

  She almost wished she could just chicken out and disappear right now. But with no money, no clothes, no fake ID—how? After her childhood, her fantasy had been to live aboveground in the bright sun, in full view of everyone. Nothing to hide here, folks. What you see is what you get. No scary toxic secrets, no madness, no drug caches or hidden guns or fat stacks of cash hidden in the walls.

  She’d managed it for a while, but behold, here she was again. Banged up and half-naked. Driving a stolen truck that was almost out of gas. On the run from danger, heading straight for more danger. Going out of her fucking mind.

  She rounded a blind curve and braked in a panic when she saw a huge, shiny gray van blocking the road. The pickup’s bald tires fishtailed on the wet asphalt.

  She came to a shuddering halt just inches from it.

  Her insides went cold. One…two…no, three giants all bulked up in body armor appeared from behind it, smoothly flanking her pickup. Enormous dudes, armed to the teeth. Lantern jaws. Big swollen muscles. Military style crew cuts. Flat mouths. Dead eyes.

  And big handguns. All aimed at her face.

  Dani stayed put. She glimpsed a steep drop-off to her left, but not what was at the bottom of it. To her right was a rugged slope studded with trees. Blasting past these fuckers was not an option. Bullets could sure as hell move faster than this old heap.

  Nothing left for her to do now except to give those bastards as much attitude as she could dish out for as long as she could dish it.

  She got a flash in her mind’s eye. Naldo grinning. As if to say, Don’t worry, Dani. It’s not so bad over here on the other side.

  Good to know, little brother. Miss you. See you soon. Wish me strong.

  The thought of what they were going to do to her made her guts turn to ice water. But it was just pain, and at some point, it would end. So fuck them all.

  She fought to roll down the window. It was stuck in place. Then the whole thing came loose and thudded heavily down inside the door.

  She gave them a big, sweet, fake smile as chilly wind swirled into the truck’s cab.

  “Hey,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

  Not a muscle twitched on their faces. Then a fourth man strolled around the van and joined them. Blue Eyes.

  A wave of cold, sick darkness threatened to make her pass out. She fought it.

  The asshole’s face was battered and scabbed and bruised. He’d taken one hell of a beating from Luke the other night, the nasty sadist prick. Good.

  “You again,” she said. “Can’t say it’s a pleasure. I hoped you were dead.”

  “I don’t kill easy. I’ve been looking forward to this, Daniela. Get out of the car.”

  She hesitated. He turned to the nearest thug. “Shoot her in the thigh,” he ordered.

  “No, don’t bother. I’ll get out.” Dani got out of the car, shivering in the raw wind, and crossed her arms over her chest. “So?” she said. “What the fuck do you want from me this time? I don’t have the capsule.”

  “No? Who does?”

  Her throat seized up like a small, brutal claw was clutching it. “I don’t know his name,” she said. “Just that he’s just one big scary son of a bitch, and you don’t want to mess with him. You saw how he could fight. You guys outnumbered him four to one, and he handed your asses right to you. All of you.”

  The boss guy lost his big fake smile and gave her the look of death. “What were you doing with him last night?”

  “Well, after he was done pounding you guys all to shit, he took the capsule, threw me in the trunk of his car and drove off.”

  “For what? Why did he take you with him?”

  She laughed out loud right in his face. “Oh, boy! What on earth could he have possibly wanted from little ol’ me? Three guesses, Einstein!”

  He backhanded her, a hard, head-rocking slap. “Watch your mouth, cunt. Where is he now? Answer me!”

  His saliva spattered her stinging, reddened face. “Up around Winthrop Springs,” she lied. “He’s got a cabin in the woods up there. He did what he needed to do with me and then he got hungry. And I managed to untie myself. I stole this pickup when he went out for food. It’s a piece of shit, but it runs,
sort of. So I skipped out.”

  “Leaving the capsule behind.”

  She rolled her eyes. “He took it with him when he left.”

  “She’s lying about something, sir,” one of the big guys muttered. “Her heat signature indicates—”

  “Any idiot can see that she’s lying,” Blue Eyes said. “Don’t interrupt me.”

  The guns were unwavering, but Dani looked around at the three guys, noticing a weird, luminous flash in the eyes of the guy who had spoken up. There was hardware embedded in his corneas. And circuitry tattooed into the shaven parts of his scalp and neck. “You guys are Obsidian, right?”

