“Belle? Hey, Humphrey,” he called over his shoulder. “It’s Belle.”
“Humphrey’s there? Let me talk to him.”
The view of the reader camera bobbled, showing the table and then the ceiling and then eventually Humphrey frowning at her. “Whatever it is you want, I don’t have time—”
“Just shut up. I’m here to save Jacey.”
“Jacey! What’s wrong with her? Where is she?”
Belle explained finding Jacey at the docks and taking her back to Mother Tyeesha’s. As she described Dr. Carlhagen kidnapping her, Humphrey’s face grew darker. By the time she’d finished telling him about Mr. Justin and the boat, he was steaming.
His eyes shifted to look at something off-camera. “That explains why the guards came and locked us in the dining room. Dr. Carlhagen must have gone straight to the senator and convinced her I’m a fraud.”
Wanda peeped over Humphrey’s shoulder. “What’s Dr. Carlhagen going to do to Jacey?”
Other faces pressed close around Humphrey, all staring at Belle, all asking different things at the same time.
“Will you all just shut up?” Belle hissed. She checked to make sure no one was approaching the gate, then continued to whisper. “I think Dr. Carlhagen’s giving Jacey to the senator because Summer is missing.”
“He’s going to overwrite her,” Humphrey said on a horrified exhalation.
“Overwrite? That’s what you were telling us about.” It was Elias’s voice off-camera. Humphrey ignored him.
“Vaughan?” Humphrey said. “Are you listening in?”
Vaughan’s face appeared in a window on Belle’s reader. “Yes. I’ve already checked activity in the transfer room. The machine is active, but I don’t know what the state of transfer is. With Greta around, I don’t dare get too close.”
Belle’s mind was paralyzed by a momentary dissonance as she pictured the Vaughan that Dr. Carlhagen had taken over. But this was the AI Vaughan, the one running on Socrates’s old server.
“Can you stop it?” Humphrey asked him. “There must be something you can do.”
Vaughan’s face looked pained. “I would stop it if I could. There is something, but . . .”
“But what?”
“There’s a good chance Jacey’s brain image will be backed up, the way mine was when Dr. Carlhagen transferred to my body. It’s possible I might be able to install a version of her on my server. That’s about the best we can hope for.”
“Make Jacey an AI?” Belle’s skin chilled, and her mouth went dry. “You can do that?”
“Maybe.”
“No!” Humphrey said. “We can’t just let her die.”
The others all started talking again.
“Sensei is alive,” Belle said flatly.
They fell silent.
“Sensei is alive,” she said again. “And we’ve got a plan to help Jacey. But we need your help.”
The Scions cheered in strange whispers, pumping their fists.
“Stop,” she insisted. “We have no time for your childishness.”
Humphrey ordered the others to be quiet, but smiles split their faces.
“Sensei has a remote for the gate,” Belle said. “He’s going to let me in. When you hear the gate alarm, I need you all to help create a diversion. Do what you can to keep the guards away from the quad so that Sensei can get to the medical ward. Do you think maybe you can lure some of them all the way up to the hacienda?”
“I could,” Humphrey said, “but I’ve got a better idea. I can just call Captain Wilcox.”
“Are you insane?” Belle whispered. She had to glance out from behind the bush to make sure she hadn’t attracted a guard’s attention. “He works for Dr. Carlhagen.”
“Yes,” said Humphrey. “But he thinks I’m Dr. Carlhagen.”
It was true. Belle had witnessed Humphrey putting on Dr. Carlhagen’s jovial manner and convincing Captain Wilcox to leave the island right before the hurricane hit.
“How fast can he get here?” she asked, though she still didn’t like the idea.
Humphrey sighed through his nose. “Maybe a half-hour.”
“Do we have that long?”
“I don’t know. Vaughan?”
Vaughan’s image froze momentarily, then returned to normal. “Hard to say for sure. I think they’re finishing up the senator’s initial scan. That means the transfer will start very soon. It will be over by the time Captain Wilcox arrived.”
