Ignore the call? Or pick it up and risk giving himself away?
Ray thumbed the answer button and continued crawling through the vents with one hand holding the phone to his face.
“Piper, this better be good.”
“Make a left and then go north.”
“What?”
“Do it now!”
Following her instructions brought him to a new set of vents to crawl through. None of them headed toward the outside world. He grimaced. Ray needed an escape, not to move in circles.
“Has anyone called you on this number?” she asked.
“No, this is a secret number I use when I’m in New York.”
“Have you been in contact with an RW named Estrella Rodriguez?”
“Name rings a bell, but no.”
“Good. I’m the only RW you can trust right now. If Rodriguez tries to contact you, ignore her.”
“What the hell’s going on, Piper?”
“Arianna’s family was attacked.”
“Fucking hell, when?”
“Shortly after her arrival back in the Alliance.”
“Why is it only now I’m hearing about this?”
“Next of kin needs to be notified, being Arianna.”
And nobody can get a hold of her. “What about the rest of her family?”
“That’s complicated right now.”
The air vent crawl came to a dead-end. And somehow, Piper knew that. “Look down.” He did. “What do you see?”
“The washroom,” Ray said as he peered down through the grille, his eyes spotting the movement of two men below in the darkness. The backlight from their weapon’s ammo count screen made it easy to see both were armed with rifles. “I see two IWs … I think they’re from the airport attack.”
“That’s because they are,” Piper revealed. “Say hello to them.”
A beep sounded. Ray cut the call and blocked her number. She led him into a trap as the two men faced up, making eye contact with Ray looking down at them through the grille. One of them smiled and waved to him. He tried to backtrack and escape before the guns went off. The grille he was viewing the two men through came apart and crashed to the floor like someone ripped it off and chucked it down. One of the IWs had used an electrokinetic blast on it, destroying the bolts keeping it together.
Backtracking was pointless. Ray was on top of the grille when he was looking down at them. His body fell out of the vent, crashing to the washroom’s floor below. He saw the boots of the two men in the darkness, the light on Ray’s phone worked as a flashlight. They took a step closer. He backed way in dismay, Ray’s flailing legs made it hard to get to his feet, and the wall he backed into didn’t aid in his escape.
He recognized the two IW men ahead of him from the airport fiasco. One was the IW that used biokinesis and transformed into a lion, and the other was the tall lanky warlock accompanying him. None of them pointed their weapons at him.
“Sup, malaka,” the tall warlock said waving to Ray.
His partner pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and spoke into it. “We got him, Piper.” He spoke with a heavy African accent. A pause came, Piper responding to him he figured. “Okay, understood.”
“What’s our move Bashiir?” said the warlock.
Bashiir grinned. “We are to take care of Ray, Theo.”
Bashiir gave the washroom exit a big boot, the warlock Theo stood behind him, his pistol held high and ready for action. Outside in the hall was the extent of the chaos Ray had fled from, black smoke and glow from the flames slowly consuming the now out of power building. Three black-dressed IWs took notice of the three in the washroom, their weapons rose to the occasion.
A roar surged from Bashiir’s mouth, and in a matter of four seconds, his biokinesis abilities altered his DNA, changing his body into that of a lion once again. His majestic form charged out into the chaos, mauling the first IW that failed to escape from his jaws. The darkness and smoke made it hard to see what happened next but judging by the screams, Ray figured that IW met a painful end from Bashiir’s jaws.
Theo went out into the hall next, his gun blazing briefly lighting things up. Electrokinetic sparks rained from his hands, glowing purple. An arch of electrical bolts made the two hostile bodies twitch violently. Theo followed by finishing one twitching target off with three bullets to the face, Bashiir mauled and ripped out the throat of the other.
“Partington,” Theo called out to him. “Follow behind and keep your fucking head low.”
