"Let her go, Gatsbro. She has nothing to do with this."
"She has everything to do with it now, thanks to you. Though with all of her illegal activities, I'm sure we can work something out. Why don't we all go inside--"
"You can shoot or not," Jenna growls, "but I'm leaving. Now." Jenna makes a move for the truck, but I hold her back. She won't do Kayla any good if she's knocked out by a tazegun, and I know Gatsbro would do it.
"Smart move, my boy. Your BioPerfect is clearly superior to her Bio Gel at assessing precarious situations. You have me to thank for that," he says smugly.
I lean close to Jenna and whisper, "Can that tazegun take me down?"
"You and three elephants," she says.
"No whispering now," Gatsbro says. He gestures with the gun. "Inside." His goons spread out like they are casting a net.
I pretend that I'm convincing Jenna to come inside, but I'm eyeing Dot coming down the driveway behind them. She must have gone out the front door. Her sombrero flops on her head. She waits until she has eye contact with me and then nods. She pulls the sombrero from her head and yells, "Hey, the party's over here!"
Gatsbro and his goons startle and turn toward her voice. "Go!" I yell to Jenna as I lunge at Gatsbro. He shoots his tazegun aimlessly, and I hear something shatter, but I'm already pouncing on him, making the weapon fly from his hand. I feel hands on my shoulders, fists in my ribs, my jaw, a free-for-all. I'm not just wrestling with Gatsbro, but with his hired guns too. I feel no pain. I've become exactly what Hari feared. Nothing can stop me. Nothing can keep me from Gatsbro. I hear the truck roar off. I hear Miesha screaming, but I can only see the flash of Gatsbro's eyes, and the fear I see fuels me.
The goons have backed off for some reason, and now it is just me and Gatsbro. He's beneath me, my hands on his throat. It is like I have practiced for this moment for 260 years. His eyes bulge, and I know that with one quick snap I could end it all, but I don't want it to end that easily for him. I keep the pressure steady. I take in his gasps and fear. His hands claw at my arms, but they're no match for my strength.
"Not feeling so powerful now, are you?"
He doesn't answer.
"Are you?" I yell and I squeeze his neck tighter.
He gasps and chokes and shakes his head.
"Stop!" Miesha screams. I look up. She's holding the tazegun, aiming it at his goons and keeping them at bay. "Don't do it, Locke! He's not worth it!"
I look back down at Gatsbro. His eyes are pleading. His lips are parted, and his tongue is thick in his mouth. Spit dribbles from the corner and mixes with blood running from his nose. But it is his normally groomed hair flying in chaotic directions and his dusty torn suit that make me pause. He is not a great scientist, not a savior, not anything more than a very small man with small goals. The curtain has been pulled away and along with it any power he had over me. Snapping his neck would be easy. I have the power to do it.
He looks at me, terror glassing over his eyes.
My fingers tighten on his throat. A few seconds become decades of waiting. How far is too far--
I let go. "Get out of my life. Stay out of it. Next time I'll kill you." He nods frantically, gasping for breath. I take my knee off his chest and stand. He rolls to the side, coughing and sputtering.
I look at Miesha. Gatsbro is already an afterthought compared with Kayla. "I have to go."
I run without looking back.
"Hurry!" she calls. "Find her! I'll watch them!"
Jenna took the road. I take the forest. Kara is smart. Probably the smartest of all of us. She wants to be found, but she wants to draw the misery out. Where would she go? I stumble over rocks, crisscrossing the creek over and over again, listening for any sound of her voice, looking through thick fingers of trees for any fleeting glimpse of flesh or face. I stop, stone still, and listen for the smallest snap of a twig. Kara was here for days, watching us all. I heard her before I even knew she was here. The plaza? The forest? Where would she ...
I take off running again. I know exactly where she is. It's the perfect, most dangerous place for a picnic. I knew someone had been watching me that day. It was her.