Humphrey pressed. “How long do we have?”
“Maybe twenty minutes before the destructive scans begin. Now leave me alone, I need to get in position if I’m going to save a copy of Jacey.”
“Can you clear the quad of guards or not?” Belle asked Humphrey.
“We’ll figure it out,” Humphrey said. Then the camera angle shifted sharply. “Elias,” he barked, “wait!”
A loud crack came over the speaker, and the communication with Humphrey went dead.
Belle tried to summon Vaughan, but he didn’t respond. She ran to the gate, trying to peer toward the hacienda.
Silence.
A report echoed through the campus.
Was that a gunshot?
The guard that had been patrolling the quad had also stopped. He stared up toward the hacienda. He must have heard the same sound.
She wanted to press her face to the electrified fence, hold onto it, climb it, but it would kill her instantly. She checked the time on her reader. Sensei wouldn’t be in place for at least ten more minutes.
“Vaughan, can you open the gate?”
No reply.
Belle began to pace.
“Vaughan, what’s going on?”
No reply.
Desperate, Belle began to shout and wave her hands. There was no time to wait for Sensei. She couldn’t wait for Humphrey to deal with whatever he was confronting, either.
She didn’t care about the diversion anymore. If the transfer was going to start soon, she had to get in now. She jumped up and down, shouting. She threw rocks over the gate, and they sailed into the mango grove.
“Open the gate!” she shouted.
Nothing happened. Another minute went by, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The guard from the quad came running down the gravel path toward her. “Who’s there?”
“Please, help me,” she called.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a Scion. I was out searching for the runaway, and I found her.”
The man swore and spoke into a walkie-talkie. A moment later, the gate began to grind open. The siren sounded, and the red lights flashed.
It couldn’t be Sensei’s signal, though. It was too early. The guards must have found another way to open it. Maybe the AI was cooperating with them.
Belle bounced on her toes right at the gap, waiting for the first second she could squeeze through. When she got through, she ran toward the man. There were two more on his heels, and they all aimed their side arms at her.
She skidded to a stop and held her hands out. “I’m not feeling so well.”
The man holstered his side arm and rushed forward. “Where is Summer?”
Belle pointed vaguely toward the gate, then stumbled and fell into the man’s arms, pretending to be unconscious.
He scooped her up and began running to the medical ward, shouting at the men alongside of him to run ahead and open the door.
The world jostled as the man carrying Belle sprinted across the quad, up the steps, and through the medical ward.
An enormous woman stormed through a door at the back of the ward. “What’s this? Who is that?”
The man carrying Belle stopped. “This girl came through the main gate. She claims to know where the senator’s true Scion is.”
“Bring her.”
Belle kept her eyes closed, but she didn’t need to see to know where she was going.
They entered the small corridor leading from the medical ward to the transfer room. Holding rooms stood to either
side. Belle kept her eyes closed and forced herself to breathe deeply and slowly.
“I’ll get Dr. Carlhagen,” said the woman. “Stay here.”
Belle opened her eyes, pretending to be very groggy. “Where am I?”
The man holding her didn’t answer. She glanced around. There were no other guards. Apparently the ones who had accompanied them to the medical ward had gone back to their posts.
The door ahead opened up. “Even if it’s true, it’s too late,” Dr. Carlhagen was saying. He spotted her, and his face flashed from irritation to amusement. “Oh, it’s Belle. Put her in one of the holding rooms and lock the door.”
The man moved her into a side room and set her on a gurney. The big woman, Alice, followed her in. “Where is she? Where is Summer?”
“She’s coming up the north path right now. She thinks she can save Jacey.” A complete lie. “I’d show you, but I’m so tired. I ran halfway across the island.”
The woman turned, already shouting at the man to go search the path. Belle slipped off the gurney to follow as the woman left. All she needed to do was slip into the transfer room, find a way to bar the door. Then she’d have to deal with Dr. Carlhagen. Maybe knock him out with something . . .