Ray did as they two told him, not that he trusted the two men. They were part of the airport attack, and now they were aiding in his escape, blasting away the black-dressed IWs that had been pursuing Ray. There were two groups of IWs that had an interest in him, most likely for the strange visions he’d been having, and the knowledge that existed in the memory sphere that jingled in his pockets with every step.
Nobody could be trusted, not until Ray sorted out who had bad intentions and who had good. Assuming good people existed in this bloodshed to capture him. Probably not. Ray kept his eyes open for an opportunity.
Bashiir and Theo ran into heavy resistance by the time the three neared the main exit. The two were focused on three IWs covering behind the reception desk, exchanging curving bullets, and dazzling pyrokinetic or electrokinetic abilities until their abilities were forced into cooldown, dimming the glow of their hands. Guns and keeping them loaded became the weapon of choice until their powers recharged.
Those engaged in combat weren’t keeping their eyes on the exit, Ray however was. When the IWs behind the desk ducked to reload, Ray sprinted to freedom. The cooldown period was still in effect. IW powers couldn’t stop him now.
“Ray!” Theo called out to him, not that Ray had any plans on listening. “Malaka, come back!”
Bullets clapped again, their thundering sounds coming from behind. Ray had left the madness behind, fleeing out into the cold streets of the city. His lungs thanked him for getting free of the smoke. A large flock of onlookers stood in awe, watching as Ray emerged from the burning building. Some of them were survivors from the attack. Once again, those survivors worked as the perfect shield to cover Ray. He slipped into the stream of terrified bodies and disappeared past the traffic and the glimmering neon.
As much as he appreciated Bashiir and Theo, he couldn’t trust them or Piper for that matter, not until he had more facts. Ray was onto something big, something the world needed to know before someone silenced him. Or the police arrested him after learning of the body in his hotel room.
He pulled out his phone as he power-walked through the crowded streets and went to access his news blog. He was ready to make a quick post about what he discovered. An error message greeted him; his blog had been deleted. A sigh of frustration left his mouth along with the white mist.
Ray flagged down a self-driving taxi, got in, and ordered it to drive him to the airport. On his way there he purchased a last-minute ticket to Los Angeles on the next available flight. If he was lucky, the flight should be in the air before the hotel’s staff found the body in his suite. And if he was very lucky, he should be free from any shady IW operatives until his flight came to land back in LA.
Part of him wondered if this was what Arianna was feeling before she boarded her flight back to the Alliance. Like her, Ray was about to flee on a plane from violent IWs from the Federation, carrying in his head something of great value.
And Piper knew all about it.
Thirty-Three
Estrella
Drunken footsteps carried Estrella back to her apartment. The taxi’s AI charged her extra for vomiting in the backseat. Her life support nanites did a poor job at preventing that, so her battery must be low she figured. She couldn’t tell as her HUD turned to distorted pixels. She’d hate herself in the morning when she looked at her bank account.
During the taxi ride, she dialed Piper’s number several times, but there was no reply. It was like she had gone off the grid or was just embarrassed at what happ
ened.
Geoffrey never came back online, which was concerning. She sat at the end of her bed and jacked into her tablet pad, accessing its diagnostic software. It took her drunken hand three minutes to locate the network jack on her head. A lengthy scan of the computer electronics in her brain began, attempting to detect the problem with Geoffrey, and hopefully fix the issue.
If it didn’t work, then it would force Estrella to give Yoshida tech support a call and have them take a look, and most of the time, that required her to be put out, while some guy pulled the AI electronics out from her brain. Some of those guys fondled female RWs when they were deactivated. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to look forward to.
A crawl of text and numbers covered her vision as the diagnostic scan of her AI continued. She tried calling Piper one last time, but the phone rang and rang. The stress was getting to her, and she tossed her phone across the room in response. She lay back with her hands behind her head, but her mind wouldn’t let her escape the fact she was moments away from her first kiss in life. Seconds away. If she had hesitated longer, Piper would have been her first kiss, ever. Blissful vibes warmed her chest. It made her smile. It reminded her of Yumi.