The path through the forest seems longer than the first time I went through it. Hurry, Locke, and I force my legs to move impossibly faster, leaping over logs, rocks, and wide expanses of the twisting creek. I finally see the light where the forest ends and I stumble out into the clearing. I stare into the distance, past the tilled field, past the long upward slope, to the very top of the hill where the spider still sits but is now raised on its haunches, and there, almost hidden in the spider's shade, is a blue blanket spread over the grass and the silhouette of a figure sitting on it. Kara. My stomach squeezes to a fist. There is no sign of Kayla. Kara is so close to the edge of the hill I'm not sure if I should move, but better that I get there before Jenna.
I'm only halfway up the hill when Kara stands. She's been watching again. For me. She doesn't wave. She doesn't move. She just stands there waiting. I've run only a few more yards when I spot Jenna's truck in the distance, dust billowing out behind it as she races down the dirt road below. She and Allys have figured it out too. I run faster. I know this Kara better than they do. I have--
Never show your weakness.
The words slam into me. I have. I've shown it all along. To Kara. I worked so hard to hide it from everyone else, but she always knew. Kara, Jenna, and my guilt were my weaknesses, and that knowledge always gave her the advantage over me.
I run until I'm ten yards away, and that's when I notice Kayla, almost hidden by the tall grass, lying on the blanket, motionless. I slow to a walk. My God, Kara, what have you done?
"She's only sleeping, Locke. Like an angel, don't you think? Isn't that what Jenna calls her? Angel?"
When I'm a few yards away, Kara shifts her body to block me from Kayla. "That's close enough." Her voice is deadly clear. I stop.
I stare at Kayla, her tiny palms and fingers turned upward as if there's no life in them. The only things moving on her limp body are strands of her long black hair tossing in the breeze. I look back at Kara like I'm seeing her for the first time. "What did you do?"
"I only gave her half of what Jenna gave me. It knocks you out amazingly fast."
"She's just a child, Kara." I take a step closer. I can hear Jenna's truck rumbling up the hill.
"And what would I know about a child?" Kara's eyes are lifeless. "Jenna stole that from me." She tilts her head to the side like she's reading my face. "She stole it all. I have nothing."
There is no room for error. Everything in me pulls together to give her what I want her to see. It was always master and student with us. Now I must be the master. I have no choice. "You have me, Kara. You still have me."
"Really?" Her eyes narrow in suspicion, tracing every line of my face. She takes a step closer. "You know all of her favorite poems, Locke. Do you remember mine?"
Oh, God. Do I? My head aches. The desperation that made my feet run faster explodes through my brain as I search for every uploaded memory.
"Yes, Kara. I remember them all." I inch closer to her, trying to buy time, looking into her eyes like the whole universe is there, when all I see is a dead wasteland. Our time on the bridge finally flashes through my head, along with every word she ever recited to me. "Cummings. You loved Cummings. Yeats. Whitman." I'm breathless, trying to hide my desperation from her.
She smiles like she's amused. "Whitman." She nods satisfaction. "Then you remember this one?" she whispers. "Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him that it is just as lucky to die, and I know it."
"No, Kara." I shake my head. "That's not what--"
"We never got to say good-bye to anyone, Locke. I'm giving Jenna far more than she gave to us."
"This isn't right, Kara. You know somewhere deep inside of you it's not right."
"Inside?" She stares at me, her pupils pulsating like they're trying to adjust to the light. "Have you seen what's in
side of me, Locke? Deep inside all I have is BioPerfect. And one small hole that's waiting for justice."
I hear a door slam. I turn and see Jenna and Allys jumping out of the truck--and in the distance Gatsbro's car racing up the hill too. I pray it's Miesha inside and not him. I'm running out of time.
Kara reaches down and scoops Kayla up in her arms. Her small body flops lifelessly.
"She's beautiful, isn't she? No wonder Jenna loves her so."
Jenna reaches my side, staring at Kayla in Kara's arms, looking at Kara's feet so close to the edge of the cliff. Her lips tremble. She lifts a hand out toward them, but when Kara inches away, she pulls it back in a fist. "Please. My God. Please."
Kara smiles. "You have no idea how many times I uttered those same exact words, Jenna. All those years, I hoped someone would come and save me. Someone would come and take my hand and walk me out of the darkness. My best friend, maybe?"
"Kara." Tears flow down Jenna's face. "You were my best friend. I tried to save you, but I couldn't. I was only seventeen, but I never forgot. Never. When I had Kayla--" Her words come in sobs. "Kayla," she whispers. "Her name. It was for you, Kara. You and Lily and Locke. Pieces of your names so that every time I looked at her--" Her voice chokes.