She got through the door, but Alice shoved her back and slammed the door shut. The lock clicked.
Belle ran to the door, pounded on it. “Let me out!”
But Alice was already gone.
A moment later, Dr. Carlhagen peered in the window and laughed. With a final shake of his head, he turned away and went back into the transfer room.
Belle pounded on the door.
So close. She had gotten so close.
40
Final Inches of Glory
Elias stood over the guard, chest heaving, fists clenched. He pressed a foot on the man’s bald skull, driving his face into the hallway floor tile.
“Get the weapon,” Humphrey ordered Wanda, pointing at the deadly black shape still spinning on the floor. Horace had been wandering too close to it, and he was the last person Humphrey wanted holding a firearm. Wanda shouldered Horace out of the way and secured the weapon.
“That was very rash, Elias,” Humphrey scolded. “You could’ve gotten us killed.”
“You heard Belle. Jacey’s in trouble.”
“Where’s the other guard?” Dajeet demanded. She and Bethancy peered through from the dining room. “He had to have heard the gunshot, if not the scuffle.”
Scuffle. Humphrey couldn’t think of a greater understatement. Yes, the fight with the bald guard had been quick, but it had been brutal. Elias had nearly broken the dining room door with his kick. That had brought the bald man rushing in, shouting at them.
Big mistake. Sang had stood there hands up, apologizing, distracting the man from Elias, who whirled from the man’s flank and landed blow after blow. Hadn’t even been a contest, as evidenced by the bloody mess that had once been the man’s face.
“The other one struck me as a bit of a coward,” Tytus said. “He probably ran.”
Humphrey doubted the senator would have any cowards in her service. “No. He’s being cautious. I think he’s injured his leg somehow and doesn’t intend to rush into a mêlée. And he’s under orders not to shoot Scions.”
“Then why was this one so ready to brandish his weapon?” Elias said, finally stepping away from the inert body. The guard still lived, though his breath was shallow and bubbled in and out of his destroyed nose. “Why was he so eager to . . . mistreat the girls?”
Sang ran in from the kitchen, holding two lengths of fabric. “I tore one of the tablecloths apart.” He handed a strip to Elias, who efficiently—and quite viciously—tied the bald man’s hands behind his back. Sang bound the feet. Once secured, they dragged the man into a chair and tied him to it.
Dajeet put a hand under his chin and lifted his head. It lolled to one side. The man was still unconscious. “I suppose you are the puppet of some old woman, some hag intent on overwriting my sister Summer. Ugly bastard.” Shoved his head away and wiped her hand on her pants. She turned her back on him. “Let’s take care of the other one.”
Elias was already creeping down the hall, Horace following after. Elias had to hiss the boy to silence, because he kept replaying how Elias had kicked and punched the guard in the face.
“Sang,” Humphrey said, beckoning. The boy was holding way back, as if planning to stand guard over the unconscious man. Sang came forward, though he seemed reluctant. “You did well distracting that man. Let’s try it again.”
Humphrey waved for Elias and Horace to stop. They’d made it far down the hall, where it was about to open up into the living area. To the right, would be the entry foyer. To the left, the wicker furniture and the folding doors leading to the pool.
“What do you want me to do?” Sang asked.
“Call to the other guard for help. Lure him in here.”
“Why don’t you do it?”
“Because that guard knows my voice. He’ll think it’s a trick.”
“Why not one of the girls?”
“Just do it!”
Sang stared at him, eyes narrowing with suspicion. The look vanished, though, and Sang smiled. “Help! Simpson! Your man’s having a seizure!”
“A seizure?” Humphrey mouthed.
“You put me up to it, you can’t complain how I do it.”
A voice came from the hallway behind them. Simpson’s.
“It’s coming from baldy’s walkie-talkie,” Wanda hissed.
“Go, Sang. Get Simpson to come around the corner.” Humphrey pushed Sang toward the door.
