by Strauss, Lee
“Those who oppose this new law,” the reporter concluded, “say it’s the step before Armageddon.”
Another face appeared, and this one made me choke. Jackson Pike’s blond head popped up and when he stared into the camera, it felt like his blue eyes were locking on mine. My gaze flew to Noah. His beat-up expression grew even more somber.
Grandpa V was parading Jackson as the first successful cyborg civilian.
The camera zoomed out to show Jackson standing in the grounds of Sol City University. A reporter stood beside him with a microphone. “Mr. Pike, why did you volunteer for this invasive procedure? I understand the technology is in its infancy.”
“Actually, the technology’s not that new, and it’s more advanced than most people think.”
It’d been so long since I heard his voice. My chest felt like it was about to cave in with the memories.
“As a scientist,” Jackson continued, “I was excited and honored to participate.” He lifted his arms, and the camera zoomed to the polished shine of the cyborg hardware that encased his forearms and fingers. He picked up a stone and then crushed it like it was putty.
“Mr. Pike is in the record books for being the first American civilian to be fused with permanent mechanical technology,” the reporter concluded.
I huffed. “I can’t believe him.”
Noah flung me a warning look. I remembered we weren’t alone and a quick scan of the room showed both Mary and Jabez eyeing us.
“You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Mary said.
I shrugged. “The whole thing is just so crazy.”
Jabez jumped to his feet. “It’s crazily amazing. I wish I could get my hands on a set of those.”
I stared at him in alarm. “That technology isn’t a toy,” I said. “It’s deadly.”
“Only if it’s not controlled and monitored,” Jabez argued. “You can bet those guys are on the grid in a big way.”
“There’s always a way to get off the grid,” Mary said. “You should know that better than anyone.”
Jabez huffed. “We can’t just sit around and let America get taken by the Chinese government. It’s bad enough that they own us. Pretty soon we’ll be dealing in Yuan instead of American dollars.”
“Oh come on,” Mary said. “You’re starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist nut.”
“Maybe they’re not all nuts. Maybe some of them are right.”
Jabez and Mary went at each other like they’d forgotten we were in the room. I was shocked to see that they weren’t the two peas in a pod I’d taken them for. They actually disagreed on some things.
Jabez leaned forward in his chair, staring at his sister. “Technology like this could get us back on track as a nation. Give us the edge we need.”
“Are you kidding me?” she said. “This technology will get us all killed.”
“Not if there are the right checks and balances.”
Noah cleared his throat. “Those kinds of checks and balances will mean the absence of democracy and freedom.”
Jabez considered Noah like he just remembered he was in the room. “Not necessarily.”
I was with Mary on this. This technology in the wrong hands would be disastrous. And my grandfather’s hands were definitely the wrong ones.
I almost stated my case, but Jabez suddenly sprung to his feet.
“I need some air.” He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
Mary sighed. “Only a matter of time before there’s trouble.”
Chapter 25
Jabez wasn’t the only one who needed air. Noah nodded off, so I took the opportunity to escape to the courtyard. My mind and heart were full of so many conflicting emotions; I thought I was going to implode.
Wrapped in my winter outerwear, I slid down against the outside wall until my rear end settled onto the newly fallen snow. Deep, cool breaths calmed my racing heart. I leaned my head back and stuck out my tongue, allowing the tiny white flakes to float slowly onto its surface before melting.
I let my mind go.
What was going on in the world? Was my grandfather going to go down in history as the person responsible for the third world war?
And then there was my stupid ex-boyfriend. Just who did he think he was? Jackson was a murderer not a humanitarian.
My pulse quickened at that thought and I pushed his arrogant face out of my mind.
I gathered the snow into a ball but lacked the energy to fling it. I stared at it, mesmerized by the crystal flakes, zillions of them clinging together to make this one thing.
Like all the people in the world, desperately clinging to planet earth. I tossed it and it broke apart.
I stared at the blue-grey sky and blinked as flakes piled onto my lashes. A few months ago, I’d never seen snow in real life. Snow would always be associated with the Ranger commune.
I wondered what became of those folks. I bet they wished they’d never set eyes on me and Noah. Even though they were crazy, they didn’t deserve what had happened to them.
I made another snowball and thought about Taylor Blake.
He had turned out to be a surprise. Not only was he a tech whiz, he saved my life, and Noah’s, too.
I recalled our kiss and my pulse rushed. In fact, my face flushed. I mashed the snowball into it. I was such a wreck.
When the chill overtook my body, I pulled myself out of the muck I’d made and went back to the only warm space in the factory, the living room.
Mary was perched on the edge of the couch, very close to Noah. Something she said made him smile, and a spark of jealousy ignited.
I turned away and peeled off my wet things.
On seeing me, Mary moved away from Noah and into the bedroom. Noah called me over.
“You guys are getting cozy,” I said, sounding spiteful.
“I needed to ask her something, and my voice doesn’t carry right now.”
That was what happened when you got kicked in the neck. “What do you want?”
“I’ve asked Mary to train you.”