Kara looks down at Kayla in her arms. Her eyes scan the length of her body. She gently brushes a strand of hair from Kayla's face. Her head tilts to one side and then she looks up at Jenna. "I made the perfect choice, then, didn't I? If I wanted to destroy you, she would be the way." Her pupils contract to pinpoints.
I take a chance and step closer. "Please, Kara, come with me. Let's go back to the house. We still have a life to live," I whisper.
"We're not people, Locke. There is no life to live. We're only the memories of a boy and girl who lived a long time ago. Memories housed in look-alike bodies. Kara's dead. She died a long time ago." She talks like she has already detached herself from Kara, like she is talking about someone else
"No, Kara. We made it. We're alive."
"It was her fault. She was driving. If any part of her still exists, it deserves to die too."
"No. I need you. I still--"
"My lovely Kara."
I jerk my head to the side. Gatsbro is just feet from me right behind the spider, his hand extended to Kara.
"Come, my dear. Come away from that cliff. Let's go back to the estate where you can be treated the way you deserve. Like a queen. We'll forget this little indiscretion." He touches his forehead. "We'll even forget your unfortunate fit of anger."
I would be enraged, but I see Kara's brows rise like she's interested in his offer. She takes a step away from the edge. For the first time since we escaped, I am grateful for Gatsbro's presence.
"That's right, my dear. This is not the life for you."
She steps closer again, close enough that I think it might almost be safe to grab her and Kayla. I watch the smile on her face and the ice in her eyes. The calculations, Kara playing to the audience, Kara with impeccable timing. She looks back down at Kayla in her arms. Someone has to pay.
"Kayla," she whispers. She smooths the hair away from Kayla's cheek and looks back at me and Jenna. "Kara loved you," she says. "She loved you both." She holds Kayla out to me.
I hear Jenna choke back a moan. I step forward, and she pours Kayla's limp body into my arms. Jenna is already grabbing Kayla from me, sobbing, carrying her away.
Kara lifts her hand, waiting for Gatsbro to come and take it.
He turns his head to me and smiles like he has won. "Look behind you, my boy. You should never trust your work to the hired help. We'll all be going back--whole or in pieces. I can't leave valuable merchandise lying around for others to steal." I turn and see Hari with the tazegun aimed at me. Gatsbro looks back at Kara, the same smug grin still on his face, and he takes her outstretched hand in his. "You always were the smarter one."
"Yes, Doc, I was," she says. Her fingers tighten in an iron grip on his hand. "You ready to go for a little ride?" With a quick, graceful backward kick of her foot, she hits the control panel on the spider. It lurches, its back foot snapping, and clamps around her leg. My horror is reflected in Gatsbro's eyes as he tries to shake loose from Kara's grip.
"No!" I yell, but the spider is already bucking and moving forward. My fingertips graze Kara's other hand just before she goes over, taking Gatsbro with her, and I stumble to the edge of the cliff, watching her fall out of reach. In those microseconds, I think I see her eyes, the eyes of the Kara I knew, floating away from me.
For you, Locke ... always ... always there....
The spider crashes to the rocks below and then the wreckage of metal and bodies tumbles into the river. They're swallowed by the swirling waters like they never existed.
Kara. My hand is still stretched out to her. Whatever she's become, whatever is left, I can't let it go. Focus, Locke. Focus. You can turn back the seconds. But I can't. Not then. Not now. Not ever.
* * *
I hear voices behind. Yelling. And then a hand on my back.
"Locke," Jenna whispers, "come away from the cliff." She's on her knees next to me. I ease back from the edge. Loose dirt and stones tumble over the side.
Jenna stands and takes my hand, pulling me to my feet and farther away from the edge. I can't think. I look at my hands, fingers, all numb like they are no longer there. Useless. They couldn't save her.
"At least I still have one to take back."
I look to the side. Hari still has the tazegun aimed at me.
"You didn't even try to save him," I say.
"Why would I? I didn't like him any more than you did. And I don't need him. I already have some buyers for you. Let's go."
