Hex

by Rhiannon Lassiter

  To her surprise she found herself admiring the ghostlike ganger. Despite his strange white hair he was actually strikingly attractive and had a confidence that made him the accepted leader of the group. Ali tried to ignore the fact that the features that she admired in Wraith were doubled in Raven. She was just as attractive—she had proved that at Ali’s father’s party even if at the moment she was dressed like a mercenary soldier—and she was the most supremely self-confident person Ali had ever met.

  Raven’s arrogance was emphasized by the fact that she claimed the CPS had made a mistake in capturing Rachel and that the girl wasn’t a Hex at all. Ali couldn’t see how it mattered, seeing as Rachel had been captured, but Raven obviously took the suggestion that she might have made a mistake as a personal slight.

  “I’m willing to bet over half the people they’ve slaughtered over the years haven’t been Hexes either,” she insisted. “Just people unlucky enough to be suspected, and then exterminated just in case the suspicions were correct.”

  “The government wouldn’t allow that,” Ali said firmly, having gradually gained enough confidence to contradict Raven. “The CPS has to have a warrant for every person they . . . dispose of.”

  “Dispose of?” Wraith asked. “That’s a very callous way of describing it.”

  “It’s legal,” Ali said defensively. “You can’t deny that.”

  “I guess you think the government is infallible,” Kez interjected. “The Seccies are always happy enough to shoot first and ask questions later—why shouldn’t the CPS be the same?”

  “It’s different in gangland,” Ali said coldly. “The Security Services aren’t like that up here.”

  “And you’re all law-abiding citizens?” Kez said. “Give it a rest.” Wraith looked as if he was about to warn the boy off, but Raven suddenly agreed:

  “There isn’t so much crime up here, at least not violent crime, but anyone can be guilty of being a Hex. A lot of people the CPS pick up come from families in the heights. Most of them, actually, probably because in gangland people have the sense to run.”

  “That’s how they caught Rachel,” Wraith added. “I should have never let that adoption go through.”

  “Come on, Wraith,” Raven said. “You were hardly able to take care of a five-year-old kid. What were you going to do, blast your way through Denver with a little girl holding your hand?”

  “You weren’t running with a gang,” Wraith said, a little harshly.

  “I was just a kid myself, Wraith.” Raven looked disgusted, too contemptuous of her brother’s remark to be angry. “What was I supposed to do? I spent a year living in a cellar before I persuaded people to take me seriously as a hacker.” Remembering what company she was in, she turned to look at Ali. “You can sneer at Kez, because you’ve never had to live on the streets. But if it wasn’t for us, who grew up there, you’d have no way to escape the CPS.”

  “You were just lucky,” Ali replied uneasily.

  “It wasn’t luck,” Wraith said, “and Raven’s right. But Ali shouldn’t have to flee for her life,” he added. “Sometimes I doubt I’ll ever get this across to you.”

  “Wraith seems to want to form a solidarity group for Hexes,” Raven said, not quite to Ali but in her general direction. “But the fact is that anyone good enough to escape the CPS isn’t going to want to load themselves down with people who aren’t.”

  “Then why are you trying to help Rachel?” Ali demanded, taking Raven’s remark personally. “Do you care about her or is it just that you think the CPS got it wrong and you’re curious to find out why they thought she was a Hex?”

  Wraith and Kez exchanged glances—apparently Ali’s thoughts had mirrored theirs. But Raven seemed unaffected by their suspicion.

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she said coldly. “Why don’t you just concentrate on the fact that I’m going to be saving your life?”

  • • •

  Kez was relieved when Ali finally left in the early afternoon. She had at least stopped looking at him as if he was a bug in her food. It seemed that some of Raven’s comments about her privileged lifestyle had struck home. But he still felt uncomfortable with her, and that discomfort was compounded by the fact that it was he who had suggested Raven lie about the CPS being after her.