Yumi had tried to kiss Estrella once after they showered together. Estrella pulled away at the last second. She regretted doing that as Yumi ended up dead the next day. Estrella had a chance to experience the last gift Yumi wanted to give her and threw it away.
Regardless of whose side Piper was on, she had shown interest in Estrella. What Robbie said only reinforced it. The dancing, the drinks, holding her warm waist, and then later her hand, Piper enjoyed it. If she had gotten her way, she would have carried Estrella home with her. What would have happened then?
She put the diagnostic on hold and jacked out from the device. It was time for a shower. Estrella stood from her bed, her head lost in thought and struggling to cope with the newfound silence of her AI being gone. She felt trapped, disabled, bogged down by the restrictions humans normally had to deal with. There was nobody Estrella could chat with internally, no means of interacting with her nanites, and limited use of her cyberware. She didn’t do much in the shower as the water poured over her naked body, the typical signs Estrella was in emotional distress.
Estrella missed the days when Yumi would shower with her. Yumi knew when Estrella had long showers, she wasn’t feeling good. Yumi had made it a habit to join her and then console her from behind when the distress floated to the surface. She groaned softly, Yumi was a great person, someone she really needed in life, especially now. She needed a hug from her. Estrella hugged herself instead, imagining it was Yumi showering with her from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. She’d cry if her synthetic eyes would let it.
“Yumi, I miss you so fucking much …”
When the shower was over, Estrella made her way back to her bed, sans clothing. Her AC unit was unsurprisingly silent. She reached for her tablet, ready to continue the diagnostic. Her hand stopped when she noted her vibrator next to it, the thing that she should have put away when she called Piper.
The thing she delayed having that date with. With a grin, she grabbed the vibrator instead. The diagnostic can wait. She was already dressed for her date too. She fell backward, smiling onto her bed, flicked it on, and listened to the buzzing noise it made. She lowered it to the small patch of fuzz between her legs.
She never really thought of other people when doing this. Men had a tendency to make her have flashbacks to her younger days when the Bald Skulls enslaved her for years. It was just the way things were for her. She thought back to Piper’s lips and the kiss she almost had. The kiss she didn’t have. Questions clouded her head. What would have taken place tonight if she didn’t jerk her head back? What would have happened if Piper took Estrella home with her?
Her guess was they would have had sex, something else she’d never done, not willfully at least. It was odd the more she thought about it. Estrella had seen Yumi naked many times as they showered together, felt her breasts press against her when she hugged her in the shower too. Technically, those showers were the closest to intimacy Estrella had gotten in life. She began to wonder what could have happened between her and Yumi. She liked her company, a lot, and so did Yumi.
She moaned briefly as the vibrator pleasured her, speeding up her heart rate. Thinking of other women while using it felt nice, nicer than not thinking of anyone. Never in her life did she visualize women when pleasuring herself. She beamed brightly. Tonight, she would try something new.
Thoughts of Piper came first. She imagined her hand, massaging her right breast and hardened nipples, was the hand of Piper. It made her wet. She licked her lips, imagining that was Piper’s work too, that made her moist below too. She thought about Yumi holding her with her comforting embrace in the sprinkle of shower water, her wet breasts squishing against the square of Estrella’s back, her chin resting on her shoulder. Estrella entered a fantasy world where she and Yumi kissed and held each other’s waists as the drenching water rained upon their body and soaked black hair.
An orgasm hit, and it made her drop the vibrator. She was surprised it happened so fast. It felt incredible. Deep breathing sounds echoed throughout. After a two-minute break, she lowered the vibrator again, finding her intimate spot. An imaginary Piper lay next to her, making eye contact with her. She wished she could touch the fantasy Piper, as she already had a very good idea what it felt like to hold her bare waist.
Estrella wasn’t sure how to feel about this. She was pleasuring herself while thinking about a woman that could be the enemy. That was a level of thinking that could get you killed when bullets started flying.
