Gun has an absurd desire for Li Yuan to approve of him. “I helped her fight the League, when she was taken. My team hacked her location and deployed an EMP bomb.”
“That was you who sent the bomb?” Her eyebrows lift. “That was a godsend. It gave us the edge we needed to get the kids off the ship.”
“You were there?” He should have known. Li Yuan wasn’t the sort to twiddle her thumbs when her daughter was kidnapped. “You got Sulan off the freighter before it sank?”
“Yes. My husband and a few of our associates have known the truth about the League for a while.” Her nostrils flare. “We never expected the Winns to attack our children. I don’t know if they really planned to sell them, but I wasn’t going sit back and wait to find out.”
“How did you know where she was taken?”
“We had a way to track Sulan when she was kidnapped. My husband and our associates followed. The chaos on the freighter provided the perfect cover for me to fake my death, escape Global, and come here.”
Gun paces up and down the sitting room. “Was that you in the minisub?”
She gives him a sharp look. “How did you know about the minisub?”
“Right after the EMP bomb detonated, I had a bird’s eye view of the freighter and the surrounding waters. I saw the minisub and thought—hoped—Sulan escaped in it.”
“Sulan and the others had another means of escape. The minisub was for me.”
Gun hopes for elaboration, but it’s clear from the set of her jaw that she won’t reveal more. He sighs inwardly.
“Why us?” he asks instead. “Why Anderson Arms? You could have gone anywhere.”
“We need a strong ally to bring down Global.” She meets his eyes. “I do hope your family will agree to be our allies.”
Gun knows better than to speak for his father, but he silently vows to help Li Yuan any way he can. All he says is, “If you knew the truth, why haven’t you gone public with it?”
He sees a flicker in her eyes—a reaction to his words, but he doesn’t know how to gauge it.
“My associate had proof.” She shakes her head, looking away. “The proof is no longer in our possession. My husband will acquire new proof in the Dome. It’s up to me to extract him and the others.” She studies Gun. “You will help me get her out of there. When the time comes.” Her words come out as a statement.
Gun doesn’t refute them. He feels like he’s in a high stakes poker game, and he’s just laid out all his cards for the competition to see. He should care, but he doesn’t. All that matters is Sulan.
“Yes,” he says. “Whatever it takes, I’ll help.”
19
Permanent Guest
“Very good.” Anderson pulls off his Vex set, smug like an overfed cat. “That went well.”
Around the conference room table, others take off their Vex sets: Nate, Maia, Tracie, Margaret, Li Yuan, and Gun, all of them exiting the Global press conference at Infinity Stadium.
Nate and the Dread Twins just pulled off the hack of the century. While Gun was busy distracting the cybermercs with a side show, his team wormholed their way past Global firewalls and gave Anderson a way in. For a few precious minutes, William Anderson had been the focus of the Global press conference.
“I hope everyone has a better understanding of how much is at stake,” Anderson says. The smugness has faded, replaced with a hard-edged scowl. Anderson’s temper has been on a slow boil ever since Li Yuan refused to give him the location of the Dome.
“How did you come up with the idea to change her outfit?” Maia asks Gun. “That was brilliant.” He doesn’t miss the forced cheer in her voice, or the nervous glance she gives their father.
Gun shrugs. The truth is, he’d known Global wouldn’t let the real Sulan on stage. If he was going to hack a Global press conference, he was going to make sure he took care of Sulan as best he could. Even if it was just an outfit change.
“It just seemed like an idea no one would be expecting.”
“It was a brilliant play,” his mother says. “The Global cybermercs never saw it coming.”
“It gave us the window we needed to break into their system and give Mr. Anderson his entry point.” Nate grins. “I wish we could have seen Mr. Winn’s face when he realized Anderson Arms was hacking his press conference.”
From across the table, Li Yuan gives Gun an approving nod.
“Our work has only just begun,” Anderson says. “We need to continue to undermine Global every chance we get.”
This last sentence is directed at Li Yuan. She takes it without comment.
