Kade

by Christopher Woods

  “Well, this is going to be interesting,” I said, under my breath.

  “Indeed, it will,” Li said over the intercom.

  I hadn’t expected her to hear me. Perhaps my thoughts needed to remain thoughts. The next day was interesting as Lee’s body kept changing. I stumbled and staggered all over the building as the changes occurred.

  Twenty-four hours later, I felt much more like an Agent. It seemed a lot faster than I expected. Some of the imprints inside the construct had told me it took weeks for the nanites to finish. It seemed Teledyne’s nanites worked faster than Obsidian’s.

  Li pulled the IV out of my arm with some difficulty. “This is the last of the IVs. You will need to eat often for the next twenty-four hours and take all the supplements provided. Each has its own interval, and you will need to make sure you are fairly accurate. The nanites will be searching for particular elements, and they will need to be present.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I took the four bottles that felt heavier than supplements should. They were putting metal inside of me for the nanites to use.

  “Go to your quarters, Mister Yen. Keep your movements to a minimum and take the supplements when they instruct. After the next twenty-four hours, the nanites will be finished, and you will need to begin training.”

  I nodded and slipped the four bottles in my pocket.

  “The first pills need to be taken in approximately thirty minutes. Report to your quarters.”

  I stood, jerkily, and staggered out the door. The woman from the security desk was waiting outside for me.

  “After you finish the procedures, you’ll need to report to me in the training room. Then we can get down to business.” She leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “Believe me, you’ll enjoy this part.”

  She grinned and walked past me to enter the door I had exited.

  I knew Lee would be flustered, so I let it happen as if he were still inside his head. In a way, he was. There was just a Kade filter on him. The longer I was inside Yen, the more I missed the days when I was young and dumb. It was a time of innocence I had a hard time remembering. Reliving it was a lot more fun than I would have expected.

  * * *

  “Jump!”

  I leapt across the open space between the two balconies and overshot on purpose. I hit the wall on the other side, but I had brought my arms forward to push myself back out and away. I tumbled past the balcony and dropped the twenty feet to the floor in an uncoordinated landing.

  Yelena Jaris, the first person I had seen when I entered Invicta, dropped from the balcony and landed with a leg on each side of my prone form. She landed lightly and sank down to sit on my chest.

  “What, exactly, was that?”

  “That was painful,” I said. “And a lesson learned.”

  She snickered and rolled quickly to the side.

  “Get up, dumbass. Now, you can try again.”

  I chuckled and stood up. “That was still pretty epic.”

  “Epic dumbassery.”

  “I don’t think that’s a word,” I said.

  She planted the palm of her hand against my chest with enough force to send me sprawling. “Until you can block that, you don’t correct my English. Until then, dumbassery is a word, and the image alongside of it is you…falling from a balcony…and landing on your dumb ass.”

  I grinned and got back to my feet. I had seen the punch coming from a mile away, but I needed to be Lee Yen.

  “Now, get your dumbass back up there and jump again.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Don’t you ma’am me,” she said, with a scowl. “I’m not that old.”

  I grinned again and climbed the ladder to the balcony in two short jumps.

  I made the jump again and barely crossed the space between the two. I looked down at her with a goofy grin that wasn’t all Lee’s. She was shaking her head, but I could see the effort she was making to keep from smiling.

  “Adequate,” she said, looking down at her watch. “Training’s done for the day. Hit the showers. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

  I nodded and jumped down to the floor below, tripping slightly as I landed. It was fun keeping enough clumsiness in my movements to disguise my experience. Every lesson, I got a little better at the tasks she assigned me.

  I stripped off my exercise clothing and stepped into the shower room. There were eight shower nozzles on each side of the room, and I walked to the nearest. The tiles were gleaming white, and I could see my reflection in the metal of the shower handles. There was movement behind me, and I turned with enhanced speed to find Yelena right in front of me.

  She slipped in close. “Perhaps training isn’t quite over.”

  She let her lips touch mine, and her body pressed against me. She bit my lip, and the sharp pain I would have ignored caused me to push back. Lee would not have ignored it.

  She tumbled backward, and I sprang forward. “Oh God…I’m sorry.”

  “This is part of the training,” she said. “You’re going to have to know how to disguise every facet of what you can do when you’re in the field.”

  She was once again close to me in a flash. “But first, you need to know what you are capable of.”

  She slammed me against the wall and kissed me forcefully. I didn’t resist.

  “Don’t hold back, Lee,” she whispered in my ear. “This is the fun part.”

  She threw me to the floor, and I rolled to my feet and caught her. I lifted her from the floor and slammed her into the wall as she had done to me. Her legs wrapped around my waist.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!”

  Several hours later, I sat in my quarters in a daze. I’ve had sex many times since becoming an Agent. But never with another Agent. I had never been able to enjoy the moment as we had done. She wouldn’t break if I let the passion out. It had been one hell of an experience, and I had thought nothing could surprise me after a hundred and sixty accumulated years.