I frowned. “You want me to fight?”
“No. I want you to be able to protect yourself.”
The thought of spending time with Mary made me cringe. And I already felt like I owed her too much.” I shook my head. “I have a gun.”
“You might not always have a gun.”
I knew what he wasn’t saying. Remember the time you almost got raped in the back alley?
That had been a stupid move on my part. I wouldn’t put myself in danger like that again.
“I don’t need self-defense, Noah. I’m always here. I’m always hiding. Who’s going to hurt me?”
He reached for my hand. “Just think about it. Please.”
Jabez dragged Noah back into the ring the next day. He was probably happy to get away from Mary and me, and our subtle competition for his attention. I wanted to push her out the door. Noah is with me!
Even if we weren’t an official couple anymore, we were on the run together. As soon as we had enough money, we’d be out of here, and I couldn’t get away from Mary fast enough.
This whole situation infuriated me. I felt trapped, claustrophobic. I didn’t know what Mary did with her days but she never asked me to join her. I cleaned up the little kitchen, tidied the living area. The news on the TV depressed me, so I turned it off. It seemed there was nothing new, just more rioting over food shortages, foreign policies and of course, Grandpa’s infamous cyborg tech push.
My skin itched, like it wanted to crawl off my body. I shucked on my coat while stepping into my room. I reached under my pillow, retrieving my gun and slipped it into an inside pocket.
I hesitated a little before unzipping Noah’s pack. I needed money and tucked a few bills in my pocket.
I shrugged off the nagging voice that told me Noah wouldn’t approve. I wore a hat and covered half my face with a scarf. No one would recognize me.
Besides, my blond roots were showing and I needed to get anoth
er box of hair dye. I’d stay on the main roads that Noah had taken me down before. I wouldn’t get lost, this time. I’d be fine.
It had stopped snowing, but that didn’t mean the road crews were caught up with the recent heavy snowfall. Walking the sidewalks proved precarious, and more than once I caught my balance before slipping on a patch of ice hidden under the snow.
I spotted a small drugstore and went in. I took my time browsing the shelves, though they were surprisingly under-stocked. The hair product selection was slim but I did find a box of brunette hair dye.
My bright-eyed, blond image stared at me from an old-style paper poster tacked to the wall. A million dollar reward was offered for information that led to my safe return. My heart chugged. A million dollars?
That was a fortune to the types of people who lived here. I swallowed, and thought that maybe Noah was right. Going out in the middle of the day was a dumb thing to do.
The clerk stared at me, and I felt frozen to the spot. Would he recognize me? I averted my eyes as I paid for the dye and rushed out of the store and around the corner.
Which led me to a neighborhood I didn’t know.
I darted down a side-road, just in case the clerk had decided to chase after me, and searched for a crowd to get lost in. Instead I found myself in a secluded lane, where I almost bumped into a cluster of men—three dirty specimens, encircling a girl about my age. I took several large steps back.
The men turned, spotted me and snickered.
The girl stood in a fighting stance. She turned to see what brought on the distraction and I recognized her immediately.
“Mary?”
“Get lost, Chloe,” Mary said. “I can manage.”
“Yeah, Chloe,” one of the guys said. “Get lost. Unless you’d like to join our little party?”
Mary struck the guy in the throat with a flattened fist. He fell forward and she elbowed him in the kidney.
The next guy reached for her, and she side-kicked him in the knees, sending him to the ground.
It all happened so fast. The third guy panicked, and ran my direction.
I reached for my gun, and aimed it on his head.
He came to a stop and raised his hands. “Easy there,” he said. “We’re just looking for a bit of fun.”
“How’s this for fun.” I cocked the gun.
Mary called out, “Let him go.”
The guy side-stepped by me and I kept my gun pointed at him until he disappeared around the corner.
I ran to Mary. She was barely breathing heavy. The two guys on the ground moaned.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said.
“What happened there?” I asked once we were safely back on the main street and in with the crowd. What I meant was, how come you were alone in that lane, and how could you risk putting yourself in danger like that?
“I thought I was making a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Yeah, buying and selling. Heard of it?”
She meant the black market. I didn’t want to know.
But she’d impressed me with her defense skills. Even though I was the one with the gun, I thought I was more afraid in that situation than she was.
Maybe Noah was right. It didn’t hurt to have more than one line of defense. And the world I now lived in was anything but safe.
“Mary?”
“Yeah.”
“Jude mentioned that maybe you’d be willing to teach me some self-defense moves.”
She sent me a sideways glare. Had Noah failed to ask her first? “You want me to teach you?”
“If you want to.” I already regretted asking. “If not, that’s okay.”
“It’s fine. We’ll start tomorrow.”
We arrived at the factory and she opened the door.
“I won’t tell Jude if you don’t tell Jabez,” she said before walking in. She meant about the fight. And probably the fact that I’d left the factory on my own. I ran my fingers across my lips as if I were zipping them closed.
We barely got out of our winter clothes when Jabez and Noah joined us looking freshly showered.
“How was it?” I asked Noah.