“You do agree, don’t you, Ms. Hom?” Anderson does not like to be ignored.
“So long as the lives of the innocents who work for the Winns are taken into account, yes, I do agree.”
Anderson’s face reddens. Gun feels his father’s frustration balloon.
“Come.” Margaret—an expert on maneuvering her husband’s temper—intercedes. “Dinner will be served upstairs. Li Yuan, we would be pleased to have you join us.”
Li Yuan nods. “Thank you. I accept your offer.”
Margaret carries on cordial conversation with the family when they sit down to eat. Gun does not miss the narrow-eyed looks Anderson casts across the table at Sulan’s mother. He can only hope Margaret’s intervention will be enough.
Li Yuan scrutinizes everything, especially the meal. The food consists of homemade spaghetti with meatballs and sauce, plus a side of fresh, sautéed vegetables from his mother’s garden. She takes slow bites, savoring the flavors and ignoring Anderson.
“You should take a tour of my garden,” Margaret says. “I grow almost all the fruits and vegetables we eat.”
“Remarkable.” Li Yuan holds up a carrot, speared on the end of her fork. “I haven’t had a fresh carrot since I was a kid. I forgot how good the flavor is.” A tiny smile turns up the corners of her mouth. “You have a gift with plants.”
“Mom loves plants,” Maia says. “She’s started an heirloom seed bank. She collects the seeds every season and donates them to churches and food pantries.”
Margaret smiles at the compliment, scooping up forkful of pasta. “We’ve implemented some revolutionary farming techniques to increase our yield. I use the family garden as a test plot. Techniques that work are rolled over into our production plan.”
“My husband would be fascinated. He loves anything that has to do with science.” For an instant, the small smile on Li Yuan’s face grows. Genuine affection warms her eyes when she speaks of Dr. Hom. She suppresses the look immediately, wiping it away with practiced professionalism.
“Your husband can come here,” Anderson says. “All you have to do is give me the location of the Dome.”
And just like that, the mood in the room changes.
“I will not give you the coordinates so you can massacre the Dome inhabitants to get to the Winns,” Li Yuan says coldly.
“What?” Maia shoots her dad a look of horror. “Dad, what is she talking about?”
“The Winns are dangerous,” Anderson says. “They’ve manufactured a terrorist organization for their own benefit. They’ve killed thousands of people, and since you all seem to have forgotten, they plan to murder thousands more.”
The tension in the room is thick enough to reach out and touch. Nate looks like he wants to disappear under the table. Tracie forks food into her mouth, watching the drama unfold.
Margaret gazes at her husband and sighs. “Must you always be so dramatic, William?” She turns, reaching out as though to pat Li Yuan’s hand. She thinks better of it when she sees the look on the other woman’s face. “He talks big, that’s all. He’s been itching to get his hands on the Winns for years. There will be no massacre. Will there, William?”
Anderson scowls, spearing a meatball.
Li Yuan rises. Cold anger oozes off her. “I not only offer to deliver you Dr. Eugene Hom, but I also offer you a direct way to fight Project Renascentia and prove the Winns guilty of tr
eason. I have done nothing but offer you gifts since entering your compound. I told you my offer expires in twenty-four hours.” She glances at her watch. “You have exactly thirty-six minutes, Mr. Anderson. What is your decision?”
Everyone at the table, even Tracie, goes still. Gun wonders if Li Yuan could flatten a man with just her glare.
Anderson stands, meeting Li Yuan’s cold stare with one of his own. Anger roils off him in tangible waves. If Li Yuan had been trying to goad him, she couldn’t have done a better job.
“I will see Reginald dead,” he says with lethal calm. “Until you agree to help me bring him down, you and your offers are worthless to me. Consider yourself a permanent guest of Anderson until you cooperate.”
“William.” Margaret’s tone is admonishing. “Don’t be rude. Li Yuan is an honored guest in this household—”
“She is willfully withholding imperative information from us. I will not tolerate it! Do you hear me? I will not!” His face is red, suffused with rage.