  * * *

  I think they crammed six months of training into the next three weeks. I didn’t ask about the training’s furious pace. I already knew why it was so, and Lee wouldn’t realize the pace was unusual. Regular soldiers got more time in training than Lee was receiving. Teledyne was desperate. They couldn’t match Obsidian’s numbers. After the nanites were through, Obsidian could put a seasoned Agent in the field in less than a week. Teledyne had to train their own.

  “Hey, Sanford,” I said to the newest trainer to come through as I passed him in the hall. “You heard from Yelena?”

  He looked down. “Sorry, kid.”

  I took a deep breath. “When?”

  She had left the previous week for a short mission to Vegas. She had said she would be back in less than a week.

  “We got word this morning,” he said, with a shake of his head. “One of those damnable Agents.”

  I remembered a pretty redhead on a rooftop. It could very well have been me who did it. They send copies of me out all the time. I stood there for a few minutes, and Sanford squeezed my shoulder as he walked past. Another Specialist walked down the hall. He looked older than some of the others. It could have been how he carried himself. Physically, he was about the same as the rest of them.

  “I heard that,” he said. “Yelena Jaris?”

  “You know her?”

  “I know most of the Specs down here. She was good.”

  “She was, umm…” I paused.

  “Shey,” he said and shook my hand. “Seems she meant something to you. I’m sorry. It’s rough losing people.”

  I nodded. I really hoped it hadn’t been me.

  “I’ve heard that name,” I said. “Spec Shey.”

  “Been doing this awhile,” he said.

  “They’re talking about giving me my first assignment next week.”

  “Be careful,” he said. “You go up against the big O, don’t fight fair. Shoot that bastard from a distance, if possible. And aim for the head; it’s the
only way to be sure.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He grunted and nodded. I’m not sure he knew what else to say, other than that I was a dead man walking, so he walked past me, toward Li’s office.

  * * *

  “First time on the job?”

  I looked at the squad leader, Jackson, as he pushed the button for the garage level. “Yes, sir.”

  “We’re just doing security here. Stay out of the way and keep your eyes on the crowd. If anyone looks like they’re planning to interrupt the boss, we intervene. Since this is your first mission, you’ll hold back unless I give you an order. Watch how we work so you know what to expect the next time. You’re an observer. If it gets so bad I need you active, we’re already screwed. Got that?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You don’t need to sir me.” He shook his head. “They don’t even polish the new off you guys before they send you out.”

  “Sorry, si…Boss.”

  He chuckled. “At least you learn fairly quick.”

  “I try.”

  “You’ll do, kid.”

  “Not sure if I’ll ever get used to being called kid by people who look the same age as me.”

  “May as well get used to that,” he said. “Almost every Spec is older than you, and we age fast. You ever run into the big O, you’ll see just how fast.”

  I nodded, thinking of Yelena. She had been the first to greet me, and I would miss our time together for many reasons. There had been a lot of evenings in the shower room. And many more in my quarters or hers. It had been more than that, though. We had spent a couple evenings talking about our pasts. Specs didn’t need much rest, just like Agents.

  “Putting you behind the wheel in the car so we have hands free. Rookie always gets to drive.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.”

  “Then let’s get to it.”

  I followed him from the elevator into a brightly lit garage. Jackson reached out and lifted a key from a peg. He threw it to me.

  “Fetch the car, kid,” he said, with a grin. “Director Shepherd will be down in five minutes.”

  I strode forward and pressed the button on the key fob. I saw the lights flicker on the second limo in the line. I slipped into the driver’s seat and hit the button to start the large car. The hum from the electric power plant was loud. With the shielding the car had, it weighed a lot more than a regular car, and it took a hell of a motor to move it at speed. I missed the old gas-powered cars. I still remembered the car Ring and I had taken for a joy ride all those years ago.

  I pulled the limo up in front of Jackson, just as the elevator opened and a large man exited, with two Specs alongside. One was a tall blonde woman and the other was a man who resembled her enough for me to peg them as siblings. I’d heard of the “Twins” several times. They were almost as famous as Spec Shey. They always worked together, and they had taken out a lot of Agents.

  The big man in the middle wasn’t enhanced like an Agent, but he had other enhancements. He was sculpted, much like Rosalyn Danforth. It seemed to be a thing with Management.

  I stayed in the car while Jackson opened the door for Shepherd. He slipped into the backseat, and the twins sat on either side of him. He looked at me and then at Jackson.

  “I don’t like surprises, Jackson,” he said. “New people on my detail are surprises.”

  “Training mission, sir. He’ll stay quietly in the background.”

  He looked back at me in the mirror. “He better.”

  I turned my eyes ahead and put the car in drive. “Destination, sir?”

  “Four two two two Florence,” he said.

  I punched the numbers into the navigation system. After pulling out into traffic, I pushed the cruise control button and sat back in the seat while the car navigated the streets of Oakland.

