Keepers

by Brenda Cooper

  “How much do you know about Seacouver’s history?”

  “What does history have to do with anything?”

  To be fair, Lou had never seen Shuska reading anything she didn’t have to. Lou and Matchiko were the ones who carried tattered old books around in their saddlebags. “Humor me. Tell me what you know.”

  The big woman shrugged. “Seacouver used to be two cities in two countries. Now it’s one city in two countries. And the city tells both countries what to do about that.”

  Lou laughed. “Do you know who Julianna Lake is?”

  “Isn’t she dead?”

  “Nope.” The knots were beginning to work out of Shuska’s shoulders, so Lou started in on her neck and scalp. “Julianna and Jake and Coryn and I talked the city off a ledge while Blessing and Day drove the bad guys out.”

  “Tell me the truth.”

  “I never lie.”

  “Nope. Never. What did you really do?”

  “I told you. We did a television show with Jake and Lake and told the city who was attacking them. When we get some network, I can show you.”

  Shuska shook her head. “That’s all?”

  “Oh. I got to ride the hyperloop.”

  “Really?”

  “And fly in a plane.”

  “You should write a novel.”

  Lou sighed and left off on Shuska’s head, coming around and planting a kiss on her forehead. “My gosh, but it’s nice to be home.”

  “It’s good to have you back.”

  “It’s even better to be out of the city.”

  Shuska stood, stretching. “Are you going to run back to your little sister?”

  “Not right now.”

  “Good. I’d hate to miss you all over again. Now sit down. It’s my turn to work on you.”

  Lou let out a long breath. It was heaven to be here, to be all together in spite of Matchiko’s injury, to be alive. There had been moments on this trip she’d thought they’d never make it out, but here they were, Outside again, in a tough situation they understood.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Coryn rolled over and groaned as the room’s alarm clock turned up the lights and sound. It began with a rising wash of water lapping against a rocky shore, followed by calling seabirds, then the insistent bark of seals. She opened her eyes as gulls screeched right overhead. Yesterday, Coryn had been out of bed by the time the seabirds started. This morning the gulls forced her out of bed and over to the off switch. She stretched, her muscles tight and full of small complaints.

  She’d woken twice. Once with worry about Aspen, who had licked her face until she fell back asleep. Later, dreaming of a man named Bartholomew who had almost had her killed. It hadn’t been personal—he had hardly known her. But he had been a mystery, a man Lou knew and paid to work for her, a man who had threatened to kill Coryn. A hacker who was part of the attack on the city. In her dreams, he was big and silent, looming over her. She was as compliant and terrified as the women who lived in his little band, like she’d been when he first captured her. In the real event, she had been brave, but her dream-self was frightened and sweaty.

  It took a few breaths to realize she was safe in the city, threatened only by being late for her training run. She’d been living in a spare room in Julianna’s downtown Seattle penthouse for four days. Every morning had included a long run. Her limbs still felt heavy with exhaustion even after seven hours of sleep. Yesterday, when Julianna told her she’d get used to the pace, the only thing that kept her from screaming was that Julianna kept the same pace she demanded of Coryn, and she was at least fifty years older. If an old woman could do it, Coryn could do it.

  Now she had thirty minutes to get dressed, take Aspen out, and be at the breakfast table.

  She barely made it.

  She had expected just Jake and Julianna, but for the first time since she’d moved in, a stranger sat with them at breakfast. A man. Slender. A streak of gold ran along the right side above his temple and glittered all the way through the dark hair in his ponytail. A pretty boy with a bicyclist’s body. Or a runner’s.

  He smiled at her and stood, holding out his hand. “Coryn? I’m Adam.”

  Of course that was his name. He looked the part. She took his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

  Julianna explained. “Adam will coach you today. I’ve got a meeting, and you’re ready for someone better than me.”

  Coryn felt her sore muscles groan. Adam’s legs must be almost twice as long as hers. But all she said was, “I’m looking forward to it.” Her slouchy running clothes and loosely braided hair made her self-conscious, but there was nothing for it.