  Ali and Wraith both believed in the lie completely, and Raven seemed utterly unconscious of guilt, now that she had got her own way. She had even given Ali the transceiver with relatively good humor, although she had insisted that the girl did not remove it at all. Ali was sufficiently scared of the CPS to obey Raven, despite her clear dislike of her. But Kez, knowing there was no real need for Ali to wear it just yet, and understanding a bit more about how the transceiver worked, suspected that Raven just wanted the chance to eavesdrop on Ali and make sure that she wasn’t about to betray them.

  When Wraith was engrossed in watching the news on the vidscreen, his conviction that the extermination laws were wrong fueling his interest in politics, Kez brought up a question that had been worrying him.

  “Raven, how are we going to make sure the CPS take Ali to that lab?” he whispered. “Why should they, when they don’t even know she’s a Hex?”

  “I’ll alter their files so they do suspect her,” Raven said. “Or make an anonymous call. It’ll have the same result either way. I’ll do it sometime next week, it’s too soon just now.”

  “It’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?” Kez said hesitantly. “It’s going to wreck her whole life.”

  “Why should you care?” Raven shrugged. “She wouldn’t care about wrecking yours.”

  “There isn’t much she could do to make it worse,” Kez said bitterly. “But she’s got everything I could ever want, and we’re going to take it away just like that.”

  “You are so strange, Kez.” Raven was grinning. “Wraith thinks you’re the most amoral person he’s ever met but you’re almost as worried about doing the right thing as he is.”

  “Maybe because I’m not on the streets anymore,” Kez pointed out. “And that’s because of Wraith.”

  “It is?” Raven looked annoyed. “Wraith wanted to get rid of you, as I recall. It was me who let you stay.”

  “But now I’m here, Wraith says he won’t just dump me back on the streets, and you couldn’t care less about me,” Kez said, before he could help himself. The fact that Raven seemed utterly uninterested in him still rankled.

  “I see,” Raven said slowly, studying him. Kez went red under that intense scrutiny, but then Raven turned away abruptly, picking up one of her disks and heading toward the sound system. As she loaded it into the player, she said over her shoulder: “If it makes you feel better, the CPS would have caught Ali sooner or later; she’s much too careless.” And with that the conversation appeared to be over. Raven had been as unaffected by his criticism as she was by Ali’s or Wraith’s.

  • • •

  Kez woke up late the next morning, light streaming in through the huge window of the room he shared with Wraith. The ganger had already left the room, presumably to get something to eat or watch the morning news. After trying for a while to get back to sleep, Kez gave up the attempt and went to stand at the window. Up in the heights of the city it was possible to be woken up by the sun. Down in gangland the shadows of the upper levels perpetually blocked out the light. If the streetlighting broke down it wasn’t safe to venture outside.

  Kez basked in the cold winter sunshine, looking out at the city through the double thickness of glass, necessary in case of flitter accidents. Already the air was full of the silver streaks of metal as workers raced off to early appointments, trying to beat the traffic. The bridges were congested with skimmers, moving at a slow crawl, and Kez could even make out a few bikers weaving in and out of the traffic. No pedestrians; even up here that much hadn’t changed. People only walked short distances—it took too long to navigate across the network of arches between the levels on foot.

  Kez was drifting into a lazy dream,
as he watched the city waking up, when suddenly a shout from the main room made him start.

  “Raven, Kez! Wake up, quickly!”

  “What is it?” Kez asked, as he ran out of the bedroom, ready to believe the Seccies were at the door. Wraith was staring fixedly at the vidscreen and he didn’t take his gaze off it for a second as he explained:

  “They’ve got Ali.”

  A reporter was babbling confusedly about a sudden shock for Bob Tarrell, owner of another news channel, and suddenly the screen filled with what was, he claimed, exclusive footage of events happening live that morning. It was the Belgravia Complex. The reporter was explaining that there had been a news team stationed there on the watch for celebrities when this extraordinary event had occurred. Behind him, Kez heard another door swish open and Raven emerged from her room, still heavy-eyed and wrapped in one of the blankets from her bed. As she saw the screen her eyes opened wide and she sat on the arm of the couch as she watched it.