Allys puts Kayla back into Jenna's arms and steps forward, shaking her head. "I'd think again, jerkwad. That tazegun can only shoot one person at a time and has a pretty slow reload. On the other hand..." She glances into the distance behind Hari.
Hari turns his head while maintaining the aim of the tazegun. The two other goons turn to look too. Walking up from the bottom of the field is a line of land pirates. At least twenty. Their black coats flap in the breeze like a flock of menacing ravens--ravens with a purpose. Bone is among them.
"Those aren't tazeguns they're carrying," Allys says. "Those are old-fashioned rifles. The kind that can blow a five-inch hole through you. Or ten-inch. It's hard to tell with all the mess."
Hari turns to look at the others. They shake their heads.
"And I should warn you--their aim is terrible. Sometimes they shoot off arms, feet, all kinds of things before they hit dead center. But they're persistent little devils."
Hari looks at me, a mix of frustration, fear, and fading dollar signs in his eyes. His lip pulls up in a sneer, his last weak grab at power. He turns to the others, who are keeping an eye on the advancing land pirates. "Let's get out of here," he says. They don't hesitate and scramble into the car and roar off.
Three of the land pirates raise their rifles and take aim, hitting the roof and the road just ahead of the car. Bad aim or a warning? It doesn't really matter. Either way, it does the job, and the car accelerates.
Allys drives back to the house. Jenna sits between us, cradling Kayla in her lap. None of us speak. Kayla is saved. Kara is gone. Just like that. In an instant, reality has flipped again. Do they feel as numb as I do? Right now life is harder than a century of darkness.
It is only the unanswered question of what has happened to Miesha that keeps my eyes on the road at all. When we pull into the driveway, we see her sprawled at the bottom of the porch steps. There is no sign of Dot.
Allys stops the truck, and we jump out and run to Miesha. She is breathing but unconscious.
"They must have shot her with the tazegun," Jenna says. "Let's get her inside."
I know the routine. First it was for me. Then Kara. Now Miesha. I lift her and carry her to her bed, praying that Miesha has tougher skin than three elephants. Allys and Jenna take over, and I go back outside to loo
k for Dot. I see her assistance chair in an oleander bush near the driveway and run to it. And then just beyond it, almost hidden in the vegetable garden, I spot her lying in a bed of lettuce. I hurry to her. Her eyes are open and staring into the sky, sightless. Her torso is shattered, the skin torn away from her neck. I fall to my knees next to her.
I reach forward and fold the flap of skin back against her neck. The smell of her burned circuitry hangs in the air.
"Dot," I whisper, unable to believe that she's gone too.
"Is that you, Customer Locke?"
I fall back on my butt. "Dot?"
"I cannot see you. I'm afraid that. That. That. Portion of my circuitry has incurred dam. Dam. Dam."
"It was damaged," I whisper.
"It was that stray shot from the tazegun. Miesha saw me. Disabled. She was. She was distracted. That's when they grabbed her. Is she all right?"
"Yes," I lie. "She's fine. What happened to you?"
"Car. They swerved. To hit me. They. I cannot see you. I'm afraid that. That. That. Portion of my circuitry has incurred dam. Dam. Dam."
"Yes, I know. It was damaged," I say again.
"Correct. But you are free?"
"Yes, Dot. Because of you, I'm free. What should I--"
"Mission accomplished. Your success is. Is. Isss."
I hear a pop, and smoke seeps from the opening in her neck. There are no more words, only silence and her sightless stare into the sky. Her jewel blue sky. I stand and pick her up. Broken bits of her fall away, but I carry the bulk of her to my room and lay her on my bed.
Chapter 74
The next two weeks go by in a blur. We bury Dot beneath a tree near the greenhouse. We give her a marker with her name--the full proper name she chose and the title she deserved too. Officer Dot Jefferson, Liberator.
Miesha still hasn't wakened. Jenna says the tazegun was set to kill rather than stun and that Miesha is lucky to be alive. She doesn't know when or if she will wake. Kayla doesn't mind when I tuck one of her stuffed animals under Miesha's arm. It is a small blue elephant that is missing one eye. I check on her each day before I go outside to work and again when I return.
The Fox Inheritance Page 23