He groaned. “I’m a little stiff and sore.”
“Oh, quit whining,” Jabez said, slapping him on the back. Then he turned to Mary. “What do we got for food?”
Mary’s eyes flicked to me and then to Jabez. “Deal didn’t happen. There’s still canned soup. ”
“More soup? And crackers? Are there crackers?” He smacked the wall.
I thought he was crackers.
He ran his hands over his head, taking a deep breath. “I need to fight again.”
Mary stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. “No, we agreed. Let Jude fight. We’ll find others. We can make it off the cut if we have enough. We only need three or four fighters.”
I glanced over to Noah. I could tell by the shadow that crossed his face that he’d heard.
Jabez left the room in a huff, and Mary ran after him.
I bit my lip, wondering how I should tell Noah about the poster I saw, about the reward.
I didn’t have to. The TV did it for me. Suddenly our heads filled the screen. My long blond locks, Noah’s dark hair clipped closed to his scalp, his face cleanly shaven. We looked different now, but not completely. We still looked like us.
Though the volume was down the ticker tape was loud and clear. A million dollars for my safe return. A half million for Noah. Dead or Alive.
“They could eat a lot more than soup and crackers with a million dollars,” Noah said nodding toward the door Mary and Jabez had just left through.
Or a million and a half.
“They don’t know who we are,” I said. “Besides, they wouldn’t do that.”
“Wouldn’t they?” he challenged. “Who are we to them? It’s only a matter of time before they figure it out.”
He was right, of course. My chest tightened with increased anxiety. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to fight again,” Noah said. “Jabez already booked it. Two days before Christmas. And this time I’m going to win.”
His narrow gaze dared me to challenge him. I wanted to, but I didn’t. We had no other recourse and I felt thoroughly defeated.
Noah lay on the couch, arms crossed over his chest, and fell asleep. I locked myself in the bathroom with my box of hair dye and a pair of scissors.
I chopped at my hair wanting shorter, wanting different, wanting free. Each clicking snip was a declaration of my anger. Angry that Noah had to fight for our safety, enraged that our relationship had turned from romance to business, furious that I had to subject myself to Mary’s tutorage.
I hated that I owed her anything, but I didn’t want Noah to worry about me anymore. I needed to carry my own weight.
By the time I’d worked out my fury on my hair, there wasn’t much left. I mixed the dye and drenched my hair with it. After ten minutes I rinsed it out, watching the brown water swirl away.
A picture of my life—crapped on and going down the drain.
I pondered my new image. Spiky and short, like a pixie. I wasn’t sure if I’d done the right thing. I felt naked without a sheath of hair to hide behind. It wasn’t exactly a salon cut. I tilted my head. It was shorter on one side than the other, but for some reason I didn’t care.
Noah roused out of his nap. He sat up a little when he saw me. “What’d you do?”
“You don’t like it?”
He paused and I worried that he hated it. That I looked ugly. Then the corners of his mouth curled up. “It’s kind of sexy.”
I relaxed and smiled back.
His brow furrowed. “Where’d you get the dye?”
“Mary.”
I hated lying, but Noah would freak out if he knew I’d left the building. Plus, Mary and I had agreed not to say anything, so I knew he wouldn’t find out.
Chapter 26
I met Mary in the gym the next day, in bare feet and wearing t
he work-out tank and shorts she’d loaned me as instructed.
She waited on one of the floor mats. When she saw me she picked up a fat, blue-vinyl shield, at least six inches thick, and held it up in front of her body. “Hit this,” she said, wasting no time on small talk.
I felt stupid but jabbed it with my fist.
She relaxed the shield, disgusted. “What was that? Are you like, five?”
“I don’t know how to hit.”
“Clearly.” She dropped the foam shield and moved to a hanging punching bag. “You understand what a fighting stance is, right? Stand with feet two to three feet apart, right leg slightly back, and bend your knees a little.” She waited for me to mimic her.
“Hold your fists in front of your face, keeping your elbows in.”
I lifted my fists.
“Now, when you strike, your fist moves in a circular fashion. See, your fingers are facing you when they’re pulled in. When you strike, your fist rotates so the fingers face the ground and your knuckles, the top of your hand, faces up. You’ll always keep one fist close, protecting your face and neck.” She demonstrated in slow motion. “See? Right fist strikes, left fist stays near your throat.”
She demonstrated the move again, and I copied her.
“Don’t let your arm drop.”
I repeated the motion a couple of times.
“Now, let your punch spring out like it’s a shot of dynamite.” Her fist snapped out in a punch and then sprung back to its position, protecting her neck. “Try it.”
It took a while for me to get the snapping, spring action, but when I got it, I actually felt stronger.
Mary lifted the foam shield to her chest. “Give me your best shot.”
My strike had improved one hundred percent. I practiced with both hands, until I was thoroughly sweating.
“Not bad,” she conceded.
“Thanks. But I still don’t know how boxing is going to help me take on a full-grown man.”
“I’m not teaching you to box. I’m teaching you self-defense.”