  Three vehicles had pulled up outside the Tarrells’ apartment, including a flitter and a skimmer, both marked with the Seccies’ logo. A second large unmarked flitter was with them, and a group of men clustered around them. The soundtrack was explaining that this was a team of Security Services men and CPS operatives, when the door of the apartment opened and two more Seccies appeared, holding between them a confused-looking Ali. She appeared to have had time to dress and wasn’t struggling with her guards. Instead she looked vacant and passively allowed herself to be manhandled into the CPS flitter. Bob Tarrell was at the door angrily demanding explanations and the Seccies were handing over papers, obviously their warrant, as the CPS operatives locked up the back of their flitter and got into it. The camera panned over from the gesticulating media magnate to focus on the plain flitter. The CPS weren’t waiting for Bob Tarrell to have everything explained to him. The vehicle took off, the camera staying on it, until it had disappeared behind one of the skyrises. The reporter returned, to attempt some discreet mudslinging and comment on the possible results of Bob Tarrell’s daughter being revealed as a Hex, but Wraith muted the volume, turning to look at the others.

  Kez was too astonished to think about what he was saying. Still wide-eyed with shock he exclaimed:

  “How did the CPS find out she was a Hex?”

  “What did you say?” Wraith demanded, taking him by the shoulders. Looking past the ganger Kez saw Raven roll her eyes, but it was too late for him to explain away his mistake.

  “I . . . I . . . ,” he began, and stammered to a halt, frightened by Wraith’s sudden anger.

  “You lied, didn’t you?” Wraith said, releasing Kez and swinging around to face Raven. “Both of you.”

  “Yes,” Raven replied, meeting Wraith’s eyes unashamedly.

  “Whose idea was this?” Wraith asked and Kez finally managed to find the courage to speak:

  “It was mine,” he admitted. “The plan couldn’t work without Ali, and you wouldn’t have let us force her.”

  Wraith looked as if he wouldn’t mind wringing Kez’s neck for his innovative idea. But Raven’s voice called him back to himself.

  “What the hell does it matter, Wraith?” she asked. “It looks like we told the truth without realizing it. The CPS have come for Ali, without our intervention. We may have lied when we said they knew about Ali, but it turns out it was true.”

  “And what have they done with her?” Wraith asked, concentrating on the most important factor. “Do you know where she is?”

  Raven closed her eyes, her expression becoming blank as she concentrated. This was different from entering the network through a computer. She let her consciousness rove through the living city, searching for a signal which she alone could recognize. Wraith’s presence next to her was confusing, his own transceiver gave out the same signal, and it was difficult to search for another one. She concentrated, trying to distinguish the tracking device which would locate Ali from the multitude of electronic signals buzzing through the ether. A minute passed, slowly, then her eyes snapped open.

  “They’re heading out of London,” she said. “Toward the north.”

  “Are they taking her to the lab?” Wraith demanded. “Or are they taking her for extermination?”

  “I think the lab,” Raven said. “There are extermination facilities in London.”

  “Check,” said Wraith coldly. “We don’t want to make a mistake.”

  “OK.” Raven didn’t argue. She walked over to the wall terminal, still wrapped in her blanket, and let her hands rest on the keypad. Wraith and Kez waited, for over five minutes this time, until Raven’s eyes focused again and she looked up from the terminal. “It’s the laboratory,” she stated. “Those operatives are ordered to hand Ali over to Dr. Kalden, just as Rachel was.”

  “Can you speak to her?” Wraith asked. “Is the transceiver working?”

  “It’s working,” Raven replied. “But I can’t contact her—if the CPS pick up the transmission we’d be endangering ourselves as well as Ali.”

  “All right.” Wraith nodded grimly. “I want you to keep in constant contact with Ali’s transceiver. Tell me when you find out exactly where the lab is, but don’t lose contact. I want you to know what’s happening to her every minute.”

  “Wraith, stay chill . . . ,” Raven began, but Wraith didn’t let her finish.

