Which was very interesting and thought-provoking, but not worth a good goddamn when it came to making guesses as to his brother’s mysterious agenda.
“He won’t go for it,” Asa said.
“Noah,” Caro said. “I should be the one to decide if I—”
“No.” His harsh voice smashed down on the suggestion.
He locked eyes with Caro. Her color was high. Pissed at him, but he was pushing all that aside for the moment. Focusing on the task at hand.
Asa blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re not being rational.”
“That’s how it has to be,” Noah said. “You’ll have your favors to call in. You know we’re good for them.”
“Yeah?” Asa challenged him. “How do I know? The last thing we did together before we bashed each other’s brains out was that fill-a-basket con, remember? We scored bread, lunchmeat, milk, some M&M’s and Tylenol for Hannah’s fever. And you were an awesome liar that day. You’re one of the best liars I’ve ever known.”
“He’s not lying now,” Caro said. “He couldn’t lie to you.”
Asa looked amused. “Sorry, beautiful,” he drawled. “You’re not impartial, so your opinion is worthless.”
“Let’s cut the bullshit,” Noah said. “Mark’s sniffing around out there. Sooner or later, he’ll catch our scent. We need to make contact soon. Give him something concrete to focus on. Something of our choosing. On our schedule.”
“The financial outlay for this enterprise will skyrocket if you insist on being unreasonable,” Asa said. “And no matter how many guys I hire or what gear they get, our probability of success is about to fall off a cliff. You’re being an asshole, Noah. Not that this surprises me.”
“Are we going to get to work, or not?” Noah asked.
Asa opened up a slim silver laptop. “So you want him to trace these messages back to me, correct?”
“That’s right.”
Asa nodded, staring at the screen with an abstracted frown. “So I have to make it hard for him. Really hard . . . but not too hard.”
“Right,” Noah said impatiently.
Asa pressed a small tab of gummed paper over the vidcam on the laptop and tapped a few keys, humming to himself. “Oblio.chat,” he murmured. “Creating an account . . . username, Keyholder. What a super-nerd gonzo gamer username. Couldn’t you think of anything better?”
“Not at the time. I was rescuing Caro,” Noah said. “Give me a fucking break.”
“Logging on,” Asa murmured. “Let’s see if this guy is . . . shit.” He looked up, eyes sharp. “He’s waiting for us.”
Dread fluttered through the color patterns of Caro’s sig, quickly calmed and stilled. Caro joined Sisko and Noah to peer over Asa’s shoulder. Mark’s opening was terse.
took you long enough
Asa typed back.
been busy with the girl. She’s so happy to be saved! and grateful = on her knees to me kickass aphrodisiac.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Noah snarled.
“My job,” Asa said calmly. “I’m destabilizing him. Pissing him off. Wounding his pride. Manipulating him into making snap decisions that are not in his best interests.”
Noah sat down next to him, staring at his screen. “Is that a good idea?”
“We’ll find out soon enough. What’s important is that I’m being me, and not you. Which is why I put a sticker on the camera.”
“I noticed.”
“He’d feel something was off if you just used me as a mouthpiece. Shut up and let me do my thing. He’ll find me when he does his research. I’m a smart-ass by nature, and people know it. You’re not.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Noah muttered.
“I just bet you do,” Asa said. As they spoke, Mark had typed back.
not interested in games. name your terms.
Asa looked up at them. “How much do I know?”
“Everything you could have learned from her if she’d never met us,” Noah said. “And you being you, you don’t want a flat fee. You want in. That’s what turns you on.”
Asa’s white teeth flashed. “You got my number.” He began to type.
I have contacts/network to maximize value. 50% of what’s in the safe
Mark did not reply for several tense moments. Slowly, letter by letter, his response appeared on the screen.
U don’t know what the product is so how can u talk value or buyers?
Asa flexed his hands, wiggled his fingers, and banged out a response.