  Even with the navigator, it took nearly two hours to reach the Palace. It was a high end restaurant for the rich and shameless. I waited until they exited the car, then I passed the key to the valet and followed the others inside. The place was enormous, with gilded columns and arches. It was an extravagant show of wealth, the likes of which I had never seen. The servers, both male and female, were all wearing skimpy attire. All were beautiful. There were several genetically modified servers with fine coats of fur and different traits that were appealing to the eyes. My eye may have twitched a few times as I took in the surroundings. The Geno programs had been shut down years earlier when they discovered the cost of the modifications.

  “You’re over there, kid.” Jackson pointed at a corner room that was separated from the main lounge. “Stand to the left of the door and keep your mouth shut.”

  “Gotcha, Boss.”

  I took my position beside the door, and the twins escorted Shepherd inside. In less than ten minutes, I saw another Director crossing the lobby. My eyes narrowed for a split second. This one was known to me, although only from the various files I had been privy to in the computer. Director Reynard was a small man, and he dressed like a peacock. His flamboyant colors drew the eyes of most of the patrons. What was causing the small twitch in my left eye was that Reynard was an Obsidian Director. What the hell was he doing here?

  Two of his escorts entered the room with him, and I looked toward Jackson, who shook his head. Two other escorts parked themselves across from us on the right side of the door.

  I stilled my body and listened to the conversation inside the room.

  “Lawrence! It is so wonderful to see you again.”

  “Douglas.” The voice was Shepherd’s. “What have you been up to?”

  “I’d say we’re kicking your backside, Lawrence. And a nice backside it is. Would you care to take me up on my previous offer?”

  “Not today,” Shepherd said. “And don’t be so sure about that claim. Wait until you see what Riddle has in store for your people.”

  I swallowed as a hollowness filled me.

  “Oh, do tell.”

  “Can’t ruin the surprise,” Shepherd said.

  “You keep your secrets, Lawrence, and I’ll hold on to mine. We have something new for you too. I hope you’re not afraid of clowns.”

  Shepherd chuckled. “Nope.”

  “Give it time,” Reynard said. “What do you think? Shall we share one of the beasts tonight? Or would you like to have some of the other staff?”

  “You’re the guest, Douglas. You choose.”

  “I saw a pair of nice ones when I came in. Perhaps the little white one for you, and for obvious reasons, the pretty buckskin horsey for me. Did you see his…”

  I tuned them out for my own sanity’s sake. I sat there, stewing in a rage I couldn’t shake. They were the same. I had seen what Obsidian was like at its upper levels and thought that, just maybe, I was fighting for the wrong side. But that rot was here, too. We were pawns in these monsters’ huge game of chess. I could kill them all now, but I needed to get back to the computer and let the me in there know what I had found out here. He was disillusioned, and he might send other versions to escape to the west. It wasn’t an escape at all.

  The only way I would ever escape was to disappear into the world. I wouldn’t be able to do that until I brought this information back to the computer. Then I could begin to plan something. I wasn’t sure what that would be, but it needed to be done. I couldn’t let them keep using me for their plans, and I couldn’t let more of me come to work for these monsters either.

  People like the Twins were plucked from the criminal justice system, and they didn’t care who they served. But Lee Yen cared. He would have been devastated by what I had just heard. I don’t know what the kid would have done, but I knew what I would do. I’d be disappearing into the night very soon, another casualty of the war with the big O. I wondered if Spec Shey knew who his keepers really were. Had Yelena known? Or Sanford? These were people I could have liked as soldiers in the same war as I.

  What would they think of what I had just learned? Judging by the non-reactions of those around me,
I doubted any of them would care. And I felt even more alone in this world than I had felt before. The only place I could go, where that loneliness could fade, was the computer. In there, I had friends. Perhaps, I couldn’t reveal to them what was happening inside the machine, but I could meet them outside and let each of them know who they were serving.

  But I would have to go back. If I didn’t, none of them would learn the truth.

  * * *

  I watched the cameras as Gloria told my other self he could disappear and wondered if I would come back. I figured there was a fifty-fifty chance at best. As I watched her pack up her things, I wondered if she would make it to Charlotte. I wondered about Gina. Bern was too important to just disappear. Or, at least, I thought he was.

  “This doesn’t bode well, Mathew.”

  I glanced to my right where Bern stood watching the same virtual monitor I was.

  “Looks bad, Doc,” I said.

  I watched her sit at her console one last time and press a few buttons. I followed what she did on my own virtual console. She deleted one link inside her files.

  “Was that what I think it was?” Bern asked.

  “It was her link to me, Doc.” I cocked my head to the side a little. “If she doesn’t inform her replacement about me or the construct, then my link will never come up when he or she searches for imprints to send on missions.”

  “She’s trying to protect you the only way she can, Mathew.”

  “She’s not going to reach Charlotte,” I said. “She knows it.”

  “I’m afraid you’re right, my friend,” he said.

  “Can you hack into her personal communicator?” I asked. “I think we should try to give her the same thing she gave me, a choice.”

  He called up his console. “I can.”