  “I don’t want to hear it, Raven,” he said coldly. “You were responsible for trying to get Ali caught by the CPS. Now she has been and you’re to make sure that nothing worse happens to her.” He looked at Kez. “And you can stay with her—try and be useful.” Then he turned and headed for the main door to the suite. “I’m going to get something to eat.”

  “Well, that went down well,” Raven said sarcastically as the door closed behind Wraith. “I think he’s losing sight of the main issue here. Does he want to rescue Rachel, or not?” She shrugged one shoulder and turned back to the terminal as Kez miserably sat down to watch her.

  • • •

  The flitter coasted through the skies, over the sprawling suburbs, and out toward the north. It would have been difficult for Ali to tell where the city ended and the country began, as the congested freeway below them was bordered by industrial development. But the back of the flitter was shielded in any case, with no way for her to see where she was going.

  She had been pushed onto a steel bench with restraints that fixed around her wrists holding her to it. Two CPS operatives, a man and a woman, sat facing her, as if unwilling to contaminate themselves with closer association. The inside of the flitter was stripped of all other equipment, and a thick shield separated the back of the vehicle from the control console in the front.

  Ali was shaking, clutching the bench she was locked to. She kept her head down, unable to look at the CPS agents. But even more than terror, the emotion that overwhelmed her was shame. She had seen the camera crew filming her humiliation as she was dragged out of the door of her apartment and all she could think of was what Zircarda and Caitlin would say, watching the news together. But what hurt the most had been her father’s reaction. When he had called her out of her room, she had thought at first he had found out about her visit to the Stratos the day before. But then she had seen the five uniformed men standing by the main door of the apartment and knew with a horrified realization that they had come for her. Her father had looked at her with a mixture of disappointment and fear. It was the fear that had made her start to shake. He had never looked at her with anything other than affection and tolerance. She wasn’t really clever enough to earn his admiration—her school record had always been average at best—but he had always been fond of her without that. To have him be afraid of her was something Ali had never envisaged.

  The Seccies had told her to get dressed quickly and one of them, a woman, had stayed with her while she did so. Once she was dressed the woman took her back into the main room, where one of the other Seccies was examining the computer terminals. Another immediately sealed the door of her room a
nd attached an SS classification to it. It was only then that Bob had begun to recover his composure.

  “What is this?” he demanded. “What’s going to happen to my daughter?”

  “Your daughter is a suspected Hex, Mr. Tarrell,” one of the officers said emotionlessly. “She will be taken for evaluation and when the mutation is confirmed, she will be disposed of.” Ali felt a hysterical laugh building inside her as the man used the same term that Wraith had criticized her for using. She clamped down hard on it, holding her mouth tight shut.

  “And what if she isn’t a Hex?” her father was saying.

  “If that is the case she will be returned to you before the end of the day,” the man told him. “But it is rarely the case that a person is suspected incorrectly. Extermination is scheduled for this evening.”

  Her father had looked so stunned that Ali had wanted to tell him what Wraith and Raven had found out about the laboratory, that there was a good chance she would be taken there. But she knew that telling him that would mean she would be exterminated for certain and kept silent. She felt dazed as two Seccies took her out of the apartment, barely hearing her father’s protests. The men had bundled her into the flitter, handing her over to two CPS operatives who had checked her for concealed weapons before locking her into the restraints. Ali had felt horribly conscious of the transceiver ear-stud, which she hadn’t removed the night before. But the CPS people didn’t even seem to notice it. As the flitter took off, Ali prayed that Raven was tracking her. Despite the fact that it was Wraith she trusted and Wraith who was the leader of the group, it was Raven who held her life in her hands.

  Ali thought of Raven with all her might as the flitter sped on. She remembered what the girl had told her in the hotel: “Concentrate on the fact that I’m going to be saving your life.” She had meant it as a warning, Ali was certain, to prevent any more criticism of her motives. But now Ali recalled it as a promise. The CPS had no idea of how far Raven’s powers extended. They didn’t even know she existed. And for whatever reasons, whether to save Rachel or satisfy a morbid curiosity, Raven would be watching out for her. It was the only hope Ali had and she clung to it.