  The boss studied her, his eyes cold. “What do you know about Obsidian?”

  No point being coy. She was going to tell him all of it anyway sooner or later.

  “The basics,” she said. “It’s like, Hell Incorporated, am I right? A bunch of rich assholes looking to get richer by reinventing slavery.”

  “Something like that.” Blue Eyes had that eerily calm look on his face which meant he was about to inflict extreme pain, she knew that much.

  She steeled herself for it. “Not like,” she said. “It is that. You kidnap runaway kids, steal their brains, and turn them into killing machines. Like these guys here. I bet that’s their sad story, too. Am I right?”

  She looked at the three thugs with him, one after the other. Their stolid faces did not change at all. Not that she had expected them to. They weren’t idiots.

  “Let’s stay on topic,” Blue Eyes said softly.

  Dani glared at him. “How dead will I be if I don’t?”

  “Very dead,” he told her. “Slowly. But surely.” He studied her for several seconds. “So answer me.”

  She swallowed. “OK. So the info for a Manticore shipment was on the capsule, but he never managed to decrypt it while I was there. That’s all I know.”

  “Do you have the key?” he demanded.

  Key? Naldo had mentioned a key. Luke had asked for one too. Now this guy wanted it. The key was important. Whatever the hell it was.

  They were going to press her for it. Hard. That unhappy thought made her shudder.

  She shook her head. “I got nothing,” she said tightly. “Nobody gave me any key.”

  “You had no physical contact with the courier?”

  “If you mean Naldo, I did try to stop him from bleeding to death, if that’s what you’re talking about.”

  “Enough of your shit. Get her inside,” he snarled. “Let’s get the fuck on with this.”

  Two of the big guys seized her under the armpits. She exploded, twisting desperately in their iron grasp. Born to fight back, win or lose, but these dudes barely noticed. What had Luke called them? Slave soldiers. Not just ordinary grunts, either. More like slave soldier special forces.

  Inside the van, they muscled her down onto a gurney between cargo walls loaded with electronic gear. The windows were covered with a dark film, and a blindingly bright multi-eyed LED hung over the gurney. Rough hands stripped away her sweatshirt, her T-shirt.

  She was naked, except for her shorts.

  Two of the slave soldiers held her down on the gurney while Blue Eyes stepped inside and looked her over, clearly enjoying the view. The slave soldiers didn’t notice her bare body, or if they did, they hid it well. Their wooden expressions never changed no matter how she struggled.

  Blue Eyes whacked her on the temple with his knuckles, an explosion of pain. “Stop wiggling, bitch.”

  But she couldn’t. She was in total freak-out mode, heaving and straining in their relentless grip as they passed a long, cold metal wand with blinking sensors over the surface of her bare body. At one point, she almost managed to knock the wand out of the bastard’s hand with her knee, earning herself another ringing slap and a savage pinch to her nipple.

  “I said hold her down, you stupid fucking freaks!” Blue Eyes bellowed.

  She screamed as the grip of the slave soldiers on her body went from acutely painful to bone-grinding agony.

  The light switched off, replaced by a purple glow from a bar on the wand. Ultraviolet light. He swept it over her body, and grabbed her thigh. “There it is.”

  Dani lunged up as far as the guy shoving her shoulders down would let her, craning her neck to look. Something shone on her skin in the UV light, right above her knee. A pale glowing pattern, like a mandala.

  A matrix barcode. Right on her body. How…?

  “You had the key all along. You lying cunt.” Blue Eyes’s voice was soft and menacing. “I’ll take it back now. I’m going to skin you alive.”

  “I didn’t know that was there!” She tried to control her shaking voice. “I…I remember now that Naldo grabbed my leg. He must have slapped it on me then. I didn’t even notice. And he could barely speak. He was dying. I washed off the bloody handprint afterward. I never even knew it was there.”

  “She’s telling the truth, sir.” Another slave soldier, speaking in a monotone. “Her energy sig colors compared to her baseline suggest that—”

  “Shut up. Unless you want a full-on, ball-breaking reconditioning just to teach you some fucking manners. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” The slave soldier obeyed, staring into space at nothing.

  “Hold her.” Blue Eyes pulled a knife from his belt. “I’ll cut the key off her right now. Hold the bitch still.”