Sang stalked forward, shaking his head and muttering about being cannon fodder. He disappeared around the corner. A moment later, he called back. “He’s not here.”
“Check outside, then.” Humphrey could not believe Sang couldn’t take the slightest initiative—not unless it was ripping up tablecloths.
The door swung open, letting in fresh air. Humphrey heard voices.
“Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Sang was saying. “He was sitting there and all of a sudden his eyes rolled up and he started shaking.”
Sang came around the corner, followed by Simpson.
Humphrey winced as Elias’s blows fell. One, two, three. The man spun a full circle on his heels, eyes already closed. But another form darted in. Tytus. He landed blows four, five, six in quick succession, sending the man hard to the tile floor.
Simpson lay face-down and out cold.
Sang fetched more cloth strips, and in minutes Simpson was also being tied to a chair.
Humphrey didn’t wait for Elias and Sang to finish. He sprinted to the door and started down the bougainvillea-lined path toward the quad.
“Humphrey,” Wanda called after him. “Wait up.”
He didn’t stop. Jacey was about to be overwritten, and he would die before he let that happen. His footsteps pounded on the gravel path, echoed by more footfalls behind him. Even going downhill, it would be a five-minute run if he could maintain a sprint. But his head swam from the bald guard’s blow. And it ached like someone inside was hitting the back of his eyes with a hammer.
A wave of nausea swept over him and he had to stop and retch. Wanda skidded up next to him, panting. She held Elias’s reader to her lips. “Kirk, are you there?”
“Wanda?” Kirk’s voice came back. “Where’s Elias?”
“Can you get out of Boys’ Hall?”
“It’s lockdown. I’m not suppose—”
“I didn’t ask if you were supposed to. I asked if you could!”
“Yes.”
Humphrey straightened and looked at Wanda. “I don’t think they—”
She ignored him. “Get everyone out. Send Dolphins through Lizards to the bell tower. Tell them to start ringing it for all they’re worth.”
“But—”
“Do it! Jacey needs your help. And you owe her.”
A pause. “Okay. What about everyone else?”
“Run amok in the quad, distract all the guards you can.”
“They’ve got guns,” Humphrey protested. “This is just what Jacey was trying to avoid.”
Wanda spoke to the reader. “Leslie!”
Leslie answered, voice tired. Wanda repeated her instructions.
Seconds later, shouts drifted up from the quad.
The brief rest had helped Humphrey get over the worst of his sickness. By then the others had caught up. He realized it was for the best. If they were going to subdue the rest of the guards, he couldn’t do it alone.
They started a fast jog down the hill.
“What’s the plan?” Elias asked.
“Kill them!” Horace cried and followed it with a whoop.
Humphrey winced at the bloodthirst in the boy’s voice.
“Kill them,” Dajeet said, but without relish.
“Be careful,” Humphrey said between gulps of air. The blow to his head must have been even worse than he’d thought. He was struggling to keep up at what should have been an easy pace. Only Sang hung back farther than he did. “Don’t let your desire for vengeance blind you.”
“Spread out,” Elias said. “We don’t all want to come into the quad from the same direction. How many guards are there?”
Humphrey counted in his mind. “Three at least. No, four. There’s the huge woman. Alice. Try to stay away from her.”
Elias, Horace, and Tytus ghosted off the path and disappeared into the darkness. The girls went the opposite direction, vanishing behind the medical ward. That left Humphrey and Sang on the path.
They slowed to a fast walk as they neared the quad. Light from the dojo hazed over the grass, throwing long shadows behind trees. Three men, all encircled by Scions, were shouting.
“Go back to your dormitories!”
“Keep away!”
“I have been authorized to shoot!”
A new voice cut through all of them. “What’s going on?”
“That’s Alice,” Humphrey said to Sang.
Her impossibly large form appeared in silhouette as she strode toward the nearest circle of Scions. “I don’t have time for this,” she shouted. “Disperse immediately.”
Child of Lies Page 24