  She sat and poured the fresh milk by her plate into the bowl of granola and garnished it with blueberries that had been counted out into a small white porcelain cup. Julianna’s training table always had real food.

  They ate in silence. As soon as a server removed their plates and poured them high-electrolyte water, Julianna’s house manager joined them at the table. Ghana Loreto was a small, brown man of indeterminate origin with the energy of five or six bigger men.

  Ghana pulled out a chair and started right in. “Good morning. The threat level for the day is normal, which means be careful.”

  Good. Maybe the police had finished ejecting most of the city-dwellers who had joined the uprising.

  Ghana took a cup of espresso from a tray the server brandished by his side. “Both Portland Metro and Seacouver are dropping visible security measures one level but both are leaving general surveillance high.” He nodded at Julianna and Jake. “You both have busy schedules all afternoon. Coryn will have three and half hours to train with Adam.”

  “Anything else?” Julianna asked.

  Ghana looked a little more relaxed now that the formal part of this ritual was over. “There are rumors of another attack, but the city is not taking them seriously.” He smiled. “I assess that it is merely nerves and will pass. The space station is launching tomorrow and that should rip people’s attention from past threats to future ones.”

  Jake nodded in his usual sage and slow way. “I suspect you are right.”

  Julianna pursed her lips.

  Coryn knew from previous conversations that while other cities had been building outposts in space in case the rewilding didn’t work, she and Jake had spent Seacouver’s wealth on defense and infrastructure. The current mayor was investing in space, though. A lot. Coryn liked the idea. After all, who wouldn’t want to see the city from space sometime? The earth was supposed to be beautiful from up there.

  Adam stood, extending a hand to her. “Shall we go?”

  She hesitated. Adam was strange and beautiful, and he smelled like soap and freshly printed running clothes. Surely he wouldn’t bite. She let him help her up and after they said goodbye to the others, she followed him out.

  They exited the building onto a roof park and started walking at a steadily increasing pace. “Have you known Jake and Julianna long?” he asked her.

  “Four years. You?”

  “As long as I remember.”

  Just like Blessing and Day. Apparently Julianna gained loyal staff by harvesting the young.

  Was Coryn being harvested? She pushed the thought to the side for now. “Where did Julianna find you?”

  “In New York. She visited whenever she was on state visits for a while. She paid tuition for good schools.”

  They slid easily into a jog as they entered a runway that wound between buildings. It took them uphill, and Coryn gave herself a few moments to find her stride before she asked, “Did she want something from you?”

  “I would give her anything she asked.”

  That wasn’t Coryn’s question, but she let it go. This man hardly knew her, and he certainly didn’t owe her his secrets. As if he heard her thoughts, he changed the subject. “I hear you’ve been Outside.”

  “Yes. I just got back.”

  “How different is it? Can you describe the differences?”

  Turna
bout. She tugged her shirt down and thought for a moment. “Have you been Out?”

  “Not yet.”

  “All right. I’ve only been Outside once, to find my sister. The weather is part of it.” She gestured toward the dome. “There’s no safe place, not really. Wind and rain and cold and heat—they’re all extreme. A cold spring night Outside is colder than the dead of winter here. The wind almost picked me up, and I’m not light.”

  “You’re not heavy.”

  She giggled. “There’s almost no data out there.” She touched her VR goggles. “These don’t work, and you wouldn’t want them on anyway. You have to pay attention Outside. There’s no city to keep you safe, no AI, no nothing. And everybody wants a piece of you. You have to be tough.”

  He looked like he was assessing her. “How did you survive?”

  “I had a companion-bot with me. But that was hard, too. People wanted to steal her. One guy almost did, and another threatened to kill me if Paula—that was her name—if Paula didn’t come back for me.”

  “Did that frighten you?”

  “Of course it did.” She clearly hadn’t convinced him how dangerous it was outside of the domes. But then she hadn’t believed it either, not until she experienced it.