She grimaced and shut the vibrator off, sat up and went for her tablet and network cable, plugging it into her head. The rest of Estrella’s night was spent looking up at the darkened ceiling while a crawl of numbers and computer code scrolled. Hopefully, Geoffrey would be back online in the morning.
I’m sorry to wake you, Estrella.
Her eyes shot wide open, almost as if she wasn’t asleep at all. Ahead of her view of the ceiling were the results of the diagnostic scan and the report that it rebooted Geoffrey in her sleep. The news had her sitting up with the biggest grin she felt on her face in days.
Geoffrey was back at last. The rush of excitement had her fired up and ready to reconnect with the AI that had been gone longer than she would have liked. Her smile transformed into a grimace. There was a time in Estrella’s life when she didn’t have an AI that was constantly connected to the net, back when she was human. And now, when that AI was taken offline for less than twenty-four hours, she was about ready to murder someone.
Technology was like a drug. Naturally, you don’t need it. But once it was introduced into your way of life, you love it, and you’ll never give it up for anything. You become dependent on it, and then suddenly when you can’t use it, you lose your fucking mind, and ability to reconnect with that past life when you didn’t rely on tech to start with.
Estrella yanked the cable from her head, jacking out of her tablet. She was still naked, thanks to the heat in her unit that wouldn’t have it any other way. What the fuck happened, Geoffrey?
Piper’s AI detected our intrusion and launched countermeasures. It took me offline with malware.
Fuck.
She knows what we did and gained several files, including the pattern for Ray’s phone. If she has the correct raw materials, she can use her nanites to nano print a copy of Ray’s phone for herself and have her AI hack it.
She slapped the edge of her desk hard. It was still in one piece. Had she done that with her synthetic hand, then she’d be picking up its remains. You said something about a telepath before you went offline, any idea who it was?
They have corrupted most of that data.
An out-loud groan broke the silence. Of course.
It was a target nearby, however.
The night at the bar replayed in her head. It surprised Estrella she could remember
anything at all thanks to the drinks. But it was there, clear as mud, including the first kiss she could have felt. She flushed.
Only Piper and Robbie were close to me when you went offline. Lips curled as she tried to paint a mental image of the telepath. Was it Robbie? Maybe, then again with the drinks she and Piper had, there could have been another standing close and neither of the two realized it. Piper left right away and hasn’t been returning my calls. Pretty sure the telepath made her run.
It’s possible the telepath did. But more than likely however Piper left after getting what she had been seeking. There was a pause in the silent chat. Then there was a notification in the right half of her vision. Alert, there is new activity with Ray’s email account. She inspected the screen, Ray had new mail, and he read it. A confirmation message was recently sent to his account. Ray just purchased a one-way ticket from New York to Los Angeles.
Estrella’s smile returned, just not as powerful as before. He’s coming back.
Indeed. I have the flight number and estimated time of arrival saved. It is likely Piper may try to intercept him once he arrives since we cannot reach her.
And if Piper did nano print her own copy of his phone, complete with its stored passwords and accounts, then she too would have gained access to his email. Maybe even Ray’s secret New York number saved on the phone. Geoffrey never got around to finishing its decryption, but Piper’s AI could have with the hours that passed. The thought eliminated Estrella’s desire to go back to sleep.
Piper was ahead, and it was her fault for allowing it. The Alliance and Federation were beating war drums, and the Federation had louder beats. Piper and whatever it was she was cooking up for the Federation had to be stopped.
Put me through to the LAPD.
Establishing a commlink, Estrella. Please standby.
Estrella’s commute from her apartment to downtown LA was a brisk one. She did a solid thirty over the speed limit on her bike, receiving an onslaught of middle fingers from various morning rush-hour commuters. All she gave them in return was her long black hair rippling and waving behind as she drove dangerously close between, ahead, or behind cars.
Cyber Witch Page 26