U want it bad. Lydia Bachmann died for it. That’s enough 4 me. I want in.
Mark responded.
There is no place 4 u. Sell her 2 me.
Aw where’s the fun in that? Besides I want 2 keep her. She can open the safe 4 u, but I want my new favorite toy back in 1 piece
There was a long pause from Mark’s end, and then the response:
that won’t work.
Asa typed again:
u bring the safe. i bring the girl. she opens the safe. we split the contents. she gets back down onto her knees. the end.
Caro’s mouth was flattened and colorless. Noah could almost feel Mark’s rage, pulsing through the computer screen and into their faces, like a hot wind.
Sisko shot a glance at Asa. “Pushing it a little?”
“Fuck, no,” Asa said. “This is me holding back.”
Noah’s jaw ached. “Stop sliming my girlfriend. Or say goodbye to your teeth.”
Asa laughed under his breath. “Don’t cramp my style. I’m doing this for you, OK? And her, incidentally. Trust my instincts. Leave me the fuck alone and let me do my thing.”
Sisko grunted. “We have to kill Mark now, or you’re a dead man,” he told Asa.
talk terms not bullshit
Mark, waiting.
Asa typed:
i told u. bring the safe. i keep the girl. i keep half.
There was another tense pause, and then:
5 million for the girl
Asa grinned.
Lmfao
Fast reply.
6.5 million last offer
Asa’s response:
dont waste my time
Asa logged off. “Let him stew for a while,” he said. “When we get back to him, he’ll be frothing with rage and getting nervous.”
“He’s going to try to kill you and take Caro,” Noah said.
“Of course he will,” Asa said. “The only unknown is the size of his team.”
“Mark by himself equals ten topnotch professionals,” Noah said. “If not more.”
“But I’m not supposed to know about his mods,” Asa said. “So I can’t prepare for the encounter as if I knew. My team has to be as small as possible. And concealed, along with you guys.”
“It’ll be hard to hide from him,” Noah said. “He sees thermal heat signatures and energy sigs, right through most walls. He senses electrical activity too, and his hearing is acute. Also his sense of smell.”
“Great,” Asa said lightly. “Bring him on. I need a challenge. What can block all that? Maybe we can throw something together. Thermal cloaks. Made of dental aprons and black garbage bags.”
Noah shrugged. “I have some stuff.”
Asa waited for him to say more.
“OK, by stuff I mean rough draft concepts for thermal cloaks. We made a few. Not super hero level. Sisko and Zade and I started developing them a few years ago. I designed them to be invisible even to me. No thermal signature, and almost no energy sig. Not a hundred percent effective, but they’re a hell of a lot better than nothing. And they don’t restrict movement or the wearer’s visibility. Not much, anyway.”
Asa’s eyes gleamed. “And I thought you were all about save-the-world medical biotech. You do secret gear and weaponry, too? Hidden depths, man. Hidden depths.”
Asa’s knowing smile irritated the shit out of him. “If Obsidian comes after us, I need to be ready.”
“Sure. You ever want to leverage your defense t
ech, just let me know.”
“I’m not an arms dealer,” Noah snapped.
“You’re missing out on big money,” Asa said absently. “Everybody needs to survive. Don’t forget that us mere mortals have to hustle.”
“Noah,” Caro broke in. “There’s a vehicle at the gate.”
Noah quickly turned to scan the security screens that monitored every approach to the property. “What? Who?”
“That’s Zade’s van,” Sisko said. “On it. Buzzing him in.”
“What the hell he doing here?” Noah leaped to his feet, dismayed.
“Hannah’s with him,” Sisko informed him.
Noah happened to be facing Asa, or he wouldn’t have caught the instant his brother’s sig shield wavered. A pulse of intense colors flashed, and quickly subsided.
His AVP kicked up in furious battle readiness. Fighting the kill plans that were loading made his muscles contract. He rounded on Sisko. “You told them, didn’t you?”