  The minute he set that cold steel blade against her thigh, a banshee wail ripped out of her throat.

  “Gag her!” Blue Eyes yelled.

  She bit the hands that tried to follow the order, drawing blood. Shrieked again as he cut deeper. Hot blood trickled down under her knee.

  Big bodies all leaning over her, holding her down, a huge callused hand over her nose and mouth, blocking light, air. The knife was slicing into her again…ah shit—

  Boom. The van rocked. Glass shattered, a side window in the front. Gunshots.

  Everyone froze, listening.

  Boom. The van rocked again, vibrating.

  Luke? She turned her head from the smothering hand, just far enough to break the seal over her mouth and drag in air before she passed out. Oh, Luke. If it’s you. I’m so sorry. Hell, even if it’s not you I’m sorry.

  “It’s coming from the ridge to the northeast,” a slave soldier said.

  “T-55, hunt him down,” Blue Eyes rapped. “S-52, cover him. G-97, drive!”

  The agony ceased as the men released their death grip and leaped to follow orders, rocked by gun blasts right outside.

  She heard the slam of the driver’s door up front, the engine firing up.

  Boom. Glass shattered in the front of the vehicle.

  “G-97!” Blue Eyes bellowed, holding a gun to her head. “Report!”

  No answer. He slid the blackout shade up over the window to the front. Dani twisted desperately, struggling to see.

  There was nothing but red. Blood splatter covered the glass.

  The van lurched suddenly forward, leaving the two slave soldiers behind it exposed. The unlatched back doors swung open.

  Boom. One of the slave soldiers tottered and hit the ground. The other dove to the ground behind the van, which braked to a lurching stop, sending the gurney crashing against Blue Eyes. He grunted, startled, as the vehicle went into reverse.

  The slave soldier lying on the ground behind it tried to scramble free.

  Too late. The van rolled over him, thud-thud. It braked, and jerked forward once again. Thud-thud.

  “What the fuck?” Blue Eyes shrieked. “What the fuck is going on? Who’s driving this fucking thing?”

  No answer. The van was moving again. Backing toward the drop off. Picking up speed.

  “Fuck!” he bellowed.

  He wasn’t holding the gun on her now. Dani rolled off the gurney and clutched something heavy bolted
to the side wall.

  Just in time. The van skidded to a halt, slewing to the side. The doors swung out wide over a vast nothingness, and the gurney sped out on its rattling wheels, suspended in the air …

  It crashed on the rocks far below.

  Her tormentor scrambled out the back, eyes bugged out with alarm. He aimed his gun up the hill, shooting wildly. Then he saw something in the sky and waved his arms and the gun in the air, as if beckoning to it.

  Dani let go of her handhold and crawled along the floor, peering out to see what he was waving at.

  A drone floated toward them. Getting lower, faster, closer. It flashed past.

  His hoarse shouting cut off. Dani leaned out as far as she could, slipping around in her own blood. The doors swung, banging in the gusty wind.

  The first thing she saw was his gun on the ground, spinning on the crumbling edge of the drop off. Then she saw him. Or what was left of him.

  The flying drone had sliced through his skull, right above the jaw. She barely made out a mess of red, broken lower teeth, and then a lurid smear of pinkish red. What was left of his brain was spread over the road with the drone wreckage.

  His legs still jittered and twitched.

  Dani nearly tumbled out of the van as it lurched into forward motion. It bumped violently over the body of the slave soldier again and turned around with swift and savagely efficient maneuvers on the narrow road, tires screeching.

  Then it set off at a furious speed, leaving scattered bodies and the aging, rusted-out pickup truck behind it. The open back doors still banged to and fro as the van raced wildly around the hairpin curves.

  About a mile further on, it slowed down and shuddered to a halt.

  Dani was hanging on so tight, her muscles were cramped. She couldn’t let go. She was sticky with blood from the ugly cut on top of her thigh. Blood ran from her nose, too, she realized. It was trickling down her neck.

  She heard an engine approaching. The heavy thunk of a car door closing.

  Boots on the asphalt. Coming right at her. Fast, like the pointed nose of that drone that went right into the screaming mouth of that guy. Not that she would shed any tears for him, but it was another blow, smacking her into some alternate dimension of reality.