  “But you’re here now. You’re okay. Do you still have your companion?”

  Coryn added speed and led them through a small crowd on a roof patio. Once they were through, she let him catch up. “She died protecting me in the Portland Metro protests.” A lance of pain threatened to make her fall.

  Adam sounded surprised. “The riots last week? The ones at Camas?”

  “They weren’t riots.”

  “They were violent.”

  “Not at first.” She didn’t want to talk about that part. Seriously did not want to talk about it. “Everybody Outside wants something, and a lot of them think you have it. You have to be tough. The Wilding, that thing that’s going to save us all?”

  “Yes.” He sounded cautious.

  “It’s pretty awesome, but it’s not happening as fast as the news says it is. That’s what my sister went out there to work on.”

  “You must be proud of her.”

  “I am.” She blurted out a fresh question before he could ask more about Outside. “Do you race?”

  That drew a smile from him, and in answer he sped up and she had to work hard to catch up. By the time she did, her breath was already sharp. “Your pace is a little fast for me.”

  In answer he pointed to his AR goggles, which still rode around his neck. He mouthed the number “seventy-six” and she nodded and directed her gear to that channel. They pulled their goggles on at the same time, and she found herself in a training simulation complete with audio. “Five minutes at this pace. Go. Go. Go.” Jazzy music played in the background, and she focused on it, matching her pace to the beat. The first three minutes were almost fun, but the last one almost killed her. Her side stitched and her breath went from sharp to impossible.

  When the voice of the simulation said, “Great job,” she wanted to punch it. She also wanted to slow to a walk but it guided her to half the pace she’d just been on, and Adam stayed just far enough ahead that she felt pulled along in his wake.

  Interval training continued for two hours, leaving her dripping. He was always ahead of her on the fast parts, and looking pleased with himself for it as well. At least he didn’t say anything obnoxious like “good job” or “way to go.”

  When they stopped, sweat dripped from her forehead and stung her eyes. Adam waited for her in the doorway back into Julianna’s building. “I’ll meet you right here in twenty minutes.”

  So he was going to the library with her? A tiny flash of resentment gave way to curiosity. “All right. I’ll see you here in a few.”

  ‡ ‡ ‡

  Adam had chosen far fancier clothes than she had, which made her feel shabby. He wore a flashy purple top and tight black jeans that looked more like evening wear than work clothes, while she wore jeans and a forest-green T-shirt she’d had made the night before using the basic shirt 101 design with a myriad of camouflage colors chosen to highlight the dark reds in her hair. Simple and dull compared to Adam.

  Sure enough, women and a few men watched him closely as they took the elevator down to the rail station and caught that to the library stop. Since she’d lost Paula, Coryn’s instinct had been to avoid standing out, but Adam clearly loved attention. She watched him notice women watching him and smile at the most interesting ones.

  Jake met them at the outside door, wearing his signature black-and-gray outfit. He always looked clean and neat, and even powerful; a feat of understatement rather than overstatement. He greeted them warmly and led them up the brightly colored escalators to the top floor, and then down a hallway and into a private room. Eloise ghosted in just before the door shut, silent as usual.

  Three people waited for them. She recognized the librarian from a meeting here two days before, but she’d never seen the middle-aged couple dressed in ragged cottons from Outside.

  Jake sat opposite them, and, as she had come to expect, no introductions were made. The librarian logged into a computer and a detailed map came up. “These are last night’s satellite shots. You can write on the screen with this.” She handed the unnamed woman a pen-shaped device.

  The woman pushed dirty-blonde hair behind her ears and used the light pen to circle an area that included the northeastern portion of Promise and bits of Canada and Idaho. Her circle enclosed a lot of mountains and rivers, and no approved towns or rewilding centers. Maybe it was one of those places that had never been anything but wild.