Coolly unrepentant, Sisko stared him down. “They deserved to know.”
Through the window, peering out into the darkness, he saw the flash of red hair as Hannah got out of Zade’s van. “God damn it, Sisko!” He slammed his hand on the sideboard table. It collapsed, broken in half.
“Noah,” Caro’s voice was that soothing, velvety violet shade. “It’ll be OK.”
He turned to her. “The hell it will.”
The soft gold cloud spreading out from her chest shut him right up. He stared into her eyes while the colors embraced him. Images of all had happened between them the night before played vividly in his head. The frantic scrolling slowed.
One by one, the kill plans began to wink off his inner screen.
Strange. With all his mods and implants, he felt like he’d only really started seeing since he met her, as if there were new eyes deep inside him now, and they were wide open. Seeing more than all his other techno shit combined. So much data.
But unlike the AVP, he didn’t want it to stop. Bring it on.
Hannah came through the door first. Zade followed. Hannah’s gaze fastened onto Asa, who looked uncomfortable. For the first time, his brother seemed at a loss.
Hannah made an almost imperceptible movement toward Asa, but stopped short. She opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again. Her throat bobbed.
After an agonizing minute, Asa broke the silence. “What’s with the red hair?”
Hannah’s chin went up. “Really? After thirteen years, that’s your opener?”
“Gotta start somewhere,” Asa said. “You’re blond or you were. I’m thinking you should’ve gone lighter, or darker brown. Even platinum would be more convincing than that shade of red.”
“Who asked you? My hair is my business,” Hannah said haughtily.
“Argue later,” Noah told her. “You two weren’t invited.”
Hannah shot him a mulish look. “I don’t care. I never care. Get that through your head.”
“Mark took my brother,” Zade said. “I’m here to plan payback and I don’t have to ask your permission to fuck him up.”
Noah held still, trying to calm down the combat program with just the breathing exercises, but it wasn’t working. His muscles tensed to the point of pain.
“Stay away from him,” he said, biting out the words. “He has your stun and kill codes.”
“At least I know he has them,” Zade said. “That’s more warning than Luke had. Maybe I can break Mark’s jaw or tear out his tongue before he can spit the codes out.”
“Good luck with that,” Noah growled.
“I’m all over this, like it or not,” Zade told him. “And you need us. Even with this guy in the mix.” He gave Asa an unfriendly onceover, which Noah’s brother ignored.
Caro watched the scene from where she stood behind the couch. Her sharp, level green eyes caught everything.
“You’ll definitely need a freq weaver,” Hannah said.
“What’s a freak weaver?” Asa asked.
“Freq as in frequency,” Hannah explained. “A freq weaver is fitted with intracranial implants and nanotech that receive or block various frequencies.” She pointed to her head. “All kinds of crazy stuff in here underneath that red hair you hate. Life’s been interesting since you took off.”
“I’m sorry,” Asa said, stiffly.
“For what?”
Asa shrugged. “That I didn’t come back sooner. That you got modded. For everything that happened.”
“Well. Whatever.” She looked away for a moment, and turned to Noah, a belligerent set to her jaw. “I’m not going to rock on a goddamn porch swing and listen to crickets while you fight Mark,” she said. “You need a freq weaver. So eat it.”
“You guys aren’t tracking,” Noah said. “If Mark recognizes any of us, we’re screwed. And the more of us there are, the more likely we get noticed by the police, the media, and Obsidian.”
“I won’t let him see me,” Hannah said. “Not that he’d know me if he did. Last time he saw me, I was half dead and totally bald.”
Asa frowned. “Why?”
“Brain surgeries. Holes in my skull. My cool neon hair means it’s really unlikely that Mark would make the connection.
“He’ll recognize your sig,” Noah pointed out, staring at his sister.
“So? He’ll know yours too, if it comes to that.” She met his gaze, her eyes full of defiance. The air hummed with tension. Caro was watching from behind the couch. Catching his eye. Silently telling him to chill with her eyes, with the colors around her body. But he couldn’t.