Under normal circumstances, Gun would think his father had a few too many drinks. He’s loud and outspoken anyway, but even more so with libations.
But this is different. Gun senses a tidal wave of fury within his father, the sort of catastrophic anger that only rears its head on occasion. He wants Reginald Winn and has blinders on to everything else. Despite his mother’s well-intentioned diversion techniques, the evening was destined to end up here.
There’s no used trying to reason with him. No one can talk him down when he gets like this, except Margaret. Sometimes.
The best thing to do is get Li Yuan out of here before Anderson challenges her to a duel, or something equally crazy.
Margaret inserts herself between Anderson and Li Yuan. “Honey, believe me, this is not the way to handle the situation.”
“Don’t you dare tell me how to handle this situation. Do you know how long I’ve waited to get my hands on Reginald? Years, Margaret. Decades. You know that!”
“Come on,” Gun murmurs to Li Yuan. “Let’s go while she distracts him.”
Li Yuan strides out the door. Gun means to escort her but ends up hurrying along in her wake.
“Don’t even think about leaving this compound!” Anderson shouts. “Do you hear me, Ms. Hom? Don’t even think about leaving! I want the location of the Dome. I will accept nothing else.”
Margaret quicksteps, keeping in front of Anderson when he attempts to angle his body toward the door. Gun slams the door shut, leaving his family behind.
Anderson’s shouts echo in the hallway. Even the mercs stationed outside the door look rattled. Anderson’s rages, infrequent though they are, are legendary in the compound.
Li Yuan glides down the hall. Two mercs break off to escort her, but end up trailing her.
Gun keeps pace beside her all the way to her suite. He wants to say something. What, he isn’t sure. He wants to make excuses for his father, but there are no words to excuse his behavior. He wishes he could say his father will come to his senses, but that would be a lie. Gun knows his father won’t budge on this.
“You’re not responsible for his actions, Gun,” Li Yuan says as they reach her door. She gives his hand a hard squeeze.
The action is oddly affectionate from a hard woman like Li Yuan. Gun opens his mouth to speak when he notices the hard rectangle she presses into his flesh. He squeezes her hand back, palming the data drive.
Gun says the only thing he can think to say. “I want you to know there’s one Anderson in this compound who recognizes the gifts you offer our family.”
Li Yuan inclines her head. “Too bad that Anderson isn’t the one in charge.”
With that, she slips into her suite and closes the door.
• • •
“No way,” Mage breathes. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Woah.” Nate gapes. “Bro, you owe her one.”
“What is it?” Gun snaps, annoyed at being the only one in the dark.
“I can’t believe she just gave it to you,” Lox says. “She could have asked for your left hand and that would still be a steal.”
“Yeah,” Mage adds. “She could have charged you big time.”
“Will somebody tell me what this is?” Gun shouts, stabbing a finger at the tablet in Nate’s lap.
“That data stick she gave you contained an avatar,” Mage says.
“I know that.” That much was obvious from the nondescript teenage boy staring blankly out of the screen at them. “But what’s it an avatar for?”
The three are silent for so long that Gun seriously contemplates throwing something to get their attention.
Nate must see the growing tension in Gun’s face, because he says, “Bro, this is one of the personal avatars of Billy Long.”
“The programmer from VHS?” Gun asks. “Sulan’s friend?”
“Yeah. But it’s not just any avatar. This avatar is keyed to Long’s intel Collusion Underground vault.
Gun’s jaw drops. Collusion Underground is one of Vex’s premier storage vaults. It’s infamous as the chosen hangout for those both brilliant and borderline nuts. Or, in some cases, those brilliant and completely nuts. Security on the site is premiere, boasting a perfect record of never falling to a hacker. If Billy Long used this as his intel vault, and if he socialized with the elite circle or brilliant paranoids who made it their home in cyberspace, he was more than a force to be reckoned with.
“Dude, maybe Li Yuan can get Long out of the Dome, too,” Nate says. “Now he would be a score for Anderson.”
“Did she say anything when she gave it to you?” Lox says.