  “We have rumors that the orders came from in here. We’ve searched sat shots for clues. We’ve seen some groups on paths and roads that are surely Returners, but none of the groups are big. We talked to a few people we met from there.” She pointed at the map. “And they acted like everything they saw was normal.” She hesitated, then spoke a little faster. “One guy told us a wild tale about seeing a cowboy army ride through a storm. He said they were all dressed in leathers and rode fine horses. He told us they were well armed and had full saddlebags and a few pack horses. They looked serious, he said, deadly serious. He called it a ‘Cavalry from Hell.’” Her pale eyes flicked toward Julianna, as if afraid of not being believed.

  Jake frowned over steepled fingers. “Any pictures? Anything to prove it’s not an army of rumors?”

  The woman stiffened. “If he got any, he didn’t offer them to us.”

  Eloise looked up from her note taking, face sharp with intense curiosity. After a moment she put her head back down and became almost invisible again.

  Adam leaned forward across the table, getting a little closer to the map. “Did he count?”

  The man spoke for the first time, his voice deeper than Coryn expected. “He told us hundreds, but that can’t be true. We only came from the edge of that circle—” He pointed at the screen. “But I don’t see a place to hide many Returners. Not if they’re all living together. There would be families.” He gestured toward the map. “A satellite would show a town that held that many. They’d need food, too. So I bet they’re in Spokane Metro, and that it’s not a few hundred.”

  The librarian punched some numbers and logged them into another system. She pulled up a list of names and numbers. “These are neighborhoods in Spokane. There’s no evidence of a nest of Returners anywhere. If they’re there, they’ve scattered throughout the city. I have compatriots from the Spokane library working on it, but they haven’t found a pattern yet.”

  Adam held out a hand. “May I?” The librarian handed over the device, and he zoomed around on it, his fingers driving the map under them to move in steady flicks. “Are there any big cave systems around here? Any place you could hide a city?”

  “What if the group is mobile?” Coryn suggested. “Bartholomew and his followers had a few small towns that they moved between, never staying long. They didn’t settle them properly either. For exam
ple, they hardly used any lights at night.”

  Jake looked thoughtful. “Maybe. Maybe that makes as much sense as anything. Hide your people in plain sight by moving them around.”

  The man and woman glanced at one another with skeptical frowns. “You’d have to move around a lot of stuff, too. Weapons. And children. And I think, for these people, a lot of horses.”

  “True,” Coryn conceded. “Bartholomew’s band was on foot.”

  They zoomed in and poked at possible locations for half an hour, but nothing turned out to seem like a better idea than any other thing. This was the second meeting like this, only the players had been different. After a few hours of questions with no solid answers, the librarian led the two Outsiders from the room, closing the door behind her.

  Jake turned slightly in his seat to face Coryn. “What did you learn?”

  The first words that came to mind were “nobody knows anything.” But that wasn’t what he was looking for. She thought about it for a while. “It’s more corroboration that a big group of Returners exists. But we didn’t learn anything specific.”

  Jake leaned back in his seat. “Will your sister spy for us?”

  Eloise spoke for the first time in a long while. “I asked her. I’d say maybe.”

  “I can’t speak for her.” Nor did she have any idea what Lou would say. Or if she was well. Or where she was. Lou had never been any good at sharing what she was doing Outside.

  Jake watched Coryn. “If we send someone out to find her, what should they say?”

  Coryn shivered, bracing for the idea of going into the wild again. “I can go.”

  Julianna cut off that idea. “No. You have a race in two weeks.”

  She blinked. Julianna had mentioned races in passing but not that there was one coming soon. The city loved physical prowess, and Julianna had been pushing Coryn, suggesting that racing was the best way for her to gain attention on her own. “Then who?”

  “Blessing.”

  She struggled not to show how much she hated that answer. She’d always known that Blessing wouldn’t stay. “All right. Have him tell her I asked her to help us, and to be careful.” She realized she was staring at her feet and looked up. “Tell her everything we know, including the cavalry story. Let her know there might be hundreds of them.”