“I can’t let you do this.” He was slammed by the flat certainty that he couldn’t control her or protect her any longer, even as he said it. So fucking futile.
“You’d keep me in a padded room if you could,” Hannah said. “I love you for wanting to protect me, even though it drives me nuts. But no more. I’m done with that.”
“Listen for once,” he said. “It has to be me. Only me. You guys need to disappear, to locations that aren’t in my head, so they can’t be drugged or tortured out of me.”
“Sounds like the doomsday plan.” Hannah crossed her arms over her chest. “Updated?”
“Yes,” Noah said.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Zade muttered.
Caro looked around. “Doomsday plan? What the hell? Somebody explain.”
“Noah’s way of keeping us safe,” Hannah said. “Scatter us across the world to randomly selected destinations, with new identities, and no connection to each other. No past, no future, not a chance of getting back together, ever. What fun.”
“Got a better idea?” Noah demanded, eyes narrowed. “Let’s hear it.”
“Uh, no, but we’re only dealing with Mark alone,” Sisko argued. “Not all of Obsidian.”
“None of you seem to get how dangerous he is,” Noah pointed out. “And don’t forget. We agreed years ago that I would be the one to make this call.”
Zade and Sisko exchanged telling glances. “Here we go again,” Zade said. “You self-important prick.”
“Too bad,” Noah said. “The party’s over. Everybody out of the pool.”
Appalled silence followed his pronouncement. After a few moments of it,
Caro shook her head.
“No,” she said. “You can’t do that, Noah.”
He was taken aback. She was supposed to be on his side—at least he’d assumed as much. The Midlanders bitched and moaned and pushed back, but they always deferred to him in the end. Caro just defied him. In his face. No compromise.
His vision was overlaid by a haze of hot red. The scrolling, the flickering. Fuck.
Hannah gave Caro a startled look. “Right,” she seconded quickly. “Amen.”
“I’m not gonna toe your line either.” Zade said, his voice steely. “That shit’s over.”
Sisko’s clear gaze was just as unyielding. “You’re outmaneuvered, buddy,” he said. “We’ll all come up with a plan together. It’s cool.”
/> Noah closed his eyes, flexed his hands, breath shuddering.
Giving in could be fatal for them all. But what the fuck else could he do when he was outnumbered? He looked one by one at the familiar faces of his crew. All of them waiting in silence for him to cave.
“Everybody has to be ready to bolt,” he said. “Plane tickets, documents. We salvage what we can, if it all goes to hell. Sisko, warn the out-of-towners.”
Sisko nodded.
“Don’t forget me,” Asa said, his voice wry. “If your people all run off to the four corners of the earth, I’m screwed.”
“Tough,” Noah said. “If that happened, you’d be long past caring.”
Asa looked faintly impressed. “Fuck you, too. Expenses just doubled, brother.”
Noah met his gaze. “Give me an itemized bill when we’re done.”
Caro spoke again. “I’m going to bait the trap,” she announced.
“The fuck you are,” he said savagely.
“Like Asa said,” Caro went on. “Mark’s too smart to walk into an empty trap. I have to be there. I’m the only one who has what he wants.”
“But not what you need to survive,” Noah said. “You’re not combat trained yet, or modified for speed and resistance.”
“I’m the only one who can lure him in,” she said stubbornly. “And he can’t kill me until he gets what he wants from me.”
“But he will get it,” he said harshly. “Could take him hours. Or days. He’ll break you. Brutally. He’s good at it. He lives for it, in fact. He won’t kill you until you’re begging to die. Which will be long after he’s forced you into opening the safe.”
Caro sighed. “Noah, please shut up. I can share the risk with all of you.”
“No.” His voice was a whip crack, making her flinch back. “Get out of this room. You’ve done enough damage.”
“What?” Her eyes widened.
Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1) Page 32