Gun shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“We’ve been trying to get a membership to Collusion Underground for years,” Lox says. “Can you believe we’re not smart enough or notorious enough to make the cut?”
“Well, you’re definitely not smart enough,” Nate quips. “I mean, come on, guys. You only hacked Infinity Stadium during a Global press conference. Anyone can do that.”
“That’s it!” Mage crows with boyish glee. “That’s our ticket in. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Like I said,” Nate replies. “You’re not smart enough to get into Collusion Underground. They smell your special brand of stupid from a mile away.”
Gun ignores his team as they continue to banter. He stares down at the nondescript avatar on Nate’s tablet, lost in thought.
Just why had Li Yuan given this to him? What game is she playing? She might be Sulan’s mom, but that doesn’t mean she’s trustworthy. This gift seems too good to be true, and in his experience, presents such as this are the ones to bring the most trouble.
He intends to get answers.
20
Collusion Underground
“Why?” Gun demands, striding into Li Yuan’s suite.
Dawn light filters in through the open blinds. To be honest, it’s so early he wasn’t even sure she’d be awake. Then again, it’s hard to picture Li Yuan Hom as a late riser.
Not only is she awake, but she’s fully dressed and in the middle of a yoga routine when he enters. The card table is pushed under the window, leaving an open space in the middle of the sitting room. Li Yuan looks up from her position in the Pigeon pose when he barges in, but she doesn’t rise.
“Good morning, Gun,” she says, flowing from Pigeon pose into Downward Facing Dog.
“Tell me why.” He plants his boots beside her, hands clenched in fists.
Li Yuan doesn’t play dumb. “Because Reginald and Claudine Winn are the two most dangerous people in the country. Because while your father and I are wasting time in a contest of wills, the Winns continue to advance their game.”
“That doesn’t explain the access avatar.”
“Billy Long and his uncle are respected members of Collusion Underground.” She flows into Half Lord of the Fishes. “Everything they have on Global and Project Renascentia is in that vault.”
“How did you get the avatar?”
/> “Billy’s uncle is a longtime friend and associate. He gave it to me as a contingency. I believe the time for contingencies is upon us. It’s not a free pass, Gun. It will get you into the vault, but Billy and his uncle are two of the most paranoid people on the planet.” Li Yuan glides from Half Lord of the Fishes to Wide Leg Forward Fold. “The vault will be decked out with every imaginable piece of Black Tech. Extracting intel could prove impossible, even with the access avatar.”
Gun isn’t buying her story. “If the intel in the vault is so useful, why didn’t your friend just give it to you?”
Li Yuan’s dark eyes find his. “If you knew Uncle Zed, you wouldn’t ask me that question.”
Wait, Uncle Zed? Gun frowns. “Uncle Zed? As in—”
“The Black Tech designer?” Li Yuan nods. “The one and the same. Billy does the programming. Zed manages the sales and distribution. They’re a team. A good one.”
Gun has to sit. He finds the nearest seat, which happens to be the windowsill. The brilliant programmer behind Uncle Zed Black Tech is a VHS kid? Sulan’s friend? How had he missed this piece of intel?
“Are these two on your Dome extraction list?” Gun asks. Having such talent in the Anderson fold would be priceless.
Li Yuan ignores the question. “Global is a dangerous enemy. Our enemy, Gun. We need every advantage to fight them. The access avatar could prove to be an advantage. If you can extract intel without self-destructing.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because I find you more palatable and reasonable than your father.”
“You gave it to me because you know I care about your daughter. You think that gives you leverage with me.” Gun doesn’t bother concealing his anger.
“My husband and I didn’t chose Anderson Arms at random, Gun. Of all those we could turn to for sanctuary, we deemed this company the best equipped to stand against Global. We want to stand and fight with you to bring them down.” She shifts into Big Toe pose, turning her head sideways to look at him. “Do what you will with the access avatar. It’s a gift. What you chose to do with it is up to you.”
Sulan Box Set (Episodes 1-4) Page 61